Variety (Apr 1934)

16 VARIETY VARIETY HOUSE REVIEWS Tuesday, April 3, 1934 2-a-Day Straight Vode Back on ffway ks OK; Revue Idea; 20G Nut Straight vaudeville, back on Broadway, only it . isn't really vaudeville, but a revue^-and not on Broadway, but Seventh avenue. Ca- sino theatre was built for Earl Car- roll and lils revues and is perfectly adaptable for what Is billed as 'Ca- sino Varieties.' Excellent acoustics and really a terrific flash for 75c top. in. the afternoons and $1>!>9 nights. Show caught was the opening performance after a couple of. nights of steady rehearsing, and it looked more or less in the class of a dress rehearsal. ■ Aside from a few dirty portions, which belong nowhere else but in a club or bur- lesque show, and the usual speed- ing up arid smoothing off of the rough edges, 'Varieties' has a stronger chance that most of the Broadway . skeptics gave it pre- opening. At the scale of prices there isn't a stage show on the main aHey, or elsewhere for that matter, which can compare with it. This is production in capital let- ters. It is staged like, the. .$4.40 revues and the money sunk in scenery and costumes is plainly evi- dent. From one of the many people connected with the venture it was learned that the outlay for costumes alone for this show . was $6,000. Show in its entirety is said to stand around 120,000, $1,2,000 for the talent. House seats close to 2,200 and at the price scale can gross $38,000 at capacity. Opening show saw about 85% capacity and around $1,600 in the till. Very few oakleys at the matinee, the. cuffos probably due in the first night's performance. An entertainment of this type should survive. There are. still revue-goers, even if there isn't a variety patron alive. Main stumbling block in the path of a straight-vaude venture right now is the lack of top-line stage acts with b.o. power. Plan here, though, is to keep each revue a minimum of two weeks and a maxi- mum of four. The contention of the Operators, Jack Shapiro, Harry Shiftman, Haring & Blumenthal, Two light comedians working to—- gether are nothing but a couple of straight men to an audience; For- tunately they stayed apart during the rest of the show. Gertrude Nlesen's pit accompani- ment was none too forte her first time out for a couple of songs. The 16rpiece' band, batonned by Frank Cork, seemed in need of more re- hearsal. The exotic warbler later in the show sold much better; First blackout was a. takeoff on a merger of the Amos *n' Andy and 'Rise of the Goldbergs' radio pro- gram. A funny idea on paper, but not nearly so funny oh the stage. Then the Ritz brothers in a new bit for them-^three communists on strike against Jessel for using non- union gags. This was funny lor a while,, but then dragged out too long. Also it ended on a sour note When one of the boys turned around to show a toilet-seat painted on his back. DeMarcos, one of the ace ball- room . teams, slipped on in the 'Spanish Fiesta' scene for a 'Carl- oca' and rang the bell solidly. The graceful exponents of the tango and waltz are backed.in this by the line, which was directed by Bobby Con-- nolly, assisted, by Charles and Louis Mosconi. Connolly also staged the entire show. One of the standout socks of the show is Lucille Page, acrobatic dancer, who got her first big chance in New York in this very same the atre in the first Carroll show in the house. She precedes an unfunny blackout on Hitler (Jesse! and Ritz boys). Closing intermission; and di rectly after another smash solo ses sion by Jessel on-the apron, is the 'Nudist Ballet.' Nobody, however, is in the nude, and the entire spec tacle seemed meaningless. unless for advertising purposes. The line, Eunice Healey arid Jack Whitney take part in this. Girls are In skin- tight scanties, while' the boy wears a loin cloth. Miss Healey opens the second half with a special 'Cuh-Razy for nies in another spot on this show, and they hold it down alone. The ballet girls' other spot is in tho opening spectacle. Latter combines the overture with stage presentation, the whole com- ing under the title of 'Easter Chimes.* Th© scene is the interior of a cathedral, beautifully mounted and costumed, with the runways along the two side orchestra walls also utilized. This is. the sort of production number in which the Music Hall excels. No other theatre i n the country is equipped to match it in that respect. Besides the Buck feature there is Walt Disney color'Symphony,' ap- propriately, labeled 'Funny Little Bunnies.' It finishes on a scrim and blends Into the Rockettes* bunny dance when the stage lights up. Buck's personal Is the last Item on the bill, immediately following the picture. Passover and Good Friday failed to kick holes in the business Friday night; after. a big opening day (Thursday) and attendance that an . pretty close to capacity Friday afternoon. With the circus in town at the Garden,: Music Hall Is making a play for the - same type of patronage in anticipation of the kids going for Buck's celluloid wild animal show. Bi and their booker, Arthur Fisher, is pave, with the line behind, and that they can find 'names* every then the Ritz Brothers do their four weeks; although admitting that £ ,, yaud f l urn * topped with getting new ones every, week would \ } h6 Jekyll-Hyde farce. Miss Niesen be tough. is on again for a song, sitting on a Operators also intended to open stand over the pit, and this time she the basement of the Casino as a sl ^shed. restaurant. They had arranged for The De Marcos get an oppqrtur a liquor license and were in the nlt y'to deliver, a. waltz In a down- throes of decorating the bottoms° uth scen * whlcn - except for,their floor when something, happened and ™ nclng ' also , m f an l very " u L e ' they called the thing off. Now they This Part of the «how and the are undecided whether they will n Ji d «t ballet are strictly for flash ever go through with it. Plan was eff , ect ' Scenery is yery .good, but at to sell a combination ticket, en- this performance the lighting was titling the patron to a $1.50 dinner n °t oni par. and the same price theatre seat for Closing Varieties is 'The Changing $2.50, or less if the patron wished °£ the Guards, a scene similar to a cheaper seat. that put on by Connolly in musical Last "straight vaude venture on I co m e d y - The entire cast take part Broadway was about two years ago | £or a 100% s end-off. MUSIC HALL, N. Y. at the Hollywood, with Arthur Klein as promoter. Just previous to that the Palace dropped the all variety for a combination of plx arid five 'acts. Incidentally, Elmer Rogers, \.ho managed the Palace from the' day it opened until it de NEWSREELS TRANSLUX CAPITOL, N. % Frank Buck is here in the flesh, to take a bow for and. explain some of the action in his animal picture, ^ _ . ,„ . 'Wild Cargo' (Radio). His four serted straight vaudeville, is man- mmu t e s in front ofthe Hall's fancy aging the Casino. traveler represents the only person- Show Itself has a wealth of tal- a i ity no te in the current stage bill, ent, but opening day too many which otherwise Is all mass sing-: things were going wrong, or were , and danc i n g and scenic flash.- wrong, for it to look 100%. With | A change in the billing this week a couple more days under its belt, however, It should look entirely dif- ferent and more than worth the price of admission. transforms the famous. Roxyettes into the Rockettes, for reasons that are obvious but perhaps not entirely justifiable. In switching monickers George Jessel and Walter O'Keefe the Music'Hall management is toss are toplining and. doing a double m.c. job. Others are Antonio and Renee DeMarco, Gertrude Niesen, Eunice Healey, Lucille Page, Three Ritz Brothers, Raymond Covert and Musketeers, Pops and Louie, and a line of 34 girls. Operators are miss- ing a good bet In not especially ad vertisirig that line on their looks Jessel was at top form .at the matinee everywhere but - in the blackouts. And, as far as the latter are concerned; nobody could look good in their humorless state ing. away the best known arid prob- ably most valuable'trade label for a line of dancing girls since the Till- ers. The Russell Markert charges are the best known line ih the country, mostly through their own unexcelled precision work, but this theatre has indirectly done a lot to put them where they are; The average Music Hall show would be dull, indeed without the girls to pep 'em up, which makes the line more notice- able than It would be ordinarily; O'Keefe, however was missing--also and aIso acce ntuates the girls' merit he was responsible for the - This week being no exception, the portions^ In the show via hisde- ]lne , s agaln tne b rea , wall0 p of the iverv of two^s^ e* en thoufeh there Is more > S ^ ^ r ™^ e1 ;^^ ?iSthan the usual competition in a ■l&XS^to^^M&l^ ™* *™ th « «a,h Easter floor or in burlesque. It is right after the line makes its first appearance is revealing, skin-tight costumes that the show shows necessary fixing. Pops and Louie, two colored singing and hoof- ing kids, are on for three songs and a couple of routines for a total of item up ahead. In the closer the Roxyettes (beg pardon, the Rock- ettes) do one of their applause- grabbing military formation rou- tines. . Working with them-this time and doing the same work are the ballet girls, who show surprising ability in a department of Music Which„the y abT)ut-10-mihutes-when=they^shou1d^ have ortly done five and then taken don't ordinarily, participate. Th- a cut One of the chocolate babies combined groups, one in blue and has a lot of personality, but it's, all the other in orange, give the ciis- the same type. Following them is tomers an eyeful of 64 girls going the line again, making the princi- through the same motions at one nals unseen for the first 18 minutes and the same time. Number is called of th£ show 'Guards on Parade' and the setting Jessel's opening line was, 'It's a is an imperial courtyard. Male nleasure to be back In .a vaude- singing corps in red uniforms starts Ville theatre, so help me God!' It off, and there's also a real horse Then his gags, and they all landed— bearing a soldier, in the background, and then on came O'Keefe and the Roxyettes (there it goes again) laughter stopped for a few minutes. 1 are also the inevitable Easter bun- For some time, a little • while' back up here they were depending on pictures, alone, paying scant atten- tion to the; stage from a box office point of view, The pictures were unable to carry the burden of draw alone arid then along' came a pro- cession of personals, including May Robson, Lionel Barrymore, Ramon Novarro, Clark. Gable and; just fin-, lshed on a two weeks' engagement, the . trio of Jimmy Durante, Lou Holtz and Polly Moran. Before the. names came In the Capitol had begun to lose its mo- mentum badly. In the last few weeks it has shown signs of re- turning to the fine swing which it formerly enjoyed* Paul Whiteman with his orches- tra and numerous specialty enter- tainers, plug a line of girls; are oh the stage this week, while 'Rip Tide* (MG), starring Norma Shearer, occupies the screen.. The combination looks like box office for the upper Broadway de luxer. Whiteman and his .fine, stage re- tinue \is all the picture needs for company on a strong drive - for heavy. receipts. Both 'Rip Tide' arid Whiteman. were booked, in for two weeks," win,, lose. or draw. There's little danger that a hold over week will: court danger. House has ah option on Whiteman for two additional weeks.. Band IS in at $8,000. With the only other cost on show the Sara Mildred Straus Dancers, 32 of them, the . cost doesn't look much above - average. Line of - girls opens and. closes with Whiteman as the meat be tween the bread and the running time held, down to a comfortable 49 minutes. Inclusion of a short, 'Twin Screws' (MG). runs the whole show out too long, however, two hours and 60 minutes. Feature is 92 minutes. After the Sara Straus dancers have opened in a dance of. pagan ritual qualities, an odd routine set off effectively by lighting and the bare feet of the girls, the . strains of 'Rhapsody in Blue' come Up to introduce the Whiteman orchestra .There are 23 pieces and quite few specialty entertainers, ihclud ing Peg Healy, Florence and At varez, Goldi'e, Jack Fulton, John 'Babe' Hauser, John Morcer, Jack Teagarden and Dale Rhodes Whiteman's announcements over the public address system, which up here doesn't seem to be in the best shap . aren't clear enough to make identity certain in all cases. Aside from the dance team of Florence and Alvarez, graceful without having knockout propor- tions, specialties are mostly sing- ing, rest being a little instrumental work.' Several of the routines suf- fer' from poor diction and a lack of showmanship.., . The girl single doing 'This.Llt. T tie Piggie,*' the imitation of Joe Penner, and the two .sorig numbers by Rairiona at a. piano set over the pit, are the outstariders. Anything that is lacking on spe- cialties is more than made up by the excellehce.. of the Whiteman band, its . fine handling of music, Including ' a lengthy number, corn- posed by one of the boys, and the generally fine showmanshi which exists! Business Friday night at the peak hour was over capacity, which augurs well,. since this was Good Friday, toughest day.of the Lenten period, as well as Passover. Rgb- ert Montgomery made a personal appearance ph the first show; just la^say^Jhello. -- —T hat^ «pr*', ■ ■> helped tome. Char. ■ Early Saturday matinee was like a dress rehearsal. Trouble began at the box-office. Joe Penners duck was provided with such a loud quacker that It was heard In- side the house as well as across the street. Now and then when the audience was silent during a seri- ous subject, the mechanical ex- ploitation persistently Interfered. Something; went wrong with the projection machine a couple of times. Once It repeated three clips. Then it had Just Mickey Mouse's face prefacing the National Steeple- chase. Incidentally this race,, se- cured in detail by Path* and prob- ably the most complete' coverage of any similar-jevent in the. past, pre- sented another Luxer flaw. At this house the race projected dimly, as though photographed oh a dark day. The sariie story at the Embassy was sharp and clear-cut on the- screen. Through Raymond Moley, Para- mount went after Nazi propaganda arid activity in the U. S. In sub- stantiation of Moley's assertions, cameramen visited Hitler book- stores and even close-rupped a. paper described as biased. When it In- terviewed a German leader here there was no audience demonstra- tion except a single 'baloney.' Reels have had little about. In- still. Tox got a brief study of him just before his deportation from Greece. Trl-nation peace pact, fea- turing Mussolini, was also sketched by Fox. Jimmie Walker did his bit for the reel boys in* England. Just a lot of fast talk, soriie of which provoked laughs. Most Interesting thing in the clip to Broadway fans, at least, was that Walker looks a lot bet ter physically. Story of an 80-year-old Welfare Island charworiian, as part of the investigation, is provoking one of those strange reactions which is characteristic. of certain news on the screen. Intended'to be tragic, the lion-like face of the witness and her indignation at being Informed that some one else was cutting into her $17 per month salary; permitted the audience's laughter to sidetrack the tear. Luxer led off with Pathe's story of the Army built around Army Day on April 6. Clip is educational as well as interesting, taking in everything from the Panama Canal and Indians to the Washington monument. Another historical sketch is pro- vided by Pathe's Peary expedition, with Capt. Bartlett doing the nar- rating. Library was used for illus- trations. Universal Went out of town for a EMBASSY .Emb currently takes a deep dip in news, letting the Luxer win hands down. There are so many subjects the Emb this week hasn't that fun money's 'Worth for the quarter which Is to be obtained at the Luxer. Looks as though there has been a crack-down on Pathe for pre-re- leaslng some of its spot stuff in the Emb exclusively. IJntll this -week the house has been Injecting clips which have riot been available to its regular customers until the fol- lowing week. If this is so, and It has been an* tlcipated in theatre circles for some time, the Emb shapes up as being. - deprived of its - strongest weapon, against the Luxer. Significant in,' ttyis direction is that the Luxer la, using its old .masthead and giving;' Pa^he the customary feature post* tlon in the program where It merits such space. Excepting such f eaturettes as 'Ten Tears Ago,' 'World Cruise' arid three news clips—Knights of Malta In Rome, hockey game of the Rangers arid Montreal and a Chicago boy prodigy—the Emb . had nothing Which it could call its own. All the Pathe program. and generous con- scriptions from the other reels are at the Luxer, plus a cartoori and two shorts. It's just a no-contest comparison between the two houses except in certain technical phases. Waly. some strike scenes, viewing Cam*, den and Cleveland. Subjects were- clipped too closely by the Luxer. The peaceful touch was quickly in- jected into the prograrn by Pathe's statement from William Green about the auto situation. All the reels had Dr. Wirt's story about the brain trust. Paramount, however, went-to former Mayor Hy- lan for.a contradiction. Elliott Roosevelt was more, or less put on the spot by reel queries as to his attitude concerning air mail. Hooked up with a commercial out- fit he exhibited a tact , which satis* fled the audience and yet did noli conflict with his father's ruling.. . Other subjects: Golden Gloves? Slam royalty in Italy; Japanese training ship; Paris opera; Easter* hats; Follies beauts with some com- edy by Fannie Br ice; casting huge telescope; Bobby Jones; Lynchburg, Va. fire; Florida high diver; Dflling- er gangsters being moved to pen; circus arrival; Thames River Var- sity race; N. T. marathon; Roose- velt In Florida; PWA loan to rail- road. Waly. PALACE, N. Y. ven at the Palace the .booker seems to be trying this week. The result is a holiday bill, with ample comedy, plenty of contrast and building to a hot 'finish. Acts blend better than usual and only rear- end collision is a slight one between Eddie Garr and Lew Parker. Not that the acts are the same, but it's two In a row with a male comedian carrying the load. Garr is on his own but Parker has four to help him. This Is the Boh Hope 'Antics of 1934' with Paul Murdock, Marian Bailer, George Towne and Bill Bur- dick. They work hard/ though not all their efforts get over. Opener is a little thin, but builds when the two men in the boxes start talking and after that it goes along nicely, with the big bit the miniature melo- drama with Miss Bailer vamping the shooting squad.. She's a real eyeful in this. Reason is she wears so little. Her dancing dress is an atrocity. Garr is the next to shut, and holds up his end and more with some picture imitations,, the best being Chevalier. He has not the face for a mimic and really sug- gests none of the "people he imper- sonates, but he has the trick of making some facial quirk to suit the character, and he did not have to tie tags on them. He is using Jim Thornton's two eggs and a few kind words' that Thornton sprang some 30 years ago, and they still laugh. Came on to a good hand arid off to a better one. De Guchi troupe, which opened, can lay claim to being the only Jap act without a single fan. They haven't the; time to fan themselves. .All solid meat and high-grade toss ing and tumbling all through. Makes a corking opener and leaves them set for. What follows. -Etta Moten (New Acts) pulls the damper for a moment in her deuce spot, but she persuaded them she was good, and no damage, but a faster, act in the spot would have made the en tire show a runaway. Audience ex- pected .her to dance, since she had sung the 'Carioca' number ih 'Fly- ing Down to Rio,' but she sang and wr iggled ^Jt, with hard ly enough wriggles. Services were closed by the Dona tella Brothers and Carmen, not to mention the old folks. The old lady spanks a mean tambourine and helps to a wind-up that brought them two curtain bows in spite of the fact they closed the show. One of the boys is. a wonder with his slow motion dance, the highlight of the act, but they, click from the start. Film is JBottbms Up' (Fox). Chic. PALACE, CHICAGO Chicago, March 31. Theatre is on the slide and slip- ping faster each week. Box-office ladies are getting lonesome in that cubicle waiting for the occasional customer to straggle up. Maybe It's, the price, the S3 cents top being the stlffest tariff, throughout the territory. Maybe •' it's- the attrac- tions, with the house offering noth- ing which cannot. be seen for less and even half the money at . com- peting theatres in the loop. Compare this house with, the Ori- ental currently. » At the B, & K. spot a fellow arid his girl can park for 80c total and see a 90-minute vaude and presentation show topped by Milton Berle, besides an Edward G. Robinson picture, 'Dark Hazard'. At this house a fellow would have to plank down $1.63 to see 'This Man is Mine' (RKO), with Irene Dunne, and .a vaude show that con- sists of only four acts* Two of those acts are singles, one a family four-act and the other the Buddy Rogers band turn. At the Oriental a line of girls for flash and color; here Dixie Dunbar in the Rogers turn is the only s.a. dancing femme in the entire line-up. Looks skimpy and meatless. At the Oriental, or the Chicago, or the State-Lake, there's fancy lighting, colored backdrops, action and a stage full of people. Here there's a single in one with a street drop. Even the Buddy Rogers turn used the theatre's drab, gray curtain for its backing. It's simply not In the cards. If the house Is going to continue this let 'er lay policy its box-office must continue to grow weak-blooded and droopy from con-, tinuous malnutrition. Only the World's Fair, with its actual forc- ing of people Into house, will help. Gary Ford Family open with "singing. Four kfds with plenty of talent, and aided by. excellent, cos- tuming. Johnny Burke continues with his traditional and prehistoric, rookie monolog. Hasn't changed a word or a gesture and finishes with his regu- lar piano tickling. Sheila Barrett took the trey spot and adds little with the cycle of impersonations. Vaude is loaded with pseudo Mae West's, ZaSu Pittses, CJar.bos, Hep- (Continued on page 34)