Variety (March 1932)

Tuesday, March 22, 1932 FILM HOUSE REVIEWS variety 35 5TH AVE., SEATTLE I ('Star Night' Unit) Seattle, March 16. ■ Again Fanchon . & Marco spring ioniethlng different. This week It la 'Star Night* at the Cocoanut ijrove, with Betty Cpmpson, blonde, nretty, vivacious and scarcely look- ing to be 'over 80,' a star pi-esent In the flesh, and a flock of others Im- personating other picture stars, In stunts at 'The Grove.' ■ Mlsa Goinpson does an iitiperT conation herself, coming: out In one l>It as Mariene Dietrich, with the legs particularly prominent,/ arid Betty Is there, too. ; ; , JuWs Buffano Is m.c> Jn the good nlte club way. Ills band Is on the «tage. Tables are aboitt the 'club;' Couples dance as the show starts. Mlsfl Compson comes on with no delay. Jules. Introduces her, and she steps out to .'Invite' all hands to iso with her to: The Grove. . iborbthy June is the typical night club dance gal. Julian Hall in a fair Charlie Chapilln Impersonation. IdUlari Pierce acts a little like Fan- ple Brice, who, by the way; wsus at ibe Fox theatre, here, in person this Veek In 'Crazy Quilt.' Miss Pierce sings Indian chant In Jiewlsh a<;-: cent. Danny Beck . Is Harry Lans- don, and the way this lad puts the drumstlcka all over, the place— chairs, : floor, walls—Is ; nobody's business.Good. . .' Cute Anna Chang doesn't do.bad-. ly aSr Anna May Wong.. She asks to 'act with her voice' and she does, along with a big smile. /Paul Jones Is a wow. on skates and Jooka like Wm. Montgomery. Also he's said to be a. Seattle boy. Great stuff, his. Miss Compson now on again for a violin isolo, an instrument she plays very well. A green dress sets off. her blondness like ia million dollars. Cheron as-JIafdy Is the best Im- personation of all, both In. looks, talk and iriannerlsnis, while Judy . does for Laurel.; Cpnsuella Gbn^ zaies represents LUpe .Velez and Is herself a snappy Mexican girl i^rith . indications of fireworks; ;. Of course Joe Brown had to cpriie to the nlte club, and all crocked up: Steve Savage does this one, having the, Brown lingo down pat, and the mouth to a degree, but he outdoes Brown in contortions. Roy Bradley Is dance pal for Miss Compson In a tuneful, smooth nuni- her. . . ; -■; 'Arsene liuplhe' (M-G) on the screen. News shots feature Lind- bergh case and appeal: Business good. This .happens to be the kind of show all around that helps busi- ness. Trepp, Los Aiigeles. March 16. / Only, the participants can know ' the hardships of maintaining a stage band policy under these con- ditions. Not only the problem of a new show every week but the wor- ries thiat go with any losing fight make operation an enduring head- ache. Consider the lowly chorus. On a new. show each week s6t-up the girls are. constantly In rehearsal. Every morning they miist I'eport at the theatre by 10:30 ready to drill. Two days a week it'is 8^30. Almost every day they have to keep to next week's calisthenics between this week's performances. At four frolics dally, a gal doesii't get much chance for a sandwich, omitting all men- tion of romance. Jobs pay $30 a week. And beautiful girls. . Georgie StoU probably is pretty busy, too. Since George Cunnlng- . ham left he takes care of a,nything and everything. He even super- vises the chorus, routines the bill, eets. the cues, is responsible for other people's music and his own orchestral . contributions, all of which carry special arrangements and presumably imply considerable rehearsing apart from the show Itself. Under, this bombardment of large, small arid miscellaneous responsi- bilities it is BUflUciently remarkable that StoU gets the first performance onto the stage at all. There were numerous small flaws noted on the St. Patrick bill's opening. . That —seemed, more Gene .Morgan's . fault. . He. of the green tiat, a trademark for niany years, seemiingly threw together a few gags and bits on his way to the theatre. Morgan was there but his material wasn't. And that let the show down badly. Morgan has been a persohetlity On the Coast for years. He did stock formerly at Loew's State; ftigli't now he Is the chief jocularist at tlic Pyramid. Club, a Hollywood- night • epot. Maybe he's reserving his best gags for the diners. It was a 35-. cent audience in thc^ Paramount pews and Morgan wasn't wasting anything on them. Even, a casual theatregoer must have anticipated naif the answers. One bit involving a, .Mignal box that didn't work- or maybe was jiist forgotten was supposed to keop check on the indigo. Possibly iff) funny when done. They just let it lay along with the esgsi. Toung, pleasant, and quietly ca- pable were Dean and Parvls, who came first. Boy teriored extremely well for a dancer. They thereupon hopped into a cleat routine.. Later the g\ri attempted snaikehips to Irish tempo. She was brushed aside .with little opportunity and later at the finale no provision was made for their bows. Just one of the little awkwardnesses of a first per-, formance. and embarrassing to the kids. Acrobats, as certain on picture stages these days as crooners, ma- terialized as per expectations In the persons of Dalun and Scott They have mighty .biceps, iseveral excel- lent feats, especially a heel^to-heel. lift, but they need a different style of dressing.^ While intended to seem cool iartd n^at, actually they achieve an opposite effect. It looks like nothing so much as a couple of lads who have removed their shirts at a picnic to .tj*y a few athletic stuntsv This half-undressed aspect is a de- traction. Axlomiatic in show business Js the psychological fact that over-plug- ging' Ih :introdupirig piits the per- former at a grave disadvantage. Georgie Stoll probably wanted to set Sally Sweet. He practically poi- soned the.a.udience against her. She was, he said, the 'most, popular girl in Hollywood.' Quite a statement. Miss Sweet gilded out of the wlnga.. Total silence. . > That popularity. claliri, hitched to that silence, was getting off on the ieft foot, apd Miss Sweet. never squared herself entirely. Gene Morgan's several, in- terruptions were no help to her either. Donald .Novls, who would possibly deny the. appellation of crooner, found himself knowii and. liked. He Is the NBC tenor fronri the Cocoanut Grove, picked to step up into the company of thoSe for- tune-tapjped young men with nice voices who constitute radio's equiv- alent to the old matinee Idol. Blond- ish, not ijuite poised, this particular tenor Is possibly great for a micro- phone and only pretty , good for a theatre. Radio voices arie often that way. At any rate, he's less than volcanic. Honbrlrig the sainted necromancer who made . the shakes disappear from Ireland, the girlis are dolled up in green and attractive. Paraniount 'Wiser. Sex' on the screen.. Business weak. Land. LOEW'S STATE, L A; ('SONS O' GUNS'—TAB) Los Angeles, March 17. Picture houses' sudden discovery of swollen, grosses from pruned edi- tions of legit musicals has already demonstrated gruesome effect on legit business and <has lost its nov- elty oviernight on the coast. When 'Sons O' Guns'- opened at the. Carthay at $2 top and lasted nine dismal days, the management bitterly reported that a personal ef- .fprt^..ta . stimulate attendance was met by thls~TaE6ftre"c6miheht^ffom frugal Angelenos: IWhy pay. $2 when we. can. see it later downtown for nickels?' The shrewdness of local coin-hoarders is better appre- ciated when it is explained that no announcement of a picture house condensation had bieen made. ' As produced by the Municipaillties Light Opera Co.,: at the Carthay, 'Guns' faced the more routine halndicaps of tepid casting and out- moded music in addition to afore- mentioned purely local obstacles. This musical was a one-man show in its day—a background for the late Jack Donahue-r—and absence of a commanding ' name from the cast reveals the weaknesses of the piece. Replacing the usual Fanchon &. Marco unit at Loew's State, and for the same cost of $5,000, 'Guns' is no great shakes during its 90 min- utes and ' becomes even tiresome when, viewed with Fox's 'She Wantied a Millionaire,' and \Jetro- tone newsreeli Attendance"' was augmented by bargain hunters, but gross indications are not so spark- ling as they would have been a month ago^ when the policy was Unique. Carthay cast remains, intact, Richard Powell in the Donahue part tearing through the show at a pace that will ta.ke years off his life. His sincere labors hold merit. Ethelind Terry, head-billed, spoiled a worth- while personality with over-ges- tures and itra-nsparent red frock. Fred Santley as the butler who becomes a sergeant, was the casting highlight, and delivered his lines in a spirit lacking among the others: Florence Hedges wa,3 teamed with Russell Ash for secondary love in- terest to mild result and character parts were occupied ably by Wynd- ham Standing and Hedley Hall. Roy and Lee Hall, dancing twins who carry the twin idea in a pleas- ing routine, brought noticeable apr piausc in one short specialty. An- other diisplay oC tklent from the cast was by Grace Adolphl, doing not so well I'cciting line.s as. a loose lady, biit squaring herself with a toe whirl In the finale. Twenty-eight girls . and 20 boys participating in production numbers were an Impresfiive picture houMO rfppctacle.. Music had Jiaturn.lly lost its. freshness. 'Guns' will pluy 10' days at the State, aff.brding the theatre a chance to fhnnBC from Wednesday to Saturday or)eninss. Whethor it will pl<'k up . the' I<\ & M. route is dubious, but there is a ohanicG of a .wofk in Hollywood'nt the Pantag'^s, which cn.iovfil ■I.nfUy. Day' very mudi, Banff, Requesting Silence Los Angeles, March 21; Regular theatregoers soon learn to keep clear of seats adjoining those roped oil! for executives and reviewers on opening days iriv'key. cities. ; This privileged crowd Is noisier, ruder and less aware of ordin^ii'ry theatre courtesies. than half the peace disturbers, who are: tossed out.on tlielr . ears. ■ : ' \',' Loud mouthed reviewers rate as a necessary nuisance, but loud mouthed ^showmen within a theatre are the Industry's paradox. • STANLEY Pititsburgh, March 18. Drop-put of Daphne Pollard at last minute on accpunt of Illness placing pretty much of a burden on Sammy Cohen and Cherry Blossom and June, only two acts represented in current presentation. It's called 'Laff; Carnival,' which was an ap- propriate enPugli label considering Cohen and Miss Pollard sis head- liners. . Latter's Inability to show up made It seem a bit under that, but still it represents' entertainment value if slightly less than hilari- ously so. . There was only one complaint to register with the opening show, this afternoon,-arid that was that over- long time budget allowed Cherry Blos.sbm and. June. Two-girl dance act is okay, with youngster espe- cially a minor sensation, but nine numbers in two appeai'ances was too much. Tightened up a bit, this wbuld be a turn to reckon with any- where, and cute tactics of blonde mite are showmanly and wise. However, she had a tendency tp overdo It a bit, and concluding stuff could be erased advantageously. Opening chorus has line gals In 'one,' dressed in cjown-carnival-cbs- tumes and led by Dorothy Bushey, who has a song that plants the Idea of tile presentation. Dick Powell's first entrance also brings on Cohen for a couple of gags with m.c., after which band goes Into a fast riuni- ber, winding, up with the hokey 'I'm the Drummer of the Band,' led by Carl Gerald, who got some laughs with his mugging. : Cherry Slossom arid June made their first appearance at this junc- ture, followed by Cohen,:, whose slapstick stuff lanfled solidly. For his finish, he brought, on the wife, Doris ftoche, for a song, mugging ..with _her..;fp.r strong finish. Jerry Mayball's production riuriibfel*," ffpm the 'Night for Ix)ve' scene In 'Cat and Fiddle,' nicely staged, and lighted and featured soloist and girl violinist, with bhorus doing some pretty ballet stuff. Cherry Blossom and June ori again, followed by Powell's spe- cialty. Told audience he had made friends among all nationalities dur- ing his three years ': in Pittsburgh, and said he had often been requested to sing numbers in their native tongue. ' So he did four tunes, Ger- riian first, French, then Tlddish, And finally Irish, all different. Bernie Armstrong spotted on the stage as his pianist and an okay idea. Armstrong also does his pw'h bit at the organ, getting across sbme old though still good audience stuff, and won a nice hand. Dave.Broudy's overture, newsreel and feature, 'Be- hind the Mask' (Col), round out program. CoMn. DENVER Denver, March 16. Fanclion. & Marco's 'Once Upon a Time' Idea has a flashy opening and a spectacular closing and is fairly good entertainment mbst of the way. Dot and Helen Blossom- are tile mistresses of ceremony and read the announcements out of a huge book with the nariie of the Idea as title. Opening scene shows seashore with line lying on backs On stage waving ai-ms and kicking Ic^s in air—looking (with blue lighting ef- fect) like mermaids swimming. Dancing routine follows with Franklin Record singing to femme looker among the rocks on the shore. Raye, Ellis and La Rue. two boys and girl, do slow dance and. mix in a little adagio In full dress and an evening gown; Record is still siri'^- ing. The two Blossoms in different costiimes, one in orange shirt arid white trousers, warble, thcri change to bright Spanish .sonorita garb for slnsir": and dancing act. Second scene shows girls Rltting In sipall gra.ss , houses of . African pynrmies. and' line dro.s.sed as sav- airo." in black full-length tights with bright, fluffy feathers'. White gloves to elbows are used .in arm wiggle number with lights out and pre- sents bizarre effect. Keith Wilburn starts with a dumb number—Imi- tJiting an .onto going through a flock of shpop. His other Imitations were fair to middlln', those o£ hens and roostor,s,.',cat.'j, auto , horns, and of the baby that demand.s attention. His. banjo and steel guitar Iniita- tlons arc good. .Final line appear In grass skirls and huge colored wigs, and.. Raye, Ellis . tnd La Rue^ complete their adagio, the men' tossing the girl around in rapidfire manner and demonstratirig fast change holds with lightning speed. FPr the fade- out one of the line is seized in the nibuth of the huge mechanical dino*- saur and carried out over the audi- ence wh*!* the rest of the trpup squeal. Fred Schniitt's overture dedicated to Sousa. As the announcement was being thrown on the: sci-eeri mbtipjii pictures were, shown of some of ."^busa's bands and events, in his life. The brasses and drums were strong in march riunibers,. giving the Impression of a .brass band. The orchestra wore military uniforms, with Schmitt in an officer's regalia. Numbers included 'Semper Pldelis,' 'Spirit of Liberty,' 'Hands Across the Sea* and Sousa's last composi- tion, 'Golden Jubilee.' The curtains parted showing a huge portrait of the latie. bandmaster ilnd on each side two girl trumpeters: saluting, as the orchestra closied with fStars and Stripes. Forever.' . Warners' HoHywood . Hollywood, March 17. . Neither sock nor noVelty to ele- vate'the current stage show above riiedlocrity. Jadk Crawford's stage band,, despite some excellent orches- trations, falls to do more than olease. ..... -Three specialty a:cts work in front of the band. Two hav* been seen locally several times—.Treeri and Barrett, comedy singing and danc- ing team, and Helen Moore and her Six Dancing Demons. Six boys whP dance with the attractive Miss Moore formerly comprised, the male line at the Pat-amount. Put them together and they're an act. They have improved corisiderably. Boys dance two. tap routines that bespeak at least an effort at originality. First is a challenge with the .six paired off as teams; then a tap done to 'Poet and Peasant.' Miss Moore shows promise In one tap and an acrp-adaglo. Badger and MiieSler, radio ieriter* talners, are strictly smallie and gbt nowhere with gags and two Songs that didn't get past, the footlights. Treen and Barrett, gbod ta;ppei's, spoil their chances with gag ma- terial that means nothing. Girls go In for plenty of mugging that is for- eign to their good looks. AftM.- four weeks around town It's about time they were getting some new gags. 'The Heart, of New York! (WB) featured. Near capacity downstairs for the first evening perforniance on Thursday surprised ie very one. Universal News clips arid a "Vita,- phone Variety, 'Studio Murder Mys- tery,'.completed the sci-een fare. Call CHICAGO Chicago, March 18. Showlrig,a riefusal to accept what might aiDpear tb be "the: inevitable, B.&K. bucked the. traditional Holy Week slump by shoving .twb ace stage attractions In the Oriiental and the Chicago. At this big arena B:&K. displayed .'Barbara Stanwyck and Frank Fay, in conjuctlon with the Stanwyck flicker, 'Shopworn' (Col). .*.nd the results from the opening gong demonstrated that there's more to Holy Week than Just laying down and starvirig. Ca- pacity at the first run-off, a pajked lobby and sidewalk hPldout. Entire booking of the week, with the exception of the regular Fan- chon & Marco unit, was done at last minute. The flicker was not set for some time, with negotiations understood to have been on for a run at the State-Lakij for RKO. And the persorials were not running smoothly until early this week. But in spite of the. hasty bookings, the show and flicker drew ample ad- vance plu«rging. ^ Regular show was the F;&M. Cherry.Blossom- unit and ran rather short Only three acts taking ainy real tlriie outside of the usual dance routines. Frank Gaby headed the show' on his. comedy ventriloquism and his stooge. Eno Troupe sup-, plied the acrobatics with some-neat risley work,: and Dorothea held, the dancing spot on a high-kicking en- durance'specialty. Stanwyck and Fay were entirely distinct from the unit, a series of newsreel clips .separating the two shows. The personal appearance act . ran as long as the urilt and without 'a. drag. These pair of per- formers- bring a now flavor to the personal showing angle. Using a pianist and a trio of stooges to fill the. turn, this pair delivered 35 mlriutea of clowninij righi into the mitts of the audience. Audience at first couldn't connect with the clownine: by such- a fan {i^v as Stanwyck, and didn't know Ju.<ri how to accept the stooge runi- edy bf . the ijcreon lady. Most of 'cm were exjjeotlng. Fay to .^toogo fb. the. fj'au, and ■w'ore Sfjmt^wh.'it sfartlfil by having tlie tables turned. . Muf.h of the act is dcvotfd to thf buiip.yquing of tlio e;irllfr type of personal appearfiiices..and once this audienf-c got accnsiomed tc. tlio (;om<dyaping the going was ea.<«y. Each bit. f-uch a.s the false, niodr-sty, the parading q£ lla.shy clo'th(-.s, drew ih.stant .recognition for this mob, which , fis been vifwing a lon'-i string of srrr'fn po)sona)s this icist year. Gold.. IMPERIAL, TORONTO Toronto, March 18, Unusual stage bill lias Nicola headlining, Magician a draw in tlxtlt few acts of. this. type reacli local, houses except for Thurston who Is annually road-showed Into t<)wn'a only legit house; Last act of this kind for a plc-vailde house was Dlackstone at Loew's about two years ago.r Clever explpitation putting over the act with Nicola doing straight-. Jacket escaipes outside the theatre and draw'ing crowds. Using such standard illusions as the Indian basket trlclc, spiked cabinets,, trunk escapes arid disappearances. Climax is the vanishing, elepliant. instead of Blackstone's horse. None of the tricks new, but it's a long time since some of them, have been seen and whole act Is lavishly mounted and .cbstumed. Nicola carrying two male assistants together with two blondes and two brunets, all girls lookers and unloading lots of charm. Nicola also, pleasing in per- sonality. . First half of stage-bill was Lander Brothers in chatter that got laffs, Patti Spears In songs had a nice reception, and the O'Connor Family in a dance medley. Latter's autp was side-.swiped coriiirig out of Buffalo and troupe badly shaken up. Nc one seriously injured al- though one of the boS's haid back of ear in court-pla:ster and Mrs. O'Connor had side .all black and blue, she said. All on, howeveiy with the exception of little Roy, who does an kcrobatlc dance, kid. laying off a couple , of days because of an Injured leg. No. mention of accident when act caught arid group went over very nicely. Feature fllrii Is 'Strangers In Love,' with, usual overture, organ- esque, and sci-een-fillers. Mc^tay.. CHINESE, L. A. Hollywood, March 17. Because every act made good the" new Grauman show tops the dl- vertlsseriient that was prelude for 'Mata Haii.' It is also a faster en- tertainment,, more securely fastened together, less dedicated to flashy but speed-checking spectacularity. Talent'-is mostly standard, but that isn't always a guarantee of getting over at tlv9 Chinese at a picture first night. While hot pre- cisely tough the audience: is dis- criminating and does withhold or grant recognitibn to stage folks. They are perhaps less exacting in .»ta4idariLs..wJi£r£;i)i5ictJ[y. gtudiP per- sonallltles are concerned; After all," everybody's been everybody else's guest out here. Oscar Baum and his pitmen, es- pecially the brass, giving, forth abundantly. His overture was a fine showmanly. effort arid won ex- ceptional attention for a depart- ment usually taken with little heed like the olio. Dancing battalion did not have anything as. arresting as the Can- CBji of the 'Mata Harl' prolog yet ably preserved Interest, A giant veiled lady painted on a cut-out with a movable arm set the motif: for the first number. Fanchon St, Marco, credited for the dances, proceeded on the sound assumption that a chorus' with clothes on Is frequently, perhaps generally, more appealing, prettier, sexier,, than the reverse. . Joe arid Pete Michpn, Myrna Fortune, Steve Moroni, brought sheer muscular agility to be seen. Arnaut Brothers, Zelda Santley, Edna Ericko brought audibility. Sight and. sound coalesced into a good Sid Grauman presentation, more vaudeville than Grauman, ; perhap.s, but tlm^s and styles in prologs have changed along with the type of picture, now glyen $2 runs. ■■■ Arnauts have kept intact their knack for ingratlatlon. They start- ed a trifle slow, but built steadily into . audience favor, Zelda Santley was another slow, or ait least un-^ certain, starter. Hers was no mid- get undertaking, iriiitating picture people before a picture audience.. It was riot settled from the begin- ning that they were going to like her. Ultimately they decided they did. She has .some extremely clever.. Impersonations, seemingly riew and, ; if 80, probably ca;pable of more , marked accentuation. Either Mis9- Saritley herself or a com-, potent writer can" unquestionably strengthen several pf the bits for the laugh chances are an ppen in- vitation. On appearance Miss Santley rated 100.% in a modish tailored v^lyot that spelled class. She was on an ascending curve when she. feU afoul of Helen/Morgan, an Iriir por.sbnatlon iha*:, niiink'S seem un- iibl<; tij resist. That ict the curve flaltf-n out soriipwhat. but siie had. a H.'it'e margin. If personal jiffectlon f(jr the ^torguri takeoff is.too gi'cat to be brushed asidp, it would at least be a help tb clip the length to spmewhei'c near her other bltsr "While garnering ."iome gipffles no- body would be vexed in all likeli- (Continued on pafie 37> ^