Variety (Feb 1932)

52 VARIETY FILM HOUSE REVIEWS Tuesdny, February 16, 1932 Year Old $1.000100 L A. Palace Plays to 5,700, at 15c, Opening Day Los Angeles, Feb. 6. The captains and kings have de- parted; all the pomp of yesterday Is lost In dally changes with a 15- cent admission price any time, any- ■Where In the house at the Lias An- geles, An^erica'fl prize wKlto ele- phant. . . :■ . Opened just a year ago, this house, which dan be clagslfled as one of the moist beautifully furnished and appointed theatres in America, cost over $1,000,000 to hulld. It was. the rainbow dream of H. I*, Gumblner, its builder and operator, whose am- bition to own a "class theatre far «3(celled his showmanship. Gumblner felt the house was so elegant plctul-e producers would be honored to. play their pictures there. But things didn't' work- out- that way. Honor of playing, the house finally befell the sheriff and after nine months of operation Gumblner was forced to turn the house over to William Fox, 'who. owns the propterty, for three months back rent. ■ ■ • Pox dispatched Joe Leo to L. A. to operate the theatre. , lico spent two moriths untangling the flnan- Clal web left by Gumblner. About $300,000 remained against the house. Leo settled for a lot less than half. He applied the take-my-offer-or- take - your - equipment - out-of-the- theatre psychologry. As most of the equipment was hot standard, hav- ing been built to Gumbiner's spec' iflcations, Leo got bargains. After eight weeks of dtirkness, the the- atre reopened today Saturday. <6). It was no personality opening. Missing were the throngs who hope to. touch the hems of fllnidom's great Missing were those who At- tended the theatre's original open- ing. : Missing was Einstein, who made his only personal appearance in America as Chaplin's guest for the premiere of 'City Lights.' In their stelad, 5,700 shop girls, working men . and their families, clerk^ and their gals, passed.through the impreisslve portals at 16 cents per. The murals, fountains, tapr estry, neon lighted aisles, carved paneling, oil paintings, period fur- niture and other Gumblner extrav- agances were for them. ;: Constance Bennett In 'Common Clay' (Pathei) was the attractiph; Pathe news and Ferry the Frog (cartoon) comprised the additional screen fare. The Bennett feature was played all over town and la ti)h its last run here. That holds good for anything the L. A, will get from now on. Leo Is cognizant of this, but figures that the 15-centers are willing to gee one feature for their money In such costly surroundlniffs. True, they can see two features for, the sanie price at several downtowrt grind houses, but he figures that the small spenders, sitting In the lap of luxury; wlH for the time being have satisfied their hunger for af- fluence. With this psychology and $6.50 for lobby posters, he opened the house 'minus all other adver- tising. The 6,700 paid admissions on opening day seem to vindicate his judgment. . Coll. PARAMOUNT, N. Y, New Tork, Feb. 12; ' Ouy Lombardo'8 band (New Acts), ani>ther radio name, moved In when *Blng Crosby moyed out to switch to the . Brooklyn Paramount. Lom- bardo and his 10 musicians at $6,000 are. in for the week only, with Ted Lewis booked to follow. It means the Paramount la again oft the sus- ialned feature stage policy for a time at least. Around the Lombardo bunch the producer built a presentation that b^ all the earmarks of having been built around, something with a pray- er that something stands up. Its depressing , to think what might have happened haid the Lombardo band brodled, afl Lombardo himself was said to have feared he would do before opening. That fear, of which the leader spoke some time ago, was what kept the Lombard© band off Broadway in the year or so that it has been piling up an air rep. The stage show's sole notable fea- ture outside of an individual score by an Imported acrobatic trio, the Bredwlns (NoW Acts), Is the un- usual scope given to John and Edna Torrence, ballroom dance team.. They have three numbers, or two more than the average specialty act Is generally permitted "Vh a picture house. The team Is founded on the girl, who by herself was not long ago an acrobatic specialist In musi- cals and presentations. Miss Tor- rence has completely changed her style, and while the change Is no Improvement technically as far as she herself Is concerned It should enable her to progress In a full ' vaudeville turn. She's no longer confined to the one-number spe- cialty spots. Miss Torrence's dancing partner Is her brother, John. They work well together, and in the three di- versified numbers here showed vaudeville possibilities. Routining the trio of dances Into a full turn shouldn't be difficult. David Bines' glrly line carries the brunt of the unit work, being pro- ficient both In tap and toe stuff. They provide the 'Valentines' (title) mOtlf in one number- by. emerging from a hiige envelope effect to danc- ing In costumes decorated with red hearts. In keeping with the current week's holiday. The Lombardo band Is Introduced with a toe number by the line, In which the glvls arei Interestingly costumed In red coats and long black ballet skirts to look like Royal ^Northwest cops. Lombardo calls • "his band the Royal Canadians. The band consumes 16 minutes in its solo spot after sliding downstage on a moving platform. When It's fln- - Ished the curtains in the rear part to permit a flash finale with the company, intact. Bines girls have more work to do during the Rublnoff pit overture preceding the unit, In which the stage and pit sections are effec- ..tlvely blended. The music this week is a medley of Schubert composl tions. Jesse Crawford plays a spie clal arrangement .of songs anent trees, drawing' no vocal response, but a bl^ hand, as usual. . Par's'Wayward'the feature. Bige. ROXY New York, Feb. 12. A whale- of a stage show to go with a rather weak Will Rogers Fox picture, 'Business and Pleasure,' make a good balance, with imore than usual weight on the stage end for a presentation more in harmony with the Cathedral tradition than most of the recent arrangements. The special blending of popular and dignified tone^that is special for this house—comes frOm the lightening up of the musical fea- tures in the substitution of Fred Warlng's Pennsylvanlans . for the former symphony orchestra, mak- ing a concession to a jazzy age In this direction; while the niuslcal class, that is characteristic of the house comes in connection with the Hall Johnson (colored) chorus of 200, which has played the Roxy before, but never under happier auspices. Rounding out a thor- oughly enjoyable presentation are several trimly handled ensemble chorus numbers and several of those trick stunts for which the Waring organization is noted. •Rhapsody of the South' Is the Waring overture, brilliant demon- stration of this unit's ability to han- dle syncopation and Symphonic Ideas with equal facility. Pit ele- vator Is down and the traveler opens on a blank stage, box-draped in dull black without a relieving touch of color, a startling back- ground for. a repetition'of the Roxy ballet corps and the Roxyettes do- ing a beautiful and Intricate routine called 'Valentine,' which takes Its punch from the fact that, the girls are dressed entirely in wlilte, feven to their wings. Group numbering 4S or . more crowds the big' stage with graceful animation, and the elaborate maneuvers take on great Impressiveness from the startling contrast of the blaclc and white. Patricia Bowman gives the number a fitting climax in a-charming soIo' number. Waring crew Is back for another session with "Dancing Dominoes,' one of the best of their multitude of trick bits. Stage and house go pitch dark during a band number, accom panied by the acrobatic dance num- ber of Evaiyn . Nalr done under a flock of spots on . a stage elevated above the regular level. Out of the dark' each bandsman manipulates two illumlnatod domino blocks, making' tliem do 'precision' drills and finally join in shaping bizarrei doll .figures and the shapes of Im pressibnlstlc toy animals wliloh dance. A strildng novelty which drew a burst of applause from the usually complacent Roxy mob. The Johnson group take charge from this on in vocal smashes and production sensations divided into Ave sections. Series opens with a fascinating flash of color, the chO rus grouped low and forward in dim light while an' upper level is occupied by a group of dancers . In delirious colors of costume, and headdress,-doing a savage dance bit to /crashing tom-tom accorbpanl- mcint. Number Is labelled 'Africa,' the whole series being laid out as an appropriate display fOr the- Lin coln.Day week observance. 'Slave Ship' is a projection on a scrim of a sailing vessel driving through: mountainous seas, the .while Its cargo of slaves, dimly, sug gested through the transparent sheet, sing"appropriate lamentations in spiritual manner, the volume and quality of the cbdrus work being stunning. Third episode Is. called 'Down the River,' stage being set as the bridge and decks of a Mississippi packet, quality folk' being grouped above, and the slave horde on the deck be- low, while they sing songis of the old. South for tremendous effect of tonal power. The always welcome, Roxyette precision, number is worked in. here, the girls being dressed in brown and white with decorations representing cotton, plants ready for harvesting, ripe bolls for headdress and at the waist. Finale Is a musical , climax, a group of spirituals done almost as a medley. Including standards, such as 'Let My PeopleOo,' the women col- orful In bandana and bright print dresses, and a group of the men, stripped to the waist. like working field hands, making an effective pantomime of islave labor. All the backgrounds and- the staging are supremely well done, but they are merely incidental to the magnificent choral work of this group, crashing in volume and deeply moving In the spirit of negro melody. Not to be neglected In a summary of the entertainment Is an espe- cially amusing adventure of Mickey Mouse, while the Movietone news- reel is cut to a minimum, but of concentrated Interest. Rttsh. OLVMPIA, PARIS Pariis, Feb. 1. Olympia doing mi^ch better busi- ness than the few. preceding weeks, due . to current appeal of sensational films—In this case 'La Chlenhe'— and ah excellent stage presentatlorti though very simple. Show begins with a miked news- reel, and a small animated cartoon. Then comes the stage presentation, which" merely consists of ,a ballet— girls working in 'one' and 'two,' back half of the stage being occu- pied by a raised platform, where a good 2Srplecd orchestra under Georges Bailly acts either as a jazz band or as a normal orchestra, ac- cording; to scene requirements. Ballet consists of the 12 Mersey Girls, who are part of last year's Alfred Jiackson StariB from the Folles Bergere, gone co-operative without Jackson. They appear three times, have excellent, routines, three good costumes, they are young, pretty, and score heavily. In between some classical dancing—also very weir re- celved-r—Is done .by eight dancers from the Vienna Grand Opera, with Anna Exton and Elisabeth Doren- berg, supported by M., O. - Slnclaire doing specialty dances. Show, staged by Andre Bay, for- merly of the Casino de Paris, draws patronage. 'La Cienne,' which played the Colisee on the Champs Elysees, follows as the feature, with picture's sensationalisms, and Mi- chel Simon's name as star, box oflAce assets. . Maxi. Colored Mosical Replaces Feature In Hollywood Pantages; Biz Spurts Hollywood. Feb, 11. Borrowing a successful experl" ment of Balaban & Katz In Chicago, young Rodney Pantages Is giving the public a legit musical at picture prices. With several differences be- tween here and Chicago. Regular policy of the house has been changed for the week out here. That's not as solemn a nriatter as It would be. In Chicago, Dropping his feature altogether, .Pantages offers the show with only a few shorts to stall between performances. It's sound reasoning that 'Lucky Day' is the draw and a picture would be superfluous. But that's not the ac- tual reason. It's the Item of time. 'GSlrl Crazy' was a tap of little distinction compared to this slick, furiously fast, and surprisingly high class entertainment. . . 'Girl Crazy' made money for Beeandkay. It's no rash prophecy to say that 'Lucky Day' would be a sOnsatlon in Chi- cago. That town's fondness for Duke Ellington establishes its par- tiality for negro tempo, humor, and music, and Xucky Day' has 60% more merit, than the average of the eastern negro shows. That taking in the topmost best. : WTiat is equally certain is that •Lucky Day' will be. seen .ere long In Chicago, and elsewhere In the . east. It's too valuable a property not to be exploited. Parts of Its humor might be a trifle 'local/ but that's no criticism. Its humor Is natural easy, linforCed, smartly written bj Edmund Joseph and Nat Perrln, A wisp of continuity holds It together Here, too, Its superiority dyer the -Crlrl Crazy' book Is notable for pic- tiire houses. It.Is literally packed 'with talented negroes, so many, of them that a recital of their names would only confuse. It's the sort of a show where general excellence prevents anyone from stealing the perform* ance or hogging, the applause,- Wliat makes any sho'w is the way it hangs together, the . sum total of good parts, expertly welded. Le Roy Prinz, Harold Hecht, and Eatl Dancer are probably wearing feath- ers in. their Stetsons right now.- Prlhz' fondness for hip contortions Is much evidenced and brings to mind comparisons with last year's 'Vanities,' which he also staged. That the running time 'will have to be cut for eastern use is inevit- able. That will be a hard task in one way for It will be a choice of good things. On the Other hand it will be easy because of the abund- ance of material, scenes, specialties. (ihorus ■ is a strong department and the. whole- production Is fresh, clean, and speedy. Hollywood re- sponded on < the opening matinee with a near-capacity main floOr con- trasting vividly with the regular lonesome brigade that turiris out for matinees. ^ Land, STATE, L. A. .. Los Ai>geles, Feb, 10. Current Fanchon: & Marco unit is 'Gobs of Joy in Bermuda,' a Gae Foster production that goes back to the type of stage presentation F&M did four or five years aga And therein lies Its strength. Substantial work by the 16 girls In three numbers, all good routlnies, is a standout First Is a formation effort, with half the chorines in bltie and the other half In pink, mix- ing the colors to advantage. Second is a Spanish dance, led by Myrna Modle, with the girls three to a shawl. Lastly, a voodoo fling, line doing a cymbal hand routine, with Rosemary Carter handling the con- tortions. Don James, baritone, backgrounded with standard songs. Monte and Carmo, midget acro- bats, get off to a good istart with their clowning and can be classed with the best of turns In that re spect. . Sequel Into very good straight stuff, with a laugh bit in- terspersed arid drew plenty of ap- plause for their bit Lee, Port and Dottle make iipl'for an ineffective walk op early in the show by holding down the nextrto closing spot with plenty of results. Knockabout" cOmedy with the face- slapping bit varied by doing it; In rhythm. Magic act by Pablo starts with interest, but should be cut down and snapped up. For an entrance Pat West has a comedy donkey, well up on its routine. Doesn't get going oh his first appearance, and In his spot down near the finish de pends too much on material that sometimes missed fire. Winds up with a medley of pop numbers, with some parody lyrics, strung Into a flirtation 8io»/. This took him off to better.-than-mlddllng applause, Can use more up-to-date comedy. . Settings nice, without being an extravaganza, and costumes taste ful. Show runs 60 minutes - and could be-trimmed 10 by cutting a chorus out of the cymbal dance, three or four minutes out of Pablo's legerdemain and a few of West's early gags. Five trailers clutter ^up the screen, but thcre!s ho way to feet around the stage and screien advance, Saturday midnight show, Monday Ir&M try outs arid Tuesday actor's double contest. Ray Duserne, house man- ager, putting on the special events to stimulate the gross. Feature 'Passionate. Plumber (Metro) and house near capaoitjKi KEDZIE, CHICAGO Chicago, Feb. 12. : House is down to. three days a week, playing its showing night on Friday. - Which means that the house , starts all over again from scratch since - it must build a new audience for this,switched showing. Operator is also erring In starting his first show too late; According to last Friday's schedule his.second vaude show must have started 'way past 10 o'clock, far too near mid- night for this family district. Showing line-up was one of the best ever seen hi this burg. Started slowly, but after a couple of turns got into a whirlwind stride that set a high mark. Opening this RI^O list was the Signer Franz turn, man-and-wbman bike act. Very similar to other wheel arrangements and little to of- fer. And that little spoiled; by the man's bad comedy getup and lack of taste, in his comedy attempts. Nevarro and Shefl9eld, piano and singing, have a tough time getting by these, days with a simple little musical Interlude. Nevarro has a good set of pipes and he uses, them well both for. pop and classical num- bers. Girl at the piano doubles on a violin, but not too successfully. Kenneth Spencer, ventriloquist, needs better material. Technically his turn manages to get away, but the laughs are distanced too far apart to make the length of the present rOutine. worthwhile. Bla;ck Rhythm, colored band and flash unit, delivered the flrst bell- rlnging of the evening. With a few changes and additions this little show has hefty possibilities for the lesser time. Seven-piece band, four girls, three specialty workers and a hot-cha leader comprise the line-up. Band and dance routines are dis- played in that heated jungle tempo that the audience expects and likes, for colored outflts. The work Itself Is rather crude, but this Imperfec- tion is covered somewhat by the feverish delivery. Vocal numbers Include straight warbling and com- edy. It's here that the revisions are needed,, Bobby and King were the indi- vidual standouts of the show. They flgure.at present as suitable for any of the midwest family time. They're acrobats who have submerged the Stunts in a neat package of comedy talk and business, both of which are handled, cleverly. Only one stain is the sloppy delayed finish. Other- wise these boys are solid. Six Lucky Girls brought another well-rounded turn to the platform. These gals can flt in easily In any of the time, booked out of Chicago. They are costumed extremely well for acts of this calibre, and they have looks and youth. Great point of merit is . the excellent pacing. There are many and varied num- bers, all short and to the point. They don't overstay their welcome :at any time. One-slight Imperfec- tion is the inclusion of the Oriental dance, which tends to slow up the tempo* Herbert RawUnson was in as m.c. H<B got himself into a couple of awkward, spots as m.c, not knowing just how to handle things when the stagehands were switching props around him, but the audience was willing' to forgive him much. On his next-to-closlng own lie told a cou- ple t>f old but staple yarns, plunked at a uke and warbled a couple of comedy lyrics. He was an asset to the show, on his. rep, his manner and his material. Adair Trio fin- ished the evening strong with their triple-bar act. OolA, ORIENTAL, CHICAGO Chicago, Feb. 12, It's Calloway arid his barid on the Oriental stage this week arid the b.o. will be. humming Happy Days foir the next two weeks. If there were enough colored shows to go around it would be a cinch for the Oriental to stay In clover all the time. "Whether a cycle or what not. it seems that the colored band show idea, topped with a name of course, has beien clicking consistently in this house. . Last year Duke Ellington pulled the Oriental out ahead about a half dozen times, repeating and making good. Too bad there are not enough Ellingtons and Calloways or every day would be Sunday In the the- atres. Calloway is at the top with an original style of syncopation that stamps him one of the biggest things that's come along in a musl? cal way . In a long while. Emulatlrikr is one thing, and creating another. Calloway is distinctly a, creator with his sizzling rhythm carrying a spirltualastic undertone. How far this colored chap has gone in devel- oping- this particular style of hotcha jazz is immediately apparent. When a combination of 11 men sounds like 20 the'answer Is obvious. In presenting the colored attrac- tion here B&K used sound judg- ment in not stuflnng too many spe- cialty acts around the band. And in the selection of the three turns that round but the frolic the pro- duction, department clicked again. Desplte'.the scarcity of colored acts in a town of a big colored popula- tion, they managed to dig a couple of spot acts for this Show that got over very nicely. Three Chocolate Steppers, two boys and a girl, but with ail three in male clothes, put on a hot dancing spree, the klhd only darktowners can do. Another foursome, the Rhythm- Ramblers, balanced the layout on the front end with ukes and guitars, throwing in chopped-up harmony and steps. Between the. acts Margaret SiniS entered for change of pace wlth a- blues song, which Calloway helped put. across,. AlOne this girl might not have done so well. Band numbers, coming between;. specialties, tied up the proceedings every time, CalloWay picked a rou- tine of solid smack numbers that couldn't miss. His own personality: and the smoke from the boys behind hlrii had the audience whistling and cheering. Such a demonstration hasn't been seen in this house for isome time. Naturally there 'Nvas a goodly representation of colored folk in the house, but even the Ofays went ga-ga over cailoway arid his music. Saving the 'Mobcher* for the wlndup and topping it with 'St. LOuis Blues' for an encore Calloway romped away with a fast finish. From 6arly iridicatlons Fi'lday it looked like an extra big week ahead. Both the first .and second shows were sellouts. House went to flv&- a-day, cO'ntinulng at that Pftce throughout the week, with six scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. House features Included a Preston Sellers organlog and a Lincoln piresentation by the orchestra ana screen, using Stephen Foster melo- dies as the theme. Usual news clips and 'Passionate Plumber' (M- O) the feature flicker. Sp<'»-