Variety (Oct 1931)

S4 VARIETY L E G I T I N /% T r Tuesday, October 13, 1931 s Out of TOWD / EAST V/IND PIttahiirffh, Oct. 6. Si'hwnb & ManAel presont n netr opcrolta In tn'a nets anil IS sceni-n, by Oscnr Ham- merstcln 2<l (ind Fronic Tlohdel. MubIo by SIgraund RomboriC. ' 3. nnrold Murray, ChArlotle LanalnR ond Joe Penner fcdtursd. and other nrlnclpals Oreck Kvnns, ■Wllllnm Wllllamg, penhre Moore, Tora Murpli. Ahl, Julos Bpnilly, the Thva Mullen. Slaters, th? Pearl Twins and R'aymf.nd Bmmley. At the Nixon for one week at %\A<3 top. Looks like Schwab & Mandcl have a worthy succesaor to 'The New Moon,' for 'Eiast Wind' shapes «p like a hit. Needs some flxlnjc, of course, but not much, for curtain was down here Openlnff night, at 11:20, somethlnff of a record for a local premier. Tightening up of a few spots apparently'all that's jiee- essary,' and on Broadway this one should have smooth sailing. . It's asking too much for *n ope- ratic plot to be anything but the stereotyped, and 'East Wind' Is Ho exception; but It does have every- thing 61se, and that everything else Is enough. For onfe thing, It has one of Romberg's best scores, a scdre that embraces the usual Romberg scal'e; from stirring march numbers to haiinting balladM. For another thing, It .pays more- attdhtlon to c6rnedy than most' shows of this type,'and the comedy is consistently of a high order. 'What Is more, pro- ductlo'n Is colorful, beautifully set and costumed,: and 'sun'g by princi- pals who know theli-.,busfnesi9. • 'East Wind' fnoves from Pnrls to Illdo-Cltlna and back i^galn. .apc| opens up plenty of opportunities for Rjmberg. to spread himself. His 'East Wind,' the show's big number;, conies early In the flrst act, aiid J. I^f^rold Slurxiay gives It'everything, backed 'up by a splendid singing chorus to tie .things into a knot. Opening nlglit, lijirrdy .oh this num- ber alone took flv6 bows and mob was'-stlU- pounding Its. mitts .for more. ROniberg' conies right back with 'Ton Are. My Woman,' also easy pickings for . Murray and a sweet ballad on the 'Deep In. My Heart' order; 'I'd Be a Fool,' sung to good advantage by Charlotte Lan^ng; *a barltohe'-tenor duet, •When the Heart Is Tourig,' which Is a natural for Murray and Greek ^Brans, and a great- tune - called 'Wonderlul World,' which Is plugged plenty. There's another thing aboujt this 'East Wind.' In addition to having voices. Its' people can act. Murray Is close to being the flnest singing actor on'the stage today; and with his -hair staying since last around In^' 'R16 Rita.' he has taken on an additional dignity. - He- has liever been In better form, and he gives evefy Booig and dramatic. situation a'punch that .few others of hla type CQuId get across, . Miss Lansing, too, caq ^act, and her scenes with Mur- ray i^re Invariably' well done, more on'the 6rder of the sti^fC one expects on the dramatic stage, Then again. If "East Wind' does nothing else. It establishes Joe Pen ner as A comedian to be reckoned with. ' Penner for the past six years hits been knocking around in pic- ture-house presentations, shorts, vaude and revues, but this Is his first book show, and he lands right side up. He has always beeii i favorite around here, and his open Ing reception held things up for ) couple of minutes. Same thing hap pened on a couple of other occa slonst That funny little walk and that cracked voice are assets to bis role, that of an elephant dealer in Indo-Chlna who gets ptit on the spot by a gang of Orientals for selling them a fake white elephant, and he squeezes everything out of the part ' Opposite Penner for comedy is cute Vera Marsh in her third Schwab & Mandel show (other were 'America's Sweetheart' and 'Frtie for AH'), and, to a lesser de gree, Dennle Moore. Both of them got over, particularly Miss Marsh, who has more to do and her com edy song-and-d'ance number' with Penner, 'These Tropics," represents a clover bit of work. Penner also ^^jias a solo to his elephant, 'Minnie, ^^whlch,has sort of a Gllbert-SulUvan ^■flavor, although not quite up to his ■T'TropIcs' bit. This show makes him ^ that much is certain, and it won': hurt Miss Marsh either, Story has to do with a girl reared in a ronvent who at last is sent for by Iter father in Indo-China. She falls in love and marries a young rounder who goes native over half-caste nautch dancer and then learns that^ her .husband's brother, an offlcer in the IiCglon, is In love with her. Gal deciiles that If her better half wants to go to'thi dogs, she'll g.o there with him,. and she d^es. There's a swell bit of staging- in the second act that reveals a stage within a stage. The Chinese gal Is to open In her new ballet In Parle, and you see her doing her stuff and then slipping out into the wings— the backstage within the stage.ls Jn view of the audience—to find' her lover waiting for her. He accuses her of unfaithfulness, and In sculTle she shoots him down, rushes ']>ack onto the stage to finish her heart. . That brings down-the . cur- tain on- stage No. 2. .'iThe manager in the wings is frantic,'and, to keep the audience quiet, he sends Penner out in one to keep things < moving. That .finishes the scene;, and- It's swell stuft.. After, her husband's murder, the heroine goes to the dogs In a big way; her brother-ln-la.w comes back from the front temporarily blinded, but Anally finds her In a Marseilles sailor's dive, for the happy ending.. There's plenty of heavy drama all the way through, but It's well,acted. Ahl, Chinese dancer ' formerly of Vaude, does nicely both in acting and dancing, and her 'hootch' num- ber In the first act is plenty warm, with Bobby Connolly backing It up later with a line of blp-fllriging rchbrlnes. Pearl Twins have but one spot and over nicely, while Four Mullen Sisters furnish a pretty har- mony background on' several occa- sions, .William Williams^ as-the bird, who goes native, also shapes ui>. well, aiid lUs duet with Miss tAHSliig, 1 Saw Vour Eyes,' IS en- joyable. Cohen. LEAN HARVEST , PhiladelplUa, Oct. 5. "Lean Harvest,' Xi'ondon Importa- tion by McGowau & Reed, .o£ which much had been expected,', was dis- closed at the 'n'alnut Street theatre last week. Elaborately producecl :<r— with a double revolving stage - featured— and aided by the presence of Leslie, danks, who has- gained a consider- able . following hero ' through 'The Infinite... IShocblacV and ''Man in. Possession.' This piece-, by ' Ronald Jeans' which ran ;-f6r several months In London, seemed likely to break the dlarmlng string dc light- weight straight plays sent to Phllly to open the season.^ Critical .opin- ion was mixed With , the unfavorable being slightly. In the majority. 'Lean Harvest', has several handi-- caps to overcome and one of them Is that It Is another of those Brit- ish plays that Is so very British as to be at times beyond the enjoy- ment of the average American audi- ence. It Is not the usual jovial Lon- don drawing room comedy, full of smartly ' sophisticated lines which gets at'least a limited down stairs dra-w over here. And, finally, the theme is by no meaita new, nor is Its execution any neiver Mr. Jeans' drama .concerns a young man Of the middle-or lower classes who, through perseverance and ambition, finally gets a job that leads him eventually to 'real money.* In. his pursuance of a successful career, he passes up a sweetheart of his youth and marries the girl whom he thinks will help him In his advancement. Once 'up,' he be comes money mad and neglects his home for business. Quite naturally, the wife looks for other: diversions. In the last act, at the time when the hero has apparently' achieved real . monetary power, his nerves and hIs' bralh and his physical ap- paratus crack under the strain, a'nd he eventually (though off-stage) succumbs. This short summary- may hardly be said to give full credit to many of.Us values. The first.act Is far too long and for the most part dull, although there are moments in the final scenes which have a nice light comedy touch. The second act also starts stodglly, but. gains impetus through a dream scene lu which the money made hero dreams of the existence which he might have had with the sweetheart of his child- hood. This scene, tinged with the h-onlc and the fantastic, captures some of the imagery and beauty that were a part of 'A Bci^gar on Horse Back.'. It is followed, too, by a touching interlude depicting the temporary.. reconciliation of man and wife when the'formei* tries to explain why it Is a husband can not always express himself in ar dent and glowing terms. - The la^t act' contoilns the 'big scene,' I.e., the bit that, shows the riches-chaser breaking up. Cun- ningly staged with a 'spotlight on- the unfortunate man, and a bedlam of noises isupposed to represent the Irritating sources of his break-down, this scene is highly «frectlve theat rlcally without, really, flttlnif Into the spirit of the rest o£ the play A rclurn to Irony Is reached In the final scene, which taken' place after his death and show.<« his al ways-struggling brother told of his Inheritance, .and all set to launch on the very same course that caused the olhcr'3 unhnpplncss and death. Banks, after a first act that added little to his reputation, gives a very creditable and. increasingly power- ful portrayal of the man who sac rlficed wife, content and finally his life in the pursuit of ambition. Nigel Bruce, -vvho also played in the piece In England, stole the earlier sections oC the play nnd was always excel lent. Patricia Calvert and Vera Allen give sincere and let^Itlmate performances of the leading feral- nine roles. ment Is making so much ado about having a double one. Is-hard to ex- plain. Thei'.play got Along In Lon- don without this mechanical aid and can well do so over here. Despite nice performances and generally effective staging by Jo- seph Verner Reed, 'Lean Harvest' Infpresses as. doubtful In this yea^. of many flops. V/aiisrs, GIRLeRAZY (Chicago) Chicago, Oct. 9. All the original scenery and pro- duction, plus 60^ of the chorus, bit atitors, and the sathe orchestra lead- er, were- imported from New York along with a neiw group of princi- pals. Production was leased from Aarons & -. Freedley on royalty and after a fairly prosperous break-In week, at $3.86 in Milwaukee comes to the Garrlck at the prevailing Chicago top of $8. . - 'Girl Crazy' got. good notices from the dallies; but that meahs less' In Chicago than elsewhere, as the pub- lic picks for-itself. Chief asset of the' production and favoring mod- erate ■ longevity Is. Its ecOnomicat hook-up with the. principals on nominal guarantees against per-- centages if reaching the higher brackets, - But along -with the'economy'prac- .tlced by Gregory Batott, acting on .behalf of the unldentlfiied Mr. Mor- ris, who supplied the mazuma, there Is a lack of quality, a weakness amounting to aneniia in those Im-. portant details that hold a musical production togethibr. And the,chorus Is the least attractive of the four now lii Chicago. Blossom Secley and Benny Rubin carry' the show and command. the top . billing. Miss Seeley's. long troupiiig experience was a citadel of strength 'In this book role'. At that she never had -a song In all her vaudeville acts that wasn't better than everything' she had to work with outside of 'I Got Rhythmh.' Both Miss Seeley and. Benny Fields could have - helped things a lot if interpolating some of their trunk- full Of vaudeville-certified material. Benny Rubin -was permitted to in-- ject one . or'two small bits of his own stuil Bind, again, the show would havo been vastly improved by sacrificing some of Its dull and un- essential stuff to allow Rubin to do more. '. Benny Fields surprised in tho part played in New York by Wil- liam K£nt. This -was certainly h new field for Fields. Seeley and Fields, in the right parts and with more latitude, are a bet for produc- tion.- '^llen Keams, Frances Upton, aiid DOhald Foster form the romantic triangle, first two getting billing. As a producer, Gregory Raton Is not in this instance distinguished. He has brought Chicago a pretty emaciated version. .. Land. Plays on Broadway THE GUESTROOM Comedy In three act« presented ot the ttansfleld Oct.-0.by Carol Sac; written by Arthur -vnimurt; Helen Lowell featured; nta'ffed by the presenter. -Willard Slmms.. Mii,. Martin...... Janfet Fairley.;... .<'harlotte Powers. Mrs. Losalns Mr. I,«salnK....... Mary.,..;...:.,.;. ..Otto Holett ,. iBoverly BltBteaves ;...;.'. .Joan Kenyon ;.;u..<.Helen Lowel) ..Joan Qordtin Herbert 'Warren ;....13dmonla Nolley _ , 'Lean HatTCBt' really needs no re :ancc and plunges a dagger Into her' -volvlng stage and why the manage STELLA BRADY Providence, Oct. 9. "Eielta Brady,* 'a play In three acts. .Written by James Montgomery and sloRed by Charles DIlllnRham at the Carlton the- atre,. Providence, Ttautsday. Oct. 8, with thiS (ollowlne cast: Thomas Madison..' Lynne Overman Stephen Adams Robert Ober Ramon RIcardo ...Cesar Romero Allan Johnson Mackenzie 'Ward Judge Sinclair : Charles Anbelo Hnmmond ...Fmnk AUworth Mclntyrc .....'Walter F, Scott Mr. Poison Frederick Koland Taxi Starter William Friend Dr. Myers ...W. Messenger Bellls Nell Madison's Valet Edw. J. Mackay (Itella Drady Janet Megrew Mrv. Holeombe-Curtis Hilda Spong •Marie, her maid Bleanor Sinclair -Night club guests and other charartera by: Helen Kaiser, Virginia IjOlyd. Marie Lnvezzo, Betty Darling. 'WanI M, French Wllbum Riviere, -William Stone. A taiky. play with no Ohange ot pace and but a few grains of diver- sion. New manager 'Is off to a bad start. ., ■: ■ , -' * ■ " Carol. Sax started ln Paris sum- mer before last, taking over. an American' coini>any with the Idea of establishing an .American the-' atre. .It flopped. Fact that , there was trouble with ,a player or two Attracted attention In professional circles. Sax is an lowan'-who stu- died something or other, at the Uni- versity of Kentucky. H.o estab- lished a little theatre there ahd that' explains his stage urge. ' \ . 'The Quest Room' had the orig-' Inal title of 'Lottie Gathers No Moss' or something akin.. Lottie is ' a mat\ire spinster aunt and strictly' a pain in the neck. That goes for all whom sho co'mes in contapt with. At the' start another old gal has just been burled and it Js. interred Lottie pestered her to death!. The' house Is willed to sonie- one else and, Lottie goes to visit Mrs, Martin despite the fact that old 'Iddy makes it cliear she enjoys living;: alone. Because of Aunt Lottie/Janet had hesitated wedding Willard Slmms; who, despite his af- fection, declares Lottie- can never, live with them. ' Lottie's visit to the Martin honie ha'S extended a ;ycar and' Mrs. Mar- tin is nearly a pyscopathlc. case, .Lottie, irritating' the works. Mrs.. Martin's, married,, daughter frankly tells Lottie she niust go .elsewhere and when Janet takes her in, Wil- lard accepts a.six mOnths assign- ment to South America. Upon his return, Lottie is offended and it Is only when Janet realizes the sel- fish mot,lves of her aunt who would like to see the youiig couple sepa- rated so that she can feather her own nest, the young matron agrees with her young hubby that they cannot be happy with Lottie about. At the curtain the poor pest is on her way to annoy still another old lady. There may be women like Aunt Lottie^ but It Is not reasonable to expect such a bore to supply, amusement on the stage for three acts. Maybe the Idea is more ap- plicable .to drama than comedy. As It is the character is almost as tlror some to' audiences as she is/sup- posed to be to the. play's charac- ters. Ilelen Lowell is Lottie. She is suited to the part in stature, age and so forth. Granted she gives an excellent impersonation ot stupid, insistent old maid, that does not make up for the absence of diver- sion in the play. Miss Lowell does her Job well enough, maybe too well. Her Lottie siibmerges the cast, but Beverly iSltgraves is true to type as the other ancient lass, Mrs. Maptin. Noticed in the short cast was Herbert Warren, once the chief support of Valerie Bergere when sketches were part of vaude- ville. There is an occasional smart line but no more. Little chance other than cut rates. 76ce. • Considering the fact that this new play is from the pen of James Montgomery and that It was to be enacted by a cetst of well known Broadway stars, results are disap pointing. - . Just how far 'Stella Brady' (Continued on Page 68) will FOREIGN REVIEW La Revue Du Canard ('Newsy Review') A revue With music, produced at t^e Folles Wagram. Paris, by Rose. Authored by Andre I>ahl. Maurice Marchal. Pierre Benard, and Jules- Rivet', starring . Mar. guerlte Moreno. Tramel and Pasquall. 'Canard/' which means -a duck also, means a wild yarn, and a kind oC newspaper that publishes same. ' Idea is. that the revue consists o( sketches telling tales about,current events. It is innocuous and unpre tentlous. ' Tramel in one of the sketches Impersonates Oscar Dufrennc, one of the producers ot the next door Empire.vaiide house. Pasquall has a Cliarllc Chaplin scene, and alsio disguises himself as one of the old women ushers -on the Opera Comlnuc. Dcauvllle's flop is alluded to, with two actors representing the onl.v bathers there. Marguerite Moreno is good again on the stage where she., comes back from pictures. There Is,' of course, a Colonial Kx hibltlon sketch. All strictly local. Nojri. LEFT BANK Comedy drama In three acts by Elmer nii-o, presented end staged by the au- i??.';,."}* "1*. ^'".'*' Featured: Kalherlne Alexander, Donald MadDonald. S^^^^y Katherlne Alexander •'"J" .She'Uy Horace Braham ^nf'J^e'-., \ ciedge Roberts a.fLil* k""*^ ....Donald MacDonnld •'"» «_ ^i"**-.-. • Mllllccnt Orecn »>'■"-•■•■•■■■•■•••••••'••■•■•"-^^^^ Gustave Jensen.,.. a. L. BartulOt Dorachek...... Tamaro Niooll Miriam Van Dlesen., - Wlllnrd Simmons... Mary Adams...:... .M. Dorothy Day .Edwiird IMwnes ...Janet Cool With an almost perfect set of puppets, with a clear purpose in niind and with seemingly a perfect knowledge of Paris life, Elmer Rice brings his new play forth under his own management. That It's not an entirely satisfactory piece of work Is not so miich ht.s fault as the fauU ot tlio subject matter. Rico gets uliout as much out.of it as he couUl, it's acted as well as can be by 'a' fine cast and, with the exception of one vei-y much out of place scene In the second act It rings true from a rlmractcr portrayal standpoint. But because oC the remoteness of the subject matter aind because of an Inclination to get lltor.ary and histli hat. It will get no more than mod evute money. One thing can be said tor Rico— l:e is the Urst of the several wriicr- producer-dlrcotois this seoson to get away with the triplicate assign i.nent. He doesn't stumble over himself tor a minute. That's some- thing. Also, tho suspicion Is there that he even carried his authority Into, the one sot credliod to Ray ihond Sovey. It's a perfect codv o» a ParU hotel bedroom, even unto the trick light switches and the iii? evltable bldfet. Sovey admitted in the lobby during Interihission tliat he had never been in Paris, Rice sUrts with a terrlflc handi. cap in this play by^.the story he has to tell. He has two married couplca and wants thetii to switch mates. Before the switch Is accomplished! all four cheat on each other. Nov? no matter how you tell that story' ?' JP.ny or literary you make It, its still a musical comedy plot thait has nothing tor the box Oflice But Rice . manages , to make it miore or less acceptable, despite he takes it seriously. What helps Is that he knows ; his people. John Shelby as the. expatriate scribbler who;prattlea about 'freedom' and hates 'Babbitts^ has a counterpart many times in Paris. His wife. Clalroi who used to be a rebel with him but would now like to get back to a healthy Westchester County, cottage, Is correctly drawn to lite. Same for Waldo, aijd Susie Lynde. a couple of middle-westerners who are -fairly well to do and seeing Paris. Rice knows, his characters, making them souiid real' and true. One place where. Rice gets off; and- pretty far off: is in the second act where he: has al' buuoh of drunk- ards breaking in.for a party. May- be that's a party that is possible in ' Greenwich' Village, but more likely it fits Ann Arbor, Mich, Way. off for Paris, From an. acting' standpoint. Rice gets all the help ho can possibly ex-r' pect, '.Katherlne Alexander, is goOd as the girl who yearns for her home back in America and . Donald Mac- Donald makes the'middle westcra who doesn't like modern. methods, likeable. Better than, all is. Horace Braham- as the cock-sure young scribbler and expatriate. It's perfect acting from the standpoint of anyone who has seen this same sort ot person In action at the Dome, or Coupole. Unfortunately, though, it's going to look theatrical and affected to. those who don't know the type. It's that kind, of a role. In smaller parts Alfred Hesse :and Merle Maddern are excellent and Mllllcent Green, while not good, Is not bad. .She's better as the evening goes along, which. may mean that she'll straighten out after a couple of .per> tormances. 'What Is sums down to is that Rice wanted to shOw a pldture of American life in the Latin Quarter of Paris and has. it's a good plio* tographic picture. But, unfortun- ately, it's the kind ot picture that's good only for those who recognize IL For those who don't it's bound to seem thoatrical and untrue, and not especially amusing. KmU THE FATHER Drama In three acts revived at the «th Street. Oct, . by Lee Shubert; written by August Strlndberg; staged by Booeit Lorolne and Malcolm Morley; lA)mlne. Ilaldee Wright and Dorothy DIx featurde: same for J. M. Barrie's playlet ^Barbara* Wedding,' curtain raiser. . Adolplr .....Robert Loralne pastor ;. .Beynor Barton Nojd , Barry I-IVMgr Laura. : Dorothymc Dr. Ostermnrk Lawrence Hanray Margaret ....Haldce WrlBht Bertha Malsle Darrell BARBARA'S WEDDING, The Colonel.. ..Robert Tx)niln» Dering Borrle LIvesay Barbara Winifred Wynne Karl . .Bruce Mo^ Billy Colin Corde'J Granny Haldce Wright This company imported from London for the revival of Strlnd- berg's 'The Father,' cannot possi- bly lighten the somberness ot a somber young season. But the Shuberts have to try to keep their theatres open. Even with the scale at $2.60 top, a brief , engagement in- dicated. It Even the sponsors of the revival appear to have no speclar expecta- tion of success, as Indicated tue bllllng'of Barrie's short playlet, Bar- bara's Wedding' over the Strlnd- berg play. The ctivtalrt raiser was but mllclly received. . 'The Father* Is a study of n man going out of his. njlnd over his un- certainty after 17 years whether ne Is the father ot his own child. Ailolph Is » scientist, a man of men- tiil strength. The visor tit brain is sapped by his calculating wife, LAura, who points out thax tho paternity ot a child can not ue postlvcly determined. Tlmt. sne says, applies to their Bertha ana she suggests she might have been unfaithful. The quarrel between this coupw In' a Swedish town Is not a matter of .sex, but concerns the education ot tlie child. The nurse believes in witchcraft, the mother has set ner mind on a certain rour.MO. while tiie f.tthcr wants, the girl to .b.o .sent to a boarding school. .r In the forbidding almosplierc oi the astronomer's home, sf*"'* Strlndberg's brilliant shafts »| from the llila ot PolUa Ailolpli. 1''^^" though 'The Father' Is a 4r>-.vear-oia play, those comments remain irc n. (Continu' 1 on page 031