Variety (March 1932)

28 VARIETY VAUDE HOUSE REVIEWS Tuesday, MarcJi 1/ 3932 BARBARA STANWYCK OCroas' CComedy-Prania) 14 MinB>; Three (Special). : 'Palace ~ : '' ■ ■ Frank Fay- 'presents* Miss Stan- wyck's comedy-di\anialet and Is Credited for authorship-staging, It l)oIds a sizeable cast,' including Henry Sherwood, John Miller, James Mack, . Joseph Sweeney, Toney Hughes, Nick Copelaiid, Pa- tricia Miller and Bobby Watson, the latter registering as a. nance wln^ dow-dresser, but otherwise regret- lully stobgelng for both Stanwyck arid later Fay in his act It's a familiar plot. Xmaa time. Department store manager's office. Miss Stanwyck is the pfetty .shop- lifter of cheap toys. She's pinched by hardboiled store dicks. Irate p. gets; a load of her story and gives her the toys and a job. Somehow, despite its general light weight, it's not aa simple as it: sounds, due . to the sizeable cast with its comedy by-play, plus Miss Stanwyck's own legit performance, T^hlch isn't overdone. The 14 mlns. running time also hielps immensely. It's strictly a flUer-ln for the Pay-Stanwyck combo, as it permits Fay to mildly razz his wife that he gave her a cast 'of a million ac- tors, lighting effects, a fancy stage set,' etc., and now will she permit him to do his. own stuff in peace. In shoddy attire for the sketch, the contrast for Miss Stanwyck's fancy scenery later on is a rather radiant It's her second try in viaude and naturally is guided throughout by Fay. Coming from nite clubs , as Riiby Stevens Into legit, Barbaria Stanwyck also reiglstered on the screen later on. She has been on the coast three years. Naturally the dramatic Is ex- pected of her, although she can also hoof, a heritage of her couvert charge novitiate. At least she doesn't simper , and ficrape about 'being' glad to meet you all face to face.' Rather thank- fully there, are no speechlets of that Bort; Fay wisely satirizes the per- eohal appearance routines in his own act presentation later on. . HILDA ROGERS (3) Singing, Dancing .13 Mine.; One Jefferson ■ Here's-another of those vaudeville anomalies, all too freaueht. Three capable performers so anstlous to show off their class that they spoil a good act. In this case it's a language matter wlth two of three colored performers evidently under the impression a vaudeville audi- ence will be Impressed by hearing them talk a number of foreign languages. Miss Rogers and one of her male assistants spend at least three min- utes speaking French, Germa.n and Tlddlshi . AH three with equally bad accents. It doesn't mean a thlA'^ to those in the audience who don't understand the languages, and less to the few that do. All leads, into the colored lassie doing what Is called an imitation of Mar lene Dietrich singing the song cut of 'Blue Angel' in the original Ger man. Only thing about the imlta tlon that actually reminds of the original Is that the hat Is the same kind as Marlene wore. Inexcusable, Especially since Miss Rogers Is a personable girl with a trim figure and clever at both song and dance. She looks a great deal like Josle Baker and acts like her sometimes, for good effect, even to wearing one of those costumes that Just barely is okay under the law.. The two men with Miss Rogers are good steppers and fit,; but that foreign chatter is so much wasted time. Kauf. THE DE TOREteO^ (4) Dancing; Singing 12 Mins.; Full .(Special) Hippodrome Splendid flash that can close any kind of bill and can stand featur Ing on smaller layouts. The. De Toregos are an agile man and woman dance team, . while . with them are Sally Sa,rrant, a fine col . brptura singer, and Joe Bradshaw at the piano. Exceptionally good sets help out . a good deal, with costuming of the I central pair also in good taste ■ They do three dances, one a tango, each carefully thought out and exc cuted-and correctly mounted. Miss Sarrant does one specialty, and pro video a baclxground ^folce. liauf. BUDDY DOUGLAS (2) Comedy, Soiig, Dance. 11 Mins.; Two (Special) Pal.ace, N. Y,, Buddy Douglas is a personable midget coming on after his clori gated gob, partner makes a song and-dance entrance, Douglas Is camouflaged In the gob's shoulder bng. The midget is also dressed In roprulation sallor^e' middy. Their ensuing patter Is bright and brisk, as is their stepi^Ing. It was | FRANK FAY Comedian 3d Mins.; Two Palace ; That staggering'39 mins. running time isn't actually his own act, as there's much ad lib nonsense in the course of It. For that matter. Fay's working time can't be clocked. As m, 0. he's throughout the woi'ks, puhctuating almost everybody's act with bits and nohisense and brightly pacing the general proceedings. . That his m.c. stay at the. Palace this. weiek will not equal his past performances, or that of other Pal- ace m.c.,s will liot be so much his own fault as that of the show in general. Fay has a flock of new bits,. He first introduces a hokum Frankenstein as an audlencerscarer. He's a stooge who emulates the Boris KarloCe, screen get-up and a novelty. He has a bright comedy news- reel' which, as recounted in the ragular house review of the Palace, shows Coolldge In serious mleii sup- posedly gagging in colloquial mueff language about Fay. Clips of Ganhdl and his Hindu followers are sho^^n, with sound effects and Yiddish in- terpolations; via a disk, hastening to the Palace to iget a load of Fay. Main portion of Fay'is act features three firemen stooges who outwear their welcome. On top of that, the sizeable cast in Miss Stanwyck's act also doubles into stoogeo'for a long Spanish fol-de-rol bit, al- though that did well in the main. With Fay is Eddie "Ward at the Ivories, one of whose torch songs Fay sings. He shouldn't. Fay lets down vocally and while the torch, patter Is strong lyrically and he gets something, out of that, the straight vocalizing is rather blah. Fay's fialr for comedy lis well known and requires little commen- tary. He's a bright spot throtigh- oiit excepting that it's all too spotty. Everything runs overly long and is irregular. Fay has :been away In pictures for three years as has his wife, .Miss Stanwyck. He only r^ade one per- sonal appearance, at the Strand, New York, with 'God's. Gift to Women' last year,; but has beeii.out of vaude for that period of time. AleJ. a sturdy deucer here. LULU McCONNELL (4) Comedy 17 Mins.; Full (Special) Jefferson Liuiu. McConnell has been so con- sistently entertaining in her bridge ganne act that it's probably quib- bling to call her new act not quite as good.' Maybe it's her fault for having set herself too high a stand- ard in. her previous effort. Where the other act was a continual howl from the minute the curtain went up, the best that can be said about thl3 act is that it contains a good Idea and a number of laughs, Trouble lies largely in he first half. Miss McConnell has gotten herself such a rep as a comedy steW that she wants to have a drunk bit In all her acts, as here, but not , fit- ting so well. I^aid aboard a ship homebouhd from Europe with Miss Mcrionnell doing her stew stuff, but referring Just about a half dozen too many times to mal-de-mere. Cut down and tightened it may be funnier. / Curtain comes down for a minute to allow Francetta Malloy a song In one, then a new full stage set at the pier with inspectors looking over baggage. And from this on very good comedy as Miss McConnell butts in on other passengers as they have their trunks examined, with the result they're caught cheating on declarations. The star Is caught smuiSgllng a dozen bottles of stuff herself as the tag. As Is, the act can play any house. When trimmed down and tightened up, It will be a real headlining propr psition, isuch as Miss McConnell has been corislstently. Kauf. ALLEN and EiDDY Song, Dance, Chatter 11 Mins.; One Jefferson Two . pleasant looking and tal- ented lads who will do well in vaude as soon as they get themselves an act.. As 6ho\yn currently, it looks like a; patch-together of gags they heard or saw. That they almost get away with It says something for .their ability. Couple have . fair singing voices and are neat hoofers. Where they fall off is' In the chatter; Kaiif. GUYER and DUFFY (1) Comedy S. and D. 14 Mins.; FUll and One Jefferson Boy and girl with a character man aoslstlng in novelty frameup Street drOp In full shows an owl lunch wagon. At opening the cook Is at work seated on tho wagon steps. He exits and pair are on, going to lovers', battle, .Comedy here is made up of such Abel, J things as boy's line 'When we're PALACE Frank' Fay .-Barbara Stanwyck head a 116,000 show at the Palace which doean't play like big money. Easy to conceive liow it would, have evolved Into a happier sequence un- der the original plan of spotting Benny Rubin and Jack Haley In the Fay showk It Is by no means\the laff marathon thie Fay-Rubin^Haley trio would have guaranteed it. > Show Jfl ragised aind punctuated by marked let-downs. Overboard on hoofing' In the forepart, it iS lightweight: on everything in the second half, ^i^nal stanza merely comprises Irenb Bordonl and Fay doing bis, Bolo act with the aid-of Miss Stainwyck and a flock - of stooges. ' The Bordoni reisumptlon was slow^: But' politely received, the audience's gallantly exceeded the chanteUse's progF^ quality. Why she didn't fail back on some of her lilting pro- duction song bits Is something to puzzle over.. Instead, she opens with an allegedly current Parlsl&n soiig hit, 'Speak to Me'of Love,' which lacks all the charm, verve and quaK Ity usually associated with a cbn-^ tInentaJ song sensation.. A haughty number next was antl-dllmatlc in view of the general ribaldry in the first, half. 'Ninon*, was an old one and "Why Dance?' the most familiar of her airs. None was by any. means distinguished as to lyHc or presentation. Similarly sagging the first stanza was Neville Fleeson's act, with Helene Denlzoh, Grloria Grafton- and Frances Stevens featured. The girls; are the entire act. Fleeson never rings the bell, starting with the ihU tial gigolo number, which Isri't for his personality. It all would have been more effective had his entrep- reneurshlp been less, ostentatious. In sequence, Fay.Adler aiid Teddy Bradford with three male stepping assistants, opened and finished strong "after a rather tepid start. They're showing a new routine since last caught some weeks ago at Grauman's Chinese, Hollywood. Their finale, mechanlque number wows them to ai healthy salvo. The opening 'iBody and Soul' double, shouldn't be mentioned and. will probably. be sacrificed perforce in view of this excess, running time. Premiere matinee fihaled at B.30. Buddy Douglas (New Acts) brightly sustained the deuce with some stepology, thence Fleeson in the trey. Frank Fay here first made his appearance, although two end-stage microphonic cabinets ihl- tially Introduced him orally. It .pur- ported-to emanate from theilr hotel room with Fay heralding his advent and Miss Stanwyck telling him to move over a bit so that they'may knock off a few more extra winks before, making the matinee. : Fleeson's musical flash aspires to class and achieves a modicum there- of, but somehow it never clicks as it should: Helene Denizen's terping Is oke and Gloria Grafton's vocal- ization ditto. Her torch stuff Is in- clined ' towards overdramatlcs but she hits her pace with this finale Harlem number, while Frances Stevens pulls a, snakehlps in sil- houette. All three girls finale tres torrid. • _ Hoko newsreel showing Coolldge and Gandhi gagging .about Fay was funny, with a hokum record and sound effects getting quite a few laughs. For the Gandhi stuff,' the dusky mob scene. speaks polyglot Yiddish, the Hindu natives stating they're all rUshlng over to catch Fay at the Palace. Jains, and Whalen, . to one who hasn't seen them for a couple of years, clicked pig. An added mem- ber, Helene Grant, with a heiited 'St. James infirmary' song delivery, and cooch, has done much to make the boys familiar breakdown uke- dance stuff seem different. The snakehlps and, the 'weighing' bit come Within the category of recent Palace nuances appaii'ently. 'Frank : Fay presents' Btu-bara Stai.wyck who in turn, 'presents' Fay :^'hen he does his solo, Stan- wyck skef oh (New Acta) is cred- ited to Fay fpr. authorship and di- rection. It is the legit-picture ac- tress' 'first act In vaude. Jointly they get $8,p00. Fay Is billed first at his actress-Wife's insistence. In the Bordohl act, second; half, the microphonic loud-speakers are enlisted for more comedy as Stan- wyck cautions Fay about the Erench girls' social amenities. Jans and Whalen come on, after a change, while Fay has also switched from Informal to dress suit, plus topper and stick, for hls second, half rou- tine; .' ■ The. double breasted tux shows up'Fay as having agreed a bit too well with the. California climate, while Miss Stanwyck^ after threat- ening at one time/ on the coast, to fake it big, looks well how, with no suspicion of excess. . Fay In his gieherally kidding man- ner throughout kldd. his own sar-r torlal scenery and humox'ously rags hiS wife's costume, flash. She sports a number of snappy changes, which were: great stuff for the femmes, including a couple .of' coats, w:lth Fay cbriinientlng why she didn't bring in 'that other coat,' Fay Is under New Acts. Howard Kirsch, vocal soloist with the Libu Fbrman trench unionists, registered with the 'Darkles Were Born' overture and also officiated vocally In Adler-Bradford's opening turn with 'Body and Soul.' Abel. niarried you'll want for nothing,' on which the Junchi wagon- voice breaks in with 'boloney.'. There's plenty of this, weakening on repeti- tion. Some of wrangling gags between pair who talk tough, but dress neat, is funny. Girl In long skirts does a sightly bit of minor stepping, and boy sings several pops in an agree able voice. Finish with dancing duet, when the boy for the first time reveals that he shakes .a wicked No. 7%. Well received here in No. 4 of a six-act bill and will get over gener- ally In houses of the Jefferson grade. Rush. WALTERS, ROONEY and KAY Acrobatics • 8 Mins.; One and Two Jefferson Two lads and a glrl ln a fairly good opening act, with the girl there largely tor. this effect of one trick only. First half of the. act In 'one' With the two men doing very good hand-to-hand work, but spoil-: Ing it by dressing it a.11 in comedy. Same sort of comedy dozens of acts of this kind are doing, and not. at all necessary, with both boys clever enough to do their work straight for better results. . Girl Is on. for unnecessary tum- bling, and boys come back in neater -.clothes for more hand-to-hand, with the heavy lad doing a heat pick-up of his man and girl partners, one oh his hands and the other on his feet for a sweet'finish, Kauf. RCEMS, RIO and KITCHELL Dancing 9 Mins.; One Hippodrome ; Two boys and a . girl, all young and nimble on their toes. Okay 'deucer for almost any kind of house as Is, and will biilld Into a routine that can call for better spotting. Girl does comedy, which is un- called for. She's too pretty a kid ito bother and compdy sofnc.liow, doesn't fit a pretty girl. Just re- sorting to a couple of falls wouldn't lie so bad, but the cute stuff throughout hurts rather than helps. One of the boys does art imitation also which could be dropped. Kauf. Paramount, Newark , Newark, i'eb, 27. The change in booking hasn't hurt the quality of thia acts so far. This week's bill is filled with en- tertainment. It Is a different sort of vaudeville from that usually shown in this town, but this Is cer- tainly nothirigr against it. It was Well received throughout Four girls and. two men make up La PIva and Legary, mostly a diance act. One man plays an ac- cordion (never leaving the stage) to the finish and lands with a solo, A man and woman dance several times with striking costumes, and the man repeats with another woman and is better than either. Some numbers, are Spanish an& one Hungarian, Another girl sings sev- eral pops and doubles for a duet. "The last girl dances partly on her toes, does a tap and appears In a Cakewalk costume for some pretty mean steps; For the finale the man goes adagio with one .partner and ends with a prolonged fast whirl to a smash.; . • A happy landing was also made by Nelson and Paxtoh, . Miss Pax- ton Is a large blonde, while Nelson is one of those over-trousered comics. They were fairly funny, but. Nelson wins with his singing. He puts over a standard number, using peculiar gesturies, and it earns bows. Brengk's Indian Revels Is an out- standing spectacle. With nine In- dians In a Jazz band led by a, slim, competent and^ perfectly-poised girl they look good to start with. As they play they introduce yells that pep them up. One slijgs and the back drop reveals a splendid figure of a girl posing as a, gold statUe. Then a girl In Undress startles them with a dance. : The leader goes into 'Minnie the Moocher'— hot any too hot, but helped by the yells-—which she' follows with art Indian lullaby. The ; posing girl, how with a horse, does some sightly poses in both gold and silver. Then the dancer returns again In undress and steps to a blues, demonstrating that the aborigines owed nothing to Min.sky. They coUldri't. get. chough of it. . ,. ; Saber and Fojd, man and girl; began niildly, tli6 girl doing the •usuaV hut typo, but gradually they beglii to click with nifticis and the girl's unusual pep wins. She cliangcs to a revealing costume that dlspltiys a ravi.shlnsr figure. She Sings nicely,. ; The future for this young lady is bright. Closing, are Hart'.s Hollandors, .si.x men; a woman, a mltleot and a boy or/midget, in tumbling. They use a Dutch .set and costumes. There la much knocKaboiit and comedy. The aoTob:»tic work is .'Smoothly done and looks (liillcult. Tlioy go strong. 'Broken Lullaby' (Par), billed here under its original name, wins, a big hand. House filled. STATE Joe Frisco tops the bill at the State this week, with Atiatole Frieda land's 20th Century Revue as run- ner-up, Biecause of the frame-up ot the revue frlsco does not .get his Indicated next-to-closing, but foU lows the dance flash and manages to. get off .on the right foot through smooth salesmanship. Bill Is rather long on dancing: and singing, and short of good comedy, difficult to putHbgether to the best advantage and yet giettlng over nicely. Opens with the iAgenloS, \vho of- fer a brief but good routine qf shoulder and risley perch balances, T^e; two boys make a neat, if not Impressive, appearance, work rap- Idly and to good effect, though In- troducing no novelty. Standard stuff smartly done and over to a very fair hand; They make room for Major, Sharp a.hd Minor, three .girl harmonists with the usual half- . portion piano. They wisely stick toi pop numbers with 'Rlyer Stay Awa,y' soloed, by the- ailto, whose voice comes through better as a . single than In the team-work;- Not playlhg. supposed preferencesi there's one^ of each—blonde, brunet . and cai^ro.ts-^so gentlemen may suit their tastes. Make a nice appear- ance though their pyjama costumes might be Improved upon. They did well: enough to leave. all clear for their successors. Trey is June CaTr and a pianist; with the latter opening the act, Miss Oarr emerging from under the piano lid to go into.,a tap. routine on a. mat substituted for the regular top. The dancing is much better than some weak attempts at comedy, though they get the laughs -at the close with a rough'clowning adagio. Miss Carr. has a good personality, but does not use it to full advan- tage. Much of her comedy . is too self-conscious. If .she did not let the audience see how hard she was working, she would slide over neat*- ly. The pianist handles a light song; nicely enough; bulMets the act down jnomentarily Avith a heavier num- ber. Seems necessary to spot a breather here, but it should be something; less ponderous. Irving Edwards works on his own ahead of the tevae. In which he also appears. Much of. his . talk Is inane, but he builds up well with the (?ag of repeating an acrobatic trick for newcomers and works this whis-; kered device into a big laugh with, a very natural plant for the blowoff; After fooling around With comedy a.nd mild acrobatics for a ttmei he. suddenly goes torch to rto particular result. As he closes, a picture goes on the screen with a man Inviting Edwards to go into the revue. Some trick work with girls in a frame, not badly done, and then the actual girls burst through the screen to. go Into a tap routine. Six line girls, two dancers and a boy sin.ster, .ap- parently Bobby, Bernard, stopping the show with 'Marching Home to You' at this late . day, largely through film effects. And the step- ping -was done at the supper shoyr at that. Not a strong voice, but he fakes It effectively. Several diince routines, solo and line, and a good finish with each girl carrying tw<j dummy bodies to triple the show- ing. Not. new, but worked, for a Jazz effect. And after all that noise, Fi-isco comes out to catch thiem on his en- trance and hold on to the end, which Is his trad6-mark dance. "The Helen .Morgan : Imitation, of course, wliich drew gales of .laughter, and a neatly done rumba with a mighty pretty girl. Most of the. stuff Is old, but It's Frisco, and that Is the impor- tant point ■with the crowd. Show probably drew more business than the picture, 'Tomorrow and Tomor- row' (Par), but not up to average attendance Sat. afternoon. PALACE, CHICAGO Chicago, Feb. 27, This house Is getting miuiy. fllms[ that were originally. Intended for the sister run house, State-Lake, but which on showing elsewhere, proved too flabby for more than a week's sojourn, and: even then, niust have the bolstering of a strong vaudei line-up. Current 'Woman Comnvands' (Ra- dio) is one example, and -the Ann Harding 'Prestige' (Radio) slated to arrive shortly,. Is another. For tlie first time in many weeks the pic- ture is getting the heavy slugging at this arena, due to the i-athier nameless vaude array: and the hope of pulling patrons on the strength of the Pola iNegrl in-the-flej^h ap-i pearance at B; & K.'s O -iciital three weelts ago. Gp'ening trade was fairly good and that is indication for tlie entire session's box offlce. ROgular livc-ticter,. this stanza im- presses as oonsistcht on'the ends but .saggy In the middle. TIiA niiddle being Joe Herbert and his stoopes, both male and femal(!». Main weak- ness'here is the total familiarity, ■not only of tlio material but also the method, lly tlic way, has tlio Inter- state Coninierce Comriiisli. in oi-ilpr to pump the public's interest in. tlie rADr.oart: .sitnation, pa;s.so<l a nilins tliat every harmonlca-playoi- niUfit give ail imitation Of a train?. Opening .was the Collcano Famil.v, lieadod by Maurice, who gotf, ihc toii line in tlie act's billing. Colii-.nno •< clowning durinr the first half of tli* (Continued on pago 30)