We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.
Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.
56 VARIETY VAUDE miaSE REVIEWS Tuesdajf Febnuurj 28r t93S New Acts Charles FORSYTHE and Addi« SEAMON (3) Comedy, Singing, Dancing 15 Mine.; Full (Special) Academy Mlddle-of-the-blU three-people act t^„.„.„ „j„„„f„„^ fm,«4- that win have no trouble pleasing 1° " Miss McKlnney Is causing a lot of controversy and keeping the box o(- flce busy, which Is what matters most. Supporting: are Cole Brothers, who In a short space of time have es tabllshed themselves here In the front rank of colored talent RadclifC and Rodgers are now working In pullovers and caps in stead of swagger evening outfits they wore at the Palladium, much the average audience. Virtually a little of everything has been mixed Into -the turn. Majority of the in- gredients pass muster without diflfl- culty. Did nicely down here Satur- day afternoon before a tough audi- ence. Forsythe leans to baritone solo work and talk with Miss Seamon and the other woman of the group. Miss Seamon, apparently the pia- niste, is a Kate Smith type who while doing most of her clowning near the ivories, at one point steps out for a hot pop. She both looks and sings like Miss Smith, besides being anything but a vest-pocket edition of the air star. In some respects Miss Seamon overdoes the playfulness with that bit in which she climbs on the piano not being so hot, but generally her work pleases. Forsythe engages In talk with both, getting medium laughs from material act contains. It could stand strengrthening. Ingenue type girl clicks In a couple dance routines, a rhythm specialty and a soft shoe fastie with a lot of pirouetting. She Is an eye- grabber and in her hoofery exhibits fine technique and form. Turn was spotted third on a flve- acter here. Char. VENITA GOULD Character Impressions 18 Mins.; One and Two (Special) Academy As evef-yone knows, Venlta Gould isn't new. She might look It, how- ever, to the newer recruits of vaude. In appearance Miss Oould might be suspected of just starting out on her career. In her present act she . carries many characters which were -T&nknown In days when Miss Gould contributed Importantly to big time vaude. Outstanding Is her Impression of Jlramy Durante. She closes vrlth this one and It stops the show for her. One of Greta Garbo, Just ahead, Isn't so strong, not because Miss Gould doesn't asalmulate the appearance and mannerisms of the Swede effectively, but due to poor diction figuring. Other Impressions are of Harry Richman, Mae West, Bert Lahr, ZaSu Pitts, George Arliss, Marie Dressier, Maurice Chevalier and Kd Wynn. Standouts are West, Pitts, Arliss and Wynn. One that doesn't belong because It mlglit need a Maude Eburne or someone like that to come" close to lifting character. Is that of Miss Dressier. And it Isn't needed by Miss Gould, Char. edy Is now more natural, with the laughs more frequent. Twelve Jubilee Singers, recruited here and led by John Payne, har- monize well. Five Black Flashes and Eight Black Streaks are other teams recruited locally, with noth- ing outstading In the way of hoof- ology. Entire show cost around $3,200, with overhead will need $6,500 to break even, but gross looks like around $8,500 for first week. Show is in for fortnight, with white sec- tion changed weekly, but likely to stay three weeks and maybe a fourth. When finished here show would do for the bigger provincial houses, which are clamoring for something different. Leicester Sq., London London, Feb. 14. This house will go down In his- tory of English show business as having been mainly responsible for the loss of a fortune by Sir Walter Gibbons, causing him to file his bankruptcy petition. Some weeks ago Sir Walter called In Harry Foster to help operate the house with continuous variety. Foster took the Job over with the sanction of the Ostrer Bros. Since then Sir Walter is out of the thea- tre, and Foster has be'en made a director by the Leicester Square Es- tate, Ltd, the lessee. Foster Is lin- ing up all available talent, and is determined to make the place a paying proposition, having already succeeded in getting out of the red. This week's show la titled "Choc- olate and Cream,' being half colored and half white. ~ Same idea was done at the London Pavilion some 10 years ago, under the title of •Dover Street to Dixie.' In those days there was a certain animosity towards colored talent, with Coch- ran's splitting up of the show as a ^ consequence. This is no Cochran show by a long way, but it is quite fair enter- tninment and, what is more Impor- ^■f tant, is pulling 'em in. There is no doubt the colored section is respon- sible for the business, as most of the others have been around so often they cannot be the attraction. Outstanders among the white sec- , tlon are Jack Mayer and Alan Klt- . ^flon, a couple of Australians with pleasing personalities, with Mayer, the singer of the team, in good voice; also Clemens Belling Co. Earle and Eddie Franklyn, come- dy hooferfii,,dC5 everybody's business, but do It well.' Mamie Soutter, af- fecting kid makeup, is fair consid- ering the mediocrity of the material. Edwin- Lawrence, In second week, completes the aggregation. Colored section Is laid In a planta- tion scene on the Mississippi. Idea was done In a hurry, and cost only about $30. Attraction ts Nina Mae McKlnney, the 'Hallelujah' girl, who has received so much pre-publlclty that she is' apt to be disappointing. Girl undoubtedly has best person- ality since Florence Mills, but Is a long way behind her Iri talent, nl- ''TJ^tlioujrh she can put over a song. ACADEMY, N. Y. At first when RKO started book- ing vaude for the Skourases down here some of the shows were pretty bad. One here currently for four days Indicates a marked improve- ment. Nlcely-blanced show along with 'State Fair' (Fox) ought to In- sure better business than average. People may talk about the vaude- ville In the opposite direction for a change. Venlta Gould (New Acts), a gra- cious lady and a seasoned per- former, is the headllner. She was herself surprised at the manner in which the 14th street mob went for her character Impressions, now ranging from ZaSu Pitts to Jimmy Durante. Miss Gould on stopping the show said they (probably RKO) had told her that If she didn't like the Academy after the first show she wouldn't have to fill out the en- gagement. Charlie Aheam and hia stooges, an act that runs to another ex- treme, also found a packed house deciding the vaude question. Like Miss Gould. Ahearn has also been standard for years. They reached that rating through having some- thing to sell, so If vaude has gone stale with the public it's probably because of the booking by others as well as RKO of too many acts that never belonged. All on this bill merit the date. No. 3, middle-of-the-blU turn. Is Charles Forsythe and Addle Sea- mon (New Acts), a three-people combination. It isn't going to break records on applause returns, but Is generally acceptable and a good deal better than most of its type. Roy Smeck, with his banjo, accordion and uke, is second, and the Four Jewels the opener. Both turns All pequlrements more than adequately. Smeck with his harmonlca-uke combination num ber, closing, got himself very well liked, even if the piano on the stage with him is only for decorative pur^ poses from all appearances. The four acrobatic dancing girls billing themselves as Four Jewels, have a fast and flashy little act. Its running time down here only eight minutes, but something doing all the time, and all of It show manly. Registered nicely. Char. passable paatomlme, but th* audi encs aeema to think It muat be tunny and applaud, and that en- courages others. Team closes with another triple. Net result really Isn't much, but they make It look like a lot and collect plenty of pats for an acer. Might be different In houses where they expect more. Helen Lynd, a smartly-groomed blonde, does imitations and pushes them over with sure salesmanship. She does not always catch the tim- bre of a voice, but she manages to get a suggestion of the character, and most of her bits were recog- nized before she got far enough Into the talk to reveal much. Of course, Zasu Pitts Is self^labelled. Any Im- personator starts to flutter her hands, and the audience knows the rest. Miss Lynd does the voice here very well, but because she is good In It is no reason why she should stick too long to the one character. Her Garbo bit was less certain. There were times when it sounded more like a reach for Marlene Diet- rich, but the 1 guess I go home,' used for the exit, made everyone certain. Did nicely with a bit from Jack Pearl, and put spirit into the Impersonation that atoned for the light voice. Her accompanist helped in this. Other bits bumped over without damage. It's as much per- sonality as imitatlveness, but It gets her three and four bows. Leonard repeated from his recent Palace date. Without the comedian it might be a question, but the com- edy carries the rest of the act along with it Carlton and Ballew work comedy cross-talk for a big chalk mark, and Henry Tobias closes with his orchestra. Tobias is more of a comedian than a leader, and his eight men do not suggest a smoothly-trained en- semble, but they background Tobias, who probably would not be funny alone, and with a couple of brief dancing bits he kills 18 minutes. Apparently they know him of old up here, and he collected nicely. MUt Franklyn has added a sing- ing usher to his orchestra for the overture, but the lad bit into the wrong cake when he tackled 'Old Man River,' and Franklyn himself did a nosedive with the same bit as violin solo. He takes it far too fast and plajra without phrasing. In addition to the feature, a Mickey Mouse and the newsreel add the show .up to a few minutes over the three-hour mark. Chic. Mttsidans Take % Deal From FM And May Do It Generally on Coast Floor Show Padis 'Em h Yandless Columbns Columbus, Feb. 27. Vaude still draws here even though the last vaude house closed just a week ago. Draw is the Ara- bian Grill, town's only real nltery, where a one-hour show twice night- ly is pulling to good biz and tum- aways on weekends when cover is jumped from 40 cents to $1.65. Grill was opened last fall as a full fledged night club and was given but a short life by all concerned. It has stuck and Is in the dough each week. Cost of operation way down with most acts on coffee and cakes basis. ORPHEUM, N. Y. Not so easy to place the credit for the draw this week. Film la "Fare well to Arms' (Par), which might not be expected to rouse the York vllle burghers to enthusiasm, but the only other draw, on looks. Is Benny Leonard, and they didn't yip-yip when he came on. How- ever, something did it. House pretty well filled at 7, and at 10 they were using the ropes. Tapes were not penning many latecomers, but it's news when any nabe house shunts them Into the corral these days. This week even numbered acts get the piano. Odds have to go to work on something else. Bill runs a dance flash, Impersonator, Leon- ard's mixture of swats and comedy, a man-and-woman act (with the piano), and a stage band to close. Doesn't look particularly good on paper, and for blending it doesn't look so good on the stage, either, yet no act failed to collect hand spanks, and bills where all five acts give customer satisfaction are not often found. Sidare, Shields and Lorraine open with a threat to sing, but go Into a dance after the gesture. Here and there singing helps to stretch the running time, but it's no help to the finish. Other warble Isn't good, either. First chirp Is used to In- troduce a trio ballroom routine with acrobatics. Next Is a little lef^nania work from one of the men which of- fered some unusually limber kick- ing, followed by an acrobatic solo by the girl and a drunk dance by the other man. Just why jag jiggers should be so prevalent is one of the mysteries. Not one of them in a hundred can do a souse with even DOWNTOWN, L. A. Lob Angeles, Feb. 23. Considerably above the average bill for the scheduled final week of vaude at this .house. Well-balanced show, with the capacity opening house having plenty of return for their two-bit expenditure (to 1 p.m.). !B11I runs heavily to families, with six brothers making up the opening act. two slaters in the deuce spot, and another pair of sisters farther down the line. Opening has the Six Candrevas, fast-moving sextet of cornetlsts, who deserve a better spot with their class offering. Bits of comedy add to the turn, which started the show oft at a lively pace. Lucille Sisters, harmony singers, warble, through a pop number and then do an imitation of Topsy and Eva, with one of the sisters doing blackface, and both making their costume switches in full view. Their interpretation of the Duncan Sis- ters Is particularly well done, and they earned everything they got. The Theodores, two men and two women, present mostly ballroom dancing, with some balladlng by one of the femmes Interspersed. Classy act, with a hot knlfe-throwIng finale that had the pay customers squirming In their seats. Next-to-shut spot brought Mon- roe, Juggler, with the Adams Sisters to lend color and help out generally Monroe juggles hats, balls and hoops, being assisted In the hoop stuff by one of the femmes. Other Is a hot tap stepper and adds class to the act. Surefire closing turn Is Chappelle and Carlton In sensational hand balancing, witli man reclining on stage throughout offering, balanc- ing femme by one hand, and wind ing up with the carry-balance up a flight of eight stairs while In the prostrate position. It's a wow, and sent the curtain down with a bang. 'Women They Talk About' (WB) is screen feature. Shorts Include news, cartoon, sports and a comedy. VARIETY, PITTS'BG Pittsburgh, Feb. 24. With a slightly Increased budget for acts, due to management's de- cision to do away with an m.c. and chorus of 12 girls, Mo Glanz stepped out and lined up something more like it for this site. Booking difll- cultles here are numerous, with Glanz for the most part forced to book 'em on the run between jumps and there have been times when the layout hasn't been anywhere near completion a day before opening. That's a strain on everybody con cerned, and current show is a neat surjtrlse considering the fact that It Chorine Safe Deposit Foils Backstage Thief Worcester, Feb. 27. Roger Cavanaugh, flyman at Poll's Palace, looking down on the backstage area, noticed a man, a stranger, entering the dressing rooms being used by members of Fanchon & Marco's Gus Edwards' 'School Days' idea, ' Giving the alarm, he hurried to the stage, intercepting the in- truder, as he came down a fire es- cape. The man wrenched himself free of Cavanaugh's grasp and started away, pursued by Billy Mo- rosco, a member of the co., who lost him in a blinding snowstorm. Check up revealed only two losers, Nellie Thompson and Lou Pope. Pormer missed $6 from her purse but Miss Pope was out only $1.10. Thief apparently had never heajrd of grouch bags. Several of the men In the troupe had earlier given Miss Thompson their en- velopes, and she had about $200 on her person. Fleeson Goes For 2G's Neville Fleeson elected the bank- ruptcy way out with a petition flied in the U. S. Court In New York, listing his liabilities at $2,603 and assets $15. Among the major Items on the schedule were $878 due Paul Albert and a costume bill of $250 owed to Bljrthe & Schneider. was assembled under pressure. Runs smoothly; has a couple of high spots and at times skips beyond the small-time category. House shouldn't miss the chorus, and that. means an additional $300 for acts. M.c. for the past six weeks has been Nat Nazarro, Jr., and while a personable chap and with a chance of building into a b.o personality, vaude type of show can't easily be fltted to an m.c.'s needs. Al and Ann Striker, veteran dou- ble act and around here before In presentations, open, with girl vocal- izing satisfactorily at curtain and leading up to partner's entrance with his acrobatic contortions atop a piano. It's an alright turn for the after-overture spot and fared nicely, HaufC and Chlqulta followed, but only so-so with some stale gags and too much artlflclal enthusiasm. Femme's hot-cha dancing fair, but nothing out of the ordinary. Charlie Keating calls his turn 'Huckleberry Finn,' in which he pre sents an overly-sentimental char- acter study of a backwoods half wit. Sad-eyed stuff seemed to get the customers here, with Keating closing his lachrymose offering to a big hand, which should be a tip-off to the management. When you can make 'em wipe tears In a vaude house like this, you either have something or the customers don't. It's a 50-50 proposition as far as Keating is concerned. Next to closing Waller and Lee achieved the most legitimate click on the bill. Youngsters are of the Burns-Allen, Block-Sully school and know how to deliver. Girl Is a pert redhead, boy a clever hoofer as well as a good instrumentalist and, what is more, they have a smart line of chatter. Lot of possibilities in this act. Shut spot held by 'Sensations of Dance,' Ave-people flash, one man and four girls, with one of latter at the piano. Talent Is here, with everything from taps to adagio ably done, but costuming didn't help any. Outfits, have white satin overalls worn by couple of kids who look like sisters, pretty depressing. On screen, "Vanity Street' (Col) news and comedy short. Cohen. Los Angeles, Feb. 27. Musicians' union here to. enable stage shows to return have made agreement with Fanchon & Marco under which the musicians will ac- cept around $60 weekly and per- centage of proflts of theatre, latter based on returns for seven-week period, with reopening of Para- mount here March 20. Similar agreement is expected to be obtained from stage hands and operators. Salary paid is about 60% of weekly earnings these men get in deluxe houses. Rube Wolf will conduct the or- chestra of 20 nlen. Fanchon will stage shows with 16 girls in line and specialty acts every week. Ed Smith, who was at house during Paramount-Publlx regime con- tinues as manager. Musicians are now submitting similar proposition to Warner Brothers In effort to have latter keep vaudeville In their downtown theatre which supposedly will elim- inate stage shows March 1. Likely that other bouses will fall in on similar plan so that craft can flnd occupatioji In pits. SAYS BUU RING ASS'N A MODEL FOR ACTORS Sidney Franklin, who has prob- ably tossed more bull (of the cud- chewing variety) than any other American, believes vaude perform- ers can learn something from Spain's national pastime. To the Brooklyn matador actors are poor business men. He saw that play- ing a break-in week for RKO. Over in Spain the bullfighters have an organization. It's the As- sociation of Matadors and Picadors. World wide in jurisdiction it ap- proves all contracts before a mata- dor or picador can accept an en- gagement. Even if a local bullfighter wants to book a date in Mexico he must first submit the contract to Madrid, If a member of Spain's AMP. And virtually all bullfighters are mem- bers paying regular dues. In the event a non-organization bullfighter accepts a date, the AMP will not permit any of Its other members to appear in the same show. But Franklin has evidently never heard of Equity. Franklin sails for Europe In a week or so to prepare for the new bull fighting season which opens around Easter. His bookings start May 26 at Barcelona. Another thing the Yank bull tosser figures the average actor In America doesn't fully appreciate is the value of newspaper contacts. In bullfight- ing the matadors financially support the newspaper critics of Spain. Al- though the salary of the critics amounts to only around $6 a month, they live In regal style. The papers are tough over In Spain, says the Brooklyn bull-man. 'If you don't favor them properly, they merely Insert a brief item to the effect a bull flght took place and where,' he says. Hemingway we;.t Into this in some detail in his 'Death in the af- ternoon.' After the season Is over. Franklin Intends coming back to America. He still kinda likes It. Albany^s Broadcasting Vaude Manager Walks Albany, Feb. 27. Harry S. Black, manager of RKO Palace In Albany, since Its opening October, 1930, has resigned. The RKO Palace will be operated under the direction of Lou Goldlng, division manager. Part of Black's work as manager of the Palace has been his broad- casts, 'Backstage With Harry Black', In which he presented ovef WQY the artists on the vaudeville bills. LOEW H. 0. BOOKS N. 0. Loew will book its State, New Or- leans, through its own vaude book- ing ofllceTn "New York commencing March 9, dropping Fanchon & Marco shows after next week. House has been playing F. & M. units since the start of the season. Return to regular vaude adds a full week to the Loew book.