Variety (June 1932)

Tuesday, June 7, 1932 VARIETY 39 ACADEMY Five acta, ail different, fit to- gether very, well |lv a show which runs an hour and three quarters, :tot listing the films, Including 'Mid- night Patrol' (Monogram), a Mickey ::aouse; a Torchy comedy and the S'ox Newsreiel, Opener Is Joe and Willie Hale, -*ith Willie liked for his. loose Joint- ed comedy.' Patter does not amount inuch. as comedy but serves to liecp. turn running along without gaps ' between trlclcs. which .-juiictuate the usual Juggling act *Hey do 10 mlnUteg, but pack a lot stuff within that limit, with -JViUIe doing the club pick-up oh the -ninnlng globe, which got him his irst New York review just across; Ae street at Pastor's something like •JO yeirs ago|. And he does. It as jmartly now.as he did In those days. Ac( mia,kes a good starter, ■jut could do as well further along. Cherry Blossom , and June (New Acts) shove the show along from there, opening witii a, dance In net pajamas' that .serves well enough :tor an opener, with June going .Into some fast acrobatic act that con- tains a number of real tricks. New act, abcordlng to the flies, but a new ::ormatlon of the BlossOm sisters. Smaller kid has. plenty of ginger and caught the rather apathetic crowd. She should keep powder ^uf( in the wings and clean off the dirt she picks up from the stage In !ier ground tumbling before she oomes back for the finale. .:01sen and Bingham also class as ft new act' In ' spite of old-routine stuff. They were a near riot In t)heir flnlish, but'^just missed out In Shis big house. Should do. better -Where they can reach over the foots, ^eed to learn the knack of making planned accidents. Boem impromptu. A llttle niore smoothness is hec'es- aary. to make the skirt-losing- cOn- ^vlndngly funny. Here it's only, a part Of the act.' That, goes double ::or the 'finish, In which the fake baclC 'drop li torn down. Too old to foe a surprise any more, and* not sufficiently w611 worked up here, to jet a laugh on its own. As. though ^elr own flock of stooges were not enough, they ring in Joe Hale for a straight bit that he carries aicely. - Charles King Is the headUner In next to the end. He did very well With this audience, but It's a hard erbwd to figure. He had almost to force the encore, because they, knew he.was coming back and figured . tiiere was no use applauding, and after severar spontaneous^ outbursts ■ at popular numbers In a medley they let him walk with half the hand they had. Just given the- cpm- lnenceme:^t of the final song. iCing was taking It too easily here, and did not seem to be fully trying at the show caught. But he got away nicely with -Tou're the One,' 'tov- able,' 'Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee,' and 'Singing in the Rain* before he reached the medley. -Finish is 'Lovely Ladies,' a mis- nomer, since the girl band looks as though It had been hired more for its musical ability than looks. . Twelve women, . who play nlcialy, decorously garbed in ankle length dresses. Girl leader quits the Job after the first selection and the band plays without direction save In .one number, when the first violin et^ps out. Meanwhile, the leader .does a drunk song that is merely a rather poor copy of other similar acts. She does much better when she comes back in skirts for the 'Close. Weaned from the.idea that she. is a; male Impersonator, she could'project herself hlceily with a -proper choice of songs in skirts. There is also a girl acrobatic dancer Who does very nicely, but who suf- fers from having to compete with earlier act, though she" shoots a couple of outstanding tricks. . The buinber lets down the show at the ; dose because It lacks speed and bovelty. More of a hurrah finish y^uld help both them and the show. Grand Opera House, N.Y. Despite sultry ■weather and the lack Of any cooling system,-the bar- gain four-hour bill pulled them in as usual Saturday matinee. Two features, an episode and four acts, scaled at 25c top, does tlie trick here each week-end. Featui-e on the Screen were Fox's 'Trial of VIvIenne ware* and 'Hell's Headquarters,' a Mayfalr picture. Also episode nine Of 'Shadow of the Eagle.' vaude ran to 48 minutes for four acta, three of which, according to Variety's flies, are New Acts. Spider Web Fantasy started off with ballet and adagio. Two colored boys, Ray and Rastus, followed with hot hoof- ing that scored. Trey and next to closing was fllled by the veteran Joe Young and Com- pany. The 'Company' Is a shapely lasa who foils ably for Young's type Of hoke.comedy and a good-looking youth spotted for two dance num- bers - and who is an adept stepper. Jtoung's gags are old and his hoke mannerisms have no novelty. At "mes he is reminiscent of Joe Marks' style and others, when do- the" rough comedy loVe scene with the girl, appears to be aping Al Trahan, Nevertheless the act Dowed off to a good hand here. Russian Imperial Cossacks closed with instrumentation and dances a •a Russe. PALACE, CHICAGO Chicago,. June 4. Kind of stuff that's been passing for vaude here would make any vet- eran vaude-goer squirm. From regulated bills, with box office names that meant the black side of the sheet for the Palace, it has be- come strictly, hlt-or-mlss. It seenis that every week Is now a take-a-chance. •week, with no as- surance what win happen. Chicago niay have disintegrated to some ex- tent, but it's still ahead of Sioux City and Ma.dIson. Here, for example, on this .week's layout is the third;CohsecutIve book- ing of a.midget act. It started with Singer's Midgets, followed by Pettet and Douglas last week and how Nord and Jeanne. Three times In a row can't be just an oversight. Only difference between last week's turn.and this week's is that one Was a man and the other a woman. Otherwise even the gags sounded alike,: ^ Fortunately for the presence of B€!nny Riibln, who with Jack Haliey holds up Whatever there is worth, holdltig bnr this show. . Rubin's re- partee-^ith Haley, conning ahead of the midget act, spelled aiH>Ies for the latter. The'raft of Joe Millers pulled by Al Nord and his diminu- tive partner laid there like a load of bricks, and what else could be ex- pected? . ■ ■. Those New' YOric bookers do things in a big way; Last week a new policy was announced, a big seven-act vaudeville showi come and- get your money's worth, and stlU it wasn't a bargain. This week it's back . to .five acts again, Just like that. That: the local theatre- goers may wonder what It's all abbut probably doesn't enter Into the RKO minds. Combination of Rubin and Haley supplied the muQh needed punch. Without them there's no telling wha:t it'would have looked like. Between the two of 'em running in and out all through the show, dropping blackouts, gags^and foolerle as they went along, the pace was set all the time and kept, the middle from fall- Ihg. through a deep hole. . . Xililan Shade, next iii the billing line tb Rubin and Haley, failed to create the inipresslon she Is sup- posed to have made around New York. Her choice of old numbers, clothed With: new arrangements, may be argued. It didn't seem that way here and neither did Miss Shade's vocal prowess booth into the aisles; Her delivery appeared about average, but the arrangements cov ered up a lot of things. .Rubin-Ha,ley combo wound up the curtain, with both comics getting in their share of laughs. Those that anticipated screen talk from Rubin were disappointed. Nary a word about It. Neither was any of his old standbys In except the ..dance, with which he Is Identlfled. Haley's cross-gagging. kept the act moving fast all the way. Oh the front end, the Dave Jones Peggy Le6 dance flash was attrac tively spotted and came through to appreciable Results. Ih the act Is a hot-footed Koofer-acrobat and a couple of neat-looking femmes. ' . Although the local censor board Is supposed to be> out, they're still pinking pictures in this town. Here it was 'Night World' (U). Business wasn't exactly rushing Saturday mid-day, but the flrst shov/ saw a pretty good main floor. Nobody dared risk a look in the balcony. * Span. spot, and reap accordingly. • Com- edy shortaice Is this bill's weakness, but it made It easy for this turn with some generally. . indifferent comedy which got over well because of the oddity of the costumes. Working without a third member, but apparently missing nothing.'. Dick and ; iEdlth Barstow in the closing position^ work with a falset- to tenor to give them brealthers, and get right down to business when they are on. First number. In which taps replace some of. the lines of the song, is clever and gets them off . to a good start. Second. Tiumber; a plantation dance, rather too sketchy; but they collect in t\Xll with a tofe tap at the finish, in which the man does hock, steps up and down a stairway already used for the tap stuff. Hardly Ideal for a closing number with, only two on the stage, but. over here. Film fare is 'Behind the Mask' (Cpl.), a Billy House two-reeler, and the Hearst MetrotOne, LOEWS ORPHEUM Three-hour show, of which ah hour and 41 minutes are given to a flve-act show and an overture, lat- ter being Jazzed up by the an- nouncement of tickets to those turning in the most nearly correct list of selections played. Occupants of the front rows are fooled by cov- ering titles with paper tape. From the number of pencils and pads out, this seems to be a popular feature. Blllle DeLorme and Co. open with a gymnastic act In which Mlsd De Lorme chiefly does suspensions with her . three men assistants hanging from traps held while she works in a cradle. A one-arm support of all three is the highlight of this sec?- tlon with the flnale a huge nickel- plated anchor which has supported the traps being revolved by two men working on the flukes while the Star clings to the other end. A. variant of the old revolving ladder or perch which is hurt by the fact that it Is almost immediately preceded by a somewhat similar single swing by one of the men. Donovan . Girls and Bishop con- su^ne about ten minutes, mostly with close harmony, broken with one comic song about Mahatrha Gandhi,-which creates no excite- ment. March style of songs, as '1 Love a Parade,' instead of the usual crpons, hurts in that it robs the work of some of the smoolhriess. All three have excellent voices, and the turn makes a good appearance. At the first, night .show caught the au- dience was not quite decided about a third encore. Two bows were un- mistakable. George Fawcctt (^s'cw Acts) got a reception on his entrance which showed that his picture work was favorably remembered. liather less demonstration at the close. Lester Allen and Peggy Hoovfr, offer the only laugh act in the fourth MILLION DOLLAR, L.A. . ; ■ Lois Angeles. June-2. At two bits top there's lots for the money In' the current show of two features—Migh Speed' (Col) and 'Passport tb Paradise' (Sono-Art)—. and Ave acts of vaude. Stage end Is above, the average for this house and Is a bargain at $600 delivered at the theatre. Acts have all played about everything in town, and while some of the material is new the faces are familiar. • Shaw, Bly and Ward, two dancing boys, and a g'irl, open. Boys tap out threiB routines, not sufficiently dif- ferent to give the act novelty. Miss Biy works between their numbers with one control routine and one acrobatic, Latter is her best A little originality In staging this act would take It out of the. strictly sniallie class. . Jini Sills, banjo player, deuced. He's a good musician, but his place Is in a band. Lee WHmot and Jack Russell (New Acts) have good per- sonalities, are fair dancers, but lack material for the better houses. The Rangers in next to closing were- show-stoppers with their choral act. Odtette has played everything around here and is worth a unit Jack Valaskin and Nora, Russian dancers, closed. Sufficiently classy to be In better company. Valaskin flnishes doing hocks with the- girl balanced on his shoulders for a good getaway. First performance Thursday eve nlng' had the lower floor fllled, sl\pwing that L. A. Is 1>argain daffy This house is four blocks from the center of the downtown district. Call. ORPHEUM, SEATTLE Seattle, June 1. Spilt week policy gets going at lo- cal drpheum (RKO), temporarily booked from Los Angeles. First bill headed by Daphile Pollard, Biz not so warm, although prices dipped to '1,000 seats at 36 cents anytime' and top of four bits. Folks going mostly for the downstairs seats at higher price rather than the. balcony at 35. 'Roadhouse Murder' (Radio) the feature. Miss Pollard, next to closing, spiels she likes to be back In vaude after flve years in pixes. Her odd fun-making, • warbles, and steps did nicely. The Frankenbergs, talented' kids, closed, but hardly strong enough for that spot. Three other acts, all standard, include Frank Evers and Greta, she with plenty of looks, and he a nifty wire-balancer. Cal Norris and 'girls' are several monkeys who get laughs. 'Three Jacks and a Queen' work girl-toss ing idea to strong results. Henry Francis Parks has medley of 'River Songs' for. organ returns Tiny Burnett with his band over- tures 'Trees,' making it snappy. Changes are Mondays and: Fridays, Trepp. Miimeapolis Finds First of New $2,700 Shows Quiedy Abusing ■Minneapolis, June 2. New RKO coast. shows, which iassenibie here and start their 12 weeks' route,, iapparently are de- signed to bring back vaudeville in its earlier , form, judging by the, current brpheum bill. Understood billS'-^wiU average $2,700 weekly with some 25% cuts along the way.' Variety is of the sort which marked, vaudeville in the days be- fore the revue afterpieces and sim- ilar notions took a sti-angle hold on this form of entertainment. There are acrobitics, rough and noisy comedy, dancing, singing and jug- gling of a very familiar pattern. Nameis and. pretentiousness are lackinig. However, the general calibre of the offerings is mod- erately high. While • the show's ultimate effect may-not be to en-^ gender excessive enthusiasm or big receipts, the average patron at least probably will leave the thea- tre well satlsfled with the enter- tainment; Good looks and . youth of the woman member of tlie team'of Lya and Wolf distinguish their trapeze act which lacks some of the more apectacuiar and flashy features l^esent In many other of these turns. One of the most difficult stunts flnds the girl hanging upside down on the trap'eze by one leg from a hook held In her partner's, teeth. The girl's-kicking exhibition while swinging in unusual; A satis- factory opening act. In the deuce spot, Bobby May gets away nicely, as usual, with his clever and skillful juggling and his running fire of comedy patter. Ah unbilled assistant helps with the comedy. an<^,also does a goOd dan(:e number. May's. upside down Jug- • glihg still the offering's high light. Performer's youth and . pleasing personality are assets; Don Santo and the blonde Exle, who follow, are the principal laugh dispensers. It Is the usual Sahtb noisy and rough knock-about com- edy which still evokes ah enthusi- astic reaponise from the audience. . Santo scores particularly with ah amuglng burlesque On a Chicago . hewspaperman repiprting a murder before he comnilts It, some eccen- tric -dancing and a Chevalier Imi- tation. £xle yodels as of yore; Headllners' are another familiar and popular couple, Bvans. and Mayer, next to closing. They have hot varied,the pattern of their act, but Evans has some new gags and tiiei ultra Miss Evans. Has new songsl Thaye Jones and Peggy's dancing reVue, closing thei show, furhlsh the> touch Ot flash; Two pretty and shapely glrlia and a male dancer assist the principals. The clog toe dancing of Peggy and the ballroom tap number from the 'Little Show* by her and the urbane and Immacu- late Mr. Jones are. the plece-de- resistances of a flrst-rate act. * 'Man Wanted* and Pathe Newfll on the screen. Business light wheii . this, show was caught.. Reea. a boiler factory than a vaude show, Denver permitted' Itself to be rolled ih the-aisles. Just a bunch of . nuts having a good time. Denver always understands that. Rose, ORPHEUM, DENVER . Denver, June 1. Orpheum seems Incomplete with- out an overture, but picture and vaude too long to permit Chappelle and Carlton opened. Holding the girl upright by her feet, he rolls over and over and finally up a flight of stairs. Denver was impressed. Kirugel and Regies followed; Den- ver considered theirs a stale line of. chatter and jokes—biit admitted they could sing nicely. One of them played drunk but came out of it for the songs—a pleasant relief. They returned for an encore al- though there was no demand. Den- ver never understands that. Don Ruiz and Bonita, assisted by a pianist and a couple of femme dancei-s, have the-best Rumba ever seen here; They ■ could wiggle in perfect unison. Okay, Cuba! Don as a bullfighter, and the girls as his assistants meet Bonita as the bull and the fight Is on. Clever number appreciated by the crowd. Pianist is also a good vocalist and entertains with a song. Frank Llbuse, the hcadllner, closes with an act that brlng.s down the chandelier, and despite,the fact that parts of It sounded more like ORPHEUM, L. A, Los Angeles, June 4. Heavy bally-ho. of fact that big time, vaude Is to be viewed In this house seems to be stimulating busi- ness in the second w«ek. Of course, audience is not. in its entirety the one that supported the two-a-day, it-probably is that 'group that are tired of thei formula picture house' type of presentation and tab.^ Present week trade, cahnot in ahy Way be attributed to "the screen fea ture 'Radio Patrol' (U) but to the campaigning that has been done on the standard of vaude to be sold. Show this week Is the Nan Hal- perln unit, with JaBfies Klrkwood, locally booked, added. The Kirk wood booking was hurriedly made and seems unfortunate for Kirk- wood as well as the classy unit he is tied in With. His turn, billed as 'American Impressions,' by Walter WeenfB, is out and out flag waving, totally misplaced. Screen announce- ment states that we should all be true Americans, especially the new citizens and that -Klrkwood will In character present the talks . of. Washington, Lincoln and Wilson oh Americanism. The Lincoln talk be- ing the GSettysburg speech. Idea would be great one for natu- ralization classes and in the evening high schools where the future citi- zenry are taught the English lan- guage and the constitution. But in the theatre, all wrong. Klrkwood is a sterling character actor, and from both past stage and screeh ivork he could have picked up enough mate- rial to provide fq^ a vaude offering. And Just what Weems did for the act cannot be conjectured, outside of assembling thie excerpts of the Speeches. On in the second spot, it was just top bad for Klrkwood. Show outside Of this turn , was superb, and greatly relished by thef audience. Nan Halperin in nextrto-shut spot wijth her new routine, 'Women,' stopped , the show with case. See- ing this transformation in Miss Halperin from the historic charac-' terizations to the present-diay type of hoke and dramatics is ^ne of the indications that fhere are Chough versatile troupers In vaude who can acclimate themselves to conditions, providing the bookers can keep the present pace of the , theatregoers and cater to their wants. Opening show were Glory Lee and the. Harri^Twlns, with fla.sh danc- ing and vocal novelty that is pleas- ing to the optics. On third was Vic Oliver, with a girl flndlng it a cinch to get over his wisecracks and xriu- slcal endeavor. .. . Closing were Cass, Mack and Owen, two men and woman, with a sure-fire knockout acrobatic turn that left the mob well satisfied with this portion of the entertainment 'Units of this calibre are going to help, providing mistakes are not made in hurried local name book- ings, and that the pictures presented have, some semblance of box-offlce value in their casts. Opening was I'athe news and overture by the .1)oubo orchestra, which sounded a bit too brassy. Uno. ORPHEUM, S. F. San Francisco, May H, switching vaude ' from Golden Gate! tp the Orph, RKO-figures, has a good chance of keieping the upper Market street house In tb^-, black, an accomplishment that bas been only occasional in pa^t fe^ years. With a break on picture product house ought to keep 'em comlhg nearly as: -well as tbey started this week. Biz now three times over average. Vaude unit augmented by two coast-booked turns—Freehand BrosL and Three Rolling Stones, support-. Ing the acts of Llta Grey: Chaplin, Devito *and Denny^ Harris and Brookins, and Rosette and Luttman. Freehands opened the frolic with perch, work., Rolling Stones gath- ered neither moss hor applause with tlielr forced comedy antics, but did much better when on the boof^ and should stick to that. . Third spot went to Rosette and Luttman, who scored particularly with German and Harlem dances, latter getting an exceptional buildup with the Wylid Sisters shouting In Callowaylsh style and R. and L. do>. Ing some swell work. Harris and Brookins followed; colored boys getting over handily with chatter and songs, and Paul Harris clinching, tbe turn with fast stepping. Lita Grey -Chaplin, greatly Im- proved over her last appearance here sevieral years ago, was pleas- ing in next to shut witH a cycle of songs nicely done. Bpt a salccharlne curtain speech needs abandoning; Chaser on her act was 'This Is the Missus,' and, whether accidental or intentional, certainly filled the bill. DeVlto eind Denny, aided by Dot Stevens, closed with a roughhouse nut comedy turn that nearly wrecked the stage and pit but drew ,the laughs. So, what price, wreckage? Don George. preceded the vaude, accompanying the customers at the organ in a community songfest that was well received. Claude Sweeten was In the trench with 11 men do- ing as an overture a medley of pop tuhes that featured Sweeten and bis fiddle, Geoirge at the organ. In 'AuC Wledereehn.' Picture watt . 'Radio Patrol' (U>, Business excellent. BocJc, Pres. Campaigns (Continued from page l) , . in charge of remote control, Henry Grossman, head of the engineering department and Paul White, of the publicity department NBC Reporters NBC staff will include William Hard, political commentator, Georgo McElrath, head of the engineering department and Graham McNamee. John.Elwopd, NEC v-p, will be In charge of NBC's convention broad- cast activities. NKC will : install a parabolic mike, able to pick up sounds from ahy spot in the convention halls, which will also be available to CBS. Republican convention opens the fireworks on the . air on June 14. The Democrats po on the ether be- ginning June 28.