Variety (Sep 1932)

Tuesday, .September 2% MM '" VAUDE HOUSE REVIEWS VARIETY 49 STATE, N. V. Jack Bonny and Ldlyan Tashman "deliver the pupch- and provide the draW,-but around them Loew's has assembled a Bhow that Is distinctly entertainment from outset to finish. The boxofflce will reflect business over house's recent average, 'Blessed Event' perhaps helping: some, but more, than anything It's-been good showmanship to. give the audience, a vaude bill which will bring custom- ers back. . Some showmen have gone on the mistaken theory that nothing is needed along with a name or two designed for b o., but they perhaps have failed to remember that sat- isfying curiosity , is not all that's Required to build steady patronage. If yoii give them a good show around the boxofflce bait those who come In Just to satisfy curiosity will probably come again, because the whole bill's to their liking. Probr: ably a lot drift- in here .currently lust to get a glimpse at Miss Tash- martk- Others aj?e drawn by Benny: from following him on the , air, where he's, popular. Given an alf- around entertaining show, that even taking in the animal act opening', they'll probably be back next week., during 'em back next .week and the' following week by such means Is real showmanship. ; Should shows next- few coming weeks not come: up to current bill it would probably fitiU take more than a.week or two before new fans began to feel .that the, Renny-Tashman vaude' Jineup was a rarity.. , This week's outlay, is above the State's standard. Benny, . who moves around between acts as m.c, does his own turn and. works/ with. Miss Tashman, Is. the center of in- terest. He corrals the laughs all the .way, displaying' much of, the. showmanship which on the. air, though he's unseen, has gained for him, a host of followers. . . Through Miss . Tashman's act, which is virtually Benny and Tash.-, man as a team, he is a strong prop. The duo, after talk in one, move to full to carry out a "blackout sketch,. It's not a new one, but most of the folks trickling in here will probably think it is and get a kick .out of it anyhow. Blackout is 'Move Over,' written by Jack Osterman and the late Harry O'Neill four years ago and • done several * • times by Oster- man' since,' last : : with Frances ■ Shelly. ■•:■' " ■' : ]. ';' " -' \ " ; It' : fits in nicely With what's ex- pected of Miss Tashman, the lady who draws the gals for her clothes. Blackout calls for Miss Tashman' stripping"-to- negligee and orawling Into bed. Peculiarly enough/ the house seemed' to have a preponder- ance of men at th» Friday night's show, With theatre"packed to' the projection* booth. Maybe they heard about that «ketohv>'r: »»••" • The Behny-Tasamatn two-in-one has been playing the Lo.ew deluxers,' last at Jamaica, witty Benny work- ing, out some gags.,around that.' j Ahead of Miss .Tashman. Is Lillian Roth,., who confines-, herself to three* songs, .- each better/vsold than the preceding. number..: She ■• does only, eight minutes, but clicks. . ... The No. 2 act is a comedy rough- house, Bill Telaak, while the closer Is a.dance act,of charjn and punch, Ros^Jtta and Luttirian. ■ Telaak stuck to the rostrum 14 minutes, registering very well. He's assisted by a girl, doubling as pianist, and. by a stooge who dou- bles for everything, ranging .from pansy to.acrobat,. All are involved in various, spills and- roughhouse, Telaak- with his. sjtooge staging an aorobatic burlesque for the close. This gets the laughs without trying, but could be tightened up, with the time consumed by.it,; four minutes, cut.at least in half, .v Around before, . Telaak hasn't gained the., attention.,.he should. Previously he wasn't ..sellinghimself. and. material as . well- .as . Friday night, .when spills, cpmedy. crosses,', etc., all seemed to. ;strike right.. Sally. Paine is the girl; other as-: slstant . Isn't billed. ' The Rosette-Luttman dance flash, closing, deals in contrast to .a great extent. - it has its. ultras smart, side in dance doubles ,and singles and. also its lowdown.-. element. Latter mostly supplied by'Grace:and Bea-: . trice. Wylie as hotsy-hot song- stresses and by the' cobch. of Ro- sette and Luttman in connection with 'Minnie the Moocher.' That In the same act with the opening dou- ble, and particularly the girl's sin- gle on the toes, a very slick routine, is plenty of contrast. Those pirouettes in the single are sightly and of clocklike precision. Gordon's Dogs, opening, which bring laughs by pooches refusing to do their tricks, makes friends easily and supplies a capital ice- breaker. Char. favorite of the Berlin. Kurfuereten- damm audience, Is first rate. • A. real asset Is the pretty Friedel Schuster as .Galathee. She has a brilliant, light voice and reaches the high notes easily. Settings are well done by Hermann Krehah, -the revolving stage allowing a quick succession' of scenes. " Carla Carl- sen gave an enjoyable performance. Replacing Trude Hesterberg, who had' fallen-111,- the-musical imitator, Lajos Szendy, gave only- a short scene but was successful with'his Reveller • im itatlon. Paul Nikolaus rivals Hellmuth Krueger in an- nouncing the program. Of Joe Maras*- puppet -show, particularly the puppet xylophone act was suc- cessful. . Paul Morgan and Wllhelm Bendow, with their race track chat- ter warmed up old Jokes. The climax is reached by the three Swifts, jugglers, who Paul Nikolaus maintains are. the best of the world. A leading feature.- Magnus, I SCALA, BERLIN Berlin, Sept. 14. The Scala with its September pro- gram, is strong on acrobatic num- bers. There are first the four Ras- tellis in an interesting springboard act, performing extraordinary leaps and somersaults (maximum:" ltIO saltos in succession). There' is also Lai Foun, a group of Japanese ac- tors nwhich, .are sensational: in con- tortion. . The record in noise Is'held by Jack'Shea with his knockabout orchestra, whose object seems to be wrecking the stage. Jack Shea, just arrived, .from, the States, introduced tlie trick the first''time'here. ' 1 [VVHsori; Ke^ppei and Betty, alsdfer thje first time in Europe, show arjiusing grotesques and for. their stepping get considerable applause . jSeyen Freydons with their. verti- cal acrobatic act, go as far as, four- high, formations, The hoop, juggler, Hb^yard Richols, and the,. very chayming dari'ce parodies of Geriia NlkolaJev^a (about the old ballet arid . Mary Wigman), as well as the dancing trio Daresco of the palla- dium of London, were enjoyed. . The wild animal act, 'Togaf,' with its wonderful tigers, has aroused public interest. Magnus. Kabarett der Komiker Berlin, Sept. 14. Kurt Kobitschek begins the new season in a very promising manner. His September program is varied and amusing. First is the old op- erate of Franz von Suppe, 'Die Bchoene Galathee/ standard for its humor and its melodious music. Up-to-date gags are mixed in the oialog by Kurt Robitschek and Paul Morgan, giving the piece a hilarious effect. Playing by Max Hansen,- Victoria Palace, London ::':,. London) Sept. ,12. J 1 ■■ It. seems strange to. find a realty- wbll.-choseri and entertaining, bill. al' this, house, and) stranger still, a very, good crowd to enjoy it. The' ortce ace house has. fallen.upon .evil tithes' lii. the . last .few years, .after paying an annual dividend of ijever. less than 20% for 17 years, all de- rived from straight vaudeville, in aei last few years there have been ''dividends and heavy losses,' pri- marily due to lack of definite policy* bad'-1 bills;: uncongenial ■ atm'otiphere 1 and 1 -competition. ■■ -r • ' 'Recently, someone - had a' bralri- wa-ve . and came- to the eonchisidn -thai/ really good bills might again put this theatre on the niapv : And thisj is .what actually happened,.•j'-e- c^njiy..;,, .;• ; . i Ji: ,;.,'.v.i.-; : : The three headliners here are ; Joe. Morrlsnand Co., .Derek Oldham ,arid.' Geraldine arid Joe. , . , :t . '<" ! Morris .comes . here after "two. weeks'at the, Palladium, and Judg- ing ..'by his reception on entry, is already box-office. They liked Mor- ris here, and they will like him any- where in England. : perek Oldham, formerly partnered by. "Winnie Melville, and, ho]w sepa- rated, both .maritally and; profes- sionally, Is here after a few weeks' tryout in the sticks. He has a big musical' c6medy reputation in the v^est End, arid can'still'put over a sbHg. He obliged with a quintet here,- and they liked "them all. ! Geraldine and Joe have in three •weeks established themselves as the best act'of their kind, and had no difficulty in stopping the show. - - ' . ! Andree Trio, with a 'direct from .tfie' Folles Bergere' tag, in adagio and eccentric dances, are fairly rioveV with "the weakest part of the aggregation an unnamed. girL doing ai fill-in for the trio to make, a 'change;.. •■ •• | Henry Regal and Co.; Ina,n-aoro-: bjaUc act .outside a circus tent, are Here.- after an absence, of . seyeral ylears,. Act has improved -consider- ably, with .the infusion of. comedy, and was .a. laughing hit. Regal still dlaims the toe-to-toe catch as. his brain child. Max Miller, a great English favor- ite, is plenty raw, but has an easy and nonchalant style which makes him likable. Miller would be: a good proposition for America, but will have to get different material. Elsie Bower and Billy Rutherford, standard English act,' are doing about the worst act they ever at- tempted; just a lot of stalling, and taking a long time to warm up, but they get over, which shows what marvelous patience an English audience has. Eric Mason, a newcomer, with some conjuring tricks, a bit of. ven- triloquism and a fairly amusing line of chatter, makes a good and re- liable number two. The Buckleys, hat and dub jugglers, are Ameri- cans who have been here for years, and are still a good opener. Closing are Fred Kirk and Co., formerly the Kirks, in a comedy ^i- cyble act. ' The entire show does not cost mbre.thah $3,000, a cheap buy for so good an entertainment. Jtege. ORPHEUM, DENVER • ■' Denver, Sept. 22. Last vaude at this deluxe RKO- Huffman spot until differences be- tween stage hands and managers are ironed out. Will be first time this new house has been without vaude. Ever since Huffman took, the house the gross has been good most of the time, with this week one of the best. The best combination program for this town .since the Orpheum opened last February, with .'Bird of Paradise' oh the screen and Blackstone, the magician, on the stage. Even at the second show Sunday afternoon the house was packed. Howard, Sydelle and Bernlce open, assisted by two unpro- grammed girls. Howard and the girls work up a comedy entrance, short and to the point, and go into a dance which ends with a comedy walkoff. Bernice does a fast toe dance. Sydelle puts on a novelty tap. The two'girls dance and sing, and with Sydelle wind up the act. Willie Jackson and Edgar Gard- ner do their stuff in a radio broad- casting station and are assisted by Dorothy Adams, • demure-looking girl who sings 'Minnie the Moocher,' so that the microphone shimmies. One. of. team broadcasts gag song and dances long and fast. One of men and Dorothy Adams do bur- lesque of Joseph-'and Potiphar's wife, and both,. men close with Salome travesty. With half a dozen assistants Blackstone puts.on an elaborate act of magic that-satisfies.. Starts with the usual colored Bilk, duck and other livestock, all. coming appar- ently from nowhere. His electric light globe number Is good. Light is brought on stage, wired from socket. He turns it off .and bn to shiow it's connected; then pulls globe out of socket, and it stays: lit as' it floats, through air at his com- mand, He .,has .hQQp which ,he swings around .globe .to show. It's not. fastened to a wire, takes globe into audience, still, floating in space, allows audience to put hands. all around to prove nb : wire holding it. Puts back into socket and turns on and off, lighting' arid putting out. He does the usual transfer of a girl from one cabinet, to another, puts doll into doll house, turns it around; doll'' has grown-;' does this twice more and young lady steps out. Blackstone works- fast and gives a long Bhbw, satisfying the crowd. .... Huffman has a wide assortment of pictures to pick from and he may be able to get along without vaude- N yille, but it's a problem. - ■ • WINTERGARTEN . V,. . Berlin, Sept 16. , The .Septeipber program of": the Wlritergarteri includes a sensation in the~twO ; 'Jiartwells; slack-wire thriii.. \. .. ■ "'' Mercadente'.y the' .hatidsbroe' Nea- politan, plays?; ine).. mandolin : with great skill, and Paul Beckers, corriV edy musician and .sailor, is'am'trd- ing. ...'■ '"•- ^. The climax of the program comes with the Three Swifts, who handle their three, six or nine blubs with great skill and who have added a new trick by., replacing one of. their men supposedly \ fallen, ill by an amateur juggler .'picked out of the audience. The Dayelma. ballet, consisting of young, pr.etty and graceful dancers, shows old and, new. dances, hand- some costumes and good direction. Rudi Grasl, accompanying himself at the piano, imitates without any apparatus, any instrument and fin ally a whole jazz. band. Finally the Cheeraways, an amus lng gang, closes the performance by demolishing everything on the stage, In between, a, fine group bn roller skates,: the four, .Resuas, and floor acrobats, the Ave..Olympias. : . > ■ : i . • • Magnus,. STATE-LAKE ;' (Ohicago, Sept,'24. : Business has been spotty at this house in recent weeks. Stage bills' that have ' beeri-'""coming through have been l'ndlffet'ently blended and in most cages' wholly devoid of ; name appeal: They have had to try to persiiade the public that' obscure personages ;1lke iieon Janney were genuiriej hjeadliherB. Public ' re- mained unimpressed and unrespon- sive.- ' - ■ Secondly, or perhaps It should be mentioned first, the State-Lake has a very mediocre assortment of pic- tures. Screen portion has been taking the rap from the critics on the dailies right along. And that seldom helps. Currently Violet and Daisy Hilton are more in the State-Lake tradi- tion of a headliner. It seemed Sat- urday as if the girls would do only so-so biz for the week,, but here, again, there was a dubious feature, 'The Painted Woman' (Fox), to mitigate curiosity. Girls, however, are not the novelty, they were sev- eral seasons ago. Harry Rieners, traveling In advance for the RKO office,, helped with unusual ex- ploitation. Hiltons are still good vaudeville and valuable for the comment they cause and the re- membrance of the theatre in which spectators see them. Howard Sedell and Bernice; meri- torious dance trio started. Sibylla Bowari followed, and Sibylla was In a tough spot in. more ways than one Saturday. Her trunks were miss- ing. Her music was not there. Her whole turn based on wardrobe and' music was impossible to present and she had to ad lib courageously in a black satin street gown, which, in- cidentally, was very chic. It wasn't much of an act, but it was an ap- pearance and the good-will was there. Audience was disposed to forgive anyone who looked so nrce. Pickard's Chinese Syncopators, pansy stuff, Yankee slang, and all, has played the State-Lake in vary- ing membership and dress several times in seasons past. It's vaude- ville now-as then. Vanderbilt boys on the right boulevard, but travelr lng with the slow vehicles, didn't quite click. Their hodge-podge of hoke singing, dancing and knock- about was more imitative than trail-blazing, mOre intermittent than contluous in effectiveness. Frank Radcllffe and Gene Rbgers, next to shut, were solJd with laughs and some droll material of their own particular vintage. James Evans and company closed nicely'.. Land. * LONDON PAVILION London, Sept. 16. From any angle, the Pavilion bill is far from good. It lacks humor and there are practically no women. " Last week the Pavilion's bill cost $4,600, and played te nearly $12,000) which is profitable. This week's, outlay is just over $4,000, which is near the amount the management is . disposed to spend on acts, but it is very doubtful if they can main tain the standard they want at *o low a figure. Program does not open with the usual Sherman Fisher Pavilion An gels. For variety, Permane Broth era are allotted that spot. These are a couple of musical clowns, one seemingly EngliBli' arid the other Continental, who modestly describe themselves as 'the. greatest of all nvusical clowns, and originators of the . Nightingale's Courtship,' mak- ing one more addition to the other dpzen claimants. But this should nbt worry the Arnaut Brothers. Tiny Mite' and George Melford, the former midget who used to sup ply the 'kid' comedy to many of George Clarke's sketches. Lack of material makes this act just a. No. 2 Syd Moorehouse has now discard ed his tramp makSrupt which is.no advantage. His voice is still good as is his whistling, but his patter is deplorable. * . Rigoletto Brothers . repeat the same a,ct of last week. . . . : . , Joe Termini came along at the crucial moment, just when, the laughs were.. lacking, , -. and they laughed at everything. Termini Stopped the show. . m : Closing the first half-.were'. Rose- jay, Capella and De .Belle, , latter, American, and' formejrly De BeTlp arid.Lee, supported by Jack and Jill; (holdovers)., The whole outfit are given a classy name of 'Dancing lii Excelsis,' but the dancing is ; Jddt ordinary. v ■ v Second half of the show 10 de- voted to the usual cabaret setting; with Sherman Fisher's 16. Angels, Al and Ray flamuels (holdovers), Tex McLeod, making quick return' and: Harry Roy and His RKOlians and Naunton Wayne doing the honors. Rege. . G. O. H., N. Yv According to the standards of the , mob patronizing this two-bit com- / blnatiori, the current show is all to j; the good. In an uptown neighbor- .-. hoow it'd be apathetically received..;.- Down here, where they even applaud * the trailer, it's a great show. . Al Cleve, Scotsman xylbphonist, whose big surpirse is a; colored kid, ' nearly tied up the works, kids par- ticularly going for act. . Kid's song and dance number Is mild, but his drum stuff a la Jack Powell, bet- ter, turns the applause trick. Cleve : himself Indulges in a little talk, fair, arid spends the balance of his time, playing the xylophone, always pretty loud. Then 'Glow Worm' Is blatantly smacked out. Cleve followed for close by a com- . edy acrobatic act, Lensig, Selig and Co., which drew .its laughs from a couple plants who are put through a,routine of endurance and teeter board tricks. This is the. perfect booking for an a/>t -of .this. : type, : Neighborhood houses of the. . !A' . ■ cldss wouldn't be. •. . .... Third on show Hal Sarid's <3aim-' boje, a. flash which rates fairly goodf < rnalnly in the work of a male team and a girl who works with them in stair routines. They, do buck, i splits and other intricate leggery pn the: steps. A sister team does - moderately well in their first num- ber; but in their second prove ter- rible, while a single dancer, first ln : a tap, dance with a bad cooch mixed in; 'pans out awful,, but later in an : acrobatic does oke. Bherman and McVey second* This is 1 a mixed nut team- whose.' pantomime and talk accurately pegs - them. The girl carries < the act, clicking quickly with her first song arid in subsequent -singing and rougHhbuse. A brio in songs, dances and slap* around, Marcy Bros, and Beatrice' (New Acts), open. ' A part' of the act suggests- work, of the Dlaitiond ' 'boys.' • ■; :- ; ■'' ••'■:.'"" -.. ■-' •. 'More ofteh than not the O, has- its Vaude bill: cut to three or fojur acts, usually when two features ai|e .on'' the Bcreen. Picture cur- reritiy,' without a compahloW, is War Correspondent' (Col), with audience several times applauding' at the wrong time. They're like- that down here, and .the hardest - Job around the place Is that of the' usherettes in .'trying to keep kids* - fee't'off the seats".'' "v. >:•,.'. ' Theatre Is how changing 1 Its .Mils' 1 oh Tuesdays and Fridays, not to be outdone by the Loew circuit.. C/ia#y ■ Hollywi (Continued from page. 0) taking over "College Humor/ Claude Binyon and Joe Mankiewica, writers, 1 also switch to 'College Humor,' based on Dean Fales* novel, 'Bache- lor of Arts.' Travis Banton, Paramount dress, designer,, left here Saturday to looki over the riew styles in London and Paris.' Sails Oct. 1. on the Bremen. Roy Neal gets the. megging as-/ signment on Col's. 'Under the Sea.' He recently completed 'That's. My Boy/ Caesar's. PJi. V»rn ■ Arthur Caesar, is concocting a, press agent yarn": based. on ..the careers of Walter Kingeley and Will Page. Both, now deceased/ were Ziegfeld's Bbs'worths. James Murray has been given a ohe-picture contract by Warners as Ruth Chatterton's lead in 'Common Ground.' Roscoe Karns and Pat O'Malley also cast. Heyburns Spirt Married less than six months, Weldon Heyburn and Greta Nissen have split. Both claim too much temperament. Testing Hecht Theodore Hecht, whom Universal brought here for the 'Laughing Boy', lead and who was let go when the picture was shelved, has been tested by Metro for 'Son-Daughter.' • Helen Hayes has the femme lead. Par Wants 'Lil» Paramount is negotiating with Mae West for -i-'«r play, 'P'nrnond Lii.' If tii" (1 ,'.-o"s through Miss West will be starred. downtown; L. a. : / .: ;';.;",;. ! " Lois. jj^i|^es>; t (fe&t.''i|i' ( ' xiu ■ Any time a. vaude r snbw;-runs . minutes: it's niiach. too ntuch. iTbiat'tt v whatihappenedtat the flrst shew.toir,, day,- and while the calibre; of the.: stage; fare -was' standard/, plenty of > < .pruning would help the bill mate* ■ rially.: -Houfle is trying-an -Innovan tion <this week, 'With Eddie Lam«<; bert m.c'ing as well as i doings bis ; own 'hOke. ■ Cbmiciwas a wow-when' he worked in the next-to-close spot» but his nervbusness as the- Intro* ; dUcer was apparenti < Entirely ;ioo'- much' time was wasted in'the an»* > nouncements - and in. the attempts < for- bows. ' •'" • " ■ - : ! Bobby Gilbert Revue started the proceedings with a peppy routine of song and dance. Five femmes arid a boy worked hard and de<* ■' served a better spot. Arkansas - Charlie, a - dressed-up biUbllly-• crooner and instrumentalist, in- jected a lot Of good eihowmanship into' his act, arid cbuld -have re- mained longer. : .;•■..-.!• :■ ' Show got another b^ost with Hec- ; tor and Pals (canine act?-'in the trey spot. It's mostly hokum, with tfie well-trained animals providing" -plenty -of -comedy. Finish has' Hec^ 1 tor'apparently quarreling'with his cjo-workers'and paying- nor- attention ' tp' "the' -pay customers.' Trainer's Bag's were amusing,'and act' clicked.'- : Lorraine and Digby, comedy talk- -' lng arid dancing team, put on a Ibt Of rough and tumble stuff, with the girl being particularly limber; and effective. Act Is burlesque,>but good; etntertainment. i... , . . . - .' Class flash of the bill was Betty - Gordon Trio, instrumentalists, with Mi?s Gordon also : proficient at vo^ . denizing and stepping.. -, She plays- numerous ■■.; instruments, and • * ; is, backed by two accomplished n^ale musicians. Lambert. 'follows with, much of his old routine and winds up with his 'Gigolo* number from the '9 o'clock Revue,' using the. girl from Lorraine and Digby for a .'wild apache number. Comedian scored solidly. Closing had Dawn and Scott, .' acrobatic team, doing some difficult balancing, and winding up with a springboard jump to a hand bal- ance that was decidedly out of the ordinary. ■ 'Those We Love' (WB) on screen, toith news arid scenic thrown on, didn't mean anything at the b.o., with half a house at the Opening stanza. Will Harris'Unit Will Harris, formerly production manager of Balaban and Katz' Ori- ental theatre, is producing the Frank and Milt Britton unit for Fanchon and Marco.