Variety (Sep 1933)

14 VARIETY V4RIE¥¥ HOaSE REVIEWS Tuesday, September 12, 1933 MUSIC HALL, N. Y. New York, Sept> S. Seen for the iQrgt time and by an emigrant from Chicago the Music Hall suggests the thought that New Tork has a greater international' ex- position in this one institution than Chicago has in 60 odd buildings scattered over 426 acres. It has all the showmanship, magnitude, and awe-producing qualities that the Chicago affair failed to achieve. "Whereas the World's Pair impresses hicks but leaves more discriminat- ing spectators unmoved, the Radio City Music Hall is capable of astounding the yokelry and en- thralling the cognoscenti at one and the same time. That's some- thing. This week the Roxy organization is happy in having a strong pic- ture, 'Lady for a Day' (Col), which earned at the conclusion of its 95 minutes' unreeling applause from a well-content audience. With the several items of the stage presen- tation favorably received the value of entertainment was high. Patricia Bowman and the ballet skimmed the floor in a characteris- tic LeonidofC pageant in tulle. Later the Russell Markertettes were clev- erly combined with the male chonis attired as traffic cops. A 'Stop-Go' motif carried out in the scenery and the dancing glorified the automatic switchboard of the local boulevards. More elaborate choreographically was 'Blue Prelude,' which uses a re- volving platform dressed to give a mirror effect under foot. Upon this reflective surface the ballet ebbs and flows and occasionally bursts .into hotcha snakehips. This pro- duces a semi-T/eird effect like a .champagne nightmare. A singer, presumably George Meyer but not clearly identified on the program, handled two solos before the drapes. A splendid tenor he was duly complimented by the house. For the first perfbrm6,nce Thurs- day night was May Robson for a personal appearance. Elderly . ac- tress . exuded poise standing alone on the huge stage and looking very k-egal in evening gown. Roxy from a hidden peephole somewhere in the enormous cavern spoke through a microphone to introduce the actreiss. This episode following immediately after the picture and' the salvo of upplause was gracefully handled iind not too long. Attendance very good on the opening night with the reserved eeat mezzanines also well filled. Land. The Russian's sprightly group of specialists thus , get themselves eased into the running without a pause. Revue holds up nicely with Apollon's kidding with his musi- cians and a succession of clean-cut specialties. Nora Williams did well with her song numbers and good- natured exchanges with the m. c. and the eccentric stepping of Danzi Goodell proved one of the applause highlights. Three Step Sisters, Jean, Ruth and Gail, supplied a fast session of taps. Then into the Stanwyck episode, its slow action making for a severe letdown after the specialties, until the pulpit scene finish. Novelty number by the girls served to pick up the presentation atmosphere again, with Apollon again easing on as part of the number's finish, hooking up with the second, ap- pearance of his musicians for an- other session. Downey and the mike were greet- ed warmly and held them interested with a song series comprising the radio favorites identified with Downey—'Sweetheart Darlin',* 'Val- ley of the Moon,' 'Got to Sing a Torch Song,' and the others, each an applause signal. Preisser kids are on for their al- ways lively acrobatic dancing, Cherry's tumbling getting its usual response. Apollon back, getting the Climax ensemble undpr way' for a dancing finish involving' the spe- cialty people and an effective bit of staging. 'Penthouse' (M-G-M), capital un- derworld actim picture with audi- ence grip and Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy as marquee names to draw them in. Attendance open- ing night good. Rush, CAPITOL, N. Y. Watching Betrbara Stanwyck struggle to get over a sketch at the 'Capitol this week tells the story of Why the big capacity de luxe the- atre put finis to the institution of the vaudeville playlet. This popular screen name, .who ought to mean something at the box office - on her picture rating, injures a good stage chow, not because there is anything the matter with- her work or the vehicle, but because it isn't possible to make straight' sketch dialog reg- ister in the vast auditorium. Attendance was good at the pier- lormance witnessed and the crowd was obviously interested in Miss Stanwyck, but when she went into action in a talky makeshift piece they couldn't hear th6 lines half way back. Rear half of the houee got restless and a hum of comment made the dialog inaudible almost everywhere. Sketch is one of those slipshod devices to introduce the actress in familiar scene^s from her pictures, the finish being the puipit denunci- litlon .scene from 'The Miracle Woman.' This hag the star prac tlcally leaning against the n\ike, its delivery is vigorous and it nearly saved the day, getting Mies Stan- wyck an exit that helped her out of a tough spot. The rest of the 12 minutes was a dead loss. Not only did the Stanwyck sketch do indifferently by the star, but its presence presented a problem in making up the show, being a tough one to blend into a program. The solution, and the best that could have been managed under the cir cumstances, was to split up the Dave Apollon revue into two sec tions, one before and one after Stanwyck, arrange a double appear ance for Cherry and June Preiaser, and assign Apollon to m. c. the whole stage show, an arrangement that left them free to feature Mor ton Downey in the important late spot. The doubling was awkward for Apollon, but no other arrange- ment • was possible for a blending, One thing that'•helped was the use of three ensembles by the Chester Hale girls which did a great deal to smooth oyt the running, helping to. dovetail the specialties, and giving the proceedings invaluable element of sightliness and color. •■ Opening has the line in a brisk Spanish number, girls . in brilliant costumes of red and green. Apollon breaks ipto the show with hl3..ten musicians as part .of the dance cIl .^jfiax. .They pjove. dOwn. on.. the aproi^-as the stage closes into one.- FOX, BROOKLYN That there's still hope here for the stage end for indie operation is, illustrated by the current week's show which, in spite of all handi- caps, stands out as about the best stage unit at tills theatre in quite a while. One fault of the show Friday night was that it ran too long, ocr cupying 76 minutes. Trimmed down 16 minutes it would speed the thing through beautifully. Jay Mills is the current m.c. and baton waver. He's a clean cut youngster with a lot of show back- ground who ought to please the Brooklynltes. A little bit inclined to use baddies for gags, but that maybe doesn't matter in Brooklyn. They like the jokes they recognize best, anyway. Mills comes from Des Moines or some such place. He was a white-haired boy there for years, then came East, did a single, then doubled with a gal partner and now he's back at the m.c.'ing. He might do here for a run. Show opens with the band on stage and Mills Waving a stick at them. Line of gals, 16, and mostly cute, in a so-so opening number and then Violet, Ray and Norman. Acrobats who used to try some^ music which didn't go. They're very clever at hand to hand and got a big greeting, although on, a bit. too long. Band goes into a nice medley here, using all numbers from 'Moonlight and Pretzels' next week's film. Serves as nice bally for the coming week and is well enough handled to be pleasant on its own. Smith, Fields and Smith here with their knockabout stuff. Okay, though seen too much of late by too many teams. Three Honeys are three blonde gals who sing into a mike. Fair harmonizers without standing out. Mills does a piano solo at this point, then going into a tap dance which he ought to put back in the closet and leave there. He doesn't have to dance, an^ shouldn't. .Girls are back now for a 'Blue Prelude' which is pretty brutal Somebody seems to think anybody can do modernistic dancing and even if true (which It Isn't), why? It happens to be the hardest kind of dancing and a "Regular chorus line simply cannot get the hang of it. Frank Hunter and May Percival are thrown in at this spot for some much needed comedy, which they deliver with ease. Hunter's mixed up wop dialect had the crowd from the moment he got on. Vivian Janis follows, tough spot, but she does it easily. She's one of the few songstresses developed of late who has an Important fu ture ahead of her. She's riot only a good singer but an actress. Doubt- ful whether she'll stick around vaudeville long. For a finish the line of girls comes back for a precision routine and redeems. itself by nice work that sends the customers away happy, Pitts and Summerville in 'Her First Mate' (U), ought to draw somewhat here and a Mickey Mouse cartoon helps. Theatre still using too much trailer material although the lobby's been cleaned up nicely,' the many signs and-gewgaws hav- ing disappeared. JCcm/. PARAMOUNT, N. Y. A tleup with the I. J. Fox fur people, with models parading the latest in coats and wraps in and out of the stage show, lends stage some color and possible enticeihent this week. At least friends of the models will drift in, as evidenced by the recognition given certain of them Friday night. Between getting the women on the fashion show display and the men on the Marlene Dietrich pic- ture, 'Song of Songs' (Pai*), draw should be pretty well balanced. No child appeal whatever this week, but anway it's a thing of the past worrying as to whether the kids will be lured, partlcuarly when it takes many at the lowered kid ad- mission scales to get anywhere on grosses. This was found but here with 'This Day and Age,' a natural for the juveniles. Paul Oscard, old-time Publix producer, who's back here staging the shows for Boris Morros, calls his new unit 'Orchijds and Ermine' in deference to the fashion show.. The models are on at three differ- ent stages, first mddeling cloth coats irinomed with fur, later full fur coats and finally evening wraps. Around 20 models used, all pibked with an eye to professionalism in their lines and for looks. A run- way around the edge of the pit and a gangplank straight across from foots facing audience has been pro- vided for the girls. Presence of the models at the Par this week does not give the permanent line girls a layoff. They work ia couple numbers, largely as backing or buildup for acts on the bill, this week Including June Knight, on holdover; Lanny Ross on a repeat; Eunice Healy, RItz Bros, and the dance team of Amandd and Lddo. While there are. no unusual socks on show, considerable variety obtains and the acts of Ross and RItz Bros, notably are strong fa- vorites. Latter tied up the show Friday night and would have been forced to an encore but for the pre- vlousness of the Fox models, who were already tripping up the run- ways in their wraps while Ritzes were taking bows. Ross, the radio 'Showboat' tenor, also proved hitful Friday evening. He starts out in 'one' with a brace of numbers, then receiving the girls and fullstage for a topper. Effectively worked out. Misses Knight and Healy are spotted on the show nicely, but not called upon to overwork. Miss Knight was here last week with, Frank Fay. Giving the modeling of furs much space and not shrinking on the fullstage numbers with Par's regular line, Oscard leans his show more away from the vaudevillish routine that has dominated most units of late here. ' He clings to the ol&KV system more than has be- come standard of late in picture houses and does not employ a band on the sjta-ge. The results are okay even if not startling, though this particular week the modeling makes a difference. The opening of unit impressively employs the dance talents ofl Amando and Lido, in environment of a stageful. of line girls. Setting borrows from the Clyde Beatty ani- mal act, with the girls as lions, tigers, etc., and Amando as Beatty cracking the whip. Clearing the girls away to the sides and upstage, Amando goes into an adagio Apache with his part^ier as an at- tacking lioness or something. Their routine becomes, the more striking because of the atmosphere. Rich furry finale with some of the coat-racks filling upstage por- tions. With show running long due to feature, , house cuts the usual overture and organ units of pro- gram this week but makes room without any hardship for the first of the NRA shorts contributed by the industry. House, along with others on Broadway, got the Metro item with Jinimie Durante. There Isn't inuoh to it and it-runs only three" minutes, but it gets over a fair message,via song by Durante and a couple of little bits with peo pie who are listening' to his address from a platform draped by NRA insignia. Release dh.te on Metro's NRA short waS' set as Sept. 10, but this house got it Friday (8) in order to start this week's shows off with it Theatre is trailing next picture, 'Torch Singer* (Par), as coming in after this week, but it may be held up through retention of 'Song' a TRANSLUX For the first time since Broadway has had newsreel theatres one has virtually scored a scoop eclipse program over the otTier. Through Pathe, Universal and Paramount the Luxer does just that to the Em- bassy (Fox-Hearst) currently. An4 this time there can't be any alibis.. The beats are wallopped over so. plentifully and decisively as to make the Emb register second run. There was a marked difference in attendance as well. At Sat mat the Enib had plenty of holes while the Luxer was more compact than it has been in months. Maybe there was some truth to the Luxer's ballyhoo that It had turned folks away on WAlt Disney's color pig cartoon because there were some kids in the house who shrieked and applauded while it was Enter- ing its second Luxer week. If the matter In Lux news wasn't a scoop it was nine times out of 10 invariably better coverage, or editing, than a duplication at the Emb. Universal had the Blnghamton train wreck covered in good news- paper style. The Emb had, in- stead, the New Mexico derailment which the Luxer showed the week before. Pathe had Rosevelt getting off the boat and back to work while the Emb attendees saw the Presi- dent only starting the trip. Fol- lowing the headlines. Paramount not only got pictures of Bailey but had a complete re-enactment of the capture. Emb had nothing on this. Pathe had actual views of the deer while the Emb used a stock shot of some -animals and covered the Watkins Glen ledge Incident through off screen comment. Emb led off with the De Pinedo disaster, which Universal and Pathe had in greater detail last week. Luxer highlighted the Cuban trouble, with a real lead in the re- porter's talk and with views of the Miss.issippi' and a continuity of events,' Including Secretary Swan- son, Marines and Cuba. The Emb did not have all of this arid what it had it buried in the program. Emb missed altogether air races and concert smokescreen by Pathe, Chicago balloon race by Par, latest Florida storm with some fine water second ,week. Trailer on 'Torch Singer' is one of the best Par or any other company has made if for no other reason than that it tips just enough to bait fans. Par is se^ingly cutting down on its al lotted room for trailers on either picture or stage show. Char. EMBASSY Embassy this week introduces a new policy, according to official an- nouncement. According to fact, as revealed on Its screen, the Embassy does more than .that. It also changes Its run and from now on follows the Translux If the material in the current news program is regarded V3 a criterion. in the five years that It has been vending Fox-Hearst clips, and an occasional short, the Emb never took the sloughing that it is re- ceiving currently from the Luxer. Strangely, the first week that it capitulates to the policy Instituted at the start by the Luxer, its news hits a new low. If the Emb figures an exti'a 10 minutes or so in shorts is justifi- cation for news let-down it is bound to discover that no amount of 'Tin Types' and Magic Carpets and car- toons and what-nots will suffice; at least, not when there is ' another similarly pollcled house with news in tunc with newspaper headlines. On NRA material Emb covers Johnson's Chicago broadcast and gets comment from another official against food profiteering, while the Luxer uses an MGM Eagle trailer featuring Jimmle Durante and In- terviews Jim Farley. Both houses have the Pikes Peak auto climb^ girl .swiniming the IJIagara river, Gar Wood, Van Wie- Hicks golf. ISmb outstrips the Luxer in races, covering Belmont, Grand Prix and Saratoga. Von HIndenburg's 86th birthday, Jewish pageant in New York, Eng- lish grouse hunters. Camera in Hol- lywood, another antl-saloon leaguer and another Negro baptism are others. Wdly. photography by Par, court martial at Fort Slbcum by U. Paramount had a newsier cover- age of the Lindberghs' arrival in Copenhagen. Last week the Emb had a statement from a government official on home loans, but it took Par this week to get answers to questions of vital interest to every mortgagee. \ Emb covered the sailing of' the two Italian training ships in lazy fashion compared to Par, which had a camera up in the rigglng^ and availed Itself of all the angles which barkentlnes and brlgantlnes have to offer. Waly. Starr with 1st Div. Myron J. Starr, booker of the Century Circuit, Brooklyn, has re- signed, to* Join First Division Pic- tures. New post Is head salesman of the Metropolitan division. STATE, N. Y. Six-act vaude bill, topped by an air name but still vaude. That's Delight (Welcome) Lewis (New Acts)' who's developed a nice crooning style, but retains the phrasing and the knack of getting it over to the crowd. Off to solid applause for the first trip and still a good hand after the encore. Bill was running around 71 riiins. opening night, but going at a pace that didn't seem too long. Opens with Monroe and Grant in their trampoline act. Brevity of the act is an asset. Deucer is Sibyl Bowman. Same hit impersonations ever clickers. Jack Pepper, No. 5^ with his pair of stooges and. ■ straights for the better of his two assistants who might possibly be funnier if. he did not seek so desperately hard to be like Jimmy Durante. An Imitative bit as Durante generally gets over, but this is too long for an imita- tion and not announced as such. Rather less than usual of the nance stuff; the stooges' curse, which helps plenty. Collects enough laughs for a next-to-closer, but probably more at home on third base. Trey on this bill is held down by Clifford and Marion, who dou- bled 'eni up with some of the gag stuff. Shutter-upper is Ann Prichard and Jack Goldie. Miss Prichard lets loose some real bal- let dancing. Does so well with her ?feet it's a pity she feels called upon to sing. But she does, solo and with Jackie Goldie, Latter in ad- dition to the song does a couple of tap routines with the Sibley sis- ters. Both good acrobatic stuff, but the only difference ia that in the second number they wear white mess jackets instead of tails. Might be a good gag to put the sisters into skirts one tiriie to give variety. Better costuming, more variety to the routine arid better lighting would all help. Makes six acts in stead of the conventional five and none stubs its toe Oif none rises above average. Overboard on trailers this week Regulation ad for next week's fea- ture, much loriger one for the big feature season that is poorly .writ- ten in spots: and tiresome ail the way through and one of the NRA shorts-. Feature is 'Tugboat An nie' (Metro) with: the house just full. Chic. PALACE, N. Y. Vaudeville Is likely to continue indefinitely along pop lines In this former stronghold of the departed two a day. RKO leased the house to Sydney Cohen. ■ He stepped In two weeks ago and that's the only change In the set-up. Even the usherettes display the RKO badges and the bookings both for the show and films are from RKO. Second vaudeville bill since Cohen arrived proved another sat- isfactory entertainment. Last per- formance Sunday night found a good house at 7Bc top, most pf the money being on the lower floor. About half the attendance there held over from the early evening show and walked when the final stage bill was half over, Bernice Claire had the top line, with Frank Gaby and Bernice and Emily in that order In the heavier billing. Latter turn opened the show, but in programs of this sort position is not- Ihiportant. First show Saturday was somewhat Jum- bled in running order because of the late arrival of acts. That brought Miss Claire on to open, she subsequently ' being spotted In the middle of the five- act show. She is personable and, although the possessor of no spe- cial brand of pipes, grows on the audience. Two comedy turns with Gaby the first to appear. He has some 'fast' stuff with the box plant, but it was okay for the Palace. Next to closing the other hard- working comedy act also landed with Reiss, Irving and Reiss, • next to shut. The main comic "is rather remindful of Schnozz Durante, and yet it's not an imitation, Works in plenty of nance stuff. Bernice and Emily with two single men provided a corking opening. Girls are exponents of rythmic dancing and the timing makes the routine look easy. Dual acrobatics spot them quite apart from the sister team rating. Ec- centric boy hoofer scored, but it is the girls who put the act aci'oss without question. Closing is the adroit Wing Wah Troupe of five. Three- contortion- ists, a boy and two girls, exhbt ex- traordnary feats, wthout fuss or delay. Plate spnning finisher • not unusual, but makes a flash. ■Pic- ture is 'Paddy the Next Bost Thing* (Fox), Trailer for 'One Man's Journey intorosting. Attached is an NRA short with Jimmy Durante singing 'Give a Man a Job.' Audience liked it a lot. Jbee.