Inside facts of stage and screen (November 29, 1930)

NOV. 29, 1930 INSIDE FACTS OF STAGE AND SCREEN PAGE THREE 100 IN CAST OF GORDON’S PAGEANT In Hollywood—Now By BUD MURRAY _ MG PAGEANTS BOOKED HERE Bud Murray PALM SPRINGS, Cal—We do hope you will forgive us if we seem exultant after witnessing a most Unique performance, in Nature’s Theatre on the Desert, backed up by Mt. San Jacinto, with lighting effects by Old Man Nature, and the audience perched on large boulders, strung along the ridge across the Desert, and the Actors played their parts as Nature endowed, and as the last strains of weird Indian chants died away and “Tahquitz” buried himself in the recesses of Mt. San Jacinto, the Golden sun turn- ing Red, then purple, the Mountain fittingly threw a shadow, as Nature’s final curtain, and so ended the Play “Tahquitz,” a legend of the Indian, as writ- ten by Garnet Holme and revised and stager by Phil Whiting, who also did an admirable job of the stag- ing of it. And, as we breathe this exotic Desert Nite Air, we think of a few lines of a poem we learned some years ago ... Once in a while the sun shines out, And the skies are a perfect blue; Once in a while ’mid clouds of doubt, Hope’s brightest stars come peeping thru; Once in a while in the Desert Sand, We find a spot of fairest green, Once in a while from where we stand, The hills of Paradise are seen. Now that that’s off our chest, we were really thrilled by the per- formance of Wallace MacDonald, who played, Tenoe the Indian Brave— Wally who was starred in “Oh! Susanna,” last year, and, whom we had the pleasure of working with while staging it, was the ‘Mam I wig of “Tahquitz.” His lines came over the cliffs as clear as a bell and his voice sounded glorious in the one number of the piece, Desert Flower,” a beautiful song by Fannie Charles Dillon. A few words with Wally after the play, convinced us that here was work that the actors loved to do—Real Art, we say, and for Art’s sake too. We will never forget it See it next time. Kenneth Randall as “Tahquitz ’ was superb with an eloquent speaking voice. Dolores Brown was ideal for the part of Suena and others who stood out were James Nudeen, as the Chief Jeffries Williams as Medicine Man, in fact, we couldn t see one flaw and again we advise you to see one of these out-door legendary plays for a real honest-to-goodness clean entertainment. Never again will you se such light, air, color and we cannot forget that which we felt rather than saw, the deslation and silence of the desert, the lite fading out—then Mystery. It will be hard to go from what we have just written, and give you a resume of the past week’s news IN HOLLYWOOD but even down here in this beautiful November evening we think of the hustling Hollywoodian” and we take you back with us a few days while we were lunching at the Brown Derby in Hollywood. Any day here will prove to you that there are still in HOLLYWOOD, NOW, quite a few Theatrical Booking Agents, George Frank and William Perlberg, who just got back from Noo Yawk, and say “Thumbs Up on the B lg Town In a booth, Walter Herzbrun and Lew Schreiber, of William Morris Offices, who also blew in from the BIG TOWN and thinks the same as Bill does about Noo Yawk. Ivan Kahn, who books big names in the picture business,—and Little Leo Morrison who boks big ones too Rufe LeMaire ex-booking agent, has landed himself a fine berth at Warner Brothers although he does not know what he is going to do—Rufe now sits with the executives in their special booth at Brown Derby where we notice A1 Green—Jack Warner just back from N. Y.— Looking around we see Mr. & Mrs. Charley Mosconi—Wally & Noah Beery gabbing over the opening of “Min & Bill” at the Carthay Circle— Claudia Dell who is getting some fine parts at Warner Brothers and who was with us last year in the late Harry Carroll Revue— Eddie Lambert just back from Noo Yawk and writing his new act over the luncheon— John T. Murray and Vivian Oakland (Mrs. J. T.). We finally solved the problem of arriving at the Brown Derby and eating lunch the same day. We arranged with Nick for a “standing-sitting reserva- tion so now we only wait a *4 hour and sit that long for lnucheon—IN HOLLYWOOD NOW. . „ ^ ^ T . - „ The front row of the Olympic Fites Tuesday, A1 Jolson trying to fan the resin out of his eyes. Noticed Arthur Freed of that team of song writers Brown' & Freed—Harry Askt another old-timer who still writes real themie songs—We always see “Violinsky” in the first row balcony here or the first seat in the Roosevelt Hotel—First we have seen of Sam Kramer, since his trip to Europe with Redmond & Wells. We notice that “Hatless” Lew Schreiber is no more—Since his trip to Noo Yawk, Lew has brought gack a “swanky sky-piece —and lo-and behold driving up the Boulevard “The Dummy” in a brand new racy roadster, that is he had someone driving the car, and it’s no one else than his idol Jack Oakie in a “sweatshirt,” looking very rakish. We haven’t seen a real vaudeville Bill in so long we wouldnt know what to do if we did—so we dropt into the RKO THEATRE, Los Angeles to get a load of our boy friend Jackie Osterman, Broadway s Playboy, and we mite add (Beau Brummel)—We saw a fine vaudeville bill and Jack topped it off immensely—Naturally Jack reminded us of the Winter Garden when he made his first Sunday Nite Concert ap- pearance a few years back, and we forget how many consecutive Sunday Nites he played thereafter, not counting the Benefits he played in be- tween shows—To the Roosevelt and a few words with our old boss Sid Grauman, who was all “agog” putting his “Graumanesque”^ touch on every little detail of the furnishing a-nd decorating for the Grand opening” of the new Roosevelt Hotel Orchestra, under the leadership of our boy friend, Johnny Murray, who played in Max Fishers Band in “Good News,” which brought us out here three years ago to aid in its direction—Johnny since that time emerged from the pit, ’ threw away his trumpet and used his “singing voice” and has sung many songs for Warner Brothers pictures—Now it looks like Johnny will again have to pick up the trumpet and blow his own horn, although it doesn t oempare with Rube Wolf’s (we mean the schnozzle). Lobby lounging in the comfortable chairs, big Tom Kennedy, pic- ture actor, ex-fighter, and now fight manager and from Noo Yawk—- Teddy Hayes chief handler for Doc Kearn’s leather-pushers— Suave Charles Carter, the Magician of the old and new schol, who makes world tours more often than A1 Jolson takes trips to Noo Yawk—If Charley gets the Theatre location he wants for the show he is contem- plating. we venture to say the show and house will clean up—Where is the big hearted Theatre owner complaining about hard times—Get in touch with Charles Carter IN HOLLYWOOD NOW. Then over to the “hang-out” for the after the Fite crowd^Henry s on And once again to the Hollywood Legion Stadium Fites and rite in the first row our old pal Georgie Stone with his boy friend, Mervyn Le Roy—Chuck Reisner, Fox Movie Director, knows about fiters, too —Marjorie White, Fox picture comedienne and singer hardly recogniz- able wearing horn-rimmed glasses— Noah Beery rite down there in front row— Bert Wheeler calling the shots— Ray Hallor telling George Court- ney what to do, but to no avail—Even Teddy Hayes, his trainer, couldn t make George understand— Walter Weems, now a writer of dialogue- jimmy Finlayson kidding us about our 21st Birthday, on November 21st —Tut Mace and her Ma again at the Hollywood Fites—How Come?— the Boulevard and at one table more Brother Masquers, including Andy Clyde, Mr. & Mrs. Morris Black —and Harry Gribben, another of the flock who have just returned from Noo Yawk— Mr. & Mrs. Sammy Cohen “splitting a herring and some Mulligan Stew”—It’s the only way to keep harmony between Sammy and his Collen Bawn” —and in a corner Henry, himself, and as usual his guest Charley Chaplin, the “Lone Wolf” even as he walks up Hollywood Boulevard, window-gaz- ing and humming to himself and disappearing into the fog-wrapped Hollywood, NOW. , Gordon Spectacle Produc- tions are planning to open in a big way on the coast this com- ing season with their spectacu- lar shows, according to J. Saunders Gordon. The pageants will be presented with a ballet and eight acts of vaude.. “Garden of Dreams,” one of their shows, will have more than 100 in the cast, unless changes in plan are made. In charge of booking, A1 Leich- ter, Los Angeles agent, soon will begin engaging the talent. ON THE INSIDE - IN SEATTLE ROY OXMAN Represented vet—630 People’s Bank Bldg., MAin 0799 Notes Along Fifth Avenue Vancouver VANCOUVER, Nov. 27.—Lillian Albertson’s and Louis O. Macloon’s “The New Moon” opens for a week’s run at the Vancouver, De- cember 1. * * * Empire Opera Co., which opened at the Vancouver for a four weeks’ run in light opera productions, folded at end of third week owing to lack of support by fans. Their bills “Merry Widow,” “Naughty Marietta” and “Sally, 1 ’ were well produced, but failed to pull. Each week showed deeper decent into the red. * * * Captain Plunkett’s “Dumbells” in Come Eleven,” all Canadian Re- vue, played three days at the Van- couver the latter part of November to fair business, in the last lap of their trans-Canada tour. * * * Capitol is fast going back to its stage show policy, of the days be- fore ‘talkies.” Its first move in that direction was several weeks ago, when Ivy Evans, brushed the dust from the silent Wurlitzer, and went to bat as the only flesh and blood artist on the three-a-day bill with organ selections. The pres- ent week, Isobelle McEwan, in character vocals, is another addi- tion to the flesh and blood end of the bill. Paramount’s “The Spoil- ers” is the screen fare. .* * * Colonial, independent spot oper- ated by Hector Quagilloti, has felt the novelty wear off the talkies, as registered by the box office barom- eter. This one is reverting to the magnet that formerly made the jin- gle loudest at the b. o. amateur nights. B. C. censor board continues to chop and condemn the product of Hollywood. “Big House,” “Com- mon Clay” and “Sea Wolf,” have aroused the board’s disapproval. * * * Zizz Black has opened as m. c. at the Montreal, Montreal. OLSEN IN KHJ Robert Olsen, of KFRC, came to Los Angeles this week to make a Victor record of “Dreamy Roc’'- Mountain Moon.” He was immedi- ately conscripted by KHJ. Jim Clemmer making folks feel at home ... in the lobby . . .Joe Cooper coming out of the Fifht . . . and no wmanager of the Or- pheum . . . Jimmy Blair and Don James making away with the make- up . . Sammy Siegel getting plenty of work . . . and not relishing it as much as red ties . . . Bessie Hill kidding an old timer in the show biz . . . Gen Beilis being paged as grandma . . . and liking it . . . Monique Thomas impersonating Kreisler at a children’s broadcast party . . . Stan Spiegel dropping his watch . . . Hal Chambers helping Bill Ross sing . . .Myrtle Strong taking a dozen eggs home . . . probably to learn juggling . . . Harry Mills accusing the press of selling an ad . . . impossible . . • Owen Sweeten planning worth- while concerts for the coming sea- son . . . Henry Ross going to work or lunch . . . they both mean the same thing . . . Alice Brady in for an indefinite stay at the Moore . . . and walkiqg around on a weak leg . . . Will King out for an air- ing WORK, SPEND HELPS TRADE SEATTLE, Nov. 27.—With everybody being urged to work and spend more, business seems more to be on the up and up. A lot of stage and screen stars are being imported to keep things merry during the dreary months. Fifth Avenjie led to the gong with $16,5000 on “Remote Control,” and a fairly god stage bill from Fanchon and Marco’s office. Orpheum with “Silver Horde” horded a neat $14,000. A good va- riety fare helped. Paramount rated third with $13,500. Chevalier should have meant a lot but his vehicle kept them away. Fox with first Paramount picture it has ever presented here, “The Virtuous Sin,” was satisfying, as box office revealed $10,000 for the week. Owen Sweeten still going strong. Blue Mouse with “Rivers End” registered $6,510. Not bad. Music Box with “Doorway to Hell” went to heaven with $7,500. Also not bad. Trianon and Mc- Elroys still going in for new pa- trons via the pass system. DENVER SPOT-NEWS Representative L. C. "DUSTY” RHODES 1411 Seventeenth St. TAbor 9901 DENVER, Nov. 26.—Howard Tillotson and Rube Milton are en- joying capacity business in their new Madrid Dance Club. A wonderful band, under direction of Tommy Watkins, renders music hard to beat in local dance circles. Floor show produced by Milton, consists of 10 girls, several specialties by members of the Fivolie theatre cast, with the feature being the “Fearless Comedy Four,” popular comic quaitette. New act is trio of girls, who sing some harmony, made up by Betty Keating, Fanchon Milton and Onie^Lea. At the Broadway, Mitzi Hajos appears in “The Madcap,” a fine musical comedy. This will be her last week at this house. No announce- ment being out as to who the next* guest star will be. One of strangest dedications in the history of the modern theatre was witnessed in the opening of the Fox West Coast, New Mayan a number of Indians being brought from a reservation to give dances and weird ceremonies. This new theatre is truly an artistic achievement, the ancient Mayan motif being carried out to the smallest detail. Per- manent feature here is Stanley Del Marr Wheeler at the Wurlitzer. Added attraction' is a number of songs by the Mayan Quartet which brought a marvelous hand. “Monte Carlo”, with Jeannette MacDonald was the picture. MURRAYS ARE CAST John T. Murray and Vivian Oak- land are cast as man and wife in the new Educational-Mermaid Comedy, “Their Wives’ Vacation.” Vaude Notes EMIL STURMER MUSICAL DIRECTOR PARAMOUNT THEATRE SAN FRANCISCO STOP and LISTEN to the WESTERNERS MALE QUARTET KFRC San Francisco Charlie Foy has returned to vaudeville with a company of seven. They are not, however, any part of the celebrated “Seven Little Foys.” With the execution of Vio- let West, blonde beauty, Mr. Foy’s company is made up of young men. * * * Moran and Mack are scheduled for RKO Coliseum and 86th Street Theatres this week. More time in Greater New York houses will be played before they take to the tour. * * * Lillian Roth, popular young song- stress who came into prominence as a talkie feature within the past year, this week returned to RKO vaudeville. She’s appearing at RKO Albee, Brooklyn. * * * New acts playing, or about to play, for RKO include Bob Kane and Helen Gra- : n “Shoe_ Strings”; Haynes, Lehman and Kaiser, “The Three Little Playmates”; Lillian Dawscn, “The Modern Trilby,” of- fering songs, with Danny Vidor at the piano, and Dannie and Eddie, billed as “Ebony Dancers Who Are Different.” Behrendt-Levy-Rosen Co., Ltd. General Insurance Insurance Exchange Building VA 1261 HAVE YOU HEARD BILLY VAN On K. G. E. R? N.Y. * STAGE & DANCE DIRECTOR & PRODUCER * L. A. (FACULTY)—Bud and Gladys Murray, Byron Cramer—(BALLE I ) Mary • Frances Taylor PRACTICAL DRAMATICS AND STAGE DANCING TAP, Off-Rhythm, “Modernized BALLET” & Acrobatics Only AUTHORIZED “Bay District Branch’’-JAN1CE.SPRAGUE SCHOOL 7 127 Marine St., Ocean Park—Tel. Santa Monica 63145 a "THE ORIGINAL MURRAY SCHOOL”*. NEW YORK, CHICAGO AND LOS ANGELES^ George and Florence Barclay PRODUCERS AND DANCE DIRECTORS now associated DOUGLAS SCHOOL OF DANCING 1417 7th avenue—Seattle One of the finest theatrical producing dance studios on the Pacific Coast “Regards to our many friends in Los Angeles