Variety (Oct 1933)

14 VARIETY VARIE¥¥ HOUSE REVIEWS Tuesday, October 3, 1933 Unique Triple Policy Music Hall With Parts of Show Broadcast Toronto, Oct. 1. and radio merger launched here .had the Px'emier, At- torney-Genevai, other' cabinet min- isters, the Mayor a hleh-hat laudience put fbr gala^opening the former; Empire, now riiar- ■ queed as Forbfes Handplplt's Musid Hiil and the Theatre of the Air. Premiere wias coinplete with police, cordons, flood-lighting and a mllte ;ln the foyer for good-will, greetings ftnd gown desci-iptions? Plan v£i to produce shows siiitable lor both entertainment medlaV Stage and seven majoiv.Canadlan' sponisors have lined up behind the project. Others are reputedly, holding back tintiU the Canadian radio commission inlx-iip oyeir Dominion waye-lengths is straightened, out. S2parate sponsors will broadcast t)ei-Iods from tlie 2%hour, show, or one sponsor could go. for the entire bill, although this is Improbable. Currient formula is a 45. minute stage presentation of the i-eyue type; then a hit coniedy or drama .. tab version cut to an hour^ then band and.ballet back for another 45-fnlnute prez. First. 30 . minutes Of program on opening lilght was broadcast by CKCL in a mutual arangem.ertt. Randoliih's. idea, is to get the public coming or going. If they stay at home, the sponsor, foots the bill; if they , come to the theatre for eye entertainment as well, as ear, they will ante up two-bits for mAt's and 40 cents for eves, run to ije continu- ous from noon imitl 11:30;. Irrespec-; tfve-of sponsors this flgurliig-out-to four shows a day. Broadcasting of play ^lll entail royalty in iaddition to other costs and likely flrst'spohsors will stick to the revMs end. Tab this week is' Good- bye. Again.' Principles are John Holden. Anne Carewe, Eric Claver- ing, Jessa;lyn Fax. First three have been in stock here before as well as radio work. Bobby dornfleld's band is in for pit and stage work,, broadcast over- ture being Tachikowski's '1812.' Pres^ entatlons are elaborately mounted and costumes gorgeous. Latter are coming from-Mahiev's, New. York. Stan Francis Is m.c.', a pleasing per- eonality whose act will stand , heavy cutting,. good as most of the mate- rial Is. A stand-out in .current bill is the choral group, billed as the Porgy Singers, on for Negro spirit- uals and clinching with, the Ikment from the wake scene In 'Porgy.' Further singing ifrom Bessie Vopr-- hees, John Ford and Cameron Ged- des, latter with a good radio rep In addition to line girls, £>e Salvo and Vivienne are on for an adagio, nearly nude pair, -with, girl's. body CDated with silver arid lad's w:ith black, and dance very effective, Comedy end is handled by Stan Francis, Jack Lyie and Will Hast Ings,' latter an Australian nut in^ Btrumentallst. Phylis (Peggy) Grant Is ballet mistress of the 12-girl line. Randolph apparently a glutton for work, as he creates the idea.g; prO' dupes the presentation, and also dL rects the.play. Plan Is to change bill weekly. If future work sustains the imprfes-^ Biori given by- opening night's blUi Hfter the usual pruning, project should prove a money-maker for Randolph on both the. sponsor ari<3 theatre-audience angles. McStay. who flare up,- roar^' consu le. everyr thing in sight and flnally die down Vnto embers. Tasty pyrotechnics all the wayy' Roxyettes are chaiiied .'together in a prison number that demonstriates anew jUst'how machine-likp in prer cision. 'those girls ' are. When do theyEleep? . Viola Philo. . .offers ... a^ beautiful voice In. a religi6j;s. opening hUiii- ber with the' midnight blue cyke behind the silhouetted hordes of Isriel. Good but necessarily veiry Blow. Attendance , good Thursday night. Land. STATE, N. Y. HOLLYWOOD, L. A. Ij08 Angeles, Sept. 29. . Returning to atralght presenta- tion policy, Hoilywood is going the limit In giving the patrons eyeflll- ing entertainment. Best settings hereabout are being, built at this house with the Ughtlng somethlnjg to rave about, entertainment pbr-. tlon is . 'not so hot generally, but house bias now put do\en ,the num- ber. of acts used and Is spending mpre on the few^. Topping current bill IS Jimmy Savo, doing his familiar but never tiring: pantomime. Savo ties the show In a, knot, the HpUywood mob going strpng for his antips. Other acts working In £ront of the Teddy Joyce band, ore tfae .Zaros, skating dud, okaijr for the openiBr, Mario Al- varez, Vocalist who gets by, and Three Melpdy Malds^ two harpists and a singer, . Girls make a good appearance, but the ..singer is the weak spot. Joyce builds up their turn, by fiddling, with them for one number. ' Joyce' band and the m.c.'s work is. still .an attraptlon tietb. Orch^^ trktion is exceptionally'good for :a Joe Laurie's 'pown 'Memory Lane weekly chaiige stage band, arid is the JS-minute closer this week, Joyce Is holding on to fans, through and it . comes in handy as a life not doing too: much. Band does saver for a show that: has . all the three numfi^s this week, all in ear-marks of the timewwaster that jgobd tastie', with the orchestrations it's apparently intended to be. For- getting results .'Song of Songs' (Par) is the picture OiscaT Baum. overtures, the pit arid XMarlerie Dietrich's in It, arid combiriatlpn, through a medley of because of a two-a-day stay at the blues numbers with tiaylord Carter Criterion it has that special look soloing ; on the organ. Both are for the State. It must have been, well received. doing the drawing Friday nightj 'Gold Digfsera,' the main picture business very goodv. attraction, sl^pUld. detract, from any Laurie's group of 11 veteran stage show In & grind lipuse; but people, ranging In age from so to 80,1 ?<>esn t seem to hurt here. Gar toon Pomedy and Universal News clips fill the bal£knce of the bill. Call. ACADEMY, N. Y, Not that it had to be demonstrat- MUSIC HALL, N. Y. Georgie - Price. has . met. the su- prPme test fsr ah 8,516?; lie has doriie a single in one in the Music Hall. He didn't get the applause re- tui'ns he deserved, but that pari be blamed ori the house. . Suffice that' he. has played the toughest date for an act of his. kind and has come thtough. It requires courage and nothlrijg less to jflo comedy In the Music Hall, Price rievealed plenty of poise working iir tails and peddling songs, Iriiitations-and gags. They liked his Jimmy Durante best of all. His 'Forgotten Man' had two things agalnst. lt. First, the theme Isn't universally sympathetic. Sec- ond, the motion pictureis; used ae a builder-upper had a' reyprse effect, being a distraction from the enter- tainer. That, of .-course, wasn't Price's fault. All In all, considering he was on. the istage 10 or 12 min- utes, Price, gave-a demonstration of talent as a performer ths^t bespeaks his long experience. In a 'Fahtastie Dlabollque* ripe Ig, p rogr am tned but ^impossible to "know whether lie tk tKe ITgurP in pantomime or the voice of the devil. Just why the Music Hall programs are so hard to figure out seems an oddity, but almost Invariably, cred- its ar(B so general that wrong Iden- tlficatlOn Is very easy, Whoever read the devil's recitation merits a bouquet.. It. I.-j, fine elocution and flawless diction. Devils and flames are prominent this week, iFinale Is a riot of iames. The flames being the ballet, take turns at stopping the show. Most of them were in the :last Friars' Fr'ollc,. from which'Laurie; got his inspiration for the vaxide turn, while a few are- siiryivors- of -. the Eddie Dowling act of similar nature, whiph was irgund last seasori arid the oiie Dave Genaro and Maxwell, Renard ^tt JoSn't ^or^ onf^ ^1^?,=; ^iS^-r^^^'i:^ thSe'^^'lillhS^SS^exSnhe'^SS Act runs 33 minutes, Jias precisely Uj^jn ^all. In this case the fore- SJ. T^X th^?rt?n^.>J f*th? ^« ^ ^<'^ achieves a nelt wiSp T^,rn r«ri^^?^fl^^ No. 4 and thereafter while. Turn can repeat its State the Al Jenkins orchestra (colored) 'Tot'^th^ «nLo?/^«vinl^ t^h^m 7« ^» and^les to start at thi th!^ v„n® w7i.«1« M^«eir.nlne all oyer again and climb they run. the ^State offers Winnie to another high note, and Dolly, Bill Telaak and Co., MUes it used to "be the booking that the and^Kover and Eddie Gam nPxt-to-closlng ought to deliver the Open ng mixed team_^ of aerlallsts punch and then the closer would maintains its standard rating act merely as an added starter, through the years, ^both people being chiefly useful In easing 'em out a most capable In their line ^Of work, bit at a time. There was some pro- Inpldentally, the woman ^has held test at this scheme, but watching on to her good figure and her ap- the scattered effect of a barid unit pearance still meahs a lot to the finale at the Aci^demy one .becoriies m i , .X,.,, . ^4. Reconciled to the old scheme. Telaak with his girl foil and boy click on this bill comes with stooge does a,n elght-nilnute brodie Charley Nelson and his Wife, Irma- with comedy attempts before recpv- ettpi the usually nuiub crowd going ering with five closing minutes Of with special emphasis for the danc- acrobatlcs and knockabout. All the Ing viollriiste and Charley riursing merit Is in the latter portion. Miles the applause along for a flrist rate and Kover, flash act, with a five-girl [ finish after his trick ,Btu« with the line and the principal dance team, 'screen test' Idea. Inrianette stops Is cut to I'lbbons . for running time the show mid-way M the tui'Uv They here, doing but. seven minutes. Jiist plamored for more and Nelson put one line number a.nd a dance by them off with a promise she'll be the. team, and .Oyer before they back. Then Into the trick screen know iti . stuff, it was taking a chance on Eddie Garr belongs In the next his own contribution. bUt It worked to - shut spot, which he holds down beautifully,, holding the mob in a on this bill. The Sphnozzle Durante, sort of expectancy until the final which he does better, than the many I moment for a capital, get-away. Other mttnlcs, lifts him out of lesser I If the. show had cut at that point classification. Bige. | they'd have departed with lively impression of the whole entertaln- U M V I ment. Instead, the Jenkins outfit • \J» n»f IN. I. took over, starting with the must- c „Ai J J ,^ « clans doing a auiet number. A group Smalltlmey show headed by Grace of minor speclitltles x'ollOwed and by and Marie Ellne. comediennes. A the time that 20. minutes or so was No. 2 act for elsewhere, their fit over, the Nelson impression was here is next to closing with what's dimmed around them. The Ellnes, assisted Not that the Jenkins group Is in by a man, are not a powerful act. any wise Inexpert. They have plenty Some of their talk and comedy goes of lowdown melody arid three or here, b^ on better time It would four sprightly song and dance spe- haye difficulty In gaining attention, cialty bits, but here they are mis Other portions of the routine, how- spotted ever, nptibly the drunk^ by^Grace. in. the lobby billing It looks like a are quite surefire and despite any; first rate draw for the neighborhood, weakness of talk will get the hvlth 'Moonlight arid Pretzels' (U) Ellne.s. fey. IXI.- ^ -_>' TRANSLUX ^ .. Parariiourit went to a;iot. of trour ble to build up New Jersey, taking the brokers' threiat to quit Wall Street seriously; It photographed Jersey strePts and bulldlrtgs, even reproducing a ridap to show;how the certlflcate boys cduld sa;ve time on the other side of' the river. yl- dently-the Luxerriianagempnt,didn't, read the newspapers or else it still figured . O'Brien might change .his mind again: and put through thai brokerage tax, because It let the subject run: In ^Uli. Every- time they -dori't show the pig picture here there iire plenty of seats.. It's being plugged . as on- the final week at the Luxer. Therie were no seats Saturda,y afternoon-^, and thie pigs agalto must be regpori-. sible because there wiasn't anything else on the program to speak of .eXr cept 'a so-called short c6nta:lnirig "a. yery Pheap tnd amateurish per- formance by Pave Huttori which was. roundly hissed.' It 'is sm^Uest. of . feriiall-time stuff, containing an: inference dboiit iet baby that doesn't soynd.riice. Sirig Sirig's football season ^oplens With P-H giettlng more semi-closer ups than Pathe, : but with none'.of thie reels getting the, real prison rah-rah atmosphPre. Embassy added much to the yalue of the clip with the cracks of Fats McMiarius. On the English auto road race Paramount catches one.' of. the ma^ chines tuirning. turtle, while the Emb shows another racei*: going up Iri^fiames.—— Both houses, lead off with the Jewish pageant, Paramount glying lorigPt footage arid presenting clearer conception than. Fox. Both houses have Farley hailing repea;!;. Moscow parachute Jumpers; NRA; Texas oil-well "fire; doll parade at World's Fair; toy planes. Universal worked in some Int.er- estirig subjects. These included post views of the Penri. J>enitentiary riot, Arizona Indi-aris under the NRA, arid Cuban revolutiorilsts shaking harids with the current Island admlriistiratiori. Wait/' T...,, ^. . „, . ,, _ I 9" the screen and plenty of sex ap- Middle of the^bill liolds an ama- peal plastei-ed around the^ front Of /tV^^^^ .^f^J^' Blanche and Elltorr the house. Heavy billing for the (New Acts), a five-people combi-1.personal appearance of Alexander nation,, while the No. 2 spot yields 0ray, principal In the film, and a Jesse Cryor (New Acts),, colored scattering of minor turns. That singer with a not-much voicp but layput should have been good for fairly good sales ability to counter- such: a neighborhood, but no dice. : , " - ^, , House was half empty at 9:30 at the On both ends of the show are start bf the final show opening day acts of strictly small-timp caliber. House Is a tough problem on opera Ed Blum and Sister, xylophorijsts, .tipn. open, . They may not play so well. Opened virilh Diaz Sisters and but they at least play loud, which I Powers, two girls and riian on the may be one way of getting by down tight wire. Neatly dressed and here. The Blums open together.and Uprightly turn and serves for the close that way, both, times playing Upot. Ames and Arnold No. 2, a very noisily, While, in betweeri each rather f.amiliar mixed, palf, man does a singleton. The girl adds doing straight music on variety of voice to her stint at the. xylophone alone, but it means nothing except as reliel!' to straight xylb pounding. Why the . Blums should sacrifice the. possibility of getting some -mu- slc out of th e 1 r in strunl<uit,_uhl e33._ tlie noise with orchestra pit also full blast Is to cover up,, is a mystery. Four American Aces, Casting quartet', closes. The throwing and catching, within the craniped space of this stage Is. skillful, but act Is strictly Of th6 clrcusy type and wouldn't, look right except in houses like this. There is also much stall- ing. bPtween stunts, with a lot of harid-wipirig, etc. . An ovf •'">ad throw is the best trick. Chafi, instruments arid girl foiling •vyith ec centric, comedy. Specialty o.k., but talk worse than dull Gray soriiehow makes but a miUl impresslbn with his song single getti n gl,s.ome res p onse ,for_f€i:miliar: numbers ■ In musicals' and screen stories in which he had been con cerned, 'Silver Lining* and 'Tea for Two* .among .them. Finishes with ■ RaPhim,* Jewish chant,. in pbsery ance of the holiday; Friday. ' Melsori spotted in next position which would Ordinarily be next to closing and docs very well Indeed for any house, but especially for this location, which is getting to be knowri as the actors' nightmare. Rush, EMBASSY Embass^- revleyirs- the entire Ne^Y York political situatipn, Luxer not everi tpudhing it $aturday. There are sonie .interesting slaLrits on the Emb'S handlirig, edifprlally, of the Manhattari squabble. In .ori«i sense the F*H screen Is deliberately being- used for electioneering. Iri another, however, there's'. ari uriusual story situation, and it is this which the maker up. boys probably, permitted to- irifluerice their judgment.' McKee states his case. yirtuaUy the same as it was printed in the morning papers of the same - day. But. Seabury, yiho follows McKee in the .program, has ia decided advan-'; tags. Second, positioning gives th. Tamriiariy Terrorlzer -.a chance - to engage McKee In a. sprt of rebuttal. The Judge ogbes beyond Tariimany- ind O'Brlem He Infers that, the iriw dependent candidate Is slniply --an- other piece of iTantimany insurance. All of the Saturday audience were not for. McKee. Soriie. hisses were noted. Seabulry, however, got.rous- Ing aiJplause. Whether all; of this will festablish .a precedent fbr a^ewsreel theatre screen remains to be seen. It would seem that iWcKee. and Tammariy have the right - to. answer Seabury. Therefore it appears - that .the Em-: bassy by Its thorbugh coverage, SLt the outset .of the big pplitical fight, riiay haye- to keep the bars down.' By ^h(B same tokeri, the' LUxer, by steering clear of all pblitlcil.vitrlol- ics, may have done so for orie'or two reasons: .Either because .it muffed opporturiities or because, in its Judgment veering away from such subjects is the wiser pourse. -^-Jn^n—earlier- -clip - Emb-. also -alU- fords a travesty, touch by showing O'Brien and McKee on the same platform during a Bronx unveiling. How easy it is to get Moyoi^ O'Brien to officiate at a send-off was proven by the 'lEveriing Jour- nal' when It got OrB to wish its girl hitchrhiker bon voyage with many superlatives.. . Air lines never miss ari opportun- ity to get. a plug by the newsreels. This time they use one of the yoUng Roosevelts. Program, as well, In- cludes a cartoon and short subject. Waly. •ALLADIUM, LONDON London^ Sept. 18. 'Hot Rhythm' is the title of the show this Week, which mostly com- prises a string pt colored acts thjat played - at ticlcester Square theatre some weeks ago,' staying fbr six weeks. Two importations and a local act were brought iri to strengthen the aggregation. These are The Three.. Keys, Chilton and Thomas and Layton and Johriston'ev With the latter team" ducking at the \,last minute due to blHIng troubles, the riianagemerit -called In. another local colored act,. Scott and Whaley, . T6 create atmosphere, the regular Palladium gals, were dark- ened up for the occasion, with an- other white act, Tracy and Vinette, also American, likewise assuming a dark tint. Of the newcomers, Chilton and Thomas, following all the ^ hoofing on the program, prove the sock 'of the evening. If anything, team has Improved, bringing soriie new and clever footwork. Their, plate-dance will surely ^be cOpped over here. They still rely on their hurdle dance and pedestal foot work, scor- ing on all points. Come in for genuine speech, which they do in the form of a dance of thanksi: Three keys, billed as 'The Mills Brothers' only riyals,' render something new In harmony, which pleases most of the . customers,' but the reception. is riot unanimous. Keys are also doubling at the ritizy. Monselgribur ■ restaurant, where they arei^In for four weeks with an option.. After doirig 45 miriutes. on opening night they, eventually had to beg off. Looks like they - are in for a run. Tracy and Vinette, who laid art egg. some, weeks ago at., Leicester Square on their English debut, have Improved bejrond recogriitibri Team came in w;lien laughs were needed badly and cleaned-up.-' They: now iseem to be a safe standard act here. Earlier on the bill Scott arid Whaley created plenty of laughs despite., haying done the same act for years. London audiences are very loyal to their oldtlmers. Fur- ther laughs came, from Brobklns and Van, a» couple of coniiGs with a typical blackface delivery, who also .dance nicely. ==JEifcec=HO;tbiShG.t's--ar-o=,anotlieii=^^ of danors that scores, while Alma Smith proves a competent crooner. John Payne's Twelve Jubilee Sing- ers vary the. monotony with some pleasing harmony..' Others that score, are Troy Bro\\'n,. 'Jazz Lips' Richardson and Roy Atkins arid Bernl Short. Company is In for two weeks with- an option, and judgirig- by Monday's business, which was $500 up from. la.st week, they may stay a further week. ROXY, N. Y. Gus van is the headliner this week, heading the usual five-act bill, on which comparatively small riioney has apparently been spent without hurting the result.- Bill Is about half dancirig, not poUntlng the Gae Foster girls, but dancing of three types and not conflicting, wi^h ari: audience not overly pa,rtlcular as to the niceties of . booking.and rou- tining. Business dbwn Friday night, as the Ybm Klpipur solemnities kepit' the Jewl^ patrons away, and the response -was not as liberal as usuaU Acts took bows , without having to Took a,shamed,'hut Dave Schooler did not have to put the. muffler on to get the next turn spotted. Opens as usual with a brief talk by Schooler through the loudspeak- ers. There must be some reason for the continuance of this Idea, but it is not because it helpS: to get the show off to a good start, rather the reverse, as the chatter Is flat. Lets on the Foster girls with hew- cos- tumes. Generally they reach down in the trunks, but these golden brown satins are very evidently new. Maybe it's the NRA. Full skirts sweep the floor and ricver get much above, but it's a showy bit, with a lot Of gesticulation', which probably means somiething or other, - but there's no map. " IteSt point Is. that the fabric takes the • lights nlPely; Nbw and then there's an awkward moment .-v^heri- the ^ girls marieUyer for new positions, but In general the dance is smoothly writ- ten. They back Up to let.ori the Three JackSt hoofers who do;uni- s.bn; work for .the first effort and pome back fbr a challenge which looseris up on some really good , ec- centric angle crackirigi. Ray Huling gets second chance with his trained seal and over sur- prisingly well. Seal uses the public address system, for soriie of its 'talking' -:just like .a radio croorier; probably the first seal to be given a mike. Dorothy Crocker is ush- ered in by the ballet, which IS back In blue gauze and pink streamers. The color scheme is elementary, but it; fills, the stage. They stand around' and admire the soloist, who gets away frbrii the Usual stuff with a control act in which her right foot does riot touch the floor fbr four or fly c^jnlnute s.^^As she _isjtvcarin gi, ■hlgh-TieeTed ^shoes, the stunt is all the more remarkable, and -several times the ' audience applaudpcl a stunt without bein.sr coaxed. Not what might be Palled aft, but a wel- come diffcr^'nbe from the Usual.pbs-- tUre dancers. Frank Conylllo. with Sunny D.ile, does better with his pantomime than his talk, but there's plenty of the pantomime, and thev Hke his Charlie Chaplin bit in spite of tho (Continued on page 18)