Variety (Aug 1932)

Tftesaay, Anguet 9, 1932 TAUDE HOHIE REYHWS VARIETY 29 LONDON PAVILION 1 ' London, Aug. 1. '■ The liondoh: Pavilion, which Is irylne: hard to - get International novelties, seems to concentrate on dancing turns. A contingent of dancing acts, even If not wholly similar, inust eventually become tedious. This actually happens current week. Out of 13 acts, seven, rely mainly on dancing. To create fur- ther monotony, six of 'these special- ize In Russian steps, and are crowded In 'the second half of the bill, which is the cabaret section; Running order of the firsthalf opens with Sherman Fisher's 16 Pavilion Girls, with .some of the originals from the Palladium Fisher Girls. Four Bennos, standard springboard acrobats, next with the usual white pan comedy man. Leon !Rogee still does-hlfl 'Human Orchestra', No. 3i but has added lots fit new material. Kafka, Stanley and Mae, with Paul Kafka In hos- pital nursing a cyst, replaced by a youngster formerly with a Conti- nental trapeze act; the Pour Lyons, follow. This boy does a bouple of tricks, one an unsupported head, swing on the trapeze, which is a sure show stopper. He will be kept Jn act when Kafka returnis. .. Myron-Pearl Foursome, formerly a trio, get the first sock at them with their Russian steps, and then Bobby ^Uke' Henshaw follows with his funny antics, duplicating his iVIctdria Palace success. Henshaw Is in for a fortnight, and will not outstay" his welcome. Harding Sis- ter* with him render good support and also dance. Closing the first half are Wright and Marlon. Bobby Wright is funny, but is not particu- lar about niaterlal. Bits noticed are from Conrad artd Eddy, York and King, and Shaw and Lee, and that's nbt all. ' Then came the isecond half, which became a procession of dancing acts. First the 16 Pavilion Angels, then Mary Lee, followed by the Three Sailors in second week, with some Russian stdps. Then Buddy Brad- ley's Four Buds, a quartet of Eng- lish girls trying to establish a sort of Four Queens act over here. Bankoff and Cannon alsio danced, with BankofC indulging In some more Russian footwork, Every act Was good dancing ma- terial, with nlost of them in the flhbw-Btopping class, but not when they follow: each other in succes- sion. Only relief 1q second half from dance endurance test was Jack North (holdover). They liked him. ' Jolo. j ORPHEUM, N Y. Regulation vaude layout of Ave acts along with . 'Unashamed (Metro) oh the screen. iPlcture win have to do the drawing since tostrum has nothing designed as, box office lure. Vaude show has variety, fair enough balance and inodest entertainment value but won't be talked about. Its most Important acts are Frank Ellis (New Acts), for many years, doing an act with Marie Walsh, and the next to finish team of Al Stone and . Ann Lee. . Neither of these attractiono fall to, please, nor do they deliver over ianything but a .mild sock. Stone and Lee do a typical man and woman turn of talk, relieved by some instrumental work and danc- ing. The vocal work Isn't much more Important as entertainment than the hoofing, but most of the croissflre sells satisfactorily. Stone and Miss Lee changing oft on the feeding. ' . - If weighed entirely on merit and showmanship, perhaps Frank Ellis fshould have the edge and would have beeii in the best spot on the show had there not been a fullstage act for the close. Ellis uses a por- tion of the stage for the interior of tM house drop With practical door and window which he carries. Ellis cwTles two people with him, Arthur Shields and Florence Brower. Joseph Pope Jbnes, baritone, .was allotted No. 2, where he started slowly with 'Mandalay' but gathered nice momentum on 'Without a Song' and 'Chloe.' For the latter, a rather old tune by now, he goes into character, displaying good ' voice technique and delivery. That seemed to be. a little wanting oh the open- ing number. The Marcellus Dancers, novelty song and dance flash, brought up the rear without stirring much ex- citement. Act has a weak opening and a closing stanza that leaves much room for improvement through tightening. The male elriger carried Improves as he goes along, toward the end greatly overshadowing in Impresslveness his first number, an American Indian composition. That takes the other seven people In the act, dancers all, into a pseudo- adagio routine. They later switch to Arable with the man driving the six girl dancerS: through various Arab dances, none of which are par- ticularly distinctive. It Is the surplus of this that has the effect of slowing up the act toward the finish. The man's nov- elty adagio work, catching the girls to build up unique comblha- tions and the twirl with one girl's legs around his neck, the other held In the hands, is what sets oH the finale. , The act seemed to be liked by the sparse audience up here but with certaih changes could depend on an even finer stamp of approval any- where. The Zeldia, Bros., acrobats In whose routine contortion work chiefly figures, opened show. A whiskbroom bit draws a laiigh and a plunge to the, stage from about 12 feet up, catchlhg a: handkerchief in the ihouth on the somersault, closes the. turn for an Impression, Milt Franklyn, lording it over the pit, does a modern Interpretation this half -of 'Orpheus,' dblhg sax, clarinet, and violin solo bits; .Otoor. PROSPECT, BKLYN. Murray, Lane and His Rascals Is a piratical copy of Borrah Mlnne- vich. If the bookers follow the Judgment of the preponderously kid audience that flies In here, the act should net nelghb placements. Other acts that showed first half in this KAO break-in spot include Downey and Lee Sisters, cyclists; Whitey Roberts, clog Juggler; Jones and Rea, and O'Hanlon and Zambunl, flash. Not enough in the audience when caught to figure any net cur-r rently. but maybe house has been averaging a slight profit. Sometimes an act 's paid, not much, and sometimes it lsn\. Kato Smith and her retinue preparing ior her Palace date worked out free here, and the house ran Into a net of over $1,000 that week. only Kate Smiths and topnotch- ers can hope for anythln.; resulting from this Prospect showings. The maximum a topnotcher. caii get is five months' work. Minor acts or medium pullers have a guess com- ing as to whiat's in the offing after the. Prospect. Little use In judging acts here, not only because of the kids, who nail everything for huzzahs regard less, but when bookers permit such a,n outright copy as Lane and his harmonica kids for a presumptive KAO spotting, it's useless to figure. Lane has to go down as a new act, Maybe Whitie Roberts, also. Al- though his nahne Is familiar. He opens badly and talks altogether too much. Downey Is known also, but. the Lee Sisters with him may be new. Downey is still most of the act and still resembles Joe Jackson. N.oth ing new In the O'Hanlon and Zam- bunl act except that when ZanxbunI (If that's him) kicks the gal In the hips It may excite disgust In better audiences. Otherwise It's a rolling dance act with no changes observed since first caught some years back. Jones and Rea copped laughs for the hair lipping of one of .the'duo. ,It doesn't really matter how long the vaud funsi ' Everybody gets and takes bows here. Accompanying feature Is 'Lady and Gejit'; (Far), Newsreels and trailers .round out almost a three-hour eihovr. BJuin. DOWNTOWN, L. A. Los' Angeles, Aug. 4. Poor booking l^nds the tilx acts on the current bill behind the eight ball. Two acts feature old, men characters. Added to. that, the plcr tui-e is 'Strangers In Town' (WB), with Chic Sale, doing his usual a. k. to add to the variety. Second and fourth.acts are both semi-acrobatic Just the kind, of a bill that, makes straight pictures popular. The Bourbons, boy and girl hoof ing team, open. Youngsters look fresh, display a fast brand buck hopping, getting the bill away to a fast start. Rikoma and Co., con- tortionist In the deuce spot. Man works in .an old soldier makeup, assisted by a woman, .who wheels him in a wheel chair, similar to the old Palmer and Gilbert act Chair is used as the platform for his leg- bending work. Oke in the spot; Jack Val, harmonica player, next, doing three numbers on the reeds. No rave, but pleased. Buster and Brown follow. Boys are above the average in aero dancing, but devote too much time to pratt falls. Walacca Brothers, steel guitar players, made up as East Indians, tied the show in a knot with hot music, Team was thrown together by some agent, for one of the boys is recognized as Tony Lopez, stand- ard act of several years ago with his sheik band. As is, the combo pleases only through Lopez's ability. Other lads looks too much like a stooge to impress. Rich and Adair In the next-tor closing position. Phil Rich Is still doing the! old-man character, which retains ,a^ sock, but muffed here due to the repetition of white wigs both on.the stage and screen. Lcs GUcks closed with their time-worn elec- trical mannequin flash. Added to the regular perform- ance. Warner' studio previewed 'Big City Blues' Thursday evening, which, with Universal's news clips, gave three and one-half hours of entertainment for four bits. Preview ballyhoo had a hol'^out at eight Catl. , STATE-LAKE, CHI Chicago, Aug. 6. Fourth week of the lots of show for Jtttle money' policy and the State-Lake breezing along at a promising clip; Promising as soon as the summer and the heat are over. Grosses have been pegged between $16,000-118,000, whloh is very nice. Only ^he more outstand- ing attractions like 'Dracula,' 'Frankenstein' and 'Cimarron' out- vaulted • fJiase figures under the straight flim regime. Exploitation has wisely focused upon the cheap admission scale. That has been the selling jpblnt since neither the individual acts on the stage nor the features upoh the Hcreen mean much. Currently the Palace has Nick Lucas and Floyd Gibbons with 'Tom Brown of Cul- ver* at 85c. top against the StateV Lake's seven acts and 'By Whose Hand'. (Col) at 66c. top. Most show- shoppers would fancy the State- Lake with Floyd Gibbons, but scarcely arousing any overwhelming curiosity in this burg. SaturdaJ^ matinee at the State- Tjake was marred by a terrible stage wait timed at 6^ minutes. This occurred between the Llbonatl Trio working in a deep 'two' and Owen McGlveney requiring full stage ahd plenty of mechanical gimlcks. Art Fraslck In the pit toiled, perspired, and changed numbers several tlmies in covering up. Show was rather awkward in lay- out all the way.. Starting with a troupe of dogs in one-and-a-half, there was a knockdown and drag- oyt hokum session deuclng and using several sets of lines. Libon-: atls'tobk their bow in front of the olio but it didn't help much. McGiy- ehey with a speech before the olio followed by two minutes of explan- atory trailer on the .screen was fourth, followed by William and Joe Mandel with another slow start and going frbm'olio to half-stage. Thfese' purely mechanical consider- ations give the bill, as such, a nega- tive ballot on the booking question. That is, after all, a responsibility resting.with the booker, and nobody else, although house manager Coney Holmes will probably have the run- ning order fixed to eliminate the stage waits. Hector iand his Pals eschews the usual canine cleverlsms and turns his act Into undisguised comedy. And since he gets the laughs he suc- ceeds doi|bly in classifying under two headings, which makes for de- pendable vaudovllle. DeVlto and Denny made the RKO swing last year heading a unit. Now they are repeating solo. This slap stick carnival proves again that the 'eyes' have it. The eye is the com- mon denominator and the direct path to the giggle patch In the brain. Everything Is by sight, al though some conversation is kept going. In con.sequence, the school superintendent' and his janitor can sit side by side and both Pop sus- pen I )r buttons. It's. ■ a lesson In successful lunacy. Saturday mat Inee the lines fouled < and the prop cow was left dangling- In the files Just out of sight' of the audience. It marred the boys' finish. Libbnati Trio has lately concluded a term of empldyment with Fsiiichoh & Marco. Act'has spieed and pep Which gets them over, especially their whirlwind dancing finish. ■ McGlveney, having forsaken Dick-; ens and Bill Sykcs, Is really doing the same act^ but modernized as the mystery of Lord Hplllngsworth and the red emeralds. McGlveney is one of the very few protean artists still left. Or, at least, one of the few still working.' His act has been standard for years and continues to represent the variation andVdiver- slfication that Vaudeville should pro-r vide but, all too often, in these days of short song and dance specialties, does not. Again the Mandels burlesque the McGlveney melodrama for a com- edy afterpiece that convulsed the State-Lakers. Between the Mandels own turn and the afterpiece was Gene, Sheldon and Sherry Frayne. Sheldon, well known in Chicago, la an Inarticulate comic of fidgety technique. Act did very well. Land. Equity Thought Revue, but Brown s 'Scrap BdikV^^ ORPHEUM, DENVER Denver, Aug. 3. A fur fashion review, that, in- stead of freezing up the men, acr tually had , them warmed up, was put on by the Dl Gaetano, dancing school for a local fur store. Review started in usual fashion with eight coats being modeled across stage- but when they opened the coats to show the lining, that's when the men In the audience came to life— they never saw the linings, only. the. scantily clad figures, and the men never took their eyes off the stage, especially .when these eight were on. They did two or three routines without the coats, and a number of girls ilso did toe and novelty numbers while modeling. * DeWolfe, Metcalf and Ford, mother, father and twenty-year-old baby'—with latter squeezed in baby carriage, father and mother in striped pants and skirts of same materials but with stripes running (Continued on page 46) Despite its aspects of Brya.ht'Hall transplanted, into the legit Am- bassador theatre, C h a m b e rlain Brown's hodge-podge of specialties under, the 'Scrap Book' .billing, is good entertainment for $1.10 top. That it may shortly develop into an audition proposition li3 not unfor- seen in view of Brown's principal business of agentlng for show .tal- ent. But they . have refrained from overdoing this, at least at the be- ginning, and the melanisre of acts evidence their public favor by the capacity attendance on the third night (Wednesday). True, there was quite a bit of paper in the house, but there's something in the appeal of that ?1 top. The return to the days when a flnifE enabled a couple to dlne-and-beer (If not wine) , and taxi and show seemed to be generously endorsed. At this writing Brown and his cast (presumably co"-bp) were in the throes of an arguinent with Equity which ordered its Equity cast members to turn in their two weeks', notices on the allegation 'Scrap. Book' is a revue and not '21 acts of ace vaudeville,' as it is billed. Ignoring the program notation that the 'entire action takes place inside a vaudeville theatre during a vaudeville show.' - This distinction would enable the troupe to do Sunday shows twice- ia-dayi as is the weekday policy, thus restoring two-a-day vaudeville to Broadway at a scale half that of the Palace when that RKO spot was the world's capital of vaude enter- tainment. Equity predicates Its 'revue' classification on the premise that vaudeville is a suceesslon of spe- cialties, and this is a niore-or-less dovetailed entertainment. Further- more, that the players In vaudeville contribute their own material, while Brbwn is program-credited for the authorship of the sketches and that the entirety is staged by Charles Schofleld and Robert Lively. But it's vaudeville none the less. The absence of a chorus line further substantiates this. f . As a presentation It's not espe dally original but It's a workman like structure on which to hang what follows. It' rlnigs in stage plants, audience interrupters and other stooges. All cbntribbte han dily to the gieneral al fresco aura of the proceedings. That 'it's pro- ductive of laughs Is Its best answer. Smith Ballew's radio band Is In the pit. Charles Schofleld (one of the stagers) and AlmiriEi Sessions are In a stage box as Mr. and Mrs. Knickerbocker 'who offer $1^000 for the. best variety specialty, the audi ence to 'irote by applause. This Idea is (Completed at the flnale and not Bluffed off. Ina Hayward la the. mistress of ceremonies, doing It well and show- ing several nice; changes. ,Her owh specialty, .hext-tb-:shut, as part of the*'vaudeville' Idea Is vocally okay. Sequence Is divided off Into vari- ous classifications, .such as radlOr pictures, Shake^eare, gi^and opera, musical comedy, community theatre, draniatic stock, opwetta^ drama, burlesque, etc., Miss Hayward In each case cites' the stars who were cradled in or came;from the varl ous brahched of 'the stage. . The first three acts are concerned with 'the birth of a vaudeville bill' introducing among* others Vinton Haworth and Ray Hedge of the original 'Myrt and Marge' radio cast. There are also Frank Huyler, Harold Kennedy and Carl Carmen.. 'Moving Pictures' has Herbert Warren, Leslie Urbach, Terry Car- roll and Louis Tanno i.\ a casting office scene with the familiar tem- peramental director and the screeh novitiate who is advised she will be 'made.' 'Harlemade' Introduces Er- nest Whitman vocally with a hoof- ing specialty by the Three Flashes of Lightning; thence a dramalet, 'The Penitent,' with William L. An- drews, Percy Verwaynen, Lillian Ridley and Whitman, all colored. Leda Lombard's 'Another Love Af- fair*; personified 'the torch singer.' Next act, 'Operetta,' really picks the proceedings up at a fast pace with Helen Bertram, announced as an old-time operetta fa'vorlte, con- juring up memories with the aid of the various costumes over Which she nbw presides as wardrobe mistress. Frazer Coleman, Nancy . McCord (a Iboker with a voice), the RItz Quartet and Charles Hedley and choir assist Miss Bertram in the snatches' of 'My Hero,' 'Maytime.' etc.; topping off with 'Song of the Vagabonds,' which Hedley delivers effectively. Florence Auer, straight- ed by Pierre Watkln, . depicted Shakespeare with a scene from 'King John,' also registered. 'Radio* held Hedge and Haworth (the 'Myrt and Marge' people) plus Miss Hayward, Jonathan Hole, Peter Smallwood, Valerie Valalre, Frazer Coleman and the Rltz Quar- tet with a breezy pot-pourri of Downey, Worts, Mills Bros., Crosby, Edna Wallace Hopper and other imitations. At the same time scene shows how a broadcast is - «oiw ducted. 'Grand Opera,' the next act, 4 good interlude feattirlng Barre Hill, youngest barytone, with the Chicago Civic Opera Co., whom Phil Bfiker has signe'd for his new revue. HiH has a fine voice and a swell front. His 'Pagliaccl' prolog was enough to the popular taste to make it ear-appealing. Stella DeMetfe and Charles Hedley arla'd from 'CarmenT as the second portion, excellent with Frank Huyler, John Patrick, Carl Carmen, Dwlght Butcher, Salvatore Lo Curto and John Armstrong stboging in the audience as the VO'* clferous Met .claque. Peter Smallwobd as the Spirit of' Dramatic Stock cued into a con» densation of 'East Lynne' with Prlscilla Knowles who 20 years agq enjoyed a vogue at the old Academy of Music with her •Camllie,"Sappho,» 'East Lynhe' and other tear-jerkers, as the featured member. Miss Valalre, Riith Conley, Watkln (the villainous Sir Francis Leveson) and Robert Gordon do their stuff to. cheers and hisses.. ' The 'Musical Comedy' act finaled the first half with Barbara Blair opening with a 'scat' chorus and cooch, assisted by the Rltz quartet (Chester Bree, Neil Evans, James Ryan and William H. Stann). Ethel NorrIs, Francis ^ Lyman and Edwin MacKenna also' prominent heres. Action is laid in a speakeasy with a racketeer chief, a millionaire playboy, etc., sketchlly introduced for the hokum plot. Others In are Hole, Betty Hanna, Louis Tanhb, MarJorie Hoffman, Robert William- son, Urbach, Edwlii Wilson, Autumn Simms,: Miss. Valalre:, A pit band specialty by Smith' Ballew reopened the second parti Community Players are satirized In 'Picking A Play* with Valerie Ber-. gere, an old Community player, heading this cast, assisted by Lau- rette Adams, Miss Simms, Miss Hanna, Paul Jaccbia, Urbach, War^ ren and Tanne. Charles Hedley stopped It cold, with his. 'Concert' specialty, 'Come to the Fair,* while a duet with Ceclle Sherman was likewise; a straight singing wow. Hedley be-, iongS:^ in big time concert. Paul Taubman accompanied skilfully. A depression preacbhient Is the theme of 'Drama' with Miss Auer. Watkln, Hedley, David Morris and Ruth Conley strutting their hlstronlcs In a 80-fib dramalet. The wow ace-lii-, the-hole Is the 'Burlesque' and 'Strip Dance' numbers. Dorothy. MacDonald, a gorgeous eyeful, did her Minsky strip with a Zlegfeld air. She's an auburn looker Who leaves nothing to the imagination, emulating the contemporaneous Minsky manner: Still, packing load^ of optical appeal, and done under a legit aura. Its an okay chunk ,.o£ spice for a variety .Idea such as thist. For 'Btulesquie,' Mae'DIx, who haa seen her biirleycue .novitiate,, and Harold Kennedy, do a stew scen^ that also led to an undress. It re-;, called the. essence of roiistaboht burlesk which antedated Scrlbner and Herk gone Bahctlmonlous .or Minsky gone epidermis. >VaudeVUle' flhaled ' with MUw Hayward singing two "peps in nlcd voice, plus Kate Woods Fliske. and Danny Slmmonb as the kickbr with their a.k. song and dance. Simmon'0 did an Irish clog he ..featured 40 years .agfo, panicking the. customers with his hooflhjg. Brown, thence Introduced for bis spiel on' the Equity tiff, stressing that the newspaper reviews called his show vaudeville; that It was be« ing presented' a la. a variety mtet". talnment, and that Equity's arbl-*. trary attitude would throw 76 play-! ers out of employment at a t^me when burlesk and pictures were doininating Broadway. A program Insert invites public voting on whether this 1b vaude br a revue, and alsb a vote on Sunday shows. ' Show throughout has nothing but drapes and a few props; nothing special or elaborate. The material (sketches) are makeshift and there are no special songs, all pops. At $1 it's genuine bargain enters talnment, Abeh ^ Ellis Levey to KFRC San Francisco, Aug. 8. > Ellis Levey has joined KFKC, or.4 ganlzing a. booking departtoent to' handle the 'Jamboree' and' other programs for western appearances. Levey, fonnerly RKO booker here, has signed Golden State the- atres for. a series of 'Jamboree^ dates. ' ': ■ Sid Schallman with F&M Hollywood, Aug. . 8. Sid ,<3challman is now with Fan- chon & Marco as Junior boolcer for its vaude department Will handle, everything up to three' day bookings. Earl Keate, In chai-gc, takes care of the full and split weeks.