Variety (Oct 1932)

42 VARIETY WnM HOUSE REVIEWS Taesdi^, October 11; 1932 eAPITOL,N,Y. 9 New Tork. Oct. 7, Just a so-so show at the Cap al- though punctuated with better names than last week, but the effect is eciuallv as sluggish. Irene Bor- donl Bind Dorothy Jordan, Metro contract player, are the femme at- tractions. Benny Rubin Is the hold- over m. c. and Buss Columbo and his orchestra and the Three Keys are two radio entries, oh paper It looks oke, but it doesn't work but that way some- how. Rubin worked hard, often perhaps a bit too hard, foiling with everybody. ■-■ . Presentation opens with Miss Jordan (New Acts). \. , The Three Keys - making their stage debut under NBC-Harry Le- netska auspices, after a preliminary air buildup, somehow didn't register as was expected. They're sizzHngly hot—no doubt about that. They're dlflCereftt" and could be a decided click but they missed Are on their Initial presentation. • • Main fault Is the wrong routining. . Numbers are In the same tempo of jazzique. They, should breaik it up with, the, sweet- 'n'hot stuff, as for example-thil *Par<».dise' - number, which they have done so effectively on the air. Theirs,-at the Cap, is a rather mon- otonous succession of rhythm-num- bers. As. to their individuality. ROXY New York. Oct. 7. .; Four specialty acts from the va-! riety field bolster up the house staff : this week and the combination makes for a satisfying, though name-less, efntertainment. Produc- tlonally everything's up to average, which means presence of the usual Roxy colorful costuming and niount-- inp. • , , The Diamond Boys. Dick and Edith Barstow, and liUciUe : Page, each with their own spot, and Capt. Willie Maiiss are the yiisiting talent. Mauss' complete revolutions' on a bike inoide a lighted wheel are ; used ;to close the. program spectac-; ularly. It's a . new spot: fpir: papt. .Willie who usually opens-'em-.up-in; vaudeville. He'« following plenty of ■ color- here; but not- much action, i which gives the bike--stunt; more: than its oustomiiry. edge.. : Miss Page, who first ctkme .io. no- tice in last' year's; 'Vanities,'; .per- forms her-aerobatic routine, in .front of the house line as the tppper- in a- sightly production item; She : was he piut acrosa at least two oC thd three numbers he sanff. In corporatlnff lo their routine several hbko tricks that were new to professlonail observers, liowe, BernofC and Wemsley have a tough act, but as easy Butcess with It. Their atuH Is' certain to give any house full value oh the pay en- velope. An unprogrammed girl did In- termttteht solo hoofing: during the. production numbers. • And oke. Bxceptlonal publicity was ac- corded the return of Hans Muenzer as concert 'niaster i(flrst violin) of the house orchestra; He got* an eulogistic welcoti^e'In a trailer and- toQk a cadenza^ standing' up^ In: the midst 'Of -.•Caft>ri9e . Espagrtole'-: dl-. re'eted by 'Joseph lilttau; 'Muenxer. is classified' as 'something' of a matinee IdqV by Balaban'& Katz.' '° Recdgriitlbn- of' the <musIcalCstal-; warts of thb '.Chlc^iso should; Include' Louis -Adrlcih.' the -reliIabI<B- -fiddler who steps -Ihtb the' leadier's Job' at those mbmehts when' the spotlight Isn't on the hydraulic pit. ' Lilttaa db^s 'riot conduct ; the- stage ; show; Adrtah - 'does./ . And ..with plenty of the-leadlng .applause, grabber .at the -Friday evening performance. .Scene- assurance and ability.- leading up to this-specialty-includes' phosphorized V costumes and - batik- , drop and involves dancing; by the ballet, siiiglng by the house chorus- and: an old> time serpentine-'(tape swinging) bit by two men'billed as there's no gainsaying thit. That I Peterson and Xlvoff. guitarist is the hottest yet and the Joseph Griffin, staff tenor, and the warbler and pianist are ditto. They male chorus open the show with a could stay away from the mike a military strain, followed by the early bit more and thus dodge the too planting of one of the most Inter- forte amplification. Otherwise they esting production no.yelties- seen look nice In their mess jackets and .here In a long while. - The set is a,ri formal trousers. animal cage and the ballet girls are Miss Bordonl'spoke loo much be- costumed like a troupe, of lioris; tween songs. • She opened with They go through the paces to whip •Mardl Gras' r.nd then pulled an cracking by'a male'trainer.'Ganjou American flag introductory about Bros, and Louise Gay, which sounds her countryman, Chevalier, In pre- Uke an adagio, trio, were billed but lude to the Valehtlna' Impression. didn't show. The whip cracker Riiss Columbo and his orchiestra missed top often and from the half- closed. Apart from doing a bit too w;ay to the finish the audience ap- much, especially. after that long peared to be guessing whether he'd show, just why he needs the band crack the whip or miss the next Is something to think about. The time, which detracted from the girls. act Is all Columbo and whether the Better handling of the whip and a regular pit band, or an organist, for little more speed In the line work appearance than the usual male that • matter, accompanies him, or J- ouId have made this a tough num- chorus string. Holland and knight whether it's his.own musical ag- her for the rest of the show to fol- ©n for their first ballroom dance, . First iSTatlonal's ;Cablh Int the Got;- ton Is the screen piece, de resistance and bperiihg.-day trade' presaged' «i light gross, ' ; ; - Land. FOX, BROOiCLYN Brooklyn, Oct. 7. Jack Holland and Jutie. Knight head the F-M 'Night- Club' Idea- this \veek and hold their end tip well. Good support from a list of acts, but sho\v^ is, weak oh comedy. Production opens on a scene in the foyer of a French iilght club; with the six line girls as snappy maids checking the coats of the six boys v^hb form the other half of the mixed line. Go Into an opening dance punctuated by a comedy dance by a .boy. Then another line nun^er with the six boys, but along different lined. Boys make a better smoothly a,nd effectively done; Miss mWSREELS gregaUon, makes little difference. Jow. . _ ^ , . <,„.««ww, «^»,.v.,^., v.«..~. He could just do dust as well wUh r Diamond^ Boys have the next spot Knight Is extraordinarily graceful a pianist, or accompanying himself. with^thf full stage to themselves | and her long skirts add-much to the He evidences planlstic ability in one ajid their routine only slightly al- effectiveness of her steps. Holland Qf the specialties which includes tered. Sinall attendance refused to hg right alongside, and the pair get playing the violin, besides tlie piano S^"™„V'P^ the Diamond off to what constitutes a good hand although violin really is his Instru- knockabout work got 'em eventually ^^j. this audience. ment as it always does and at the fin- ' p v • For the Can engagement, of Ish the boys were In solid. As hard In -One, with a nondescript drop w coS. a sta£ band to dSe Into worke they set an example for ?nd the big song from 'PagllaccI' police graduation exercl-ses: balloon : ?riSt"ifitneV th^ scheme of U-n the Roxy theatre's two lines of by , Waly.. ^h{^Ind^ldua"Tous^^^^ The Barstows, just back from Eu- action, and doesn't put the sock Into >«Sgency, ColuS 2s a radlS | rope. highlight the final scene With | .v"^,A**? EMBASSY Politics leads all at both newsreel theatres this week)' Coverage at the Embassy Is greater and more-com- plete. . . ■^ere P-athe abbreviated the Gar- den show-tO a bull's eye of the "Tam- inany crowd a1»d- a few words from 6'Brlbri',^ Po3?,-Hears't too'K. in a-ll-^de- J^Us .Iheludlng- the, reading ofthe entire. Walker. radlograni. ', ■ , Luxer audience was>lmperyious to; the.- : Smltb^Ropsevelt. -handshake ljvhll» the Embassy fans; who.greet- ed-O'Brlenln -marked. sHehce.-'lauded this clip. , . • - s ' .HooveyV In-'Des-Moines got -a vlir- tualf demonstration at^ the -Embassy. Fbx-Hearsf worked- In-, exclusiveis sat.', afternoon on Trubeie Davison; Wild'Bill' Donovan,' and Al- Smith showing';-; Sclimeling . the Empire buUd'Ihfi^ tower , .;. , * In. gienerai' coverage *of '.he.ws the Embassy program^ -was Indpresslve.' Probably the most Impottant horror scoop since Universal's exclusive on the Detroit solO flight, disaster w'eis P-H's' view of- a crackrup on an English auto track. - Thiis clip was little short of a marvelous-exhibl- tioh of photographic technique. 'Sit- ting in the audience It would seem that the disaster had been staged for . the F-H ccimera. Lense . fol- lowed the. car around - the track and took- in every detail of the smash. 3ody of the driver hurtling through the air and landing on the traclc was clearly perceptible through fly- Irig diebris. F-H -was a week behind Pathe on the Hutchinson family alibi and the former Kaisor at a beach resort, al tI)ough It covered both from differ ent aspects. Important scoop also was F-H's coverage of De "Valera's attack on the League of Nations. Other Embassy clips included Prince of Wales In Denmark; Mayor McKee pledging: support to national unemployment relief drive; Admiral Byrd on tax reduction flight; spawn ing salmon in Oregon; Bavarian bird doctor; Maryland horse race; amateur sluggers in IVIad. Garden; TRANSLUX All Saturday afternoon center aisle, the only one in the Luxcr, was congested. People were stand- ing most of the time .half-way to the screen.- Incidentally it's about, ^imc -tlio Luxer did one: or two things. With winter at the door .the Luxer's main title about ''a new ~imer program', is , getting shopwornv- . Also; . this - keeping people oh their feet for the .greater: part of an> entire program an4 , crowding the. place . until city regulatlohs .force the b. o.'window "to. close, could .;6e. remedied.-. There are another 2&0Mseats next door that have been cpllecting duet for the past lour. months. It seems that the overflow- . from the " surviving Ljui^er easily warrants " a- resurrec- tion of the disused half. .Aside from the political coverage there , is; little of note In the current hews program. . Universal's- views 'of Federal agents r destroying; Newark liquor were. - seen at ■ the -Embassy last week;' • •. The voting for people in all walks of. life continues-to be intieresting as is Pathe's revival of the 'more jpbs' campaign which Universal in- trcduced. • With - a. little" more - evidence U's story of- the. sailor' who now pre- sents himself as responsible for the 'Fi-Isco' bombing,- and . not Tom Mooney, would be worthwhile. As it is presented-It doesn't register conviction. - The first Sing Sing football game of the: season Is .covered in similar manner .by both houses.- Tallcing reporter's cracks provide the Pathe coverage with more laughs. Pathe cameramen aiiout this time every year do a little mountalheer- ihg. Now .Mt Rainier is vaulted. Some couples will go to any ex- treme for marriage publicity. First to enter a lion's den for the cam-, era probably is the pair in Penn. caught by Pathe. Both theatres had iPremier Azana in Spain; some more about the Los Angeles stunt man. Other Luxer clips included: Mary Fickford ehtertaining child perform- ers; members of the DAR embark- ing for Europe; sinking of marble shaft for Mussolini-monument: teir- poon fishing in Mexico; Jewish Nev^ Year cbremonies; fashions. Waly. IMPERIAL^ TORONTO Biggest hand Toronto, Oct. 7. went to Maxine ^oonerWlthTTlzeablT rep should It^^^^^^ *^*P^,?'/«"una"c number for] , go. It alone. He. could do better ahead ©f Capt. Willie's wlndup. The ©"eot. that way In the long run, ho doubt brother and sister team boiled things Back to full stjage, but now In the As Is, the band, competent enough' down, to their stair number,.,but it supper room, wlth.ojily a couple of Lewis. Customers couldn't get ' and all that, is just a backer-upper was enougn. to give them, sock rat- tables oh ,the left, the space being enough of this petite torch singer, for the crooner. Only In one brief '"f, returns. needed for the specialties. Line Headllncir and m. c. is Charlie .eesslondo they get any scintillating * rank. Cambria s title for the opens 'with a waltz In the semi- Foy, who uses the Olsen-Johnson- opportunities. 5i .i® , !? Carnival.' The In- darkness, followed by Fritz and Murray formula of speedy nonsense. .. For the rest Rubin shifts In and J^^'dual production items follow Jean Hubert . In an acrobatic dance poy even has a stooge who does out, first In talis and then In tux, that theme with their striking back- which has something. Some of the the Milton Charleston jitters in He looks better in the dinner jacket srounds and wardrobes, girl's flips are much above'.average, cross-fire patter. He has some funny moments/ and '^'t symphony, led by DavId_Ross, including a couple of neat twisters Balalaika sexette open before a others not so funny. - went rather heavy this week to tise that would, be a credit to a male crazy set of cock-eyed dwellings for House has an attack of trallerltis second Hungarian Rhapsody for performer. King Brothers and Cully Russian medley as Olga and MIscha this week. Mebbe 'Smilin* Thru,' "JYerture. The tense attention on for the almost Inevitable nut for a waltz In Southern cos- .coming next week, Is aU that the fi^^^ overture by this audience, comic trio. They throw their hats tume, Incongruity of old time South- superlatives on the heralding trail- '"•'contrast to^ Its Indifferent atti- around and do prattfolls just like ern. dance marred by the use of a " "" Itude toward the stage proceedings, the others, but too mechanically Russian band. Four unbilled girls indicates that the Roxy manage- done to get the usual laughq. One lease on In 'one' for a seml-classic ment has cha,nged, but its custom- of the boys got a momentary break routine, silver costumes and grace rf^i- ^^ "^^^ **^*'"^t t° with a dance fragment but the turn of quartette drawing a warm re- ft f^r f'"^'*^ medium for a cll- is without lift and too formless. sponse. Foy and his sextette of ers alleged, but that sort of buUder- upperlng always makes one sus- piciousl . The John Gilberts-Virginia ;Bruce, (Mrs. Gilbert) is unofficially co starred—In 'Downstairs' Is the weak fJJ*®!® that's extremely partial to ' the classical. Their odd idea of the best in light entertainment Is a Mickey Mouse or 'Silly Symphony' cartoon short, so they get one every feature attraction. The usual news reel rounds it out. Looks like a poor gross again at the Cap curr rently. Ahel. the classical ThelTdd^ iS^ „f tK« Holland and Knight back for a stooges back for more nonsense and tStt m light S!twSlrim^^^^ I number, better than the first | tbe headliner tralUng fj)r api^'i^" PARAMOUNT, L. A, Los Angeles, Oct. 6. Ed Smith, who operates this house for Par-Publix, never tries to skimp ■on stage talent when he has what is .figured a strong picture draw. This week Marlene Dietrich's 'Blonde week. This time it's a 'Symphony.' 'Hat Check Girl' (Fox), the pic- ture, wasn't drawing Friday evening. Bige. . Venus' is ^he screen magnet and ment is vouchsafed the Chicago Jans and, Whalen were brought in clientele this week by a " Mickey Mouse or 'SlUv a^nhnn^ with real applause going to a hot tlon of his late father that Is throat- onrfnnn ^Vtf\^ *u^^ Symphony' rumba and a ebln bv Holland carry- catching. The stooge sexette are cartoon short, so thev.^.t I [;j™grs pwt^r tha?s g^Tf^ all over 'the stage. Sometimes where. Rudy Kaye kicks in with a they're funny and sometimes they're burnt cork comic that Is mostly "ot^ Sandwiched In are dances by based on playing a clarinet while pt* Verne, Virginia Peck and Tudy, doing back bends and similar stunts, but Identities are lost through ppor Broken with dancing and bends announcing and the fast and ' furious entrances of Foy s stooges Feature film Is 'Night of June 13' (Par). Usual fillers and Jack Aiv thur gesticulating with the baton In a revival of' grandmother's fa vorites. McBtay. CHICAGO Chicago, Oct 7. A reasonable amount of amuse- whlle carrying a glass lamp bal- anced on his head. Kaye probably would collect huore as an act than in a production, but they liked him Janice Walker starts to -wind . , . . ... . . I ^1 - biir that I things up 'with a Cinderella song to^add luster to the stage show, was rather tardily booked and had which goes Into a pantomime of the Latter pair draw heavy^coln. but to go for its headliner to Roy Bolger fairy story. Great stuff for the kids fail to show the reason why. "What who played the house about Ave on the story, and the grownups ap- may wow the eastern folk doesn 11 months ago with at least part of predate the codtumlng and routln- Gaumont 'Palace. Paris make an impression on the ticket his present routine buyers out. here, and the entire tenor Leon Lebnidoft skipped to Call of the turn hits belbw a smash, fornia suddenly on personal busi However, Whalen's nifty tapping ness. His absence is perhaps can stand alone in any company. | noticeable. The show id not ing. Different from the . conven- tional .Unale^ and better, for a change. Show ran 47 minutes. Rosa Rio billed for her oreranlog, | topping the bill, helps considerably, so I but replaced by Bob Hamilton at I After a newsreel,' the stage show Paris, Oct. 1 Gauhiont Palace is picking up, due to wintry weather setting in with no thanks to the feature, but a stage show, with Hal Sherman Milla Sonde, droning ^er recita- P^ettJ^ On the other hand It's fasten the keyboard. He works with a film comes Immediately tive dirge^ from 'Hullabaloo.' ^'i}-\^^°J^lf;^^ ^ tempo has on based on the familiar Idea of adap- This includes first 10 supposedly about the best reception of the bill, occa^^^^ all the zip of chilled tatloh of classical music for pop Viennese girls of very mixed origin which, Incidentally, Is longer oh moiasses. , . . , numbers and winds up with Cho- doing several dances at opening and lookers than any seen hereabouts Production department and Val pin's 'Valse Minute' done In less between numbers. Then comes Dar- for moons. Donna Grant is a tricky "asset fra.med a cbuple of attrac- than the 60 seconds, as shown by a lene Walders, American solo dancer, tappist who knows how to sell per- "y®.f"""1°®", one a variation stop watch In closeup on the screen. I next booked for England and Italy, sonality, while Constance EVans on ^ *h« van-Can, another for the ,Too much of this sort of stuff might whb gets a very good hand. Other does an acro-contortion number 1" ?"*i,!'.^^„,^2?^^^ sH- pall, but for a just Once It's effective, act ifi Alen and Evans, two acrobats front of the line. undtrt>.n^^ ^^k^^ Harlemesque sam Jack Kauffman back in form of exceedingly neat work, and well Unfortunately, Rena and Rath- undertones. .In between_Bolger kib- with a well-knit. medley overture, worth putting In a revue. Hal burn do a copy act of the Fritz and °"^®d and danced., getting most of wlth.Barro HlU doIng 'Eli ElL' 'With' Jean Hubert drunk dance, even h'^ laughs from a political bur- good taste'.Kaufrman does not work using some bf the same music. Jfsque and forgetting the point of him into the routine, as usual, but Toward the end it becomes apparent Si-l drunk stoty. He sells himself, follows with HIU as a special num- that using new material, this team With each appearance his comedy bbr. The sonorous melody would could go a long ways, since the elrl fjftf. surer, better. His dancing was not fit In well In a Jazz collection. Is comely and both have ability. r"^„f vS..^^ t> ^ . . and, entirely apart from its relig Eddie Stanley celebrates his sixth I ^f^-t .^ennedy from Ben Bernie's lous singniflcanco It gains more at- week as m. c. by digging up even o'^^nestia^cam^^^ In^or ^he week asjtentlon through Isolation. Just suits more ancient and feeble gags than " '^o before. He either precedes or fol- I lows each with an apology. a tenor soloist. He has what is i Hill's robust voice, and over like as a microphone' voice and nobodv'a business, there was no microphone for ^im ^ " * Sherman does his usual terp antics, with the usual result. Show is now produced direct by Erenthal, and could stand some technical advice as to staging and lighting to get the value of an en- semble of acts. Fred Mele's orchestra opens with Saint-Saens* Swan Song, which, coming immediately after the ballet, makes the audience also expect it After >ws each with an apoiogy. FrIdav That's another Wav nf qa-^ Film menu Is 'Chandu' (Fox), to be done on the stage. After House was capacity at^ open^ng " J^^-.'^"^"^»comes Lohengrin's march How, but petered off for thb rest of ^^^nat^^^^^ Zanzibar, an Finally the feature, titled'Amour... ■xo. nftArnnnn. Snanlsh Overture f^"-**' a'a" i> .n»» ine Dig auauorium ' ^,. „„«j^_r *w«.-m^ -I™ a .<.kt«k i„ «^„<.^/n„„i„ t —i Se\fterrioon. ^ Spanish Overture \\^^^^ "Kenn^v hTe a^bovl'sr ne?? I 03wald°cartb^^ I Amou'r,'"wVlchirexceedln7l7local, and Paramount News completed the ^?n"f*|y nas a Doyisn Per- Ohio. ' "*''—' pn^ram. Stage show ran 40 mlns. ' sonality that disarms criticism andlrelL PARAMOUNT, N. Y. New York, Oct 8. On Belle Baker's withdrawal from the stage show for the holdover week, Ruth Roye and France^ Lang- ford are added. Besides Miss Baker, the Three Rio ^ros., Donald Novis and Annette' Ames are missing, leaving it-all a.rather skimpy ros- trum portion. Possibly Publlx regarded the draw of 'Phantoni , President,' which opened sensationally strong, as enough on the holdover week, and In view of the fuss with Miss Baker, ■ who walked, paid little attention to the stage. Miss Baker wanted Monday (10) off to celebrate Tom Klppur, Pub- llx refusing to give her that time out, whereupon she declined the holdover week. On the first week she and :Borrah Minevitch topped the layout none too strong as it was. Currently, It's no stronger, if as strong. Miss Roye is spotted on top of the opening fullstage num- ber by the girls, which seems a lit- tle early for an artist of her quali- ties. The singing comedienne by sheer showmanship and a diction that may be surprising to some of the de luxe picture mob, caught on quickly Saturday afternoon and walked away with a good hand. She probably would have done even bet- ter farther down on the. showi even though closer to the balance of the comedy, wrapped up in Mlhevltch's act. t Miss Roye opened with 'Every- thing's Goin' to Be All Right* swinging into a special that lands a lot of plugs for nationally adver- tised articles. The German special is for the finish and like the others is sold with consummate skill. Jesse Crawford at the organ cen- ter stage separates Miss Roye and Frances Langford. Latter does okay, but fails to show impressively. She was spotted to top the Craw- ford number, singing a brace from the side of Crawford's organ. She might have appeared to better ad- vantage in 'one,' or at least a lit- tle farther downstage. Miss Langford hails from radio, where she's been undergoing a bulld-up procfess. She does not use a mike, which may be a drawback, although the voice has sufllclent power to chance getting along with- out it. The effect might be different with .the amplifiers, as for others from the air. In vaude recently she uaeJ a mike and seemed to shape up better. Numbers done down here are 'Toil Made the Night Too Long' and one (Continued on page 62)