Variety (Feb 1934)

16 VARIETY Y4RIE¥¥ HOUSE BEVIEW« Tuesday, February 27, 1934 MUSIC HALL, N/Y. They are piittlng all the eggs In one presentation basket at the Mu- 6ic Hall this week, hut It Is a very attractive basket, so the experiment .proved a success. Makes for a smoother run than the . segrisgated numbers, which look so much alike in their isolated form. The entire stage program is Oscar Wilde's'The Birthday of the Infanta,' Op^ns with a spot on a narrator on the chorus iplatform oh the left side of the hall: As she'starts to. better at the mats and gathered momentum over the week-end when the Gable femme draw firmly as- sei'ted Itself. But . Friday opening ii|ight was no occasion for the tapes bfeing up nor the reserved $lv65 loge seats being sold but. Still it looks like a healthy gross' on the whole. .Stage draw Is all Gable, of course. Siib-bllled are Charles Carllle (New Acts), CBS tenor; Gbrden, Reed.and King, Minor and ^ Hoot,. Dorothy Crooker (New Acts) and Chester Hale Girls. Haleltea ojpen. with 'Got the Jlt- tell the fable the lights go up on a ters; a la^e Billy Rose Casino de. group of courtiers,-and iri turn oh paree treatmfent, where thei num^ the lltle Infanta sitting In a window ber w.as originally treated. Save iajid watching a parade In her'hbnor. for Gable and Carllle, .it*s a danc it forms a gorgeous: spectaqle with ingest presientatlon.. .Plenty of-It courtiers, citizens and soldiery | and in all slzes^ Gordon, Reed and matching in; solemn .procession her fore, the tiny prlrtceBS. It's true pageantry. . Throughout the play the voice of the narrator (Isabelle Herbert) is King with their ai3$orthient of terps and taps go the route In the book of legmania. Minor and Root, the, ballroom dancers from the. .Hotel "St. Regis,, dovetail Into a fan routine heard explaining the action, though on the long stairs by the Hale Girls the action requires little diagram- Dorothy Crocker's control dancing ming. There Is a ifete In. celebrar is In the. same categoiv. . Inclden tioh oiE the -royal, birthday. The tally, that stitir formation is a cap princess. In her glee over, the danc-: Itoi repeater, although an. embeN Ing of the fool, tosses him a rose. lishmeht and Improv^mient on the Being a fool, he presumes it'to be flrist showing, with the feathers and a love token and eventually dies of the colorrlightlng combining Vei'y a broken heart. When this Is ex-[ effectively, plained to her, the princess orders | carlile's mike pre.sentatldn Is for her Major Domo to have mimes Intiula, as Is Gable's, the star essay without hearts to entertailn her in ji^g^ ohe of those thank-you-in-pefr future. Just a fragrment and per-, sohi frameups and'going heavy fop haps over the heads of a majority pash routine. <3lene Ford, who fash- of the Music Hall patrons, PuV a jo^ed it, merely reached into the useful peg pn which to hang the. catalog fov the routine, which, while action. The second scene, breaks, to Lgflfective, is undistinguished and the courtyarfl of the castle, wltli a Urite. This topper-offer are those huge stairway rising across^ the gggngg fj.^^ 'Dancing Lady,' Ruth stage against a.blue cyke, with the j^^^teson and Charles Sylber effec- prlncess on the landing to enjoy the tj^giy original Crawford i „ +1,- ] and Healy assignments. The bver- K n*?', ^% ^t^^J'uJ'^^^^f^t.^X^ Sfl head mikes dick for the dialog plck- ^^^}^^ \7fS^^i /nfl m the three dramatic sequences and yellow, who do a formal and r ^ x w, v interesting dance. They are fol-r I In the olio (Miss) Tucker, Mc Ibwed by a Juggler/ who is none G^^re is the smitten sorority girl other than Stan. Kavanaugh doing who crashes on the stajse with her Ills familiar routine in parti-colored autograph book, asks Ga*le aboijt satin costume. His work with the hjs screen pash and emoting tech- balls and Indian clubs over effect- I nique, and sneaks In a clinch for the convinces The Gable presentation Is pre- ceded by clips from past releases. Incidentally so ephemeral is the life of a picture the titles, of most of em are . readily .recallable, even Sandor, with a gnrtesque dance that I AM ntit nBrtipiilitflv 9.T>neal to the 8^0"^ BUBfest spmethlnsr. _ Gable ively^ but this was one of those holiday ' audiences that didn't ap- plaud much. P6rhaps they were tired from having had to stand in line so long to get In. , Follows the fool,: dance by Oluck did not particularly appeal to the crowd. He gets the rose and re^- tires in favor of the Hoxyettes, who go through a drill in red and black hussar. costuiiies and jack boots with pointed tops. Nice manoeuver Ing and. though this was only the third, show, done in excellent form mentions 'Red Dust/, 'Hold Your Man' and 'Dancing - Lady' in one of those routine questions, 'Did you like ?', and concludes the ap- plause salvos with, 'How'd you like to i^ee some sceh^ from 'Dancing Lady?' (more applause).* rn^ri fltinT^^S S^ thW iik«^?hLm tine' in next week, interrupting the ?L^««MiIr« >Ao 2ru. iS? nSnJv successlou of Mctro lu-person stars as. soldiers; too, and girls got plenty I ctartAri *Iyith iwav Rnhsotv of applause for their evolutions. "They wind up in one, with the orig- inal, street, set closing ih on them, and file off as the drop parts again to disclose a garden' consisting of a black cyke with three set pieces suggesting foliage^ apparently of slivered cellophane. This calls for another session of. Gluck-Sandor, and this was where the narrator came out strong in explaining that which started with May Robsoh, then Lionel Barrymore, Novarro and Gable. Al>e». PARAMOUNT, N. Y. Phil Baker, In his own revUe, an. elongated vaudeville act and not without some of the slowness of comedy flashes when they get to a . ^ , ^ . ..running time of 58 mInuteSr occu-- It was a grieving heart and not^a pj^g hard oak here this week, stomach ache which caused all. the j ^j^^ gg minutes has some high spots, convulsions. . - - but a lot of slow stretches also. Back to the street again for Jan The brightness comes in three Peerce in a song wlt^r the vocal ^iffereht positions on the show, chorus backing him ul>, then an Baker's main act portion with the idealized palace set with tall candles -hiant, butler and girl is one, while more suggestive of a cathedi'al. | surefire little tuirn. of Walter Here the dancer doies a mirror dance, seconded by Nicholas Daks as the refiection; he dies, the little. princess speaks his requiem, and a soft close-in,, which Is whfire. the xegulai's missed the usual Whoopee Dare Wahl Is another. Wahl stopped the show Friday night. Baker didn't. Runner-up for third place on the bill Is Gracie Barry in a couple songs. 'Sh^ has the poise, clearness of diction aiid the delivery finish. Which Indicates that the I technique That counts idea is good and perhaps the answer Baker Is in here at $6,600, not as to the Music Hall's quest; but that much as paid Mary Pickford and a more lively finish would be better p^adie Cantor, but more than given apipireciated. And while Gluck- Mae West* who took the gross to a Sandor is a finished artist, he does fancy hlgli with her picture, 'She not seem to fit in so far from the | Done Him Wrong; as a help recital hall with his stylized move nients. However, the" chances are that.'the big holiday crowd went home, and told .the rest of the folk it was a swell show.. It iSi it runs rather , short, libt more than 4Q min utes, entire bill running around two hours and a half. Featui-e Is 'It Happened One Baker will not do that business, though, with 'Death Tiakes a Holi- day' <Par). on the screen and better than fair draft, of Fredrlc March npme the house .should be' safely in the profit column, Baker contributes little more this week under his revue billing than a vaude act. Portion should not con- Mght (Col) the Silly Symphony siime more than 15 minutes at the and a Washington's Birthday sp6- most. This Is the session with the cial opening with a shot at Mt. Ver- audience plant, Harry 'Bottle* Mc non and running into the Washing- Naughtoh and Mabel Albertson, ton landmarks around Ne^ York These folks were with Baker on City. Not only timely but intierest- the Armour hour, so he reminds ing, and far better than the ustial the audience. blah of other years; They had them . Some of Baker's material goes lined almost over to Fifth avenue home, but much of it is creaky .with .for. the supper show^ but business acre.' A few of the oldies' conxe in fell away, a little after the price was that clo.dng session, mainstay of upped, though still a full house. Chic. CAPITOL, N Y. The. Cap has^ hit its stride at last after One of those lap.ses which come with a combination, of circum- stances. On: top of :lhe .sti*ong Ramon No%'arrb last, week—^in :per-^ '"son"ajia"oh"^he"sci''een—Clark'Tj^^ climaxes the" series of: Metro jn- person star appearances currently. Garbb's 'Christina' next week. Gable ish't on the screen, but that end of it is satisfactorily sustained by Robert' Montgomery in 'Mystery of Mr. X,'' Gable Is competish to himself, his lodh-out film to Clolum- bla (with Claudette Colbert) hold- inff forth at the RV C. Music Hall. Friday night's biz was disappoint- ing; good, but no panic, but it war, the Baker performance, among them the one about the laundry which came back because they re fused it. the telegram; gag from an opposition theatre informing its business is 100% better since Baker Is at the Par. and when the girl wiggles the wagger, 'Youxv motor is running;' Miss Albertson, who up ahea<l doe.s^a number, 'Office' Girl Blues,' ' wlh:=goo<3-au a ienc$^"l WiPsTufd^f airl'ir sold, tries to do a Mae We.st toward the last and flunks badly. She neither- looks the part very much nor has the Westian drawl to .go with it. Ah oi i t mid dle' a .siiHrH Trrr-'- nas- putin and the Empress' .flounders around precariously, taking up more time and space than it seems to J.u.stify in lauj,'h.q, or entertainment rif any other character. If demand- ing its pre.sence the conceit might be lessened by cutting the time con- sumed. It might have been much funnier, vut as stands It would need much in the way of doctoring to In- sure anything more than the nov eity It how contains* The-bptlfB might not be worth the results, if any. Ahead of this. Baker is also han- dicapped by material and lack of production. • The girls are on 'but once, at the opening and then stand around mostly as spectators so that Baker, can make ah early entrance, indulge In talk, play the accordion and work bits with other people, In- cluding. Miss' Albertson, Miss Barry and his butler foil, McNaughtoni Exdhahge between Baker and Mc- Naughton brIngQ but a couple good laughs, dwarflhir by conipis^rlson anything that ha? occurred up to this time, with unit, now on some- where around 15 mlhutesii An agreeable part of an admis- sion . here this week Is Charles Prevlh's overture of Berlin mel- odies.:. Previnj who doesn't ■ usie. a baton. Is very: cute with his hands, and at times reminds of Rubliioff In his more acrobatic mbments over a pitful of musicians, who sit back in their chairs.placldiy~ and perhaps enjoy It all a little theniselyes. Sudden cold Friday evening wrinkled business a little after .a smart opening earlier in . the day, but at. the peak hour, house was near capa.city. Char. PALLADIUM, LONDON 13. ■ With Ethel Barrymore, booked In for fortnight,, falling to hold up first week, management was in a dilem- ma. Ba.rrymore quit 'by. arranger ment,' with Jack Hyltoh and Eddie Pola's 'America Calling' (a Joint booking) rushed in for quick return. Bill, as a whole, was over- burdened with dancing,' developing into a sort of dance marathpn. The Sherman Fisher 16. Palladium Gals started It. Michel, assisted by sister iNan, two cute looking-kids, playing the xylophone, iand climax- ing with 'swift Russian steps while playing Instrument. Murray and MOoney, a couple of locals, with tlic comic on and. off the stage for a gag or two, also finish by dancing—they call It comedy dancing. ' .Hazel Mangean Girls, just back from a continental jaunt. wOke the bill up. Girls Open in male attire, then, revert to natural outfits, going through some speedy aero steps, with barely any breathing space. Diamond brothers, who foilowed, proved there were any number o! dance tricks left oiit by the prevljoue offerings. Boys reveal a natural, aptitude In everything they do. No doubt about It, they have brought something fresh, which will takie a long tlme^lf ever—for the locals to eniiulate. The p lank gag (^missed 'em') is stiiha big laugh, Jack Hylton, closing first half, rendered a couple new numbers. In eluding 'Night and Day,' the 'Gay Divorce' themer. by permission of Lee Ephraim, and a few Tzigane tunes, just to show the. extent ot his rifepertolre. Theh intermission, and anochcr troop on by the Palladium pals, fol lowed by Enos- Fraaere, who still insists on gagging while ' on the trapeze. Ftazere ia good In the lat ten but' some of his gags got ) dubious reception. Bob Murphy, with Dick and Dor othy, the only newcomers Jiere, Started slowly, with Murphy unde- cided how he was^ being recelvcJ. Kids began to do their stuff, with Dick's freaky voice finally deciding the issue. With a little revision, and leSis ol Murphy's flag waving, act has every chrnce of getting plenty of work here and becoming a popular feature. Reception at lln ish was excellent. (reorge Dooha,n, with husky .voice and some dubious ipatter. is lir.r worthy of the. next to shut niche His is Just a number two. offering at best. Cloislhg were Ppla's 'America Calling,' with same company as played here a fortnight ago.; Only .newcomers .were Dick .and Dorothy from the Murphy act. Boy did a Calloway impression in front of the Hylton band (used In the 'Calling outfit), and stopped the show. .Dorothy's Impression of Kate ' smith was nearest to the real .thini done here. In years. . ' ' Show as a whole pleased .the cus tomers, with house about 80% ca pafeity, which was good, considering local fog. NEWSREELS EMBASSY Another two weeks should fairly determine the Embassy's future. The third. Saturday crowd Indicates a better, attendance. From the standpoint of the present policy therie is no reason, why ' the Emh shouldn't make. money. Pathe's editor, Harold Wohdsell, iS giving the house his personal attention, something which no reel he&d has ever done with a theatre. And the manner in which the house Is run, particularly the program, reflects, this, Currently t^e. bills in the twq theatres are almost neck, and neck In hews entertainment; Though the Luxer is using .virtually all of the Pathe national release, in addition to its selections .from other reels, Wohdsell is still able to tiirn out a Pathe show at the Emb which cbn- taihs news features not possessed by the Luxer. The Chicago kidnaper w:ho hanged himself is an Emb exclu- sive; The story Is well knitted, in- cluding an interview wth the Iowa publisher whose abduction wa3 thwarted and . a talk with the ac- complice of the man who committed suicide. Thei bllizard was well covered.. Paramount, in the Luxer, kept Its crews on the ground hunting" up grounded ships and telegraph poles, while Pathe let its cameraman take a plane ride; oyer New York. Luxer used. Pathe's story on the boy who foileid a dairy bombing In Chicago, but failed to show another lad who shot it out with liold-up men in his father's restaurant, a clip which brought applause in the JJmb. Emb also scored with coverage of the Belgian situation in its week- end program. Old views of the new King and family were dusted Pff, with new recording mentioning the death of the. monarch. Pathe also, kept views, for . the Emb of the testimony of the former postmaster gehex-al before the Washington investigating' commit tee. Emb devoted considerable footage ta an Ice classic at Lake Placid Notable feature of this clip was cameraman's ability to keep center focus On all of the performers, none of them'ever being allowed to slip but of frame. First known attempt to actually photograph bonafide fairies in their lair was flashed on the Emb screen Saturday. Audience at flrst seemed puzzled. When ' it became evident they were looking at the real thing —nances In a beauty shop—the hous e went dead silent. The queers dbing a btra ieii t wil l—probably - be yanked, before the end. Of the week, as the clip indicates that TRANSLUX, N. Y, Both houses are leading off with Pathe s review of Roosevelt's .year. It's ft subject Crammed with action and covering everything In slightly over a minute. Since Pathe went to the Emb the Luxer seems to be leaning to Para- mbunt for exclusive material; It also ha^ Universal frona which to. draw. Fox material, .so fiai^ at . least, being mia-inly of the magazine order. Parimbunt got some lad ^to pole his way across the harbbr on a tipy berg. The subject was different and the reporting got some laughs. . . Par also went to the trouble of interviewing. Ponzl, but got no statement as to his plans and had to rely on Its reporter. It had, also, some Intimate vleiws of the YIenna trouble not seen In any other rjeel, but no violence, . ' Fox had.a great chance, for com* edy with a Paris dbg restaurant. In the Luxer it was chopped down to a fiash, not giving the audiences enough' for a reaction. in the Mad Garden tennis match Fox,- used by the LuxCr, confined its yiews tP the idoubles,. while Pa;the, in- the Emb, featii'i^d the singles with greater clarity. Parampunt went one better than Pathe oh Rockefeller. It dug. up an interview With the. magnate, two years old artd tacked it on to the current materat. Interesting dog story was covered In detail by Par. Views. were In- cluded of courtroom with the canines on trial for biting, ahd a talk from the little, girl victim in a hospital bed, during which'ishe held up a mangled arm. U had one of, its most sparse showings at the Luxer in months. Didn't have over, three, clips of a lesser news nature, dealing with Italian snow, college boys and Ba- haman racing. Pathe occupied a good portion of the Luxer program., This material, also in the Emb projection, num- bered: Washington plans to hit the 16-miIe line In the stratpsphere; new type of plane; Interpr views Of- Monte. Carlo; trained pehguihs; Massachusetts' Ice; world's latest diamond find; Chicago road work-- ers; another -Jersey warning to autoists, Luxer Used Par's coverage of the airmail situation, including a plug for private airmails, by Rlcken- backer. Par also gave an Idea of how busy London Is In collecting old gold for smelting ahd shipment to America. Waly. register only when in a burlesque category. Model of the tri-boro bridge^ ^enns3rlvahlaHjospit«l-flre.7and-Nr^fV- dog hero in bed were among other they Emb specials. Waly. PALACE, N. Y. Aside from being one Itself, the Palace needs .a belly laugh. 'What chance the show has for a strong comedy angle this semester ai?pends=?orpDn"^Gl€fnTf""iEmd==Jenktns (deUce) and Jack Pepper (next-to closing). Latter turn has the fun nest bunch of stooges since Ted Healy turned up his chapeaux on this stage, but a Healy is missing. heir-^rst-appearanee^-ia-nat-uraUy- a laugh, but after' that, without a strong pacer, they've ju.st got their appearance, and that isn't enough. Novelty this week is confined to the fact that there aren't any acro- bats. Madie and Ray, ordinarily a deucer, open the flve-act layout with their standard hoofing and roping turn, breaking,right into the middle of the pit's overture. This was a smart move, for otherwise the drop-ins would have been long in becoming reconciled to the unusual opening. The type of audiences the Palace is gathering thes,©—days., is accustomed to nip-ups to sitart with. Otherwise it Is soup without antipasto, and Palace drop-lns can tell you about antipaisto. Around for a. long time, this mixed team is really a swell act of its type. 'Way back when they used to stop shows here. At this catching they were simply pleasing. It's not a reflection on them, but on the house. The one other twist the Palace uncovers is the spotting of Glenn and Jenkins No. 2. Going back to the bid days a.gain, this sepian. team in cork was . once .a standard, next- to-closer. Their gab, nrtueicai work and dancing is still In the pleasing category, but far from getting the heartier .type, of laughs they got; 13 and. 14 years ago. Another change Is the Palace's, conception of a name. This week it's Mae Questel who . bears that specification here, .although in for- mer times she'd have been hardly more than just a supporting act. .Backed by a'male pianist, the 'Betty Boor' , girl is delivering three num- bers, two of them .<;pecials« and nev^ strongly. Once she loosed the baby voice, the audience ex- pected the Helen • Kane stuff, but did not get it. It's, a case of a Helen Kane contest winner chang- ing her color and going slightly uppity. In her finale 'Annie Doesn'.t Live Here Any More,' she. does an trlsh brogue, a Zazu. Pitts and a Mae WcKt—rbut not a boop in all three. Followin.cr Jack Pepper and clo.s- -ing^the^h o w-=is=Jane t-te-=^Haeke 11 and Dan Cfirthay, assisted by Don Hudson, baritone; As was always the case with Ml.ss Haokett's turns, this act is dressed and staged to perfection. The dances, including -hev-o^ld- 'death'-rput-ine,-arG;4i-n<ir-bu-t^ the introductory specials are not on a par. These are song-talked by Hudson, .,\vho in his' one straight singing number shows a good voice. Biz the opening evening was fair. 'Carolina' (Fox) on the screen. FOX, BROOKLYN Producer Alex Oumansky c^ls his current show at the Fox 'Music in the Air.' Title doesn't mean a thing, but the show ' happehs to be a good one in spite of It. Opens with the girls in a nice precision number that actually has some precision. Tnat's hard to be- lieve about the Fox line, but there it is. Maybe Oumansky is a greater genius than has been realized. Al Shayne^ . the headliner, is spotted number two, and a good spot for him. too. He may be a headllner, but as far as the enter- tainment assembled here he's a number two act. A night club war- bler. Shayne. has come to consider- able local prominence recently pn a commercial over ohe of the Smaller New York stations. That-he. could become as prominent as he has oh such obscure air time speaks a lot for him. He Is a baritone with a pleasant manner and a healthy pair of pipes. The customers liked him and ivill most anywhere. Fact that' he'ig on so early, therefore, is not a pah/but a proper .approximation of., the point.at which this show needed a singei". ' Freddie, Berrens leada his band through a bit of nolse-makihg at this sector. He's having a tough time getting a band together for this stage purpose. He has them go through a hotchaipiece here that really means something. It's excep- tipnally good. But when the same band tries t.6 follow a singer, or dancer through .the show it's a marathon. : First finished gets fried hamborie. . Girls are back In heat Oriental costumes and a team does a good adagio dance. Name sounded (Some- thing like .Santoni and Pelini; Ber- rens'. enuncation of na mes is hone tDo"";g.6od:'~^■Xe~go':T'f't^^e^^^5i5^^^ quick to get it over with.. Probably from an audience standpoint in a house like this it •doesn't matter, but it's tough on the lads trying to write Up the sho.ws. without pro- •g.i'a'm ann'iTi'irlirrarar-pr-Trther -house lielp on names. Gayle and C.ar.son,..two boys who are good dancers and bad come- dians, and try a. little of both. The (Contihued on page 25)