Variety (Oct 1932)

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Tuesday,, October 1^, 1932 FILM HOUSE REVIEWS VARIETY 33 MASTBAUM , Phllaafelphla. Oct. 17. V "^ Alter being" clofled since June 30, ''<b6 Maatbaum, leading theatre of "the Stanley-Warner, chain, reopened ' Friday to capacity audiences. The Vevent was viewed with satisfaction Aven by the opposition, for it Is v flcured that the relighting of lils 20th and Market street spot will attract much more first run busi- ness downtown. : . ■ First show Is ah elaborate one, •with plenty qf headline figures and the apparent outlay of plenty of dough, iHarry Blchman is the top- liner In the billing and won the au- ' dlence'a approvxil with his genial ' m. c.'ing and his song spot, in which be blended 'Joyce Kilmer's 'Trees' with ■ 'IiUllaby of the' Leaves" with good effect. Richman bobbed In and out of the show and got a world of laughs. Dorothy Jordan, picture, celeb, also held a.feature spot to good re- • flponse. She was introduced by a trailer, In which she was shown with the. various Metro screen lov- ers she has support<!d; : At the fade- •-put she is viewed' with a quartet of boy .steppers and does the dance she . flald^ Chester Hale taught her for the Gapltol theatre prologues; Benny Davis presented a revue Of youthful talent, most of which was excellent. He hais a good team in the'Bobbins Sisters,: a good ringer ' {or Eddie Cantor in Little Jack Gray; clever dance teams in Mary «hd Bob and Sis and Buddy Roberts, and a good Jazz warbler in Martha ' Bay. Davis capped the revue by - recalling several of his old song suc- • cesses. . One of the other hits of the pro- gram was scored by Milton Charles, singing organist, who was the Mast- baum's crooner for more than a year before its closing. Returning from a trip abroad,' Charles, cele- bralted the Rhine beer and '. other foreign attractions in songs that were set to currently ;pppular tones. The Tln'e6 Diamond Brothers in their familiar roughhouse comedy spot did well. . The orchestra of 75 was ably led by Yascha Bunchuk, guest conduct- or In a program of Spanish airs. The. picture was 'Blondie of the .PoUles' (M-G). ■ • Waters. CHICAGO Chicago, Oct. 14. \ Val Raset's line of girls , drew heavy applausei this week as the production department did okay by Itself. Sspeclally fine were two bal- let numbers, one with a white birch forfSt forming an arresting back- eround, another with sombre castle barracks to set off a military toe number, splendidly executed. Girls throughout were In fine precision. Stajge portion gave the not-too- '(lentiful audience steady amuse- ment. • Cass, Mack and Owen's knockabout antics delivered ' the laughs. Stone-Vernon Foursome ac- «ounted for the ttirllls, and Cardini agitated the 'how does he do it?' ' tendencies. In blending and embel- ■ lished by the production numbers . It made dandy entertainment. And Dot too long. Joseph Littau's tren'chmen are . now nattily attired with the excep- . tlon of concertmaster Hans Muenzer, In white half-jackets, very trim. -Overture of Franz Schubert mel- .cdies was twice interpolated by , pretty tableaux. This Is a depar- ture for the Chlcaigo. Or rather a return to former practices, 'Night After Night' (Par) on the screen plu.g a Betty Boop cartoon and usual newsreel wherein Cal Coolidge's speech seemed to be edited to bring out Its best points. Roosevelt hasn't been getting such good breaks in the local newsreel showing. Land. PARAMOUNT, N. Y. • With the ;screen feature, 'The Big Broadcast,' holding a multiplicity of radio names, obviously the produc- tion scheme of things for the stage presentation was to create a show away from the nanie galaxy. Hence ^ Boris Petroff devised 'Mardi Gras.' ,It looks like a Joe Plunkett at the ,.old Strand, only on a larger scale. Lots of people, lots f color, lots of sight acts—and not a little bore- aome. Cut down it would have sat- isfied, as the obvious intent for ■ flash and color is decidedly there. The blending of the street enter- tainers in a riot of splendor, as befits a mardi gras, has been cap- ably created by Petroff, set and cos- tumed by Montedero, and executed by Carmine Vltblo. Bob Alton aiid David Bines did their stuff with the dancing girls—24 In number—who do terps In every form, but prin- cipally plastic and waltz. On top of which there's a large personnel including acrobats by the dozen. A break for the alley-oopers this week. The Yacopi Troupe, Les Ghezzls and the Lomas Troupe are standard among other tea,ms who do one or another form of dcro-mahia. They are Tyrell and Fawcett, Bob Stick- ney (for the finale stilts' stuff), the i^olfllfrs of t'Vrtiinc fprop'im.nblv Krevoff with his whirlwind Russe- typo.hoofing; Gypsy Markoff, song- stress; Ann Pritchard; Donald No- visan individual click with his tip- top tenoring — and a choir of 40 voices. Maybe there are the 1.15 people on that rostrum which the ads ballyhoo. They certainly look the figure.. Also in line with the contrasting motif, apparently to offset such uUra-modern things as the radio theme of the feature flicker, Rubln- off batons 'A.Day at ttje Fair/ pro- jected slides interpret the various movements —peanut stand, .fun house, roller coaster, Oriental dan- cers, etc. Rubinoff is less pugllistlp in his batoning than heretofore, but it would be a novelty to match Rubinoff and that leader, in 'Ameri- cana' to a good hot round of 'Poet and Peasant' or 'Zanipa' overtur- ihg, winner take all.. Following the newsreel, the Jesse Grawf ords at the twin consoles played Rubinstein's 'Angelic Dream.' which was productioned with a choral background for . vocal em- bellishment. Then followed the much too long • presentation; ■ .run- ning about 46 minutes and deeming longer because of the general lethargic tempo; The sweet waltz stuff was very engaging for ia, spell, but it began to tell after a bit. When Les Ghezzls did their difficuU lift stuff on the mat it had the audience laboring with them, and generously donating its. applause in lieu of actual fulfillnrient of some of the tricks. That's the type of show it was. 'The Big Broadcast' (Par) lis dayr and-dating at both the N. Y. and B'klyn Paramounts. . Abel, ROXY CAPITOL New York, Oct. 14; Stage proceedings were perfunc- tory as a magnet, in view of the screen bill being 'Smllin' Through' (M-G-M), with Norma Shearer and a strong supporting cast, and a fea- ture length of 96 minutes.' Situation called for a' brief stage interlude of entertainment that would be .com- pletely engaging, light, bat not rowdy. And Abe Lyman's band filled the bill to a nicety. Unit has the agree- able personality of Lyman himself, an orchestra that emanates' class and melody of the tiptop pop kind, and doesn't go in for rough-neck comedy. They could have searched the lists to a fare-the-well and not found a more appropriate supple-, mentary feature to the picture. Stage show, runs a scant halfr hour and has very little to bolster up the band. Just tWo specialty numbers to space but four band in- terludes, which are given straight except for lighter trimmings of m^u- slcal novelty. It all blends trimly into a bijou of a presentation unity. Opening, the band goes • Into a brisk jazz number without flourish and without comedy interpolations. Recess at the back and. abOve the heads of the bandsmen, who are on a rolling platform, lights for a brief turn by the TTiree Keys, colored novelty, vocal male trio. Session here is brief and neatly framed. Back to the Lyman aggregation for a medley of well-known opera arias.giving the repertoire a touch of musical class as handled by this tricky blending ot brasses, reeds and strings. Standard numbers likewise give backbone to the per- formance and, with the sizzling final number, provide a range that ■will meet any musical taste. Gomez and Winona have a dance session out In front of the band, a straight ballroom' pair who fit neat- ly into the atmosphere of the whole arrangement. They do just enough, giving a brief semi-acrobatic encore bit at this show and doing a prompt but gracious getaway. One of the high points for ap- plause returns was the soloing by a robust, baritone of 'That's Why Darkies Were Born," the singer step- ping out of the bunch for apron featuring. Singer is unbilled, but his contribution is a nicft^bit of pace changingr as a lead-up to the mu- sical finale, a hot melody with the brasses to the fore and a spirited finish to a stimulating musical per- formance. Length of the picture precludes a supplemental short and also minlr mlzes the newsreel footage. At that the show ran to two hours and 20 minutes. But it was solid , enter- tainment, and the feature looked like holdover quality on the brtsis of the week-end attendance. Rush. Gaumont Palace, Paris Paris. Oct. 6. After a mixed newsreel and Ch.a- brier's 'Bspagnei,' very successfully done by Fred Mele's orchestra, stage show includes Ness and, Ness, jug- glers; Jose Moscor, equestrian; the Springciana Tzigjine orchestra and the Hudson Brothers, comedian.s, whose name is leading to some con- fusion here with the Hudson Won- ders. Show could do with more technical production knowledpo, and looks rather disjointed, though acts are Individually satipfartory. , Rlin-v fii.is u-lrh til" f<i)i --r. "J/. • New York, Oct. 14, Two production flashes at either end, a sock apache number with a special , set in the middle arid sev- eral specialties fronting for the house staff, plus the customary stage color, provide a more diversi- fied entertainment that usually is found at the Roxy, Frank Cainbria, the producer, and Harry Hollander,, the booker, both experienced in other presentation fields, have the knack of. picking and spotting outside talent that had been missing at the Roxy up till now. The traditional policy of sub- merging personalities for the bene- fit of mass effects still holds over, to a" certain extent, but specialty talent now predominates. Consequently there has been a sacrifice of spec- tacle, all of which makes for a twb- slded argument. The result is less of an. eyeful, but certainly more speed and en- tertainment of the personal sort. The problem Is whether the new stylei Roxy stage show proves as satisfactory as the old style-to those Roxy patrons who remain regulars. Chancgs are It would b^ preferried by hew patrons, if the theatre could devise a surefire means of getting new pktrons Inside. Pictures would be the best means, but not the pic- tures the Boxy has been limping along on lately. With '13- Women' (Radio) current it will be just ian- other seyenrday struggle. ■ Bliminatibn this .week of the ballet dorps; a feature here since the theatre opened, is the biggest departure yet by the Cambria re- gime. It nieans24 girls out, but the difference Isn't as noticeable here as it might be anywhere' else. With the lemme members of the singing ensemble and the 32 Boxyettes still present, there are plenty of girls around for any one' theatre. Those Boxyettes aire not only strong numerically; their ability is suffi- cient to cOVer upi the ballet line's retreat. Partially filling the ballet's spot currently is a group of eight show- girl types, billed as the Mayfair Octette, and just in to dress up the stage. Cambria calls his show 'Lovers' Lane,' and that's another carryover from the Publix presenta- tion, school. In" that It has nothing to do with the proceedings. John and Edna Torrence, Vivian Fay, Mata Cora and Bose Polinaroff are the specialists in the- opening sequence, called 'Old Versailles.' Garden set and 17th century cos- tumes, with' everybody ■ . white wlgged, make a pretty picture. There's no such thing as stopping a show at the Boxy, The best one can hope for is a hand, that ripples over into the next nuniber, and even that's a rarity. Miss Fay turned the trick with a toe dance, which was ho easy matter considering all the toe dancing they've seen here from Patricia Bowman and others. Mlsis Fay is the nearest approach to Bowman that the-Rox.v has yet located, her current specialty being on a par with any one number in the latter's repertoire. Whether she's versatile enough for. stock isn't shown, but if she is, a girl like her would be a great asset, to have around every week, John and Bdna Torrence and the Roxyettes. with Miss Fay, keep the first part's dancing oh a high level. The Torrences as their first of two numbers In the show do a waltz, with a trick or two from Mies Tor- rence's former acrobatic single rou- tine neatly worked in.. They're a standard dance, team now. as stand- ard In the picture houses today as wsls Miss Torrence when alone in the same theatres a few years ago. Classical end of 'Versailles' is maintained by the Misses Cora and Folinaroft, solo soprano a,nd violin- Iste, respectively. 'Apache' J8 opened in 'one' by Alice Frohinan, pop songstress doing a buMd-up torch here and up against a handicap, in the size of the theatre. Her voice Is more suited to the ether or other inti- mate delivery and was practically lost in this auditorium. From Miss Frohman the sequence goes deeper into the stage with an . apache dance and scene in front of a spe- cial set. The billing is given to two teams, Mazzone and Keene and Leonard and White, although the participants are- three girls and as many men. They do nothing that hasn't been seen before, but. they give everything a new coat of paint in form of the speediest pace yet seen In connection with a routine apache. Show's closing number uses all the staff members, besides repeating the Torrences and splitting in the middle for some tossing by an all- male rlsley quintet. They're not billed, indicating last-mlhute bol- stering,? but they look like the Maxlmos. In addition to some nifty legit tricks the boys do comedy which is okay because It can be cut without affecting the act's value. Joseph Griffin, staff tenor, gets into this .finale scene and fills his spot capably. Out of costume this week and in a dinner suit, he looks more at.honie. Roxyettes. are, as usual, the back- bone of the show and the chief point of interest whenever they're on. It's a wonder how under such a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly grind they don't go stale. Pit symphony, David Ros.'s fon- f,;,.]<od !i li.irlit \],'■••■(■ TRANSLUX Exclusive slants on the InsuU case, Einstein, Pounds, and recov- ering the body of the Mt. McKinley scientist contribute in an important way toward the ' entertainment of the current Luxer program. Dr. Flexner Ih the Paramount clip, annoimc^s the American post for Einstein after which several library views of the scientist are shown. The finding of Ted Koven's body is a well handled subject.. Camera crew with the. expedition photo- graphs the disinterrmient of the corpse from a snow grave and the lashing 6f.it to a horse. IhsuU case, first time to be cov- ered by the reels, dwells on inter- views with stockholders and the promise to prosecute from the state's attorney. Pounds, Republican candidate for mayor, makes -his debut in the pro- gram along with a quantity of other political material which is found in both theatres, Pathe is shortening its vote inter- views and including a clip for Luxer audience reaction. There was sMence when a silent view of Hoover was flashed and feeble applause for Roosevelt. Embassy did better work on pol- itics than the Lxixer. Hoover's speech to the American Bar Asso- ciation, one of his important ad- dresses. Which led the Embassy, was passed up' entirely by the Luxer. Latter house gaVe preferred position to th© Coolidge talk which both houses had. : In the Walker homecoming the F-H job was better than Pathe's Pox got the more signlficont pollt- i-cal utterances of Walker while the Luxer contented itself with formal views. Incidentally Walker got the shoulder in the Luxer and a mild demonstration in the Embassy. .Prohibition candidates. Or party spokesmen, are certain laughs in both theatres. Upshaw's likening whisky to a shake in a babe's cradle set the Luxer cackling. Embassy didn't wait for that. First view of Upshaw's face introduced mirth that mounted throughout the clip, Paramount's view of an Oklahoma girl powdering her nose on a wing of a moving plane and then taking off in a parachute Was ia'thrilling job as well as a hazardous one for the camera. It is ope of the first clips where a semi-closeup of thia chute in mid-air has been obtained. Other Luxer clips Included: Eng- lish and Swedish royalty; S.S. Pres- ident Madison returning with three men rescued at sea; Indians observ- EMBASSY Of the. newsreel theatros ihe Km- bassy is the only one odvcrinK fo<>t- ball games this season. So fiir the Luxer hasn't taken in-'a cpntest. If this holds true for the rest of the term, Enibassy, which this week has the Columbia-Princeton. Michi- gan-Northwest matches, is bound to benefit at the box office. Perhaps the best ilhJstratibn of the value of the right kind of off screen patter is that of the Ccnti-al Park kid regatta. The pictures are identical on the. two screens, yet the Ehibassy works itself into a high pitch of mirth. 'Fat' .Mc- Manus, contact maru whose first bit of acting in a dog show clip estab-^ lished him as a,' comedian, does a turn with hla voice. The vocal crescendo which he worlds up Ih describing the movements of the miniature yachts on the Park's lake is 90% of the subject's value. Any time a kangaroo puts oh th© gloves newsreel audiences laugh. F-H takes advantage of this one to show Paris crowds and Australia's champ heavyweight kangaroo. Hearst's European correspondent, Karl von Wlegand, shapes up better in type than on the screen. It's not ' so. much his fault as that of th© editing. The subject is allowed tO; run almost the Ithgfh of a pulpit oration. Both housies . had HindenbUrg's 85th birthday which Von Wlegand iticidentally stated will happen a month trom now. Embassy fol- lowed this with another Hitler re- view.- ■. ■ Clarence Mackay had better have a little mike coaching before he at- tempts another newsreel plug for Postal. Telegraph. He cleared his throat so often that It was picked up as a gag and mocked by ■ Sat. mat. audiences; . Other Embassy subjects includ©: Former Crown Prince greeting American students in Austria; Imx^ don traffic, through the trick lehs^' Wyoming cattle; Japanese girls getting rifl© Instruction; New Vi- enna opera; opening of Canadian Parliament; Lord Cecil on disarma- ment; outboard races in Detroit; Czar's gardens mad© public. Both theatres had the ai-rival of the SS Rex; California train wreck; pigeon .race' from Washington to New York, Wolj/. , ing Medicine Lodge treaty; children playing with a lioness; Coolidge and Al Smith at a iailroad conference; Blackpool Park, London; Mexican whisky; recovery of Joe, the chimp. Walif. IMPERIAL, TORONTO . Toronto, Oct. 14. Current Imperial stage bill strong on standout turns, 'With Pi-ank and Milt Britten's goofy band topping the offering for sheer entertainment and audience response. This clownr ing crew stage the second stanza, opening in a sti'aight number that trails into a melange of musical acrobatics, smashing of instru- ments, a battle royal with thei pit band. In which both groups bom- bard each other with chairs and splintering violins, and a grand finale ending in the virtual stripping of a frenzied pianist. Nothing like it seen up here before and the cash customers couldn't get enough of these clowns. Novel and speedy, the act should do well on word-of- mouth. First half of bill also has Its mo- ments. Presentation opens in full- stage before night-club set with background of chromium pillars and revolving globes. Pit band on stag.e for first half and set crowded, what with, half a dozen girls on the bill, plus the Brltton gang, at tables. Lorietta Dennison, red-headed m.c, does a clarinet bit and follows with a combo tap and xylophone num- h<&i\ Nice reception. ■ •Beatrice Howell deucfes with im- pressions of Za^u Pitts, Greta Gar- bo; Lionel Barrymore and Lyda Ro- berti. La.st is least known but the be.st of the Iniper.sonatlons. Still a femme bill, with Hite, Kenny and Casey out for a strut number, a syn- chronized tap, stcp-outs for hock steps and too blt.s, and a rousing strut finale. Glrl.s worked hard and displayed clevorne.s.s that drew hands for particularly dilTlcult exe- cutions. Fctchingly pajamaed trio tta.a a blonde, bruncrtte and red head, strong on personality. Chic Kennedy ends first half, de- mure girl being dragged out for .shy busine.ss and jolting them with a tough and ba.s.so rendition of the 'Ga.shousc' number..' CllhchCiS tho .sock by doing an '(jur Xeir bit, with cut-out.s for four characters of. farmer, city slicker, Noll and. the rube cop. Girl goes into rnpiri .se- ries of tone-changes a.s- .s)ic .slicks lior head through apr-rturo.s in iho four figures, for cro.^f dialo^'. An- o(h«'r sock fdr :ill-fcrTjiiif fi)-.--( ;:• T Fi \. ■ \ • , ! • ■ ',• I .> I ■ ■ PARAMOUNT, PARIS Paris, Oct, f. Paramount show, as usual, begins with a newsreel, novir strictly Para- mount, and satisfactory. Then the Pierre Millot orchestra gives an ex- cellent rendition of the 'Tannhauser' overture. .This is followed by a Paramount magazine. Then comes the stage presenta- tion, titled 'Love Songs.' Fiancis A. Mangan has gone- in for more ex- pensive stuff than customary of late, and besides Andree Vavon and M. Sauvageot, Opera . Com.Jque yodling team, has booked Ferrero, accordionist, and Erwin Gautscbl and Ruth Sonhen; Latter do' a sensational apache , dance which outdoes anything of this kind at Paramount so far. Their finale, which included gen- darmes, had to be cut to shorten the show a couple of minutes. The line of 24 Mangan 'Tillerettes, as usual, are supporting the show, besides which some of the band sup- port the accordionist from-the stage. Show is excellent, and Introduces song.s of different periods^ begin- ning with the Middle Ages, which idea lends Itself to period costume dlisplay. Mangan's usual successful lighting helps, Feature is 'Une Petite Femm© dans J© Train' (Par), Drawing on account of Henri Carat's name, if nothing else. Business good. Maxi, MICHIGAN Detroit, Oct. 18. Frod waring and his I'ennsyl- vanijinn are' playing their fir.st re- turn here in over three year.s whgp they last played at the C^apitol. ;tt that time they were booked into the hou.se with a show built around them. Now they carry tJu-ir own .show. Since last local date pltnty of biind acts, have played here to varying .succcs.Sf but Waring .-jtill fiands them off i-n- .sta/L'c band en- tf^i talhment. In'adOition to his ii.^ual atjgrega- ti(iri, Waring offer.s hlK brother Tom' who sln;:.s for a, Jiicf' .show .stopper,' Al.so the two I^nc Si.stcr.s who fol- low in the foolstops of ihcir older .sl.stf)s Loj.i and Leota. This pair .'Ji'c Ko.sern.'iry and J>rl«i'jlla. The sislf'i-.s d(^ a cul«» arrangc-mf-nt on (.ivn/.y IVople tl.at jets over mostly on Die r-nleness f-f the kidn.