Variety (Aug 1930)

Wednesday, Awgust 13, 1930 FILM HOUSE REVIEWS VARIETY 49 PARAMOUNT , New York, Aug. 8. If- an all-lau«h program at the 'JSnount this week, with the ex- *!S5Si of the Jesae Crawford or- SSTflelectlbna, which are even a liSia tatter than usuaJ- v^'sUnTThnblln. with hie regular JirtWBd preacher routine, got the S£? folks as if the Adam and Eve j^Ie firm had never been parodied **VoSlng much In the unit except Slim The dancing girls, caper oround during Intermissions In va- .^ua unpretentious gowns. A trio •htvoane men sing harmony In rou- Sie fashion; not so good when they ^ to solo. Unit has a false en- Mince. Couples caught In dance by dM^dy are shifted too suddenly to BDUtbeim drop. However^ not bad, •Ind good entertainment for sUch a simple piece of staging, thematlcally and mechanically. ' BublnofC doesn't do so much per- eonal bobbing this week. A violin Mlo In Individualism. Orchestration js a- hodge-podge of pop Spanish numbelrs fairly well blended. ; Feature picture, "Queen High," ftom the show, got more laughs from a Friday night opening crowd ' tbfui arty comedy has clocked here same ev,e In months. •Paramount newsreel. Waly. He should be given more to do and some regular dialog weekly U he Is going to be a second Melson here. Hilton and Allen, brace of blond femmes, let loose some rough com- edy, with a pitifully weak flnnle bringing In the principals. This series of acts gave the patrons their money's worth even though lacking. Best thing in the show Is by Gabriel Hlnes, orch leader, and Harold Rleder, console gracer. Hlnes starts off an overture when Rleder bursts in with his organ and screen slides explain he doesn't think much of Hlnes, because no- body sings with his playing. An argument between the two con- tinues; each plays a number with- out any words on the screen and with no singing. Each Is chagrined, but with words on, the songs are sung, each begging the audience to sing louder for him. Then they ex- change places for comedy effect. No one credited for the stuff. They end by playing together. Instead of the usual trailers, an- nouncements are made by moving ribbon i»-lnt across the whole cur- tain. "What a Man," feature, nicely re- ceived". Austin, CAPITOL HARRIET HdCTOR (5) Ballerina Revue Chicago, Aug. 8. Current F. & M. "City Service" Idea does not compare more than favorably with the elaborate War- ner Jubilee Month trappings scat- tered hither and yon on the pro- , duction end. As for the talent— 20 Mini.; Full (Special) well, the ushers all got their uni- Palace (St. V.) forms cleaned and have been very Harriet Hoctor back again m a snappy lately. new variety line-up. Including four Principal work is by five boys males In support, none doubling and live girls who start as white with her on her truly arUstlc tersi- wmgs In a good routine with street chorean specialties, but each con- brushes and taps, before a prop tributing Individually. . , city hall. Zeb Mesa sings, Prank George Hurst Is the musical dl- Sterllng flops with a combined har- rector. Mlscha MarkolT, George monica and guitar solo. Quincy and Abagoil and Sascha LeonoflT. an all- New Acts Stanley, for comedy, the girl little and the man tall and in shorts, are barely average dancers. Myrtle Gorda, songstress, gets over like a soub. McGrath and Deeds, comedy team not a part of the unit but added here, were the big noise. McGrath, a little fellow, has created a satire on a husband-pecked wife that's now a scream for family houses. ORIENTAL Chicago. Aug. 8. This show, "Raisin' Kane," pro- duced by Paul Oscard, runs into inoney for talent, with Helen Kane / Mbooplng at $5,600.to balance what's conceded as just a fair picture, •TVay of All Men" (FN). ■ From several standpoints the '•baby-faced It girl is a natural for ^« Oriental. She symbolizes fad, posh zeal; delivery is hokey, but has tbat nicely rounded s. a. Oscard hais produced a clean-cut -fhow that's speedy an'd straight' comedy all the way, with Harry Ifose doing his m. c. Rose gets the • Introduction he deserved some weeks •go In a cleverly costumed drill by .'the Lambert girls, who have on ■ fhelr backs huge, winking masks and who sing a bit about the ■•^roadway Jester," as they call Harry. Nice extemp gagging by Rose, Ufaose forte seems to be a singing ■tart, was followed by a good band ,nieclalty cleverly sold by the m. c, '|Eat business^ of reading a yam from pash magazine with proper mus- ■Ical interruptions. This got over , the first show as an encore number. ..vWPPs Brothers and Sister, mixed /booflng trio, went nicely on back- . A nice production nimiber on . the sp)Ag,'"I Remember," had the ballet , girls posed In a slivered cameo niche UgairtSt a solid black drop with soft 'Oscardlan lights. They trip down the stairs set for a sllver-sklrt bal- 'let routine. ^ Show was 26 minutes when they ..frot to Helen Kane In a dress of flaming red.. Five numbers In sue cession after a big reception and dragging Rose Into It for some hoke comedy; mostly songs associated •'.Vlth her picture work. BYom the 'first quaver she had no trouble, was " «.ncored once and had to beg off. In 50 minutes not a dull moment ,,An .exceptional orchestral overture mth good lighting, Louis Adrian dl rccting, organlog by Ed Miekel, "somewhat long; news .qhots and that "At Home" short witli t .;1u McCon .Jell. House had lOO .xoats In the . balcony and a lobby Cull of waiters .at the first show. Loop, STANLEY Pittsburgh, Aug. 7. This unit has the Stanley's new m. c, Gene Morgan, from the west coast. It shouldn't take Morgan long to catch on anywhere. He's one of the smoothest and most amusing fellows to stop over here in some time, and offers something new In an m. c, a performer who goes entirely for the strictly musi- cal comedy stuff. Morgan doesn't even lead the band; he doesn't sing and he doesn't dance—at least, he didn't in his opening show—but he had the house with him from the beginning. Morgan goes chiefly for gags, blackouts and ridiculous costuming. He makes little effort to disgulfse where most of his material comes from. Morgan may be what .the Stanley needs. At least, he's a new sort of m. c. personality for this village, and if the laughs out front today Indicate anything, should stick Just as long as his material holds out. 'Forward March" otherwise is chiefly Nina Olivette, who has her old vaude turn dressed up like the real goods. She clicked with her hbke dancing and got the show off to a flying start that never once let down. Talent and Merit developed Into a show-stopper, and Eddie Michaels got over nicely In some loose-Jointed dancing. As an added attraction Rosen baum's, local department store, pre sented a $250,000 preview In fall styles, with Morgan working himself In among the models for plenty of belly roars with hie nonsensical chatter and straw hat, rat fur coat and ear muffs. New m. c replaces Dick Powell, who has moved back to Enright, In East Liberty, where he was stationed for several months Picture, "Bright Lights" (FN), and biz opening show capacity. Covert. BRANFORD Newark, N. J., Aug. 8. 'This is David Weshner's "Surprise week" at the Branford. Neither - the picture, "What a Man," nor the acts billed. ' : The stage show consists of one •f the Publlx Revues with added ■ aets, but either the Pabllx part has . been mercilessly slashed or It was ', Wetty weak to start' with. The stage Is pleasing with elevated mid Bectlon for band and above a sort of •; promenade, but the thing has no . meaning. Some sort of party ;,-J"egested by the Initial lines— ,.,*nlch Is as far as It gets. The •band plays quite effectively with ■ Sadie Garr, the most recent m. c, . getting a chance to show his per- . ronallty aa be leads. Both he and Oand have plenty of stuff. ■ -A. dozen girls start the show with a dance ending with radium flash Defore the curtain. They have pep The Campus 4 sing a bit, giving way to a pair of one-legged acro- bats who do some hard feats and win. The girls return with the flouble face stunt. For the false OA ^^^^ dressed In red cloaks and the shifts In varying numbers *rom one face to the other clicked- J'al and "Vera dance without dls- W"5:tlon but Pal goals 'em at the end with cartwheels. A mild black- eut gives way to Nancy Decker wnglncr a blues and getting some- ' '"ing for it. The orch helps much oy Introducinj? a little of the "Rhap Body in Blue." Phyllis Wyckoff, kid acrobatic w'in'"' *^ ^"st that and no more, Sn I ^ most kids, draws applause proportion to her size, ^jfJoJe Garr sings a blue number, ill sing much but he has uio» , else and Is plainly pop- ular with the dames, getting over. Russe trio, specialize In the vodka school of knlfe-and-hock dancMig> "Black Eyes" vocalization and ac- cordion Instrumentation, although the latter also gave forth as torrid a "St. Louis Blues" as any honky tonky keyboard manipulator. It was the Handy indigo classic which dovetailed into Miss Hector's concluding "Ballet Blues," probably accorded ajl the professional protec- and especially presentation. In the "on necessary for the Idea, not alone finale, which occurs in a flre sta tlon. Laddie Lament does some dancing on a ladder. Program completed with "Sweet- hearts and Wives" (FN), and news shots. by recording In these columns but by her own unique and extraordi- nary treatment. Doing an artistic ballet to as "hot" a composition as this is a novelty in idea alone. Russell E. Markert Is Business good at the supper show credited for staging, and Presumably Friday, opening day. Loop. R-K-O, L. A. (Continued from page 48) around the Intermediary vaude stands for years. Following any number of names ahead of hers on these Intact bills. Miss Clark's means nothing In this town. Her material, as always, is light. A few character songs and wise cracks, topped off with some adllbblng with her husband, Bobble Kuhn, In the pit. "Lights and Flashes" Is one of the weakest flashes that has ,come this way In some time. Nine people in the turn Include a mediocre sister had something to do with that as well. Miss Hoctor does some of the stuff shown in her first week at the Roxy a couple of weeks ago, and probably recruited some of the other from her hold-over week's program at the picture house, "With quite a bit of production ex- perience uiider Zlegfeldlan auspices In three successive musicals, plus her own talents, Miss Hoctor fully merits her billing as "America's "premier ballerina." If the trend of the times were at- tuned to her stuff, similar to the Pavlowa days of IB years ago. Miss Hoctor unquestionably could also knock out those $20,000 weeks on the road as did Pavlowa. However, with the post-war tempo of things, Miss Hoctor can still sell a straight team, adagio coUple, singing duo that don't help any, and three men K^uet^TOfo'sneclatty "for"a^'muih wrh/v olfkAi. ii,>r.Kia A.^ Kii*tA,.<lva I oauei BOlo Specially lor as mucn value and to greater popular favor than her precedessors, and whe.. she tops It with the ."blues" conception, It's Just an added convlncer. Abel. who either tumble or do butterflys. Best of the lot Is Azllee, Oriental contortionist-dancer, who gets fea ture billing. Loma 'Worth, one girl band. Who has been getting some publicity by flying her own plane from town to | RQY 8EDLEY (6) town, was an uninteresting opeper. "Sound and Unsound" Despite Miss "Worth's versatility Comedy, Dancing with instruments she lacks show- 20 Mine.; One manshlp and insists on dancing. l86tli Street Ed Pressler and Blanche Klalss Comedy turn for next to closing might have made a good No. 2, or where acts ordinarily classed for along the old "Western 'Vaudeville that spot are now placed. There are trail, but not on a short bill where five people In the act. Including Roy every act counts. Miss Klalss | Sedley, with routine far more dl STATE, L. A. Los Angeles, Aug. 7. Advertised outside of the theatre as a $60,000 stage show, "Busy Bee may be 147,000 short of that figure, but after a few changes should shape up as one of the class units qf .Fanchon & Marco. Present trouble is with the spot- ting and not a matter of talent Presentation is bXillt around a pick up femme band which rates high musically and In entertainment. Girl musicians who all sing and dance are unusual; here the girls double as the chorus in the first part. Fanchon organized the band here especially for the unit. Opening gets away from the usual chorus routine with Phil Arnold and Leona Galen working in one. Girl sings and Arnold taps. The latter,, a good comic, is lost as he doesn't have a chance' to come on again until the finale, and then only to do a fall. Chorus follows in sun- flower costumes singing a medley of "Bee" numbers. Paul Howard, acrobatic dancer, next In same set. Started slow and stayed that way until his flnish. A good performer, his work Is handi- capped by a smart alec manner. Built up on his second dance, when he was all work, but could have landed better if he started out to sell his stijff at the beginning. Cooper and Orren next, also in one. Here is where the presenta- tion goes haywire. Hoke comics, doing a few imitations of musical instruments and ending with hoke acrobatics, they're out of place in this spot. Boys worked hard but failed to land anywhere. The band next, which Isn't billed and is a surprise on quality. Girls did three numbers, with Leona Galen leading. Finish has them all down front doing a dance while playing. Stopped the show and did two encores. Finale has George Stoll's pit band on the stage, with both bands play- ing. House line of 16 girls Up their way to the final curtain. "Song o' My Heart" (Fox) is the feature, here on Its first pop run with Fashion Feature and Fox news clip to fill. Business fair at first show Thursday. dances around while warbling ballads and fox trots. Pressler is of the old hoke school with a parody on Herb Williams, Al Trahan, Eddie Conrad and others, only Pressler doesn't talk. Taken for what it means, the mat biz Thursday was better than good with "Hell's Island" (Col.) the screen draw; No argument about the picture being the thing this time. Span. Dance Schools Boom (Continued from page 1) caused a price war, knocking tu- ition and Instruction scales down to minimum. Lowest scale struck thus far is |1. That's the most reasonable price on record for a dancing les- son at a first grade schooL These would-be legmariiacs do not include the hundreds of children now taking dance lessons. The steppers are plain office workers who spend their nights learning how to roll off the log. Most of them will never be dancers If they go to school for the rest of their lives. Some will learn to dance, but not enough to crash the pro- fessional stage. A few may get In a flasb act if lucky and some day get some place. Dancing Vacations With all but a few drop-outs, the dance lessons will go on for the rest of the summer. Many have de- cided to spend their vacations In dance schools Instead of going away to the beach or the country. The vacation money can almost cover a whole summer course. Favorite type of hoofery with the dance-crazed clerks and stenogs is rhythm (tap) dancing. "With It they slip in some acrobatics, as most stage dancing today is a mixture of real dancing and plain gymnastics. The desire of so many youths to follow 'he hooflng profession is at- tributed to the broad advance made by stage dancing and dancers in the last couple of years, with many In- conspicuous hoofers in insignificant flash acts dancing better and much more strenuously than many of the old-time stars. A mediocre dancer now performs feats with his feet that dancers of other days wouldn't think of risking their legs for the same effect. verting than average and boiled down to the sure laughs. Sedley formerly did an act billed as Sedley and Mob, 15-peopIe flash, with a band. In the present turn Sedley has three men and a girl, With Billy smith and Vh-glnla Mar- tin receiving billing. Unbilled duo less Important than other pair but important to routine through cross- ing stage for laughs and taking part in other bits. About 96% of the Sedley act is crossfire, minute gags, blackouts and clowning, balance going to a couple brief dance numbers, that Including an acrobatic routine by Miss Martin that scores nicely, with a knee dance by Smith toward the flnish that Is also very clever. Sedley and Smith appear in va- rious comical costumes, latter most- ly In the low comic type of misfit duds and mostly working to flt that character. Not all of the Sedley material Is original. Held next to closing at this house on a Thursday night, going over tremendously. Char. "MIRROR OF PERSONALITIES" Dances and Songs 10 Min.; One and Full (Special) S8th St. (V-P) Tepid dancing and singing flash. Hodge-podge of one or the other. Luckily, doesn't consume much time. Nicely costumed ^nd given good scenery, but the talent doesn't live up to either. Wlllard Slngley is featured. A malo warbler of no singular distinction who usually goes into a love duet with Beulah Van Epps, cute looking girl. Peggy St. Clair, petite blonde, delivers two acrobatic routines. Both are short and neither outstanding. Four Rhythm Boys are the turn's best bet. Do group hoofing, tap and eccentric, gracefully and with much arm movements, meant to empha- size their leg work, pipes. Curtiss-Wright FLYING BAND (13) Wijth Bill Truesdale Orchestra; Specialties 18 Mine.; Full (Special) 86th St. Band of above average entertain- ment value, presented in a novel background and embracing a rou- tine of built-up numbers nicely handled, with audience appeal In- creased through novelty and the fact the men are flying students for Curtiss-Wright. Not a Palace act, but o. k. anywhere else. The Curtlss-"Wrlght people pro- duced the act and have assisted in exploiting it for R-K-O and their own bieneflt. It's one of those turns that could very well come in the class of "advertising acts." R-K-O booked the act for 10 weeks with an option for 48, and Is now reported not exercising the op- tion. If this is so, it seems a mis- take. 'While the band is no world- beater as a band, being about aver- age on music, the act has produc- tion value and tops the average by far as entertainment. In addition to the 11 men in the orchestra, in- cluding conductor (Bill Truesdale), all in aviator uniforms, two spe- cialty artists as mechanics are car- ried. One figures in eccentrle and acrobatic dancing that clicks nice- ly, while the other does a pop song. Latter scored big. A poorly made trailer precedes opening of 'act. The recording either wient haywire at this house Saturday afternoon or Is so awful it should be mended. The talking Casey Jones of the Curtlss-'Wrlght organization greeting boys on flying fleld and latter's take-off little above a whisper. Photography also poor. Band Is In a fullstage set of flying field atmosphere, with a practical backplece carrying the words "Cur- tlss-'Wrlght Flying School." 'Anchors Aweigh," announced as dedicated tq, Rear Admiral Byrd, opens. Other numbers Include "Stein Song" - as done in various countries (no attempt at laughs); special arrangement of "Tiger Rsfs" and a novelty number announced 1u a cross-country flight. A special drop representing a map of the U. S. Is lowered in "one." Stage goes dark and a small spot starts at New Tork, moving around the coun- try and Anally to the coast, with the band playing numbers typical of various cities' and states crossed. If Truesdale could do comedy with that singing mechanic with the comedy pan, some should be writ- ten to punch up the turn for pos- sible show-stopping strength. Over big here as it is, and of Ave acts on bill landed best hand. Next to closing. Char. RADCLIFFE and TODD Songs, Dances, Piano 21 Mine.) Two (Special) 58th St. • , Colored duo. Frank Radcllffe for- merly of Harris and Radcllffe. In present act he has retained the piano atmosphere and the Inverted lan- guage idea, besides formulating the turn so he gets all the gravy when it is gravy, by taking most the time and spots. Todd means little; be looks and acts new. Turn goes over entertainment time. Twelve minutes would have been plenty. They try all old gags possible and some typical comedy of the dumb Negro variety, while Radcllffe sings altogether too much and his orchestra leading could be left out. RadclliTe's voice is mostly falsetto tenor but over if he would sing It straight. He tries to run the gamut of technique and spoils It. Not par- ticularly at this house because most of audience was kids and uninter- ested housewives. No. 3 on six-act layout to go off okay. OSAKA BOYS (Bros.) (2) Japartese .Acrobats 7 Mine.; Two Palace (St. V.) Osaka Boys are thus programed, but otherwise announced as Bros., hence the supplementary paren- thetic billing above. Open with a risley ' formation, posed as the curtain xlses. Sub- stance of act is the pedal manipu- lation of the barrel which they Juggle about. Comedy is derived from several atudffius "misses" or failure to properly balance the prop barrel, getting quite a few laffs on that. In toto, neat opener. Abel. "ORIENTAL SKETCHES" (5) Flash 12 MIns.; Full Stage (Special) State The two principal numbers, sep- arated by announcements and a tap dance by the blond m. c., have been seen here before. "Where, or under what name, not recalled, but neither Is new. Adagio closing is best of the two and sells the act for what It Is, an Intermediate flash. First full stage item, after a song Intro by the girl, is a pantomime in silhouette, not too clear nor so strong. In the adagio the three men are flrst posed as a threeheaded idol. The girl they toss and catch In some difficult .tricks is a tiny brunet. Boys > have less clothes 4n than a Carroll beaut but they've pretty muscles and aren't timid about showing 'em. Bige. WEST and RAMON Piano, Songs 16 Mine.; One Englewood, Chicago This two-man piano act can m.-ike the grade at the better family ■houses. At this neighborliood did big. Regulation routine, but oke. Eu^ gene West is at the piano, with the turn using rco&t of West's ov/n tunes, although he is Insisting rather too much on the authorship. Jose Ramon contributes the straight vocalizing, with satisfactory pair of