Variety (Jan 1934)

Tuesday, January 23, 1934 V4RIE¥V HOUSE REVIEWS VARIETY 15 PARAMOUNT, N. Y. Paramount's the ticket this week. From both the stage and the screen the show spells satisfaction, and, judging from the state of business at . the pekk hour Friday night, the gross Is going to Reflect that in no uncertain terms. . Eddie Cantor is on the stage at the head bf a unit which he liimself. ".'has: strung together.. House, pays the cornedtan $15,000 and. he supi- plies the talfcnt. How much i$ leiCt for Cantor is .a,; queslion wher. a compilation' of the atradtions re- veals acts of cydney and C'ox, Chli.T ton and Th(^injis, George" Prentiss, Florence Desmond,, a sister ^^tedm. and Dave RiibinofC. .Permanent line girls of the theatre; are auppUed for two numbers, at bpfehihg and in the middle. Not the e.rAtJre show; but mbjt of It, Cantor is punchy throughout ■with talk, kibitzing and $ongs: His .session With RubinofC follows vio- linist's' sock playing; of a couple numbers, in the. Rubinoffi manner. Cantor and, Rubinoff kid each other a lot before calling it cUrtaihs, by which Friday night the tima clock had the iinlt's length at 7.5 tninutes. This is too long and has a tendency of slowing^ up the prb- ceedingis at certain points but liot iaj seriously as might be Imagined be- cause of the bulk of talent;, on the stage. : Unit open^ with offstage chorus doing a Cantor number from 'Rbr man Scandals' (UA) entitled 'Keep Young and Beautiful.' line girls fol lowing In an Introductory.'for the comedian.. At the outset Cantor, the sly young fellow that he lis, gbts In the plugs without making; any- one ad-minojed. He mentions his pictre, the Rivoll where It. ended its run Friday (19), Chase Jk Sanborn, their coffee, etc. Chilton and Thomas follow in their. cl&ssic . tap routine, Ciantor coming back for more talk, this time of Washington, President Roosevelt, etc. George Prentiss' clever 'Punch and Judy'' perform- ance then g:oes on. Here Is the strbng appeal for the kids, plUs Cantbr, who most kids also take to After a girl number as lead-up to ia newly created dance number by Chaney and Fpx; Florence Desmond arrives on the scene with her lin pressibns of film stars. She's a hit, but if anyone 'vv'anted - to trim the running time, she coul'" drop a couple bits which do hot rank as her best and lessen the Hepburn encore speech. One of the big. laughs for Cantor Is provbked by his interlude as Mae West, in sltirts, hiat and all. In Winding up.Cantor and RubinofE do a couple numbers, former. throating, ather violining. This portion could be made a little more compact, too Even without remedy, it's a show as played Friday night that won't have anyone suing the theatre. I'lcture also, is an entertainer, •Miss Fane's Baby Is Stolen' (ParX. A Blng Cro.sby short. 'Just an Echo' (Par) and Paramount News to dress. Char. look shpwy, and this Is a particu- larly good example of getting effect chiefly with; walkaround. Trixie Friganza winds up with some new material that gets the laugh, land a burlesque bit with Wblf, who prefaces her act with a trumpet solo that doesn't hurt , his reputatlonany. (SoOd triple tonguing: Trixie. doing the rumba is alone worth the price of admission. She sure gags it. Finish is the line again in simple but effective costumes, what there Is of them. Not offensive, but show plenty. The Espeys back for the other, and harder half .of their act and .all oh for the goodbye kiss. Stage show runs 69 minutes.;, Entire show runs: three hours and 25 mihues as caught, but about half an .hour of this. pan .l3e. blamed on a couple bf shorts. More time' taken by. the : Tastyeast broadcast, which is only Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with Jones' and- Hare hang- ing on: the mike. A Disney short was. adyertised and not. shown, re placed by a Stoopnagle and Budd co.medy that is .hot very funny. Picture Is 'Cross Country Cruise' (U). House comfortably full do'wn- stairs but wide open spaces in the gallery, Chin. ■ ■ (L_ PARAMOUNT, L. A. Lios Angeles, Jan. 17. Fair stage, entertainment hiit nb ra've. Harry Rosei builds Up Harry Rode too strbng In the opening dnd iie fails to live up to his prognostl cationis.' liine gii-ls do three numbers, open with ai high kicking routine, later do ah pld-fashib.hed waltz and close the show with a tap number. Sand- wiched in bet'ween, sure flre Nell Kelly sings: three special numbers to good returns. Could have returned, but she wisely called It a day. No vak and Fay,, with their familiar comedy hahd-balancing work land- ed solidly and were called back for some extra clowning. Tex Morris sey with her mule Hankj another femme, did okay. Stage band .under Max Bradfield's baton stuck to accompanying the acta, did away with the usual spe cialty. \ Entire presentation is without novelty, being just another stage show. ^•All of Me' (Par) the feature, Uni- versal-Louise Fazenda comedy, Par News clips and Port o' Call, travelog rounded out the screen entertain- ment. Biz* capacity downstairs for the second show ThUrsdaiy night. Call. ROXY, N. Y. Happens that this week the acts *ort of snuggle up to each- other and merge. Result is a smooth mover, notable more for the absence ot poor material than for' the value of the turns shown. Foster Girls get three good sets of costumes, too, ^nd that helps. Opens with the 'Chant Indouen' danced by the girls. When they face 50th street they're nautch girls In white and . silver. When they turn uptown they're in trunks and brassieres, mostly red. Two-way costumes not a novelty, but the music helps trick this one up Changes when the b^-re legs show, carying from the Indian to the rood ern theme and back as tlie girls pivot. ..The Espeys, two girls and a rtian, do a roughed up adaglp: in faster tempo than thdt. Without part of their act here, but enough to get a hand for some good stunts, chiefly fiails. Carl Emmy next with', his pooches. Evidently a late booking, as he gets no . progi'am or . house board mentibn. Nice burich'of .pups smart tricks, though" too jriucli along the' same lines,' and a clown poodle that realjy does pantomime and shows a sense of Comedy.. Good stuff for the GhiUlL'en <vho flock here and not hard to hand out to adiilts Next is the Four Fi'ahks in .their hoofing ..and music.^ ,Act better dressed than the last timie caught by this reviewer, and the younjger girl toned dp\yn. to.the point where she gets over instead of tiring. GoOd little act that stood up well. Fourth, is Vera Van. radio voice who is not really a good singer, biit knows some effective tricks that ^make^heir^^^souhd^like^somethlhgi It's haymaking time for her, for she gets a great buihl-up,; Rube Wolf, the m, c, comin.g in with her for the third song, and Wolf and the line girls hacking the fourth. Line does ha.lf boys in tails and the other girls In pink, -n-ith huge ruffles haliE-way below the knees, for an odd effect Not pos.'iible to lay out elaborate step routinos fwr the girl.s with 11m ited rehearsal, but stuff Is made to PALACE, N. Y. Just a yaude; show at the Palace this week, with nothing much tq get excited about at any time, 'though with a sufficient mixture of enter-, tainment to pass. Starts with Van Horn and Inez, iskating.. act. .Three people, Betty Lytell being the third,. All okay on the rollers, doing what most other skaters do without getting too worked up; iftoss Wyse, Jr., with papa and. mamma, in the' deuce, had a- nice time. Kid knows how to dance and will develop. Still Inclined to be a bit too smart alecky. ■ Gertrude Nlessen/ centered, sprung a surprise by going In for" a dance number. Her: singing;" Is .good for vaude though not as good as. on radio; ..But her dancing Is, surprls-. ingly. enough, even better/. Does a rhumba with all. the twists In their proper placeis. tlnfbrtunately, the Palace electrician spoiled one.ot her numbers, at least by putting a baby islpiot In dark blue on her face. She can't take that kind of lighting. , . Gordon and . Ryan next; to shut,. Gbrdon is getting tob fancy with his comedy. Gordon knows lauighs .and knows how to handle them, but Ish't demonstrating it pii this diate. Hete again; the elebtrlcian went haywire on lights, almost ruining Miss Ryan's; solo. Gracella and Theodore, for the closing grobye, had themselves an easy fonip, "rhelfs Is a well-dressed, colorful turn. •:, Exactly . one , hour, which Is plenty Of. show, 'With. 'Design- for Xilving' (Par) on Its third Brbadway stbp. Kdiif, gets a lauigh, but the latter wins when he pulls an oversize razor. Estelle Taylor opens with 'Gypsy Fiddles.' her best. Cloises with 'Just Bill,* perched on the piano, a la Helen Morgan, and In a green dress and hat, with a huge red flower on her breast. She Is one of the major reasons for the crowds this week. Her voice, much im- provedj. is beybhd expectation. .She sings three song^i While she Is changing to the 'Bill' : costumfe Xiybns plays 'Secbnd Hungarian Rhapsbdy' on the plano; Up ahead he plays sin. accordlbn, , Htirry Huffman,' managfer, came oh stage arid inade a nice speech, Welcbming .Estelle and liitrbducing j^anchbri. The flhe hand of' Fanchbn Is seen In the fli.dl rbutirie: Girls each ciirry two . tans, and db- something new with theiri. Npt needing them to cover, themselves,, they can/ ma- nipulate singly and in groups. Show Is worth the money. Prices for the main floor and loges have been boosted frorii 40<i to 5t)c. Crowds prove they will pay within feasOri foi: what they want to see. STATE, N; Y. Either Cab Callowa.y or James Cagney has alwaiys meant happy tidings to the s;tate. This week the Loew malnstreeter has' them in combination, .Callowa;y heading the stage aggregation and Cagney in 'Lady Killer' ( WB), and the takings should be away abpve average. Sat- urda:y matlhee's turnout pointed in that direction. Call on this occasion was on the verge of making It d. holdout line, and; even the supper show failed to reveal the customary wide and open field of empties. With. Calloway down fpr |6,600, there wasn't much left to pass around for the rest of the bill. Bpokers solved the problem by slip-, ping In Capt. Willie Maiise as the opening and two talking acts—Clyde Hager and Artie Lewis arid. Peggy Ames—to precede the headlining act. With the lineup cut down to; four turns as compared to the usual five and Mauss limiting his exhibit to four minutes, the task of stretching things, out fell to Calloway. .At the Saturday mat .performance Calloway kept himself arid his troupe going at high, speed for nigh 40 minutes. With the excepfioh bf around 10 minutes., of it the rbutine resolved itself Into one band number after' another, . but there was no wearing down of this mob. Callo- .way plied them with nine straight orchestrations, along 'With frequent outbui'st of; his own brand of Har- lem caterwauling, tllma Turner gave them sombthing slick in the way bf toe and heel tatooing; Aida Ward contributed a smooth bit of torchlfying and the Five Perculatprs unlimbered a sizzling niess of rhythm by both the vocal and pedal route, but still the customers clam- ored for more, Melange that Gallb^ way has put together for his brief stage tour prior to sailing for Loil don is. the best he's yet uhyelled across the vaude footlights. If iMn is what he's t.aking byer with him, the results can't be anything short of sensational. iTollowing Capt. Willie Mauss' 'Death Wheel' stunt, with the hurt- ling of his bike around the circum- -ference-of=:th.e=ferrl3=stKiici.UE.e^gi5fi!l for at .least two minutes of high blood pressure, Clyde Hager put on his potato-cutting dodge and found the old .chestnuts and double enten- dres 'were still okay for this bunch. Artie Lewis has added an eight-foot boy to hl.S:act, making it two turns in one—One cro.ssfire and the othor .sidc'shovv. .Koth portlon.<3 of tlu' Lewis-tAmes cirqus registered .soliflly, Oder. FOX, B'KLYN . Two.'-.performers of outstanding ability pn the current bill. These are Chaz Chase and Art Frank. Biit imagine Frank doing his takeoff of a decrepit thrill seeker In front of a bandstand without a backdrbp and lights full up.;. That's how he's staged here. Chase, bf course^ uses the whole stage to advantage. Shbw girl types support the line girls. The tormer-open In a -flash number wearing niusty' .costumes that at least phould ha,ve been dust- ed down and otherwise are mis fitting tb the rbunded ilj^ures of the elrls; Fred Berrehs leads everything on thei - stage, even the choral group, -which in one number stands before a scrim. The band is behind the scrim and Berrens; who is shbrt. of stature. Is in front of the choral group, but yet supposedly also leads the band, -which he can't se6 and who can't see him. "That's unique. Wrong, also; to place Berrens In front of a performer, so as to-hide that performer from. the audience. ■This happens. while Al. Goodhart, song composer turned performer. Is one., Rerrens when not In front of Goodhart . is back or to the side of him, enough; so as to distract with the waving of the baton from ariy- thlng Goodhart may do. A dance'.palr In evening clothes do a waltz before the finale,. and: do it altogether too slow. Means little. Cpuple of shorts and newsreel (U) round out. Sbale dtops frbm 6 6 cents to 26 cents at 10:30 Saturday night for midnight show, which begins at other Brooklyn loop spots at least one hour later or more. That's when the Pox fills ixp. They may be a moral in this that's not on the stage. Shan. QRPHEUM, DENVER Denver, Jan. 16. First sho . to be produced In Denver by Fanchon personally, headlined Estelle Taylor, arid was also the first week for Al Lyons, m.c, Imported frohi the Fox, St. Louis. This improvement Is Just the thing the Orpheum stage shows have been needing. Heretofore the m.c. has been drafted from. orie of the acts and usually It Worked out poorly, This. first show by Fanchon Is fast arid entertaining throughout, Lyons doing the Job of anriounc-- Ing and leading the: band in first, class fashion. Packed houses so far helped. by 'Convention City (FN) brt the screen. Chas. Briigge driew the opening spot, followlr - the gbilsi and with a Charlie Chaplih makeup, and like Chaplin In all his pictures,, says nary a. word, poes typical Chaplin imitations, and While standing bn hl.s head plays banjo. Carsbri arid Isabel db fa^t acrpr- bdtic and ballrporii .-danclhg, mixing; in a fev/ tricks not on the usual lists; It's a rapid fire act,, good While it lasts,, but too';short.. It's hard woirk. , A unique novelty, at least for Denver, was the next I'outine by the girl!?. Befpre a black di^op the line, dressed as characters in a cartoon .on^^the=SGreenT.=dance==:biEw:l^dni forth. There's four qkeletbns,. a couple of fish, a frOg, arid others. Expensive costumed,, but they're worth it. Gus Elmore and Sim.<3, blackface, get off to a typical lazybones start. Out hunting wild men, after giving Instruftions to othf>r how; to act, one goes off, changes to wild m.'in costume, and their antics, as the wild man tries tb get the Negro, TRAI^UJX (And Fox MbviiBtone) It's rare when ybu cari cdll It a model newsreel prograrii. But that s the only description which fits the Luxer this week. It's right in line with the headliries and editorials. Aeain Pathe draws honorable, mention for simplifying a natipnal economic problem. It applies its chart symbol arid diagrarii system to the Roosevelt dollar. Pathe un- questionably In its series Is render- ing great-public service, through the, mediurii- of. the . newsreel. .This series, if other episodes are as worthy as the first two, -wIU estab- lish the Rooster trademark as the Literary Digest of the screen. In- telllgent patrons that yiew it real- ize that the screen In less than a minute has i)rovided a better un- derstanding than hours of special- ized reading. It Should he a. boon tb visual educatibri. Father Coughlin crashes the newsreels in a statement on the gold problem made through Unlver sal. The Fighting Priest, It has been heard. In news circles for some time notv. has turned away previous reel sollcitatlpnSi Pox passes up all dollar explana' tlons except a brief talk from the Treaisurer, which Is Included in-the Luxer make-up. Fox reel, of course, can no longei: be compared to the combined contributions of U, Pathe and Par In the Luxer. Neverther less, there are other ways In which audiences themselves will make comparisons. They Will note, for instance, that Fox currently Is lead- ing off with the riavy . fliers, heading for Hawaii. Universal, which had this In detail last week, Is now showing the Hawaiian a,rrlval and reception. With,, all the active news around arid aviallable to conscientious reels further comparisons show Fox dip- ptng heavily Into the magazine or library type of filler. It has such old ^ones furriishl'ng the bulk of the national release as Rpme traffic cPRS, the feeding pf Wyoming Elk, Japanese fire ceremony, Sidney, life savers, Canary Islands wrestling (no' ringside views). Some of the best Insurrection scenes that have cpme out of Cuba are Incorporated In the U clip deal- ing with Hevla. Actual shooting and killings in a public square are caUght by a cameraman evidently tucked away on soriie roof-top. ParamoUnt's close-up of the younger Ford testifying during the Detroit bank quizz affords an excel- lent character study. First reel to get into the Wyne- coop court happens to be Pathe. Al- though It is. a silent, off screen re- porting gives a complete word ac- count, while the defendant's lips move or while the prosecutor is handling exhibits,. In the straight news class also Is Pathe's on the recent Brooklyn kid- napping^ The riibther speaks and silent views are obtained pf the alleged abductors. Education .ebmes in. for a .laugh through ' Paramount's 'handling of a family of conscientious pbjectbrs to inculcation methods of public schools. The father has a Chaplin- esque mustabhe and the children's reactions to contact riian's ques- tioh.s are humorous. The thing im- presses as though .. the - parents, rather than the;childreri, should be back iri .the elassfoom. The Rpckaway .whale, the Wool- worth ..heiress, who goes on her honeymoon without the groom and a New York- policeman restored to his antl^rdcketeer jpb are alliworth-. 'while subjects. Tragic s.tudies ;f the mass fune- ral service for. over 100 miners en- tombed in a Czech :mlrie are af^ forded, by U, Fox and. the Luxer both have such regulars afi riiotor vehicle'plaly de- inlcting -w.ht\t^ha.pncn.');Jo _some carji- less drivers, Connecticut skiing, New iSngland dog .sledding. Other Lujcer riiaterial; Miami air show, distilleries at wOrk in Scot- land, fashions, North Carolina oii plant; explosion, Columlila oarHnir'n in a nf'V,* prar-tiso d^vipo^, ]>ali:i J-^pi'hig.H tlri^H, Frank TiiLf-li's aiiirnjil."--. a humhilng blfdi Gfinlfn l!()'-r<f'y, fiirl. Scouts; California l)f-;ir.s aiirl Vermont cavalry, Wnhi. HIPP, BALTIMORE Baltimore, Jan. 1$.. It was a nbd to the public's re-, cently developed fancy for unit mode of rostrum fare that, prompted this -welding of four v&ude, acts and a line of girls into a prez fotrii of entertalriment this wipek. Might be. ai nifty Idea upon occasion, but present Instance defeats its pur- pose, and .cpmies close to nullifyirig effect; Primarily, show as routined has rio sock of any groat, Or . even suf- ficient,' . prbpbrtionS, in all its 60 riiinutes. The/unity sought isn't- there and the .stoprahdrBb juncture's necessitated by the layput and act- spllttlng kills any ppssible biiilidTup. Despite : the slap-rtog'ether appearr drice of. a good, tab or unit, there- .wds Initially a clever, guiding hand lurking; somewhere behind the pro-^ ductloh arid staging^ Current In- stance hasn't even speed and. dlsr patch, and -what ;mlght have been a much more pleasurable bill bf acts In vaude sequence evolves into an unwieldy and sluggish piece tagged fCarnlval b£ Joy' uriit. Said to havei been routined at an early a. m. hearsal opening day. : And it -shows It; Bert Ldhr Is top name, but in the main urifainillar to mob hereabouts. Hasn't played this burg since long before 'Hold Everything.' He's using old stuff,' plenty bewhiskered, but novel enough hereabouts, the cop bit, the medico exaoax bit from 'Fly- ing. High' and his takeroff bn Clif- ton Webbi ' Latter laid a fearful egg, probably not half dbz. in audi- ence aware ' bf Identity ■ of. subject^ consequeritly the satire sailed .' right over their heads. His other mate- rli^l elicited better reception, but Impresslori would have beeri height-, ened If ser-ved in consecutive .doses. As dished, In three . helpings. slnd sandwiched In between other acts, result was three distinct let-dowris, Lahr given oke stooging by Willlarii Halligah, Mildred Twain and Heleiie Grant; Crystal Trio, on roller skates, ex- perided nice, fast spinning that nibb relished. Should have opened show, but that was done by the Urie of 16 Pb-wer Girls, who also supply a mid-way break and close -with their • tootsie-tossing. Just fair on dbllity. with the trio bf routines bid ones.' Ferry- Corwey rang an audience bell With his vet no-trelty turri'. In Clo-wn garb, putty nose, chalked chin, et al., he reeled off his bell- tinkling tunesmithlrig, xylbphbnib mandollrilrig and clay pipe-cap pis- tol foolery. Bobby Bernard, youth packing Just fair tenor pipes, ori twice for pair pop songs each time^ Boy evinced nice delivery and st^les- manshlp, understandable as Al Sie- gal handles him. High-lighted with his closer, tramp character bit In which he chants 'Dusty Shoes,' Near finlshi a dance flash, Swan, Lucille and Co. Plerity adequate as show closer, having two boys iri an oke' knockabout hobfery bit as starter. Then act turns serious arid contents self with Swan and Lu- cille contributing a society whirl and a variegated 'Ltndy Hop' which they announce as own cireated 're- peal hbp.' Tlie rinbllled men return fbr some rhythm tapology and then foursome gro'up arid flash out nicely. Wbrks should logically have term- inated hete and half the niob took the. cue' and was walking when the travelers whipped back agairi and revealed the Powers Girls In a standard radium-lit routine that for most part peussed unseen. Program further comprised 'Meanest Gal In Town' (RKO), Pathe. clips and Aud'o Review and Felice lula's pit ork rendering overture of Jasslqued airs from 'Faust' and 'II Trovatore.' Biz but fair second show opening day. PARAMOUNT, B'KLYN Johnny Marvin tops iand Lester Cole flnales on a nicely presented bill that's simple and good; Cus- tomers who come in to see 'Fane's Baby' (Par)...will stay and like the stage show. Ray and Sunshine, two girls who pop On early are an out- staridlrig pair of legmaniacs. They render a,bout evcrythirig that's.'un- usual in dance steps and body bends'. Gloria; Price- and Frank Maryln Jap- pear -with Johnny Marvin. Johriny Burke is On around middle,.witb his ancient soldier mo'ri- olog.; Mpp.ney and (Jamp do. a, slight adagio turn nicely just, .before the Cole. act,. The line girl.s offer a nice precision for their opening: number, but don't get away as f?bod In their so-called 'dagger darice' towards the last.of the presentation. They wear attractive feather Indian costumes in this number. . Usual trailer stuff and Par riews- reel; Stan. MayorS. opcn.s. everything frbrri the pit, .with an overture of Berlin medicine well done. A light weok'.s ahead;, because nothing', on the stage to offer any .u. nu3u,a.l^ raft_tQ thcjb^o. for d ollars, "House looks to be sUWeFInij^lrom"' stage'economltis, the budget thing probably being low, Bhan. hi>\}v;V.i'^i^.}<hft\\(iiym<^vY leaves for- rinllywooil (he ond of the month to !ip])c;ir oppu.sitR Margaret Sullavan in 'l/ittlr. M.in. What Now?' for Par.