Variety (Sep 1933)

Tuesday, September 19» 1933 CAMEO, N. Y. VARIETY HOUSE REVIEWS VARIETY 15 nuttier way, and there ought to he la spot for this d^amic redhead In RKO's Cameo Is now advertlslngf j a show. Gertie Green Is another tid-blta for two bits/ That's by biU, a former -ufx tfi\a i-y. "v . straight dancer converted into, a way of saying there s a complew Wo,„lsing talking woman who still ahort program at a, straight quarterTcah dance. She cross fires with the take, M the first week's layout la m.c, Jay Mills, after an 'Interrup- «..i*<ii.inn hmiRA Jn due for atui I ^^on' entrance and draws a good any criterion house to ««e tor stui i^^^^^ laughs before climaxing on another change of policy in the near 1.^^^ j^qq^ Green's progress in future.. It's no go this way. the talking line will depend on the^^he trial ARAMbUNT, B'KLYN stripped ot all the frills and tinsel the average picture liouse loads onto Its,stage shows, the M. A. Shea people are trying an experiment here that has Its merits. If for no other reason than to prove that Vaudeville can look dUtereitt in a film theatre and still remain on the edge as vaude, there's merit In Built grade of material obtained en route. Cameo has had a career. ^ ^ , . . . * 11 vAaro affo B60 aeater was Hudson and Larimer, mixed team about U year^ ago, Bbo seater wasi ^ikes, Is the unusual opener- one of the B. S. Moss houses, owned Km^aual because bike acts are rari- 60% by Moss and 60% by Mortimer 1 ties in the picture house stage Fischel, an attorney. Moss, when [ shows. When the man enters in gelling out to RKO, sold his 60% of tramp attire and procedes to get bl9 this house. With others. Fishel kept flnger caught in the bicycle seat, it his half ownership and still has It; looks like a No. 2 Joe Jackson has house being operated l>y RKO for arrived, but after the; toriet pantd^ a separate corporation. Theatre's mimic start he switcheis to trick too small to stand much <5hance to biking that sets hlin bifr by hiittself, a ' first run Broadway house and r-\yoman is a Very capable fancy hasn't been able to do much with ri^er, good support lor her partner, secon'd runs, ' ' > I and the combo is an ejccellent one About two years ago someone de- of its kind, elded it would be a good spot to J Harris Twins and Stanley Twltis, show foreign pictures and artles. It J iseta of doubles, boys playing worked pretty well, house picking up pii^no and dancing and girls Just a strange motley following. Mostly I dandilg, ar« ok&y on the twin angle mm, considerable Communistic I g^n^ jugt passable otherwise. House trade and a lot of those interested I '^hose stager goes in for nov- In travelogs. Theatre last year, ^j^y ^t^^ and makes this theatre's w^ith thlig kind of policy, , playing all. gij.iB ah Important part of the show, Ahklnb Russian product and: cater- U^y^ ..^j^i^ : opportunities. Mills, Ing to that type of taste^ made I .j„g ^ii the way and iponductliig money. I the stage band's one instrumential Then the RKO operatives began ^^^^j. ran Italian medley), is a the foQtba;lllng. ' RKO wanted to "ice looldng and pleasant talking make a deal With Pittaluga to show I fellow whose weakness is a ten- pictures In Italy. So it threw the i- .^^te whole parMraphs on Italians a bone by booking a couple raflnoimcements that can be disposed- Inferior Italian films Into thaCam^ J Grosses dropped, but that ^1*** * I Tjianw's «^ I>lsney'8 rrhrfee Little Pigs': color I cartoon revived .and a ^^ht tcvflie Kids at th6 matinee, U news. Jus . enough traUers to tease .and not enough to wear 'em out. P^^e. worry anyone. othe]r trade deals. Any picture the circuit didn't know What to do with —insteiad of thrpwlng It out. It booked It into the Cameo. Then the circuit began, bleeding its own theatre in a diiferient way.. Traveloiigs always were a cinch at the Cameo. So the circuit began taking them out into nabe theatres ACADEMY, N. Y. They have thfe latest fight pictures xaKing mem oui mto naoe meaires i. , • ^ ,„_-,ko tvint's what's, as half of double features. Nice for down here, aarid maybe t^^^a the indie makers ifor a while, but making business better. Might oe it resulted in people knowing that I inclement weather oh a Satur the better travelogs would be played oftei-noon but it probably Isn' all around and the-wordt ones only day afternoon, om ii v at the Cameo. They slowly stopped the show, unless its Ifell «<»f«»^ coming. haAd» which is a local fav. Not a Now the theatre's gone all shorts. I show but nothing to brag about One hour and 84 minuted of 'em, ^„^al it e&ta over wlth- whlch means one regular Pathe I for names, though it gets over wim To begirt with, the appearance of vaude is one thing that counts. In a picture palace like thef Brrfok- lyh Par, with Its draperies* drops, lighting facilities, large pit hand of a symphonic character and organs, an act can work as it Would In the Palace but it still looks different. There are six acts oh this show. Three of them are In 'one', or full- stage, as demands require, the other three have the pit band oh stage as backing. This means of splitting up the way in which the show works, though routines are not cut when In front of the band and latter merely ' accompanies in the usual way, further removes the stage- bill from being resu]latlon vaude. Tet the first three acts, Jack Starnes and Co,, Zlmbalist and Hainlin, and the comedy turn Ot Herb WUliams, are strictly vaUde, doing their complete routines. A theatre llkei the B'klyn Pa*, b^ilt for ■ '4ie luxe t purposes and so equipped. In itself is an asset to a vande policy. Maybe the average picture<-minded tfeeatee operator can't see vaude in the de luxe pal aces because they can't see. beyond how vaudo looked to them in vaude houses with annunciators, loud drummers and a,ll that. Shea prob- ably is aii excepttom Jack Suimea* three-people iadagio act under radium lighting opens the bill. Starnes uses the fuUstage, but 'Fred Zlmbalist, harmonica exponent, with Mildred Hamlin, songstress, play, in 'one,' regulation for team. Herb Williams uses both 'one' and News release, three cartoons, three out conflict and gives varied enter- Paramount two-reel coinedies .tind I ^inmenti> , . one RKO-Van Beuren two-r6el opens with Violet, Ba:y and Nor- travelog. All old. TlpofC on age Is ton, gh-l and two boys. She- is_ <Mi the cartoons. One Mickey Mouse I for the opening bit and the finish., and One Silly Symphony, both re-I in -between the two bPys. wrangle leased by Columbia.' That company out an Intricate series of stunts, stopoed distributihg these two series chiefly prone hand to hand .work, of shorts about a year or so ago. with little of the standard stuff but They Were old even then. chiefly novelty. Plenty of dlfflcult Another thing to be taken . Into I tricks which get fair appreciation consideration here is that the Cameo | down here. Openers because they re has about twice as many seats as acrobats, but the hardest workers the Transrliux or Embassy, both of on the bill and should climb, which, incidentally, are striiRrpling Second from the rail are the Three and with better product availability. Kelly Kids, marked down, from the Also the Cameo is badly located. Five Kellys and so under New .Acts. Nearby are three or four theatres With a more Ingenuous appeal they -r;-^^ i,.; ^i-p, -i-ig with sev showing dbuble features and more might have whammed this crowd. l^^f^^J^L^^^ ^^^^ KSbTy a half for 15c and a quarter. Kauf, | Middle mounter Is MarshairMpnt- efa^origlnal ^^^^*^j,^^^^Zm^n^tl gomery. Who managed to get more laughs than the Academy crowd usually seeihs to feel Is good for actors. Possibly It's because thejr fulL All three acts, getting their mu ale from the pit. Went over well Friday night, but Jack Arthur, ^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^ radioite, topped on reception and ggj, gggj,^ Okajr lighting: had. to do an encore. He. has an | Altogether around 34 STATE, N. Y. One of those rovue type shows that blends and plays satisfactorily only when the proper m.c. is there to pace It, is on the State's menu this week. The m.c. is Milton Berle. He's on from start to fin- ish, one of the hardest workers at this house in a long while, and the. bill is a socko all the way. 'Penthouse* (Metro) is the picr ture, along with the Berle troupe.' Both were drawing Friday night, the jammed house indicating heavy week; . . , i. . ^ The comedy, which. .is sustained throughout the show, i;5 >what makes It, and Berle does the comedy—anybody's. No laughless stretches for' more than five min- utes, at a time in. the. hour and. a half of show. They laughed at every movie and every gag (Except one) ventured by Bierle. When the; exception laid an egg the coniic ad ~ They . laughed this performance nobody called for the number on the racks. Fadeout spot has a novelty in- strumental troupe, Radio Hay- makers. It's an old line act dressed up in what is supposed to pass for up-to-date billing and with a mike available to back up 'radio' porr tlon oif this title. With or without the inike appurtenance the act's ammed with the sort of entertain- ment that clicks -strong with the family time followers and the ap- plause the. troupe gfathered on this occasion showed that xylophones and cowbells haven't gone out of fashion. V Odec MET, BRQOKLYN (Duncan Sisters Tab) If the heavy downpour of the past week hindered the b.o., .Met] must be set for a good current gross. ^ ^ Attendance was good enough When j{^be^^- 'Funny; „ caught Friday (change day) night. Uyhen Phil Baker told It.' This would mean that the Duncan I i^how is practically an intact ver- Sisters are helplhg the draw from I gion of one of the routlries used by. the staeie end. 'Penthouse' (M-Q) | Berle during his six weeks'. Chicago Is the feaiture. I . I run, In routine and material. Sup- The Duncans have the. stage fer I porting talent fits, with Berle and their own unit. It's a modernized | on its owh. There's Tesii Gardell condensation of their 'Topsy and (Aunt Jemlina), Eddie Miller, Eva'musical. For th^e Met the con-- jjenry King's brchcistra from the densed version: seemingly fits well, pierre hotel, Madlyn KlUeen and a only th6 Duncans get indicator I jine of 24 pirls, presumably Chiester credit and no programs are served Hale'is. to Identify the rest of the cast, Between Ig Tess and Miller, which appears to have heen care- [ hoth of whoni have: their own spots, fully selected. . Some old timers are [ there's lots of fancy sihglhg. Berie apparently in the trbupe judging by uses Tess and Miss KiUeen as the way they perform. While this foils, the latter being a standard tabbed Tbpsy a;nd Eva does carry sparring partner for him, but with a articular amount of huinor'and Tess . he gave away too much a certain, charm in. settings , iand I weight. She and Berle together mlislc,' it lacks a pulsa,tlng verve | topped off her; own turn With her for picture and combo houses. I pianist .and the. twosoihe had the Maybe the combo spots can be 1 customers yelling. elimlhated from this observation, MUler does two numbers alone anywaiy, because running as it does I in. 'one,' also .flhishlhg In harness to 77 minutes, the tab would prove [ with Berle. The singer has never, overloner there. I been in better voice. There's some- The ishow as observed from the thing keeping MiUer off. the air, but balcony doesn't sound, so distinct It can't be those pipes, and It prob-. on enunclatory- prowess, and how ably won't be for long. much of the material Is new Is open. | The King orchestra is a ^soft- It. uses a stationary set in full that playing non-brass outfit of 10 gets Split for three different scenes pieces, the leader b^ing a person- to chalk a different setting with ad- able young man who^doubles be- ditiona or eliminations from the first tw6en the atick and the^ piano. As I a new one, on straight routine, its ^ «.»,.v,6^«.^* people, merits are dlfflcult to judgia on this agreeable personality and voice but vivian plays 'Eva' and Rosetta dbes date, since the turn is broken up as ah attraction, on entertainment 1 <T6pay' and Rosetta is most of the here for thft-^ Berle comedy mter- appeal shouldn't be standing over Uj^orks. Uses plenty of tricks but ruptlons. Orif-what s shown It im-. - - -■ *-" " an remembered from herself or Presses chiefly as a dance band> others Ususual , heavy course of trailers Funny quirk here when Simon and newsreel, but the State cus- Legree appears and audience hisses I tomers dont seem to mind. ige. good naturedly, which may be a Williams or Fred I4ghtner, latt^ following him in the w. k. nut routine. Lightner calls himself the king of layoffs now. With enough icbmedy and novelty. Plus girls, up ahead, P&M_pIcked | sellln^ Met program car MICHIGAN Detroit, Sept. 18. This is the first of the shows « ^obi; *n oinan In front-of utnerwise me jaet program car- fnf -f-tif ifp^i th^^^ ries a Fox NRA short plus a travel- ««foah**fl«i«S^ lc?L tht CallfJSS talker. The trailers utilized are splash finish. A^t is the cal^^^^ ^^^^ p^^^jy overlong. Revels, seven P^P'f'JL",,^,.^®""™ for Sale' (M-G) I bboked entirely by the present re- ^wi5^ iSil? JSJL J^an ^^^^^^ t*»® story, which may not be so gime under Herschel Stuart, et al. ^L*^^,SS ^.eXitSs ?n Tupt e"»o^' On :the Bums and Allen And the: first show this season that ^^% ,^'*f^^lJ^l„lFJ^fJ^3 Jmixed) vaude date the trailer does too much they will talk about It's entertain ?^.J^ .l^t "TfiS.JM^mJ'"*^?^^^ Mentioning next week's „ejt from the opening routine. Top whose shim-shani-shlmmy and, later, the doll dance novelty, scbre decisively. Standout is the acrobatic full vaude program on the iscreen: many shows have been sliiffed wiOi is warming stuff. 8Kan. FOX, BROOKLYN From Saturday, afternoon's busi- know just when and where to laugh neas in the bad weather that had through old acquaintance. Mont- prevailed for three days, it looked f^o-e7^co^^^^^^^^ as though Dave Hutton may get J flown by Frank Radcliffe, Negro pretty close to that $20,000 per-, ginger. Single billirig, though his centage split figure over here after planist-feeder Isn't oil ttr^IL'^^Z,^^*- T»»,ra,r ^t, i„ him- Nine minutes of sagging with all. Aimee s absent Davey is in for I ^^^^^ before he goes into his $1,000 guarantee, besides. Next gongs. Poor jokes, mostly anbient, week he goes' to the Palace, New and not drawing many laughs. He Tork, for the same management, in clicks with the v°cV«. displayin^^^^ opposition to Aimee herself, who'll .untrained ^n* u^^Jf^ced but ra^^^^ be at the CTaDitol attractive organ with his head tones At t?e before a houseful of coPping most o^^^^ Saturday afternoon kids and their Strong enough to sin.? w^^^ mas, Davey drew lots bf applause ^^^^P^^^^'.J'"*,,,"?'^f^ And no vegetables. Those stories because o^^^ regarding fiying tomatoe's and such has "^^^^^^^^SS^ to p^^ emanatiner from the west had the the l"^^®^: . ^l^^^^^ east^xpecting to see ^avey ^carry- him in J^/3V>e!yih?on V^^^t^a ing his own net.. And especiany on. ii^'"*',.^^^ ^ ^ a good style, but iie the Brooklyn date, because Davey | tQ know what to do should know his: Brooklyn if, as he says on the stage, he lived there for ai year. While disdaining to use the net, he's playing pairtially! safe by sticking to the piano spot 'way up with It Golden got a real reception with his band,' the applause being gen- eral and sincere at. the rise of the I curtain. Nice instrumentation, thr,ee .stage and staying away from the I ^^^gg ^j^^ee reeds, accordian, double apron. A. Hubbell could hardly Ujg^g-'piano and. drums. Music i$ reach Davey with a grapefruit from ,^ostly soft and sweet, with an out- that distanfce, standing trio through the amplifiers Eight miniitea of singing, includ- k^it^ the boys playing saxrClarioh- thg an encore, is Davey's. stint as ^^tes; That was harmOny» Another the current headliner here; Also spot is a choral number, With a one .gag. It's about his Wife, .and g^'Jigge medley to. jazz the finish, the only mention of Aimee- In the -Qgeg three specialists, Leonard turn. What kind of cp^operatlon is Barr, Virgihia Estes and Flo Neall; that? .. Pair of eccentric hoofer.s arid an At least the Fox isn't sleeping on [acrobatic dancer who is about as the booking, resting assured, that word' that Davey's on tap Will get around by itself. The house is really selling its freak attraction- with a strong campaign around the bor- ough and the theatre. Strong and flashy lobby display let's 'em know who's playing. Davey's billing is better than his singing. But his ,flinging :didn't, get,:hi m into Vau ville in. the flrsf place. There'a^a.small time variety lay- out in support of the evangelist's hubby, so Davey and the picture, •Moonlight and Pretzels' (U) must have been doing the drawing Satur- day. Nell Kelly, standard eccentric comedienne, is the next-to-closer and topper in every way. Her speedy workmanship makes her the modern Rae Samuels, although in a good as they average up. Good looker, good tumbler and has the stage presence. Band did 48 minutes with no one wishing thby would cut it short, because there are no repeats. No two numbers on the same. order. Show runs 65 miriutes, includlnig a,brief orchestra by Joe Gershenson's boys to plug the_followinpr Jihow. _ _i Film division Ts"Tieaaed"T>3^ Man's Journey' (Radio), the fl.cfht pictures, newsreel, organ songalog and a cbuple of sections of trailer ibual trailer bill down here is neces- sary because they use it to set and remoV^e the horns. Not too long for the split week coverage. House Saturday afternoon much better than usual and running into a well filled supper show, apparently. Chic, ALBEE, BROOKLYN twist from a handstand position to a split.. , , Show runs 68'minutes.. It's pre ceded by Stan Meyers' pit crew in Romberg melodies. Feature, ' 'Three-Cornered Moon (Par) and drawing good businesa in view of .rain Friday night. T^^^ theatre exercises in Brooklyn ers on coming show standard not | j^^^j^ mattered. But whatever Aside' from Molly. Picon it's a pretty dull hour of stage entertain ment that RKO has tied to 'Lady I Van and Clifford and Marion. With for ,a Da-y* (Col). Ih putting the | caria Torney producing, 12 Tbrney the thought that the picture was good enough to carry the week. Coupled with ^Pent House' (Metro)* on the screen, it should dp business. Talent brt stage Includes Hal Le- Roy, Nobel Sissle and band,_Gus bill together those responsible like; ly figured that, with the: pulling power the little, fave frbm . the JeW' Overtaxing the ad-readers'. Char, ORPHEUM, N. Y. ^'^^^'^^^^^^^ '^f",!*' ^^®*r^I| the pretense at routining 'em for the and S.R.O. Friday night and the ^^^^ ^ ^ _^ But: whatever the .motivation It's not the sort of setup that can do the spot's repu- tation as a vaiide emporium any good. It's quite possible that the booking office has even given up vaude ran from mlddlln' ,to good. With the mood this mob was in It would have required a hopelessly bad act to put oh the damper. Everything thai happened was Albee and resorted to the pick-em out-of-the^hat method. With blind- folding. Things stageward moved- along quietly at the Initial performance Saturday and the customers kept in hunky-dory and the demonstrative tune with this mood. For a starter handout continued right down the the Gaudsmith Bros, and their bill. There were a couple quiet In- pooches do fair enough, in uhllm tervals from the viewpoint of audi- bering the giggles. The Preisser ence biehavior, but these lasted only, girls (June and Cherry), who fol as long as' Sanimy White persisted lowed; tried hard with their usual in Orossihg with his swell looker of chore of fast stepping, but failed to a partner, Diane ^Dennis. ' But all | make it better^than perfunctory ap- was forgiven as soon as they put the tootsies to romping. Theirs was^ the. ftildway niche. Stage combination dealt out enough comedy to niore than satlsfj' proval until Cherry |;ot around to her encore number. There was no resisting this exhibit Of whirlwind somersaulting and the noisy reward sufficed to bring 'em to for the this Yorkville representation. There Molly Picon entrance.. was something to laugh abOut. in all but; the opening stanza. High spot of this phase of the proceed- ings came down In next to shut when Jack Pepper and his latest stooge duo, "Tomniy Mack and Eddie Young, prbved that vaude still con-i talrts an act able to whoop 'em out into the aisles In old-fashioned; style. It's Pepper's best organiza- tion to date. : For an opener the Crystal Trio in an exhibit of whirlwind, roller skating tiirhed out breezy and ex- citing enough. Of class there was little about the iiatter and warbling routine that Tyler Mason fed 'em in the next spot, but the corked- ^ac&,GOmic=.had^thfi^stufCjthat^eaaiIlL It's Miss Picon's second st^^nd here within a few month^, and the way they acted up while she was on gave Impresisive testimony to the fact that the rebooking had. come anything but too soon. Only num ber she retains from her previous appearance ,is 'A Day in the Life of a New York. Working Girl.' And, as ever, it fiashes with brilliant ar tistry and proves the high point of her. performdhce. Taking recognl tloii. of .the major element .pf her fol lowing present, she dishes' up for thern alk in Yiddish a keenly carved piece of. mimicry on the theme of how the audience looks, to the actor. Joe Browning steps into the pic ture after that, but his' flow of h u mor-^f etche3-ho-=better^than=mod-<^ made him a big favorite with the grate returns. RoundIng:__out the Yorkville regulars. The-, gags are .stacre proceedings is a house pro- from away back and the theme of duced dancing flash with a: line of his parodies, revolves around an old 21 and a couple of acrobdtlc special climax, but the familiarity made it ists. It Is'the Albee's latest experi- all so. much, the Juicier, here. MasOn rnent, with Alex Oumarisky respon asks the customers to suggest the sible for the production. As a flash next song, number and then pro- of color and youth it's okay. Other ceedg to give 'em what's been down wi.se, it comps and goes without any on the pit racks and the mVisIcianis special excitement or riiproa'h, set to break into , all the while. At Odec. girls are used. Show offers plenty of problems as to routining, but final .running has Clifford and Marion opening after a line routine, Gus Van second, Hal LeRoy next, and Sissle dosing. Surprise of the show is how the Sissle band hae( Improved since last soon lioro* Acts are helped plenty by the lighting Miss Tomey has tricked up for the show. Using mostly p!aln drapes, she lighted it so that it looks like more acenlcally than it roiLlly^ ls» The line offers two routines, both of which are effective, helped again by the llghtlnig. The silhouette number hasn't been seen here be- fore. Second routine has some of the girls doing specialties in an acrobatic routine. -G-irla - cbntrlbu* ting specialties are Florence West, Ruth Brown, Ruth Zlhn, Betty Robins and Dee Lang. eanri Ben-Avle's overturei is 'Zieg- f eid Impressions;* I>ee. New Warner Club Prez Attendant Oh "the election Alfred W. Schmalberg, WB's. head of exchange operations, to presi- dency of the Warner Club, various benefits to the members, Com- .prlsing : Warnier employees, hiave been increased; New board of officers includes Jules .Levey, retiring president, as v.p. in charge of membershlpj. Ruth. Welsberg, v-P. In charg:e of welfare;.: Steve Trillinig, v.p. In charge pf en- tertainment; /Thomas J. Martin,, treasurer, and Louis Aldrich, secre- Exeoutiye board, takes new president and these officers as • well as Harold Reiner; Karl MacDonaid, Frank L. Gates, Alex MacBeath, W.- S. Macpohald, C» A. Nichols, George O'Kcefe, Margaret Peterson, E. Rellly, Arthur Sachson, S. .Schneider, Max Blackman, Sid Goldberg and E. B. Barrlsoh.