Variety (Nov 1931)

38 VARIETY REV IE W$ • LYRIC MUSIC HALL ' ' (Continued from page 37) Mlnsky's llepubllc. Forty-second street la a changed, picture as two Inirlbs^ue spots, the Flea Clrcuis, and 'a straight vaude now shine along- side only two. legit performances, "both musical—'Scandals', and 'Band Wagon'—where once It was wont to be largely legit. Bluiiu BROADWAY I^hla week B. S. Moss goes out of revued-up yaude, but gives the tour acts on the show a; pop bulld-up through Jtavlng Qeorgle Price dou- ble OS .m.c, ..His mx'lns little more than passes,.but the show-Judged on the whole: .stands up welli. though quite long for a four-, acter, 92 min- utes. That means plenty, of pod- ding. With business probably aver- age, profit for the 'house will be helped by. the dtfterencia that it pre- viously cost Moss to maintain a pro- duction department here to give the atage end that presentation.touch. Picture is Tieftover Iiadles' (Col). Its title may .mean Bomethlnsr at the box oflflce, but not much more than that It will do.a little teasing can .be expected. Price Is oh- at the. start of the vaude for a' brief bit, followed . by Introlhg the opeinlng act, Betty Jane Cooper and the Latbrop Bros., fast dancing turn carrying an attractive set. It played the Palace two weeks ago. Doubles and singles, mostly bucks and acrobatics, figure In the routine, getting the act over nicely. liorrialne Manners, with Price's act, does a couple specialties Iii the opener to lend the show more of that homey; m.c atmosphere, step- ping from that to spot No.. 2 and carrying alone with her Ml^s Cooper and one of the lAthrops. The Dlts )e|isulngx aid In getting Price's act . under wky. His Imitations, talk and. songs, though none liave people teaHng sekts out of the floor, sold Price nicely enough, after .20'mln- utes. • ' The four-act bill caused the spot- ting of Al Trahan' to foUoyv Price, which. couldn't be difficult for Tra- hofi. With that able partner, Lady ,>*'X'uk6na Cameron, who does h,et> bit In a big way toward making tl^le ' one of vaude^s crack c^jnedy ticts, it was'clear sailing for .Trahan.. Miss Cameron-suffered a couple very no- tI(!«iitbK 8ein.tches In the ' mauling eiblso'de, but carried on as vlgorouisly. A bit between Trahan and Price sandwiched In, Henry.Santreyand . his orchestra closing. The- men .. ^me. down the aisle playing, mount tne stage'and settle. down for^a long spell, embracing many numbers, Sileclaltles and dome talk. : There is tklot of singing in the Saiitrey act, perhaps a little too much', unless the orchestra was asked to pod out a little Saturday afternoon. / Frank I/ee and Ruth Wal'tort stand out In dance and sons specialties, respec- ' tlvely, but some of that talk be tween the two needs replacement with fresher material.' The one about sitting on the sign Is moth eaten. Santrey has a strong attraction in bis 14-plece band, with Its nicely played melodies, and bows out with an effective. finish, all the boys singing through lighted m.egs. '^tein Song' is pretty old now^ 'Must It be used twice, at the start and for an encore? Trahan's name is a stage draw, and the title of the picture sho^ild dQ. some enticing, but at the mat the lower floor was only half filled Moss has a fine pit crew up here under 'the direction of Edward J. Kay. The'inob plays the show to perfection. Pathe News and two shorts—^Eddle Buzzell in 'Blonde Pressure' and 'Travelaughs' with John P. Medbury, both Col—fillers, Char, whirlwind tapping oii'their own dancing mat. These threb boys were the only tap dancers on the show. A most welcome relief from most bills which sport four out of flvo tappers per. Because this act was alone of Us type it was a nice treat. Chase and lATour are doing their old . standby of the two couples meeting on opposite sides of . a fence. One couple Is the working boy and girl type and. the other Iiigh-hatters in evening clothes. The assisting: man and woman arc not billed, 'They give okay support to. the featured'team, and besides line-reading ability sing rather 'well. Act was well liked. . It has been drpund for a long time, but seems to keep freshi '\Vllliam and Joe Mandel have survived the' knlcklng of their ma- terial and Ideas by some of the newer faces of vaude; They had the closing assignment; following Frlgonza. - If anyone left the State dissatisfied the Mandel boys cer- tainly cannot have the finger pointed their way. Business' good up and down: Earl Paramount, Newark Nothing remarkable this yfwk, but It pleases. Joseph E. Howard walks off 'With 'the lion's , share of the applause with a melange of his own songs. He Ms helped by two girls, who add atmosphere with period costumes. One has. a 'fine dear soprano. : Howard's ■ voice Is worn, but Improves to ft kayo with 'Old Man River.* Although head- lined he is billed second. The'-Eitaros, two.men helped by a girl'.'(Japs), balance' barrels on their - feet. One tosses the other around on his feet and catches him feet to feet They greatly amuse by their comedy and delight with thel'r 'iskin. Anotfabr courtroom scene la staged by Handers and Millls and is iio more tiresome than the preceding ones.' The' principals play Ibw comedians and win laughter. Two girls dance, one- doing Russian stuff not seen here lately. A ma'n gets, over '-^ith -tfriusuol acr^ba^tic danc- ing; Reception of th6 adt ;onIy fair. .' 3elle,... Montrose and.'. Douglas Reynolds keep them laughing With nonsense. E^arl Lindsay's' Revuei uses Six.girls who dance 'Vlvacious- Jack Beekman gags with Mack Pepper - and sings. Pepper ..does a tributary tap and the girls dance again.' There Is no finals and the act simply stops weakly after a brief : turn. 'It'uses Its own drops. Liked.■ ' A Paramount News' and 'Girls About Town' (Par.) conclude. Not quite, capacity. STATE Ace Loew vaUde stand has on public view this week six acts of vaude which for variety, iiiteresti construction, satisfying ability and speed would be hard to top in the continuous field. Every act sells something different, and the show la laid out in a happy manner, Combined with this vaude sho-vir is Garbo in 'Susan Xjenox' (Metro) and shorts. Leadliig the stage parade la Trixle Frlganza. Personality itself. ' Trlx doesn't need those Edna Wallace Hopper keep young by thla gag and that tradget, 'cause Trixle has young Ideas. Her laughter is lnfec. tious and her face as pretty ns a doll. Add to this her peachy .sense of liumor and some splfly material sold in stylo and there you have Trixle, still beadlliilng and . going strong. Peggy Taylor and Gary Leon in their KItrhen Pirates net, assisted by two u-iblllcd men, gave the show a sock, hit opening. A couple of i^eeks ago they were at the Palace, a block dway. Some of the adagio stunts are stunners. Miss Taylor gets a wicked tossing around by the boys. It is seldom that an opening act ties up the proceedings at this house. This one did. Harry Foster Welch started a lit tie slow, but whammed It over eventually. Welch does varlops imitations of musical Instruments, but his big moment Id the granS' opera bit. Zliree Jacka (New AcU) did some JEFFERSON Saturday's ■ first show found plenty of standees. Feature was 'Notre Dome' (U) and given credit for considerable of the draw. One of the best answers for the Jen standees Is that the house Is giving plenty of show for .the ad- mish. And no 'names' either to in^ sure ahy b. b. stampedes. The vaude. show played rathei evenly. Typical vaude though, along the lines that made vaude so popular in .the days gone .by. Jane Allen and Go. (New Acts) opened. . Nothing new or novel In dancing combos. ° Frank Christy and Eddie Nelson start slowly, but once In their hoke acrobatics sure- fire. Found ready favor here. : Evelyn Wilson was quite a sur- prise with her songs. The applause was so spontaneous at the close she had to come back for a beg-oft speech. Miss Wilson is a pleasing, easy worker; Mixes a musical imi- tation with some straight. singing, but registers the biggest kick with her 'drunk,' She left the audience clamoring. Raymond Bond and Helen Sulli- van registered plenty of laughter with their hick honeymoonors' trials and tribulations in the hotel. Bond's yokel who takes his bride into the big city on his first wedding night found the 14tta streeters most re- ceptive. 'Vlc Laiirle seems to grow better the longer he stays In,vaude. Hie wop. dialect, wisecracking and a young man singing topical numbers pleased immensely.' The Meyakoss did well liext to closing. For the wlhdup of stage proceedr ings 'Evd Puck and Sammy White did their melodramatic' burlesque and then went IntO' the song hits from shows. . Thelr.'blt. was never In doubt Mark. 1. \ RKb, L. A. 86TH STREET Layout was not so well picked for this neighborhood, with ' Its. large foreign element, principally in the circumstance, that a football film. Spirit of Notre Name' (U), some- what loses Its force in a community addicted more to pinochle. Attendance this late Saturday af- ternoon not very important, and the bareness .of. the lower fioor reacted upon the customers. A comedy bill that under better conditions would have, gone .over nicely, here was spotty and mild In eflect. Tork and King divided billing honors with Mcl Klee, and when these two laugh frolics can't stir the.risibilities of a neghborhood crowd,- something is amiss. • ' Started with a fine acrobatic num- ber In the Orantos, then a lively young trio of mixed song and dance people in the Three Reillys, Mel Klee for an interlude of Intimate chatter and gags and the York and Kliig frolic to wind up. Some of Klee's surest-fire gags addressed to the fcmme element missed fire, and the blackface funster was several times caught off balance,' pausing' out of habit to let a laugh die down, and .when there wasn't any laugh he ap peared to have forgotten his lines. By the time the performance got around to York and King, that vet eran pair, of clowiis seeined t have submitted to the chill betp ..: they went on. Their lisually effc vescent style was subdued and th^y didn't get the familiar response. Palr'ap parently are breaking in new young people and the routines haven't yet iellGd. Two girls, one of them daughter True, and three boys are working with the turn, and the rea son for their presence Isn't clear. One of the girls Is extremely tall and breaks up the appearance of the dancing bits .with the other young people. She dances nicely, and in spite of her enormous height has well proportioned figure, but she contributes nothing to the comedy. Tho York and King clowning went well with this mob, but the dosing sequences with the young, people was distinctly antl-di'max. • Opening turn Is a darb for the spbt ' Ortanos are three male acrO' bats working a group of unusual feats. Enough to report that they open the act with a deftly executed Direo high, the top mounter going Into a hand-to-hand stand. From that feat they work upward through perch balancing, ending with a high perch bit (top of the pole almost scrapes the proscenium arch) upon which the two top mounters work Blmultaneously. Rush. Los Angeles, Nov. 6. If the RKO manages to get any- where near Its normal gross this week, the credit -will be Leon Jan- ney's. ' Nothing In the other vaude or the feature, Pathe's 'A Woman of Elxperlence,' to draw an audience. Bill'is comPQsed of Bender and Knapp', acrobats; McCormack and Wallace,' double ventriloquist team; Threie Scovelld Sisters, classical dancers; Leon Janney, boy film star; Frank and Eddie Monroe, trampoline act; Jerome Mann, billed OS a 'One Man Re'vue'; Hlbbett and Hartman, mixed comedy team, and Anatole Frledland's 'Affairs of 1932.' First four acts are locally booked. Latter four axe the intact unit Lo- cal acts budget at <640, and total cost of the vaude bill is (3,600. Beiider and Knapp okay as open- ers with a smooth line of hand bal- ancing. McCormack and Wallace deuced with a familiar line of ven- trbliqual chatter. Both the man and the woman work dummies. Nothing unusual,' but fair in this spot - Three Scovelle Sisters next with a mildly pleasing routine of classical dancing. One girl displays a good knowledge of what's wanted in this line of work, but the other two are Just background. Leon Janney. (New Acts) followed This youngster should be a real bet for 'vaude. Fresh, and never once mentioning Hollywood, he hands out 10 minutes of pleasing entertain' ment and displays no mean ability as a. mimic. Has impressions of Chevalier .and Dietrich like a vet- eran. Frank and Eddie Monroe, tramp trampoline workers, tied up the show. It's the first Jumping act seen in this house In some time and was eaten up. Five bows, then they begged off. Jerome Mann next with Imitations of George Jessel, Ted Lewis and Pat Rooney. Failed to live up to his billing and closed mildly -with two bows. Hlbbett and Hartman in the next- to-closing spot with a. line of chat- ter. Main laughs come from a fiock Of dogs brought on the. stage by Miss Hartman. Hounds are all shapes and colors, with the gags dealing with their love for trees, etc. Frledland's flash closes and it's Just a flash; Jerome Mann m.c's the proceedings, his work consisting mainly of coaxing applause after the principals finish their solos. It takes a bit of coaxing, too. Act Is one of those things that the RKO ofHce said it was going to stop at the be- ginning of this season. Ken Har- vey, banjolst; Roy Sisters, tappers; Elsa Greenwell, tapper, and Betty Bear,' aero dancer, are the princi- pals. As a whole the show la disap- pointing and nothing that will build up vaudeville along the route. . Pathe news clips and Bryan Foy's 'Monkeyshined' comedy fills. Busi- ness fair for the second show Thurs- day. Call. with great accuraey and has Jiist enough malice to give'''It bite. For the finale the opening Is reversed. The orchestra, under' Gabriel HInes, plays a patrlotlo fantasy with' pictures' of the presidents and generals on the screen. Milton Charles sings from the console, as usual, :wlth the ampUflers - making his voice unpleasant losing . the same song on the organ, ho tries to get the audience, to sing, but t is too much work. Pathe News and 'The Ruling "Voice' (FN) round out the program. House not fliled. OLYMPIA, PARIS ■ . Paris, Oct 30. Business : moderate, due ' to .poor feature. Aigalnst which the sym- phonic pit', orchestra' gives an excel- lent performance under the direction of Rohert Slohan, popular orchestra leader, here. Stage presentation con- tains- some Interesting parts. .. Poor features at the Olympla have recently brought the grosses down to halt those' of Paramount which is of the same capacity and la some- what similarly located. Olympla policy Is usually to ',take up fea- ture films -which have already played several weeks In the Collsee,' ritzy spot of the Haik chain, which may also explaini weakness In drkw. Current; offering begih^' with mixed hewsreel of ' Natan, Edair, and Fox, followed by. .an animated cartoon. Hojise plays grind from 9:30 ai. ni; to'2 a m. Musical over, ture as well aa tne stage show, only glveii afternoons and evenings, Cur-^ rent overture Is two dances by Brc^hms. Orchestra or 26 Ifl excel- lent .After this come's the. btage presentation, really In .three- parts. First Is acrobatics, perfonhed by the Spurgats Trio, covered'frith .alumi- num paint. Follows an^ entrtihce of me;nnequins,. picturlzlng sirens, with the Goddess of the Sea appearing at the back of a kind of staircase set, strongly remindful "of the .Folies Bergore. Last port of the presenta- tion is a very successtoi dance by the Stella ballet girls Iri very pretty costumes. This takes place In the some set as. the sirens, who are stiU there' In full view,' whereas ddnce would cohsidorably gain in attrac- tiveness If the shoddy cardboard set were replaced by. a plain black background, with girls &U>ne lighted. After this comes the feature, 'Seg- ments'. ('Oaths'), ft'- Jacques Haik production by Henry Fescourt: Poor programmer. ' MaTU . STANLEY, J. C. (Continued from page 36) Scorning the amplifier, she puts over her numbers straight from the shoulder with a voice that fill? the great house. She sings one' to Lpwry. Her dynamic personality holds and she wins throughout, Lowry does his best bit with an Impression of ' Graham McNamee broadcasting the 'Moon ' Comes Over the Mountain.' It is .rendeired LOEWS STATE. L.A. Los Angeles, NoV. '4. In 'Manhattan.' Fanchon.& Marco has a better than average show that clicks with tv/o sure-fire ecete — Bruno'Weise Trio,, perch'and hand balancers, and Swor and Qoode under cork. Show runs 46 . minutes and Is well paced and spotted. Al- though Jack Sidney Is'featured, his material at the State, breaJc-'In, did not click big, getting his best hand on his only vocal effort Sidney Is popping in and . out of the show all the time, opening In 'one'' as a sightseeing . bus barker with a prop bus and people. Goes right Into a modernistic Bowery setting with Lucille, acrobatic dan- cer,-and Jack Lester and two girls in a hardahoe dance. Then the 12 blonde steppers cut loose with a similar routine. Sidney reappears for a wop bit and song that are not very plus. Girls finish the scene with a Bowery dance on which blue floods are thrown, unsuited to the blondes. Goes to a Greenwich "Village studio set with another Sidney num- ber that misses. Welse Trio wow with, their perch and hand and foot balancing, finishing v/ith good com- edy ladder work and a sure-fire finale. Sidney returns in 'one' fo^ a down South number a la Joleon that is his beet contribution. Then to full- stage In an' unUsual Harlem ntte- spot set, with Ijester doing, some neat buck and winging and the girls anakehlpping in an daborate rou tine that could stand a chorus cut out. Swor and. Goode held d.own theii: next-t'o-doalng well with blackface crossfire that sounds original. Plenty of audience response. For the finale, Sidney had a rather ' doleful. Broadway number about the Ambition Alley being harbor for mistakes of all sexes, Not bright enough for the flnlsh. Girls wound up with a fine line number, going into semi-ballet with Lucille on her toes. Costuming throughout very much above averr age and settings different Picture 'Riders of the Purple Sage' (Fox) and house capacity opening night. NEW ACTS Nace and Nace. " Francis Trio. Joe Sully and Co. (3). Dusky Kadets. Bicktord Family. Maude Allen and Oo. (8). 'Shore Leave' (8). Cliff Winehlll. Ilarrlhgton Reynolds and Co. (Patsy Daly, Robert Adair), comedy sklL ) FOX, BROOKLYN Brooklyn, Nov 7 ' With the current Fanchon & jfo- 00 Idea, 'Mllltaire,' one of th"iJSS* weights of the series and' BuSS Landl not eapecially ilked In BroSk lyn, the overflow stampede at Uiio extra large house Saturday aftaV ■ noon falls right in Abe Lyman's iST Lyman's boys In tho pit do evarv^ thing so much better than expected before the stage show starts Sit the.F. & M. stage performing coA* pany Is under an immediate hanai cap. Starting with a couple of fait paced numbers, one of Lj man's IM. goes Into a nice ballad that is foT lowe4 by a comedy quartet on ton of a piano In.a burlesque brldm gatae that kept them laughing stead, lly. And, to top, one of those bramr things lor a smash climax. •Mllltaire Idea' is weak, from tal. ent.down. Charles Irwin a lad with an English Accent and a stack of pale humor, la m. c, apd tries hard to overcome the bad acoustlca it Isn't entlrdy his fault that, evew U"'- S'wl, jlurtpg the matinee Somethlnig seemed wrong with the acousUc wiring. .Maybe it was fixed for the -night performances. Large and Mongncr are two bne- legged men, standard vaude, Sni okay for their bit Acrobatics went over nicely. : Rodney and Gould are two boVs. one tall and. o|ie short, in comedy dances. Qkay.aa far as that sort of thing goes. - ■ : ■ That ends the talent, lineup, with the exception of the 16-gIrl line, meaning twp' teams and an m, c; for 36 minutes. Ron and ' Don :at the organ, •yellow Ticket' (Fox) on the big square and Fox.Movietone News round, tint ' iCou/, WAkffi Sari Frahclscb, Nov. 8. This house Is a cleanup for FWC, pulling ,ln plenty of gravy nlpe weeks out of ten. Nut .isn't eb big either with second' choic.e of Pox, Metro and. Pa'ram'buht :Pictures and stage show locally produced, at a cost considerably under that of a Fanchon &'Marco 'Idea.'. Shows are m. c.'d by Rube Woli; -who goes with, the lease on this house. ..He's been hereon bne of his numerous, return - dates for about a yeal*, and is Immensely popular. Wolf and a: clever , stage shov^lcOm- prlse majority 6t tho show, balance coming from several F. & M. acts; Current shew led off with Rube giving the' band boys' a "bi^eok in specialties. Morey Amsterdam warbled 'Goodhlgltt Sweetheart* a la Crosby for good results; Bernard Katz planoed 'Hungarian Rhapsody' for anoth'ef big hand and Harold Harris, Att'Landau and. Bud Gor- man chanted Ifsr the Glfl' to still more hand musfc Band also con. eluded the show with'a hot pop tune in which Rube worked'oti.t. on the trumpet and French horn. ■ As added attracUon lAX yfai' shauer, manager, had Roy. Rlegela, backward-running U. of Cjalit playei*, on for a bend" and a f^w . lines. RIegels worked in the.feor ture picture 'Touchdown.' • . Other "acts were Nora ScbUier, KFRC songstress, who put oyer » pair of fast tmea; Alfred Sheely, colored hoofer who was- picked up at one of the Monday night oppor- tiihlty shows, and who wowed em; Louis and Cherie, neat aerlaUsw who clicked; May Packer in a nautch dance; and Neal CastagnoJI, who stepped out of. the band t* wallop 'em with a hot clarinet Picture was "Touchdown (ran and business heavy. Hearst Me^O" tone News and an Eddie BuzzeU abort, completed. DENVER Denver, Nov. t. •Nursery Rhyme' idea la a refresh- ing stage show and rang the WU with the Denver crowd. Huge blocks form the back drop for tue opening as the Lucille slstefe Intro- duce the presentation with a Mothet Goose JJngle. Then »PP«ff? a drbp with large picture of Mother Goose and "^the flrst lineup has tne girls In , children's dresses—lots oi ruffles and above their kneea. NQ»- elty Clinton on here with his tri» Jumping—and his bouncing •the stage atop- a mop. Looks and probably is. Next lineup IsJ" flower hats and bright yellow cos tumee.; At the beginning o' »™f dance, the hats are draped over «w fence as huge flowers. , Schlchtl's Wonderettes are only marionettes Vut put on one." the fastest costume changing, agj possible. Best marionettes to n« this town In long time. Altw ^^^ Lucille sisters introduce the spow they grow up (with long Aresam, then quick chnnge into Topsy Eva and do an imitation ot Duncan sisters. Tom Patrlcola u^^ 'them In his act as foils; and P?|>^ ncrs In his dancing specialties. barlna and her dbg do a rolllnB'>^:. rel act. In the final flashVna girls are dressed as white legnoru" and do some pretty routines. ,^ . I'Yod Schmitt and his orchesi" are assisted by Harry 'Wilson siw Ing 'Sweetheart of Sigma Chi. _j orchestra plays a. 'College f*:,- ody' overlufc, £c:\turlii(r lo'-- known college songs along wit" ' cals. For the fln.al wmbei J' group sing and i>liiy the Uieme po" o£ Denver University.