Variety (Oct 1932)

Oetober 25, 19^2 VAUDE HOUSE REVIEWS VARIETY f« 33 STATE, N. Y. fltAte tWe week has both'Bcreen iJa Saxo show. In happy accord, of those occasional lucky con- SncUdns that happen only too sel- iSSa a picture that piques Interest Snd a supplemental, entertainment ShAt works out at a maximum ot JST materlaK Feature is Xrove Me fi^ntebt' (Par, Chevalier) and the fcjn contains a compact live-act ^©up that plays better than it leads. .-. iAnflwei- was capacity Friday eve- Bln« at the opening and an audi- that gave, generous testimony |o Its satisfaction. 'Con Colleano made a trim opener «rltb his wire-walking act that Is Ae acme of clean-cut specialty, mie Spanish' athlete of the strand mttkes a graceful figure, and his toOancing without.any aid would be JSectacular enough alone. Intricate dance steps on the slender support and gymnast fea:ts that usually are Mnflned to a mat klve it the ultra iHch. Nice-looking girl- helps to '«8B the stage. Frank and Peter Trado, No. 2, give that often slighted spot the Support It deserves but doesn't al- ways gfet. Two boys are first rate ■ong.and-dance salesmeen, with enough on the straight side to get' them past. A vigorous comedy knack is added to the excellence (ifthelr specialty. Use of time-worrt devices is confining them to early placements,, however, notably the ^visible person business that be- longs to burlesque and the tangled ifOSt routine that ought to be the mark of dialect parody singers and not modern comedians. They did . well here, and should do better with a fihrewder arrangement of their laugh promotions. Their present tfr9-hlgh gag makes a pip of a fnale. . Molly Picon,- back fi'om her. world tour, probably represented some- thing on the marquee and certainly pieant a lot to the excellent pattern of the performance. This dlmlnu- : tlve recruit from the foreign theatre . of New Tork is as ever a fine artist for any theatre. She brings a new repertoire of numbers and a stage manner broadened by her travels. She works with the same old slm pie directness, walking on without fiourlsh and parade, and appearing to get as much enjoyment out of her. performance as she gives. Opens with a comedy lyric reflect- ing what she thinks of,parlous audi- ence types. Caricature of a Yiddish woman in a doctor's ofillce is a comic impression. 'Rhapsody of a Wolklng Goir is a. brisk delineation and a song oddity she says she picked up in Rumania on her travels makes the finish. Latter might have come out of the Chauve Souris, ' likable as a novelty, but scarcely strong, enough for the getaway. She needs, a sock finish now. The rest of thtf song cycle does very well Indeed. Bob Murphy took the next-to-shut assignment and held it down, thanks largely to the antics of the boy, clowning pianist act framing up on' tlie Buster West layout, Bob's daughter contrlbytes mildly, and Murphy pere pervades the turn with restrained comedy comments, being more tnqderate in this respect than . most parents, who usually want to command the situation to the detri- ' ment of returns. Youngsters get no lobby billing at this stand, perhaps because all the stage show billing Is sparse in deference to the Chevalier feature. "Will Osborne and his band hold the closing niche, devoted to. the roughest of rowdy clowning, -varied by a wide range of musical num- bers from straightaway orchestra- tions to syncopated roughliouse and lowdown. Outfit banks on speed, and intCkes it iserve for a comedy high spot on any bill, particularly useful for a, final spot. .Series of burlesque radio Impersonations In the early running Is first rate, one of the bandsmen doing a nifty Cal loway bit. Osborne's use of 'Shanty' was an anti-climax right after Murphy had done the same number, latter with a good gag. concealed In Its other ''Vise straight rendering. Murphy has to change the original line only a little to make It 'I'd give up the Palace if I were King, King and King.' It sailed high tit the State, but it's a darb nevertheless. Rush blue pants—not uniform, with here 4nd-there a brown pair of pants showing. Repertoire includes the usual type of college songs, Includ- Icg a medley of football tunes and a bow to pop music. Walter Nilssbn holds next to shut with his unicycle work, being han- dicapped by small space and or- gan music for bows and a chaser while Horace Heldt's band moves from pit to stage. Despite these cyclist drew best laughs of show. Wllmot, Peters and Co. open, hav- ing as a highlight comic hula dance that followed a legit Hawaiian wig- gle by shapely gal. Their hoofing is far superior to the opening jgags. Light and Stever deuce, latter barltoning a group of pop tunes, with Light doing one piano solo and accompanying.: In the trey spot Ehnery Sisters swapped a few chestnuts, warbled a tune or two and. swiped two encores and as many bows. Heldt's band (16) in its 13th week does one swell number, 'Dark Syes,' with a semi-Bolero background. Plenty sweet arrangement and novel light effects worked by bands-: men combine in selling it smartly. Three other tunes Include a repeat on a drinking song, 'Donna Clara,' with Heidt singing It in English, Spanish and German, and later kid- ding his own voice, and a football sequence. In two of the numbers Is Yerna Qordon, who is no great shakes as a hoofer. Bock. HIPP, BALTIMORE Baltimore, Oct. 21. It appears that this house Is on Its way to another high gross mark currently with the Mills Bros, head- lining. Business started out pow- erfully at the first show Friday, despite the jgeneral flabblness of the vaiide show. That weakness will likely be remedied by the switching of the running order and the pos- sible replacement of an act. The continued strength of vaud© at this house and Its payment of heavy dividends a,t the boxofllce refiects the sincere conscientiousness with which this house Is booked; and the vaude show pampered. At the first performance this show was loose ifor the first three acts, and it was only the last two, Fortunello and Girilllno, next to closing, and the Mills boys, Just be- fore the picture, that saved the bill from being a complete washout. the deuce spot and warbles a quar- tet of pop and seral-heavy numbers, displaying a pleasing soprano voice. For an encore she did a comedy number In Italian. Trey spot allotted to Snyder and his partner, Brooks. They do a lot of wisecracking, Snyder sings and dances a bit, and Brooks plays a sax. It's good comedy and gets over nicely. Six Royal Samoans are from the 'Rain' prolog at Grauman's Chinese. Five men and a girl, all natives, are Ihstrurtientallsts and dancers, with girl and one man featuring a couple of hot hula routines. A hatchet dance by the men lis intri- cate. Irwin on next, for his customai'y patter and gagging, and then Into the close -with a local girl band act titled Ken Becker and his Holly wood Sweethearts. There are IB clever femme musicians In the out- fit, with Becker handling the baton MET., B'KLYN In the opening was a skating and clowning in one scene. Girls turn, Three Olympics, small-tlmey combination. Stunts are ordinary, but manage to get by. What hurts them, more than anything else is |. the poor music. Especially needed Is waltz time for that Intricate weaving skaitlng bit are proficient on various instru ments; there are a couple of good hoofers and plenty of specialty workers, so that It!a pleasing diver- sion, although Just a break-In. Per sonnel Is from the Wurlltzer music store Class, A little more experience 'Successful Calamity' (WB), . U news and adventure short on screen Business above normal at opening mat. ORPHEUM, MPLS. Minneapolis, Oct. 20. Names plus plenty of comedy and dancing make this blU s, box office stand-out. There's not a weak sis- ter among the five acts and four rate top notch. 'Phantom of Crest- wood/ (Radio) on the screen Isn't to be sneezed at, either, Dorothy Lee Is the screen name while Yorke and King carry plenty of weight with vaudeville fans. Add Cherry and June Prelsser and the Wiest and Stanton reviie for good entertainnient . measure and you have a dandy four-bits' worth. Felovls, Juggler, opens satisfac- Ir-ving O'Dunne'denized with 'and and the outfit ought to click, company'a femme partner, but was later replaced by Roy Rogers. Stone and Gibbons is a six-person dancing act comprising a mixed speclialty team and four girls. Noth- ing new in the act, and it gets by mainly on bulk and its music. Sin- gle outstanding item is the mian's split work, but he tends to overdo It. The lady contributes filp-flops. Fortunello and Cirollino went big. Mills Bros, closed and could have stayed on all day. They sang three songs for an act and three more for an encore, and then it wasn't enough. 'Strange Justice" (Radio) feature. Pathe review, and Pathe news com- pleted. Business excellent. . . RKO, L. A. Los Anjgeles, Oct. 21. Fourth week of the RKO in its PALACE, CHICAGO Chicago, Oct. 21. Serge Oukrainsky, former ballet master of the defunct. Civic Opera, stepped over for a week to produce •Dance of the Hours' and a 'Sew Ing Box' ballet. Both were attrac- tive productions. For the rest it was a vaudeville show. Joseph Griffin was back to tenor a pair of ballads before the drapes. B.en Omar, Arabian tumbler, pro voked enthusiasm with his speed Joe and Jane McKenna blew up the final remnants of restraint with their second knockabout specialty torlly. The act' follows rbutlrie "t^j; P?"<=y °'s^'^tle^^ their first hoke session, lines and the performer goes about his task in a workinahlke fashion without attempting many comedy effects, but his f^ats are sufficiently difficult to provoke audience ap- plause. He does nifty stunts with three sticks and a small rubber ball. Returning for their 'second visit, _ _ Cherry and June Prelsser repeat the [and the opening"of\lie Pahn"spr^^ highly favorable inidial impression and prove a strong act for the deuce spot. If the diminutive June is hot a great -bet for a Broadway revue or floor show, one reporter misses his bet entirely. The blonde young- ster has looks, personality and cute ness, coupled with dancing ability and comedic talent. Her sister also has a world of good looks. . Their hot dance numbers in abbreviated costumes land with a bang. June ialso scores with a comedy song. Wlest and Stanton have the as slstance iof a trio, of feminine look Golden Gate, Frisco San Francisco, Oct. 21, With 'All-American' (Par) on screen RKO has gone football-con- scious, setting aside separate nights for the half dozen colleges situated in the Bay district and plugging personal appearances from those In •stitutions. Additionally, one of the acts is the University of San Fran Cisco glee club (25) booked at a low price and probably p.iying for it self. Glee club wa.s pretty rough at opening mat, lacking the case that should come with few more shows. Catholic U biinch directed by Fred Brown. Latter contributes 'One Alone' as tenor solo for punch of act. Singers arc grouped in .semi- ''Ivcle on full stage, with piano in center. Outfits—white .shirts and away to a fair start with a benefit | for. the Motion Picture Relief fund on the opening of Radio's 'Bill of Divorcement.' Benefit looked great on paper, but wound up with reverse English with only the balcony sell- ing. : Most of downstairs was paper. Lack of picture stars at the opening was blamed on the U. S. C.-Stan- ford game in Frisco on Siaturday, They are deluxe elapstlckers; Aux Brooklyn, Oct. 21. Rather disappointing that far- from-capacity representation on tlie last performance of the opening day. Certainly it couldn't have been attributed to a lack of names to conjure: with on the stage bill. There was Dorothy Jordan, one of the more Ingratl.itlng picture per- sonalities with still more feti-hing appeal In the flesh and a bright' I'spai'k of talent for the footUght.s. There was Benny Rubin, with everything but an ether rep, to pro- vide the laugh interludes, and, above all, there was the now svelte Paul Whiterhan and his latest re- vised entourage. As presented here the sL-ige pro- ceedings constituted two acts. Opening brought Dorothy Jordan and a foursome of ballroom togged lads for a terp fantasy that sud- denly swung into a patter exchange between the screen miss and Rubin. Most of the humor attempted dur- ing this tete-a-tete not only missed fire, but seemed misplaced. As a feed Miss Jordan makes a corking little Ingenue for romantic clinches. But the gags that Rubin framed between them could not have helped her much, particularly tl^at runoff titbit about calling him 'ham.' That line registered flatly and took something of an edge off the strong . impression she had made with her lithesome and eye-filling dance, routine. Not' only that, but It deprived her of a real parting ovation, and one that- was assuredly coming to her. It wouldn't be a bad Idea were Rubin to chuck that 'ham- gag and replace It with something more appropriate to the Jordan per- sonality. Rubin followed up her departure with a monolbg that didn't do much damage to the midriffs out front, but the. ennui was quickly dispelled when the comic limbered up the old ankles and dashed off a sample of the Riiblneisque style of buck- wlngery. Until he acquitted him- self later, and brilliantly so,. In the Whlteman passage the impression garnered that the Benny Rubin who used to do a vaudeville act was noy^rrCi doing a personal appearance. As a stage presentation thie lllary ^spasms were sprung by the -whiteman exhibit unveiled here season with most of the'picture names hitting out for those spots on opening night (Friday). Picture I industry In general failed to respond to the charity cause. However, as the relief fund has staged several I gags recently, including the Pageant at the Olympic Stadium, posslblli- Four Ortons, or, more precisely, by thei Orton with the comedy duck. All of these turns were 'sight' acts depending not at all on dialog. Talking acts are rare at -thei Chi cago, and wisely so. It's a tough house for gab. Business was better than on an ordinary' Friday. It happen^ to be 'State Street Day,' a shoppers' stampede in which Balaban & Katz was prominently identified. The picture, 'Big Broadcast' (Par) was so heavily laden with radio nanies that there was hardly room outside the theatre to get all the billing up. ties, are that the industry lis soured Undoubtedly curiosity to view ether on giving. Premier got away to a poor start with 'Sham Poo the Magician,' a Radio two-reel comedy. Minus laughs. It was a dull thud. Pathe weekly followed. Mickey Mouse favorites had much to do with trade. Lan(t. ers and another young man in their cartoon next, which livened things melange of comedy skits, singing up a bit, but was offset by the and dancing. The 'St. Jandes In- Radio studio orchestra, which fol flrmary* number Is the turn's piece- lowed. Combo is a 60-piece orches- ACADEMY, N. Y. *Phantom President' (Par), on screen, will draw whatever comes into the house this week, not the 1 vaudeville. There wasn't much de-reslstance and a welcome repeat, tra used at the studio for. syncing bulging of the box ofilce Saturday liked as well as on previous visits. There are plenty of broad touches in some of the episodes, including that of the two men making a play for a couple of dames, reminiscent of burlesque. A travesty on radio stars Is fairly effective, A dazzling blonde sports some eye-arresting costumes during the dancing.. A brunette, who also Is easy on the pictures. Lacking showmanship and playing racerpts from musical scores of Radio pictures it meant nothing. If an orchestra had to be on the stage, a hot conibination was necessary, due to the theme of the feature. Finale of the orchestra had a 24-voice Hawaiian chorus singing one num.. ■ from 'Bird of Paradise.' No sock to this with the eyes, contrlblites acrobatic dancing number urging little more than po- and high kicking. Dorothy Lee, with a young man, does some song and'dance numbers from pictures In which she has ap peared. She Is good to look at with her trim figure and pretty face, but she has little to offer for vaudeville outside of the fan Intereiat In a screen jjersortallty. Minus the ex ceptlonal entertainment surround- ings of Warlrig's Pennsylvanians with whom she last appeared In Minneapolis, she has rather tough going and the act seems poorly placed in the difficult next-to-shut spot, although the bill's strength generally offsets this deficiency lite applause. Max Stelner con ducted In a muslclanly fashion, but lacked the stick waving hoorah nec essary to Impress picture house audiences. Entire premier was a studio idea It merited consideration, but after slight thought should have been dropped In favor ot a grind open- ling. Future of the RKO, for years a grind vaudefilm house, is still in the air. Whether or not itwrlll stay out of the red with straight pictures is yet to be proved. With proper prod- uct It may be a profitable switch; however with Universal, Columbia She dances much better than she and Radio product to draw from^ it's sings. Incidentally, the use of mike might help to make the sing ing more acceptable. In a tight clinging rose-colored gown that re veals much and later In a scanty costume that brings her forth bare legged, she holds optic attention Her jazz dance goes best, but audi- ence response at the finish Is mild Yorke & King, offering some new hokum and clowning in addition to old surerilre funmaklng that bears repetition, are a smash hit as usual. The two youngsters again contrlb ute to the act, the boy demonstrat ing considerable Inherited comedy .skin. Like all Yorke &.King offer Ing.s, this one has its full quota of rough stuff, slapstick and broad "ness. With Miss King In flaming red tights, the act sets a fast com edy pace from the very outset. The sleigh rld6 comedy bit gets pretty raw in spots, but somehow Is not objectionable as this pair do it. ' Pathe News, besides the feature, on the screen. A good-.sized house at the late evening show. Rees. a goihr to have a battle. CaU. DOWNTOWN, L. A. Los Angeles, Oct. 20. Plenty of talent on this week's bill, including several new acts that show promise with more develop- ing. Charles Irwin Is m.c, and han- dles the assignment nicely. There's another m.c, in the show this week, Vut he's teamed with a chap for a two-act. He's Billy Snyder, who has m.c.'d all over the coast and Is now dl.splaying his ability through a new channel. bslow troupe of acrobats opens. The four males and two femmes offer a lot of tricky stuff and have an unusual finish, with two of the outfit holding a huge trapeze, from which is suspended one of the men. Latter does a foot catch of a chap catapulted from a springboard. It m.ikes the customers sit up and take notice, J2va Olivetti, late of radio, Is In afternoon, -with plenty of seats around upstairs and down. And probably when word gets around about the stage show, lure will be less While there are a couple, of stand ard acts on the show, in its en- tirety the vaude portion Is, a slow, Ill-blended affair which never seems to get stdrted right. Miacahua, wire performer, opens.. "Very clrcusy In presentation and anything but graceful on the steel strand, Miacahua had a difficult time arousing audience Interest Sat- urday afternoon. . She found the crowd cold at the start arid Henry Tobias and orchestra (New Acts) found It just as stiff at the finish. The Calls Bros., clever dancers, knuckled down to 10 minutes, on second, arid, while their tap routines reflected the same fine technique, the boys did not seem in best fet- tle, most all of the comedy missing entirely. Third on show Keller Sisters and Lynch who went down to almost Ignominious defeat after three trio numbers and a single. They're an- nounced through . amplifiers as a WOR attraction and almost always play to better effect than on this poorly blended show. No one seemed to care rinuch. In- cluding Keller Sisters and Lynch, seeing the way the show stacked up as a whole, but Walter 'Dare' Wahl tried to force a larger hand through an encore. He found the hand then was 6ven milder than before, despite the cleverness of some of the acrobatic mlxup work In his routine. On his encore Wahl essayed some talk . His forte being pantomime, the talk proved a ban dlcap. The Tobias band is one of tho weakest ever seen down here. It lacks pep, syncopation, verve and In Tobias a leader whose voice has little appeal. Tobias carries a spe clilty dancer, Edna Lee, who'.s be low the average. Band did 17 min utes, too long considering wjiat it has to offer. Char. seemed to lack the zest, the punch and all-around scintillating enter- tainment of«the show he toured ear- ' Her in the yean Not thiit the White- man flair for showmanship plus and keeping a step or two ahead of the parade had been dimmed an lota. But Irene Taylor with that smash little . comer, Peggy Healy, fall to make up for the missing Mildred Bailey. Same applies to the hoofing department. Smart . little novelty those dusky 'Lindy Hoppers' . now".' with him, but they, don't by a long shot make up for the rounded ar- . tistry and enticing spectacle con- tributed by the Dancing Shelbys. Regardless of thd comparisons, the magic Whitdman touch , finds . itself in evidence throughout the present version. And the mob at this Friday evening performance accorded each item one rousing welcome after another. Numbers were adroitly routined, and the pacr ing was as smooth aa a Roy -Bargy tintanbulation over the ivories. Jack Fulton, 'Red' McKenzle, Ra- mona a.nd Irene Taylor each piled up hefty votes of approval, with fhe first and last forced back for a cou- ple of encores. Irene Taylor Is the recent recruit from Chicago, who . started to hit her stride as a nilke moaner after a nlp-arid-tuck ca- reer over NBC's WBNR while with the Charlie Agnew combo at the Edgewater Beach hotel. Girl has been coming along from tl)e ,style angle much more Impressively since Joining the Whlteman retinue. No- o tlceable Improvemelt, particularly. In her enunciation and ease with which she handles the higher notes. But the standout bit of promising nnaterlal among, the newcomers Is Peggy Hiealy, Looks, figure, per- sonality and a sock talent . for knocking oft a fast number. Ap^ ', pearance here ws^s her first on any stage, and the way they took to her at this session must have surprised : even "Whlteman, Girl has lots of awkward manners to Overcome, but experience and further training will easily take care of that. Quartet got over spriicely with a neatly-staged comedy, Zlngatore tors Qft one of his sizzling banjo solos,. and the 'Llndy, Hoppers,' mixed team from Harlem, spread enough fantastic rhythm to bring the proceedings to. a fast finish, Rubin's two spasms during the^^. Whlteman act were deftly inserted • and drew big on laughig .and ap- plause. Second entry for Rubin re^- vealed the comic's resourcefulness at Its best. With the quartet In support, Rubin did a comedy num- ber overtoned by a Hebrew chint that landed solidly with his audi- ence, and then proceeded to polish off the warbling. fray with a 'ge- zazka' bit that made the sendofif unanimous. Of the combo's orchestras the 'Dark Eyes' number was a gem. Entire stage show ran four mlnute.s over the hour. 'Mr. Robinson Crusoe' fUA), a newsreel and a Charlie Cha.se sub- Jcot, 'Ironsides,' comprises the film farie for the week. Odec.