Variety (Feb 1934)

Tuesday, February 20, 1934 V4BIE1Y HOySE REVIEWS VARIETY 23 STATE, N. Y. <Contliiue4 trom page 18) of pictures and his doubles save a lot of vaudeville acts. Trio left It hard for Wills and Davis and they were well Into the turn before they were friendly with the hand-patters, Eventually they got them and the crystal reading, gag was the moat sustained laugh of the evening. Band of 12/ mostly cafe au lait, with Vallda leading, got off In noisy but effective fashion. Only strings are the piano ajid banjo. The brass Is not well blended, but it's pulled along expertly. Vallda gummed the workib with a song sadiy over- stressed, though she redeemed her- self later with a camp meeting bit that was effectively backgrounded by most of the girls. Later she goes for the trombone, trumpet and vio- lin for solo bits^ with the fiddle a bad tbird. She also mixes in one of the Qerry's. two dance routines and the crowd colild have stood a little hoofing on her own, Berrys are there with two routines, hard and fast, and put the. only real ginger into the show. Entire bin covers W minutes, with the whole show an even three boufs. Film is 'Gallant Lady' (SOtlv Cent.). Business moderate at show caught. Chic HIPP, BALTIMORE, Baltimore, .Feb.. IS. With Caucasian,. Mongolian and Sthloplan races represented, man- ag^ement. millet have gone whole way by adding an Indian, tonlc- peddler aiid Hindoo sword-swal- lower. As is. show Is merely a pair .of standard acts plus ' condensed band-and-ispeciallsts unit. Happier, audience reaction inight have been effected had the undersized unit, Blanche Calloway's Orchestra, been augmented into full prosram. Actual instances of Colored aggre- .gations trouplhg through as full programs packing no more ability, or entertainment value than the ciitv renib bunch. Each of their SOi-mlns. clicked handson^ely and ''made' the show after the sluggish start in-. duced by the preceders. Twelve-piece ork on platform, backed by oke Sets, dishing the fai- mlHac Harlem-brand of tunesmlth- Ing with the usual strident brass.. Miss Calloway whirls the baton just as vigorously as brother Cab and sockoes' on own with cooh- fihouted songs, 'How'm I I>eln' and •Growler Man.' Also does a squirm routine that easily got this mob. The 4 Blazers' display thorough hoofologry and challepge work and. later a precision routine they , did in flotton' Club show last year. Roy nd Kirk, mixed team, over impres- sively with Llndy, Hop patterned on routmie hoofed by Bed and Strugge. Charley Ray does oke song in hop- bead . character. Bandmen mainly supply the musical background, but pcore amply in two numbers of own. Opener, Tong Shan Troupe, stand- ard Chinese turn of hand-baiancing. rlsley, plate-spinning, and contor- tion and control work. Second, a quarter-hour of Earl La Vwe and Jimmy O'Brien. Latter pipes .three songs and straights for La Ve.re in sonie pallid cross-fire.. La Vere fingers an accordion accompaniment to O'Brien's chanting. Act jiever gets far. Screen . feature. 'Hips, Hips, Hooray' (RKO). plus Edgar Ken- nedy 2-reel6r, 'Grin and Bear It* <RKO), and Pathe clips. Biz fair eecond show opening day. FOX, BROOKLYN . An agreeable stage show on ex- hibit this week, but it could be im- proved with tightening, which would probably cut the running time from oiie hour flat to about 50 minutes or so. With 10 minutes taken out there'd be everything to gain, nothing to lose. Alex Oumansky, in charge of the unitjprod.uctlon over here, with his missus-," Peggy, the "l>sillet. irtistress', is doing a fine job in spite of handi- caps that no. doubt exist,'.and rcr strictlons which make It Impossible to try to do a Roxy on the prem- ises. Withal, the Oumanskys are dolns a 100% better job than was done prior to their arrival on the acehe about six weeks ago. Much depends on the talent avail- able to them each week and just ho^ well it blends together for unit •purposes. The rest depends on just, how much anyone can. do here withr out the Bank of- England behind them. From all indications^ the Qu- manskys are proving good unit car- penters without the tools that oth- ers may haye. • The line of 24 girls is not a Roxy- ette line, still Peggy Oumansky has 'Whipped them into pretty good shape since coming here. Her job must have be6n colossal and It isn't exactly over yet. The girls some- times don't seem so ambitious and in. a" tap routine to bade the Stone, team, a couple seem almost too tireirtb"^Tiri-Werr"feetTX?n"^^^^^^ however, the girls- are developing into a stock line of leg lifters that eventually should inean much to the sho-vVs in this spot, I'rixle Fripanza is on top this ■W^cek, and Saturday- afternoon, as a ballet dancer and in other atti- tudes she clicked strongly. It's ahead of Miss Trixie where some tightening could be done, but noth- ROXY, N. Y. Current presentation stroqg on comedy. Clean .and wholesome, with/one exception, and laugh get- ting., The Mills, Gold and Ray pet- ting spree with a blonde is not al- together tasteful. Show as a whole, however, sniacks well for the family trade, w.hich the Roxy; has devel- oped the most unusual degree ever , seen on Broadway. Saturday matinee there were plenty, of -kids in the. well-iSlled theatre, with 'Long Lost Father* <(RKO) oh screen. . The show is rutming fast under an hour. That , means action is quick on the Roxy stage this week. Stajrt^ with Red Donahue, who foUowei a routine by the girls assisted by Stella Marchetti,^ a soprano. The girls do a bolero numb^. It's mild, although, the gray costumes are fetching. Miss Marohettl sings ah 6ut-6f-place Neapolitan inimber. Spani^ or ArgMttixdan. would be more apropos. lite laugh stuff begins With Dona- hue and prances through Stone and' Lee,:, the Threie .Kitaros and dowii to the roughhoiiise Mills, .Gold and Ray trio, who have everything tbelr own way. Rube Wolf, in his fourth week, is building. Continues-to mix some gageroo with his band music, solo trumpets A.nd Jhelps round , out the entertainment neatly and unob.- truiBlvely. : Wolf .never . sings. He talks his sohgs. He possesses the knack, of doing. Btraight or hahdHng conaedy when-'necessary,, or .-useful to the acts. Cmrently he pulls: a, neat stunt of. catching one of ihtt Kitaros falling from his perch. Stbne and Lee and Red Donahue look like they, might fare better were the band stand covered. The girls dress the stage for the Kitaros and Marchettl, but the bandwagon' is disconcerting for Stone and Lee. They get laughs easily, but would probably .be more effective without the silent gaping bandsmen: Fihale fiash has the girls inter- estingly costumed Ini dark Muske- teer outfits, with orange caped lin-' Ing, in a fencing number. Bhah, ing need be disturbed in Charles and Helen Stone's tap dance to the 'Poet, and Peasant' overture. It's a jiice little nundber and conipact, but the Durante impression by one of th* band boys preceding this is a little long. Ruth Penning, whose voice and diction are nothing to write home about, would be as well as off (con- sidering her audience) with-tNvo in- stead of threie numbers^ and those acrobatic chaps, the Five Gay Boys, shouldn't be allowed to do their turn twice. Routine offers nothing startling, best being a teeterboard catapult tO: a three-high catch. Freddie Berrens, m.c.'ing and leading , his band? came here with' the Oumanskys and seems a valu- able contribution to the shows. He acquits himself well as m;o., laylng- off the gush that many m.c.'s hurt themselves with. And his orches- tra is a'sweet combination that's oh the job at all times., ^is week one of the boys does a solo effectively about middle of the show, Oumaiisky calls this show 'Ro- mantic Moods.' Even the Solly Ward act, which stanchion's for laughs,' has a domestic and flirtatious side that could come uxwler the head .of romance. Ward i» on i^tty long, too, with hia opoilng^talk hot -so' strong, biit the finish ut sureflre. Stage is attractively, though sim- ply,- set 'With backdrops and side pieces. Feature this week is an indie, 'En- lighten Thy Daughter' (Exploita-i tion), oii first run over here, but hot the type of picture that can go iplaces. Business below ayerage Sat? iirday matinee. ^'t?^*. PALACE, CHICAGO Chicago, Feb. 17. For a heartbreaking example of sloppy showmanship and annoy- ingly oondescendlng attitude there are those two ordinarily fine'per- formers. Jack Haley and Benny Rubin. They will finish this week, here with' as many enemies as come to see the show. Why two performers of -their standing . and admitted ability should proceed to kill themselves off by what-the-helt ivork and messy routine is a question that has no .answer.. Work such as this* would bO bad from- performers over from the Star and Garter or at an Engle- wood showing night, but from two such as Haley .and Rubin it's -niur-; derous and without .exeusO. With a world full of material available to them they are doing such stuff-as 'in the best-places you're skinny.' Two performers who have made their reputations on material,.they are. going out of their way to wander off into the blue. In the -most part they are stalling, de- spite the fact that they are on and off the stage throughout the ^ow. Entire show is "weaJc and seems short, although it rune the regula- tion 60 minutes. Haley, and Rubin are listed officially as separate acts, but to the audience they appear as one turn only and to the public it means there are only four iacts on this show, the others being Irene Vermilion, Sylvia Froos and the Reynolds and White novelty music turn. Miss Vermilion, opened the run- ning order to personal okay on her acrobatic and contortion, dancing^ but that trio of warbling femmes. is just & headache that'b worse. than ^an empty stage wait. They drag out their numbers and sink the. act 10 feet under, making it tOugh on Misig -Vermilieh to bring the ti^n back to normal strength. No change in the Reynolds and White burlesque musical routine. It is somewhat dated by this time, and in its present shape must pick its spots for best results. ROal and only click of the show was Sylvia Froos, who got out there and did a straightforward enter tainlng Job. Sang through a mike for a number of pop tunes, vaiylhg her pace from comedy to serious and back with a deft touch and a liieat set of tonsils. While the head- lining Haley and Rubin were coiiv- plaining about the fourth show that day. Miss Froos was out here work- ing three times as hard and got three times the response besides giving the audience what it had paid their shekels for. -After she got through , the audi- ence wouldn't let her off the stage, and despite the attempts of Haley to 'dhush the mob ; they insisted on her coming back for. another sc>ng and then a speech. After that she w:ent along with Haley and .stooged , for him while he muffed laughs, despite air:thnt assistance. Rubin on his own was Just as bad. His 'Columbus' story with mu- sical effects belongs in the 1904 era and his forget-about-lt attitude w^as vexla* to this crowd. ' Didn't take the trouble to change his lines about that appendicitis operation and the girdle he hfis to wear. Between Rubin and Haley the turn muddled through a moth-eaten returning husband blackout and finished with arslfet'ettniiat^wa:s=sa--full-of=-TSiddish= that about 16 people in the audience undenstood it. The rest of the audi- ence sat there and prayed that the picture would soon begin. , Business wa.s bad at the last show dcrobatic {?als. Friday, .arid will get worse frr>m--n-rU^--JUbAlQ-t.hJjxg..jiAgA.. ItvAnlng lip nrifl week's 'Bolero.' Fablen Sevitzsky's orchestra plays the Kavel muslc .and theatre's permanent. ballet goes ; 'Vaud)».'a^tup that has been spBced indications. Picture Is. 'I Am Su- zanne' (Fox),, which has been .do ing well around the country. Loop. PARAMOUNT, L. A, Los Angeles, . Feb. .16. 'Anson Weeks and his band, fa- vorite coast musical outfit through long assoclatioiA with the Mark Hopkins hotel in San Francisco and cc^istaht etherizing,, provide the current stage show at. this Fanchon Marco downtowner. Band, .musi caUy, atacfcs up oke^ biit leaves much to t>e desired from the pres- entatioin house standpoint* Baud has a' little better than the ordinary complement of soloists, among whom Bob Crosby and Frankie Saputo .are' outstanding. Former has a crooning 'voice sim- ilar to that Of his brother, JEKlhg,. but hardly to be compared in qual- ity. Saputo, -dlminuti've guitar Player, was the outstanding hit of the opening show with his ishOw- manly rendition of 'The Man on the Flying Trapese,' 'Lazy Bones' and 'Last Roundup.' .iSaputO sells his songs In excellent fashion, and registered a solid hit. A third soloist, Kay St. Ger- main, blues singer, is. not* so fofte. Her numbers today seemed -forced, and she lacked the necessary stajge presence. Band numbers, generally, were df the pop variety, with many of them frequently heard over the air. In- dividual instrumentalists and vocal- ists from the oiitflt acquit them-, selves satisfactorily. F&M line girls are qh twice, first for a one-legged curtain dance, 'Winding up with some high kicking, aqd secondly for a snappy stepping routine, for which they are garbed fetchingly in black lace and silver gbwns. . Weekis -must be given part credit for todi^y's draV7, with balance go- ing to Fredric March, featured on soreeri in Par's 'Good Dame.' Com- edy and Par News complete screen program. Hbuse. two-thirds full at opening stanza. Edtoa^. MET, BOSTON Boston, .Feb. Metropolitan's bill ^thls ^eek varies from the run Of recent Stage fare. 'The First Little Show,' tabbed down to .&0: mihut.es, has the .com- parative novelty of blackouts, nnd a comedy skit along the lines of a dramatic sketch of oldtlme vaUdei Biit- the stage hasn't any great b:o. draw, that being 16ft to Fredric March and Sylvia Sidney in 'Good Dame.' Trouble with the 'Little Show' is that the orlginal is seen through a magnifying glass; in shorf,. it has lost most, of Its. savor; Settings are pleasing enough, b'ut the show -lacks=sock^coniedyr==^-he^few=laugh&^ are mild. Singing is fair, and the chief asset is the dancing. The only section to get rousing applause are Ray and Sunshine, oouplis of a faster pace. .Ed Smith gives that opportunity, for just ahead of the tab he has set a new sort of trailer for the town, ballyhooing next PALACE, N. Y. through the motions behind scrim, semi-lighted, with projection of trailer on transparent screen. Artija- tically done, and audience is worked up to big applause. Then Leonard Davis makes open- ing ahnouhcemcnt for 'Little Show.' Prologue has Hugh O'Connell as Silo Vance and Don English as police chief. Murder episode por- trayed as on the legit stage, O'Con- nell's hokum with the knives getting fair laughter.- First blackout done by, Donald Brian and. Lita Grey Chaplin, and second, by same lady, Brian and O'Connell; both from original show. Stuff was good for howls in the day and age of such things, but. are out of datei now. Too ihuch time c6n->. Slimed for the little e^ggUpg gar- nered. Results much better In dan«e rou- tlhe,c 'Man About Town.' Wally Coyle and Ruth Barnes got a brisk reception with the show gals st^ ping smartly in snappy costumes. The dance routine by same gtkls in the double-sex ' costumes—front, female, back, male—was something of a hit with the housei Miss Chaplin comes on for couple •of son|;s, 'with fair response.. Then the Tir.er Girls, four in huraber,. trip through their pantomfrae of what' they do after theatre botrcs, tbvat boys coming into tbelr bcdsooni at finish. Ifiss. Barnes, quite a lass» with easy maxtuMr .ajvf nice smile^ does , a dance special. Then the 'StiU Alarm' episode in the -hotel room,, -wtth the houso below in flames. Donald Brian and Don Eng- lish are the gtieais. Hiigb^jO^nnell tlie fireman, bellhop is Leohu-d; Davis,, and Edgar Hunt, the boob. Lauc^s were mild. Thing hot only packs no: punch, but sterns mean- ingless. ' Ruth Barnes on again with Pierce Heame, followed' by 'what 'ought to be punch number, 'Moanin Low,' by. Miss Chaplin and Wally Coyle. Case of mrlsflre, though, when show was caught. Ray; and Sunshine's le^ and body tricks had the house on its toes^ duplicating the ovation given Cherry and June Priesser on their first ap- pearance here. Finale had the ensemble beauti- fully costumed iand was nicely staged and enacted, but was too routlniish to stir applause. Lihb^. PAR,B'KLYN Will Mahohey snuffs the sur- i^ouhding talent into'relative unim- portance from the angle of a cash customers' perspective^ That he's well known is indicated' thoroughly by audience requests for certain of this comedian-dancer's specialties. That's tribute, and until Mahoney trots on, the show is just patent medicine ientertainment. familiarly concocted and ordinarily routined. MahOney pteks it and lays it,, not. do'wn, but over. So, with Mahoney all, or nearly all the works, the Par people still call the current offering a unit. So it may "be, if Judged by present pic- ture 'hous^ standards. It's not a good standard, however, and that^s been proved here and Is s'till being proved around; the cowntry. . Certainly unit ^ntertalnmeht must infer to the public that said unit has something more than only one man's singular gift.. If Mahoney' is that way this week it's a break for the house, but a. warning also. ■ For the overture the pit men are dressed- in unis along with a crew of' some 16 voices. Pinafore atmos- phere, with Roy Cropper vocalizing and-the pit decorated with a line of pennants. Typical nabe shownian- ship and. despoiling the' 'value of a de luxe orchestra in such a type of theatre, Lucille Page, pretty brunette dan- seuiae, features in solo work through- out the perfbrmance. , No announce- ment favors her entrance at Jtpy time, although she's worth If" She Is an exceli.eht performer, moving with rhythmic grace In. each of the three numbers performed. Without her the line would just lay. Miss Page delivers the punch and the pickup, not-to mention atmosphere, to the'.line. - , . The week is a hard one for Miss Page. At one stage of her perform- ance Miss. Page -w'as overheard to tip the pit to slow its music. ' Bad for ..customers, when this can .be heard, and seeii.. Anthony • Fronie, a radio tenor; billed as the Poet Prince, Could fare' better were:he spotted between the first ensemble number that includes Miss Page and the following Will Mahoney piece. Mahoney, when caught, was recalled a.', couple of times for extras. First line routine after.the over- ture has-the girls in Pinafo re sailor costumes. Later they wear a' re- verslbie costume, one side of tvhlch Is trl-colorcd Jn stripes .and bares part of'the. body, other side cover- Jng-^alI-='With=a-dummy--effect-.^Not- bad. Tlie la.st number, supposedly Spanl.Hh, ha.« the glrl.s In long trans- parent dre.sses with upper lace bod- ices of a dark brown effect. Okay, -hut .bardly_:,^irri n g. Stagi^end ru n s. around 65 ininutes. 'Bolero'; (Par) is the .screen at- traction, plus Par newsreel and a short. Shan. ifi 'All of TJa' (Par) is' i«rithout an item to arouse a glimmer of f^og-* nition in the marquee pasiperby^. Mixture that greeted the. customers at Friday's. evening session mstde a mildly entertaining time of it. Bill«: nevertheless, had its bright mo" ments. Most of them were, fur- nished by a hillbilly affair, the Ra- dio Rubes. Four acts showed/for the event. The fifth, Pete, Peaches and Duke, Spotted for the deuce- inning, was a late choice to atohe for a. booker's boner and w'as ex- pected to be oh hand for at least the .day^s final showing.,. For: tiie Opening there's a quiet little acrobatic act, the Emerald Sisters. The trio engage in some near diverting nursery^ highjinks, with pratt falls and' cartwbeeM counted among the speciaitteB. - The Radio Rubes took .the next Slot and proved tfaemselviee fin ex-, ceptionally entertalnliig. inm ot the hillbilty category. Foursome deliv- ered heaps of corking harmony, tickled the payee's fitncy . for oral sound effects and spiced it' all up- with comedy of an authentic sort. Sendoffi. accorded them was enough to stop the pitmen from proceeding with the act tollowihg> Medley and Duprey. ! With the M. A D. combination the :excitement continued, bat most of it Jwa^ confined to the . stage itself. Medley id still depending t<wt bis re- turns on the ei^loeion of fireerack- erb. -and cartri^ea amd the clatter of knojks aiid boHs. .Also-on--his stooge 'With the 4Al8omlned> pan. The- Ingenues took 22 minutes to shdv off a carload of Instrum'ehts and some fetching novelties. ^w6'. opening samples of dansapiEition had smooth going on the -ear, but the interludes in which all .the girls played the. same inistEument would have shaped up better had there not been so many them. Dancing' specialties, registered nicely; and thia military band concept gives the act an effective fihisb.. Business was around a'veragre. OHec CENTURY, BALTO Baltimore^ Feb. 16>. It's , a b. o. bonanm -of such rare, proportiohs that this mngecmariched in first ..show os^ning dav to t» promptly relegated to ishejrs. top- rung and felt as out-of-'ptace as an Eskimo lolling on the sand, at Palm Beach. There mli^t have- been, a couple of other men present,- bvit they 'weren't' within -focaa of'.mob Of S,t09 femmes rubMoig. tbi^raftera^ for a gander at Clark GaWri (^ew Acts) ia a 9-min. parade that'elic- ited a gale of lafls. It's an Inf orniaL skUlfuIIy desijgned bit of biz that presents Gable . In manner the gals wish to see him, and' it' sookoed. Misa Tucker McGulre lends adept support. Flanking the Gable turn id a nice layout of entertaining - Variety. In third, Rltz Bros, regale with 13 minutes of foolery ttattfd' faappily different from what trios of mal» . hoofers have been dosing aiidiences^ with of. late; They entrance In gladiatorial toggery for some -zany comedy, that termlnatea Ih hoke s. and d. Traveler unfurls and pair of the boys romp through ^hat old travesty bit of jekylI-Hydi» with Frankenstein that ends; oa . note ot pansy imitation. JSoyh hasre inject- ed more roundness, into piecO than other turns using same, and drain last drop of humor from it. For close, step down to '4m& tmd seri- ously stomp 'Tigtr Rag.' flagged acclaim and-introduced nlftlck «n- core with burlesqued version oC Fmll Janhings. Rockefeller and J. Barrymore hoofing the Charleston. In deuce. Welcome JjowiB whams with 11 mins. of songfest. A .looker, and ■ extremely well turned obt in shimmering white gown, sho pipes trio of well orchestrated numbers into mike; outstander, an Infec- tuoiis rendition of •Gabriel's Horn.' Carries pleasing accompaniment, trio, piano, flddto, guitar. .<. Always fay in this town and had to beg to get oft.- Hoiiey Troupe closed, fast acro turn .comprising 3 men, ■ 3. femmes. Run a gamut of tumbling, mrramtd- Ing, somersaulting, and teeterboard-. ing." .Bill's curtaln-parter, Gracella and Theodore, pack .wad of flash and. Color bMt not enough terp versatil- ity: Sandwiched 'tween name team's routines. May Q'Deil and Johnny MiDiore chanl a duet- Of Romberg's 'Serenade' in. 1890 cOstumery. The' two full-s.tage sets used are good. Screen feature, ''you '-Can't Buy Everything' (MG). Curtiz Sticks on 'Key' Hollywood, Feb. 19.. -Michael Curtiz, who took over di- rection, of "The Key* at. Warners because of the lllncs.s of Archie -Mayo. gQC J through,j^»lth_t h e^p.ij;j_^. __ Mayo, improving, will be spotted later. iles. Leaves. .Lasky pH:*j}lj'w6odx.-JE'.eb.. John Miles, who has been Jesse L. La sky'.s p. a. at the Fox studio, resigned Saturday.