Variety (June 1932)

Tuesdayv June 14, 1932 FILM HOUSE REVIEWS VARIETf nn / FOX« BROOKLYN (Oontlnued from page 32) MOd on aadlence good nature. Tparlslan train terminal scene opens -wWn, a boy warbling: and the J4>llne girls out for the usual song •ad dapce, tepid, @cene acts as an /introduction, for Miss Montenegro for a speciat nUinber about 'Con- chlta Is polng to Paris' or . some- '<hlng along such order. ' Bied Donahue and Und, vet com- act: with an tinsuaily clever jackass, followed and handed out oulte a number 6t laughs, . Two men, one - in. blackface, who is .Bed {Donahue, attempt to make the don- key obey their cominands, but the ■ss Insists, lipon playing . stubborn. .He v kicks, bitesr. butts, etc., and never misses his cue; . ' ■ Miss Montenegro's castanet dance followed, trammed in front of the. line of 14 girls, nicely costumed in shim- mering affairs. She follows with a nantomimlo bit which she suppos- edly did In -Never the Twain Shall Meet,' according to her announce-: meiit. Number didn't call for any lilstrtbnic ability, but just gave her a' chance to do some tall hip w^v- ; jng, and she proved quite aii expert coocheuse.. ' A smart Juggler-monologlst, Ed- Win Qeorge, soloed for about seven . or eight minuties: with an amusing line of patter which included some liumorous political cpmmentis. Audi- ence okayed him big. Closing scene, a water tank num- her featuring Lottie Mayer, Jr., and diving girls, closed the unit solidly. Number is elaborateliy staged. ■ A brief toe dance by Agneia Knox ^precedes the tank number. Girls then walk into the tank with crino- .line dresses and reappear with short clinging dresses. Two addi- .tlohal changes are made in similar 'manner- until the girls are down to brassieres and trunks. Finale has Miss Mayer dragged from the tank by a. rope until about 16 feet In the air, when she lets go and executes A beautiful dive into the tank. Snappy overture by Freddy Mack preceded. Ruth King, announced as Radio's latest sensation,' was intro- duced during the., overture for a song. Fox's 'Society Girl' featured. Bouse capacity,. with standees rows ^eep during the first vaiide show. PARAMOUNT, L A. Xios Angeles, June 9. SufBcient value In the current stage and screen entertainment to class it as a bargain. Ben Blue is back again as m.c., repeating sev- eral of the gags he used a fortnight ago. Despite the familiar material he scores big, and probably Will be brought aigaln In two weeks. Georgle StoU's pit band resumes Its class overtures this week with a medley, of RimskyrKorsakoff numberis, IJffort was well received, with StoU sololiig one number oh the. violin. Presentation Is minus talent, but It's not missed . through Blue's clowning; Laughs have been few on this stage, for some time. . Alphonse. Berg trots his model draping act out as the only novelty on the bill. Blue follows him with a draping bit, winding up by having the model undressed and the drapes on himself. Marie La Flohlc, control acro- batic dancer, scored in a short rou- tine. Louiise Glen solos a toe dance In front of the line girls, also doing . ballet. Inez King, blues singer, war- bles one number In a hot lowdown voice. Bliic and his four stooges in Co- lonial costume stopped the show doing a minuet with four of the line girls. Whole show Is biiUt for laughs and gets the desired results. Ed Smith, division manager, stepped in and did the staging, and gets credit for finale, a skating number with the line girls working behind a scrimi while Blue does his skat- ing dance in one. . 'Sinners in the Sun* (Par) with a draw title gave the house Its best attendance In some months on opening day (Thursday). Par sound news and screen song corn- Dieted the bill. Call. WARFIELD, FRISCO San Francisco, June 4; Second week of Rube Wolf's re turn as m. c, and business quite a few dollars ahead because of Rube, - vjho is now on ifamlHar ground. This was ia Saturday midnight show, and that's a signal for rough-house in this burg, . Locally-produced stage show had ftothing hot in the way of talent, yet landed nicely as a unit, the Rube's clowning and band numbers setting him in With his' fans. Wolf and band contributed a hotr number to open the show; later there was an- other number . with Paul McNally, holding over, drawing the spot to . TOant a pop tune in nice voice. ^■Chavez Sisters did an acceptable "Spanish cape dance, but those cos- lumes needed scrubbing.. Barbarina and Pal, acrobatic gal with a dog, did fairly well with a few mild wicka. Clifton and Brent got over moeiy with their hoofing, but when n eame to the gkgs turned out to be •ne of those 'Literary Digest' acts-^ Clippings from, all vaudeville. Rose yalyda singing a. straight STANLEY, PITT Pittsburgh, JuniB 10. Elxastly 125 minutes of stage show here with the second annual 'Pitts- burgh on Parade,' and at that only half of the local talent available is being used, There's so much of it that Stanley has divided the young- sters into A and B units, with each working two 'shows a day. It's a flashy wind-up for pres- entations, house going to straight pictures next week, but -would be twice as effective under a shorter ruhning time. Customers were get- ting pretty restless near the close, but how. to cut down represents something of a problem. Even at the opening, there were but two soft spots at the most, everything, else pretty sure-fire. . j This burg certainly has 'aT Classy lot of youngsters, ranging from In- fants barely able to toddle ol^ the stage UP to those of Ingenue and juvenile age. Most of the tots are concentrated in the first part of the show, a la minstrel fashion, with Dick Powell, m'. c, doing their' in troductioiis. This section runs aboiit three-quarters of an hour, opening With a/ male cKcfir singing 'Men of Steel* against an .effective steel city background. and winding up with a 'Pititsburgh on Parade! number set to. descriptive lyrics. In between^ tots of all sizes 'and de- scriptiojis disport themselves in songs and dances, some of them stopping the show. . Latter half of the show has Powell, Joe Pinner, Wells, Mordecai and Taylor, and Sylvia Froos, with some of the more talented, tots worked In for spots between the 'pros.' Pen- ner, always a favorite around here, has a couple Of blackouts with Powell, does his old violin bit and that 'Then Came- the War,' a hoke song identified With-this comic, all for swell returns. Benner can't miss in Pittsburgh. - Miss Froos (New Acts) - had smo;Oth . sailing with her radio rep and - her smooth delivery. She Worked in back of a mike through- out and registered solidly-in all of her three numbers. Wells, Mordecai and Taylor, hoofing trio, did almost the impossible by tying up the pro- ceedings with their hot stepping after the show had .be^n going close to two hours. A let-down was ho-, ticeable prior to their entrance, but they sped thinga right back into high-gear again. Although it's Powell's last week in Pittsburgh after three years, he wisely refrained from making an issue of It, merely singing one cho- rus of the first song he ever did in this city, 'I'll Get By as Long as T Have You,' and letting it go at that. The hand he got left no doiibt about the way he has sold himself to the customers around here.- Finale has Powell introducing local doubles of movie stars, picked by dramatic edi- tors in a city-wide contest, with those riepresentlng Laurel and Hardy and Norma Shearer coming oft first best. It's a pretty pretentious venture for such short preparation, this 'Pittsburgh on Parade,' and there's a fiock of credits due Marjorle'Alton and Jerry Mayhall, co-producers, and Ruth Miller, who trained the choruses. Miss Alton also wrote the special lyrics, and good ones, too. Picture 'Young America' (Fox), and they were standing kriee-deep in the aisles at the opening show. • Cohen, . MICHIGAN Detroit, June 11. Task to build a stage show ifor Dorothy MackalU, must have been a tough one, with the results look- ing pretty bad. Miss MackalU tries to overcome the faults of most screen personalities when appearr ing In public by trying to do some- thing. Idea is alright, but she does what she does in a very wishy- -washy manner, assisted by three gentlemen, who also appear uncer- tain. Nearest thing to entertain- ment on this bill is Sammy Lewis and PattI Moore. Show opens with a girl dancing an Oriental number in behind a scrim designed to appear like a for- tune teller's crystal. Plash pan ex- plosion and the crystal opens to bring on the Evans girls in a trick scarlet and silver outfit of con- trasts. Number done several weeks ago at the Fisher, where it got a nice hand. On second the Bedwins for some tumbling and clowning. Only no- ticeable feature was one of the lifts used here three weeks aigo" by the Carr Bros. Act seems European and not seen here before, Sammy Lewis and Pattl Moore on next for the first part of their act. Getting startled from the first gong, thejijvorked on the audience and scored with their clowning, dancing'and mugging. Act Is dif- ferent than seen here about t\yo years ago. As good or better, than the old- act. Pace would get it song in double voice and then clbwh dancing with Rube was the ten^ strike of the entire frolic. Louis Flint, at the organ for a community sing, got good results. On only for the Saturday midnight show, this feature always gets re- sults. 'Woman in; Room 13' (Fox) the picture. Medbury 'Travelafts' and Hearst newsreel completed. Bock. across even U It were. mediocre, Which It Isn't. Can play anywhere, with the gal mugging for the kid- dies that don't understand the talk. Evans Girls . contribute modern- istic hot dance on the style of 'Body and Soul' from 'Three's a Crowd.' Specially lighted and working on a special glittering ramp effect, the results were very effective, the music being the biggest part of its efCectivenesB. Music a medley of hot tunes specially arranged by Gene Lucas and the arrangement a work of art.' In this number the girls dance, gradually getting more and niore overcome by the music Until they fall completely overcome by the heat of the music. Lee. IMPERIAL, TORONTO Toronto, June 10. Line girls in current . Imperial prez share honors this . week: with Zeida Santley. Latter is on the marquee but, despite a fairly re-, cent appearance here, has not yet built up a follbwing that will burn out the casb register bearings. Her imitations continue to show imr. provement and her Zazu Pitts' bit was a; standout. Other takeofEs are Garbo, Chevalier, Durante and Helen Morgan. Works before the plush with a pianist. Act. registered nicely. Miss Santley acts as m.c.. for opener and brings on line for a Merry Widow bit. Girls are iii long, blaclc velvet gowns, close-fitting black hats with half-yells, and carry walking-sticks. Eyerfllling lineup then into a high-kick routine a;nd stick drills, climaxing with phos^ phorescent snake-effects on dark- ened stage. Nice, effect. Lament Brothers, acrobatic, with one of the pair stepping out for a stew bit that wa^s exceptionally well done, got over nicely. Conrad's Pigeons trail with chatter of Con- rad . pleasantly helping ' the birds over the' tougher spots. Charming little act that pleased young and old alike, though there was some apprehension when over a score of the pidges flew down' from the top balcony to the stage. Full stage garden set for one of those musicomedy weddings. Ballet in afternoon gowns and droopy hats ,gain are eye-filling. Another high- kick routine In slow tempo and Merna Fortune out for a contortion- ist number as Madeline Schniid warbles. Then, the cOmedy rector, the march up the long filght of stairs with the bride's rhlnestone- studded train sending twinkles all over the down-frenters, and a rous- ing finale notable few nice costum- ing and colorful setting, plus more pigeons froni the balcony. Overture, organ bit, and. filler bol- ster 'Tenderfoot' (FN). McStay. FOX, SEATTLE SeattieT^June 7. It's good! Opening stage band presentation. Long-dark house. Not big. But carries class. Pep, speed and bounce. Fox is the town's miost homey big house. Location is somewhat of a hideaway, but at that, better spotted than the Paramount the- atre, darkened as the Fox lighted. Seating Is comfy. Stage Is roomy. So with the kind of fare offered opening week of the new policy, it should click, due consideration be- ing given the general condition of these times. .Tack "Crawford, rotund, jolly and bald atop, with a fringe of hair nevertheless, is the.. band master and m. of c., Bob "West is at the organ and succeeded In putting his personality right out into the house, as he coaxed the audience to take part in his show. He \vas snappy in inviting 'em to sing, and while the gang was not sold for a time, warmth came gi-adually and soon, they did okay, as'Bob admitted. Lots of pep.. This boy will wear. Crawford introduces himself as 'America's overstufted* band leader. He clowned a lot in the first num- ber as a cut-up boy. Paul Tut- hiarc, knoWn in days gone as fav band soloist, is in this spot with the 'Fbx Joy Boys.' Returns showed both of them liked. Craw- ford, isteps, sings 'Old Man River/ and batons effectively. Bob and Eula'BurrOff—he big and strong; she cute and sweet, and both dancers, belong. Their second appearance Is a tango that sweeps the gal off her feet and the spec- tators, too. Solly Sweet could get by even If she. couldn't, sing, but she can sing., and so she's 'in' double. The lass indulges some banter with (^Iraw- ford. Cute number is singing at a couple of young blades in the front row. Miss Sweet walking off stage right iip to the bashful boys. She docs this in an authoritative man- ner. Crowd igets a great boot out of- It when she inveigled one of the youths to-sit alongside her on the orchestra rail, climaxing with a * couple of kisses on the cheek that left rouge marks to the glee of the audience. Her mannerisms add to the cuteness and she sings alongside Crawford in a most en- ticing way. Sally will dO here for several weeks. On the screen "Letty Lyriton' (M-O); . Paramount news sjiots. featuring Jimmy Walker, and 'Scandals' at B&K Chicago with ■ • • Y Score Out but a Wow Anyhow Chicago, June IQ. Show on the Chicago stage this week, with Rudy Vallee, Howai-d Bros., Ray Bolger and Joan Abbott, all from George ."Vyhite's 'Scandils,' may be properly termed a pulmotor. If this elaborate- flash, embodying everything a lilcttire house could want in entertainment and b.b. drag, fails to\get a bang-up week then the situation is really deplor'^ able. _ ■ Anyway, from the start of busi- ness bpeiiini: day (Friday) It looked like the McCoy. : With the . show running 35 minutes late It opened to a packed hpuse up and down and plenty of standees on the outside.. Of all the stage presentations B&K has playied in recent years, this one cops the prize. Nothing haphazard about this production. To make sure it would be done right Publix siant oh Boris Petroff, its ace pro- ducer, to do the job and he turned a real, one. By the time the show brushes up here and gets in six days In Detroit it will be ready, for the Paramount, New York, In ship- shape order. From.the local end the splash of publicity and exploitation put on by B&K was one of the best. Pub- lic probably learned fpr the first time about the stars froni 'Scan- dals,' since the White show was practically hidden away at the Civic opera house out of the Loop. • It was also a toUgh- task for Petroff to. get Under wky, with the pro- ducer forced to change the entire show around at the last minute when . word arrived that GeOrge W;hite refused permission fcr^ the song numbers from 'Scanftafc.* Best that could be done imr to insert the h^t tunes from the show into the overture and let it go at thiat. Since some of the numbers sung by Joan Abbott were her own in 'Scandals' that stayed in here, too. - It really didn't matter what numbers were or were not used. With Willie Howard breaking the audience into convulsions and Bol- ger wowing again with his spark- ling hoofing and Vallee topping the finale nothing else seemed of any importance. Meat of what was in '.Scandals' is all here, even to the lineup of 16 Abbott girls in specially pro- duced numbers. With effective lighting, hew costumes ind sets the show looked as good here as it did at $3 top; And that's saying enough. Petroff's conception of the production was a showmanly one all the way and with novel twists. Instead of the usual chorus parade in the opening it started right off with blackouts,, showing, the princi- pals, in their dressing rooms, syp.- posedly rushing to go on but ac- tually stalling; That started it off with a big laugh, with Bolger trail- ing the ensuing, ensemble fornia- tion by the girls with his first step-, cen.tric routine, the tango bur- lesque. Joan Abbott came next with twb numbers that clicked heavily. Miss Abbott, still ia youngster, is the most promising performer to be turned out in many d season. She originally stepped into Ethel Merman's spot in 'Scan., dais' and readily adapted herself, even acquiring.'a lot of Miss Mer- - man's style and delivery. Properly handled, this girl should go far. Nothing can be added about the Howards that hasn't already been said. Willie Howard, today, is as topnotch a comedian as can be found; anywhere,; While"Eugene is ri^ht there as the old standby and probably indispensable to . bis brother through their years of wdrklng together. First appear- ance in a picture hpiise here for. the brothers In several years, but their reception indicated the local memory.- After a couple of pre- liminary skits the Howards put on the $2 blackout and stbpiied every- thing with that one. Bolger again came out, this time with hia soft shoe comedy routine, and kept up the bowling. This lad Is the orig- inal dancing fool and no foolin'. Rudy Vallee, , efetting top billing, maintained his pCpularity -iivith the strongest reception. They started to applaud at the start of his theme music. His first number is alone, without the band, in front of the mike in the. -Fleischmahn broadcast scene, also from 'Scandals.' Willie Howard's gagging here put Vallee over solid, an advantage he fol- lowisd up whien closing "the show with his band in back of him and the imitation of Chevalier, a cork- ing, inapression. Finale was a real flash, with the girls out In the audience and effective lights play- ing up the entire scene for a standout. Running time of the show was over an hour and 10-minutes, some>' what too. long, biit probably cor- rected later.. A good 10 minutes could be chopped here and never missed. What rough edges the first performance showed weren't Im-- portant enough to make any differ- ence. Overture, handled by Charles Previn, new house conductor, sailed over impressively with the 'Scan- dals' tunes bunched into good ar- rangements and interpretation. Previn cast; aside his over eccen- tric . batonnliig of .the previous wefek and with much better results. In a house like the Chi9ago a gag conductor is really a gag. They're used to high class music here done in a class way. Newsreels and trailers surround- ed the feature, 'Merrily We Go' to Hell' (Par).' Span. 'Screen Memories,' featuring Alas- ka mining scenes of 1898. Band consists of 16 men, all lo- cals. Jack deserves icredjt for real work in getting the organization to such high musical status so quickly. Trcpp, Golden Gate, Frisco San Francisco, June 10. Newly-inaugurated presentation policy apparently catching on, ex- cellent stage work of Teddy Joyce as m.c. helping a lot. Ben Black draws credit as producer. Talent array for this 60-minute frolic highly satisfactory, Bobbe Arnst getting the top announce- ment—not as a former musicomedy player, but as 'the wife of Johnny "Tarzan" Welssmuller.' Spotted near end of the show. Miss Arnst started slowly with two songs not peddled as strongly as they should have been, but built up to a good closing with a fast tune, in which she did a bit ot stepping... Show had a production finale that meant plenty, as staged by Black. Had Fred Scott, encoring 'Why Darkles Are Born' with a mixed colored chorus in costume on an elevated background supporting him, and line of girls coming up out of the pit for fast hoofing. Whole was a neat flash, colorful and ex- cellently done. Joyce put the .stage band through a nut number, contributed a skat- ing dance and did a fiddle solo, ex- hibiting a ver.satility and willing- ness to -work that caught the cus-; tomer."}' fancy and encouraged them to plenty of applau.se. Hooper and Gatchett,. still doing the soldier turn with many of the perennial gags, got over solidly. Joe Bell, stepping out of the band, ten- ored 'Auf Weider.-seh'n' and was forced to encore. Nee Wong pleased with pop tunes and uke accompani-: ment, but encored unncce.ssarlly, June Worth put oyer a punchy aero dance. Darby and Ruddell im- pressed with a neat.acrobatic turn, nicely costumed and well .sold. Not a - dead spot on the whole show, Hollywood (Continued from page 6). sold to pay $22,232 on notes issued by the previous owner. Harrls color lot in Hollywood also foreclosed to meet a $4J5,578 judgment on a note given the late Max Handschiegl, process Inventor. Edwards' Piaster Salary of Cliff Edwards; when playing the Paramount, New York, was attached by Guggenheim, Un- termeyer & Marshall on judgment of $3,000 obtained by Roger. Mar- chettl, attorney for, fiawatds in property settlement with his wife, Irene. James Cagney started for the east by motor last weeki Serkowich West Ben. Serkowich arrives here .-.this week from New York as division ekr . ploiter fbr RKO under Cliff Work. Will covet territory between Los Angeles, Spokane and Salt Lake City. 'Lancer' Galheris Oust Paramount , shelved 'Lives of a Bengal Lancer' until later in the year. .Studio sent company to Khy- ber Pass, India, last year to photo- graph backgrounds. Erie Kenton, who was to direct the studio Stuff, assigned to meg 'Riddle Me This.' ■ M-G-M plan.s to star Robert Morit- pomcry In a motorboat racing story. Byron Morgan working out an origi- nal story. . which wan oiit.standing because of lack >of usuiirhoo/ing. Ann. Harding in 'Westward Pas* sage' (Radio) on .screen. A serial, 'La.st of Mohlcan.s' added at mat- inees for kids out of school, on summer vacation, drawing extra dollars. J'athe news and. Aesop's Fables (.rounded out a lengthy show.: Dock.