Variety (May 1933)

14 VARIETY FILM HOUSE REVIEWS Tuesday, May 2, 1933 R. C. MUSIC HALL N6W Tork, April 27. Another of tho^e disarming, stage entertainments at the Music Hall in support of 'Zoo In Budapest' (Fox), first of the Jesse Xiaisky ^productions for the new release -arrangement. Show is 'disarming' In respect that it makes no l%rge jpretense, but. does deliver sightly spectacle and good pictorial effect within the bounds of modest'outlay. A report had it that the iahqw cost only .$9,Q0O for its' staging, It looks> a great deal. more. • This re- Verses the too freqttie'nt: instance of Kadib City presentation^ istaged at. many times that budget and, deliv- ering less solidly in audience result. The beauty of this unit laf that, it Is simple/and. direct. It I'eaches for no sublime goal, but it does achieve . the lesdfir mark of entertainment it iafmsi^ at. .. So much for the! general effect, in certain minor details the layout Is at fault;: For one thing the spe- ..•clalty t«|rns have not . been well se- lected,, in particular Giiie, De' Qiiln- -cey and Lewis^. travesty adagio trio, who have the stage to themselves' for one eplisode in the general lay- out entitled 'Going Placeg.' Fa&lt here , is in the .judgment of the booker and not in the quality of th& turn. Trio open straight and gradually gQ. into ^ the - burlesciue dance, and _Lthat la not gp odLjgchniqu e for t his I)ouse. The Hiusic Half Has always bieen a tough spdt for comedy turns. Even., thei tnost 4'^finitely low coih- . edy finds it hard going at the opening to.' establish its comedy iDharactery Once ttie comedy idea is planted; the audience goes along^ but gettingr the idea fixed seems to. difficult. It goes without say- ing' that this complex situation is made worse with a turn, that siiarts Straight and then goes comic by ile- grees. In a more. Intimate house the ele^nent:.Qf surprise In .finding an. ^legatnt adagio trio tuning «Ibwn. would : make • for novelty :iEthd , sur- prise, but it won't work out at the Music HiBilI. Apparently the the- atre's .huge dimenarlpns. call .for e(iually broad effects «n. the. stage ''and subtleties' are lost. Proceedings open with a pretty song number backed by an ensem- ble vaguely elaborate and: confus- ing in the frills that have been hung oil it. It is the on© case in the show wher« the stager has de- parted from simple directness, and It is the one case in which he..slips up. Finale drags in the revolving stage machinery, a score of chorus boys being posed beside upright copper-toned tubes, suggesting or- gan pipes if anything. . Tubes open vertically - and the girls are. dls- cldsed^ to conie down fdr a dance routine With the boys. Costumihg is in a sort of transparent silk and trickily lighted and is excellent, ex- c6pt that th© fussy stage effects weaken what wo\ild otherwise be a pretty spectacle. Principal dance is contributed by Myrio and Sarine, while the yocal number is done en- gagingly by Natalie Bodansky. Newsreel comes in here and then liito the main presentation, starting with a brisk idea for the ballet ..corps.- Siib-title is 'Going to the Horse Show.* Stage is Wide open against a simple backdrop, and the girls in groups of, eight do high- stepping routines on their ' toes, dressed up la represent horses with metallic headdresses like horses' manes. Routines are capitally, worked out, and the whole thing supplies a graceful, stimulating number. Finish of number Is somewhat of an' anti-climax, bringing Paul Draper out in 'one* in formal tall- coat to do'a session of solo taps. A single tap dancer—though even so • good as. Draper—scarcely can top precision stCT»plng by a host of pretty girls. Draper also stays too long,' doing an encore in 'one', at this per- formance, and then going to full stage to '6*ecute more taps on a mechanical platform rising slowly from the middle of the stage—^a ■Radio' Cityized version, of' the : ahr cient pedestal.clog, by. the way^.that ought to interest old-timers (Mikei Scott, for one). Stage is masked in for a small replica of, the Miisic Hall Itself in reverse, t(x provide, the setting for Glne, De QuiTicey and Lewis, for the number 'Going to the. Music Hall,' and thence into the flriale, which la called 'Going to the Gar^-- , den,' and iis the_ sock of the. per-" formanoe, b6ing .a circus fdea hafir died neatly and With all the nia- chlnery the Music . Hall has at its command. Opens with the Roxyettes ranged inline at the back on ah aeriial plat- . form, arms upraised, suggestion be- ing that they were doing an ensem- ble trapeze act.. Lights illuMlne - only a horizontal strip of space oc- cupied by the figures. Platform descends to stage level and-the girls come down.front for a typical; pre- cisToiv;W"^aiaifl&t=k^background-of "circusy lianglngis drap6d on a mbd- ernlstlc version of circus quarter- poles. This background ies, revealing the prancing girl-ponies of the opening number repeating their circus-ring maneuvers on the back half of the stage, raised to a higher level (an arena platform, for In- Btij-iVCft) and all- ynder brilliant 41-. lumlnation, Kffect throughput is heishtonod by a running fire of the rcil thing in sawdust muslo by the orchestra. Rmh- CAPITOL, N, Y, New York, April 29. The daily ads on the Cap label this an 'inftation' show, ah 'excel- lent billing for an obviously bargain presentation, running to a multi- plicity of sub-features as hors d'ouvre.B for a highly, satisfactory main screen attraction, 'Looking Forward' (Metro-Lionel. .Barry- more). Show-wlise, Broadway pa- trons being what they are,, the abundance of trimmineff made - bhe suspicious of the film's . Worth, hehce its' palatable quality augurs well tot a really big groiss this week as the general merits .Of the'show get around'. Hverythins about the presenta<- tion is marked with a touch of showinanship. The manner of hok- Ing tip 'some of the business isi a great flashy for; the i custoniers, such, as draping the side boxes with gay Spanish shawls, and spotting: the girls in oner box, and a string^ band, with Tito Guizar^ in the other. It's all part of -a 'X»and of the Rumba' presentation which is headed by 'Will'.Mahoney, and .PbWler and Tamara. . Mahpney does his stuff solo, apart frpm the Cuban-Spanish picture, so the gay and colorful ..presentation really revolves about- the .dancers from the Waldorf-Astoria, where FoWler and Tamara presently hold forth. Mahoney wowed 'em per his wont, and Fowler and> Tainara's "tg^TTp" ^ terps re glstered-i^haaelttngly- also. : With Rroadway contributing Ma-, honey and the dancers from the snooty Waldorf, radio is also repre.-; sented by Cuiear, Argentine song- ster, and Sdwin C. Hill, news com;^ mentator. .Both are from the CBS roster. Hill's presentdLtion. is; solo, as -an aftermath to. the general .Cuban, atmosphere. In further line with, the build-up of the atmospheric stuff, a James A. FitzPatrlck triavelQg on 'Cuba' dove-; tails in the rumba -presehtatloh with the Chester Hale Girls, about 40 of 'em, leading a highly colorful picture onstage and: in the side boxes, in the. sundry formations. Agulnaldo Serenaders^they look like.'the bunch - with Dave: ApoUon— are authentic string back-up. On top of this, a Paul Terry-toon comedy, the regular Hearst news and a Metro shorty 'Bone Crushei's,^ round out a' socko show that ex- ceeds three hours of entertainment.. Yasha Bunchuk's Overture features George Lyons, singing harpist, and an anonymous vloliniste, in a light opera pot-pourri leading into the first Chester Hale staglriig, a mili- tary routine, 'March of the 'Toys.' The entire idea of a Capitol pres- entation has been jazzed up^ and a nice departure it lis, too, for the or- thodox fornuilate of some of these Broadway deluxers has made for a tiresome sameness that, unquestion- ably reacted at the box office. About .the only thih^ captious to be said concerning the current Capitol offering is the somewhat ridiculous superlativeness of those trailers. It capis the climax this Week In heralding 'White Sister I' Week after week the trailer think- er-upper for the' Cap has been pyramiding eulogies upon, superla- tives in 'we told you last we,ek that this week would: be blah-blah-blah, but you ain^t seen nuthln' yet,' and stuff along those lines. It becomes all too ridlc. The. current trailer is the topper-offer; hot eyen Rogiet could help say the same thing over and over in different language. Aheh RKO RQXY New York, April 28. GePrge White's 'MelPdy' musical as a tab, on comparative standards, reads on paper like $10,000 worth, but in the playing doesn't look like '$10,000 worth of' -entertainment or anywhere near it. A long, ponder- ous, siow^movlng affair of mostly singlnig', its appeal in the picture houses is limited. That's, uisually fatal on the poprpriced tlmcj ..It was fatal enough, for 'Melody as._a .legit venture. It died in its Own field, which casTs'a"doubtrDver its value in a field where it hardly fits.: From the buying standpoint, .this musical romance of the '.32-'33 Broadway season,. with its Everett Marshall, Hal Skelly, Walter Woolf, Jane Aubert and about'SO others, tncluding some go.od-looking wom- en;jaounded like a lot .for 110,000.. In .. volume", personnel, - production and finish it's ahead of the average tbssed-together, onerweek-and-off picture-hoUse presentment. . But Its bid for popularity as .plctui^e-house amusement is greatly weakened by the lack of that extremely impor- tant dement—mass appeal. At the RkO Roxy in Radio. City, in. pliace of ;the regular presentation of sceri'ery aiid specialty-acts;.-the show in tab form runs . 87 minutes; Pr about double the' customary time ^lImit-=here=and-elsewherer-=Eor-o.v.et an .hour it's chiefly a suecessioh of baritone solos, plus some soprano help, and a vocal chorus back- ground.. Until almost 70 jninutes have passed there is,no relief frorti the constant, vocal pounding. Then the proof of the pudding—Ina Ray; a cute blonde but an ordinary tap dancer—stops the show. Miss Ray ■could- have' had her name,in. lights as. far as the RKO Roxy kudlcnce was concerned. After 70 minutes of the same, same thing, the Friday night customers would have, gone into a rave over the Cherry Sisters. As the 87-minute running time (no intermissions) sucrgests, the original has heen razored here and there for the four-or-more-a-day dates, but the important stuft and the key 'moments' are intact; Only major cast, change is the replace- ment Of Svelyn Herbert by Mar- garet AdiEtms. Ther^ are seven scenes, covering a span of 50 yeiars in 'Maytime' faishlon. Once thO dialog had sunk in, the plot appieared .to travel as Well as the slow freight script would allow. About 15 minutes Were. necessary to, the audience to warni; up>, slhce the dlalOg as delivered from a. com- paritively great distance here, as aijainat the average-sized legtt the- atre, forced the customers to find a listening range. .From: the end .of scene two .on there was no trouble from that soufce. JBVerett Marshall was well liked in his few minutes oh, and- his early disappeiarance left a hol^ that never was . quite fiilled. Hal 'Skelly and Walter Woolf, it. seemed, were more handicapped by distano* than Mar- shall. Jeanne Aubert, in an ex- tremely harmful evening,, of over- acting, got little out of the one and only strictly comedy , part, and the part, instead of being important, be- came a .meaningless strain ii^ the. story. As a result there's ho com- edy relief worthy of being called in retrpspect, one of 'Melody's' bad .fiaws as. a picture-house show. WftVi quch a lo n g show t he trim- mings are dipped curreff£ly;~pnly- the newsreel being included, besides the feature, 'DlpIoiSfanrans' (Wheeler and WOolsiey^Radlo). Fair business at the Friday night ishOw. Bige. EMBASSY ROXY, N. Y. New York,vAprll 28. There's this about a family audU ence: when they make up their collective minds to go boisterous, it takes a lot of restraining and: pleading to quiet them down again. Friday night, the Roxy audience decided they liked Arren-and SBrod- erlek. After the act was over. Miss ArrCn made, a couple of curtain pieasj Dave Schooler pleaded with the audience; Miss Arreh came back a third time for ta bOw and said something about the show being, long, but they still applauded: About the clearest show-stopper In any Broadway house in months. Would have saved the whole show sonie time if Miss Arren had done a little encore, but she wouldn%^ so Schooler finally managed to quiet the folks by telling them that such a demonstration wasn't fair to the other artists on. the blllv Toughest part of the thing is that the turn is sitotted very early ih'the proceedings, making it a bit tough to follow. Maybe they should be switched baick. if other audi- ences go for them the same way. And theire's no reason why they should.. Charlotte Arren Is a comedienne, who burlesques singing and danc- ing. With a Fannie Brlce stance she gQ.es into a VI Carlson routine and evolves a pretty effective couple of numbers, satisfactory aniusement for most shows, although not a typical sensation. Broderlck is her piano player. Show is pretty snappy this week and, with the above team switched back to the tail end, would have considerable movement. Starts with the 24 gals, of course, aiid then Jimmy Hadreas, tapping acrobatic dancer, who taps too much and doesn't .start his acrobatics soon enough. He's all there as a hoOfer but ought to get Started sooner. Dave Schooler, the house m. c, takes this spot for Waving a stick at the band boys for a medley. Whether he knows how to, massage the air with his baton or hot prob- ably doesn't matter. The boys managed to get 'What Is This Thing Called Love' and 'Liszt's 'Hun- garian Rhapisody* cOming' otit at the same time in pretty good shape. This .'is ■ the Arren and Broderlck spot and, when Schooler finally got some peace he- .introduced.. R.oy Smeck, who proceeded to do things with his banjo., Smeck knows his string instruments and manages to prove it.,. Montoje Brothers, next, are a merry duo of clowns on a .trampoline. Okay, though .might have shown a bit earlier in the lay- out. - John.. .Fpgarty^ headlining the show,. is, thrown here.. He^ -a robust radie singer who was at the Roxy a coUple of weeks ago and made 'such a good impression they brought him back. To.a very pleasr ant voice is added a pleasing per- sonality and the iabllity to pick his numbers, Three songs and off, while "frOm offstage he sings a fourth sonff to bring on the gals. Somewhere about the middle of a nice poppy routine by the line, Adler and Bradford do their adagio .act,=^TheyjEe=.hiUMjLnd^anhAU^^ as the creators' of adaglor whTcF may be true but sccjn^ a bit hard to pi'ove. At any rate it's the' ui3ual three men and a girl combo with the usual lineup of thrpws. 'Very swell stuff for. them as. haven't seen it .before, but boring after that. 'Past of Mary Holmes' (Radio) Is .the feature, there's a Mickey Mouse cartpon and a Chaplin short to boot, and the whole thing takes well over tlu'ce hours to sit through. Which is more.-than plenty for the admission. KaUf. Embassy is in the lead on ispot hews again. Current program lis alSQ.broke.n into'more clips^ which mieans greater variety.; ■ ., J%.. was the only, Broadway: house Saturday to have two important eyents of the sky< One of these was the mishap to a Sipanish snioke writer. Crew was'right on the job following the plane from the time it started to twirl until It : struck the ground. Subject, however, was without the horror aspects of some air tragedies. "This .was dub to the fact a long lens gave it a miniature reproduction on. the screien. The Italian flier whO beat the speed record With his seven miles per minute exhibition looked like any other plane on the wing. News- reel cameras can't get over that impression speed differentiation. Fox-Hearst was the first to: sug- ^gest'coverage of the Russian trial of English engineers- On 'espionage charges. It got a long yet concise statement from the men's boss. Warning from the. U. S. Attor- ney General about 'gambling with other peeple'et money' and an ex- -planation.-of^eflatioh^y-;tfae-^k^a^|-t] homa representative were' also ex- clusive subjects; There Was. a time when .John F. Hylan could get a .laugh/in'the Embassy. His current- reminder that everyone was happy and work- Ingr when, he was iii charge of Man- hattan^ and that he's Willlns to try again, ended in silence. Broken English of a iPhillppine politician Was responsible- for few. in the audience being able to fol- ,low .a .title. Which suggested, the islands now don't want their free- ^omi Texas chimps tasting beer put on au: a.Ct' worthy of. build-up into- a short subject. Stray dog and cat show in other years has assured mirth in; the newsreels. This time the annual, however, goes the easiest way and registers flatly. Other clips: Benz memorial In Germany, circus at Bellevue, Texas, Independence Day and girl baseball, California dynalmite, reforestation. TRANSLUX Four or five reels of fifth run, or reissue shorts, are too much if the program, Ih oirder to accommiodate the same; is forced to go llg^t on hews, *hls week the news is very meagroi and there is' ho'reason for the Luxer allowing Itself to be scooped to the extejit it has. The Embasisy has virtually one .hews gathering orgahlzatioh> while the Luxer has the pick of Paramount, Fathe and Universal, . ITitiversal . showed Initiative and Broadway news sense iti •covering the garmieht Workers' fray. It caught patrol wagons and ambu^ lances, as well as stretcher beareris. Story is. of suffi.cleht importance to> be rated as an itttni of na,tIonal in-* terest. , No cat can mother mice Or a wol- verine,., take sheep unto the udder without , some: U camera corre- spondent Undtng. out about it. And McNamee delights each time upon' stresslngi. the uhusual. I'his week U has thie mother, cat, feedlnig..tlny foxites and a police dbg sp pOsed as to suggest a filial .relation • "IT a-lso added a bit of travesty to :he~S in.o-Japaa eser--cPnflieiH»y-^^way- of the tourist.. It stationed a herd of travelers near the Great Wail, and theil had a squad of Chinese , race down a hill brandishing swords at a camera. Wltho;ut the admis- slpn of burlesque U could have, easily palmed" off the subject as a literal, it would seem that Pa the - re- hashed bid views. Of navy planes in Hawaii by. means of a'new silent title to. the . effect, they were giving:, an'incoming-ship an aerial jgreet- ing.''.'" ' ■'./■- Clips generally covered:. Mac- Donald in . Washington, isinother statement frOm the. Labor head, Ruth Elder,. Cannes flower battle. Summer hats, the Pope, wood chop- 'perS, rodeo, Macon. Waly. French, Baltimore and Australian horse races, reissue of Magic Car^ pet, 'The Square Rigger.' Waly. PARAMOUNT, N. Y. New York, April 28. This Is President-Roosevelt week at the Par in honor of President Day (30), With the whole show built to flt' the occasion^ This is from feature, 'Song of the Eagle/ down to the stage show, which draws the title, of 'Star Spangled' and has a flag-waving finish- that's flopproof.. Between the picture, which should have moderate appeal, and the stage show,, which has Edwin Franko Goldman, w. k. concert conductor, more bait is hung out this week than of late. Goldman should prove of reason- able value. He has conducted con- certs on the mall in Central Park and On the N.Y.U. campus for sev- eral summers, with cost footed by the Guggenheims in. favor of music lovers who can't or won't pay to hear music in. the raw. Even should Croldman fall to earn his way .here this week through draw, his Inclusion In the stage ra- tion handed out is good booking. It's something different for a change, and the audience Friday night was quick to respond to Gold- man's miniature band concert, prob- ably forgetting, all about the regu- lar stage unit which preceded. The bandmaster went on Immediately after George Givot's Greek monolog, Givot . introducing him,. It's- all on the stage, with the 42 men making an Impressive picture. They are in uniforms and open With the ■'Ppet and Peasant' overture, then turning to ..a medley arranger ment of popular American, songs, such as "Dixie/ 'Massa's In the 'Cold, Cold Ground,' etc. Arrange- ment winds up with 'Happy Days Are Here Again,'. Roosevelt's cam- paign sbng^ As band goes into 'Happy Days', girls from the unit cOmie on draped in stars and stripes and the background lights up a map of' the tl« S.,-fading in-a llke-^ ness-of- Roosevelt and ending--In a combination oif red, white and blue. For an. encore Friday evening Goldman played ^On the Mall/ a nwuaJjL.. of his own composition that's very popular with the New York concert-iroers. Goldman Is something'of a show- man. He's proven that in conduct of his shimmer engagements, and here comported In an eqlraliy show- manlike manner. ==-^Balance-of--the==s;tage-shoHY^prO'^ duced for the Par by R. H. Burnr side, also dedicates itself in a small way to President's Day at the open- ing with ah effigy of a large eagle and red, white and blue colors in the lighting scheme, O.ther colors' for an effective finish to the line girls* efforts are later added. Givot on. main -portion of unit, do.ubles as ■Tn;c.- In addition to"doing his Greek routine. Others are Jane Froman, held over; Sheila Barrett, who was booked at the 11th hour to sub for Venita Gould, and acts of .Kane Lebaon Bernice and Emlly^ Miss Froman took the top pn ap-. plause, stopping the show, on a rou- tine of three numbers, including an opening ballad pop. 'TWO Tickets to Georgia' and 'It "Was So Beauti- ful,' pop of last year. She's spotted in the pit, where there.'s. mOre in- timacy with her- aUdlehce, with an turbpr set piece backing her. Miss FrOman's good voice is matchbd by her delivery and Ingratiating per- .sonallty. Sheila Barrett Went on Nearly with her character imperson- ations, followinir the sister team .(unbilled),, who topped the Alton Bines girls on the opening. Miss Barrett^ from the fioor shows, was booked on Friday af- ternoon for the second show after 'STenita-Gould, squawking about the set provided for her act, ..had re- fused to go on at'the flr.st show that day. Routine by Miss Barrett , includes Impressions of Bert Lahr, Mae West, Jack Barryniore and Zasu Pitts having a conversation, and Lenore Ulric in a bit from 'Lulu Belle/ A clever performer besides being a looker. Miss Barrett makes her only mistake in reeling off the 'Lulu Belle* bit too rapidly. Unit, goes to full Staga with the girls and adagio trio of Kane Le- baron and Co., ah average turn of Its kind, and then brings on Keith Clark in a cig illusion routine. Miss Froman following that. Entire stage sho.w runs 55 jnin- utes, of. which Goldman takes up only 13, Business Friday night fair.-- . 1 ._jCAar. LYCEUM, MPLS. Minneapolis; April 27. This independently owned Stnd operated 2,400-seat theatre has tossed its hat Into the ring as. flrsl- run loop opposltiPh to Rublix and RKO;.. It boasts the distinction of being .'the only Twin City" house to offer a regular fare of ficsh-and- blobd entertainment along , with pictures, having bagged Lou Breese, popular maestro, and hie 24-piece orchestra, together with two locally favorite singers, Gertrude Lutzl and Stewart Johnson.. Minus ace . pictures, it 'figures Breese, who - has . a. large f pllqwing here, Is the thing to sell. Accord- ingly, It features -music over its scre en program with a scale of 26c up to B7W^pSCan)r"405"tK6reafter.- These are the same prices charged by the Century and Orpheum for straight films and 15c less than the State, which also offers naught but- pietureSi . For product the Lyceum first turned to United Artists, but ia pending deal fell through, and tho U,A. pictures went instead to Pub- lix.. The only othbr major "finstrnm product available was Universal, so (Continued on page 42)