Variety (April 1932)

VARIETY MEW ACT S • Tuesday, April 19,1932 N.T.G.'S 'HOLUYWOOD FROLICS ; OF 1932' Floior Show . 65 Mins.; Full (Sp«cial) Palace Seeing tlie Hollywood restciurant's floor show on the Palate staere as it would play at the nitery spot ia seeing a little too nuich for vaude. That: goes two way.4. and takes In not only the 50-niinute stretch o£ numbers, ■ talk; etc,, but. the llash of near-undressed chor- ines. The Hollywood has long been known as parading out a lot of hoi maLeriivl but. lt's the first tlnie the Palace has'gotten so close to .com- petition with the Minskys.or Earl Carroll. / .'4 ' ''' • N.T.Cx. has Irts show doubling be- tween the vaude house and; his Broadway Testaura'nt, with latter certain to benefit by the": former and frequent mention d£ where a warm evening might be had. Nils Grandlund, who has had several girl acts arouad of late years, has never played, the Palace before; . The AA vaude house seemed like the Hollywood. In a little different dressing, with N.T.G. mixing aroCind everywhere, including into the audience. Ho opens his 'Frolics' by introducing Harriet. Hilllard as mistress of ceremonieis but won't let her play at it.; After marchlnigr out first string of 12 lookers, htj tops the list with four others just out of the 'Vani-. ties,' Doris Eaton, also taking her first look at the audience In con ^ nectlon. The Hollywood touch ar- rives with , iEour additional glim- getters In sheer lingerie, topped by. Miss Martiii for exhibition. PkOller skating 1^ one of the fea-- tures of the Holl/wood floor show ana has been for some time with the Three Speeds topiJing in a fast, clever rbutln.e, with invites to anyone who wants a ride. NiT.G. has thriee femme planti? In the audi- ence for this,' dragging out very long a skating session that to begin w.ltK is a little out of place, lii the floor show on a vaude date. Another endurance contest with the audience. Is staged through four solos bjyr Frank Hazzard, one after the other, and for greater measure, ai^flfth in bringing on the Mcx cafe -scene. One would be enough, again •nflth all due credit to Hazzard's fine voice and style of delivery. Th6 cabaret scene nearly means another floor show within one. it's much too long but winds up' with a sock through the four-way adagio number, worked up. to a melodra- matic point. Done by the Ffliur Gllmas. Heel dance double by De Lioro and Paullta also in this scene and oke. Doris Eaton leads several, num- berff'in song without a voice but lands nicely on the dancing. mentln the revue but It needs boil- ing down plenty for vaude- pur- poses. Whether the. threat of nud- ity a.hd that hot hlp-gyratlng num- ber should go on any cutting is a matter of taste. Char. GEORGE SIDNEY CoiTiedy, Sengs, Dances 23 Mins.; Orie and Screen Penn, PHtsburgh,, Flicker personalities no longier de- pending upon their reps to get them by in person, with George Sidney the latest to fdllow thfe trend and come up with an act that can pass for an act. Sidney knows the stage', hiving si)ent almost a lifetime in legit before getting into the films, \Vhere he is known chiefly for his work in 'Cohens and Kellys' series, and his present turn is a coinblna- tion of good audience stuff. , iSldney conceived the idea, himself and Wrote , the material, and only fault is that it runs a bit too long. Otherwise It's Okay ai>d, tiehtened slightly; should fit nicely either In vaude or. presentatlonis» ■-' At the Perm, he worjts at the. end of the regular Loew Unit aiid, after he got over a few obvious gags at the out- set, audience warmed tip.to him and he closed with a solid reception. Turn opens with .a film purport- ing to show Sidney's trip from Hol- lywood to New York. It's a kidding thing air the way through, sihowing crowds at viarlous stations, preetlnp the actor, bhly to turn but that mobs are welcoming such personalities as Dempsey, Hoover, Mussolini, etc. Welcoming cbmmlttee In New- York consists of a flock of ragged kids oh a tenement porch alongside the %' Last shot shows him entering a stage door ahd then he's on In one right after for several minutes of chatter in which he gets plenty 6f laughs, ■ Later, he enacts a short scene from the play 'Poverty;' telling the audi- ence it's . being recorded on stage and will be flaished on screen right after h,e finishes It. At the end of the same, bit In dialog from the screen there's a laugh When a wo- man puts In an appearance. Sidney from the stage asks Sidney,on the screen. what's the Idea of bringing on a flapper,. when femme turns ardiind revealing a lo\y-comedy pari and denying she's a flapper. For his finish he sings a parody on 'That's Why Darkies Wei*e Born,' and g:oes into a hoke dance; also good for laughs. Encored, Sidney, did a. rcfcltatlon made up of cleverly ari'anged movie titles. For entertainment value; the act can get by nicely. Actor's screen rep Is a help, to, so altogether he's a pretty fair bet for any bill. Cohen. MME. FRANCES ALDA Sonos 9 Mihs.; Three Palace, Chicaab From the Metroik>Utan to an RKO vdude tour Is a :16ng stretch that takes a lot of Imagination to bridge. Mme, Alda, an operatic name of dis- tinction, Is out b£ .place on vaude 'boards;.' ' Mme. Alda is doing a iroutine of songs harking baick to the d|iys of long, long a:gO. Even from a musical viewpoint, Mme. Alda Is at .disadvantage, her voice: not .being attunable to deliv- ery of pop and semlrclasslc num- bers. Everything about the singer Js alien to vaude, from her entrance to the time she .walks. off with her back to the audience. That may not be so Important, but public opinion that-opera doesn't belong In ai vaude- ville house is. This Is Mnhe. Alda's second week out for RKO after opening In Cleve- land. Span. LENI BOUVIER (12) 'Fplies Montmarte' : Diancing • 15 Mins.; Full (Special) Hippodrome . :. - Interpretative dancing In vaude- ville has never had an especially easy time of It. Here's a new try by a European girl whose name doesn't-mean especially much. But It's a nicely laid out, costumed and staged show that ought to get some- where In selected spots. Looks like It ought to fit into de luxe houses and picture theatres better than in naborhood vaudeville. Announced au the sort of dancing that Isadora ^Duncan did twenty years ago, which . Isn't so. First number Is dressed In the flowing robes that are reminiscent of Isadora and some llghtlnfg bits that recall Lole Fuller. But Miss Bouvler 'doesn't especially follow along the lines of either of these American dance pioneers. Opening number, a. nice ballet probably representing flowers in bloom tra.-la failed to get started right because the electrician mixed his cues. Miss Bouvier: follows with an unimportant piece called 'Spirit of France.' solo glris coming on for a gamin street number. Miss Bouvier follows .with another solo, this time a Mendelssohn waltz, with entire company on for a colorful finish sup- posedly represientlng the ocean. It's really better than it sounds, largely because It's not too high class and down-to-earth enough for most people to get the Idea. Also the girls are all supple and .Clever \i^nd the costumes are colorful. Katif. DUGAN and HADLEY Dancing 9 Mins.; One Hippodrome Two clean-cut youngsters hoorn.g In a manner that Is okay, but will never lift them out of the douce. Nothing especially noticeable about the work to bring out more than polite applause rumbles. Last number Is a chain biislnoGt, hands and feet. of the two men chained to one another. lOlToct of this number would be oottor vlth less gagging and more action. Kauf. ALLAN MANN and Co. (2) Song and Dance 13 Milia.; One and Fiill 86th St. ■ Allan Mann, dancing juvenile, and two girls who here get subordinate revue, that has all the ear murKs of expert advice^ Girls are Helen O'Shea iand Rita White, one. a blonde dancer, the gther contrasting bru- nette and a personable singer of low down numbers of the 'Minlile the Moocher' type. Open In one for an Introductory bit of stepping and a number, 'Love on a Budget,' apparently special. There Is a song by ihe dark girl and Mann and the other girl go into a tap, routine, meanwhile moving into lull stage. Mann attempts no. comedy, but sticks to the straight dance line, he and the blonde girl alternating, to- gether and solo, with the blues singer and all clean cut and attrac- tive in their, specialties. Singer Is back In 'one* for a fea- ture blues number and for the fin- ish they return to full stage, set as a taxi dance liall with crowd oh a painted back drop and Mann in ec- centric sailor get up. for a fast and stimulating acrobatic dance, girls meanwhile vamping In the back ground and coming Into the last stepping finale. ... Opened the show here, which was mis-splottlng. No. 2 or 3 on bills of the 86th Street grade Is their due. In siilte of place handicap at this early show, they came through lor good^returns. Bush. WALLY VERNON and Yankee Orchestra (10) 26 Mins.; One and Fiill 86th St. Act Is framed to take two spots on the bill, best, as here, next to closing and closing. •First hall brings Vernon into -one' as a nut single using a. series' of stooges and building a wealth of solid laughs-by the resourcefulness of his clowning. He can sing a little and dance a lot, but It Is the rapid fire of hla-gagglng that tur^is the trick. All last stuff and de- livered with straightforward assur- ance. , ..■ .~ •- .■'• Elderly man Introduced as his father is used in a lew gagfs and then made knowii as an did timer and Invited to do an old fashioned jig, surefire angle and good .here as usual. Vernon then does a nice bit of foot work with comedy sliants and awaly to a good: flnlsh. iStage opens In lull, as though for another act, with orchestra in tux grouped In half circle. They're In their Introduction when Vernon, changing from eccentric to In- definite straight Qlbthes - (and not very tidy), fs on again, leading the number with back to audience and then. revealing himself for a light laugh. . Rest of. the turn Is rapid fire comedy stuff with the orchestra giving 3i. milnimum of straight mu- sic and much clowning. There are several specialties, notably a. nice looking blonde girl doing, sightly- control dancing. Three of the boys harmonize for a trio straight. There Is much razzing of the leader. One first, rate bit Is a patriotic number burlesqued, Vernon carry- ing on >a mock serious recitation ;and tben;..for tb«» tr« Kni>^Tv pal, Ing Into hysterical flag waving to the band's crashing march number, there being no flag, but only the frantic flag waving gestures. Whole double turn is a laugh, monolog and band both, and Ver- non Iboks as tho.ugh he could easily carry on through a.wholfe bill a.s a gagging m. c. Rusli. PALACE ' It's too bad Nils Granlund couldn't have brought somethlpe^ to eat and ginger ale to go with a drink, If Any* along with his floor BhowMrom the Hollywood restaurant. By the time his. revtie was hall over, it was gett ting to be nea,r dinner time. And a drink would have done well over the long stretches of t^ihor solos, roller- skating portion and N. T.. Q.'b m.c'lng. There was no end of that. Jack Osterman, himself getting nervous and starting to walk around the front, rows and into the aisles, at just about the! time it looked like the skating thing, was .to be ah In- definite engagement, mused to him- self j 'It's gradually getting to be a supper show.' He wasn't far wrbngr, but he finally scrammed along with Herman Timberg and Pat Rodney; All of them must haye figured they'd already put In a good day's work. Or themselves were afraid of miss-. Ing show' Saturday night. Trio shares on m.c'lng.. . , Boiled down, the show has much entertainment meat, but padded, out as at the Saturday mat it Wae nearly an endurance contest, .First half hits the high spots, last three--4u^- ters of an hicur up to intermission packing the big punch. . That is the portion Including the Herman Tim- berg . act,, bits .that Osterman and Rooney mix into, and an afterpiece to top It off. The second half has its strong features, but In the length of the N. "T. G. revue; which he bills as •Hollywood Frolics of 1932' (New ActB)^ tli^ edfee is dulled.. The floor sh.ow:: consumes an exact 55. minutes. Osterman spoke so much a:bout cuts In advance of the floor show, taking:over the Ziouse he must have had an Idea about things. N..T. G. can reduce his running tlnie by about 2.0 minutes and stlU have a good show. Both skating and tenor solo spots win be cut no doubt. Tiie revue . from his Broadway night club, mentioned often. Is a strange booking for the Palace. . It's the flrst that N, T. G., arou*«d with girl acts lor some , time, has grotten inside. Perhaps that's why he took advantage of the situation.' Or else was lll-advlsed. With first booking of N.. T. G., the Palace folks get an eyeful of girls, more than they've ever had before at. this house, or few, if any; other vaude theatres. Marlon Martin's oostume, or rather the lack of it, is a couple eyefuls. In nearly a state JOHNNY TYRELL and Co. <5) Singing, Dancing 20 Mins.; Full (Special) Hippbdrome Plenty of action In this turn and nicely terivpcred for featuring In nabc houses. -Tyrell Is a clever lad and he has four pleasant girls to work with. Also several scenery changes and some nice fostuming for effect. Tyrell's opening, song is a bit too reminiscent of Eddie Cantor In treatmeint, but the other num'oers are more individual. Works, scnie times In almost a burlesque manner, but . lias It tamed down enough to please. Also his footwork Is sur prislngly good, especially In i gagged bajlet number. Helen Tejan works with Tyrell for one dance to .good results, and the three girls do a nice broken rhythm dance. Perhaps because "Tyrell and his company work very fast t>ey seemed too long a tur;i on the current Hipp bill, whloh Is Inclined to be excep- tionally .slow. Pcemec';; at perform ance caught, that brlnglhg the girls on one time less would have served better all around. Kauf. JACK SHEA and RITZMORE ORCH. (11) Comedy Band 10 Mins.; Full (Special) Orpheum, N. Y. • ; Along the llneg of the Prank and Milt Brittoh act, but with the slap- stick thinly applied until the finish when It's laid on in heavy layers for a wow finish. Fairly effective entertainirent as now standing. Im- provement could be re^illzed through Injection of more comedy the first five minutes. Jack Shea, working in full dress, announces on opening that J»e offers a crack symphony outfit, curtain raising for surprise dish of .10 mu- sicians as stooges. . They immedl ately launch into numbers; broken by a little clowning, eccentric dance single (very good),- burlesque on rhythm boys setupi, and other bits. Slapstick with whole band demol- ished -follows a cliasslcal number that never seems to end, taxing, the patience and endurance of Shea as wieli as his men, with all finally in volved In a free-for-iall battle. Chai'i Phil SEED and Dave LONDON Comedy 15 **5ns.; One Even 'Bert Walton, m. c, mixed this team up with Seed and Aus- tin when announcing them. : Which Is unfair, because they can nicely stand on their, own. Seed is the brother of Dave Seed on the other team and Is plenty capable as a cortlc. It's really a three-people turn, the girl, Jacqueline somethIng-pr-6ther, working every bit as hard as either of the two men and just as effec- tively. . - London Is the straight, though handling a few .filp cracks, with most of the turn revolving around supposed fight for possession of the girl. She's'a looker, making it un- derstandable that they just ilght fight for her. Somewhere in be- tween she uncorks a nifty dance and London handles a nice ditty. : - Kauf. MOLLY O'DOHERTY (3) Singing, Dancing 13 Mins.; Two (Special) Orpheum, N. Y. Trio In a song and dance routine with hoofing work standing but and above the vocal efforts. Molly O'Doherty Is assisted by a si.ster team, Ray and Francis,. Who arie as agile with their feet as she Is: Opened the shbw at this hoiise. and did very nicely Thursday, night. Act is from the Gus Edwards workshop. Its novelty oijening has Miss O'Doherty as an usherette, with team mounting stage from audleiice as though to help put on an act through a disappointment at the theatre. Miss O'Doherty does a pop . number seated on the foot trough and includes an'acrobatic dAncc hit; otherwise the girls lean to buck, tap and rhythm dnncing. displaying excellent form n.t all times. I'^or the finish It's announced they'll try to dance like boys—and do. Char. of purls Tiaturabllls/ she marches out twice, but rihe's nearly topped on the Minsky touch by the hot dance far-" ther down, billed afe either by Elea- nor Moffatt or Rene Villon. Apparl ently girls,are splitting numbers be- tween the restaurant and the Palace. Osteniiah is doing a nice job on his P&lace>eturn. • Timberg and Pat Itooney work along with Ostet-niari. at most stages of the m.c'lng.. Timberg is respon- sible for the staging of th^ show. '6n thiB m.c, sisslgnraerit it runs a little out of the beaten track, with Osterman only Introducing some of the acts instead of all. He first ap- pears ahead ol the Rboneys, who play third. After a flve-mlnute stretch of gagging and a sohir Rooney and Timberg stalk bri in fullstage to set themselves for whiat's to follow.: They!re friendly Aneniles niost of the time, starting with an, argument as to who gets No. 1 dressing room " Osterman and Rooney stepping to one to top. It's more like a revue than the Palace has ever had, with regulation running of acts broken up this way all the way down. The' boys also meddle In the N.T.Q/act. Osterman' . made iour. changes' His regulai; spot Is in; the second half, opening intermission: Since Timberg and Rooney both have sons with them, he. had a,stooge double for a pansy bit as his boy, launch- ing Into some talk around the radio and topping with a, couple of eongsi •My Mom,' not quite the best- fltted song for Osterman, Is topped strongly by 'Human thing.' Clever interlude: of 10 minutes as to how a vaude Show of six aicts would look If cut: as asked by managet- spliced in here. - . Will. Mahoney follows Osterman, doing well, but not as. strongly as expected. That rhay have been due. as In other cases, to blaclcouts. bits, etc., that sandwiched the various spots. On top of. Mahoney's act, Tim- berg, Osterman and Miat JD'Orsay do a blackout sketch, 'Tlie Gigolo." by TIniberg. A harmony gag toward the flnlsh between gig and the hubby one of; the biggest liaughs In the show. This blackout tould have marked the finish. Gallarlni and Sisters second, over well, and trib of Falls, Reading and Boyce opening O.K. For the first time the show got under way earlier than usual, around 2:15. Lasting until 6:30, that probably iade it a record on running time. ' Business Saturday afternoon very good. Char. DOWNTOWN, L. A. yiLMA and BUDDY EBSEN Songs, Dances 8 Mins.; One Stanley, Pittsburgh Brother-sister act 'going It alone for first time after two seasons with Benny Davis iact. Song-writer used to sell kids, making It pretty soft for them. They're finding It a bit tougher now but stUl get over nlCely. Gal I:} a looker with plenty of class, while boy Is a. lanky, . personable youth with typical, southern Shuffle. Open together with fast tap routine, tlien.- boy goes Into loose-jointed routine after low-down song. For finish, two-of them come out Ih high .silk hats and canes, gal in shimmer- ing white evening gown, for nice flash and hot close. Opened the show hei'e arid on cold, but still managed .to imiH'ess.. Both youngsters long on personality and could almost get by on this alone But they have talent, too, and sell It well. . Cohen. MAZZONE and KEENE (6) Dancing 11 Mins.; Full (Special) Academy, N, Y. Nice either-ending , dance flash with plenty of sccneryvand costum- ing. Three girls and three men, two of the girl."!, however, serving merely as atmosi)hel*e.. Opens with a male and female tidaglo; two males follow Ih an cc centric dance, and the.-entire group mixes into a spread-out Apache number for a fa.st finish. Very little new in. the stops or routines, but all well handled and for good effects, - Kauf. Tom Mix returned to the eereen in Tlhlversal's 'Destry Rides Again.' Attendance opening day was weak. Even the 10 aicts of vaude failed to excite themi, falling considerably below the pace Bert Levey has set In the past seven weeks with his 10 acts on a ?1,200 budget. Don and Darline and the De Cece- letos Opened, the former an adagio act, the latter Spanish and ballroom dancers. Nothing, that hasn't been done before and better, McCune Sisters, who have deuced their way through two years of local vaude* followed with tap and vocal rou- tines.. Girls arb the peppy type, showing plenty of teeth and doing a lot of headshaklng. Fair in this spot. Eddie Mahoney from the dark ages followed and got nothing but a razzing for his misspent elTorts. His piano playing is poor and his gags weak. Les Kellors, middle- aged man and woman acrobats, fol- lowed with a novelty acrobatic rou- tine depicting an aero act of 30 years ago. AH the resin rubbing and handkerchief throwing, includ- ing an old-time finish with plenty of flags flying, are used. There should be a spot for this turn in a Fanchoh & Marco unit. Here it got a great hand from the old -timer.", who remember, and the ybungsters; who got laughs. Evans and Crowley, male tapping and skate dariclrig team, lollowcd and pulled in . good returns with some excellent hoofingi Light Gentile^ local radio act, next, ahd ^stopped the proceedings.. Gentile, a Gibleish looking lad, has a good baritone voice and knows how . to use it. Light at the piano Is above average on his solos and a plj) of an accompanist, building -up rhis partner's singing no little. Boys encored, and could have dono an- other number, but begged off. Geo. Yeoman and Lizzie In their broad- casting sketch followed and galh- ered in a flock of laughs with the .John T. Mcdbury material. Act is a one-:.tlme blg^tlmor, but Yeomiin Is now a, chicken rancher and only tries vaiide When the hens aren't laying. . ; Ulls and Clirk, man ami woman chatter team, with the girl uislnp .i Senator Murphy dialect, next to closing. Team did well, with medi- ocre material based mostly, on the girl's mispronunciation. Continental Four, three men and a girl adagio troupfe, closed with some, fair body catching. Universal hewtt clips and 'Believe It ov Not' rounded out the bill. ' Call.