Variety (Nov 1931)

Tuesday, November 3, 1931. FILM HOUSE REVIEWS VARIETY 37 FOX, BROOKLYN . Brooklyn, Oct 91. - UniwnaJ'y audiences Friday ^id Saturday ' 6Ussested chance ahow mlerbt break thei bouse record 'fliti; week. After the fl|r8t Saturday ghbw, tbe house was $26 ahead, of Ito cross for the. same number of ^ows In the record week. Draw attributed to the feature, Fox's «lBC0 Kid,' and Abe X>yihan'8 bond. In the second week of the band's Indeflnlte' engagement 'Cisco Ktd'- may not have' meant ^ncb on Broadway, but It looks Uke a b. o. film for the nelghbs. Youngsters pUed In here early to watch Edmund Iiowe and Warner j^zter strut their stuff. ' Abe Iiyman's band preceded the (tage show with 16 minuted of Siverslfled Instrumentation during which three numbers were fea,tured, fOhe More Time,' 'River and Me' and Tiger Rag.' First and last ■ong are hot tunes, aptly muslcal- Ised, especially 'Tiger Rag* with which tune the band ran wild. Sec- ond song is a sort of pop dirge in which the band- interpolated a few spirituals. Vocal numbers by a high tenor are woven in all three. • Tallyman and his; boys worked over the torrid melodies with much'gusto •hd appeared to enjoy playing them as'much as the audience did hearing them. ' Band got a big reception when it first 'came on and went away 'with a. fStiU larger applause tolilme. ■ ■•Following Lyman, Ron and Don, duo organists, presided a few min- utes with organ selections and com- munity singing. F. & M. current lilmehoUse Nights' Idea Is a .fast moving unit' in which the greater portion of the time is devoted to dance numbers, group, solos, duos and apache. A nice snappy pace is kept up from the beginning, with the apache flnale an exceptionally, strong cll- inOx. ' Jack Partington- staged this unit while on the- coast a number of weeks ago. It 'was at the time when F. & M. first entered Into the Far^ Publlx'agreement and needed some units hurriedly for the Far theatres. . 'Limehouse Nights', has . but one Siting from start to finish, In con- trast to the average of three which the''other Ideas have. It's a fairly rich setting, depleting . a Chinese tea shop in a basement of London's ]linehouse section. After a few introductory dance Bnmbers for islx couples, the Wing Wah Troupe Is on to reveal some eye opening body twists and Joint throwouts. Troupe consists of three men and two girls, with the girls and one. man doing all the work. Qlrls are young and clever and have a variety of stunts in their specialty that Is novel to say the least Boy goes the girls one better in every' thing, but the girls get over better because of their sex and because tbey look so yoiing. Waiten and Inmah Is the second featured act A mixed comedy team that gets laughs out of plenty of rough house antics. The femme halt works exceptionally hard 'with comedy dances and getting banged all over the stage. Man foils for the girl and' attempts some laugh matter himself, but the girl Is main Interest Patter between duo Is fair. It's the low hoke that puts them over: An unusual and exceptionally dar- ing apache dance by Armando and Uta closed the unit. From the open- ing scene there Is a slight thread of a'conttnulty about a white girl kept In this chink Joint and in love with a sailor. When she tries to escape. It cues Into the apache with the boy garbed bs an oriental. Their rou- tine Is swift and thrilling and free of the halts often noted in apaches. Dno performs It all as though It were ad lib and couple possess at number of dance catches and throws that are out of the ordinary. . Between the numbers of the fea- tared acts, the six mixed couples troupe on and oft with varied forms of legmanla. In one. bit they sepa- rate for a sort of all-hatlons dance 'Wnteet, dancing iii duos and solos. -Foasess a good line number to-ward the finish when all 12 work out. a Hoofing routine from, on and around chairs. Warner, Milwaukee ^ Milwaukee, Oct 28. This new, slightly gaudlferbus parlor used four shorts, a news- reel, and advertising reel on behalf w a local- toggery for ladles, and *1 o^eanlude by Al Gulllckson to f"8™ent the feature. Total was inienaed.v and accepted as fair re *"rj,/or 50 cents.- Milwaukee didn't particularly "Md the. Warner. Town's over- m2> . " anything and the sort of niK,\'""?^^''opo"s that has lots : of neighborhoed cinemas to trim the v,,°?s oft. business. Last week the Tnl , "^vhat. there was of it on Mieadny night, was going to the Kiv. with 'Sustth Lenox.' w ersidc'.s RKO vaude and 'Fi lonas t," „.^o^ «r.s' with two. French stars. biiVJ.v'" and Damlta (In a German ■^Vnr^ fair to middling at the n ''n, .'''''ey were announcing as Huiv^i .''■'f'Wlnff .mywhere' Wftltci- "usion In 'The Kulljie Voice.' This time the gangsters are In the milk business Instead of whiskey. No one entering the premises, or - '"en passing them, could fall to know that Ja'mes Cagney, Warner star, was on the way for a personal appearance. ■ This wais screamed from every inch of plate glass that could take pasteboard, from every frame hot Imperative for the cur- rent show. Every usher wore across his bosom, diagonally like a'marquls, - satin sash that James Cagneyid. trailer ten minutes long told the story In detail. Maybe If next week the visiting star should happen not to mean anything, for once In the history of the theatre operation the house win escape blame. Two from Murray Roth's Plat- bush factory and one from the Col- umbia cartoonery constituted the shoru. What nillady with a lot of mazuma wlU wear was told by T. A. Chapman Co. oh the'tag end of the newsreel. This house- has a radio program weekly. Also the Wisconsin (Fox). But as Milwaukee's two' stations, WTMJ and WISN value themselves highly. It's understood all theatrical programs have to buy their own time or get some advertiser to sponsor them. Oddly' enough sta- tions have declined publicity tieups to use stage talent "appearing In town, even when free. Fearful of giving theatres something for noth- ing, stations - overlook that the an- gle works both ways. Particularly In Milwaukee where talent can hardly be plentiful. Anyhow It's take It or leave It Stations prefer phonograph records to free acts if they have, to mention the theatre! Sliver leaf seems to have replaced the. gold of former years In building this house. Retrenchment? Quite a small audltbrlumi too. That may explain the seats. Trying to. make the Inches count- the rows are too close together and not comfortable on the knees. Getting up to let peo- ple In or out Is unavoidable even for women. Land. ORIENTAL, CHICAGO ' Chicago, Oct 80.' ■ Cfely three acta in' the show, but eoUd talent AH singles. But 'what singles!* There was Con Colleano iind a girl, Darlene Walders, be- sides Sophie Tucker. Colleano was forced to overcome enormous obstacles. He -was sent on follo;wlng a slow chorus opener and given a weak and unintelligible Introduction by the m. c. In . the matter of production there were more obstacles for Colleano. . He 'was forced to work against a back- ground too light in color. So light that the. audience had difilculty in keeping pace with those lightning feet Spotted against a t>laln draped background would have made a mountain'Of difference In effect In spite of these stumbling blocks, Colleano hurdled safely.Into the hit class. Nothing could stop the re- sponse to that smacking tight-wire stepping and somersaulting. Darlene Walders has about reach- ed the top point In acrobatic danc- ing. She accomplishes front-overs so easily they look simple. It's a fast routine and a can't-miss any-^ where. One other mention before La Tucker. It's the.drums and mili- tary-routines on toes turned out by the chorus under AInsley Lambert's eye. In these days of surfeited audi- ences, a simple dance production nupber that gets a reception and a shbw-halt Is something to. write about. . This* routine, hod every- thing In the way of color and rhythm and execution. After this there was Tucker and the afternoon and town was hers. It was the first time, after weeks of wrestlers, baseball players, film Ingenues, that this stage has held a real trouper. And the audience recognlzed.it like thei sun in the morning.'. Mme. Tucker couldn't get off the stage. She probably didn't want to. She gagged and black-outed and sang. She sdng songs that ran Into the blue. This midwest town isn't accustomed to some of those punch- lines; but this audience whistled for more. In the hands of other per- formers there would have been com- plaints to the- front office. But not when delivered by 'what a per- former,' to give her Bee and Kay title. After the song there was a dra- matic warbling piece called 'Dance Hall Doll,', produced excellently and blew this .audience up like dynamite. Miss Tucker closed the show. It Is, or rather It has been, the Invariable rule here that the audience start walking Immediately following the final number without even waiting for the chord flnale from the or- chestra. This . afternoon' no one moved. The heavy curlaih came down and still 'they sat and wore their hands rjut. That lady Tucker had to come back and sing to 'em. They knew what they wanted. So .she sang-'Some of These Days' and they applauded. They applauded .some more but nobody walked. rin.Tlly the house lights went oft again and Mme. Tiiokr»r made a .speech; They stamped nnd whistled and then they consented to leave. Rest of. the .show does not mat- ter. There was '.Sideshow' (WJJ) and pomc new clip.s nnd an organ- log. ■ But they weren't noticed. Not beside that Tucker girl. ROXY Ne'w-Tork, Oct. 30. ' The Theremin as played by Ehi- gene Henry in what Is probably the first film theatre demonstratldn of. the new musical Invention controlled by electric rays, shows a peculiar hu- man quality aa of humming voices when in the lower clef. -When the high notes are reached the music comes more clearly defined as in- strumental. This looks to be the chief distinc- tion not^ when' caught and when, owing to the poor-manner of presen- tation Friday (80) night .this nov- elty failed, to receive the response It deserved. A hidden "mike* voice attempts to explain the Instrument, but unintelligibly, and the screen Could easily be utilized to better advantage. Else a better and more distinct volce.- If that Roxy orchestra ever as- sembled enough brass and a Jazz arrangement of popular music It would prove a sensation with Its 75 musicians. The -pit Is permitted to dwell' 12 long minutes without any stage, coloring on straight 'Tannhauser,'. vblch is beautiful enough' in its place hut misplaced here , with Its heavy music coming directly after a feature. The Roxy calls its current show 'Rhapsody of Time.' It has 6 scenes and three parts and is colorful throughout but haa no great modern punch. Maybe that means the Roxy Is willing to let well enough alone,' but If the past few months' experi- ence means anything it has proved the shows that have the modern' punch points deliver better weeks here even in the fact of some con- cededly mediocre product ' . Beatrice Belkln, Patricia Bowman and Voh Grona and his Dalncers are the features of the show. Miss Bow- man does a dueit with Nicholas-Daks In a Colonial garden scene for open- ing -with a riot of stage color, while Miss Belkin, centered in a hanging frame, sings. Ballet troupes also In Colonial gfirb, both boys and. girls, and the Roxy chorus In correspond- ing period costumes chime In from the balcony pergolas. . -. There's another scene where Miss Belkln and Cella Branz do a sing- ing duet in 'one' with Morton Gould at the piano, but Gould is the show here and when he plays Ravel's 'Bo- lero' he draws the customers away to himself entirely. Even In his accompaniment he is- superior, which may show faulty stage Judg- ment for this one spot The Roxyettes, as-often, provide the big punch, despite the unusual and clever, contributions of Von Groiia with the assistance of admir- able stage lighting,, the Roxyettes and the ballet in the final number denoting: Tomorrow' or the machine age. In a 'Radium' scene the Roxyettes are on to a darkened stage and audi- torium like so many radium spots In rhythmie gyration with the lights gradually going up for a .strutting dance numbtf and a kick finish. . Everybody a^ usual but tbe sing- ers In on the flnale. The Von Grona numbers staged by himself have the additional attribute of having the pit band play with him. Th6 combo Is telling. Bhan. Pcuramoinit, Newark Newark, N. J., Oct 31. Bill Is average this week, with lit- tle, outstanding! Show depends on the draw of the Marx Brothers in 'Monkey Business.' Very nice work Is done by Page and Class, -wire walkers. Four Bachelos please with medleys, one comic. Bass Is note- worthy. Joe Freed with two men and two girls get little with low burlesque. He appears .as a cop and as a diner. A man does fast dancing and there is a little singing, but most Is fool- ing, and not -very funny. Billy How- ard, Lew and Ruth Cameron make on act that doesn't live up to Its promise. Miss Cameron adds little but gorgeous hair; Cameron sings and fells Howard, a comic excep- tionally light oh his feet He dances a neat soft shoe and ends to big apr plause - by Jumping rope rapidly while fiat on his t>ack. . Dorothy '\rernette, dancing act, Is noticeable ' for the Threei Dodge Brothers, who do. a complicated tap In unison and follow with another which Is broken by Individual stunts winning strongly. Belle Lyons and Dorothy Ferguson dance Individual- ly, one in acrobatics, the other In a fast tap and speedy spins. Miss Vernette dances a little with at tractive poses. House crowded. Austin. LOEWS STATE, L. A. L^s Angeles; Oct. 28. Opening slow and not getting go- ing tin half over, 'Carnival' Idea, Le Hoy Prlnz's last unit, shows its lack of talent. It's one of the weak sis- ter's in the Fanchon & Marco string of units ^hen compared to some of the nifty companies turned out re ccnlly; . ■ ^ The Andresens, perch act, are In the closing spot. Cropley & Violet,' combo adagio and roping, open. Raynor Lehr does the carnival spiel ing and comes on second for whip tricks and request dancing. This unit opened in St liOuls and Is now ITALIAN NEWSREEL With an Italian talker at the Cameo this week (30) Is also' an Italian'newsreel, about-10 clips of all Italian ' subjects or matters. Somo of the dips are quite old, with all put together In a sort of propa- ganda manner. Uncredlted as ; to maker, because probably a Jumble and from many sources, but men- tioned distributed by Paul Rlhaudo De "Vllle. Starts off with a couple of shots of King Victor Emannuel and on to Mussolini. Sonie niore Italian notables and a series of building projects In Italy; new bridges, etc.; soldiers at .manoeuvres; athletes In group formations; youth of Italy In various occupations. Most interesting feature of the thing was that for reasons hard to figure a couple of shots of Caruso and Valentino were thrown In, sandwiched between- Mussolini and Duke of Aosta. Both .of the mili- tary gents got big hands, while Caruso seemed to mystify, the cus- tomers-at the Cameo and Valentino was equally unrecognized. Perhaps a commentary on the times or audi- ence. Kauf. EMBASSY Celebrating this week the second anniversary of the Embassy aS'a newsreel house, Fox-Hearst offers a program! conspicuously minus-a hot news event or a clip out of the beaten-path. Even In: foreign: coverage and sporting'events, in which F-H tisu- ally excel!,' there is on absence or else a manifestation of matter-of- fact and stlck-to-the-saine-old- ongles camera work. Now that there is some physical activity In Manchuria,; F-H seems to have forgotten about it- Even though there are birdseye views represented as having been filmed personally, by the Lindberghs, the Hankow fiood stuff Is old for regu- lar newsreel fan persual. The house has for its lead dip Wash, bridge, an ' event that is a week old .and where thousands of cars and people have since followed the cameramen. The current bill is also replete 'with those carnival things. Every tlnie the Embassy goes on a news vacation German soldiers are shown reducing to pansy music; Rhine girls exploit wine; Spanish girls ride on floats; caves are explored; Paris kids stage private shows; and- other soldiers parade.. With Capone out the Embassy Is depending upon Mussolini and Hitler to do tbe flag waving ifor laughs: One - of the more pathetically funny clips Is the Paris import on lacquered, rather than platlnumed, hair. Thing winds up with the French recommendation that Amer- ican gals with lap dogs dye doggie's hair the corresponding color every time she chooses to go from blonde to brunet via, lacquer wig attempt. Ely Ciilbertson is dose-upped. for a long time In a talk on bridge and the riycholosy which it should exercise In the home. Card players In the audience always find a laugh but to the others it registers cold.j Formal assignments Include: Laval and Hoo.ver in Washington, Gar Wood on the Harlem; Long Island steeplechase; Roosevelt Memorial In NYC with Al Smith and Gov. RoosCvelt speaking; Co- lumbia -varsity stroking. According to Interviews with Chinese and Japanese statesmen, everything Is okay, despite the war shots l>elng sho-wn elsewhere at the same time by Paramount Hlrami Johnson is worked -in as the third- speaker-and his advice that Amer- ica stay at home and take care of America Is winning applaiise.- Waly. TRANSLUX Pathe gets full credit this week, for Its film war on crime. Assistant District. Attorney Joyce hands, the- re.el the palm for convictions In the Rosenthal kidnapping cose. The clip on the confessions made imme- diately after arrest and one of the most unusual news records .of its kind, is revived currently. Pathe for the first time In news- reel work, gets Its sound recording equipment In the locker room of the Notre Dame team during one of the halves with Pittsburgh. Inside ad- vice, .remindful of several isequences In Unlversal's 'Spirit of l^otre ISame,' Is filmed; Then the team,;' carrying out Instructions, goes back to the field. There is some excellent photography of the battle that fol- lows. Paramount cameramen go out of; their way to get more than views' of the crowd at the NaSry-Prlnce- ton game.' The Luxer apparently overlooked the Yale-Army set-to, perhaps because the Army had. barred news cameras, off of Its field. That now has been lifted at West Point What a lot of fans have been thinking for a long time Is being cracked by GSraham McNamee this . week. He likens Hitler's personal .pose to Mussolini. Immediately after one of those parades of the' Hitlerites Paramount shdwis Musso- lini making his tOth review of the month.- This time It's Rome's cops. Other parades Include' that over the Washington bridge and the w. k. maneuvers of cadets and middies on their respective parade grounds.. Will Rogers', radio unemployment broadcast Is presented by Para- mount . No matter how many times " It has been heard and read, the Rogers grimaces always get laughs. Hobo convention with 'professors' explaining the symbols is another mirth maker. Pathe made a spe- cial out of this. Charles M. Schwab Is. another Patlie exclusive, although the steel man's talk about prosper- ity on the return provokes smiles. First real scenes of the aftermath of a. tussle between Japanese and Chinese troops are by Paramount. Devastated barracks and- milling crowds,- as well .as Japanese fune- ral services are Included. This clip, incidentally, proves a well-selected leader for the program. Pathe pro- vides the Russian touch with a view of singing Cossiocka on the Astor roof, Considerable detail that will In- terest card players, but will incline to bore others because of over-cov- erage, is the Culbertson-Lenz card quarrel. One talks and then the other. Finally the first Culbertson, returns with a gagging philosophy about character reading in the.home' through' bridge. Pathe '-mentions a night club by name and plugs its revue, - This one angle Is held up as the opening of the night life season in New York. Same club at other times has been given space elsewhere in the reels. Unlversal's. freaks include dish- washing contest, gag dirigible and new type of filvver. Other clips: lAval on Smith's roof, Los Angeles mongrel dog show, feeding children in Chicago, naval practice. Gar Wood and Miami water sports. Waljf. in its 20th week, returning over re- mainder of route from here> Lehr had been doing southern blues'songs with his act, but this was cut for the Ldew's State week and Eddie Rob- inson, eight-ball dancer rung In. Robinson did some lowdown dancing doubling with Lehr. Songs would have fitted nicely, as the unit had plenty of dancing. 'Teddy the Movie Bear' followed Lehr. 'Carnlvial' ran less than 40 minutes and shoved the show 15 minutes ahead of time all opening day. The Caria Torney Dancers made up the. line Instead of the usUal Sun- klst beauts. G|rls had four dances, one a toe dance. Routines and exe- cution a little different from those ot F. & M. steppers. Girls did some three-ball Juggling and mUltary band staff, waving which called for concentration. House orchestra was on stage most of the time. Louis E. Goody had two stooges working with his'bear wrestling act. Stooges did the wreatllng, but act is alow. Andresens have a sensational fin- ish, which I.<) also the unit's flnale. Hanging sideways atop a pole, the girl is whirled swiftly by Andresen below. Although not strong enough for a closing, the act was liked, par- ticularly because the girl was good looking for this type of turn. ,'Sin of Madelon Claiidct' on the screen, also newsreel and Howard Jones football'short Business good for last show. PARAMOUNT, N. Y. New York, Oct. 31i After supplying customers with extravagrant stage.show material for the past three weeks or. so the cur- rent unit is a letdown, likely to show Its b. o. dent despite an entertsinlng picture with good cast names for this kind of house In 'Girls About Town' (Par). Boris PetrofTs 'Morning; Noon and Night' unit featuring the RItz Brothers, Is Just another show that sacrifices talent for backgrounds. Those backgrounds or any other can never make up for. lack of the hu^ man clement, which is something the Par should have learned from post recent shows but Ignores for some reason this week. . Outside the Rltz Brothers, vrho suffer from being straight vaude personalities without any material build-up or punch for a house as big as' the I'aramount,- the show cuts Into three episodes and holds Ruby Shaw, .Duke McHale,'an accordion quintet and Allld.a Vannl. No name billed for the accordlan quintet, which combines certain dancing, of two of its members with Instru- mental stuff. If < In Ruby Shaw the Par people are progrc.s.slnfs along the premise of giving new talent opportunity, then her handling' Is wrong here.. The girl has every earmark of proving, under proper tutelage, an expert comedienne and better than ordinary (Continued on Page 38) '