Inside facts of stage and screen (April 5, 1930)

SATURDAY, APRIL 5, 1930 INSIDE FACTS OF STAGE AND SCREEN PAGE THIRTEEN Orchestra Reviews Hot Licks (Continued from Page 12) Hotel in Phoenix sometime during April. The hotel does not plan to retain an orchestra this summer, so Lyol’s successor is not named. “Spike” is rumored going M. C. A. ♦ * ♦ Harry Owens and his Orchestra will probably return to Los An- geles when the season ends at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix. The band has proved very popular with the Biltmore clientele and the Phoenix fans. * ♦ * Mike Sidell and his Orchestra are still holding forth at the Frolic Ballroom in Phoenix. • • • Joey Starr’s gang at the Ren- dezvous out at Mesa have been building up to good business. The band boasts seven arrangers, sing- ing trios, singles, quartets and whatnots. Bill and “Fuzz’ Mac- Cauley constitute the big end of the vocals and both boys have real sets _ of pipes. Ralph Maynard is playing piano and languishing for the bride he left in El Centro. * ♦ ♦ Phoenix is very proud O'! its new radio station, KTAR. Mod- ern and luxurious in every detail, the station is clicking big. It is said to be the best in the state of Arizona, and that it ranks well with the best in the country. ♦ * * The Cottonwoods, the popular summer dance-place in Phoenix, is scheduled to open Wednesday, April 16. The management plans to make this a “Cottonwoods” summer. The grounds have been snapped up w'ith new lighting ef- fects throughout, bigger and bet- ter concession stands and parking features, and a greatly increased seating capacity constitute some of the innovations. Fred Perry and Clint Julian will furnish the words and. music and will be as- sisted by Ed Schroeder. Tom Donahue, Eddie Ramas, Walt Lee and Kay Robinson. And that line- up ought to make a darned good orchestra. ♦ * * According to a story from Budapest, as carried by the In- ternational News Service, comes the information that one Frank Szekeres has perfected an instru- ment designed to eliminate drum- mers and saxophone players from jazz-orchestras. It is called the “Breakophon.” The new inven- tion is played like a piano (heav- en be praised) and has a saxo- ORGANISTS HERB KERN Organist-Master of Ceremonies FOX WEST COAST Long Beacb, Calif. RUDOLPH N. SCHRAEGER PREMIER ORGANIST Chinese Theatre, Hollywood INDEFINITE WM. (Billy) KNOX SOLO ORGANIST Fox Oakland Theatre VIC DE LORY That Croonlnsr Bass Player Now—LOEW’S STATE Los Angeles INDEFINITE jAy BCOWEC MASTER-OF-CEREMONIES FOX EL CAPITAN SAN FRANCISCO ADD MEN TO PRIES BAND AT ST. FRANCIS SAN FRANCISCO, April 3.— Publix is augmenting the orches- tra at its St. Francis Theatre by four men, with the baton remain- ing in the hands of Larie de Pries. Heretofore the house has had only seven men under de Pries’ direction but with the total brought up to 11 the weekly con- certs will be featured even more than currently. HELP CHEST DRIVE OAKLAND, April 3.—The local branch of the San Francisco Mu- sicians’ Union, under the secre- taryship of George Price, has been taking an active part in the Com- munity Chest drive by donating the services of members for 45 minutes daily. During the past week the following orchestras played for the Chest workers: Chuck Dutton, Hotel Oakland; Os- car Preston, R-K-O Orpheum; Jack Coale, Rose Room; Hermie King, Fox-Oakland; George Schultz, Neptune Beach; Reg Code, Athens Club; Ed Buckholtz, Dance- land; Charles Dring, Moose Club. BANDS AT BEACH OAKLAND. April 3. — Neptune Beach, Alameda, opened its sum- mer season this week. Lew Rey- nolds and his Orchestra and George Schultz and Band hold the music contracts for the resort. At the opening day’s festivities Jack Laughlan had the band for the ball game. AT SHRINE SHOW SAN FRANCISCO, April 3.— Val Valente and his Roof Garden Orchestra are booked to play at the Sacramento Civic Auditorium next week for a Shriner show. NEW W. B. TEAM Joe Young and Harry Warren, composer and lyricist, who have just been signed by Warner Bros., are en route to the coast. phone and drums (with traps) at- tachment. All the noises of the modern jazz-band may be repro- duced. A Hungarian piano manu- facturer recognized the efficiency of the new instrument and started to produce and advertise them on a large scale. The jazz-musicians of Budapest were aroused to ac- tion and decided to break the ma- chine to pieces wherever it made its appearance. The first assault occurred in a Budapest cafe. The boys got together the following day and extended their exertions to Mr, (senor, herr, or signor—or whatever they use in Budapest) Szerkes and that gentleman moved himself to Vienna. He is now reported as dickering with Ameri- can business men in an effort to market his production in the Unit- ed States. So unless this instru- ment is terrible—and we hope it is — the Breakophon is going to bust up a lot of small jazz-com- binations in these parts. Our only hope is a wage scale that will be equal to the salaries of the dis- placed members. McELROY’S SPANISH BALLROOM BAND SEATTLE (Reviewed March 29) Cole McElroy’s aggregation of 10 musicians stand in high favor with terpsichorean enthusiasts of the Northwest. The band has been playing to good houses locally for the past two years and is still go- ing strong. Bus Greene, Bob Dickinson and Jack Schulmerick are in the sax section, each man doubling on clarinet, and Dickinson, in addi- tion, playing fiddle and Schulmer- ick, trumpet. The brass section embraces Fred Morelock and Don Anderson, trumpets, and Spec Thomas, trombone. This trio also team for mellophone solos. Tom Curtis is heard on both the Sousa- phone and bass viol. Syl Halper- in, at the piano, is leader and ar- ranger, while George Eichorn handles the tympani and drums in addition to being featured in vo- cals. Johnny Sylvester, on the accordion, and Ted Muller, mas- ter-of-ceremonies, complete the band’s personnel, that has been to- gether, in the main, for years. The boys have perfect rhythm and handle themselves in master- ful fashion. Each boy sings well and has plenty of personality. Interpolated with the band’s ren- ditions of all the late pops, the boys used several comedy bits that were good. Of these, “Sing, You Sinners,” as arranged by Halperin and Eichorn, was cleverly done. Mullen sangs the first chorus, with the trio from the reed section of- fering the third chorus after some hot orchestral licks. A clever bit of satirical fun, the spiritualistic rendition of “Great Day,” clicked nicely with the fans, the entire as- semblage stopping their hoofing to listen. Fredffie Morelock and Ted Mullen did a neat bit of tin-type work with “Never Throw Stones at Your Mother,” in which Syl- vester offered some fast accordion accompaniment. Mullen and Dickinson had a nice satire on Chic Sales with “The Robin,” Dickinson supplying the comedy fiddle work and Mullen doing the vocals. Straight dance stuff was un- furled with verve and individual- ity. Flalperin obviously works hard over the stock arrangements and his efforts get results. Of the singing members of the band, George Eichorn has a voice that clicks. CLUB VICTOR SEATTLE (Reviewed March 27) Vic Meyers and his Columbia Recording Band furnish the music for this spot, one of the classiest here. Ten men render the latest pops in super-symphonic style that clicks with the patrons. Personnel of the unit embraces William Bul- lard, piano; Robert Gordon, Dan- ny Gann and Joe Adams, reeds; Glenn Atchison and Billie Stewart, trumpets; A1 Thompson, trombone; Walt Haines, string bass; Freddie Huff, drums; Frank Spencer, banjo, and Billy Ulman, vocals. Cann doubles on the violin. Entertainment features Ulman, who doubles over from Owen Sweeten’s Band at the Fox Thea- tre. This lad, who has been titled the “Rudy Vallee of the West” by local fans, is a sure-fire bet when- ever he picks up the megaphone. Working in front of the band, he scored neatly with his warbling of “It's Because,” 7If I Can’t Have our Love,” “What Do I Care?” “I Love You, Believe Me, I Love You,” “Man From the South,” Melancholy Baby,” and a host of others. Carolynne Snowden is currently featured as the only floor enter- ta'iner. Fler first was “Sing, You Sinners.” She was in nice voice and sang the tune to a hot orches- tral accompaniment. She went into a fast tap routine that was grace- fully executed, with some dark- town strutting interpolated. Her second number was a character of- fering, “Louisiana,” for which she dressed as a southern mammy. After a comedy entrance for this one she sang the low-down tune while seated on a chair, following this with a shuffle. A big hand called for an encore and she did “What Did I Do to Be So Black and Blue,” real low-down and hot. She tapered the turn off with some pretty eccentric steps. Carolynne’s final number was “When You’re Smilin’,” a poor choice for her type. Her fast tap dance to a pair of choruses was clever and drew hefty applause. “Flandy Man,” her encore, was a classic. The orchestra, with mu- sical gags, opened this one, after which Miss Snowden gave a plen- ty-hot rendition of the tune, fol- lowing it with a fast eccentric rou- tine of steps. She begged off after a pair of bows. The entire show goes over the air by remote control via KJR. WITH HARMS Mickey Hester is now connected with the Harms office, which is under the direction of Artie Mehlinger. CHANGE DISTRIBUTION Distribution of Brunswick phono- graph records is no longer being made through the bowling and billiard branches of the Brunswick company, but is being turned over to leading music wholesalers throughout the country whose or- ganization is believed to be better adaped to sales promotion in the trade. Western Radio of Califor- nia, Inc., is the new distributor for Southern California, and a San Francisco distributor will be ap- pointed shortly. Leading Bruns- wick recordings now current are “Happy Days” with Charles King, and “Cherie” with Harry Richman. AT HASTINGS PARK VANCOUVER, April 3. —Phil Baxter, author of “Piccolo Pete,” and his Texas Tommies, open at the Pavilion, Happyland, Hastings Park, on April S. With this band of 11 pieces in, the dance pavilion will be plugged heavily this sea- son. HERTZ LEAVING SAN FRANCISCO, April 3.— After 15 years of consecutive serv- ice, Alfred Hertz this week takes his final bow as conductor of the San Francisco Symphony follow- ing his resignation tendered last year. No successor has been named. ON VACATION SAN FRANCISCO, April 3.— Wilt Gunzendorfer, who has the orchestra at the Hotel Whitcomb, is vacationing in Los Angeles this week. READYING FOR OPENING SAN FRANCISCO, April 3.— The Tivoli Theatre, formerly the Columbia before Erlanger opened the new house by that name, has had a Neon sign erected and is being prepared for an opening shortly. “Bonita” “In Heaven^ “Old Fashioned Sweetheart” “Garden of Allah” Are Among Radio's Mott Popular Numbers Published by Karan-Dunn Kress Bldg. San Framciseo THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIST BARON HARTSOUGH Honolulu — Panama — South America Back In the Good Old U. S. A. FOX T. & D. 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