Variety (Jun 1934)

24 VARIETY CAPITOL, N. Y. Smart entertainment has been pro vided at the Capitol this week, prob ably with the idea of livening the hospital atmosphere of the picture, 'Men in White;' Really not necessary, but no complaint from the audience It's a money value bill with Abe Ly- man band topping and Leo Carrillo at the bottom, and Vilma and Buddy Ebsen and Eleanor Powell in be tween, not to forget. Ella Logan, an importation. i Opens with a drop in one, sketch- ily suggesting the nite club center with the Chester Hale girls on. in pink and lemon dresses for a vocal introduction.' for Lyman. The girls were hot picked for their voices. It's, pretty terrible, but it's brief. Then Lyman and his- boys, into a fast number, with the quintet getting laughs on 'Picblb. Pete.* Gets every- one in the mood and it's easy to shove on the rest of the show after that. Eleanor Powell gets in the first and some off. the hardest licks, with a friendly audience. They liked her and Were far from being reluctant to tell her so. She did three bits and then had to hush them with a .speech. Gives place to Ella Logan, a sort of English boop-a-doop girl, with a rapid enunciation and a ra- ther heavily English opening song... Does a second number and then tackled TH Be Glad When You're Dead,' which is a couple of years too late; Makes a nice appearance in long white skirts and does not essay dancing. More bows and due more to her personality than the value of her songs. Line, back in scanties for taps-t© •Dinah/ with' Miss Logan on for. a. verse through the mike. Dancing over well and Lyman into his oper- atic medley, strongly and uniquely scored. Vilma and Buddy Ebsen get more noise from the audience, though they might have done even better, perhaps, up in front of Miss Powell. On strict tapolbgy she smears them, but they win on their Ingenuous youthfulness. For the first time there is a close- in, girls back in line formation against a plains drop In a brief Spanish dance to pave the way for Carrillo in his Mex get-up from •Viva Villa.' He goes into a line of patter evidently written for this trip and none of his old standbys. On a shade too long' for a. single talking act at this stage of the game, but brought back for a flock of bows and a brief mention of 'Villa.' He does not work through a mike,, but the stage sound-grabbers pick him up and the amplification helped, though he got over as .clearly on his final nod, which was away from the mikes. Follows a number with the band- stand converted into a battleship with the usual turret backing and playing the martial airs from 1812 to date. Line on for the finish in white satin naval uniforms to wave signal flags while the turret is taken up to show a profile battleship. Over, but not so strongly as might have been expected. . Show runs 66. minutes without a bad moment.. In addition to 'Men in White' (Metro) film program Included an Our Gang comedy and a Pete Smith expose of gambling tricks, with the newsreel. Entire show runs about three hours. .Cool weather probably helped to pack them in a good hour before the peak. That's news these days. Chic. MUSIC HALL, N. V. Every so often they talk about moving the opera into Radio City- Rockefeller Center. This week they've not only moved in the opera, but Carnegie Hall, the lyceum and the chautaqua platforms as well— they have everything there but i picture house presentation. It's a most lethargic and unln spired cinematic prolog, an all wrong idea of what sort of a stage hors d'oeuvres belongs in the Music Hall. That it comes at this time of the season makes it even: worse The Music Hall, week after week •with the cream of the theatre's •lectro-mechanlcai investiture to work with, a seemingly highly elastic budget for settings, costumes and talent, and a wealth of every other artistic and. material in- gredient to help Its achievement, produces the same trite style of presentation. Only some weeks it's oven 'worse. This week is an ex ample of the ultimate In mediocrity, t. The long *Faust* .overture*. regard Jess of the musical expertness of Erno Rapee's trench crew and the mixed choral ensemble of 36, is still a somewhat too cumbersome vamp oft for an entertainment which featured as its principal attraction such celluloid as Columbia's 'Sisters Under the Skin,' iand a Walt Disney «Sllly_Symphj 'W lse^Litt le Hen.' _lt just doesn't Jeff. To further retard, what should now be designed as a crisp summer entertainment comes a mlsnomered VJay Divertissement/ which includes more-than-10 minutes of an brth odox concert piano recital, Liszt'; •Concerto in E Flat/ by Henrietta Schumann. The Stelnway artiste has been here before and as before, evidences her virtuosity to tho full, but just the same more than 10 mlns. of Liszt in a picture house, whether lt'fl in Rockefeller's citadel or in the. Idle Hour dime nabe, is all ,wro'ng showmanship. 'Milady's Jewels' which starts this portion of 'Gay Divertissement/ is set against a magnificent 'So- phisticated Lady* background, but somehow the girls' costuming isn't as effective as the inanimate settin~ The line should have been in sleek and slinking black satin gowns in stead of those burleycue-type tights. Sunny Fuller, acro-con tortive steppeuse, is featured. 'Lazy Daisies' Is the finale and a Tin Pan Alley seventh heaven as a plugfest for 'I'm Not Lazy—I'm Just Dreamin.' That carried the plug to the nth degree but still, even if jt did become wearisome, it was something ;more in the popular cinematic tempo. At least it re- tarded those audible yawns of Im- patience which seemed to sway the house. Roy Barnes is the featured vocalist and Jack Lenny the billed specialist on the hoof. Vocal chorus and Rockettes combine in this num- ber. The vocal Intro is set agaihst a street scene which may or miay not have been meant to be Harlem. The pedestrians and the general grouping evidences some good stag- ing along those lines. The more bucolic 'daisies' portion is backed up on the revolving stage for a, quick change into the finale. AoeJ. PENN, PITTSBURGH Pittsburgh, June 8.- First stage show' here in seven weeks, and it's a corker. Dovetails with 'Thirty Day Princess' (Par) on screen. Topping layout is Phil Spltalny, who used to conduct the pit crew at.the Stanley here years ago and also in brass occasionally as m.c. Spltalny has at the moment what looks like the happiest combination he's yet hit, an all-femme band that should and does overcome usual prejudices against musical aggrega- tions composed of that sex. Working at end of show against white drops, girls make a pretty and cool-looking picture in ,their white outfits, and then proceed to dish out choral and musical ar- rangements that reveal at every turn Spitalny's knowledge of sharps and' flats. Sax and fiddle sections carry the brunt and they'll top- notch with vpcal interlude^ Group- ings are staged with an eye to showmanship and Spltalny handles them all with slippery cunning. Five vocalists, including Spi- talny's featured songstress, Maxine, long on looks, and whirlwind pin- wheel dancer, Mickey Brae.tz, planted in ork's second row and smartly, placed there to make them seem pack and parcel of regular In- strumental crew. Round, jovial Bob Murphy emcees the show, stepping out in 'one' fol- lowing pit orchestra's introduction and goes into high at the start, getting mob in good humor and col- lecting an unusually large hand at his exit following introductin of Lewis and Moore. Standard hoofing act have a neat dancing turn, but at first show ran a trifle overboard and could % be tightened to ad- vantage. Turn now.carries a stooge who appears in a couple of bits for laughs, winding up, as usual, with their sure-fire stair routine. ^ Murphy on again, this time with his two kids, Dick and Dorothy, and the three of them proceed to tie up the show. Rapid cross-fire, mixed with Dick's mugging, piano- thumping and singing, give act Are and zest at outset and it never lets down, crossing finish line in high First show was speeded up due to late rehearsal and only thing in addition to presentation and picture was Hearst newsreel. Business slim, - Cohen PARAMOUNT, N. Y. Publlx flagship uses navy footage from the hewsreels to go into and come out of the stage presentation this week.. In an official nod to the sea forces of Uncle Sam the show is called 'Hello, Navy/ and is dressed nautical both as to back- ground (a battleship) and costumes (middies). " , . Buster West; who always works in gob togs, fits ideally asthei next- to-shut. His nifty leg stuff .and clowning climaxed the presentation; Another prize-winning hoofer is Betty Keen, who is true to her name on the tapping end. Also she makes an attractive personality. Would seem that the xingmaster- ing of the orchestra leader, Charlie Davis, would be more effective « the production department gave a little heed to his destltutionof con- versation. If he 1b to talk, give him something to say. Afto that per-, haps a suggestion of constructive friendliness would be for him to talk in a uniform tone of voice. His diction Is okay, but he is alternately talking loud and soft with the re- sult that part of the time what he s saying gets swallowed in the open spaces. Davis has lots of picture house m c. experience, but dldn t have much to do this week. - Arno Segal stood up from the first fiddler's chair long enough to solo and win himself a slice of audi- ence approval. When the band had moved to the stage Raymond Baird stepped forth disguised as a mem- ber thereof. Baird's two woodwind specialties are too well known to re- quire comment. Suffice that the re- action was strongly complimentary. One of those remarkable teams of acrobats opened the presentation. Nobody quite evoked the response they achieved. They were not men- tioned by name nor in the advertis- ing. Suggesting either a last min- ute booking or an unwarranted slight. They got one gasp after another. t , a Jan Peerce tenored briefly and pleasantly. Finale had the girls di- vided in Ave groups by nationality with a couple of sailors following each. This made for a clever Wind- up with laughs that sequed into the battleship stuff. Exceptionally smart was a Para- mount Fleischer cartoon, 'Little Piggle Went to. Market/ which helped the show a lot. 'Many Happy Returns* (Par) is the screen main dish. But Manhat- tan seemed without appetite for it Friday night. Attendance was meagre, although Times Square was populated with sailors and their gals. Land. PALACE, N, Y. ORPHEUM, 'FRISCO San Francisco, June 4. With Eddie Cantor in-personing, Fanchon & Marco is heading for the top gross of its regime here very close to $20,000, with Cantor getting 60c of every dollar. He's been backed with-one of the best publicity and exploitation : cam paigns accorded any visiting star, and has gotten more newspaper breaks than anyone who has ever hit Frisco. Holding the show to a maximum of 40 minutes, to push the cus tomers but in a hurry. Running five a day over the weekend and four rest of the week with full houses at all shows, and if top of 25c and' 40c was higher, gross would be sky high. Cantor m.c.'s the show, sprinkling here and there, and tossing In few of the familiar songs, all to his usual good- results. With him ojri stage aire Lillian Miles,.' last here with Olsen and Johnson in 'Take a Chance'; Mahon and Rucker, dance team: Frances Northrup, solo dancer. Miss Miles docs a pair of hotcha songs, Mahon and Rucker a waltz and Miss Northrup an aero number before the line of 12 girls The girls, incidentally, were form erly In the Jay C. Fllppen unit which has busted up. Hermie King's stage band handled tho music. Pie, 'Sing and Like If <U>. Bock. The Palace is vaudeville's best alibi. 'Vaudeville's dead/ vaudeville says, 'because the Palace is gone. Vaudeville is just as. glorified at the Circle.' And the latter spot plays shows on around a $1,000 weekly budget. If the current show can be taken as a criterion—and on recent evi dence it can—rail that's left of .the Palace is' the' marquee out front. Certainly, it hasn't the stage en- tertainment, now—and this is more important in its absence — It's strategy in booking the shows at the theatre's anaemic budget. This, former ace house, which has sunk to the level of a family-time break in jump-off, has apparently lost all vestige of vaudeville showmanship.' Present layout of five acts has dancing in the closing three, and a suspicion of dancing in the roller skating opener. The only act not on the hoof is the deucer. And, heavy on dancing it is just as sorely lacking in comedy. Three Slate Brothers, reformed, hoofing trio, now relying mainly on knock about, are holding down the chief laugh spot in next-to-closing, while Reynolds iand White, with a sur prise tramp and musical novelty, are in the deucer. At best they are both claimants to second positions in vaude houses, but on this par- ticular show things might have looked better if Reynolds and White were moved back to somewhat break the terp monotony. Another, angle the booker missed completely this semester is the fleet. Like the old Palace touch, so is sex appeal absent. Twelve Aristocrats containing seven girls, is the only thing in the layout that could pos- sibly attract the tars. Six! of the girls comprise a line working with six male partners in hoofery and slight adagio—and there is nothing so impersonal as an ensemble. So all that's left to make a gob sit up and take notice is Neila Goodclle, a brunet and voluptuous blues solo 1st with the closing flash; There were a few sailors in the sparse audience at the show caught, and maybe the blonde cashier out front had more to do with that-than the show inside. Following the Three Robblns, fairly exciting mixed trio on roller skates, Reynolds and White spring their amusing tramp and musical conglomeration. Their laugh re turns lies in the trick makeup of the male, who lights the tip of his nose, does bends over the pit and shoots fire-crackers from the seat of his pants, hat and homey violin Until she uncovers near the turn's blow-off fbr a violin solo, nobody suspects that the other tramp Is a gobd-looktng femme. The unmask- ing gets applause and a how-off re- ception that probably could not be duplicated without the 'surprise. Jack Whiting, from musical com- edy and now billing himself as from radio/treys almost entirely on his nerve and a bubbling personality that works the same all the way. His singing is never strong, ma. dancing finish is an J™**?**™*' punchless routine, and bis *wo- male piano accompanists, wlwx are given a big opening buildup in a special, hardly live up to the pre- scription in sock. Whiting got a nice hand from the polite Palace customers. ■ ' . „ , . Slate Brothers' hoofery following Whiting is the explanation of why they are next^to-closing instead of Reynolds and White. Whiting dur- ing his act always threatens to break into a dance. Slates really dance, and the audience responds, after the usual mayhem stuff so common today with former hooflng combos. . A . ... Closing '2 Aristocrats dance well, but everything that goes before dulls their edge. The one thing they can count on in this show is. Miss Gbodelle's vocalizing, which Is pleasing. Act is nicely dressed and mounted and should be sureflre in a more favorable position. With It all the Palace has one claim to vaudeville originality this week: There Isn't a mike used in the entire show. Maybe that's why the bill ruhB only 60 minutes. Oh screen, 'Little Man, What Now?' <U)'. ROXY, N. Y. Stage's timely 'Commencement Week Revue/ has the Columbia University Band (New Acts) as the backbone of the show. This out At of 50 Col undergraduates is directed by Howard Simmons who looks junior age but knows his Sousa pretty well. But It's different and could be used elsewhere in vaude filmers if the boys are inclined to work reasonably, since they're a half hundred of 'em. Coliegiates are used, with the line girls and the opening act, the Maxellos. They 'work a brief drill with the Gae Foster ensemble as lights up for the unit's athletic routine by the line girls. One of the boys tops all this with a couple of songs which have mike benefit. Second is a Columbia U number on which the other lads provide chorus $or an effective sequence. Talent isn't heavy oh the current stage show, nor is its running time as long as usual, being under 60 minutes. That has left room for a two-reel comedy and a United Newsreel novelty which gets some laughs. Gae Foster line stands out this week in the two numbers in Which they figure, the acrobatic opener and a routine on skates. - Girls were on the rollers before but no more effectively for audience results than at present. A portion of the num- ber brings out something for the eye with the stage half-darkened and little lights on the skates giv- ing flash. A few of the lights went out, partially spoiling the sight Fri- day evening but aside . from this, number is one of the cleverest from the Foster 'bunch. ' Refreshing note of comedy is struck by team of Frank Conville and Sunny Dale, vaude standard Feature Is 'Such Women Are Dan- gerous' (Fox). It? wasn't drawing heavy trade Friday' eve.. . Char. PARAMOUNT, L. A. Lbs Angeles, June 7. Decided letdown this Week in the quality, as well as quantity, of the Fanchon & Marco stage show, with just. ordinary talent, sans draw names, making up the bill of fare. Featuring a couple of local radio favorites, Yah-But and Cheerily, the offering fared only mildly with opening mat audience, which, by the way, was nothing to turn handsprings about Featured comedy pair are new to stage work, apparently, and their few minutes on view reveals little in the way of entertainment other than handing the. customers a few laffs. Gus Mulchay, who plays a harmonica and hoofs creditably, ran away with the -honors,, and aside from a meaningless crossing of stage several times to keep in the spotlight, his turn is well done. Andy Andrews, radio Warbler, m.c's and. does a couple of. vocal numbers, that are so-so. His best was a repetition Of a radio favor- ite, 'Cream Puffs/ Which struck tho fancy of the' customers and won him merited applause. House line girls execute several interesting routines, and are garbed In a variety of costuming that ranges from shorts, with tropical h elm ets, to j hjnim ery s um mer. ~arc88c«r. 'Sho'w has. becir'given a" somewhat more elaborate staging than . Is customary with programs of this typo, and the Max Brad field band acquits Itself favorably in ac- companiments. .Screen has 'Great Flirtation' (Par) and a long list of shorts in- cluding news, 'Hollywood On Pa- rade/ 'Golden Ghost/ a novelty, and a 'J'op-Kye' cartoon. Biz at open- ing mat discouraging, with only about h<ilf the lower floor filled. TROXY, LONDON London, May 28. House was built by the Hyaing Brothers nine months ago and Is the most modern structure in the East- side; a thickly populated and mixed locality. It rivals the Rlvoll, Gau- mont-Brltlsh theatre, in popularity. Policy is double feature program, organ, vaudeville and a 16-piece band. Prices range from 16c to 50c. with capacity around 3.200. Since its opening it has averaged around $8,000 gross, yielding plenty profit to the operators. Sophie Tucker is the ' headline* this week,' with' the feature films •Mother of Mine* and 'Say It With Flowers/ a Radio English quota flicker. Soph is here after an ab- scence of seven years, last having played the Rlvoll when operated , by Walter Wanger as an indie house. Judging by her reception' at the matinee, Madam Sophie, with her value now enhanced as 'the biggest hit at the recent Command per- formance at the Palladium/ Is the draw here. House was jammed to suffocation^ and the 'last of the Red-hot Mammas' was; accorded a royal reception. Starting with an introductory number. Soph next gave . them Louisville Lady/ followed it up by Some of These Days/ the opening . bars, being met with a salvo of ap- plause. As an. encore she obliged with her classic 'Ylddldha Mamma/ and begged off with a apeech. Supporting the Vaudeville portion were Turner Twins,, couple youth- ful femme acrobats, with a few new stunts in cohtortlonism. Gals can also shake a leg. Jean Florian, continental youngster, specializes in rubber ball juggling on sticks. He gets the audience to toss balls to him, catching them on a stick held in his mouth. They liked this here. Miss Tucker should do around $10,000 this week, with every like; lihood 60,000 people will pass the admission gates. Meaning that Soph will chalk up a new record for the house. AH this In broiling summer weather. PALACE, CHICAGO Chicago, 1 June 8. ^ Palace has a breezy, show this week, 'Chicago On Parade/ and un- limbered from their policy, of con- servatism. It was. like taking the frame work of laugh getters, put-- ting on a different glad rag, and tickling the audience into the many times proven result. It went over,'" with good business and applause. But the presentation could have' stayed away from border line humor and have been better for it. '«i Boswell Sisters were easily the outstanding number of the perform- ance. Singing their usual harmony and .doing the sister personality stuff, with Connie taking the solos, they went over big.. Audience kept applauding, fbr encores and the girls took many bows. Helen Charleston, filling third week, doubled with Billy Mclntyre in an Imitation of a Rudy Vallee hour, putting on Katherine Hep- burn, Helen Morgan, Burns and Allen and Amos 'n' Andy. They were behind the screen of a large radio for television effect, while Ken. Murray, m.c, walked the aisles hob- nobbing with audience. He goes over mixing that way. Alex Morrison gave a golf lesson to Miss Charleston and Murray, using comedy to fill up time, and the blindfold driving demonstration was the hit of the act. Cafe scene with the Lee Galls, and an apache dance featuring An- nette Ames, was the last number, the dance Including special rough mauling after. Miss Ames rolled off the stage. The audience was stirred, undecided whether roughness was real or only pretense. Between acts Ken Murray did comedy with a stooge. The regul- lar leg routine by the chorus, In summer dresses, was smooth. Picture. 'Th° Party's Over' NEWSREELS (EMBASSY, N. Y.) Embassy this Week includes a couple of travelogs pictured silently but with offscreen lectures, in addi-' tlon to regulation newsreel: clips. One of the shorts Is a James Fitz^ Patrick piece oh Japan. Other is a Chamber. of Commerce reel on Maryland. One could have been, saved for another occasion, but they fit with a newsreel program. The Maryland subject is an Inter- esting historical and geographical piece, aptly made and. nicely han- dled offscreen. The Fitzpatrick piece looks like a payoff to Japan, for the privilege of having been allowed to camera certain religious shrine settings. Photography is fine In.both cases. ^.Is'JLt^questlonable=.foi^newsreels=tb^ deliver one-sided arguments on poli- tical problems? Does Buch news- reel activity invite political and governmental scrutiny? If it does, the theatre is. put in a hazardous position and placed in the path of political or governmental censorship of the screen generally. Again the Embassy shows the folly of a sHent foreword of off- screen lecturer usurping the posi- tion of a clip that speaks for itself and thereby spoiling it. This occurs (Continued on page 58)