Variety (Sep 1930)

46 VAUDE naUSE REVIEWS ;^M^e^aj, . September 17, ,19^0 BEVERLY HILL BILLIES (7) With IVIr. Tallfeller Music, Songs 18 Mins.; One Chinese, Hollywood. Hollywood, Sept.' 11. For their flrst theatre booking, the Beverly HiU Billies, local radio entertainers, get $3,600 weekly—or ^6,000 IT they can push the gross above $26,000. Considering that "Hell's Angels" is in its 16th week at the house and that the gross last week didn't touch five figures, the Billies probably will bo content with $3,600. At their maiden stage perform- ance the ready-made mountaineers naturally were without stag€\ pres- ence and a well-rounded ' routine, which things are necessary even to Hill Billies. But their draw was evident and the $3,600 investmi^tit should be more than returned to th6 theatre. In five months of nightly music and naaal vowelings, the six Hill Billies have attracted thousands of listeners-ln to the independent and previously unimportant < station, KMPC, in Bevorly Hills; Their manager and announcer, Mr. Tall- foller (Glen Price):, created a phoney b.ut romantic ballyhoo, for . them which has .credulous listeners be- lieving the ; h6ya actually ' live .In cabins in the hill? .of Beverly, and their presence'.there. Is attributed to a roving band of -Arkansas and Tennessee HIU Billies, who, are . said to hav% ihvad^ .California. :during the. nineteenth centiiry.' He. furlhi^r states that the boys r.efuse. toV^'O- cept''money tor 'their , ^^dlo wot-k, and^^- sympathetic llstenerff/regiijarly cari-y food and otfa'erpresents to the radio station. . ; ' When c'adlo fans gtaidly ey^iaJlow: liuch ballyhb'6 a,' thealtre.. t^Ith' ii'M tot)'is not fheVldeal pUib^ to c^h lit on ' the *p6pularlty."' A po^Ji-prlce house would be ihlich Wtt'erJ . ?Inseirted: in--.Graurtian's ■ 'ptdlog, 'Which still retains ltd fancy appear.* ftnce, although sdone of it^ acta have JlM^n dropped; tb« boyd' -managed to carry ■ along nicely. \»ntH ■ th* flnishv when' a weak ■ eliding^ ■ eased- theni out. Accompanying themselves- on NASH and fATELY. Comedy 11 Mins,; Two . Hippodrome Very tall young man and dlmlnu-; tive girl with a loose medley of catch-as-catch-can bits, none espe- cially striking and the whole act grading small time early spot at best. . . Starts with tall youth sitting Jn tiny backfiring auto on dark stage. Girl crashes on and they go .into unrelated cross lire with some knockabout. Comedy in dlfterenbe In sizes with some good acrobatics growing out of tali boy's handling of mite of girl as incidental to ec- centric stepping. Girl Is off and boy goes Into rope spinning with the stale line of gag- ging, suggesting Will Rogers. It was so different. Rope manipulation. Is simple. They do capital acrobatic taps through: whirling lariat loop for finish, that Is beat thing of turn. . Need coaching to develop what Is now biit the germ ojC ah act Pair look like embryo talent. icttSft. GRANVILLE and EDWARDS (2) Comedy Talk and Dancinjei 17 Min«.; Fuji Stafle. , Englewood, Chicago This act Ih ■"Off and On/'.open off and finish on, which was used for- merly, vby FJanagau and Edwards and Faber -and Burnet,.. Neely Bdr wards here returns from .the screen to team- with: Bernard .Granville, out of ieglt productions. ,Act Is some- what "dated," but for hbusies. where these .two performers • are . known, should ^akesthe grade. . . >.. Act concerna Itselrwlth a plotless Btory. of two hoofers getting up: In the- momlng.wlth a hang-over, apd preparing; to -make the flrst show. Talk Is leisurely* :with none of the. rapid gag qrosaflre pt present,-day routines, but manages to hold Inter- est. Act closes in one,, with' Gkah- vlUe delivering a neat lioofitag'spe- cialty. ■ . . ' 9ANGE MANNEQUINS (jB) gultars) violins and accordion,-they -20 Min8.| Full ^Special Drapes) let loose on such'numbers aa'ililateh 58th .Street to the Mocking .Bird," "The Bloom ](a.on tlie Sage", and other products of the chewing tohacco age, The period was .higtv-lighted by a ypdel sOlft'. [from ^Bltoiji Brl^t,.; IS" y^ar,-0ld rmp6rt,ed,' - fiy,. plane . from Arkansas; aii^;. gpestlhg .with the boys 'at the ataiion tor several weeks. "Ringing yith , ,desperate coricentrationt Blton #as his. .own pirlvate'baitlc. Introda^tlon 'and .announcements were~ made' by Mr.' Tallfelter, . the city slicker, who soe^ through' the ea^e 'roii'tlne at the stbdto. Hi's build-'lip. Was alm^d tight.'at the radio crowd, IhOludlng mention bt mother and her knee, done to soft mualc, and paved a good ,«intrahce for the boys. ' it . ■ A slow, soft ballad was the wrong finish, but a replacement wUl take care of that. And $3,600 for a break-In week isn't bad! Bang. TEMPLETON BROS, and JEANNE UPHAM Dancing and Songs 20 Mins.( Full (Special) . 68th St. -Dancing la the! idjftin attraction here with the Templeton Bros;, from musicals, working .smoothly .with Miss Upham, formerly teanfied with other steppers In flash acts. Carl Byal, tenor, fills In acceptably between the Brothers' and Miss Upham's specially numoers. Templetoha look well in fiill dress and have an extensive repertoire of steps, putting their slufC. over, with plenty <>t styl^.' Comedy song which hais the boys discarding opera capes revealing them In tights for acrobatic dance routine Is laid out with real showmanship and de- served the applause received. Idea is a take-off on the street pajama wearing fad In vogue last aummer here and there. Miss Upham Is best on her toes In a Chinese number that has Byal holding down the song assignment, > Except for the oi>ening number she works independently of the two men dancera. Tastefully mounted and speedily routined act, can hold down an early spot on any vaude house bill Closing here it went over with ease, IROWARD and TODO Songs and Talk 12 M^ns.; One 68th St. Two girls offering a aongolog along comedy lines, with cross-fire chatter about marriage, men and kiiidred subjects to space harmony numbers. Opening has the girls on in bridal outfits tearing into an old time pop, ""Wedding Bells Will Tou Ever Ring for Me" and push Ing It for two choruaea. Lightweight talk about good men being hard to find these days after which the girls warble a medley of old boys winding up with fair yodelling.- Heavier of the girls has a flair for comedy, getting laughs with her mugging. Turn just fitlei for smaller vaiidfllm. . Nicely mounted,' Intelligently rou- tined" arid colorfully costumed dante' flash that, rates a spot oii any vaud-i fllm.hj>use program; mainly because ItS^'p^rsonnel. sticks to Its dancing Only...- ' ' ' . , ', , '5'rances Hart, premier, doe^ toe. an^ '^crbbajtlc sti^It.lh flhished .style, a. ra<dlum.' number on, a [ darkened stage prqivlhg par'ticulsurly eft^cllVS. In support Is a youthful male hooter m .a vast variety of 'legomaiila and Vrbrthy pt second bilUng. . . Line group Q.t six makes three ch^hgea wlth .a tope dancing num- ber the 'high apot- ... PALACE* CHICAQO Chicago, Sept. 13. Charley Kaley.i formor • Grartada .and' Marboro ;mi • c.. and 9.- 'tname''- locally, ia this week"'a headliner. B[e has beeii teanicid for the week with Cart Webster's Yale' COllegltins, liut with th^'billing'not msiking'the dis- tinction clear. ' ' : ','. ' Kaiej is a stalwart' person, rather like a gbod-lobking fullback, so he fits Into the collegiate background nicely. His own cOntributloha Con- sist In a number of songs Inserted within the band at intervals. He has assurance and poise along with manly phySkiue, 'flashing , Ivoiry. molars and personality. Under the circumstances, and particularly as affecting women, he dd^sn't have to be a caruso. Yale la really tho shipping point for the Webster band. They have the peppy campus notions that made Horace. Heldt In .recent - years, and "Warlng's Pennsylvanlans . before t^at, stand out .Just now the boys can't make upi their mind?, whether 1;o atlcH to the grease paiht or 'to go into the commercial world and see if the Yale paper l3 negotiable. They have been playing together i;or. five summera, with, all bu'^ f9Mr of . the members graduating last June) and the others having ono more year MJjth tlje textbooks. ■ ■ • - N^ovelty is the conscious Ideal of most college orcheatraa. . Th^a onO follows th Louis Armstrong type, of frenzied "orchestrating, but also us- ing "numerous comedy versions-, kid- ding etc. Vera Van, former FahcHon £ Marcolte and siater'Of the leader, puts Over several specialties," hot Warbllijg^-and later some strutting, both' neat.' ' . ' . ' ; Bill opened with Daro'aiid Costa Co, -When keeping to the adagio, whi'cK^ Is tiheir natiiral 'accomplldh- menl; the couple are sat^;.' Ball- rooming and tangoing Is a little Out Of their line, and no amount of agll- lty"4utte hides the essential'lack of that sihuotis rhythm necessary tO: make, fandangoes' mean^ anything. A' male-aolo hoofer pro^vldea satis-' fatetbry intervals. . . . • Walter "Dare" Wahl raising aoro-, batica to theo dignity of Inapired pantomime: gave .the ^ahow a. great' laughing deuce.' .Eddie.Borden, as- sisted -by, :"SlP*.' Francis Young and Dot Brown, was th» other big gig- : ,In between one of those nice, quiet .turns featuring ' Billy .-Kelly^ -the Page SIstera atruggled with.-lnter- mlttent success against Incipient audience boredom. Comedy, turns, so called and ao Intended, muat real- ly be. provided , with comedy aitua- tlons capable of exploitation. Other- wise the best of talent will flounder. Those peppy Pago glrla are a^^nfT dancing'tb their vb-de-b-db." "outside the Law" (U) for the screen. ^ . Art Fraslfci the Bay City, Mich., hoy, put Kla trench troops through a seml-clasalcal oVorture with some special fiddling. Land. 4 ROSETTIS Ti^ht Rope 16 Mina. (Ring) Cirqiis d'Hiv^r^ Paris - Paris, Sept 6. Tight rope acrobatic act by one man and two girls.. Stoikped the Show. Act at the Cirque d'HIver In the ring, hut would be Intemation- all/ good on any vaude or picture house stage. Apart from Individual work, they perform cOr^bined tricks,' such aa th« hian walking the rope and hold- ing the girl by her handa above his head. Act fast without padding. Briddi Eilm Field (Continued from page 6) being well plugged for the next Honours List. On. question of a title, the film business has cried wolf ao many times it may come when least expected. One More American lip here is Columbia will soon distribute In this field either on its Own account or through another American houae. At present Qau- mont has Columbia product If thia Cornea through,- Britlah dis.tributors generally will be left with nothing but home product With a new Government coming in, if it happened to be Conserva tive as is most likely, tarifCa are sure to go on, and the all-American distributors will be working under another handicap in addition to Quota. Inside political tip is In near future 10% ad valoram duty is like ly to be imposed on all manufact ured products coming into the coun- try, change of Government or not, on account of high unemployment figures and manufacturing depres- sion. This duty would go for filma Max Trell, who helped turn out First National's publicity before he went over to King Features, has written a children's story about contrary little boy named' Tom Lynn. Book is called "Tom and Mot," and Cosmopolitan Book Corp, la publishing it • Max went to . Paris once, but didn't get any ideas for children'; stories there. But he got a wife on I the other side. Maybe that's it HIPPODROME, N. Y. Bargain show idea seems to have clicked here for the drop-ins. This performahce ran' little over three hours'wlth plenty to bring 'em In. Layout iiks «teht acts,, feature pre- release In' ''On Your Back" (Fcx) and heavily billed lUcker record of the Slnger-MoLarnin bout at the Stadium and still fresh in the pub lie mind. Fight pictures might have ex- plained a near-capacity lower floor ahd eight or ten rows upstairs, but the number of women discounted that Draw seems to be th© bar- gain of long show at four bits for the Saturday mat. This week is a repetition of the same thing the week before. It'a a routine amall bill with tour strong Oomedy Acta and the riest casual filler support. The four standard numbers were well spotted and the whole layout makes a good fiash at no great expenae on the payroll. Snbatance of the ahow atarts In No. 4 -with Little PIpItax and Co., knockabout clown, aupported by dancing girl and atralght acrobat. Plplfax doea white face clown with a clean cut routine of pantomimic comedy tricks and the familiar table and chair falls, straight worker tolling and girl used In neat dance bits tor change of pace. Pace waa carried on In next spot by Gordon and Walker, hoke male duo made up of straight and stooge. Here under a handicap due to diffi- culty of gettincf crossfire talk over in the huge barn. However, the hoke knockabout and the first rate stepping of the comic carried the day. Singing straight was under wrails, going the megaphone and cutting the warbling. Nicely framed rough comedy turn for this type of clientele. With two laugh sessions In a row program blender slipped in a quiet straight singing number next In Harry Glrard's Ensemble, Oirard being a singing teacher in California who haa been traveling for last year or so with a group of his pupils. There are .12 girls in this group who form an ' excellent choir. 'Voices suggest oratorio, but this arrange- ment is far from vaudeville. Cos- tuming is dull and the dancing even duller, routines being about lively as-« sedate minuet Perhaps the Idea la ;to get as far away from jazzy vaudeville as possible for a contrast that throws attention to the singing. Just as well that way. Girls were not nearly ao inspiring m their 'One -selhl-undreBa 'ititi when singing''and = wearing long- skirts. For they really can sing 'ahd evbn It they do'Btlck to thO oM stand-" ard classic^, this crowd- reSpoiidOd whole hearledly^ - : Younff Pat Hennlngs was neit to oloalng," getting full returna, • g6rier- oua even fOr- that - apot- Working mpre alone .tl^i^n ev^i; aa ,Pa and^.Ma stah4 'further, asid^ Youngster haa tightened up his routines and npw has a meisity .specialty full of com- edy tricks and. great stepping .rour tines. . , , -. Carl Freed and his orchestra closed satisfactorily. N'lce combi- nation this and sure flre with Freed's comedy hoke and eccentric musical twists.' Weir wbrkted'bit of stealing the different musicians' In- struments worked tor dandy build up' and amusing'hoke stunts by the eight bandsmen sustained high laugh percentage.' Sightly girl dan- cer used- tor an Interpolated solo acrobatic blt^ completed a show-- manly layout. Earlier trio of turna comprised Toto and Co., Japanese rope walker doing the *'SUde tor Lite" and the same who doubled In the legit show "Excess Baggage." Two girls as- sist,..dblnff bit pf, harmonlzingL .and one of them appearing a^one for an oriental dance that could as .easily be omitted. ... ; Patent leather Boys No. JS are pair of colored men. one at piano with brief ^nglng bits , and ^e othei^ an .agilQ dancer. Restrictea; by ab,7 sOrice of comedy. , Nash knd Fately (New Acts). , , Rttah, Good'laugh show- with T>lenty'of dancing tor flrst half. • Eddie Con- rad (Conrad and Eddy) copped the ahow for oomedy in getaway spot. Buddy Doyle, .under cork, waa- a close ruriner^-^upi. Royal'Samoana, nine -men and featuring'..Lel-lehua Auld,< temme dancer,..jopened, :gettlng over wlth^a pleasant Sou.th'Sea Island foQUc of singing > and dancing, with ..Miss :A.uld'a. native,.,dances convincing Harlem Is by no . means.-the peer -ojC hot spot^. Setting, In. Samoa, is at- tractive and lights wdllL Gra^e t>oro was satisfactory In the deuce with h^r planplog'runnlrtg from pop • to cbniiert 'delivery and with the planiate paat miatresa of both diviaions. For 6n.core -Miss Doro planted an acOordlon apeclalty with woman plant warbling from box, the combo sending hftr away to {rood applauae. Doyie tickled them with hia talk and aohga. Doyle spota his turn in two 'Sections, - which follow con- currently ^ and probably constitute two acts because of. lengrth of run- ning time. At any rate they're billed that way.- Doyle plants his talk and . clowning., with Peggy Hoover, attractlre. blond, and then goes Into a tiill stage set lighted levee tor more, clowning and some excellent hboflng by Three Small Brothers, VChick" Hayes and'Mlas Hoover, ^ap smd hard shoe dancing by all, and worked up tor a bang over flnlah. . Eddie Conrad and Marlon Edd]^ followed and cleaned up on comedy through Conrad's eccentric delivery and low comedy thrusts, witti Miss Eddy feeding capably. Hit of the show Saturday afternoon. . "9aln or Shine" (Col), on screen. Also shots of the Slnger-McLarnin fight very alim Saturday after- Edba. Biz noon. PAI^AqErNEW YOltK (St Vaude) _ Paldce audlehciB' Saturday iit'sr* noon had ita first chance in. a'Ion' while to go seritimentai. and it'dli eyeri more so than ' Qua va,n \h suWect of the demonatratiori,'aj! \<rho appeared' to have difllculty^ti hia own emotioha. Qua kept 'a2 striftlghtrfaced as.possible while reception lasted but was' said H have ,later broken down sobblni'H hla dreaaliig room. No wonder R-K-O, L. A, Los Angeles, Sept. II. Just another unit this week, with nothing much to recommend it as entertainment Vaude tans must, have sensed It, aa the house was about half'filled for the first'show Thursday. It'a uaually near a sell out. SmerOfiC ahd Sbnia, Ted and Al Waldman, Marty May and Anatolo Freidland'a 12 o'clock Revue make up the bill, appearing In the order named. SmerofC and Sonia, with a dog act, diaplay a fast routine of acrobatics by the man, with four trick doga imitating his falls. . Good material for an opener and pleased. Ted and Al Waldman next with plenty of blue gags and aome blue music on harmonicas. Music is oke, but there's need of fresh chatter. Both work In blackface. Marty May, next to. closing, not only looks, acts and plays a fiddle like Jack Benny—he uses a few of Benny's gags. He's a good per- former and should get a few gags he could call his own. Jean Carroll, a looker and a smart tap dancer, comes on for a number and a little gab. Her dancing is plenty hot and guarantees a good finish. "Twelve o'Clock Revue" closed. Eight girls and two boys take up the stage for 20 minutes. May comes on and acts as m. c, but it doesn't help. The act develops Intb a challenge dance among the line girls. A dead pan and voiceless lad gathers a few laughs mugging with May and that's about all there is to it Unit costs an even three grand, with the flash act getting most of it. "End of the Lone Wolf (Col), cartoon comedy and Pathe news clip fill the bill. For Gus. when he stepped out hid • first , time alone on the Palace ate*? there waa a minute of appiauseJtf round-after each song and In ■w tween three encores, and mord ittfL when he walked off with a huM floral present. They insisted on * speech. . V' It was a great tribute to thia remaining member of vaudeville'a greatest shiging team. He did not mention the name of Joe Sohenok at' -any time, an Immediate Blen''.iif good taate, with the lamented^Joi suggested only faintly by lyric For his. laat, number, Van announctat he, had learned It the day" befon thinking It particularly 8ulted...to this houae, Gus sang that he's not ao, much alone. ' . ' Ous was right when, while thante ing the audience, he said that froia the Palace reaponae he 'sees-a bright ' future for hlmaelf aa a< single >eh> tertalnen There la no doubt he yriW Thia .singer, as a- single is a Jewel- character man, neat, iamar.t. acting showman. No one In vaude ^o ,W:elI versed In tho various dialects. / Ifi the/<;ourae of one number, .wherein reference' waa mad©, to- the. old car barh.idaya-by a nicely "written In- troduction, Van doea^lHebe, Irish, Cockney, Wop, Dutch.a.nd^Coori,.th» latter aa a colored preacher deliver* ing. .a sermon ..and the. rest mf^nly snatches, from .tho old reper|»lr^ Impressed as a singer andi single act despite the audlenoe's sob. Van will not .have any. trouble. .witK ^ aingie. . ^ • Along -"With Oua • Van Is ^ one..ot thoae once - in - a - booker'a-.lit^me Palace bllla this week; under-afvgr* age In salary cost but abbve :1a entertainment value, . dishing .put more of what's wanted than-'aoy of .the high priced i^hows of .the re- cent past It hits, at about, |.li,OQOr Tt^e bill has eyeryCtilng: . slngjnjsr dancing, novelty, comedy.', The^ was no need for worry about com- edy after Ted Healy was , booked,, and none done apparently, with but- one other act after laughs'. He^iy. had the comedy end under cOhtrd' and made the show with hia .puaca: insertions between the acts befOEO closing ' the bill with hla bwa stooges. Layout lacked nothing in pattern or playing. Harriet Hector's third week at U?e Palace out (ft fl've, sOts a new-sort, of repeat record.. She hasn't j>la]fe4 two wojeks In succession, but. re* turned twice after, a weiek's Intotyal, No chance-taking in. repeating uU^ Hoctor at the Palace or anywhere else. She is. something to. watch tiriie and again. And when tjiis girl appears with an almost En- tirely/new act for the third trip, It's one more detail to yell about tor this premier ballerina of America; With Miss Hoctor this week are Nelsoii Snow and Charles Colum- bus, that dance accompanist-team of many dancing women. They were Mias Hoctor'a first, vaude. partners. In 1922. Close the act with tho "Promise Me'* number from the old one, announced on the progra^n and from the stage. Miss Hoctor a one repeat number is the Jazz o^'JSlj a necessity since it's her beat bet for vaude. With the gigolo opener arid enauing toe nuihber to improve her vaude atandlng even more. Three Sailora were the other comedy act besides Healy, next closing the first part after MIflfl Hoctor and before Van, making w a nice clean bill between their water spitting and Healy'a stooge stuff. The Sailors got over in their uaual way, on the knockabout pan- tomime and a dancing finish. Second part opened with another show-stop, this by Al Siegel an* Ethel Merman, a new addition » the small number of top notca mixed piano and singing tea^?. Misa Merman la gradually becom- ing more proficient for the vau^» stage. WheiLher singing aome aay la aa geni«6-Mke aa Slegal'a Pjaj" playing^and arranging, she WJU .w set by hersfelf. With Siegal ifoi worrying about anyone depreciating his contribution tO this act's pros ress, meanwhile. . „ . Healy and "His Racketeera didn't get on till almost 5. P'tJiano switched to the stage to oacK ground. All new stooges this time, with Eddie Moran the head ma" among them. He's superior w Healy'e main foils of the past a"' others with him were not qu»^ sure Saturday, probably nervouB, but they seemed to have the re quired appearance and style. »• the Healy material made them sure flre. There was no better comeax job on the bill than Moran's maniv ulatlon of. the clothes tearing Hits arrived early as well as^lij tha body of the bill. Both the nov elty dance opener, Wilson, i^-^P''^ and Betty, and Carlton Emmy an his performing dogs. No. 2, haa <- I bow often to get off- ■