Variety (Oct 1931)

Tueeilay, OctbLer 13, 1931 VAUDE HOUSE REVIEWS VARIETY 39> PALACE (St. Vaud«) T^slne a headllner on Weanes- jmv before the Saturday opening Siftftns a booking office headache can't be fixed by asplrih. The liTv cure 18 another headllner. Srnnk Fay was the headllner lost Morton Downey the headllner -oiviod which mukee It even or bet- f^r f or business. Wjth^Rlchy Craig « c-mg okay In hia fourth week, Ihe suaplclous Fay drop-out wasn't eS important after all. Anyone unfamiliar with the pol- uiM might figure that RKO with }JL rJ?ited Radio show. farolUeB ihould not have such a difficult time ^i^elng up a laat-mlnute name, eiSlly f?om the NBC. But oddly tnoiigh the life saver.^Downey. Is Sim CBS, as are the Boswell Sls- K?ron the same bill, with the Co- jSmbla network, not NBC, getting the mention In announcements at iSe ace theatre on the RKO circuit. If that's co-operation, Jim Lon- aos Is an adagio dancer. Which might prompt David Samoff or a Suple, of vice-presidents to make inquiry. Though moybe the NBC with lU nlpe v-p's might have Beven or eight too many, Which could be one of the faults. If CBS can supply the two largest hits on one Palace bill. It's difficult to understand why NBC can't pro- vide one once In a while. If not for Its own 15%, perhaps It would be Bosslble for NBC to sell acU cheaper to vaudeville If not to its adver- tisers, with that X6% radio com mission the greatest booster of a performer's salary yet devised In the show business. That should be recalled when talk of high salaries Is repeated. ' Or mightn't NBC de- vote more effort to getting Its own 'acts Into the Palace It only to keep CBS' acts and plugging mention of the Columbia network out of the Palace announcenients 7 It Isn't for- the Palace to worry about, for as long as there Is a CBS to provide a pair of headllners for one bill, with these followIhg another CBS star, Kate Smltlj, the Palace needs tlie NBC. about as much as the NBC needs nine .v-p's.. Upon the ether foundation the Palace has a nicely entertaining bill this week. The playing Is better than the paper for a change. Among the other acts are two standard vaude combinations, the Havels and . Morris and Campbell, and a ball- room team from a niti club, Veloz and Tolanda, besides RIchy Craig. Craig Is repeating a couple of bltfl but the majority of his current stuff Is new this Week, making him the llrst Palace run m. c. to change so often In the material line. . This month. In suddenly raising Craig to the heights as it did, mUst have been a strain. He was to have gone away this week :fof a needed rest, but consented to stick after Fay faded. . The cute' dancing girl Is again with him. for" the type- writer bit in the bos and the card trick. Instead of grouping it at the finish Cialg is spreading It out between all acts after the deuce this, week, and gets results each time.. He used the Havels once, otherwise m. c.'Ing alone until the finish, when parts of most of the preccdfng acts were on for a blackout. . Bo'swell Sisters (New Acts) drew most of the advance interest through general curiosity as to how they'd do on a stage. At the Pal- ace Saturday they were fine. Royal Uyeno Troupe, seven Japs, all men, rlsleyed through the-open- Ing spot before one of the mOst ex pensive looking embroidered back- drops seen in moOns in a vaudeville theatre. Three Gobs,, colored hoof- ing trio, hopped the buck into enough applause for an encore, but they took two encores which let them down. Their dancing is a cinch to get them around the bases and the first trick harmony encore not bad. They could have gone home with a big hand, but they stuck for anoUier and laid there. One of the boys is the world's champ persplrer. Arthur and Morton Havel <New Acts) in their five-people 'Hot Water' sketch by Harry Greene, had no trouble, nor did Don Zelaya No. i with his planolog. Though the stout dialectician did his best to turn the audience sentiment in the Wrong direction with an unneces- sary and not so cute piece of biz wnllo announcing his last nuniber The Boswclls closed the first part. Veloz and Yolanda, opening after intermlsh currently, were at the Palace a year, and a half or so ago ana that week were spotted last on an all-dancing show that didn't <>nd until B:30. This time they're given 0-break and deserve It. There Is no setter looking or ■ dancing rcrtned ballroom team around today. Sup- porting this trip In place of the loimor piano-team Is Henry King's J-ew Udo club elght-pleco band, UoubMng from,the cafe along with ine dancers. Plays one number.- Miss Yolanda gives the Palace erowd a fiash at two gowns, both stunncis, while Veloz Is tlie first gent to i>l.->y this house In tails ^ ^ithout looking like a waiter since Jimmy Durante.. _ Joe .Mori'Is and Flo Campbell have >.? "''w boy, the old one probably . navinq outgrown the role. Anyone hl.« V"'^ up on one of our modern . "'"iKawny vaudeville routes must set some kind of a record. Another change is In the wife part, Marie Mallory now doing this character bit. Jackie Terrls is the new boy's name. Still another addition is a young girl cialled Marlon Kingston, who gives the turn Us finish with a cooch that's supposed to be a rum- ba. Previously Veloz and Tolanda gave the Palace its first sight of a rumba without the cooch. Miss Kingston isn't exactly necessary to the Morris and Campbell turn, for the act is still as reliable as ever, but she probably gives It a new look and an extra sock. Dpwney did four regulars and three encores before they'd let him scriun, practically closIng:the show. Business downstairs rather light Saturday afternoon,, but upstairs heavy, With not much time f or^ ad- vance Work on the emergency head- liner.' But the balcony business be- speaks of radio, trade. ' This same peculiarity was noticed during Kate Smith's stayl v Sige. CHESTER . (RKO UNIT) Four-act bills may not always be considered a full meal by some audiences who would not think, of and blame it on depression, but this one should suit - appetites ' all around., tt has variety, diversity, nice balance and. evenly-distributed entertalnihent for all. . Current intact has worked two minor show dates and tWo splits in Brooklyn before moving into the Chester, from whence It hits the road. There are still a couple fur row4 that need harrowing out for general tigiitening of the perform ance; regardless of low running time Of 62 minutes as clocked up here. ■ . Naughton and Gold, all-around comedy act with a strong bite in spots, are In penultimate. It's one spot where more, smoothness is de sired. From all appearances, with that partly - based on comparison with routine as done In recent nbn intact houses, the English twain is trying to pad out .a little too much. They-go Into some logger trickery aliout center with spills for laughs, but come near to : leaving it all hanging in tlie air, turning sud- denly, when no other Way seems outi to a little, dancing legit The episode lets them down. If Naughton and Gold must hold to', that IG-'mlnute running sched- ule, more crossfire seems advisable. They're k. o. at that in the little they attempt. As a couple of muggs In fore front of act, with . one essaying' a swell drunk, they ' go over the hurdles handsomely. Later for bow-off their union workmen pas- quinade sends them over In high. ' 'While Naughton and Gold could cut down, I^edova, following them for. close 'appears to have resources enough. In herself and partner, plus the Cuban girl carried, Rae Bbn- stlne, to lengthen the 17 minutes she did Thursday night. The ballet dancer is in her finest fettle ever, mailing a strong bid for the short first line among j>erEons heading acts of her type in vaude. To guard against too much of a straight tony bailet taste, she and her partner, Leon Varkas, strive, for . a lighter touch. Their comic satire of old- time ballet workers; polished off with a European dash of humor without going too lowbrow, takes them far away from the usual with ballet acts. A rhumba production number follows, built up with Miss Bonstine doing 'Qt. Louis Blues' in Spanish, n. s. g., and a song and dance bit invoking proper atmos phere for the riimbcL The Ledova act Is a case where four. people do: a lot and could do more. Even the looker pianist counts. The B spot contains eye-attract Ing Anita Case, not to be confused with Anna Case. Miss Case here tofore used her . middle Initial 'T' It's now removed, inaybe for e\i phony. Miss Case didn't fioor 'em up here but the way hier ably setup songs were bought should have been nearly as encouraging as that to her. Diversity of material takes In a Russian folk song, both In Eng llsh and Russian with diction here suffering, and another multl-IIngual 'Two Hearts/ Miss ease goes Into still another old tune from 'June Moon*, (musical) but makes it live by announcing the number as done by Evelyn Herbert In that show, It.makes her sound like Big Broad way to mention that and the Helen. Morgan name. Three I«rdens, trampoUners, fire the first shot. For acts of this kind, the Lordena rank with the best. They've been smart enough to flavor their logit work with comedy that serves without slamming iany- one flat on their backs. But when around the Chester the Lordcns should remember they're out of Brooklyn and pick some other street for one of their sallies than 'Myrtle avenue.' Don't say 'Tre- mont avenue' when you get Into Syracuse! Heavy r.iln In this family neigh- borhood didn't help business up here Thursday evening. A half- .llled house the answer. 'My Sin' (Pat), Pathe News and 'Naggers at the Race Track" (Vita- phone), two-reeler, around the vanrtft. Char. STATE Xoew's State this week Is long on screen values and short on stage entertaJninent. Two reasons for only five acts instead of usual six, are length of feature talker, 'Free Soul' (Metro) which runs 93 min- utes, and four shows. The stage show is weak. Even with reduced running time and smaller bill. It could be better. Combined With the weakness as a sort of counter irritant Was an apathetic audience Saturday after- noon. They lolled in seats much as a straight picture audience does and were most difficult to startle. Some- times an eager audience will stam- pedie .a so-so show Into a. sock. It looked for .a while as though Jim Toney, on third, .had 'em going, but it was Just a false flash. Toney, aided by a most thin blonde girl foil and dancer worked like a demon for' laughs. His success lasted Just as long ds he stood out there and spieled. His; exit and finish were another excuse for the mob oyt front to relax the hands and button up their loud speakers. Toney has a funny act and with any kind of break here will no doubt .put over a sock. The young unbilled: girl dances nicely. Her diction is rather indistinct at. times. .. Stetson, hat juggler, was an un- happy choice to open. Okay for outlying, nelghb houses, but not here. The act \b slow and at this particular, show: muffed several tricks. Better to follow an opening flash for his type act than starting a show. Stetson kicked the props out of any kind of tempo. Amanda Ran<ioIph (New Acts), assisted by FItzhugh 'Weston at the piano, was put under rather unfair tests.. This colored girl singer, late of a colored band act in which she was outstanding. Just broke in this single. "With only three days' work she was rushed into the State. Even, so she did okay. One month from now she will be Set to tear the State audience wide open. Nayan Peorce and Jay Velie were billed but did not open. They were replaced by Bryant,' Rains . and Toung, combo of Ave girls and a man. Featured trio are dancers of both ballroom and adagio. The dct does not bill anyone else.. Two girls play two pianos and another the harp. They combine for some neat harm«ny singing which landed. A pretty, blonde fast acrobatic dancer punched over a solid hit, Act Is neat in every direction and pleased okay. . Joe and Pete Mlchon are billed out front as there in person. They are. A new opening with a woman, prob- ably, one of the wives, and a small burro sets the tempo. The boys have not changed their familiar .routine a blt^ It- was shortened, however, to conform with the four shows. This act can always be de pended on to do well. . Business off.' Finish of vaude show saw them coming in. . .Earl, Rleftehbachs were: received .cor- dially. . Al Abbott, with his talking single, Is the type of. attraction which has two strikes against him when in a house like this where It's a sleeper Jump to the balcony. Ho suffered as a result, sneaking away to a meager hand. A better round of applause greet- ei efforts of Primrose Scmon and Bhinche Saure (New Acts). But both girls put their all Into their work, realizing handicaps, over which they .had no control. In her special song Miss Semon raised her voice for a far reach. That singularly fitting attrac- tion for the family and' the kids, Ike Rose's Royal Midgets; threw a lot of flash onto the tailend of th6 proceedings.. Act runs 28 minutes and includes IB midget workers, among' them a little colored lad whose buck tap spot brought out a nice. bite. In-spite of the vacuous Hipp, the half-growns got over k. o. Finale seems a little long and thus slow, while another of minor faults In routining and staging is the conr tinuous repetition of It you please,' uttered with a. gesture to the pit leader by the m. c. after announc- ing each number. The news is Pathe's. Ohar.. HIPPODROME This large operation nestling un der the 'L' is another where a low scale for a lot turns the trick. The wide open spaces over here take a plethora of dimes to fill, but when as Saturday afternoon, the lower fioor is 96% filled and the balcony well populated, those dimes count up big. A feature, eight acts and trim mings, plus an added feature for early comers with -doors open at 10 a. m, and a special preview on Friday nights, all go to make up attractiveness for the low spenders. The 60c top, ranging up from various low prices from 10 a. m. is a puller.. Though nothing outstanding In the stage show, It runs 100 minutes, picture, 'American Tragedy' (Par) Oh . second run here,' taking up 9$ minutes. Also, the vaude show represents a Wealth of variety and in many respects good solid family entertainment. Opener is Marcus Sisters and Carlton Bros., whose dance work probably was an addition to aero batic endeavors, latter coming out strongly throughout. In. a setting that is flash rather than acrobatic, the layman will not in any way vleW this as other than a flash, calling the rest trinimlngs.. The brothers stand out vividly in their smooth novelty routines. Nicely liked. No. 2 holds Tom and Betty 'Won der, dancers, who polish off tlie legger work with a condiment of song. A youthy team, the Won- ders score with case throughout, Tom's fast dancing only barely overshadowing the hotcha song number' his sister does. Bud Harris, now splitting billing with Tom Brookln.s, but leaving the third member for the surefire Bill Robinson tap routine unmentloncd, stuck around IS minutes. Nearly all of that counts, but by shaving down about five mlnutc.<i, taking out a little of the lull, increa.scd returns would be Inevitable. Landed here more securely than any other act on the show .Saturday afternoon. Circus Atmo.sphero stalked on with the RIcffenbach Family and those three nice-looking husky girls ■who.ec carrying wprk and other riding pxopIh, The Hipp was built for acts like thi.s or .should get as many ot them as possible. The LOEWS ORPHEUM This Is a type of the Loew nelgh- borhooder Which explains the stabil- ity of that company in the last year of depression, House is the remod- eled old TorkvIHe in Bast SBth street, and although a flashy In- terior, Is not the equal of the nearby RKO-Proctor 86th Street, partic- ularly as to acoustics. ' This week's stage show Is an un- distinguished layout of five turns representing comparatively small c ost and the picture is "Bbught" CWB). Altogether a routine enter- tainment. But It drew capacity Saturday afternoon and this Is a normal state of affairs, while the RKO "stand Is. an Ih-and-oiiter, do- ing well when it has the show and poorly when it hasn't; RKO scale is four bits against the Orpheum's 35c. top on the week, end, but that doesn't entirely ex- plain the. steady trade in one and the spotty returns in the other. Probable, answer is the-superlorlty of the. week in and week out film bookings of the X^ew house. For example, this week's trailer prom Ises next week 'Free Soul,' straight from Its high scale exploitation on Broadway. Stage proceedings average neigh- borhood entertainment with a fair level of low comedy. Opening with a first class aciMbatlc flash In the Reinhardt-Bonhalr Troupe, Ave members now Instead of the former six. Neatly presented turn- made up mostly of risley work and ground tumbling set in a nice sketch-like structure with the mat worker doing a comedy schoolmas- ter and the mounters as his pupils, Incidental comedy brightens strik- ing routines all done in precise acrobatic style. Lydia Harris, a quiet No. 2, single womaii doing a short song cycle of no special distinction, opening with a blues and later running into bal lads, always popular with this type of .clientele. Chamberlain, and HImes, man and woman', character knockabouts, do Ing tough characters before a tene- ment street drop and working hard for good returns. Vigorous dance bits help and the finish is an elab- orate travesty dance to the song 'My Man' for a burlesque Apache finale. Next to closing the veteran team of Raymond and Caverly,' doing, their 'Dutch' tangled talk much as they did it 20 years ago. Only they make it topical with humorous slants on such subjects as depres- sion. Also they are still. building much of their cross talk on dlscusr sibns of a 'stiff ticket.' The old stuff istlll goes. First three acts were run off In less than 26 minutes, but Raymond and Caverly held 'em for 13 and were going strong at the getaway. Caesar Rlvoll Co., another old timer both in its principal and in the idea, a;iso took a quarter of an hour and held Interest. Rlvoll has elaborated the old Impersonations of composers with a production backr ground, and If It shows nbthlpg new In Idea, at least it supplies a fresh background for a singing flash. It's all small time arrangement, with an especially stilted finish in a trans- parency for the impersonation of Victor Herbert, but It goaled this mob; Uu3h. PALACE. CHICAGO Chicago, bet. 10. ' • Opening against the Notre Dame> Northwestern excitement, and wet and miserable weather, BUI Robin- son and his troupe of 26. shades of brown got away nicely In spite of the obstacles. It does credit to this theatre's Increasingly good standing with Chicago that they were coming rapidly dt the close of the first.show. This 'Hot from. Harlem' arrange.- ment comes In as . a .satisfying enough novelty to break iip the sameness of the week-after-week standard five-act vaude. Ilne-upa. Ran" 70 minutes and seemed like halt that. Moved faist,'with much dancing,' but relieved with regular . revue features, of comedy and sing- ing.. t Colored show owes much to that speed, for the comt>onent parts of the outfit, with, of course, Bill Rob- inson as an exception. Were not suf- ficiently powerful to hold.up on their- own. But all bits, added together, fitted . In solidly enough to make an entertaining session. Other than that, show, was all Bill Robinson, who bad to' get off the stage in order to let the other 24 ' members bf the cast get some at- tention from the audience. He was on tw''loe, once early In the show for a nuniber with the good girl chorus, and later down next to the finale, at which time he wrecked the proceed- ings with his regular, vaude' act, from his gagging opening to' the stair dance. Flash of the stairs broke the applause. . ' Next to Roblrisoh, but far dowiir catee John Mason as the ace com- Iker, Not much, mateirlal,. but he does work with it. Prayer meeting scene and the drunk number were the big laugfa moments. ' Chorus of 13 ' gals and six .men work hard throughout; on and off In quick suc- cession. Well drilled and active. It was the speed rather than real merit that got. this audience excited; bat speed that- was smooth and not hectic. There was also Warbling, both male and female, dnd just about what was expected. Entire setupi Impresses as a background for Rob- inson, who was the show. 'Skyline' (Fox) feature. 86TH ST. EMPIRE^ PARIS Paris, Oct. 4. Bill following Jcanette MacDon- ald's two weeks appearance, during Which business reached the unpre-. cedcntod total gross ot $60,000, is as cheap as they make them, with business poor, and a clear instance ot weak showmanship. Only acts worth mentioning arc. RouHsanoVa and Demlne, dance team, with Carr and Reed working simultaneously on three pianos, Le- blanc Ducliarne and ilay, adUglo; Joe and 'William Mandcl, comedians. Against this cheap bill, doing ter- rible business, Oscar bufrcnne, one of the producer.s, is giving the newspapers interviews explaining why audiences show a renewal of intense Interest In vaude. i/axi. Plenty of vaude at this house, witK five pretty good acts, four standard. It doesn't quite blend into a good . bill, because of lack of pace. Switch- ing the acts around might help that, but even as is there ought to be enough entertainment tor most, cus- ' tbmers. Starts slowly with 'White Flashes (New Acts), roller skating trio, and looks bad for the first half of the Rogers and Wynne combo. Latter are two youngsters. doing taps and not 'fitting even the deuce spot until - they drag on Pa and Ma, who know . something about dancing and show- manship. It puts the act over nlcelV. Abe Reynolds,'spotted here, might have been better as the closing act. His material'doesn't help. He's still . doing that 'Accidents Will Happen' skit. It's also In the Smith and Dale . short made, by Paramount recently. Either way it's bad, because It's the same act, line for line, with eveii a fiellow in the Reynolds act loklng like Joe Smith. Ross and Edwards seemed to please the crowd here' with their chatter and probably can continue doing so in outlying houses. For Broadway they could use some new' material. Mies Vanessl's act closed by top- ping anything on the bill. Her rhumba is still the < best. number, with the four singers allotted a. bit too much time. But It's a colorful act. With the VanessI turn trading places In the lineup'with Abe Rey- nolds It would have split the comedy and given more variety to the lay- out, plus adding speed. 'East ot Borneo' (TJ) picture. Good business downstairs and on the shelf Saturday afternoon. Kauf. RKO, L. A. (8 Act Policy) Los Angeles, Oct. 8. Joe Plunkett saw the first sho\f ot . the renewed. eight-act policy, (four locally booked by Bern Ber- nard) and concurred that the blending and intermingling of the four local turns with the regular . RKO unit not only showed off the cheaper local talent in great style, but also served to dress up the in- tact turns. Unlike the past practice of reel- ing off a <iuartet of mediocrity as the forepart, to be tbilowed by theiM' regular unit, the eight acts are . scrambled, andt-all to good purpose. This Is made feasible by a selection of four strong local turns, which can be liad mure or less consistent- ly out hero If the demands are not. too great. lUtst season when the . eight- act policy spread up Ipto the northwest and east to Salt Lake it crcattd TA weeks of extra time for • the four local turn.i. That meant ' 30 acts a week, which sbon ex- hausted the best of the none too fancy local talent. But careful picking can produce a fair quartet of locals for the $600 budget-once A week. This too Is a saving under last season's quota when the four «.\tra acts cost up to $750 and $80i> (Continued on Page 40)