Variety (Sep 1933)

Tttcsdity* September 5, 1933 LEGITIMATE VARIETY Plays Out of Town HOLD YOUR HORSES Boston, Sept. 2. nhnhnrts present Joe Cook In his 'musical _A««ny' In two acts and 20 scenes. Book £Sl n^Bsel Crouee and Corey Ford; Charles K«i,«Ln collaborating In adaptation. Music wrlcs by Bussell Bennett. Robert A, SVmon. Owon Murphy. Book staged by S M Burnslde. Produced under super- 5".i<«t'of John Sliubert, Ballets created and SSffid by Harriet Hoctor; additional dances i^hnrles Weldman • SWdway Joe Joe Cook •?'??,art ..Dave Chasen S-^ifn Rector Walter Armln • SSuy mKuo. .PranccB Upton . ffiond Jim Brady Jack Howard Hold • .Frances Foro ' ? POX Betty DegUn - tflllan BuVsoll Kathleen Karr Fordyce.; Inez Courtney Sm Mown.. Tom Patrlcola ?«hn L, siillvan Edwin Guh- itaS Donovan Stanley Smith ffi-Ahcarn --W B. Brady • -n.n-flulnesa Jack Morrlssey ?a?BHl Haenckle.. C E. Smith SIjLv Nat Jimmy Fox HqWUP Man.. R- J- Mulligan out. The father, giving no credence to his daughter's denials, follows the young rascal home where the daughter finds the only way out Is to assume the guilt. One way out for the play would DC to make it all modern and farci- cal. Percy Moore's work as the father was eterhng, while Katherine Locke made much of her opportunities, fatrlcia Barclay gave the perform- ance looks and charm. Richard Ewell ranged the whole gamut from bad to very good. Most interesting was Dan G. Michaels as a colored man. gSan at' licctore Olaf Olsen VflYlorv EUle OP'i Munson Mmory ^" jj^^^ Burleigh Ernest Recco ' Magnolia. ShoWi first caught at its premiere cerformance at the Shubert night of jcae 30, proved a panic for Joe • Cooic's clowning, but overloaded; ; ckueht again tonight (Saturday), - it^6vldenced great progress in whip- ping It into shape for Broadway. Much pruning had been done, weak BUOtB strengthened, and it was near- er time limits than on its opening night, when it ran . from 8:22 until midnight. It's a riotous Cook vehicle, with • the ^ice comic much to the fore, and ofteBentlng more gadgets, possibly, than there are In Rube Goldberg's " brain. AH these, together with Joe's nonsensical story-tcllIng and his . dancing, were more than sufficient fof one show. Tet, in addition, the musical extravaganza was packed •with song and dance, chorines, en- Bembles, ballet, and a story whose political satire Is slightly remlnls cent of 'Of Thee I Sing.' It was a ccuje of overstuffing the turkey; ihey w^re mostly excellent fixin's, but tending to bust the bird, tlot weaving the scenes has Joe ' as the horses friend and the sub ' ways foe. He comes on with s hahaom cab. and the show, which hlid been rather slow up to this point, gets under way with a spurt .of- interest. In rather too serious • vein previous scenes have given .. thfe idea of rival pols battling for thfe boodle, going In for subway graft, and about to pull a phoney S^yoral campaign. That rings in Jde as the sure to lose candidate of one side. But he surprises by ■winning. Settings and costumes are of Kew York of three decades or more ago. In some cases old haunts are given colorful reproduction, as Crtney Island and Nigger Mike's; Rome sets are rousingly fine. Celebs of those days are shown, and In •most cases but poorly represented, Most of the characters do not sug gelst John L., Lillian Russell, Dia ^' Blond Jim Brady, etc. This is one I of. the two major frailties of the show; and further attention is needed. Pther striking weakness Is the (Jtbry which takes itself entirely too Wrious'ly. . As it stands tonight, looks as if the fixers were attending to all the lesser needs; and ii^ another week ' production should be in readiness for Manhattan seeing. Of personalities other than star^ B6me do finely, notably Tom Patrl- cola, close runner up for the honors, pave Chasen is seen plenty, and ; ttis first time breaks his Silence by yfieaklng a lllie. The audience likes hhn. .Of music, there are several good Bongs; but none of the new ones gjrpass the old numbers^ and the ^rodora Sextette is great. Among tne new ones likely to register are Bold Tour Horses', 'Meet My Mother', 'High Shoes', and 'Swap Vm Sweet Nothings With You'. Production is lavish and expert. The Honorable Johnsons V, . Newark, Sept. 4. i^medy In three acts and four scenes by *fflter Cole; presented by Elizabeth Mlele !t,J,5«_l'yrlc. Summit, N. J- . Staged by JJW'la Leonard. Settings by Walter Roach. th^L '"iJlwlcB Bert Wilcox, Kathedne jff**' E)avld Appelbe, Dan. C. Michaels, Connery, Richard Ewell. Patricia «lww''' Moore, Roberta It .Not much chance for this, isnt funny enough to travel as larco and tak6n seriously falls to "npress. it waver.*, too, between n^hes of modernity and old form- ulas so that the result is not happy loo ^atute daughter of a shlft- H(in ^^"^ secretly married the xrt?n ^. ^ wealthy business man fli« K pleasant but uninaustri- tft iif^^ner is also secretly engaged t>flr+ V plutocrat's daughter. A *W ^^*"Bs thorn all to his home niov»®u. ^ coached by his wife, Btoi^ father for plenty with the l^rn ^ chorus girl entanglement. othJ;'^^" a ludicrous incident the til *^°"Plc <lo not faro so well un- hia hlj?""'^ seeing how well thfi "»°'^"cr-ln-law does, trumps up MURDER AT VANITIES Philadelphia, Sept. 4. Despite one of the most frightful opening nights that Philly has ever seen, Earl Carroll's production im- presses as having enough of a good idea and even enough material to be worth saving. That it will be ready for Broad- way, however, after a week and a half's stay here is hard to figure and yet that seems to be the present plan. First decision was to close here (where show hasn't a ghost of a chance because of adverse word- of-mouth) after Tuesday and open at the New Amsterdam Friday, but this plan was changed over the week-end, keeping 'Murder at the Vanities' here all week. A fresh start in some other city, after a closing of several weeks for re- writing and alterations, would be the most obvious solution. As it is now, the show has much too much murder and not enough 'Vanities.' To make it worse, what there is of the latter is not good enough. Uninspired tunes, a scarc- ity of dancing and clumsy and unef- I'ective scenic numbers now feature the 'Vanities' part of the evening and they do not dovetail with the murder mystery. Most of the musical numbers are tedious affairs lacking both lilt and life. Eight names are credited with supplying them, but there isn't a potential, song hit in the lot. Only solo dance specialty comes too late A number called 'The Quick Change,' with the girls disrobing plenty behind a gauze curtain, has possibilities but was mangled the first night. The touted 'Virgins "Wrapped in Cellophane' was way below expectations. The girls, by the way, are entirely up to specifications. In' fact, it's the best looking chorus Carroll has ever brought here with the possible exception of 'Fioretta.' Mystery show part, written by Mr. Carroll and Rufus King, has its moments, but there's much too much of it. Show opens, after a very brief stage-door shot, with the presentation of a supposed finale number of a 'Vanities.' During it, a girl screams and it is discovered that murder has been committed. The detective insists upon the show being given that night. Sub sequent action is on stage, in the chorus' quick-change room (another chance for lingerie display), ward robe room and musicians' room. Cast isn't notable, but adequate in most cases. James Rennie Is as sat- isfactory as Inspector Ellery as the plot permits. Pauline Moore Is a really sweet and appealing ingenue who Has to face sudden death many times. Bela Lugosi seemed to be the audience's idea of the correct menace. Billy House handles the comedy lead and he is plenty rough. Olga Baclanova struggles heroically with the role of a tem peramental prima ^onna and does rather well. ^ Waters. spectacle. Tired of each other, de- prived Of all Ba,ve the most rudi- ments of life, Marnie and John are uvmg apart, meeting only to bicker and abuse each other. Even their baby is a source of friction, and John proves a most inefficient Rob- inson Crusoe. Rescued at last, they come to the conclusion that mar- riage can be a success only if pro- vided with distractions, amuse- ments, and the company of their fellows. Into this fairly simple framework the playwrights have crowded John Spratt's father,, his sister, his play- wright brother-in-law, a gushing Widow, an elderly gentleman out for a fiing despite his officious daugh- ter, a middle-aged lady eloping with a voluble Spaniard, various stew- ards, a distracted captain, and others. The cast included Elizabeth Love, Ross Alexander, Porter Hall, Dor- othy Vernon, John Doyle, Dortha Duckworth, John Daly Murphy, Barna Ostertag, Roman Bohnen and Fritz Hyde. the HtA "oes, triimpi Oaiiiri,* ^ he has compromised «^nghter and offers to buy hie the way TWO CANT BE HAPPY :Providence, Aug. 29. Comedy In three acts and five scenes by John Golden and Charlotte Armstrong Lewi; staged by John Golden and Alexan- der Dean, and presented by Raymond Moore at the Cape Playhouse, Dennis, Aug. iV. The oft-expressed wish of young people, much in loye, of finding a desert island for two is the theme around which John Golden and Charlotte Armstrong Lewi have built 'Two Can't Be Happy'. The idea is promising, but it has not been fully developed here. Of the three acts, the second alone, with its amusingly contrasted scenes, its suggestion of a parody on 'The Admirable Crichton,' and Its mingling of sentiment and comedy, socmg ready for Professional use. The other two acts are rambling, inconclusive, and bV^^^^^J.^^^e^s excess of unimportant characters Tho play as it stands calls for ex tensive rewriting, pruning and re- distribution of emPl^af'^' Marnie Peebles and John Sprati, Jr7 meet aboard a liner on a s^ woGks' cruise. They fall In love at fir'sf sight" Ind all they ixsk^i^''?; vacy, the one thing t^cnicd them oy K^stoJS dc?kches from the ship a X?iboSTn which they are spooning and FOts them ashore on a desc Island. Thoy what they can rc^'-^" "^^^J a yi"? r^ra^h^&'^i^tetp"^^^ YELLOW FREIGHT Providence, Aug. 31. Melodrama by Clyde North and Roben Keith. Staged for the first time on any stage by Leo Peters and iKislle J. Splller at the Theatre-by-the-Sea, Matunuck. Monday, Aug. 28. 'Yellow Freight,' the third new play to be presented at the Theatre- by-the-Sea, served as the last pro- duction for Rhode Island's first rus- tic summer playhouse, which ended a four-week season Saturday (2). The production is an out-and-out melodrama in which the authors hiave resorted to all the familiar mystery artifices. Plot Is structur-. ally weak, but various characters are such an odd assortment that theatregoers may find the play in- teresting. As to its possibilities for the metropolitan stage, they are as vague as some of the situations In a jumbled story. The characters Incliide a snooping nondescript gentleman who invades a supposedly haunted chapel on a deserted ranch In southern Califor- nia in an effort to solve the long- standing -mystery concerning the place; the Chinese caretaker who is using the chapel as a hideout for Chinese immigrants smuggled across the Mexican border; an ap- parently crazed white woman who has spent five years living among Chinamen in the Orient and who returns to her native country to seek revenge, the motive of which is rather obscure; the owner of the chapel and his lovely fiancee; a mysterious corpse that comes to life, and a wise-cracking married couple who are spending the night (Continued on page 86) Labor Day '33 Jnst Another Monday, B way Awaits a ffit to Open Season L A. SOLO FADING Best 'Two Cities' Could Do $2,000 for Even Break Was Los Angeles, Sept. 4. Being the only legit attraction in town meant little to the co-opera- tive 'Tale of Two Cities' at the Hol- lywood Playhouse. Piece got $2,000, which just about balances the bud- get. Dickens' play folds Saturday after six weeks, with nothing set to fol- low. lURDER' GIVES PHILLY POOR START Philadelphia, Sept. 4. PhiUy's new legit season was al- most set to come to a sudden stop tomorrow (Tuesday) night when Earl Carroll's 'Murder at the Vani- ties,' which received a panning at its opening last Wednesday, was announced as stopping after a week's stay. Last minute decision to continue it through week as first Intended, was made Saturday night. With the help of a big opening nighfs gross, first five perform- ances grossed nearly $9,600, but every performance saw a falling oft. Garrlck has no other booking an- nounced because of uncertainty as to managerial plans, and almost certainly won't get another show until end of month. Forrest opens Saturday night with the Sam Harri8-Ii*ving Berlin 'As Thousands Cheer,' which will have two full weeks. The Walnut bows in Monday (18), with Tallulah Bankhead in 'Jezebel' and follows a week later with 'The Pursuit of Happiness,' Laurence Rivers production. House Is Inde- pendently booked. Chestnut, which may have a film first, reported as getting first show Oct. 2—'Only With You,' with Ro- land Young. That will be Ameri- can Theatre Society subscription. What Hiere Is of Chi s Legit Biz Is OK, but Not Gc id Eniif Chicago, Sept. 4. With the cheapest admisb ever set here for legit shows, and with the to^n packing dally with over 300,000 visitors, local attractions are still going along below capac- ity. This is in comparison with the picture houses, which are playing to six and seven capacity shows daily, and turning away overflow crowds. Answer seems to be that the out- of-town visiting firemen haven't got It or not accustomed to paying two or two and a half bucks for a seat in a theatre. Illustration: 'Take a Chance' and 'Dinner at Eight,' two of the biggest clicks of the current season, which tossed off high marks at top prices in New York, are running at under capacity here, despite the lowered tariff. Huge signs in front of the theatre proclaim the low admish, but reaction is negative. Practically 75% of the towns legit houses are shuttered, while not one picture house Is dark. The- atres such as the Apollo, Selwyn, Harris, ace spots all of them, are without attractions, in spite of the mobs in town for the Fair and all amusement-hungry. One new show breaks into town, a colored outfit, labeled 'Ethiopia,' which rides into the Garrick to- night (4). Estimates for Last Week 'Dinner at Eiflht,' Grand (D-1,207; $2.20) (12th week). At the scale about the best trade in the loop. At $16,000 there's profit, but there s no overflow demand for seats, that should be expected In the jammed condition of this city. 'Her Majesty, the Widow,' Cort (C-1 276; $2.20) (10th week). Pau- line Frederick name Is meaning things to the out-of-towners who remember the flicker lady. Mucli trade In the nature of a personal appearance for Miss Frederick. Holding to approximate $4,500 pace. 'Skidding,' Studebaker (C-1,250; $2.20) (7th week). Doing fine week- end trade, which is keeping the pace going. Sticking to $4,000 average, which is profit at the low overhead. 'Take a Chance,' Erlanger (M- 1,318; $2.75) (9th week). Olsen and Johnson vaude fans are helping here. High tariff is hurting the or- chestra biz, but they're crowded into the higher reaches of the house. Just about topping $17,000, nicely in the black. ENGAGEMENTS Edward Colebrook In 'Racket's End.' Herbert Rawlinson, Ara Gerald, 'Racket's End.' Jane Seymour, Frank Dae, Chas. Harrison, Ruth Thomas, Charles M. Seay, Herbert Dobbins, John Rigo, Harry Belaver, Jack Grattan, Warren Parker, 'Merry Go Round' (complete cast). Alex. Klrkland, Margaret Barker, J. W. Brombcrg, Luther Adler, Mor- ris Carnovsky, Phoebe Brand, 'Man in White' (formerly 'CrlsLs'). Hortcnse Aldcn, 'Thunder on the Left'. Percy Waram, 'Trip to Presburg'. Fay Templcton, 'GownB by Ro- berta'. Roland Young, Laura JJopc Crews, Frances Fuller, Elizabeth Patterson, Frederick Perry, Francis Pierlot, Jobephlne Williams, 'Only With You' (complete cast). FranccKca Bruning, Arthur Aylcs- worth, Thos. V. Morrison, Charles Coleman, Byron McGrath, Edwin Brandon, Fredk. Kaufman, Frcdk. Sumner, Jas, P. Houfton, Mildred Natwick, Frances Halllday, Clara Mahr, 'Amourctc' (complete cast). Donald Brian, 'Music In the Air.' Edward Loiter, Leo Kennedy, W. W. Shutlleworth, Donald Campbell, 'Undesirable Lady.' Broadway^ legit season has started, according to the calendar, but, although Labor Day technically sounds the starting gun, the season will not have begun until the first hit scores. It would be a good aver- age, if a sock arrives by the middle of September. Last year there was no dramatic success until October, one fairly heavy musical grosser starting ahead of that, however. To date no standolit comedy or drama is in sight but there are sev- eral anticipated musical clicks on the way in. 'Hold Your Horses' drew some acclaim in Boston last week and is coming right in, slated for the Winter Garden next Tues- day (li). 'As Thousands Cheer' will bow Into Philadelphia Satur- day (9) and is. not due on Broad- way until late this month. Both are to charge $4.40 top, the scale caus- ing some comment because last sea- son not one musical was able to hold to that pl'ice. Another musi- cal, 'Murder at the Vanities,' a com- bination of revue and murder mys- tery slated for the New Amsterdam next Tuesday also. Start of last season there were fewer attractions on Broadway than beginning the season of 1931- '32 and this "33-'34 starting period is running behind last season. In the like week of '32 there were 11 attractions on the list. Counting three entries this week, there are eight shows current. Another dis- tinct difference is that whereas last September saw four or five shows holding over Into the new season, only one holdover will be left after this week ('One Sunday Afternoon,' a moderate grosser but profitable). Broadway will have to more from dead center, whereas In all other seasons within memory there were always several hit musicals running well beyond the summer period. After a run of 10 months 'Music In the Air* closes Saturday at the 44th Street and goes to the road. One of two of the recent comedy weaklings may also take the air. Next week only other new show an- nounced is 'Heat Lightning' at the Booth, but added starters are likely. * There are 10 shows in rehearsal as against 15 in preparation the same week last year, but that is not a true measure of comparison, because thlEi season most of the straight shows are being tried out in the rural show shops, such show- ings virtually being rehearsals. Estimates for Last Week 'A Party,' Playhouse (2d week) (C-893-$3.30). If it had got a break by reviewers would have had better chance; disappointing" first week; estimated around $4,000. 'Blue Widow,' Morosco (2d week) (C-893-$2.75). Opened middle of last week, drawing unfavorable no- tices; one-set show with little chance except cut rates, 'Come Easy,' Belasco (2d w^ek) (C-l,000-$2.75). Reviewers didn't like this one either; small money first seven performances; about $2,- 500, but attendance claimed to be climbing. 'Crucible,' Forrest (1st week) (D- l,015-$3,30). Presented independ- ently (D. H. Connelly); authored by same; billed as having cast of 50 people; opened Monday. 'Murder at the Vanities,' New Am- stermdam. Announced for Friday, but postponed until next Tuesday. 'Music in the Air,' 44th St. (42d week) (M-l,323-$3,30). Final week; long-run operetta begins tour in Boston Monday; Donald Brian now in the cast; held its summer lOaco last week at $12,000. 'One Sunday Afternoon,' 48th St. (30th week) (C-969-$3.30). Al- though picture version now released, show alms to hold over; around $6,- 000 last week; profitable. 'The Sellout,' Cort (Ist week) (C-l,043-$3.30). Presented inde- pendently (Theatre Craftsmen) i written by Albert G. Miller; radio satire opens Wednesday (6). Revival 'Dangerous Corner,' Waldorf; re- vival. TiccoB/ 'Counsellor' Tie In Frisco with $5,000 ,San FrancJ.sco, ,Scpt, 4. S. Hurok'f.^ 'Piccoll' marionettes at tho Columbia going over well, and duo to stay a third week with probably a fourth. Only otlier show in town is 'Counsellor-at-I^w,' Henry Duffy production at the Alcazar, which is in second week and may hang on for anothfr. Both hitting around tho $5,000 znark.