Variety (Jan 1933)

20 VARIETY FILM HOaSE REVIEWS Tuesday, January 3, 1933 RADIO CITY PREMIERES MUSIC HALL RKO ROXY (SHOW) Out of the weeks Ot preparation and reams of accompanying bally- hoo there emerged on this huge ros- trum on Radio City's opening night a big stage show that was bigger than good. It started at nine and ended at one, losing most of the audience long before the conclusion. Length was not the only fault. Here is the largest and probably the most magnificent playhouse ever built, spectacular in itself, and cry- ing out loud for an exhibition of spectacular entertainment upon its stage. There was enough money on hand for production to pay off the Bulgarian war debt. Tet the gen- eral reaction to the finished stage product was whole disappointment. Since opening night the perform- ance, through eliminations, has shrunk by an hour and a quarter. That leaves close to three hours of what should be cream but can't be more than Grade B. There simply wasn't that much solid entertain- ment in the first place. The opening line in the program reads: 'The Entire Performance. Conceived and Supervised by Roxy.' Roxy obviously proceeded upon the assumption that with a gar- gantuan stage to fill and' cus- tomers to amuse, the spectacle Is! the thing. That may be th^ correct theory it properly followed. But talent is another thlhgl ' And iUent. got the cold sbQiitder In this Initial Music Hall vat-iety show. ' New showmen and xkew styles In shows come and go, but talettt al- ways goes on. Evep the Rbckcifellens; Uoiay become showii^en,'. but talent Is: BtUI talent, and a show is not a ahow- without it. That was never dem- onstrated so clearly as .before, 6,200' people In ttie Ifiisio Half. ' Ahead of. aU-.the stage masses,', the costumes, the settings, the lighting tricks and the synthetic eye-bait, the premiere ttildlence showed a decided prefer- ^ncie for a single dancer, Ray Bolger, yffio. ■ stepped out .In. 'one' without ..'beneQt. of the theatre's pallIlon,;dol- lar dolling iijt facilities, and made \ the classical and artistic interludes ' look like a series of Intermissions. . . .^There were 40j0 people ;on the stage a,t. once at other times, with less entertainment resulting than from Bolger's few momenta 'all alone. •Probably as disappointing to the initial audience -as the scarcity, of (Bound amusement yrafi thp lack, ot . novelty In the numbers theiDdselves, No radical departures nor changes iEcom routine formulas. . First- part closed tritely with a nite>olub scene, bringing everybody on; and. the sec- oh4 ccctlon .flnlshed like a- minstrel first part;. Roxy; did not change thjem but merely enlarged them ecenlcaUy and numerically.- .In fieeking- to . cover all elements of variety the Music Hall show ranges In content from Japanese ris- ley to a shortened -version of the opera ' 'Carmen.' - But everything doesn't get an equal break. Two classical dance items of the modern' Istic school have important and lengthy positions on the bill, neither of which Is deserving. A couple of ordinarily sensational dumb acts from the circus field are sloughed off and robbed of their true value These are but a few of numerous examples. The classlcal^modemistic dance numbers are by Harald"-Kreutzberg and the Martha Graham Dancers. Besides modernistic- 'th^ir' style of dancing is supposed to be Interpre tLve. Kreutzberg's. needs" a 117 word program note to clarify the meaning and becomes clear' only to those who carefully read the note, while Miss Graham's billing carries no descriptive matter, with the re- sult that the Einstein theory Is easier to understand. Kreiitzberg's is based on facial leers and i>aby> scaring gestures; Miss Graham's is founded on the running broad jump and plain and fancy springing. Viewing the show as' it ran, opened with 'Symphony of the Cur. tains.' The main house 'contour curtain,' described by the program OS operated by 13 motors, went through « dance to trick lighting accompaniment. No hits, no errors No. 2 Is the Dedication, written by Martha Wilchlnski, Roxy's femme p. a., and delineated by Rob ert T. Haines. Latter is in the tra dltional Father Time outfit, flowing robe and beard. It looks and sounds like an excerpt from an amateur show in the high school auditorium 'Sept. 13, 1814,' arranged by Ferde Grofe, -with Taylor Holmes doing Francis Scott Key under the dim mers, is a tableau oh the bom bardment of Ft. MclHenry which in' spired the 'Star Spangled Banner, Set lb a British ship deck and Old Ol'ory Is raised on the fort in the distance. Audience fell for an or chestral feint, rising when the open Jng medley Included a . few bars from the anthem, but got .Its chance to stand for a whole chorus at the finish. It was embarrassing. The overture, also arranged by Grofe, by ^e lOO-piece pit sym ^horiy, conducted by Brno Bapee, is more of a. PagllaccI recital. In Bng (Continued on page ii} It (SHOW) Applause honors on the opening or dedicatory performance before a packed audience went to an ani- mated cartoon late in the running and after a heavy display of pres- entation items. That tells the story of a bady scattered, shapeless and not very distinguished presentation entertainment. Friday following the introductory performance the previous evening, the layout was revised, cut in run- ning time and somewhat rearranged, with Emlle Boreo bowing out, prob- ably thankfully, from an impossible assignment as m. c. and Informal Jester for the whole proceedings. On the time element the arrangement for the opening was overboard, run- ning more than three hours, includ- ing a feature that took up an hour and a half and preliminary dedica- tion exercises besides a burst of grand and lofty oratory by Will Hays, M. H. Aylesworth and a mod- est few brief remarks by Roxy in persons. Assuming that the 8,700-seat Roxy is an Intimate theatre, and it does somehow give that magical ef- fect in spite of tis dimensions, it was riot intimate enough to serve as a setting for comedy talk de-. llvered in English that may not be broken but a bit bent by Da-ve ApoUon on the one hand and Boreo on. both. Boreo made no less than four: :appearances out In 'one,' an expanse - do broad that nobody en- ters, from the side but pops out. through the traveler and fades the same way, It was no place for &. solo comedian, particularly on the Cccaslbn ol itq m'uch heralded pre- knlere when a greiBit deal was ex- pected of flourish And stage fanfare. ' Boreo found the ' golnjg hard, enough arid It wasn't any easier' for: Apollon. who found It embarrassing to m. C 'his own elaborate .turn with; still. more dialect announcements after the audience had been m. c'd abundantly and then pome through the preceding half hQ.ur.. At that, ApoUoh gave them the whole works, which meant 27 minutes and ah encore, and ait the tail end of the stage portion, the time then being not far from 11 o'clock. The answer, of course, is that these two turns shouldn't have been spotted in the slme show, particularly on a first bUl. The whole entertainment was a mixture of gcod and bad and. the situation being what it was, the bad attracted more attention and stuck more emphatically In mind than the good. .Where the mob looked for a succession of sensations, the stage proceedings limped perceptibly, dis closed nothing suggesting, a new type of stage show, to support pic tures and In short turned out to be Just a fair example of de luxe en tertalnment In quality In a new house .of sublimated, dimensions They have the house—and it really is a miracle of theatre building— but they haven't yet found out what to do to make It live up to Its phys Ical magnlficance. Evening started with the over ture, after Mosssr Aylesworth Rothafel and Hays had spoken their pieces, the musicians remain- ing below the orchestra level throughout. Selection was especi- ally written for the occasion by Maurice Baron, associated with the Radio City, and Is descriptive of the history of Manhattan. With It went a. tableau po.sed behind a. scrim, Il- lustrative of that early (24 real es- tate transaction with the Indians. 'Theme pi-ogresses to modem.times, wheriB It becomes symphony of; whistles, clanks and rivet blows, of rising skyscrapers, and thus ap In- troductioh to another ballet Id.ea by Von G^onau elaborating upon his 'prevldus efte^ts of the iifdnstrlal machine iftge. Von Gtrdna Is alorte oh the stage: before a red background drop upon which his vast shadow is Cdst In a sequence of.. mechanical gestures. Climax, brings the ballet group on as robots in metallic headdresses for stiff, rythmic drills characteristic of the Von Grona idea, the choral en- semble backing up the dancing groups, with chaotic machine sound, effects, as towering buildings rise in shadow on the backdrop. Follows the newsreel and then the first appearance of Boreo with chatter and an Introductory song number in his characteristic style. Preceding the news clips, back stage is seen through scrim as the stage crew manipulates the ponder- ous scene shifting mechanism. 'Sonata' is a ballet idea involving five men and ten girls and very puzzling as to its symbolism and import. Stage Is a futuristic night- mare in dead black relieved only by three enormous colored disks. There is a clutter of lines and cir- cular platforms and a slanting sil- ver bar leading up and plf stage. Girls are in scant dress and men, who slide into sight down the metal rod, are in spangled tights. There- after, there is ipuch. agitated run- ning back and forth and gestures by the girls, vkried by something like adagio feats, but what It means remains with the creator of the ef- fect, Liasar Galpern. Boreo is on again, this time for bis Versatile hat gag and talk about ^Continued on page .21) MUSIC HALL (THEATRE) Frauleln Vera Schwartz, of the Staatz-Oper, Berlin, was singing a love waltz in German, Tuesday (27) night, but Mayor-elect John P. O'Brien of New York Slept on. The RKO Radio City Music Hall had proudly opened. Which may prove that any the- atre Is only as good as the sho^. It otters. A tourist striding apprehensively into the theatre auditorium might imagine he were entering the Hollywood Bowl. The Music Hall is huge, seating over 6,000, ofilcial, and looks even bigger. If a theatre can be described a.s beautiful, the RICO Music Hall Is Just that. The interior decorations and atmos- pheric lighting are as ornate as a Temple, but the decorative spread of the Music Hall arouses a genuine kick, and even respect. This Music Hall breathas an opulent atmosphere suggesting Just that kind of powerful background as the tremendous financial con- nections and resources of a Rock- erfeller and General Electric com- bined, could supply. Yet ..the the- atre pervades a homely and an honest warmth which holds cus- tomers spellbound. Into this brilliant scene there marched a blue book array the opening night It Included besides John D. Rockerfeller, Jr.. and a large jtarty, Owen 'Young, Al Smith, U. S, . Senator Copeland, Dr. and Mrs,. . Nichdlas Murray .Butler, Maybr-eiect and Mrjs. . John P. O'Brien, John F. Curiry, David Samoff, M. H. Aylesworth; Jqhn Hiertz, Adolpta Zukor, Eq^ehe Zukor, Sam Katz and every bigwig almost 'In show biz, finance, society or ipolltlcB. ' Any .new metropolitan theatre opening In a large city lei a sljghUy thing, .and It may be fair to' state that'the annual opening night of the Metropolitan Opera may be as brilliant so far as audience im- portance Is considered. Only the Music Hall, however, can boast of opening to more than 6,000 people, so far as Indoor amusement palaces go. A Jarring Incident On opening, night was when house -manager Charles Griswold refused to permH newspaper photogs into the theatre. An RKO official okayed their presence and even then further an- noyance was reported. Altogether, the theatre suggests Il03^ himself. The orchestra floor seats 8,700, Grand foyer alone can accommodate 2,000 people,: with an. almost :e<iual number downstairs in the main lounge. In ' substance, the RKO Music Hall is exactly what one would. expect from Roxy, The Music Hall simply la a Greater Roxy theatre. The old Roxy, with all its troubles, still is a sightly show palace. Only where the old Roxy is Cathedral-like In splendor, the Music Hall Is modernistic, on an American order. The opening show Is detailed in this 'Vaj-Iety.' B. o. scale ranges from 75 cents to $2.60. evenings, and up to (2 matinees. No screen fare. Not even a newsreeL Its mirrored foyer, 180 feet by 60 feet tall, the errand staircase, marble lobby, decorative rest rooms and lounges, from tbe grand lounge down and up are bound to attract sightseers and impress. Anybody may,.gasp at the outward display of construction, opulence and decor atlve . extravagenoe as the Music Hall presents, especially In these times. . When the construction waa con- ceived and Rockefeller Qentre with Radio City was first planned early in 1S29, there were only few minds .In or onjt of.show biz who even faintly foresaw the present b. o. conditions not to. m.en.tlon the depression pe- riod geoierally. Hoypiever, there were some : who foresaw an over- seating cidamlty befalling show biz and the nemesis of a de luxe thea- tre craze besides, the faults of chain operation. But apparently none who foresaw these things were aftUlated: with the present controlling owners of the Music Hall. There was a brief span when Roxy himself Indicated that he might have foreseen what was ahead for the show biz. That was early In 1930, after a trip abroad. It was shortly after be retired from the old Roxy. At that time the Trans-Lux boom hit RKO and the show world. To some it looked likfe the big theatres were doomed and that the future show biz would hold only the small houses of the Trans- Lux or some other type. Since then RKO has lightened its Trans-Lux coi^nections. This prediction was coiipled with television possibilities by Roxy before a meeting of the. AMPA. This new Music Han of his Is a complete reversal of that prediction, but true to Roxy's handicraft Per- haps only the artists and building technicians on ' the Job are those who , are alone fit to describe the splendor of this new house. For an observer this most and the least that con 'be (Stated iif that If s a gt- e^ntic enterprise.' It alpells theJn- X^i^thaued'cin^ jiage Sl^ s RKO ROXY (THEATRE) If the Radio Olty Music Hall in Its gradlose splendor aitects for cus- tomers the main promenade of a giant ocean steamer, the RKO. Boxy with Its subdued atmosphere but luxurious f umlshlng can conjure for patrons the effect of a private yacht. Thts second unit built by Roxy for KkO In Radio City Is compactly built. It's new and different. Roxy really has an achievement In the way of a practical show place In this house, excepting, of course, pos- sible competitive show- conditions oyer on Broadway. Seats 3,62S and Isn't altogether small, but compared to the Music Hall, Its sister house, a block away, It's almost miniature. Opened Thursday (29) and was greeted warmly by a class audi- ence. This is the picture house. - M. H. Aylesworth, president of RKO, Will Haye, and Roxy figured In a brief dedication exercise In the auditorium. "As a show place, the house is a pip. It's as acoustically perfect ad a non-technical observer can ap- preciate. Its eight lines are weak from the second mezzanine and up-! wards, like 'In .any other theatre that reaches cirer a particular angle or length from the stage. That gl-ves It a slight under par rating for the personality stage shows. ■ Its Interior walls In the auditorluni are mahogaily colored and while metal covered bre wood treated* Simple coloring taste aboUnds throughout the- auditorium arid the foyer. There dre leather covered pillars and like the M. H., all its floors are carjpeted -with a thickly and softly woven fabric. The north wall ot the foyer is draped 'with special fabric cloths. The RKO Boajy has been built for motion picture presentation pri- marily. It has a more elaborate equipment than any- legit theatre, with triple-tiered stage and revolv- ing turntable, besides a band wagon and console carriage. The audl-^ torium is lighted in indirect fashion through a couple of hundred aper- tures in the sculptured celling. The stage floodlight descends from A giant chandelier in the center of the celling. As constructed the theatre can present any type of performance ef- fectively, depending, ot course, on the show quality. ' All chairs have program lights and, curiously enough, are air-con- ditioned individually. Usual drInk-> Ing fountains and telephone booth about and the usual Roxy service throughout. The stage la 100 feet by 43 feet and has a permanent cyclorama, with everything back and around controlled electrically by push-but' ton effect. Besides a Wurlltzer or gan With a single console, the house has a new Instt-umerit, an electrical piano, German built and whose dis- tinctive feature is that it has built within Itself electrical ampllflcation units. - The auditorium itself is 168 feet wide and 128 feet from the rear of the wall to the curtain line. "The projection room is above the third mezzanine. Screen is 60 by 30 by 30 and can give a magna scope effect when desired. Fronting on Sixth Avenue, the theatre strangely enough has only one entrance and exit,- outside of emergency exits. Customers enter past two tleket choppers stationed in the middle two doors of fouit that lead into'the foyer. The frbrit center ot the' lobby has a double box ofllce while on either side down front are two single window box offices. The RiKO Roky is the fourth the atre on Sixth Avenue between 43d street and 64th street At 64th street the Ziegfeld, legit house. The 'L' turns before hitting down this far. Once the Hipp was the only house on the street. With the M. H. the four houses total a seating capac Ity of over 16,000 seats, not to men- tion what abounds on Broadway. Weekly carrying charges of the RKO Roxy are not available, but the opening week's overhead is es timated to run around (50,000. That docs not Include film rental on 'An Imal Kingdom' (Radio), opening feature, and it may not Include the rent, estimated to run around (4,- 000 weekly. The construction cost is placed at around $4,000,000. Officially it is announced that the house will employ around 400 peo pie, talent included, and that's plenty. Backstage are employed something like 64 stage hands Number of electricians aren't known. House programs are - figured to run around two weeks for an inde- terminate period on the present pol- icy with a b. o. scale ot 36 cents to $1.«5. Palace on Jan. 7 will play seb end run product on a combo policy with .vaude, while the Mayfair, once the- Jlr«t rua .for B3S.0, and. hardly PARAMOUNT, N. Y. New York, Dec. 30. New Year's week-end with its crowds and holiday prices, plus tho page-one Peggy Hopkins Joyce and the cane-toting Lou Holtz, can't miss for the Paramount this week. The Joyce-Holtz combination la being heavily advertised in ads which make it appear that the Par- amount Is trying to shout down all ot Its opposition, including Radio City. Business was okay, but not tremendous. House also has been pulling stunts for a couple weeks now on the Joyce engagenaent, Jack Mclnemey putting her on page one of several dallies through gag of blonde captivator playing host to a bunch of Santa Clauses. Some other recent publicity for Miss Joyce, through sale of some of her Jewels at an auction, whets ap- petite of a curiosity-seeking public to see her. As a booking, Publix picked bok office. As an entertain- er Publlx did not pick a whirlwind, but that Isn't expected from Miss Joyce and she does okay. Her voice Isn't so strong. In a smaller house she'd be playing, to better advantage, which also goes for Holtz. Paramount.has a p. a, system, but aside from some minor use of it by Holtz, It's idle this week. The girl of the diamond trinkets, if she didn't ;sell all of em, tries her luck without the aid of, ampllflcation. It's straining a littlo to hear her, pairtloularly in the first, bit with Hoitz. In the office scene blackout later. Holtz does most of the talking, while In. the hillbilly, finish .with Miss Joyce apparently faking., an Instriumental technique. It. again Is Qoltz's .voice that carries for all. Holtz hem his cane and his antics with him, but he keeps his distance pretty well with la Joyce, in one mugging bit his advances .are re- ceived a little reluctantly. And that also goes' for the bit with Lillian MUes. Unit around the Joyce-Holtz com» blnation—a very odd combination- Is labeled 'Hello, 1933.' Very oi;igI- njEiI,..but. who cares? Boris Pej^roff I^ the producer, and strike, the audi- ence dead, he hasn't provided a finale with a gorgeous gOym and glitter hiickground for the seductive It's the unit's big surprise,.-when Miss Jbycel. Holtz and another bring up the finish as a hillbilly iri6 .4<>- ihg a. mountain country fay, .witli the rest of .the stage In terraced for- mation with appropriate hillbilly characters In rows. Anything but this might ha-ve 'been expected. Boiled down, 'Hello, 1933,' is riot the kind of a stage 'show that hangs 'em on the chandeliers. It plekdes, satisfying any desire to glimpse Peggy, and In other -ways amuses. Holtz himself has landed better than here on Friday night. It's probably due to the fact he is about ready for-some new material. ' Applause honors went on show caught to the Robins Family of acrobats, as clever as they come, and to the Gordon; Reed and King Trio of tap dancers. Both acts are distinctive In that their routines Ore ingeniously worked out and fast. Lillian Miles is Al Slegel's latest find. She's the type SiegCl picks. Miss Miles has a fair voice and fair showmanship ability, but may- de- velop particularly in the latter di- rection as she goes along. It may be that different numbers worked out under the arrangement skill 6t Slegel will also insure her a better showing than made down here. Fri- day . evening. Miss Miles did two numbers, including a .povelty ar- rangement of 'Underneath the Har- lem Moon,' then stepped to one to sing.. 'Bay ■ It. Isn't: So,' with, Holtz clowning around and : wisecracking during the .number.. - . ■ > . , Pctpullarly enough, the songster^ss* YQcal ability appeared h.etter suited 'to.;the number with Holtz than to the preceding duo. In the Harlem ^novelty arrangement, there is . a good deal of co-operation from the pit musicians who raise their voice in ,song, at points. Unit 69 minutes on running time. Feat)^ currently Is 'No Man of Her Own* (Par), with Clark Gable for box office draft That name is bound to aid house into a Juicy gross. Rublnoff leading pit ork In 'Musi- cal Hits of 1932,' but on complete first de luxe show Friday eve no Paramount News, or Jesse Craw- ford. Char. more than a year old, will play sec- ond choice to the RKO Roxy. . In view of present production condi- tions the situation presents plenty in a maze in RKO operation. RI^O Roxy may be able to get certain Fox films which will ndf. go to the old Roxy, on 7th avenue p.nd that may help but it's not certain how many Fox films the .spot will get. Meantime it must depend mostly on RKO product' besides \^hatever indie pictures It can mas- ter and. maybe some Columbia arid Univerisal films. Unlversal's 'Muriir may follow 'Animal Kingdotta' present Incumbent.