Variety (Aug 1932)

Tuesday, August 30, 1932 FILM HOUSE REVIEWS VARIETY 8» j CAPITOL, N. Y. . ' New Tork, Aug. 25. Usual Bhowmanly technlaue for ■the situation that faces the Capitol •would be to balance a depressing jllm, 'The Last MHe* (World Wide), ■with a eocK comedy stage show, off- setting Its sombre note with ex- treme hilarity. With the sums o£ money LOew's seems willing to spend for its ace house bills, you d 'suppose that the assembling of a laugh congress -would be wlthlA the r-ppssibHitics. - - • They follow a different pattern, however. Layout Is interesting and ■ sprightly and the Buddy Rogers name on the niatquee oughtto mean ebmething. OVer the week-end, however, it didn't seem to be potent enough to overcome the; prison film, eloquent of prison, violence and death. Attendance was off from the recent average, attributable prob- ably altogether to -he featare. Presentation would be perfect support for a feature of lightof tone, but it lacks the laugh punch to fit Into this niche, its fun for the moat part being quietly engaging rather than haw-haw rating. With Jay C. Flippen in the m.c. assignment and the meaty comedy spot. going to Leon Errol In his furniture-wreck- ing stew sketch, both Iterris are standard quality material, but lack- ing in compelling roUghpuse low comedy that can command an oth- erwise adverse theatre situation, such as 75 minutes of tense tragedy in a prison death house as present- ed on the screen in the film version of the stage play .of several seasons ago. ;. Flippen gets veiir little assistance : from - the, surrpundirig blU In build- ing giggles and'has to go it alone, even including a cold e?ltrance. Thjat he manages . to give the show a^ spirit of animation speaks volumes for his gag ylrtuosity. ■ He has to bludgeon his way to an opening practically on the heels of the newsreels crashing in alone from the traveller opening and gping to itk with a solo^ag. Cuts this Interlude short wisely with a brief introduction of Bernlce and Emily, nice Ice breakei*, with the girls doing neat acrobatic danc- ing on a grand stalrcaise. It's a pretty mild way, however, to start a show before this Capitol mob, which is accustomed to having an en- semble of line girls for its intro- ductory stepping. Jay C. Is back again for a slmilai'- ly casual Introduction of Art Jar- rett, a late comer to the Capitol's long series of radio names. He .works quietly before a mike, sans any production surroundings and has to make his oWn way into the audience's good graces., This he does by the sheer fascination of his voice, both in the persuasive han- dling of ballads and the vigorous vocal management of seml-hovelty selections. Group for this appear- ance has 'Paradise,' 'Rain, Bain, Go Away,! 'Music Everywhere,' with a trick medley, and for a first rate finish, his sure-flre 'So Beautiful.' A solid click here. Errol takes It up with the first venture at comedy outside of Flip- pen's ad llbbing. Sketch has a rather slow start and lacks speed all around for such a spot In such a house, but. It does deliver sure and ccntlnubus laughs toward the fin- ish, and here it ended in a small storm of merriment. Piece is an old stand-by of Errol's, but it was fresh and ;new to the picture house niob and it prospered accordingly. Flippen picked this spot for his Tegular specialty, made up of a series of gags, most of them familiar, but built and sent home for full value by this energetic clown's own style of delivery. Aileen Stanley spotted next and not in an especially faVpr- able spot for a polite singing silngle. Two or three numbers were all she . tried, both familiar pops and nicely done with the aid of two pianists and a wealth of first-rate trick lighting to play up the stunning ap- pearance of the singer. By way of encipre she engages in a mild ses- sion of gagging with FUppen and Jarrett with the m.c. then going Into the bally for Rogers and his bai^d closing the stage interlude. The Rogers boy. came through /'with one of the best band turns- of recent times In film house preseh- taHons, not a little of which result was .to the credit of a crack bunch of band boys, be they ever so sma.rt- ly handled by the foriiier. screen pash. Young Ro&ers has the per- sonality-plus thing in vast quanti- ties and shrewdly doesn't over-capi- talize It. He maintains the front of belPif an earnest young musicians absorbed In . putting his band through its paces and playing down the individuality angle, effect of which, of course, is that the audi- ence gpes niore than half way to meet him. •Tricky management of a trap drummer .who swaps places with; the leader and solos on a- xylophone, with incidental clowning, is a .strong early Item. He i.<3 Dillon Ober., Introduction of Johnny Grieen, who solos at the piano with his own familiar compositions, getting a brisk patter of applause for' his 'Body and Soul,' of course. Finish has Buddy going to sax, slip horn and .finally the piano accordion for a hip-hurrah finish and the most satj.sfactory moment in the enter- tainment. Rush, has made familiar. Here the light- ing and colors are Inferior to the Roxy'a, but sUll good, the girls posed on a series of steps backstage to give the arch eCtect. -pown front for a number, revealing front cos- tuming of cloth of gold as a back- ground to bare legs, then back to the staircase for the final picture. To set the dance platforms the Fourflushers, a quartet of seml- pahsy sailors . do acrobatic and dance stuff, with an occasional lapse Into talk, but not too much. They lack the ability to project 'tltfeiriseTves, w^^ the laughs scat- tering, though some of the work Is very well dbnei Suffer by comparlr son wittx; similar and; better-timed Fred Kinsley, who' used to be at the N. Y. Hippodrome, is at the console here and doing nicely with a straight number and a novelty bit, the orchestra following with a medley of; Gaynor-Farrell numbers announced as a prelude to 'The First Year,', due In. Martha Frances, a very blonde spprino, contributes a vocal interlude. Feature Is 'Passport to Hell,' a newsreel, a Magic Carpet, and on the supper swing another feature, apparently used to avoid repeating the star film feature. Business up this week by more thaii 60%; but 43tin not capacity. IMPERIAL, TORONTO Toronto, Aug. 26. With Gaynor-Farrell ('First Year') oh the screen and Raquel Torres • on th6 boards. Imperial management. figures they'll near the house record this week. It's a well-proportioned, well-timed bill and standees flocked for the closing show oh opening night. A pouring rain did nothing to help the box ofllce. Up here they don't take ref- uge <n theatres; they stay at home PARAMOUNT, N. Y. New York, Aug. 26. Apparently encouraged by the business done two weeks ago, with stage show then credited . rather than 'War Correspondent' (Col), George Jessel and Norma Talmadge, with most of their show Intact, are back here for another week. And now ialong with another Columbia picture, 'Night Club Lady.' Oh their first appearance here the Jessel-Talmadge unit, with Burns and Aller.v-Throe Rhythsii^eys <ar.«I others,; the house did $64,500, an excellent take. Show went to the Paramount, Brooklyn, for a week and is back here -with minor changes. Instead of June McCloy there's Vivian Jahls, songstress, who does her main, assignment early In the pro- ceedings and later has a. duet With Donald Novis,: NBC, who Is the punch of the 60-mlnute unit. He was on last week's bill here and Is held over for the returning Jessel- .Talmadge pot-pourri. A third week has already been set for him as well. • In some quarters in Paramouht- Publlx hopes are high that Novis may develop Into another Rudy Val- lee. Backed by that fesllng, Publix may keep him here longer. The air singer, who has been get- ting a big buildup by NBC, is clumsily Introduced In the show so far ias buildup by Par from Its stage Is concerned. At no time Is his name mentioned, Jessel going only as far as to confuse himi with Mor- ton Downey for gag's sake and then calling It square by referring to him merely as Donald. Prior to this Donald is spotted In a Parisian street set, singing . of Charmaine. ..It's a duet with the woman working from behind a win- dow' scrim of pne of the buildings of the street scene. Later Novis ^ ^ ^ steps down to 'one,' where Jessel' ^nd "only vehture 'out "when they comes on for a couple of minutes EMBASSY Embassy's Saturday mat audi- ences are not only thinner, but list-: less. There wasn't a whisper of reaction to thorough political cpv- erage, IncludHg an interview with TRANSLUX From the standpoint of the fresK silent title which hooks right Into the hews, the Luxer'a selection for a lead is all right. But when the clips which follow are identical Paul Bloc:, ■^.c•:■^'c3^<^^'*^•'^*s*l*^^ Vermont-to-Norway and NewYork- to-Rome filghts which have been^ seen at both theatres under Vlr-" Novis then launches into 'It Was So Beautiful,' which he sells ad-^ mirably, Novis has an appealing quality In his voice. The girls will say it's pipes of feeling, understanding and romance. It' will reflect that ' to them at least, and from the woman's viewpoint he Is probably at his best oh such a number as Berlin's 'Al- j ways,' which rockets Novis to a high point of applause for his get- aways: Miss Janice's vocal efforts em- brace,two numberis ahortly after the opening, immiediately on top of Jes- sel's topical talk on Walker, Hoover, etc. She has an agreeable manner and; a fair voice. Jessel Interrupts her jetween the two songs for an apparent buildup bit that seemed needless—6r at least doesn't help in any direction. There Is much of this buildup thing all the way through, particu- larly between Jessel, Miss Tal- madge and. the team of Burns and Allen, but most of , It ; Is gagged up so that no one Wiir mind. The Three Rhythm Boys, colored dancers of unusual cleverness, are billed this week as the Lucky Seven Trio. Business good Friday night at:the first deluxe-performance. Chat. know where they're going. Torres seems' a draw, Shte got a show- stopping reception on her entrance. Bill opens In full stage beach set, with Bernle and Walker on In prop car and . using radio patrol calls for m. c.'Ing. It's a new Idea up hiere and timely, in that local bluecoats are advocating this crime-curbing projeot and seeking to fall in line with Montreal, Vancouver and Win- nipeg. Without any . build-up. Miss Torres la anhbunced, and scoreis Immediately on. personality. She's doing her 'Lovable' number and gets it over. Ballet eases on In bath suits for usual routine, but lends novelty to arm drills by dblng these with life- savers. Bernle and Walker return, this time with Renee Torres as foil; She's a sister of Raquel and a knocliout blonde,' despite her billed nationality. Both the Torres girls talk well, faint accent lending a^ charm to their delivery. Henri Therrlen trails with a tehor number, vocal style and un- spoiled manner sending the warbler over nicely. He was the singer In 'Street Angel,' but keeps this quiet. Tom, Dick and Harry next for com- edy hoofing, with •12-girl line-up back in shorts and sweaters for an athletic routine, the double sextette closing with a slow-tempo boxing bout that showed fine synchroniza- tion and discipline. Anderson and Alien are next to closing with a burlesque hand-to- icinnc T,i.- v-v-,vi... -"^'-.■v.^i!L**J5Ij.hand act that,had no trouble in get- Slor-? ,. ■-,ja*5sl^i*f^r . \*V-'v3«^vii*^.^riV .^ Raauel Torres hack current at the Fox, Brooklyn, does tmg over, xnen Kaquei lorres oacK Quite possibly it Is not entirely the faxilt of the audience. The Em- bassy, is developing a habit of let- tihg certain clips overrun. -While the Ottawa pact signing was Ihter- estlhjg, the sanie jiurpose would have been achieved if Fox-Hearst had dispensed with a lot of the for- malities and trimmed the subject to brief coverage.-as observed by Pathe. . Overfootage is evident in library matter, in •which this program abounds. Blackpool bathers Is one case In point. The London resort, seen many times in the reels be- fore, vas allowed to run beyond all. reason, .' . Embassy made an excellent sub- ject of the latest Forest Hills toiir- ney. Seldom has a tennis cham- pIonshlD contest been so well pho- tographed, the F-H cameraman hay- ing ajppreclated long volleys as well as a few whacks at the ball before the long dissertation that usually gets on film of the cup presenta- tion and the bromldic speech of acceptance. F-H went to a lot of trouble to cover the PIcard balloon flight. Views of the scientist in the day- time surrounded by Swiss vil- lagers are fpllowed . by the early morning take-off. The cameraman, to be sure, that nothing was left undone, even chartered a plane and kept above the bag until the avi- ator decided to nose down. Arrival in New York of Amelia Earhart after her 19-hour coast -flight and the descent of the two women endurance fliers were other clips to be seen only ; on the Em- bassy screen Saturday afternopn. A happy dip Into the library was made for the clip on the last eclipse of the sun. This Is bound to whet Interest for the moon passage to occur. Wednesday. Other Embassy subjects. Include Kaye Don testing speedboat fh De trolt Sydney, Aus., football, launch- ing of the Washington, twin ship to the Manhattan; Von Hinderburg reviewing troops, Riviera carnival, French fashion show, . Wlldwood FOX, BROOKLYN Brooklyn, Aug. 26. Under the title of the 'Impres- not quite measure up to the F-M standard in that It is not well knit and i«< lacking in sock comedy, tliougn two of the four acts arc supposed to contribute to this end. Title peynits it to be made a catch- all of production material which does not match up with other Ideas, and It appalrently intended to reveal various nationalities. Some nice costuming, but by and large it makes a rather dull 31 mins. Opens with a line of 11 glrlis dressed aa supposedly French sol- diers in cuirasses and jack boots, performing military evolutions on a stairway, with a little dancing. Costuiriing ig original, but does not make the girls attractive. Joe Rose contributes a brief bit of acrobatic dancing in this section. Good tricks,, but not well sold. 1 Goes to.'one' for the acit of Du ' Gallon, who; does too much talking for this large auditorium. . When he gets up on his laidder he is lost, since he is too far from the mikes. Stuff gets out about 10 rows and fades, but he was solid In some pantomimic comedy. Next bit is supposed to be a cos- tume flash, the girls' skirts being turned up to suggest cups, the un- derside being painted to resemble china decoration. Five of these for a toe routine and others, differently costumed in dresses which kill all graceful effect of the steps, taking the second turn. Corinne, solo dancer, contributes a bit here, but of small importance- in spite of its excellence of style. Headlincr, Natacha Nattova, an- nounced in 'The Dance of tlie Wind.' Elacl: draped stage with a huge vase of fio\yers provided with various stirrups on which the dancer strikes poses In the inter- vals of her pbstUring on the stagp^-' Highly artistic, but it didn't m a thing to Brooklyn. {. Brbnks into the finale, a modHj|>ca tioh of the rainbow which thtjjKoxy for the closer, this time In a grass skirt for a South Seas dance. It's hot too hot, (Considering the illusion that timothy lends, and Is marked by a grace and restraint that Is un- usual In a dance. number of this type. The fetching. brunet again scores, and there's a company roiind- up for the finale. Jack Arthur takes the baton for the overture, there are the usual screen fillers. ' McBtay. FOX, SEATTLE Seattle, Aug. 24. Presentation idea going over nicely at this house since reopening, with Jack Crawford, as m.c. and two or three Imported acts, for weekly changes. There Is a holdover now and then, —-r Don Smith, tenor, known on the air as well as stage, held-over this week. David and Hilda Murray, ballroom dance act, also being held over Into next-week. With news of Paramount (F-WC), the town's biggest theatre (3,106), to open Sept. 15, plah Is t9 take this stage band presentatlon^to'^ Fifth Aveh-je theatre, with F&MMshows to inove to Paramount. Crawford's band climaxes In 'Limehouse Blues' number with a swing that makes the fblks think of dancing In the aisles.; This 15- piece band has some specialty tal- ent, too, including Paul, Tutmarc and Homer Sweetman, slnger.s, Wlnnlfrcd Rehworth Is hew or- ganist hero arid liked. Her num- bisrs are sans novelty,. but-musical. This show was caught at mat with smalTcjio'rtrd on hahd, but Murrays wafff"'^ow stoppers nevertheless. Ifkn Smith, who sings in rich tones ^nd with unstudied\gesturc3 that fit, aid likewise., Lively finale with all hands assembled. On the screen '.Speak Easily' (M-G-M). News .■shots and comedy short Trepp. tualiy the same circumstances, the editorial judgment is hard to fol- low. .- ■ ;■;■- If the Luxer did not want to lead with political sequence of Roose- velt's Columbus speech, Curtis' views on the 18th Amendment and Hoover's vacation with the camera- men, theh It had as exclusives Sat- urday afternooh either the arrlvial of Molllson In New York br first scenes of the fight farmers are put^ ting up against low prices Ih Iowa. The better times campaign has for the current episode a Pathe in- terview with the presldeht of the" U. S. Chamber of Commerce and more shpts by Universal of Indi- vidual companies In various Indus- tries which are going for volume. The Universal niethipd of visiting the various plants and showing the worker crowds with dinner palls holds more encouragement for the average jobless than the finest booster speeches under close-up-. Saturday matinee attendance at the Luxer since It closed^the flrst half of the house and ml)ced three short subjects in with the news is conspicuously larger. .Where they were standing them up here at thei same, time nearly half of the seats In the Embassy were vacant, " Watermelon derby ; Ih Mississippi Is a relief from beauty contests. Thei crowd of colored boys digging Into the red Is a subjects that could have been packed with laughs had the contact man used a little originality. It was a very orderly affair, how- ever, Other Pathe clips (and practl-i cally 35% of the program this week is Pathe). Include: West Pointers hiking, fall hafs, British golfers In Massachusetts, phoney glider, Cali- fornia motorcycle ra,ce, the British" King's Royal Marines. Walyf baby parade, Camera gagging, with femmo boxers, colored Elks in At-: lantic City, police target practice, national air derby, German mon-. keys, Waly, STATE, L. A. Los Angeles, Aug. 26, Bringing In a New York song- Writer, and author-director to write and stage an original musical tab hasn't helped materially the Pan- chon & Marco lineup for new sea- son^ If the opening performance of 'Hearts of '.Broadway,' featuring Vera Gordon, can be taken as criterion. Archie Gottler Is respon- sible for book and staging, and It win take many rehearsals to .whip It Into salable merchandise. Thefe are high spots, and they compensate for some of the draggy sections, but It's the second F. & M. show In three weeks to be minus modern tiempo. Vera Gordon, with a picture.. XpL- lowlng, should prove a draw. At the State this week they have Will Rogers on the screen in 'Down to Earth' as the b.o. lure, and up to 1 p.m. price tilt the customers were out In force. After that It sagged. Unit is story of the theatre, with Miss 7'Ordor. as the kindly pro- prietor of an actors' boarding houSe. Fortunately, a couple of specialty acts give the pay mob a run for their money. Four Juggling Nor- mans garner the applause, and Sid- hey Page, assistied by his two pages, Topsy McMahon and Peggy Earle,' provide tho. laughs. Miss Gordon's biggest moment is ; her mother scene from 'Humoresque.' Opening brings on 12 line girls for a typical musical Introduction, with gals chahtirig, .'We are the chbfus,' etc.. Scene then shifts to chorus dressing room, followed by quick transformation to a perform-, ance staged for an imaginary audi- ence on the back drop. After lively, lino dancing, and a stage door bit for comedy,: scene shifts to Interior of Miss Gordon's boarding hou.se. Max Lerner does a tenor solo at this point, with song:, and routine by femmes interjected; Working in one. Miss Gordon lead.s up to her 'Humoresque' scene, which had the customers wiping their eyes. From here show gathers speed. Normans mop with fast routine Of Indian club mahlpulations. Two toe-dance ensembles, ^ylth one a semi-strip for a speedy tempo. Sidney Page next with big laughs, and had little trouble clicking. His pages are talented, and their hoke comedy registers solidly. Both por- tray 'goof parts. At this point Miss Gordon Intro- duces her daughter, Nadji, who at- tempts a seriouj3 solo based on unit title, but falls to register. Finale Is a'tablcauk .spectacle; with Miss Gordon in White, and entire com- pany In .sort of a modern spiritual. Jan Rublnl overture started pro- ceedings. PARAMOUNT, L. A. Los Ahgeles, Aug. 26, Class stage entertainment. Thd feature, 'Devil and the Dieop,' de- spite Gary Cooper, seemed a wealc draw on opening day, Thursday. Stage end is topped by Fuzzy Knight doing his usual floor show routine of nut comedy. He Is a re- peat, having played the house about eight weeks ago. - Scores heavily^ and with a bhanjre of material could hold oyer. Three Jacks and a Queen, adagio dancers, work In front of a black drop. The catcher wears a black suit and mask; making him Invisible on dim stage. Girl Is thrown to him with the Illu- sion she Is suspended in midair .Whejn caught. ■ Gumm Sisters, harmony trio, socked with two numbers. Selling end of trio is the lO.'year-old sister with a pip of a lowdown voice. Kid stopped the show, but wouldn't give more. Three Society Steppers, male hoofers, do one bff-rh^thm routine. Working In morning coats and top- pers they make a neat appearance. Their work is away above the aver- age in tap dancing. Line girls work twice, opening and closing. Opehing Is a tap. Closing Is an Interpretative voodoo dance with Lester Horton soloing. Dance Is meaningless, but Alls the stage for the clbse-^In, Georgle Stoll's pit band handles excerpts from 'Martha' for the over- ture In class style. Rudolph Hojos and. Virginia Karns vocalize. All well recelvedl Betty Boop cartoon and Par sound news complete the screen fare. ..Business Indifferent flrst eve- ning performance Thursday, Call, MICHIGAN Detroit, Aug. 29, Plenty of show this week and. plenty of It could be cut success- fully. Probably won't with the pic- ture running but 68 min. Stage show runs 60 min. with overture taking 13. Of the stage show Radcliffe and Rogers are the big noise and that with a big production handicap. At the open-. Ihg show the duo followed 30 min- utes with the traveler closing In on thc° preceding production number which, looked so much like the finale that plenty of the audience started walking before the pair could get out from the wings, They didn't let it feaze them and prompt- ly got them .seated again. Other outstanding item of enter- tainment in the overture. Lou Forbes has- a lad to sing and he pleases. Lad (Lee Mason) does (Continued on page 37)