Exhibitors Herald World (Oct-Dec 1930)

October 4, 1930 EXHIBITORS HERALD-WORLD 53 STAGE SHOWS (Continued from preceding page, column 3) tirely different from a blue serge that gets shiny after the first month, if you understand what we mean. The Sharp ballet gave a beautiful number called the "Wedding of the Birds." The orchestra assisted by playing to imitate various birds. One musician would strike up with a cuckoo effect, another would hit off the notes which we believe a mocking bird must utter when he is happy. Still another would imitate a canary and so on. Meanwhile the ballet danced in feather costume and stopped long enough to let the "bird minister" perform the wedding ceremony in pantomime. Fred Sanborn was the comedy man of the show. He is only a little fellow in stature but oh my ! Thrice he came stealing out on the stage with his overgrown eyebrows flapping and each time he dashed back to get something he had forgotten. The fourth time he came out and made up his mind to stay a while and play his xylophone, which he did very well. The antics he performed as he played kept the crowd in a good humor. And when he forgot what came next in a song Al Evans and the orchestra came to the rescue. In the final act the ballet dances out attired in costume of the G«orge Washington era. Four girls pull an oldfashioned stagecoach all done in white. They open the door and out steps Mitzi Green, the juvenile film star who is making a personal appearance at the Chicago. First she sings "Sweeping the Clouds Away" as she thinks Al Jolson sang it. Then she does it as Maurice Chevalier would do it. Her singing voice is good and she gets applause aplenty. She responds with a number from the picture "Honey." H. Leopold Spitalny leads the Chicago theatre orchestra in an overture called "Oriental Sketches," which is outstanding for its classical excellence. Oklahoma City Orpheum Week Ending September 26 The splendid R K O vaudeville and talking picture program presented at the Orpheum brings a group of acts seldom surpassed for entertainment qualities. Headlining are the international kiddie stars, Geraldine and Jo, in "Something Different," and Lane, Osborne and Chicco, a "Classical Diversion," Tom and Ray Romaine, in "Noisy Neighbors," Harry Holmes, in "The Pessimist," and the screen presents "A Notorious Affair" (FN), with Billie Dove and Basil Rathbone. Chicago Paradise Week Ending October 4 Mark Fisher put on a whale of a show, a fitting anniversary presentation, as it was called, which went under the title of "Gingersnaps," and was a Frank Cambria production. Excellent acts, corking good music, and Mark put on the finishing touches by his masterly rendition of a few songs. If you could collect yourself long enough to take your attention from the stage, just to glance around and notice with what rapt concentration, we might say, the audience had its eyes and ears glued on the stage, was sufficient evidence that the show was going over, and in great style. But 10 a brief resume (it really should be given two columns). The opening number found Mark out on the stage, attired as a gingerbread man should be, at least from the memory we have of the story books we read way back when. He sings his little song, and then out come two little ladies, the Harrington Sisters, and they have broken their gingerbread men and want them repaired, or better yet, some brand new ones. So Mark gives the magic words, and the Gamby Girls appear, dressed as very chic chefs, with pans of bread in their hands. They go through a clever routine, and finally assemble their trays in a group, the lights go out, and there is a dancing ginger bread "radium" man, slowly dancing off the stage. Very effective, and the people loved it. Mark then gave a long dissertation about John Smith (Al Smith ran for president, but John ran for Pocahontas) syncronized with sound effects by the orchestra, from trumpet blares to razzberries. A lot of fun, and the band 6eemed to get a great kick out of it. Next, the Harrington Sisters appeared, dressed in their dainty little girl frocks, and sang "What Do I Care," very pathetically, and very humorously. Then they sang a little song entitled, "We're Going to Be Gold-diggers," and when they came on the stage, one carried a pick and the other a shovel, and they both wore miner's caps, and carried a sack to put the ore in. Their harmony was of the tingling variety that every body can sit and listen hours to, and they sang with so much ease that it didn't seem possible that they could be heard beyond the footlights, yet their voices just floated to every nook and corner. A tap-toe dance par excellence, in fact, we can't remember having seen anything like it, was put on by Dick and Edith Barstow. On their toes every minute, running up and down stairs and not losing a beat. A most marvelous exhibition of skill and talent. It must have taken years of practice to perfect it, and the applause they received was ample (we hope), for all the time and strain it to took to learn to do it well. If we had a score board, we'd put them down at 100 per cent, and more, if we only knew what it was. Mark then sang "Waiting for Ships That Never Come In," and did he sing it. The audience was motionless from the time he opened his mouth until he closed it at the end of the song. When he pointed and said "see the ships," well, it just seemed as though there they were, and you could almost hear the lapping of the water as it was sprayed up above the bows. Much credit for an excellent show goes to Mark. Rome and Gaut, the "tall and short of it," put on about fifteen minutes of plain foolishness that drew (plenty of laughs. It seemed like all legs and no legs, and the dances they did — -well, there's no need to try and describe them because that would be impossible. Needless to say they were well received. The grand finale found all the acts on the stage, doing their bits, and the curtain fell on an anniversary show that deserved every bit of that title, and made the word anniversary mean something. Chicago Tivoli Week Ending October 2 Frankie Masters presents "Hotter 'n' Hot" as this week's offering. The show has everything from aerobatics to dancing to singing and Frankie has on important part in almost every number. He always manages to dig a few additional laughs out of every act that the other performers couldn't find. As the curtain rises, the Lambert Ballet dances out to the tune of "Dream Lover," a number played by the stage orchestra. Then Masters steps forth and sings "Swinging in a Hammock." His mellow tenor voice gets hearty applause. Frankie has certainly entrenched himself in the hearts of the southside Chicago youngsters. Eddie Knoll, the male portion of the Lambert unit, draws a good reception with his handsprings and cartwheels in a solo dance. To illustrate how "Swinging in a Hammock" would be sung abroad, Masters has his footers give Irish, Spanish, Scottish and German versions, and finally Chicogo's own way of playing it, which he interprets as "hot." A beautiful fan dance by the Lambert dancers, in Japanese costume, serves to introduce the Kanazawa troupe, a set of five Jap acrobats. They toss each other about with an abondon that shocks the audience but draws a big hand. A few intentional mishaps are thrown in to make the stunts more interesting. In their last stunt Masters, always willing to help out, steps in to show the Japs how it should be done and gets himself considerably mussed up. Dalton and Craig, male and female dialog comedians, give an act that goes over fairly well, but would be much better if cut down to half the length. It takes them too long to get started, but when they do the humor is rather lively. They must have been on the stage fully 15 minutes. During the last five minutes they were good. The rest of the time it was just flabby slapstick, Lillian Roth, the screen star who is bringing the smiles at the box office with her personal appearance this week, sings four numbers, the best being "Lowdown" and "Sing You Sinners." She is well received. For an encore she puts on a wrestling match, with Frankie as her worthy opponent. Masters gets a bit the worst of it. In fact, he drops to the canvas but rises radiating with exhiliration. This throws the crowd into guffaws of laughter. A group of girls who could stand more drilling on their steps form a half circle about Frankie and sing and dance "Okay Frankie." The Three Novelettes chime in on another song for the finale. Emil Vandas directs the Tivoli orchestra in the feature, "The Soloist." "You Can't Go Wrong With Any Feist Song" IF I HAD A GIRL LIKE YOU DOWN THE RIVER OF GOLDEN DREAMS THE SONG WITHOUT A NAME AROUND THE CORNER IT HAPPENED IN MONTEREY A BIG BOUQUET FOR YOU WHY HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN WAIKIKI WHAT'S THE USE SINCE MAGGIE BECAME MARGUERITE I WONDER WHATS BECOME OF SWEET ADELINE FORGIVE ME THE WALTZ YOU SAVED FOR ME I'LL BE BLUE JUST THINKING OF YOU mm Leo Feist, Inc 56 Cooper Square New York, N. Y.