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12 VARtBTY ¥ARIE¥V HOaSE REVIEWS Tuesday, November 7, 1933 WINTER GARDEN, N.Y. (Sunday Nit« Concert) Fourth •week of the Winter Gar- den Sunday night thing Is ov«r, the show, was pretty bad and the tickets still too expensive, even .if the show were good. George Jessel was the m^ister of ceremonies Sunday nigljt. He worked very hard against growing ciSds as the evening grew late, made grand jmpresslon on 'hls own and almost 6ia,ved thfe shiow. But no one person could' save -anything com- pletely with the sort of talient backy irround accorded. Jessel could probably continue fcere for several weeks if he wanted to. Th« mob liked his Work and lie Inaugrurated a couple of hovel- ties that bught to be appreciated. One of those was doing away , com- pletely with that introducing of, personalities thing. Jessel ari^ nounced .to start oCC 'with that hie would not embarrass anyone In the audience , by introducing them or asking"'them to do any work. That did away with a lot of sill^ wran- gling, pleading and boaxing. A couple worth-while, acts on. the, bill, such as Gambarelli, Frank and Milt Britton and Rex Weber. The rest .pretty sad. And thiat is the: great trouble with these shows. There's so much fllMn material that does- not belong, aa ■ to liiakei the. whole thing a mess. At $2.76 a throw customers.are entitled to fin- ished talent; not tryouts. Prbceedings start with, the Lia- zeed Arabs, god tumbling Arab turn. Dfeuclng, Tick Tack Trio, three girls with Just .about the bluest assortment : 0f songs ever chanced on. a Broadway stage.. They're from ' night . clubs, where their material is mofe .acceptable. Professor Lamberti with a rough and tumble 'xylophone -act in the trey and then Jessel doeis a bit of singing.' Burns aiid Kissen, with Jackie Maye are another hltery outfit. Not too bad, with the M^ye doing a good drag number, but again pretty rough. Appearance of Maria Gambarelli was like a breath of fresh, air, Gamby has a male partner now who works nicely with her. She started with her 'Rhapsody in Blue' number, going from that to a ballet. The man did two/ nun»b6i:s and then they doubled to mop up solr idly. Rex Weber was in good fettle and sang half a dozen sonigs. He's booked in by the Shubertis via the Bhtibert 'Hold Toiir Horses,' of. course, but a capable artist. Frank and Milt Britton band closes the first half with maniacal jazzology and mayhem; Second portion Is opened by Helen Daniel, radio singer who has possibilities. Sammy Walsh, claimr ing to be a dancer and mimic, fol- lows. Th6n Eddie Conrad and Lot- tie "Miles in a hew turn that needs polishiitg and cleaning up. It's 11:26 by this tim^i BO jessel gets In .a couple of songs and sends the moD home. He could have (continued for hours, seemingly, but lt'-*»? mighty late and he had a date to play pome clSLVistsh* - House* took in about $2,700 Sun- day night, which isn't iso bad, everything considered. There's profit _in_ that sum, but. I t can't continue with these shows. Mined up. That so much money can be raked In on a ticket charge which is a good 60% too high is indicative of the fact that the New Yorkers want vaude on Sunday night well enough to pay for it. So why chase 'em away? Kauf, roll Huxley for. orchestration and Florence . Case (by cotu*tesy .of Don Bestdr) and Jan Peerce vocalizing 'Who's Afraid of theLastRound Up/ or what have, you? No matter the symphonies and the ne plus ultra orchestrations, etc., It's still their 61' friend, the Pop Medley under $4 auspiceis. Robert Weede, baritone, making his R. C. debut, ddes so satisfac- tbrlly enough, but. even. Tin Pan Alley has heard of Leoncavallb's prolog to 'Pagliacci' (ref;, 'Iiaugh, Clown, Laugh'). . Sunny Rice, Nicholas Dak^ and George. Kiddoh are highly compe- tent in the ensuing divertissement, 'The Music Box,' beautifully lighted, staged, scenic-designed and mounted; but still familiar stuff. Then the. lloxyettes, as 'Chiminey Sweeps' (Douglas StanbUry - and Helen Sada vocalizing:), clickers, but. likewise familiarly patterned. Thei'newsreel next. . *X Scotch Episode' is the jpiece de resistance,of the stage Introduc-. torles to 'After .Tonight'^ (Bennett- RKO); ^Caroline Andrews,' jpeerce, Weede, Stanbiiry, the Hbxye.ttes,- ballet corps, choiiis, Lovat Pipe Band (Angus M. Fra^er, plpe-nia- Jor) and the Lovat Scottish Dancers all cbmblhe Into this Highland fling. It's' a too generous Interlude that made one yearn , that the re- puted liationaliiBtic frugality would iassert itself. v . Ot. course, Just what would fit Into the Hall is the headache of thbise. who cause- wonder, .at .the. lack of. Ingenuity manifesting .itself; with these routine shows .when mechanical equipment, revolving stage, hydmulic: llfits and unlim- ited iscenic and wardrobe Investiture Is at their, comimand. Or Snrhat is one to expect for $1.66 loge locations? Abet. PITT, PITTSB*G Pittsburgh, Nov. 3. With any kind of a lay-but at all, the Pitt Is the town's best value. With seven acts of vaude, a feature picture, -newsreel and a tw.Orreel coniedy, that two-bit scale until six bells, after that 40 ceiits, should make this a site for the bargain hunters. The trouble with ventures of this sort is that it takes dough to keep 'em going until they dick. If man- agement can stick it out, there isn't a reason why Pitt shouldn't come, but ahead-in time. It's the only fiesh house in town. House has been at It five weeks now, with the Initial session the only probable winner. Last couple bf staihzas have been off, but "with a steady clientele noted, and they should keep coming once they get the habit. Of course, it's up to vaude to overcome the screen fare, most of Which is weak. Current stage layout is by far the best in a month, an efficient line-up that runs off in brisk fash- ion and has a lot of variety. Qperiei: Is Russell, Dell and Carr, three girls who start oft like a harmony trio aiid wind up with hoke, knockabout dancing, sort of minor editibn of the Three Sailors. Turn like this, with gals all lookers, has possibili- ties and while these kids don't have tyiA fiAoftBRarv polish , they could be . . xte: ■ ■ MUSIC HALL . There must, or at least there should, come another evolution of: the de luxe cinema presentation policy. Everything's been trled^ bands, radio names, stag'e names, opera, ballets, tabloids, units. The stage show revival and tlie reflex from the canned type bf divertisse- ment has hiad its manifestations In startling proportions . of recent weeks. Biit It's still the same bid thing. Too sorrowfully must stajge show entrepeneurs conbede the power of the flicker draw, as things stand' to- day, if feature isn't there, tliey won't come.. The show can't seem able to offset the deflt;iencles of the £iollywood product. But little wonder it Is, f ome times. Th# Music liail is^.a point in hand. Here^s tlte. natural,, the most logical: piloneer. and trail-blazer In a new at^le of picture house divertisse- ment. Instead it's but a glorified elaboration of the earliest type of presehtatibn, and seemingl y con- tent to stay in the. familiar groove that the stage shbiVd, of late, have reached in this otherwise ultra; au- ditorium. With air sorts bf cantilever stages to manipulate,-, a, .budget that ^kh owS-1 nothing but resiliency, condition PALACE, N.Y. Bven thoagh there lent included A tUTii. of real •odierlno proportions the «tage del^atlon on hand, the current week manages to make- a consistently diyerUng^ hour of it. As cbmblnatloDfl go these days this liye-acter haa enQiiigh familiarity In personnel imd routining: about it to i^ve satisfaction, to iat least the yaudie regular. What might have marred the picture for the latter element at the first Saturday seanee was the sight of Richy Cralgt Jr., hiding .behind a mike. But happily It didn't take the chatter boy . very long to rieallze. the eiTor of his ways and trade the electrical mbuthpicice for straight delivery;. Craig apologized for resorting to the oral cheateiis. He explained that the week Wore he played the Albee^ Brooklyn, and the. tact that the balcony was in Trenton ex" ercised something of a strain on the vocal chords. Soon as Craig came out from behind the mike be found tiiat he was amongr friends aind the nilrth rumbles aulBced. to show that faiCsre at least ](ras one mob that was abreast of the Cralg^^ brand of wit; That the 47th street cUrbr-was represeinted was. indicated by the response one bit vt repartee, got.. Girl stooge doing the dumbbell routine remarked that she 'couldn't get that last Joke.* 'Don't worry about it,' rejoined Craig, 'you'll hear it again whiBn Milton Berle plays here.' " Cralg^s isn't the only acl^ avallablie on this setup, to keep thein in mer- riment. Down closing , the show Is: Art Landry, who, plus rating as one. of the better perfonninig orchestras around these and other parts, has a knack.for sprlnkllng^ the Path with solid chunks of laughter. To every-'^ thing that he had to givfe they too^ unanimously. Lots of chuckles also went to the Reynolds and White musical nov^ty Up in deuee. It's.-the same display of fireworks and . the breakaway of instruments. The femme still brings' the routine to a climax by ripping off the clown toggery and makeup to ..reVeal a natty . e.vening . gown, and' a load bf . good lo'bks, but that dldh't make It any the less refreshingly droll for the Palace customers. .LIllia[n Shade's entry , brought her a hefty mitt; of recognition and with each number she fed 'em, this ex- pression of sentiment mounted. As an interpreter of Tin Paji Alley's latest In the. modern, idiom, this comely miss can still hold her own easily. Opehing spot of the bill fell to Don Ruiz and Bonlta and their sprightly spectacle of ballroom terpslchore. It made a speedy starter and collected nicely. Saturday's initial matinee gave In- dications of a lively business week with 'Berkeley Square' (Fox) the screen attraction. Odec. and an equal g:bvernlng every other aspect' for the proper presentation of almost anything one could desire, the Ha,ll still continues , in the same groove. The hors d'ouvre to the feature be- came less and less appetizing; for one almost knows the formula backwards^ Here 'tl6. Erno Rapee, Mlscha Violin and Leonid Leonard! alter- nato In nwieatrolng the overture, f.; r-y." ■ :': to c-:--- fixed up Into gra4« ^ material. Sea bury, Morosco and Co. Is <>««. of those stooge-ln-the-box, « la Phii Baker, acts, and good for a SOck of laughs. The audience plant MB., a good comedian, with a first-rate de* livery. Nb. 8 spbt goes to Frank FarnUm, billed as 'Holly wood's Famous Danc- ing Comedian.' To carry out the Hol- lywood illusion, FamUm has a. few screen shots showing him demon- strating the Charleston to Renee Adoree and Pauline Starke on the Metro, lot and to Jack Diempsey. Dreisses of the late Miss Adoree and Miss Starke are Of ancient vintage, indicating reel was taken at least seven-or eight years ago, and Isn't of any particular value to Fariiuin anyway. Neither Is his efforts .at comedy. When he goes into his dancing, the loose-limbed, snake- hip variety^ he's a cinch and over big. He almost nullified his ef- fectiveness, however, with his early material and should work up some- thing new or stick entirely to his stepology. Irene Vermilion, with Three Bev- erly Sisters and Kermit Da^t in pit. next, and the bill's boniafide show- stopper. Vermllibn gal has - been around for ■ years and her amazing leg work is still tbi)sl She makes: -the toughest .tricks look simple, and is one of the few performers doing these contortionist splits who can still retain her s.a. Beverlies. In vocal and dance specialties,- are okay.' jWalter Walters Co., man and Woman, well-known, ventriloquist abt, has novelty and entertaihmeht plus, and seryies nicelyi Next-to-^shut goies to; Waxd and Van, and rightly so. Couple of pah- iomimlc^muslclaj^ and "other viblln, -and • they mix ..ili^ir comedy with real musical ab'llty. Fiddler's dead pan is a laugh and his educated trousers panicked 'em. Wind-up is Thomas Melrose, and cb., two nieh and a woman, who start but as conventional hoofers and finish with ace acrobatics. A good choice for the shut position. Picture 'I Have Lived' (Cheiater- field) and downstairs pretty close to capacity opening show this after- "i. ■ " •'Co'Tn. ACADEMY. N. Y. performanbe three hours and 20 minutes.: That's a bargain in any language. Not a bad show, either, though there is not that happy ac- cident of booking which, makes each act jMlP'the other. But. they don't fight, Wid some of them move, this sJuggl^ AiidieUce to as uiuch en- thusiasm, as K- .ever showp. ■> Downey- and Sisters open with Downey getUng" «ome laughs for his comedy, but the ysria pick- ing up more applause for their biey^- cle tricks.' That doesn't often hap- pen. Second Is the Original Honey Boys,. InfereUtlally from George Cohan's minstrel venture with George Evans, but at any rate 40— count 'em—40 stanaped on ail over the turn, mostly singing- Dancing was politely paaaed over down'here. Tbey -want ai^e breakers Instead of neat istufC and probably Billy Emer- son hlioiiself would have, been paj^sed over lightly. Singing over nicely, though it is not outstanding. Third watch falls to. Madie- and Ray. with .their eon^^lomeration of dancing and rope spinning. Three Or four tricks in the last department got over :nlceiy, as they deserve. Dancing- better liked,.. particularly th^ slinky cboch-style the. girl does.. Many of the steps are fakes, but she. shakes a mean wriggle. Joe Phillips was .the first to pick up the laughs, and he owed plenty to Alleen Cook, his foil. Stooges nicely for PhUlips and then brings the turn new life when she gathers up her skirts and starts to put over some smooth., leermanla. Phillips stuff is not new, but so long as he spanks or threatens to spank his i)artner--=abou^=every-^so=^often,^=te builds the laughs. Nice style of working, and It would be interesting to see what he would do with really good material. Sylvia Froos takes what would have been the closing spot and sticks it out. -or four songs. Has dropped her pianist and sings out on the p](atform In the orchestra, with the mikes turned on and hot much help. She clings to the spot for four songd. Bats them over pmartiy, but TRANSLUX Programs' in both theatres cur- rently are above average in enter-, talnment and contain less niaterlal Which Is obviously mage^Iny. Their coverage of spot topics also affords better than usual opportunity for comparisons.; The Rhode .Islaind oil blaze was well covered .. by. all the reels, but Universal in a plane made'.the most exbeptlonal.\|ob. It senied to ven- ture right over tiie: conflagratioh in the . air,-while oh the .ground it also Impressed as being closest to the blaze^ There seems to have been somer thing >nrrbng In the irecording bf Mrs. Robsevelt's speech at Chicago, The Luxer booth can hardly be blamed. FbX'^Hearst. covered the subject at the Embassy, but. bmlt- ted the talk.. When vblces irepro- . duce In a high cracking falsetto, especially "trheh they cbme from, re- sponsible people discussing serious subjects, good newsreel VJudghtent . .would seem to be all that Is hec- essary. . For once FrH over-jsheared. a, cdlpi. which Is nhlque when It Is re-: membered that the Emb has th<!^ rep for letting [9Uch subjects as Australlian sbeep rUn. into western horseplay lengtli.^ .The 12-year-old Jersey lad whb saved his home by being the first letter writer to the President on tiie . home loan plan ■was fiashed In between, his piarents and allowed a sentence at the Emb. Luxer let Paramouht's subject run full. ^ _ . ""^etCgF"camera spotting scored d€=~ cislvely for the Emb over the Luxer, on several Important subjectis.-'^ "By' virtually climbing Into the. hole of the. destroyer and hosing up to the dented bow of the triamp the Emb had a mbre graphic description; of the San Francisco collision than Pathe. The same goes for -the French train' wreck. Paramount boys, seemingly having; been con- tent to remain Up oh'a hillside while the Fox lads toed the broken line. In . the Los . Angeles auto race, ijvhere ohe of the cars turned over and burned, F-H crew was in a po-' sitibh to follbw all the details from the time the car spun, until the driver separated himself from flames and wreckage. F-H also had a more Ihtlmate study of the EMBASSY It's a long time since Herbert HoVoer haia appeared on the news- reel screens. Although burled in thj> program and following three New York mayoralty candidates, each of whom had a chance to speak, Hoo- ver,- silent p,nd bouhd for. fishing, gpf the one rbusihg round of applause', at an Emb Sat. mat.. .: FrH payees, evidently are glad electionering is over. 'Wearied, by weeks of Broadway horn blasting;" they had .hO: reception before or after for either O'Brien or McKee, and were weaWy demenstrative in their rec.bern.ltion of La Guardia. . By far the mbst siig^niflcant utter... ance in current newsreel releases is the statement F-H. obtained-from IJbyd George. On the .Russian subject Senatbr- McAdoo. upon return, granted all an obserx^ation. Russia seems to be- getting more. space In the reels as weeks paiss. Currently there are three subject.?, the high air. jaunt; And a Snake-like train being the :other two. -. , -: Carnera now rates positiohinp: in the Emb prbgram. ahead 'ot Mus- solini. The Duce, however, c' only the usual of-reviewirig troops while the fighter posed in- a brand* new uniform. Two; bid bacheloris are married to two elderly matrons before the F-li 'camera, and a few laughs are ex- acted, after the* rites by some, 'vigors .bus osculation. Other subjects: irl-barmaid stu- dents. Sir Mosley, Alabama-Ford- ham-game; Westrope, the ,16-ybar- old jotkey posing with -Dempsey; snow in Montreal, English locomo- -tive-ih-LrA—hats;^ 'KVaVy. —- ascent of Russia's balloon to the stratosphere than PathOi . TihusUal subjects for a newsreel program were obtained by Para- mount. The rabbi, priest and min- ister who a,re touring, the: country together on a good will mission, and. their few wbrds from the screen, were decidedly impressive, interior views of the Macon just before it hooked up to the Califbrr nia. masthead was anbther wortb-^ whiler. Whether the subject was' piped or not. Par provided, educat- ors with, mbre food for hew thought in showing a small clasjs of kids. mounting the sky for a geography lesson. ' Waly. It's anniversary week down here and they go to seven acts which _ _ ltret£ir"«6-Ttnlirates^-witJrtlie-=^entIre- i|[B5CrT:Key'rer^Hr'ttrire-tiair^H^^ too quiet for this mob Which goes to sleep with its eyes open. Joe and Peter Minchbn got about the best score with their mixture of magic expose and acrobatic work. The comedy Is inane -and there's tbo mtich nance stuff, but that went down - here, and- the tricks warmed them up. Cloiser was Duke Mc- Haile's six-people revue, inbludihg himself. McHale Is a .pleasant surr prise. When he pops out he sug- gests a fresh kid: who's golhg to in- isist on telling Jokes. He also sug confines himself to making brief an: hbUncements and works for his share of the salary in two dance numbers, both good. Another glad surprise is that no one tries to sing. It helps a lot. Opener in the revue , is an adagio threesbihe, Which has been around. First section is biallroom . danclhg with the two girls, ih unusually Un- becoming costumes. On the repeat they're in luminous costumes and color absorption paint. Costumes ^re Indian, dress and brilliant. The nttt£ specializes in weight carrying, making* one double catch on the shoulders ijat's something to tell the people he^t' door about, Sev- eral other doubles! are out. of the ordinary. It's a question whether the luminous, effect helps "cJ;? act as much as would ::eepihg on the and letting this wbrk :be niore cleaiv ly seen. It's nothing to Cover up with dim lighting. Other contribs are the Mendel Twins, .who belong to that large number of islster turns who belleve' the^y look better in ; male togs. . Fiirst time in tails, changing to white mess jackets for a cane dance. Both fair, but MciEIale is the dancing hit. oniy; film is. ^Aggie Appleby' (Radio) with the. newsreel out. Probably it's the Only theatre with- out, trailers in a long time. Bu^i* ness better than aver'a'ge, but that doesn't mean packing' 'em in. Too much, counter-attraction on the soap; boxes in Union Square,, what with the campaign adding to the usual Soviet bally. Chic. IMPEFUAktO . Toronto, Nov, 8.' With Danny Dare up here, to pro.- duce the current stage show and the subsequent week's bill, Imperial drops Publix, with Jack Arthur once again on the producing end in addition to the managerial du- ties at the FP-Can ace spot. Pres- ent idea is to substitute elaborate prologues in-keeping with the-pic- ture." The Imperial, however, will .strive for name draw, but the pat- tern-type of stage offering Is defi- nitely out. In keeping with the haine policy. Mills Brothers are ih next week with Ben .Bernie tenta- tively set fbr week of Dec. 8. icey- nbte of the new* ' arrangement seems to be class.' For instance, in staging the • prolog for 'Henry the Vill (UA), Arthur intends to incorporate a Merrle jBhgland mo- tif, going to. the Mendelssohn Choir for about 30 singers and Using some bf the erirls from the former hoUs e-line. for Old English dances. , 'set^in'-elth er " a ~f ull^Hlag« ' jatreet - scene or a tavern interior. In . cases ^here the picture is weak, the stage angle will be played up; where the picture has an assured draw, the atmospheric prolog will have to sufilce. Danny Dare a,s producer liad lit- tle opportunity this: Week to show "What he cbiild do. It's a case Of. assembling acts only ahd placing' these before the drops and single set sent up here.. Dare also pro- duced the dances and has fitted these, in -ais best'he could. Opener has the igirls out In scarlet scan- ties and black opera-rlengths before a simple drop depicting a sidewalk cafe in Paris. Girls do a hot rou- tine and Harris Twins mix in for a softshoe eccentric. Then. Wilfred Dubois for a Jiiggling bit that showed dexterity but had at mild reception, Aiidience refused to warm up un- til the-Rppearance. of Major, Sharp and Minor; {jiea-slng femme. trio in white gowns. wriO used, the p.a. 6y6»- tern for harmony >'3-rbiing. NBC songsters scored oh app^fy^ance and performance. and clinc«ed. with •Last Round Up' as an ej»core. Xdihe then back- in full for a ijiautch dance, black drapes parting at the* finish on an Oriental landscape backing as' entrance for Harris Twins and Loretta for a combb acrobatic arid adagio routine. This got. a, nice reception, but. best resnbnse bf the evening fol- lowed the appearance of Jimmy Savp; who injected the first flash of comedy ih the BO-mlnute stage, offering. Savo did the first 10 min- utes of his .act in pantomime and .then=Aycnti=into=hi8--wai'bling=blts- With nice support from the pit-boys. Honors of the evening went to the diminutive comic. Finale had the girls back for the toy-shop idea,- a doll dance, jumping.-jack quartet, etc. Company round-up for the finale. Overture is Herman Fink's 'Melodious Melodies.' a transition arrangementof English^ bits, cut here to 7 minutes. Arthur conducts. Feature is 'Way to Love' (Par). McBtay.