Variety (Nov 1933)

Tuesday, November 28, 193S VARIETY HOUSE REVIEWS VAJfJETY 23 STATE, N. Y. With 'FootUght Parade' (WB) on the screen, this house doesn't worry much about thie stage end this week,- with oiie of those slapped together flye-act affairs flUlng in. As it hap- pens, it Jells Into nice entertain- merit. iHappy Harrison's Circus opens. That's a good act for the kiddles. In. th^ deuce are. Three Millet" rOs. (New Acts), Who turn put to a good trio of colored bby tappers; Very much along usual lines, ex- cept that the lads have ;g6iieS in for prbducitioh, which helps riijghtily. Cass, Mack and Owen follow, wWch is hot too happy choice/ They did well enough under the circKmstances. Bmile Boreo; next to ?hut, had things all his own way. Stopped the show Friday night,' which is not too easy to do at the State, espe- cially in view of the fact that.Boreo gets his pblnts 'over by mugglrig. He has one new number, 'The Last Boundup' as a Paris music hall singer might do it. Charllfe Ahearn. closes the shindig with . his tribe oif hdollgrans. This' act has always been good Vaudi^ and still is. Rough hakum, and the mob went for it.. - . BiScness practically capacity, .Eauf. CHICAGO Chicago, Nby. 24. With. 'Danclncr. Lady' (MG) on the screen currently Louis Llpstone withdrew the line; of .^Irls ir.om the .K. Show this week. Crawford- . icker Is 92 mlns, pf singing, dancing and girls, so that additional choruses of the stage would haye been syperfluous. .'Lady' was pushed iiito the house' on a last minute call, leaving the produbtioh department With the ultra sjnart Plccoll marionettes on its hands. Since Plccpli booking was set weeks ago it wrts impossible to s^yltch dates. •As a result a large flapper and high .school audience sat through the marionette satire and restrained burlesque without appreciation. Show composed oif three acts arid an excellent overture. JTosef Cher- Tjiavsky as conductor and Hans Muen^er as violin soloist snatch in- dividual, high ratings' on stirring music. Donald NoVls was an audi-^ ence click on the opening bit with three numbers. Novis is on his sec- ond week of . a two-week stay and his audi-ence reaction at the iflrst show was a tlp-ofC that the Piccoli were not going to please this mob. Novis is a capable sind pleasing singer,, but the audience that de- mands three bows and a speech from a warbler with 'The Day You Came Along' is not the same audi- ence that's going to. en;joy satirical puppetlng. Vic Oliver and Margb't were second and next-to-closing, getting oke results on piano and Violin clowning. Oliver should be sep- arated from some of those gags. Gets his best returns frorn his com- edy business at the piano and fiddle. Piccoli took MP the remainder of the show. Puppets appeared in this theatre late in. June of this year arid are repeating the best numbers. Hias added other bits, some of which are much too slow for the audience this week. These flaps got the laughs only when the puppets went into slapstick hoke, such as the comedy bull chasing the toreadors. Loop. DENHAM, DENyER Denver, Nov. 205[ ..Denhanti, -long .the- homoTt^-wJnter stock, now has a stage show that is booked and built by the rinanager, liouis Hellborn, for 18 years 'man- . ager of the Dienyer Orpheum. Scale wiien Stage shows Were added, with first run fllriis was 25c top. but with the buying of Paramount films .the contract called for a 4bc top and the price was. boosted with rio loss of patronage; In fact, the films have added to. the draw* For the current week the line is made up of eight girls, who. In vari-colored cowgirl costumes, open the show with a- fast, routine. Vic Schilling's orchestra, popular in Denvei*, furnishes the accomipani- ment and does a bit'or two in the show. Buddy.Lyman.doo.<=! a fast noVeity tap as the orchestra plays 'Sweet Sue' and after Lyman goes off stage =th6=orch=slngs=itM-hwi-=rhegs;=T-hen play it on pop bottles. Only fair. Much better when the . pianist and Schilling on clarinet help the boys along. A couple of the line girls are given a spot here, each doing a dance. Lyman returns for a tap while .fitting at the piano and singing a lyric.n naymond. and Ann, ventrilo- quLsts, with a l^oy and girl diimriiyr please the young.stcr.s. Skeets Hur- fbrt,. rube,. CfSniplete.s . tlie cbuntry- fied appearance by talking out his bridge. Plays harmonica, and gets across. Edison and Louise get music out of a balloon, Louise handling the mouthpiece - and. Edisbn . pumping the bellows.- Their dog: helps the act along, .^ettirig a round of ap- plause by . saying -his prayers. Edi- son and Louise burlesque. on banjo and vlpllri.: The audience . would have liked to heard .them step out and show if they, can really play th(B instruments. Varsity: Steppers close the show with a rieait routine dressed jh short ove.ralls, 'Duck Soup'^ (Par>'on the .screfen. Rose. Pantaig^esy Hoilywood Hollywood, Nov. . TWb vocaii .acts liead the bUi and .while turns wfere stronj,- arid purichy when laist seen here, the passing of two Or three years sfeems : to have dimmed 'their lustre a bit. Edith. Evans-Ray Mayer act. is cooled off . by the fact that Mayer acts., as m.e. through the five-act unit; He h^s. expended jso mi^ny of his gags. by. the time his j^ct liesins that, the .full , weight .is-.- lacking. EiVans and. Mayer hay6 changed; perhaps unconsciously, frorii a swell vocai arid piano turn to a crbss-rfire tearii that, uses a sorig or so along with'comedy material that i$ by. no means new. Frarikie Richardson's, voice wasn't up -his old standard, opening shoW.'^ Small, attendance didri't .give hirii ariythirig to. warm up to knd his delivery was far. trbm ihspir^ ing. Harvard arid Bruce bperi neatly with mixed /Tirig and bar work, using tricks that are new. arid flashy. A strong act for the spot. Trado "Twins shine When they're diricingf. One tap .number has several ap- plause tricks.. Closer; breaking iri. looks poten- ti lly like a good danCe flash of the unpretentious order. It is a ditfei:- ent idei. to have one man and two girls perform waltz and adagio woi'k, e'veri though It might have been done before; Aero-contortion- ist fills in the costume chariges. Act is" called Bryant, Rains and Young; Band batoned by Slim Martin did an acceptable overture: and backed the acts oke. Biz bad. opening, aftr ernobn. Feature, 'King for a Night' (U). Leny. FOX, B'KLYN . Banquet table effect has again been brought up frorii the scenic storeroom arid as Usual the white sti'ctch of canvas is. doing duty for the finale of the stage showv This time it isn't being used to celebrate a, house anniversary or something similar.' Flashing of the table set the Cur- rent stanza .gets its justification froni the fact that the week ehi braces Tha.nksiving Day. And, as Usual, the eritire vaude bill must station .itself behind the table for the curtain number. Wearing the Variegated garbs that go with their individual a.ctsi the bunch this week, not only look enibarrassed but make a first-rate mi.sfit picture.. Up to the finale the vaude- ag- greg.a.tion do nicely enough by their respective spots, "rhere isn't a sock act among.them, nor does the dove- tailing of the items make for slick niovemerit and gaiety, but it's all up to the standard that the house has set for itself in recent months. Topping the screen phase is 'Fe- riniale' (WB). while of the stage col- lection Frances Langford is singled" out for chief riiarquee'- attention. Between batoning and warbling in- terludes Freddy Mack is still an- nouncing them on and applauding them oflC with the lad's, unobtrusive methods rating as ever among his major assets. Other house mainstay, the line of 16 girls, makes an inipressiOn far less Commendable. It's an ensembld that mariages .to iget aroundj safely enough, but for precision and graipe the level doesn't get much' beyorid -ther-academy -stage-All-routines are kept withlji rudlrixentary limits, which, makes it easy for both the lirie a-rid the customer.^.' Orie drill riuniber has:, the girls this week do- irig a veil ^arice "as a lead^ori for Blanche, arid Elllbtt,^ adaglb tearii. For a veil .dance'it's a. curious web of steps but once the nimble arid deft maririCfed Blanche-Elliott duo get. going, what precedes- be quickly overlooked. Iri the introductory innlrig of the sta,ge set-to Virginia Valeritine docs a srtiobth bit of solo stepping. .\Val- ter Walters arid his .femm'e aid fol- low . with their ventriloquistic ra- gout. At. the. Friday everilrig per- formance the pair scored consist- ently^ on. the giggles; Between this act and the France!3 Langford song cycle Freddy MaCk and the band go in for a brassy iri- torpretatibn -of bits from 'Rose Marie' and- 'The Student Prince.' The medley took well with the Fri- =day^TilKht==?TntiilTf^Miss"==LaTTl^ showed that she's, still improving when it comes to selling a. torch lyric, but the response she got on the sendbfC didn't do justice to this miss from radio. Comedy hbdgC-podge .of George, Weiss arid Ray Stanton got a mixed reception. The blackout hits col- lected solidly but the payees .didn't think much ofi boys- exchange of antiquated nifties. . Bu.sine.ss Friday evening of nor- mal proportions. Odec. CAPITOL, N. Y; Ferde Orofe is at the. Capitol for a run as guest conductor and his presence brines back to prominence the Cap's .big 6B-plece orchestra, the only big pit ensemble in town out- Side the Radio City Music Hall. Grbfe is widely known although iesg as a personality than as a. coriaposer played by other maestros, notably Paul Whlteman. Rather a surprise, in fact, when Qi'bfe: turned around and-jS&ve oflE the- personality nt the bows, prote . took two sCctibris of hi 'Qrand' Gairiyon Suite' as an' ap- prbpriate and eftective. overture, The sfeow-. is :saidi to stand LoeW's .$12y.000w ; Those ritiiusiciuri,»j when hired by the dOzCn cost plenty. Con". Cplleario performs oH . the ti^ht wire during the rinaln presen- tation,'' which is Spanish in motif. Colleario is the" miracle kid of wire walkers and thC: class of any bill lie appeal's on. . Oddly eriough, orie of the best Items on the Capitol st.agc is . not part of the show itself, it is the girl dancer who performs behind . th^s screeri while tlie trailer for j.pari Crawford's 'Dancinig Lady' in progress; Chester Hale Girls are excellent in their 'White Ballet,' led by Marie Rio.. Later they close.the.CastiUiari frolic trimly garbed as toreodoreis. Specialty, dance, team frorin the Bilt- more hotel, Hope. IVIinor arid Ed- ward Root, are hard workers and nice lookers but lack the finesse to. stand comparison. Show In, general was rather slow in terinipo with stage waits Friday night.: 'There was no comedy what- ever in the presentiatlon. . . . Business, light with 'Christopher Bean' (M-G), oh the screen. Liind; LINCOLN, LINCOLN Llncplri. Nov. 23. iBeing the only stage'show stand in town this week, and with inter- est "in vaude pretty well churned up by now, pic opposition being mighty weak, this iapot- is in the dough-re. 'BMvery' (tJA-20iD) is the screen fare- Headlined on the bill, but by no pieans the strength of it, is Bernle Kane, said by the theatre to be the author of many hit tunes iri cur- rent film riiuslcals. He acts as rii:c. arid he writes songs, better than he sings 'em. Held over, from last ■week are the Oweng. Slstersi harmony trio, and the Carlton Coon, Jr., ork. The Owens,:. .thi:6e comely lasses,' are brought on three different'.times to add some. zest where the bill lags. Cbori's .outfit have the nerVe to do 'Last Roundup.' Cbniedy is by Clifford and Lfes'ie, the former straighting and the hokum, provided by the latter. Some of the gags wheeze a little, but their biz Is all right. Clifford can sing, too, but theyr hardly have a chance to find out Flash of the bill is provided-, by Dorothy Lang' and her Naughty Nauticals, six-gal line, who come on about three times., backing. Dor- othy up on. her toe arid ballet bits. Bill, helped by a nice crowd, full floor., arid partially filled shelf^ left everyone satisfied. Barney. STANLEY, BALTO Baltimore, Nov. 24. With 'Christopher Bean' (M-G) on deck this stanza, they're count- ing heavily on the pic arid riding light on the stage, ringing in a novel Innovation estimated to mightily please femme patrons,, whb cbmprlse the bulk of Marie Dressler's follow- ing. T. Bill comprises four standard vaude atcts welded together in pre- sentation style by a fashion revue. Latter effected by tie-up with Gax- ton's, local swank apparel shop. The store is supplying the models, local debs and lookers, along with the wearables they parade, Idea is wbrked out iS nfrie " scenes -with mainnequins. aifforded ■ plerity oppor- turilty.JtO ^shoW-lhemaelves. and- bite off 'a bit of acting besides. Gene Ford, down frbm New York; has dbrie v ortders with these girls in three rehearsals. Lookers all, they, strut .and pirouette like real beauts. They read, lines and step throug'h their, chores like vet troupfers and stand up well, against ;experlericed turns aligried with them. -The ap- parel displayed, ieyokeci gasps from femmes, same tUne apparently keeping th€> men from any chance shut-eye.. Local newspaper fashion expert spotted in. pit, spieling through mlk* apropos each creation introduced. Of the acts, first on Is Glerin and Jenkins, blackface duo. "Turn landed nicely from st^rt arid kept riiob cackling, Pair'ig;.llmberleggirig, gui- tar and harmonica wielding, and stoniping calrried solid returns. Zelda Santley relished In her 10' minute.s, bit too brief. Half dozen R t a n d a r d ' impersonations over =Ptrotr?i^Tia^h(?r""nTlTninkirijr-7^ Morgan aces for fidelity. The mob wouldn't bo sated, and the mime re- turnied arid wowed with her impres- sion of J'jthel Waters. Enrico and Novelle's turn divided, Fir.1t bit, a waltz, clicked hand- somely, arid later; with a hot.sy bo- lero, found It necessary to -beg off. rare for Class dance teams in thi.s burg. .Slate Bro.s. ran In and out the longth of bill. Their act, .«plit up. suffers a friction, due. to stop and go junctui'es killing build-up. But. this trio can apparently hurdle ai.y obstacle. They .caught the mob up in. their pockets in first bit, and when they' had wbrked up their knockabout buffoonery to smash! climax, a. burlesqued adagio with dummy in place of girl, the mitt thuriderlng rattled the rafters,. After' bends, for an. encore the boys camr down tb 'one* and snagjged added laurels, tapping- out intricate steps iri -the same . effortless, manner, in Which they .score, their kripckabbut smash. Highlight-. of . models' parade is finale, ..splepdld:. flash of iiievltable. wedding mictrch. What mob gazed ori as finis was then'-throttled!, into surprise laugh."cndirig, a shot-gun wedding :black-o!ut wha>m.me.d over by the Slates. •"" Show I'ari 60 minutes, with over- ture, 'Spanish Melodies,' dished out. by pit orchestra under Robert Lan- singer. . iz hardly more. than fair first show, opening day. MET, BROOKLYN Good crbwd at . tlie Met Saturday (26) n^atlnee went for everythirig.,. ;and the bill rated. Particularly well, received were DaVe Apollon and his troupe, and Ruth Roye. Both are well knoWn here arid their work may be familiar, but the last styl6 em- ployed by each and their consum- mate ability to entertain allows for no. detraction of customer interest.. ■ They , are two of the ; four acts which show, but ' in amusement value .cover- much more thaft that. Apollon and his-group of Flllplriio players besides. Normh Williams, Dianzi Gpodell aiid the three'snappy Ibokers who trot but for. a dance, provide the smackeroo • of the bill. Ori for 36 minutes when, counted and every, minute. Itelling in effect. Renard and Rom© take the deuce for some baritone tunes, and comedy chatter. Have an easy and fluent mariner of projecting a simple rou- tine, pavirig the way excellently for the more eriergetlc Miss Roye. Miss Roye opens with a pop tune and liiris through some three" char- acter sorigs, with intermittent gag- ging with, the pit boys. .. - . Ahead are Park' and . Clifford. Couple of balancers; recalled from certain unit work, l>ut rieyer record- ed by themselves before. "They per- form difficult balancing tricks with' easy rhythm (New Acts). . It's quality rather than quantity that counts this week. The four acts as showri run for an aggregate 71 minutes. . Screen Is day and date With the Capitol, Broadway, showing, 'Christ topher Bean' (M-G). Usual trail- ers and Metrotone newsreel. Bhan. ORPHEUM, MINN* Minneapolis, Nov. 23- Aided and abetted by some local talent, Ben Bernie arid the lads pro- vide the eritire stage show here cur- rently and, Judglhg by the. enthusi- astic acclaim with which a capacity house greeted their efforts when caught, are proving entirely equal to the occasion. , It's an hour of the highly pleasant music which hsta popula:t-lzed the or^ c.hestra over' the air. Interspersed with -the melody is some gagging and clowning by the 'old maestro himself, some vocalizing, and a sin-, gle darice specialty of about Ave minutes' duration. Bernie's Ingra- tiating personality .and insinuating drawling of songs lerid the finishing touches to the agreeable entertain- ment. _ . ■ For this variety tour Bernle has <:h03en the nuriibers that rate as his (•utetanding ether hits. The fact lhat they've been heard so often be- fore that familiarity should breed contempt for them apparently doesn't detract from their effective- ness on this occasion.. Arrange- ments and playing of 'The Last Roiind-irp.* 'Who^s Afraid Cf the: Big: Bad Wolf ?', 'Lazy Bones,' 'Let's All Sing-Like., the.. JBirdles . Sing.' 'Puddln'^Head Joe' and 'Talk.of the Town' give dlstinCtiori to ;what othr erwiise might be trite. Singers with the Bernle entourage .IricludC Manny Prager,.Bllly Wllgu? and Frank Pririce, -with the last named scoring ri:iost with 'The Last Round-Up*. And there are 'Whls- lling Puileri' and iBilly Sievern. the latter stopping the ishow with hie acrobatic dancing and tapping. Bernle introduces the local-talent as kiridly having heen sent up by the iVfn City, radio stations', Vir- ginia Brenna, frbm WCCO, does a Borig acceptably. A trio, of girls. Three Sophisticates, from KSTP, also warble a number, while a col- ored male guartct, Congo Four, WCCO cbritributlon, ompletes the list of 'guest artl.«t3'. Then Bernle announces that "WKHM, whose pro- grams run lar£?nly to. recordings, sent up.a phonog^^raph record, wjilch he exhibits, lie also makes it known t'iiaT=mr\VUS-OTie-TJf-=Sall y^ In Chicago. Also on the program a complete .screen show, including 'Chance at Heaven.' the feature; a Will Ma- honcy .short, 'The Entertainer'; an- other short, 'March pf Years,' and a Mcdbury "Pravelaugh' and Pathe NewP. considerable entertainment for 65c; A packed house, with a very loud outbur.st of applause that greeted the strains of the Bernle theme melody making evident what attracted them. ., Reei. PARAMOUNT, B'KLYN , It's a skinipy spectacle all around that the live' segmerit of the week*a entei'tairinient here preserits'.. Band is back In. the pit and the perform- ers have the stage all to them- selves. And what they do "with it doesn't,: Avith . the exception, of . .a. cb\iple interludes, come under the heading , of snappy,, pleasant enter- talriment.. Saturday's, sec'ond riiatinee fourid: the going dull and listless outside of the riiomerit's fifivbn to the Five; Jansleys. and.. a riilxed" acrobatic ballroom troupe billed as the 12 Aristocrats. Linked to tins stage, melange,. Which splits headline hori- ors between Hari-y Savby and the Sisters of-.-the -Skillet- (East and - Dumke) ib !Take a Chance'' (Par).:. From the payee sprinkling -bn hand for .the second mat it looked, as though the house is in for a tough weelv. ■To Savby the routing of . the bill conceded t\yo inning.-?, in one he made a. -feed setup of Stan Myers, the; spot s regular ni.c. Myers didn't seem to enjoy his role of silent - stooge; His discbinflfure was of no help to Savoy. If anything, it de- tracted from a mess of gags that in themselves Were no bargain, in the later appearance the comic, supported by his own femme feed, fared much better on the laugh uptake!, Inicluded in Savoy's reper- toire Is the gag about the world's fair eirl. It should be Savoy's ex- clusively by now. All others in the funny line fraterrilty dropped it with the closing of the Chicago ex- position. . Coriiing and golrig of East and Dumke excited ribthlng better than a slight ripple. The pair from ra- dio did a cbuple of impersoriatibns and called it an act, with the cus- tomers putting up no protest a:t the brief stay. The Jansiteys* whirlwind rlsley performance registered sol- idly and it. was left to the. 12 Aris- tocrats to bririg on the curtain fol- lowing a, lead-on. juimber of no especial significance by the house line of 24 girls. - ^Aristocrats engaged in some more of the body tossing art. As an ex- panded adagio act this unit of six and six on the sex alignment has epough novelty rbliflrilng and touches of the spectacular to make watching It nice diversion, Odec. TABOR, DENVER Denver, Nqy. 22. ■Tabor Is one of those houses with a history--.dating back to the tinie M^fJ ^J- "^^^ ^alk of the west BUilt five years after the Central city opera house, the Tabor was the cause of most of the shows coming this far, arid orice they got her© they went on to Central City. It was built by H. A. W. Tabor, subject for 'Silver Dollar.' and Ta- bor: spared no cash to make the Tabor the cultural as well as tho arifUsement center of the mountain country. For a time after going to pictures the house wais a flrst run^ then diverted_;to a grind. Later the owner of theT)ulldIng, Horace Ben- nett, installed, his brother, Mark J. Bennett, as manager. Latter put in Fanchon & Marco shows, bought the cream of the picture crop, pay- ing a-plenty for them, and ataih put the TabOr on. the amusement map. Then Harry Huffriian took over the Tabor, discontinued the F. & M. flho-Wfl at a reported cost to the Bennetts of $28,006 because of a year's cancellation clause In the contract. Huffman ran the Tabor on. flrst run for some time, then relegated it to second run. Later he put back stage shows with the second runs, and has been doing fair. He im- ported Leah Sonnebburn from the west coast F. & M. studios after ex^ perimentlng with several male pro- ducers. She lias snapped up the line, and the shows are run off rap^ idlyrr hbtwIthstahdlMg^'tTie acts" are ■ sometimes not all they should be, due to a limited budget. The stage and bandstand are always dressed up-nicely, and . the Customers are getting their money's worth. Top js ;25c. ..For the current week the line is okay, and also one of the acts; The other two acts help fill the time, but. little el.se. JJIII Franklyri's hand doe.^ a neat job ori the music. Line opens Iri a cape effect cos- tume with . bra.ssiere3 dnd loin cloths—they're the. ybahg;est ap-' pearlng and the smallest line of 12 that's been at any IbcaLl hbuse^ Good dancers. Wolfe, Meshew arid Wolfe; hedge podge trio, bpen 'With one of the - twiris gettlrig In the trunk arid ari- nounclrig he will appear in. the auv dlence.at the count of five.' The twins arid the girl sing arid dance. Cfirl sings a bit but lacks vblUme. Twiris returrt with, brown derbies, =wKite=mitr^ans"^^«'6m"ierwara^o"=C° goof act, sing. silly songs and a silly dance. Girl sings agaln-^but .she ought to dance instead. Band was too loud when accompanying her, but maybe it was intentional. Bob Sperry, ..black . fa.ce, recites a monolog on love and marriage arid olo.sos With a song. MoKuoiie Family (7) are fast and do a neat line of tumbling and other acrobatlc,<T.. - 'Goodbye Again' (Radio) picture. Rose,