Variety (Aug 1930)

58 VAJOETY NEW .'ACTS Wednesdaj, August 27, 1930 FLOYD GIBBONS (4) Riidio Talk IS IVIins.; Three and One Palace (St. V.) Floyd . Qlbbons, the National .firoadcastlngr Company'^ "headline hunter" and news* dUrest speaker, save Phil Baker credit for helping him to frame the turn. If literally Interpreted, Mr. Gibbons must have shown up for the Sat morning re- hearsals totally unprepared, with &aker suergesting the scrim effect for the studio Idea. Or, as is more likely, the seasoned comedian prob- ably helped materially on the physi- cal wrinkles of presenting the act. Floyd Gibbons, now a nation-wide name, and as famous in newspaper annuals as the Chi "Trlb" war cor- respondent—the loss of his left eye, with. Its neat, white shield, is a me- mento of a Ghateau-Thlerry attack —Is Introduced by an announcer from Station R-K-O heralding Gib- bons' regular period on the air. Gibbons Is seen through the scrim In a studio, with two youthful as- sistants giving him the newspapers, as he peers at them under a desk lamp. Huddling over the "mike." Gibbons, In his now famed rapid- fire staccato, discusses the topics of the day. The radio microphone Is authentlp and the broadcasting Illusion Is ^thftilly carried through from the Introducing of radlo^ annoiinceinents to his own spiel. Chances are thiat Gibbons varies his news dally, (in the act) to keep It timely. The impression lent here la that he ad Ubs It from the varl- .bus newspapers as .thdy coinrie to his. iattentton by his tyro assistants, who seemtnsbr mark' off pungent. para- graphs for the ■ rapld.-flre talker. Actilally, Gibbons* spiel is carefully itvrltten out .and prepared, deUvei^ed: eihoothly and with .less faltering than' at the Sunday's shb:w, where he trl|>ped himself .up a- hit. Thalt .may. have J>e>Mi diie fo Actual ad 11b- blngr .although'. his huddle would iiave made possible the orthodox^ mia'huscrlpt preparation, as In the "KBC studlds^. -It do6sh'^ matter much either .Way.- ..Gibbohs. Is a "name" «t pro- dl^ous slgiiilflcancd on . the air, and interest In him Is keen. '' The two youthful assistants are ' Bitting or alternatingly.'circultttlng around the studio, oh^ marking- oft or Ipointlng to paragraphEl in the press, and one also holding up his fingers to Indicate how much time there Is left for'the allotted period. Gibbons'" regular 'Xlterary Di- gest" time on the air Is 15 inlnutes, although this Is minimized some what by the. attendant commercial plugs. Similarly here, his actual pseudo-studio sple} was but 10 mln utes,. this Includli^ the brief Intro duces. Olbbphs thereafter comes Into ^one't for the. more personal contact. with h)s audience and. In .Chautauqua style, gives 'em the sehtlmenUil hokum, business of "meeting you in person," etc. He sold ' It engagingly enough, which makes him okay v&udeville. By the Intimate use of General Pershing's name In .a: story concern- ing the truth about the'^logan, "La tayette, y7e Are Here!" he further Impressed on the generau aura of personal Importahce, without any undue or even an approach of self Mr. Gibbons ballyhooed Phil Baker and also cracked about Ann Seymour's "sneezes," probably re tening to that comedienne's stand- ard recitation, "Kissing Cup's Last Race" (the. late Clifton Crawford comedy classic), but it so happened Miss Seymour had omitted it that. Sunday mat. Floyd Gibbons* "name" value and his engaging act makes him show- manly commercial anywhere. Just as good In big picture houses as in Taude, considering the microphonic, amplification assets. And a draw. bLEO, LaMARR and LITA (3) Singing, Dancing 10 Mine.; One and Two 'J«fre>»d1ri.. Spanish trio, two girls and boy, In native song and dance that should get over cicely in the neighbs, open- ing or as the deucer. Opening has the trio, the boy with a sand drum and the girls with cas- tanets, accompanying the pit crew,, playing a torrid Spanish tune, with each of the -girls, in colorful cos- tumes, stepping out for a bit of re- fined cooch stuff. One of the girls flashes a load of personality, singing several. Spanish pop numberd, among them "Vlolete- ria," done by Raquel Meller on this side. A pop number, sung In broken , English, also hit Dance team rushes through the* tango mattiche and a whirlwind dance in effective style. "RHYTHM QUEENS" (3). Dance. 7 Mine.; One.- 68th St. Three good looking girl hoofers, nicely dressed; Do pretty strong tap and eccentric routines for girls and nicely. Not a word Is spoken. Commence with group leg work mainly time taps and here and there interspersed with showy eccentrics. Have a nice smooth style. For finish go to solo dancing. Have some good stuft Pleasing deucer. ANN PENNINGTON Son'g and .Dances 6 Mins.; One Paramount, New York Ann Pennington ■ did not seem'at home In this large picture house. Her very attractive personality, usually a clincher before she starts to sing or dance in the smaller vaude and legit theatres, was but slightly evident three-quarters back here. An opening song was barely au- dible to the rear. But that is at- tributable either to lack of big house experience or natural short range. "Where the dimple-kneed Miss Pennington did err was in the first of two dance numbe/rs. Why such a tap dancer as she should spend half the time snake- hlpplng, which is merely cooching without the sharp turns, is hard to figure, unless Misjs. Pennington wished to save all the taps for the finale. The second dance was mostly taps, and much better for this audi- ence and for Penny before this audience. It was a mistake not to distribute some of the taps up ahead, with Miss Pennington cer- tainly capable of two routines. There was enough bnake-hipping during the song opening and the repetUlon was not warranted. li'hat tapping should have sent things, across, but -too many early drawbacks stood against It. Fair finish applause, enough for one bend. Bige. fOfi FIFTH AVENUE" (6) With Caroline Seofield Dan'bing, Comedy Flash 21 Mine.; Full (Special) 89th St. Mainly through its comedy, shoul-: dered. by Caroline Seofield, fairly! clever comedienne,, and the single specialties of one of the supporting' company, ,"6n Fifth Avenue"^ gets by. Rest of act Is weak, lowering its value for the better grade hpuses. 'Won't: be an outstanding . clicker, anywhere. "Well , staged and cos- tumied, It's - a pleaser- of average, merit for average audiences. .' Six . people,'. Including . besides come.dlenne and acrobatic specialty dancer, man as n^.c, sister team and. woman doubling between talk bits and specialty work; Billing includes only Miss Seofield, Adeline liorraine, Carl Byle and Matt Kennedy.. Two male' names, but only one man In the act, one of the gals apparently Using a masculine moniker. Name of act derived from set of fashion shop, with 6th avenue men- tioned frequently and a contrast be- tween styles of 1860 and today, open- ing; for fiavor. Miss Seofield makes her entrance as hoydenish- delivery girl who's seized upon as a model and placed'In a new type of bridal gown which Intentionally couldn't fit worse. Miss Scofield's funny shoes and the out-turned. toes add to the burlesque. Sister'team appears-several times for specialty dance numbers, doing some singing, but fall to click any where near strong. Acrobatic sin- gle, with some original stuff in the routine, stands away qiit. Her clever splits in bringing up the flno^o also very surefire. Ohar, GORDON KIBBLER and Band (12) 25 Mine.; Full Stage Jefferson Just another band act that shows little In novelty, with apparently no attempt made for something that might attract real notice. Band In front of plain back'-house drapes, with bandsmen in tuxes and Gordon Kibbler, Itb leader. In a white suit with black silk lapels. Opening, an elaborate arrange- ment of "Roses of Picardy" sends off the act to the slowest kind of a start. Thereafter it is pop dance numbers, with the drummer and tenor sax doing vocal interludes. Chorus all megaphone, with the s£x player resembling 'Vallee in general appearance and singing In the usual .manner.... trying.. ...toemulate U-that crooner's song salesmanship. Pick-out solo number reveals sev eral of the boys to bO capable mu sicians, but that's hardly enough to get this combo by, even in the inter- mediate spots. One or two attempts at comedy way short. JACK MAJOR Songa 12 Mins.; One and Two 81 St St. Billed as a radio and Brunswick record artist Jack Major shapes up as a .fair deucer for the neighbor hood houses, with appearance his main asset. Opening has him stand ing beside a phonograph singing in harmony with his own recording of "Give Tour Baby Lots of Loving." Preceding this bit Is a long trailer introducing Major and shedding light on his career to date in type. Sobby ballad titled "That's What a Baby Can Do," probably his own composition, follows opening pop number. Most of Major's songs have stood the wear and tear of time and his delivery is far below average, as he stands In one spot and acts as though handcuffed. His whistling, yodellng and kid stories, however, are oke. On second here and called back for an encore, Major threw in both knees, giving them "That's My Mammy," and made them like it. "LOVELY LADieS* (14) Girl Band 26 Mine.] On* and-Full Slat St. . Well staged and nicely, mounted, turn capable of competing .with most of the acts of this character. Featured Is Miriam Hoffman, vlo- Ilnist-leader, who steps out for sev- eral pop comedy numbers, which, she wham^ over In likable style.. Another comedy song and a gen- eral quickening of pace by cutting the time allotted a contortlonlstlc dancer wbuld help lots. . Girls are good Instrumentalists and have avoided the usual pitfalls for girl band acts that lie in too elaborate, orchestrations. Girls play- ing trombone and banjo stand out. Miss Hoffman shows plenty of personality In selling "Man From South" and "Around the Comer,"' with the band girls supplying the' responses arnd dose harmony. Girls use miniature rhlnestoned megra- phones during their harmonizing for a nice fiash. Slow start has the girls in shlm- ihery satin dresses down front for the usual "Hello everybody, how do you do'.' opening chorus, which ends with "We're Soandso's lovely ladles but who the hell Is he?" after wlilch they go Into a hand and foot pre- cision routine that Is effective. Tap dancer then fills a wait while the band girls change to colorful cos- tumes. Neither«the tapper nor the acrobatic dancer show anything new but Miss HofCman and the girls show evidences of having tried for something dlfferisnt In the line-of girl band. acts. < Closing the four act layout here turn was well received. . FOSTER'S XYLOPHONETTES Instrumental; Songa, Dances 22 Mini,; Full St«0O Lincoln Sq^ ' Billed as an act from "Night In Spain," - musical- revue, -, this.. turn shapes up as, a neat closer for the lieigtibdrhbod vaude spots on flash value alone. In addition to 12 girls and a man bouAcing the hammers on the sounding woods, act. enlists tap, Acrobatic and eccentric hoofers. Opening has the girls playing the stage full of xylophones in lively fashion, after which they step Into line for a display of precision rou- tines In the usual Allan Foster manner. Nicely staged and color- fully mounted, but some pruning in ruimlng.. time of the unison stuff would prove advantageous. Xylo- phone stuff well handled' with the lone maiK In the novelty orchestra carrying the load, some of the girls using heavily, padded hammers. Girl tap dancer sings better than most before going Into .h6r hoofing and fem doing acrobatic stuff Im- presses with her fan.number work- ing In some difficult back bends, splits and plnwheels for good ef- fects. iMale exponent of eccentric hoofology also fits In nicely. Clos- ing bill here turn was well re- ceived. Horton SPUR and Step Sisters (4) Pianp, Songa, Dances 17 Min.; Full (Special) 81 St St. Produced on the Inverted. Hor- ton Spur looks experienced.' He does two bits that al-e okay to istrike a bit of gentle comedy. Latter domes when he does his slow motion golfer. Other bit is soft shoe tumbling dance. Which makes It look as If Spur could be built up into a good single. He should not try to sing. Of tiie four girls, only one passes. She's a blonde high kicker. For inland programs only. Act's big fault besides lack of tal ent is that it starts with promise of a song. and instrumental act and then spends 16 minutes to prove it's not even a good dance act. Girls are tall and without voices. Opening costumes of long white debutante gowns, no good—especially when girls try dancing in them with- out showing limbs. Other costumes okay. hut. Spur , pulls, a .fault. In .try. ing to' sing an announcement that couldn't be heard. BARNEY RAPP Orchestra (14) Band and Specialties. 21 Mine.; Full Stage. State. Ebrney Rapp's dance band dou bling in vaude from the New Yorker hotel (announced), plays the sort of music that can be hoth danced and listened to. Added are two num bers by the boys, pacing the straight playing and holding it up. Al bertlna "Vitak and Dorothy James, dancers, will be liked. Act Is suit- able for any theatre that can pay it, For its two novelties, the Rapp band has borrowed from better known organization^ Waring's Pennsylvanlans and. HlBidt's Call- fomians. They are the wooden whistle and illuminated megaphone ideas, changed a bit as done by this band, but not enough. Rapp's music is fine. No attempt to get classlcaL Everythiijig hot or low but raggy. Stage arrangements are sufficiently away from the dance type to please con-dancing theatre audiences. Miss 'Vltak Is a toe dancer, around before In a girl act. Her second numb.er, off the toes. Is a well done Oriental with a slight wiggle. Miss James is a redheaded rhythm stepper. Both swell look- ers, and that means a lot. Bige. -A BACHELOR'S DOMANCE" (S) Songa^ Dances, Comedy 17 MIna.; Full (Spaotal) . Jefferaon (V-P) Familiar in Ideas. Stuff used here splotched all dver In units for some time, so how this one can stand up against the old style unit quality is something a booker and theatre must consider. This one Is neither Unit nor vaude. Only for inland family centers. Flopperlno eveii here on No.*3, in seveni-act layout. Of the three girls; one is a singer, another is supposed to be a combo, of both singer and dancer, and the third, dancer. The third girl, dark haired and paired with a Comic, Is the brightest' spot. She knows her dancing, costumes, figure and. coin- edK'rhythm. Comic can be tutored, too. Singer girl and the blonde combo artiste lack stage presence and real ability every : way. The man. looks like an old timer and takes the lead-off on everything. Setting Is off to begin with. Sup- posed to be a drawing room, the curtain rises on ai cluttered full stage. Idea of the act is the man's old sweethearts coming out of a picture frame. DOYLE'and 8CHIRMER. Singing, Talk. 11 Mini.; One. x 86th St. Pl^iaslng'harmony act, with male team as- dude cowlK ys and affecting the wedtern lingo. Rates for No. 2 but far from outstanding for that spot in houses of this calibre, with opening Weak and the talk lacking punch.' DOyle and Sctlrmer are young Juves with more than the avetbge personality and poise; Both have good , voices. They play the har- monica and uke effectively ias part of the harmony routine. Yodellng number, also, one of the high spots of the turn, but the effort to ring in novelty through doing one num- ber In plg->latin shows little. Bit in which' one of the lads plays an Inch-harmonica' without the hbnds clicksuroi Fair applause, with ' act unlikely to do.better anywhere else In houses of this rating unless strengthened through better talk. Char. PINCUS and HAYWARD. Comedy, SongaT Dance. 14 Mine.; One. 81st St. Nothing original In the turn ex- cept the spontaneity with which Bobby Plncus pulls his comic stuff and that Ina Hayward has a voice. That should be anywhere for No. 2 after a little ride on the neighb bills for smoother routine. Miss Hay ward Is tall and singrs in strdng coloratura, fashion, to grab every- thing from the customers. Much of the stuff the two do is slam bang chatter so Uc>ual in many teams nowadays, of the comic mak- ing a crack and the woman shoving him over. Pincus can pull his fall awkwardly and he does a twisting dance for the closing that rolls 'em- In between he has a habit of sock- ing himself on the chin to start himself off for A.'ork. No. 2 here and over big in good style.. Miss Hayward might lose the waving hanky. "PAST and PRESENT" (4) Dances 7 Mins.; Three Jefferson If customers in the family neighbs have not yet become tired of seeing flat^raters get by on the sent! mentality of introducing old people to bolster an act's setoff, this turn can go as a No. One in such spots Played opener on a seven-act bill here for okay. Okay was prinbi pally from the old couple's, dancing, and in every respect better than put forth by the boy and girL . Turn opens on the boy and girl in a waltz tap, then goes b, g, b, g; an- nouncement; mother; dad; mother and-4ad; flnale<—Or- something like that. Old boy mopping up when he shows Up the whole caboodle with his wing steps, doing about seven in one number and two choruses of them at that Another bad spot is that the "mother's" hair looks like a wig. REGAINING CHILDREN (Continued from page 61) also isn't too adult, than out of pic- tures, 'Unless the latter fall in the "action" class, when it's a toss-up on preference. Every large circuit awakened re- cently to the deficit on business that had been caused by kid Indifference, with Publix first to step on a drive to bring them back. Fox followed with rock-bottom admissions for kids, while R-K-O and others went about their campaigns in a differ ent way, with studios asked to turn out at least some film product that would sell to the kids. 'Vaude as the biggest kid draw argument has come up since these campaigns were started, with that policy's potency from the box office point of view now stressed in;4xn im- portant way. Hays Curbing Dirt (Continued from page 26) her of mlsceiianeous houses in the United States, over which the or- ganized Industry has had little or no control, bM for years been one of the most serious problems confront- ing regular producers. ' The Hays office has made itumerous efforts at times .attempting to invoke stat-' utes In various of the states, but without any key to a national solu- tion. Renegadea In most cases, Haysites now claim, attacks.on the business have been based upoii some renegade pic- ture beyond the scope of regulation. Sex pictures that have been en- dorsed- by clerics and educator^ have Immediately after the preview been dressed with lurid advertising' lectures,, and accompanied by llv^ stock pseudo Illustrations. With 20,000 registered theatres In the U. S. the Hays members, while controlling all of the big ones and lyet having less than a 60% say in the operatlns of the whole, have •been made the butt many times of outside promoters whom they have officially ruled out of filmdora. Tbre^tts of prominent legit pro- ducers to Ignore the code and pro- duce for the screen their Own shows in their own original way are ad- mitted to have given Impetus to this latest conipalgn to Inform ex- hlbs Of their Indebtedness to thiei picture Industry. 10% Loss Already, jit In claimed in film pro- ducer sources, the Code has lowered the selling pdwer of the Broadway playwright by about 10%, and the squawks against It from those qu§r« ters are reported plenty. The code, in the case of the playwright. It makes the new formula for winters, deemed tough In Itself at fir.Bt, Just baby-food by comparison. The angle of not being "dirty in principle" Is the undoing of many of the current shows when Holly« wood comes to Broadway for mar- keting In the 1931-32 schedules. Just as the writers for the New York stage are suffering, so are some of Hollywood's more ambitious directors. Before the Code, yrhen a cycle of pictures was started, in the usual way, a director in a rival com* pany could go his predecessor one better In a bedroom scene, etc. Noyr, according to latest word In the Coda factory, the cycle can be started, but there can be no "eclipsing" of one another's work In "those cer« tain directions." hcorporations <■ NEW YORK Peerless Cabinet Corp., New Torli; Amusement accessories. Joseph M. Rein- schrelber, Alexander Hutt, David Thomp* ■on DuMbnt. Saol Prodnclns Co., New Tork. pic- tures, plays. Oerson H. Werner, Fred J. Leonard, Theresa Brown. David Productions, New Tork, stag* and screen productions. Benjamin David, Herman' H. lievy, PhlUp Blrnbaum. Hnrok Hnslcal Bnrean, New Tork; flO.QOO; theatres, etc Solomon HnrolCi Mae Prohman, Sidney Q. Cohen. Bad Girl, Inc. New Tork; $10,000; pictures, plays. Ruth F. Katz, Wm. A. Friedman, Anthony C. Consentlno. Bosper Prodootlons, Inc., New Tork. theatres, pictures. Murray Alper, Frieda C. Moss, Sol M. Seller. Dnnbor Palace, Inc., New Tork; tlO.- 000—$60; theatres, dance halls, etc. Sam Lewis, Harry 'I^vy, Jacob Weinberg. Filed by Revle Frankel, 162 West 42d street. New Tork City. Pnnl OUmore I,lttle Theatres, New Tork- Glty.; 110,000;—theatres, .-Sadlo tiustlgr, Mortimer and Herbert Landes. Filed by Albert Lustig, 217 Broadway, New Tork City. Florida Amusement Corp., Poush* keepsle, amustments. Chas. Corbin, Brne^t H. Toung, Gerald Helnzleman. Piled by Chas. O'Donnell, Poughkeepsle. Saa Harbor Knterprlses, Inc.. Sag Harbor, theatres. Dolores M. Bosen- baum, Antoinette Benvenga, Sylvia Brown. Plied by Gilbert S. Rosentnsl, 99 Nassau street. New Tork City. Irvlna Wemiek 'Amusement C4>rp, C*- derhurst, theatres, oto. Irving WernlcK, Isaao Wernlok, Louis Mastaeb. Filed by Louis Masheb, 233 Broadway, New York City. Best Amusement Corp., New Tork, tb*- atres, pictures. MUton Green, MM Schoenberg, H. Greenhouse. Piled W Meyer N. Lavensteln, 1776 Broadway. . _ Mappy-Rose Orchestra, New Tork, 120,000. Irving Rose, Sidney Helss, Jacob Manlcott. Filed by Jacob Manlcoft, 6i Chambers street; CMc Opera I,eaane, New Tork; 000; employ singers, musicians, Hen^ Bhrllch, John Bellucci, Meyer Le^J- Filed by Jo'seph Singer, 621 6th avenue. Hnshward, Inc., New Tork. musical Instrumehts. ' Hugh Ward, William T. Rutherford, A. I. McKay. Filed by Hulbert & Heermance, 661 6th avenue. Academy Theatre Corp., Buffalo, tne artres, plotures. Benjamin D, Relsman, Claude V. Klster, Gertrud^ P. M^lon. Buffalo. Filed by Benjamin D. BeW man, 64 Winston road, Buffalo. CAI.IFOBNIA Sacramento, Aug. 26- American Theatres, lAA., Los Angeles, capital $1,000,000, subscribed »6'<'L», Clampett, L. Marcus, M. E. Solomon, M. Wheeler and J. A. MInney. „„. liilCnKl Pictures. Los Angeles; capita' $6,000, subscribed $60; Mnurlce CosteJ'o- Wm. Lowery, Chas. L. Wllllamoon, Ben Westlund, Lee Grove.