Variety (April 1932)

Tuesday, April 5, 1932 VARIETY 87 , Roxy • New Tolrk, April i. ■ jjot much of a . wallop 111 either jiflDarttoent this weelc But for a foSKinan harmony singing act, an Unusual sight here, the stage, show ta monopolized fry the house staff; •ith tiie result not always happy. mevU's Lottery*. (Fox) the talker, ■^hey aren't cashing In on oppor- ♦liftltled as they used to here. Some- Iaw that fine sense of projportlon Skt once took the sting out of the «Wy'a extravaga.nt stage ,flash JSetoB missing now. For instance, Se treatment for the opening bal- iflt sequence called 'Ballet Medieval." iMtead of striking with scenic Seauty. as It might have done, , it n^aesthe objective by a wide mar- ein through absence of that certain SomeUilng Irt the staging, ^ on the wrong side this week is the Waring overture, along with «ie i-est of the show. The orches- trttldri is little more thaii a builds no for an uhprogrammed girl cor- net soloist, and a bore up to com- mencement of the specialty. Songs if Italy are played in tf. dull ar- tangemeht that doesn't rate the Attention of a *yrtijp|honlc J42z or- chestra of this size. > Along the way Is the now cus- tomary boy soprano solo by the Waring band's kettle drummer, this week 'Ave Maria.' He hasn't much Sersonallty, but he has a voice that lends well with its surroundings. But that voice doesn't mean as mucH now as it did the first few weeks. Perhaps a couple of ^weeks' rest for the singer might bring him tmck to where he started, • In 'Ballet Medieval', the Roxy bal )et corps in the attire of ladles of King Arthur's court, contribute worshipful dance accompaniment to J>atricla. Bowman,, who's oft the tootsies this week in impressionistic work., Setting- is churchly, and there Were chances for a religious iTpectacle, but the result Is loss of clgiiiflcElnce'. Aiipther good chance Is sloughed Ui the second stage item entitled «Slng Sing.' An excellent opening by the Roxyettes is tOo much for the rest .to follow.: In striped prison suits the. girls- do a chalh dance. ■ Although each hag. one. leig free; the chains bring back a terp stunt that's been Out of circulation 80 long It's, almost' new again. A novel jailhouse drop resting on an Elevated second stage to the rear backgrounds, a megaphone drill by the original Waring bandsmen,, with a flnale brought on by more meg . drilling from the Roxyettes. ■ As the musicians' drill depends on precision effects, it appeared the preceding rhythmic chain dance by the Uarkert line copped the edge; thiei° boys weren't nearly as strong ts they: usually are in the same number despite the current scenic .backing. ■ The' rise of RelUy and . Cortifort (New Acts) on an Individual pneu- matic, platform in the' front part of the pit is a siirprlslng entrance. Can't tell where an act or line of girls is liable to pop lip at the Roxy. They use at. least • two stages within the arch and the two side boxes, besides the pit here. Rellly and Comfort are a harmony team with exceptionally high pipes for men and not a bad idea In delivery, with only the routlnia in heed of .revision. They fared okay on. nov- elty grounds* as a song teahi In olio .fiuhlon is a novelty at this theatre. Fourth and flnale number again *ses ^the double stage, with the Koxyittes and ballet line combined in the one. dance aiid costumed uni- formly. There are 56 girls In all, .e grand sight, but there's nothing extraordinary in the staging. Roxy audiences have seen this stage ailed up with people too many times to be awed by mere repetition of numbers. Bige. FOX, BROOKLYN _ • Brooklyn, April 2. Vagaries of marquee selling are a Jjecujlar thing. A week ago this weatre's outside lights announced yig Easter show with 12 big acts.' currently, it's 'Eight big-tinio acts.' «ut a Week ago the theatre had a Panchon & Marco unit with no headUiiers. And this week it's yne of the strongest P. & M. units m some tlnie—though still without neadliners. ■ . One good thing about the Fox Brooklyn is that It doesn't seem ^ matter what's on the stage or screen or what the opposition aouses are playing. At the Para- S?"nt. across the street, the line Saturday afternoon was around th6 l^A^S. George Jcssel's show, ana Paul Whltcman was dragslng "V plenty customers to the Albee. nevertheless the ushers at the Fox J^fe having their hands full keep- «JB the customers from complaining acout an hour's wait. and Connors, a. couple of onght lads, are the best of the tal- wt uneup on the stage. It's two oara-\vorklng and fast-talking boy.-?, iwnose comedy clicked Saturday. ^"•^l Marino, another two- team, do. some dancliig and acrobatics to nice results. . Vina «t=!. ^'"i^^ very prettily and Con- lrill?.^^'^"3 does the dancing. ^yans Is an especially flexible *vKrK^.?°'*^y >^'ith a flne and fancy 'juilbition of kicks. One of heir Bt-f; ». ^ heel-to-'head . kick winle •speJialV^'^''' ^'^"^S' Usual line of girls arc nicely rou- tined and costumed, with the scen- ery not Impressive, but okay. Somewhere 4bout the middle of the. thing Bob Hall, walks on for his -uisual silly performance of sup- posed singing of extemporaneous songs.; It's ho worse than usual, but manages to cut the pretty good show Into two. sections, one befori he comes oa and one> after he leaves. Whole thing; for some mysterious reason, is called 'Stage Door Idea' and was staged by Larry Ceballos. 'Gay Caballero' (Fox) Is the scrim material, with Bob West at the or- gan.: and Freddy Mack's musikers niling out the program; Kduf. . ORPHEUM Denver, March 30. Stage show and : orchestra are bringing the money to the b.o. iat the Orpheum the current week. The audience sltg through the fllming Of 'Prestige': mostly because they pild to see something. Earl ICaye and. orfchestra play 'The Palms' and 'Ave Maria' for spe- cial Easter numberis. . A duet of brass in the former and quartet of strings In the latter help to. bring out the beauty of these wellrloved numbers. Two pretty local girls dresised In vesper robes sing the chorus of an Easter hymn played as a flnale against an appropriate background Of a huge stained glass window. Oi'chestra pit dressed up with Easter, lilies. GeorgiD Bent gets the biggest , response In folks singing: to his organ accompani- ment when he flashes on the screen 'Only the bath-tub singers on this one.* - Atlas, La Marr and Betty, a nifty trio of tappers, on the stage and get more than one big hand. Weaver Brothers, Abner and Cic- ero, and Elvlry, with a goodly hum.-: ber. of home folks from Arkarisa'^ dlisplaylng their . versatile talents and home-niade Iristrumentsi are • the big., attraction. A little too much explanation almost spoiled things. The audience would have had more, of a thrill trying to fig- ure out some of their crude Instru- ; m^nts themselves. Elviry's comedy Is: obviously too forced and back- wppdsy to be even funny, She g.ets the biggest hand with her chorus of girls who try to sing and clog, dressed In their hill-billy Sunday best. HINDENBERG New York, March 30. This theatre was once the .Edith Totten and later the President. It has : tried, legit and pictures from time to time and always managed to do poorly. Now It emerges as the Hlndenberg and the home of New York's first vaud-fllm house, all In the Teuton language. It hai3 only .300 seats, which Is In its favor, and It Is a pretty little house, despite the' aiira that past failures has left. Under the theatre Is a large lounge almost as spacious as the theatre itself, which has been tastefully fitted up for beer and sandwiches. The admission price has been Scaled to a 65-cent top, which Is an- other thing in the theatre's favor, past German attemptis on Broadway with straight films having fiopped pretty much because of the attempt to get too much money from the customers. In the matter of an opening pro- gram the theatre Is not so well'situ- ated. Picture, 'Mein Leipold' (Capi- tal), Is very poor and the vaude is somewhat stilted. With a better picture and a bit more diversion on the stage it looks like a stunt that will carry and make for consider able cash returns. Max Helmut Wessels, a young Viennese baritone, opens the stage proceedings with three nicely va- ried numbers. He seemed & bit nervous night caught, but ought to satisfy when oriented. Mltzi Eder, secohd act. Is a soubret and also Vlisnnese. She gets away with three numbers nicely, her selection from the 'Flcdermaus' being especially good.. Madelon Miller at the piano for both singers has nimble enough fingers. That's not enough vaudeville for any theatre on or hear Broadway. A singer or comedian in addition would have made all the difference between a- skimpy and a- good pro gram. ' Next weelc that tlvlrd act will be added, management says. It's a little difficult for the folks running the theiatre because of their limited talent field plus the fact that they have no precedent to buijd on. Henry Kauffman, one of the better showmen in the foreign field, is pretty, much in charge of the pro t; gram and will probably leel his way around to the right thing In a few weeks. If the house backers can afford to play around that long. • Where the thing scorns to go off more than anything is in the fact that It's evidently an attempt to bd^ Broadway In a foreign language. Management will do better to for- get that notion. Both of the singer.s on the current program in costume, of some sort, rather than the con- ventional tails and evening gown, would have seemed better. It's the native angle that ha.s to be stressed. It will be ^ntertsiining enough for the Teutons and have a' novelty drop-In value for Americans. STANLEY, PITT Pltlaburgh. April 1. RubihofC gets the tillling this week, topping the stage space and sharing equally with film. 'Stran- gers In Love.' This is his home town, and he comes back for the first time in five years one of the biggest stars on the air and at last: a prophet In honor in hjs: own country. Since leaving Pittsburgh, wliere he started playing In caf'eis for $1. a night, Rubinoft .has re-r. turned time and again as a vaude single, his last appearance being in 1926 at th© Aldlne. Few knew him then, and., he'had to get by oh his ability. Now ap'. ether favorite and. known. .^revy- Svherei he's set be£6i:e he opens. He's conducting the overture, also appearing us soloist,. and later steps to the stage in the regular presentation for a coui>ie of num- bers ; on his oWh. Everything he did landed solidly, and 'the applause at the end. of his overture must have lasted fully . tW'Q minutes. . Tliere's no denying the effective manner in: which Rubinoff combines talent and showmanship. ! He's a smart showman, but that's, not all. That Stanley pit brew has never sounded better than It dlji this af- ternoon. Tthe boys had snap, and they , put over a slniple melodip composition called 'French Echces' with a classical flourish. : They must hiave been working this afternoon for Rubinoff alone, however, for the boys certainly went haywlr.e in the stage show proper, crossing up most of the tm'ns. ^Ime and again. Too bad, too, for presentation had all of the makings, but Just didn't seem to click. Novel chorus opening followed by K,Tiy, Hamlin and Kay, ohe of the best, tramopllne'. acts-to show here iii some time. Tumbling nicely in- terwoven with comedy for good re- sults. Dick Powell, m;c.,. In one for three songs, with Bernle Arm- strong as accompanist, and nice se- lection of numbers helped but. Full stage again brought band from pit to stage, with Barto and Manni com- ing on individually for a dance spe- cialty each, and not. nearly up to returns these boys have gotten here irt- past. ■ Mae Joyce, cute blonde . singing single, had tough sailing when music crew spilled the works on her, but managed to 'cover ..up as well as possible, although siie was pretty. helpless. Barto and Mann on again for their familiar flnish, with tlie lanky one In Infant regalia, and enabled, team to make a decent showing. , Another chorus routine, and. then Rubinoff next-to-closing for his specialty. Musicians were oUay for him again. Indicating that conductor probably gave, them plenty of ;Sttffi rehearsals. : Presentation should have clicked off In good order, but didn't. Too many slow ispots. Customers, how- ever, came to see. Rubinoff, so notli- Ing else apparently made any dif- ference. . ■ . ^ Bernle Armstrong's organlog, with mob giving . their lungs a workout, and newsrecl rOunded out bill. Cohen. ORIENTAL, CHICAGO Chicago, April 1. Being April Fool's Day, the Loew unit at the Oriental played a .pretty trlcic on the house by turning out to Be not a regular presentation Ih the picture house style but a vaude show. Performance ran one, two, three, four, the front drapes being closed in after each act. It was a novelty manner of presentation here and made Its way nicely with this audience. Orchestra stayed in. the pit the entire bill, and though they had some trouble with the music, especially the Burns and Klsspn turn, they managed to get by without annoying the folks, too much on the Jumbling. Opened and closed on' a dance flasti by the gals of the chorus, both with plenty of flash. and color. Closing portion was built up by Joyce Cole in a heat single ballet niimber,. and Carlos Peterson and Nicholas Daks for some spiraiing in a Russian Interlude, Peterson, par- ticularly cinching on the one-legged dervis.h twisting. • In the deuce were Cook and BrrAvn, colored; hOofers. Fast rou- tining of the dance steps gave tlii.s one better results than the actual originality of turn called for. Re- versing the order of vaude, the three Pasquali Bros, arrived for an acrobatic session. Not new at this hoi'.se for these boys, but they were easily .satisfying; particuloriy 0)i the heart-stand work. . Finald numr bcr muffed on the opening per- formance, bpt this hou.se didn't: mind. Stunt is the nifty baHt.som- crsaultlhg to a one-h.mrtod catch.. In the next-to.-closing position came Burns and Kisscn, the parody pair. The.«e two are a fill-in,' re- placing for Freda and Palace, reg- ularly on the unit. .Switch was noco.!<sitated because of the recent .sliowini,' In town by the Italian comedy turn both at the RKO Pal- .ici? and the Indlc LootJ-Enrt. IXc- Vluf'ofncnt i.s a two-week rldo, tak- ing in Detroit and Chicago, the parody turn leaving the unit after tlio. c-urrent stay.' But they dirt well by it liorp. taking th<; ftnndo.ut rf- lurn.'i of tlie show on the vo'.-allzod parodies. Several old ones In the lihoup. but .sitaiidard phowman.slilp proved that ■ time hasn't Injured their oi'foftiveness.; Newsreel,. organlog and am Inter- esting ColumbLa 'Screeh Snapshots' provided the short bits. The fe.n- turo was 'Are You Listening?' (M-G), lJusihess was only fair at the opening. About tho only i*eally oxpiting Item currently Is .the ab- sence of the personal appearance, thW hou$o having: had .ai. steady istream of in-p,ersons diiriiiipr tlie past three months; ; GoZtf; MIGHiGAN Detroit, April 2. . Special , booking in of Vincent Lopez necessitated .a lay-^off for the Loew units which form, the usual, weekly stage show. One act booked from the' unit to fill In, but the rest having a vacation. LOpez and band ois a draw figure as a fair attraction.. For entertainment the band falls by tar to .come up' to the stahd.Trds set recently ; here by . Paul Whltemanj but gets over in Its own way. Dif- ference in salary is an item as well. : Going through the ..usjiial , band routine with comedy numbers by members ' of the orchestra. Vocal ntimber by Paul Small carried along for vocals only and then doing one number through a" mike.! Small shouldn't need a mike to isret iils voice across., , When playing with Paul Ash hb 'feahg direct and should have done the same hero. Darlene Walters from. tlie Loew unit was the. only act used from that show, but jimmie R.ay Was booked in from N; Y. to embellls.h'the turn, waiters got over nicely with some unusual acrobatics. Ray u.sed his hands a little too niucli and feet not enough , with tlie impression of af- .fectedhess.v. ■: , ' Smaill sang only: one number, a,nd Lopez played only oho tuiie on the pla.no., Much of the time was given to a cbmposILlon by Lopez in coihr memoratlon of the Washington Bi- centennial titled 'Pavl^ Reverfc's Ride.' Number meant jlttle .but was used to present a . series of historic tableaux with a real horse on a treadmill; Entire routine ineanlng- less. Arthur is utow pleased at the or- gan, with a pop. vocal stimulation. The high-light being the bar.-room favorite, 'Old MacDonald Had. a Farm,* which got the yelling. Ed Werner ^-ith the. overture pleased in a mild way, with the vlollrt solo by Arnold Jurasky getting the big hand. One thing this house repeatedly does. Is to \ise intermlniably long trailer on this advance show. Why, for a novelty,- a nice . short tailet wouldn't do is one of tliose ques- tions.' Lee, PALACE, L. A. ('Some Baby'—tab) Los Angeles, March 31, In the stampede of picture houses for stage attractions, names, tab versions of musicals and legit plaj's, the Palace, double-billing Fox-West Coa&t Broadway grind, has fallen In line. Several times previously this house has gone for local radio at- tractions, but this Is the first time any local house has presented a sensational name in several years. Eunice Prlngle, the accuser of Alexander Pantages, Is featured In a tab version of 'Some Baby,' the play which first brought« Frank Bacon to the attention of producers. No. doubt Haven MacQuarrie, who produced and owns the attraction, and F-WC figured that Miss Prln- gle*s name Would draw the curious. 'They erred. Little interest has been manifest at the b.O.. .House was less than one-third occupied at the 9 p.m. performance on the second day. Were it not that Charles King, the director, kept Miss Prlngle moving, the entire piece would 'be. awful. Surrounded "by competent ..people of the stock type, she is prevented from doing -a Brodlc, but her acting is ."Jtamped with all the pathetic ef- forts of the amateun Fortunately, 'Some Baby' is one of those things in which .the plot Is only made possible tlirough contin- ual entrances arid exits of players. For that reason there is action which keeps ?tHss Prlngle and Irer efforts in the background. , Other players: in the Cast arc Howard Watson, Rupert Drum, Wil- liam Heater, Edwin Carlic, Leonard Strong, Virginia Fou'"tain, Pearl Earlcy and Violet Knight. ' Piece Is In oh percentage with a reported guar.antce of $1,500 fOr the week. .Six months ago it would liave been a good buy. Since that time, when, the second trial ended in Pantages' acquittal, the public lias forgotten a great deal about .Miss I'rlngle. Following, tlie local engagement, MacQuarrie. might take the attrac- tion .south tlirough tlic citrus cir- cuit. Then nxaln lie migiit forget it\ AfCfirdlng to Inislness. at the Palaee, the latter might not be a bad idea. Metro's 'Lovers Courageous' and Hearst New.s arc presented fur the screen appetites, Adml.s.slori Went up to $25/; for mats and from two to. four Ijiis at night. Pcintagqs, Hollywood . ('Girt Craiy'—Tab) Hollywood, April 1. Sa,ve in a couple of respects that probably will bo coi'rectcd. the num- ber two tabloid 'Girl Crazy' is s?i- porlor to the original which .started in Chicago arid; thereby began, for better or worse, the prevailing and growing cycle of tabloid musicals for picture. )»ouses. ■ ... That credit, or blame, should be correctly given, the re.cords should .. teil posterity' about Gregory Rafoff. He is the father of this particular trend. ,. Ho started It. . Where or when or by whbm it. will be ended nobody, can tell. Prospective tab- loids at tlio present moment are popping out of the ground like. mushrooms. - Maybe It would be more pat to say like ghosts but of warehouses. ... Ratoff is an actor. It happens a good . one; But he yearns for managerial honors. Having fath- ered 'Girl Crazy' to corisiderablo financial success, lie is at present Incubating a series of not less than seven . musical^,'- pririclpally frona Aarons & Freedley's attic. •Girl Crazjr' was done by Lillian Albertson on the coast as a legit and fioppedl Its former reserved seat statiis gives it standing, neverthe- less, as a picture hbusie attraction. Business on the Opening matinee, while not as strong as 'Lucky Day,? was notably, good. Running time of 90 minutes can easily and. -profitably be ollppedi There are soriie nine scene changes , necessary to carry forward the narrative. Among the permanently ' faulty factors; is B.B.B. (Bobby Burns Berman), ! Who: was Mn the former downtown Los Angeles leglt version, B.B.B; is a cafe favorite out here, but seems overtested in a ' book part.. . He .had one major - weakness as. the Hebe taxi driver. He wasn't funny. ' . Although Lilian Miles, like heir eastern prototypes that followed Ethel Merman and Blossom Seeley. • in the role, couldn't ha,ndlo either 'Delilah' or 'I've Got Rhythm,' she was otherwise competent.. Youth- ful actresses of necessarily limited experience Just can't bring either the fire or the sheer lung power re- quired for those two difllcultw' chanties. Incidentally, Gcorgo . Gershwin's , 'arrangements are so acutely 'mod- ern' as to gravely handicap the ' singer. Orchestra Is actually pull- ing against the singer. This Im- pression Is strengthened with each viewing of the show, A simple or- chestration without Involved phil- harmonics, would be fa,r better for general consumption. : Ginger Rogers Is top-billed as Ingenue. Shie has improved greatly,. arid right now is as fetching a dancing-singing miss as the musical Eta.ge could ask. She corhblnes high sex voltage with girlish sweet- ness. Her taps are louder, her voice Is' stro'hger, and her figure has rounded out and matured. She is not tho skimpy adolescent: of a couple of years ago. Ratoff pro- vided her. with a lovely wardrobe, : She is the class of the production . on all counts. . . George DObbs does very well as the romance. He has been a Shu- bert Juvenile for years, with the experience showing In his work, al- though he was not directed with much, «llstlnctlon in several scenes, Gordon . Smith, also familiar In eastern musicals, is the opposition and handles a bit of dancing capa- . bly. ,: A few strands of hay licld In the ■left hand will perfectly balance the plot of 'Gii^l Crazy' when held In ;' the right palm. Its virtues do not list Originality. Nor suspense. But; it's okay for picture house patrons to cut their 'plot' teeth on. 'Girl Craiy' Is strong optically in a sprightly, well-dressed chorus. In spic and span new scenery, ■ In '■ numerical strength climaxing In a finale with 63 persons on the rosr truni. Its general average of tal- ent Is good, with Individual mention rated by Richard Powell as the: mugg gaimbler and Charles "Wag- ner as a sneering bad man, besides those. prevlou.sly designated^ Production cerlts arc: Dances by Jack Haskell, book staged by Harry Howell, • score directed by Slg .Sandes; San Franclsieo and San . Dlegb dates set to follow. I>cnd. Air-Cooled Cars (Continued from page 1) tract ha:s been let to cool the en- tire Philadelphia Savings Fund building, Philadeiphla, which is opening this suminer. Radio City has: also discussed the tlibught oM air-cooled buildings, but has made no final decision, Su(;h a contract will, amount to mOre than $600,000, largest Over known for cooling pur-' poses. Use of cooling apparatus for .':hiall theatres has also developed. Portable units have also been de- .vljicd to, cool one or more room.s. The smallest is a system that blows .'lir over Icc. Cost is $250. Another unit Is in the form of an .atmos- pheric cabinet with a hookup to cool several room.^. For those who like their cool air all the time, an- other Kystem has been set up for'in- door air conditioning In the winter time.