Variety (Dec 1931)

92 VAXnSTY VAVBE HOUSE REVIEWS ^ l^eaday, Dcceinihw 15,, 1931 TBINI (6) Spanish Dancing 19 Miiia.; Full (8p»cial) 88th St. A. regulation Trlnt act, as goo.d as most of her previous turns and as playable. The Spanish dancer re- mains a first rate showwoman and despite wetght added still looks stunning. Trlnl's first two dances, one alone and the other -with a partner, are routine Spanish stuff. - But they build, with helB from the support cast, to an etCective climax number, .latter contains the usual dancing 'story,' with the customary, two men battling over the girl and the glrr (Trlnl) taking the bullet and. an exit at the. finish. An acrobatic dancing boy who ioonceals a ciggy In his mouth while leaplbg, delivers; the beet supporting specialty. Other soloist. Is' a young baritone with one.spot for himself and another in ensemble. Accordion team, accomi>anying only, and the j>artner who doubles as the menace ^t the finish, complete the cast. ■' Turn is. adequately if hot .pr«- ttintlously staged and Trlnl's cos- tumed are attractive. -The dancer Is a personality for vaudeville. ■■ . B^ge. ■ ROBERT aii'd BROWN (3) Danclnot Comedy 19 . Wins.; T^ifo (.Special) - " tl. O. H. . ,<3o6d little dance act tor the me- dium grade houses,' set off a little for latiglis- through a clowning 'pianist who first disturbs a number by coming in as . piano tuner, later 4olng a bit- while eating' an apple, banana, eta Juve team lean to acrobatics and Iri'that type of work exhibit excel- lent form. The girl especially stands out..*About.mld«r&y. In an effort to be a little different the giri sees through a dressing process.-while dancing, lad stumbling In . as a tRjbnk. .Opened five-act show down here (a small time house) iand did nicely. Char. TAN ARAKI8 (2) Novelty 7 Mini.; Full Jefferson Smooth novelty that fits well Into ieitber the closing or opening spot. Man^ of this mixed couple is 4 Jap. ' Oiri. not so obvious. Turn consists Of the mui, on his back, balancing a large metal ladder on bis feet. On top of the. ladder is a small plat- form to which trapeze:it attached with a barrel on top of the plat' •term. Oirl climbs up to the top of the ladder and goes, through short roU' tines 'on the blir. Follows by climb Ing to top'of platform and Juggling the barrel, 'with her legs. I^ovel and holds Interest. CHESTER FREDERICKS & Co. (») Comedy' . ■ 21 Mine.; Full (Special) Jefferson Chester Fredericks In this act graduatea from a straight acrobatic dancer to a comedian,, and a pleas- ing one. Fredericks" has had quite some film house experience. . Pre.' vloue to that he was with Gus Ed' wards. The'boy Is surrounded by five nice looking girls. Scene Is outdoors, with the girls, supposed to be man- haters, camping out. Fredericks walks In. Patter between Fredericks and the girls Is fast and lively. Included are bits of comedy song and dance work, with Fredericks and one of the girls. Pleasant, breezy turn. BELL, WATERS and STONE Comedy Dances 8 Mino.; One Jefferson A snappy comedy dancing act that gets across. Two boys and a girl. Trio features comedy ballet and tap work. "Weave In plenty of I roughhouse antics, with the girl taking plenty. Latter Is a slim miss who wears glasses on the stage, barely noticeable, and a clever per- former. ~ Toward the finish the girl per- ' forms a series of straight hock steps. Included is a comedy song bit, the girl trying to warble but the boys always breaking It up for some knockabout routines. Short and snappy and should be '"^Jjktd anywhere.' GAUCHI and SON N EN CO. (4) Dancing 12 Mins.; Full (Special) Q. O. H. Below average dance flash In which two teams figure, Gauchl and Sonnen In three numbers aiid a juve twain (mixed) In buck rbu tines. Doesn't have the sting to make more tban a mild Impression. A waltz bpens, Jjuve combination following. Oauchl and Sonnen re- turn for a Spanish number, poorest they do, supporting'team topping In a double that carries a song bit. An American Indian routine, an- nounced as original with Gauchl and Sonnen, brlng'the curtains. On flash oke. Char. I WHITESIDE, ANITA and BROWER. (6) Flash 17 Mtns.; Full (Special) Hippodrome- It's how this flash is.mounted and presented that sells it, more than the' combined . efforts of its five people, who, :howeyer, rate pretty well In several numbers. Introduction is not only bad but clumsy and meaningless. It could better ke dispensed with, entirely, with lio reaison apparent why the five people should be dragged out as they are iat the opening. A crack high kicking single fellows, the girl iahowing. excellent form. This num- ber could be saved for latere That skating dance by the juve, a routine that«moet any dancer can learn, la the- logical substitute, with juve later gcttlhg bis chance with the bit that comes in the finale.. Two other - dance numbers, each femme singles; are a toe .ballet, which,-when act was caught, drew a heavy hand; and an Indian spe- cialty. Latter is built up by the prima dovna, who sings an intro- duction and then gives an explana- tion of the dance. The prima earlier in the act Is spotted tor a coTora- tura solo. Good voice and tech- nique. ■ For the finale, each of the four specialty entertsilnere.' come on tor bits. Fifth member of act is a pianist, man. Char. PA CROCKETT and SONS (9) Hill-Billy 13 Mins.; Full (Special) a O. H. Kaintuck In flavor and back- ground. Pa Crockett '1)rings with him to 'vaude his five sons and a sister trio, the Formans. Not a strong act of its kind, but in the Forman' Sisters it packs a punch. These girls will doubtless attract cJUce. Following an introduction, 'which has all on stage in front of a Ky: farm drop; the trio steps forward for a spiritual fav. They have fine voices' which blend nicely. Other numtx^ Is an oldtlmer carrying a. laugh. It scores as strong as the first. A duet of Crockett's sona also stir a couple chuckles with an old hard cider ditty. On the close it's a bam dance. Not strong - enough for the windup.. , Played third.. Char. HAMPTON and WHITE Comedy 17 Mins.; Ons Q. O. H. Earl Hampton, who did smart cracking acts with Dorothy Blake In the past, has caught the' modem Idea in this new act, with a peachy blonde partner. -.The pair work dandy together and aside from a few spots where the talk slides over through an attempt at too much niftlness, it's okay. All the falls and shoving- around makes, the sight mongers go for all the groceries. Miss White dances nicely and stands with Hampton for honors. Latter looks as youthful today as he did long ago, with hardly a hair gone from the marceL With a little fixing through n^ore work, Hampton and 'White will be -set. ' Earl, JOE PEANUTS and SMILING GIGOLOS Monkey Act 7 Mins.; Full (Special) Hippodrome Staging of this act has been for the novelty . f a group of monkeys going, through routines without the o-wner or trainer leaving the wings. While strictly a noveltyi it doesn't deliver sufficiently as entertainment to merit datej In the better class houses. . Set Is that of a theatre' audU torlum 'With a ilttle pit in the center of the stage. A group ot monks are In the trench langlDg now and then for What IS supposed to be a vaude show. Acts include simians lii bal- ancing, strong man, tight rope walking and trapeze bits. Consider- ing everything, the mor^s do their stuff fairly willingly, with a little obvious cueing from the wings. Char. KNIGHT TROUPE (7) Abrobatle 6 Mins.; Full Stage Jefferson Although the Knights look like a fresh outfit from overseas, lobby billing claims they're Americans. There are five men and two women, one of the former working in com- edy makeup and In between tricks attempting a Ilttle clowning. Routine along lines of tossing contingents with the teeter or springboard used here for the clos- ing tricks. The standout, announced, Is a triple somersault from' board Into a chair held by understander. Clrcusy and clTectlve. Some ground tumbling but noth- ing unsusual. Man clean-cut In ap- pearance and no stalling. Mark. ZELMA O'NEAL (2) Talk, Dancing 10 Mina.} OiM- RKO, L. A. , With her present act, written by Paul Gerard Smith, Zelma O'Neal, assisted by > her sibten Bemlce, hasn't much chance ot getting any- where. BlstabUahed as a collegiate comedienne, material she is using Is far from that tenor. Entire act is written around two girl apple, sell- ers and is as blue as the'-apples' are red. Everything from kidney trouble to "brawls to you' is used. Only dancing is a weak bit of btkck hop- ping for the finish. With plenty of talent, Ulss O'Neal Is nevertheless ineffective because of the gags she is now using. Well known locally. through, a flock of stage appearances here, she got a reception when she came on, but at the finish took one bow. . Call. RHEINISCHER 8AENGERBUND German Vocal Chorus 13 Mine.; Three .. Orpbeum . This Is the German male chorus of 50 voices which won first prize last summer in a singing contest in Atlantic City. The group was booked here as a special attraction for three Friday nights preceding Ch'ristma& 'It 'will do as a novelty for neighborhood houses, preferably In localities where there la some German population. . This Loew combination, la the heart ot such a sect/bn, wsts a natural spot for the chorus. Singers are led by Hans..Fred- hoven. On .the .stage there la a piano to'Which Fredhoven turns be- fore numbers,'apparently to give the boys the key.', For -vaude. If. to be booked as a regulajr attraction, it would be desirable that-a pianist were added. . At this house the chorus did four niunbers, one as a brief encore af ^er eliciting strong response. Three numbers were of German folk va- riety, while > the fourth, which brought the encore, was 'Old Black Joe.*-. ' Chorus makes a nice appearance, wearing tuxes, but grouped so close together they .can't be counted ac- curately from out front Char; FRAfylK FINN (2) Singing 9 :.1ins.; .One Hippodrome Juvenile with a big voice offer- ing'three nuinbers. With the pipes and the . natty appearance, he rates time, around New Tork or elsewhere in the neighborhood houses. Was well liked over here, spotted second on an elght-i'!t sho^. Finn does not go much out of his way to sell songs with showman- ship, depending strictly on the voice. He opens with 'Irish Eyes Are Smiling,' turning to another old fav as his middle selection and closing with whafa announced as an impression of three leading crooners, without names mentioned. Carries' a male pianist and wears a blue ' uniform fashioned after those worn by New Tork cops. He was with the Joe Laurie turn a short time ago. Char. CLEMENS BELLING (2) Novelty 12 Mins.; Full Hippodrome Curious hodge podge Involving two contortion dancing girls, a man Juggling in clean grotesque make- up, and a group of trained dogs. The girls dance, one of them doing a routine on a: pogo stick; the man Jugfgles hat and cane as does one of the girls during a dance, and tricks of a pomeranlan. and two dachsunds complete the running. Finale is the feature. By. means of a device like the acrobats' teeter board, cotton balls are thrown Into the air when the pom pounces on the free end of the board, arc across the stage and are caught by a leap- ing purp. Neat animal trick for a spirited finish. Girls' dances are neat, but the turn Is too confused to make any- thing but a scattered impression. Opened the Hipp bill. Rush. MOORE, NORTH and WILLIAMS Singmg, Talk 14 Mine.; One G. O. H. Good-voiced trio of harmony workers who. carry considerable talk, good on whole even If a couple moth-eaten gags have crept into the material. An o.k.- turn for No. 2 spots in the average neighborhood houses: Flayed that position down here. Trio went 6ver unusually strong before a packed house on a Friday night, closing with a laughing song. Most of the. harmony work' is pleas-^ Ing. Setup of numbers prove varied and the routining showmanllke. ' That recitation in the amber-spot ballad stanza could be cut down a little, Too long. Char. Trenton Agency Arthur Wilson and Jdy Dunson have formed the Colored Artists' Bureau, Their offices are In Trenton, X. J. STATE lioew's principal 'vaudeville stand again places most ot its stage de- pendence on a boiled down band unit Intended tor the Capitol, and again the idea doesn't work out Thera are no doubt many reasons why an abbreviated presentation show composed of three specialty acts, Di. c, 12-girl Chester Hale line and excellent costuming, plus soiie flash, should be a tempting morsel for' any 'vaudeville booker. . Espe- cially when It's an office act with the economy angle possibly figuring prominently there. . ' Perhaps there are. additional rea- sons wh; an office unit is preferable to a regulation flash a;ct But, the reasons against a picture' house show In a vaudeville bill eu« .ln a majority, and all are opposed to Bert Frohman's •Vaudeville Revue' at the State this week. - A not-so-hot' layout of t^ree acts ahead ot the 4-minu'ie band affair may not be representative...of good vatideville, henoe ohances tor com- parisons are lessened. But even at that the regular vaude buUd-up here is stronger than that which it is assigned to build up. The three individual acts as they play are chiefly superior because they don't waste time., Good 'or bad,. at least something is doing whenever they're on. In the unit,there are more slow moments than'fast ones. Ordinarily Clifford and Marlon would ha.'^e their 6'wn spot on a bill and do 'well enough to deserve it Here as the unit's comedy next- to-closer, they might be expected to be s6 much stronger,' with all the support given by the unit; .but odd- ly enough much of their effective- ness is lost and nothing tlroiind them can. replace It . . Clifford and Marion's' principal weakness, in vaudeville as well as here. Is working at a crawl and using a superfluous amotint of time. In playing up to the girl's Miss Anemia character. Before an olio or drape they can manufacture their own animation. Here they are back- grounded by a bunch of dead pan musicians who know all the an- swers and don't help at all to steam up the laughs which the team Is struggling for. The effect on an au- dience is ruinous. Steams and Dean, mixed , team, and Omar, whirling acrobatic sin- gle, are the other specialty items, both dancing, while the Hale girls in three numbers are of course all- danclng also. Frohman does the pacing, m. c.'lng and a couple of vo- cal solos without ever giving the audience a chance to forget that he's the unit's big eV>t - Frohman's m. c. style Is the sort that used to m^n so-much in the neighborhood and middle western picture' houses.' That type of in- timacy which he vainly seeks here has never been present In vaude- ville theatres. The Audiences of 'vaudeville want action. The State's customers have about as much community spirit as two Chinese generals in a Japanese brig. At the State Saturday Frohman made the error of .working much as he would at the Paradise In the Bronx and failed to click as he should by a wide margin. His ad- vance nursing of all numbers. In- cluding his own, harmed them here. His attitude of 100% confidence penetrated through his work and the audience didn't accept it In the right spirit Before each, of his two songs, both delivered' do'wn on the apron, Frohman did the verbal bill- ing. "Then, before, starting to sing, he walked back to the bandstand and conducted the orchestra through the Introduction. After he got the union boys set he returned to the foots and proceeded to sing to piano accompaniment Frohman shouldn't worry so much about the folks not finding out that he can lead a band. This m. c. is a nice looking fellow who can sliig, talk and make use ot the person- ality that's necessary to a stage single. But he'll have to use it in another way for vaudeville; Stearns and Dean are a different sort of eccentric dancing couple. Boy contributes the hooflng weight and the girl looks attractive In transporent pants while following her partner's leading well enough. One more dance routine. If suffi- ciently different from their present pair, would take them out . of the specialty class. Omar Is the acro- batic stepper -WbO's been around in the picture houses and, if memory Is correct 'Sketch Book.' There are large gaps between his three or four real stunts, but the stunts them- selves are strong enough to carry his few moments along. Hal^ girls, doubling on toes, are attractively costumed in their three chances. Unit's own set, carried here, Is a sightly blue and silver flame for the band. Probably finale fiash Is absent at the State. Rubid Sisters, whose interest Is In their execution of hand-to-hand feats usually confined to men, are the regular vaudeville opener. Their routine tends to step on and kill off the flnlsl) applause through un- warranted seml-cllmaxes, A more definite final trick might help. Four Clrlllo Bros, t.re No.-2 and that's where they're doomed to stay with their present turn. , Outside of a- gultar and vooal nolo by one of tha brothers, nothing Is excepUonally weU.done. Bccentrlo hoofing, malS: ly In unlsor,!' Isn't strong, whUa what Is meant ti> be the standout dancing Interlude la wecCkened hi the simple atepping In the 'chaU lenge' part Two pansy bits ar 1 tha boys' chlet comedy stabs, both stand-up deaths here. The Clrlllotf blend well with each other and they're all clean looking youths- That's the extent s' their value at present - Johnny Burke has the third or under-the-uni^ spot tor his straight monolog; After the opening song, relating to the same topic, there is no relief from the straight talk. An old-faiahloned arrangement ' that doesn't always' register today, but it's surprising how effeotively Burke sells it Johnny Is stIU doing his doughboy squeak, ah aftermath of the World War, and it doesn't look like he'll have to change a line un- til the next international fracas, it any. He flnlshes his turn' with a «ag that's no better than preceding material, but this monolog has them laughing all the way and the con- clusion turns laughter into applause. The pit bcind had already switched to the stage for the unit, forcing Burke to exit to no music, but the customers' hand music, sounded sweet enough. Touchdown' (Par), feature. Bu8i'> ness off Saturday mat. Bige. RKO UNIT (Chester, N. Y^) Putting together a tour-act bill' and getting right balance and variety is the vaude booker's hardest tasb- Occasionally the results are satls« factory . enough despite the four ' acts. New intacter up here seems to overcome the . bugaboo, with the blend not leaving the Impression something Is missing somewhere. Starting Dec. 26, two acts will be added to tlie Intacts .up here. 'It's not a strong show as shows go, but it holds its own nicely and in toto provides a reasonably good 67' minutes' entertainment Nearest to box office meaning are Adelaide Hall, colored songstress, who came forward through Lew Leslie's 'Blackbirds' a few years back,.and Fred Keating, who's been around on both leglt and vaude stages of recent years. Something has happened to Keat- ing and In this show, spotted No. 2, he tries .as much as possible to be a monologlst and as little as possible to be a magician. ,He is the latter any way figured and as the latter counts as ah entertainer. Keating carries an assistant acting as a foil for wisecracks and himself gae;glhg a little, but there's so much tall^ most of it negligible, that- the act's real puritoee is snowed under. In his regular spot Keating does only two tricks, card and dg bit and the w. k. needle mystery, Starting out as what looks like an m. c. idea through the whole show .but peters, Keating does his old finger-needle trick in announcing the opening act No more m.c.lng-lntroing after that Adelaide Hall Is third, and How- ard, Fine and Howard, comedians, fourpi. Miss Hall, recently back from the other side, has several enticing gowns, class drops' and carries two colored pianists. Latter acquit them- selves creditably at the grands dur- ing a change. Opening with a Harlem si>eclal. Miss Hall follows with two other numbers, encoring with 1 Must Have That Man,' out of 'Blackbirds.' Equipped with a voice that hais' plenty of appeal, the little colored entertainer sells her routine ably. She took the hurdles handsomely up here of a Thursday night doing 18 minutes. Those nuts, Howard, Fine and Howard, with Jack Walsh as straight and Marjorle May breaking up things in an oke acrobatic dance routine, stood by for 23 minutes. They raise the laughs evenly If not to a high pitch, holding on pretty firmly In spite of the long time on. There Is plenty of hoKe and down- ing. At times the biz of poking fin- gers In each other's eyes, face-slap-' ping, etc., becomes Irksome. How- ard, Fine and Howard only saving themselves by what goes with it. The Hazel Mangean Girls (4) in- augurolte. proceedings. Certain to please any type of audience. The quartet, always showing the finest forpn, mix dancing and acrobatic for assured returns. Their slick tum- bllng-danclng windup stanips them as one . of the cleverest groups of acro-dandng girls in vaude. They nearly show up -the best men acro- bats and up here proved a big hit Dave Tletlebaum and his pit men did a special arrangement of pop. overtures as their assignment. On the screen 'Alexander Hamil- ton' (WB), with Pathe News and 'Believe It or Not' (Vita) filling out. Thursday night draw of the show could not be judged.. The entire house had been bought out by the Bronx Grand Jurors' Assn., with tickets sold at $2 each and profits to the local unemployment fund. The audience of Jurors, politicians and their friends nearly filled the thea- tre and Seemed to enjoy the show, but one mugg, probably a d. a., wasn't entirely sold on Keatlng's needle tricks and when the magician carelessly tossed the thread and strung needles to the side of the stage steps, the mugg went for it. Char.