Variety (Jul 1934)

12 VARIETY VARIETY HOUSE REVIEWS PARAMOUNT, N. Y. Good hot weather entertainment et the Par this week. K the Mardl Gras setting for the stage presentation is trite, its development is dietihguished, color- ful, replete with talent and withal arresting. So much so that the 35 mins. of the rostrum entertainment Is above ^ar. ^ •Shoot the WorHs' (Par), an Isham Jones short, the George M. Cohaii medley for the overture; itewsreel and a highly interesting trdller of forthcoming Par features all coriiblne Into the same general impression of acceptable seasonii fare; The trailer certainly promises some distinguished-looking Par fea- ture product. ^ Olshanetsky maestroing the Gor han medley offers a seasonal post-4th of July iKjt pourri.of a.irs, topping bflC with 'Over There.' The stage show vamps on; witn Karavlefif's extraordinary hock-step- ping, including some intricate taps while in the vodka squat dance pos- ture. The 3 Jacksons are unusual gymnasts, in ancient Grecian togfas to lit the picture, who uncover un- usual equiiibristic balance, holds and positions. Lomas Troupe, the:^ Gondoliers (16), Micliy Conti, Jan Peerce, Sylvia Mfller, Ann Prit- chard and Lou Harrison are the others billed. Miss Miller is. aii adolescent plano-accordionist; oTtay, Miss; Pritchard's ballerina' special- ties in front of the line are <listin- guished and seen here before, to the Bame salvolpg returns. JanJPeerce Is a bit too corpulent a . tenor to a^ect that informal; sash-waisted stage attire and the type of ^roman- tic ballad he used for his second ivuniber.. Otherwise it's an okay " ilash Withal. . ^ ^ The carnival spirit is maintained throTighout even 'unto the Lomas troupe's masquerading; That dancer oh stilts , (is it Conti?) also dove- tailed nicely into this portion. Aoei. hovelty arrangement of 'Shuffle Oft to Buffalo'; Meiars and Mears^ mixed colored ballroom team from HaMem, do a modernistic, and Joan Abbott, blonde torcher, gives out two hum bers, as " ORIENTAL, CHI I right direction. Palace hae ft fair- ly good reputation In town; The Chicago, July 6. Job now la to convince the public Ifa a long Ume Bince any loop that Uiey wHl get the aa^^^ nrri of flhows at 60c as they did at of its specialty talent.. It's all _ _ _ Oriental did On Its opening day. the vawde budget Is shaved some' oHmaxed" by'the'company's stopper I This follows several weeks of Poor what. flpot bv ili stoppers, Georgie Tapps due to mediocre shows, which -.Shaving^^s f^J'^^o"* JiJ^JJ A„f S"'^ Kia^owTWnis & h^l^es Follies' ^fSftitoS dea. That's Another ISherlnir clLras theTea^^^ Change JJft^tg'%,„ce the girls meant Ind no^f sSl IboutSy to step of type of show niade the audience nothing to this show: The loop and S t^the hSd IS tL^aL In^h^^^ «P- 'Follies' took the place of JJ^^hbdrhoods are mobbed with uSe of work He's been on the verge the regular Cook revue. 'Laughing SneB of gals kicking their feet, one- of rSchfng sTar rating f(i"V^^^^ on the B«veen. W^o; At no time at the Palace did while and perhaps he'a now arrived. , Entire show stood .out as super- they coui ; as box-oflice. Henceforth all he needs Is the proper [ lor. Fotir Gobs, colored hey-hey palace has nothing to fear about gpot. boys, tap . danced . and sang, , using going back to . orthodox" vaude; It Unit's own specialties are folr blaring miisic for accompaniment J ^ai^ plenty to gain . as the only lowed by the visitors' contributions. Good. Charles; Carrer, juggler de- vaude house in Chicago. House and then Rose and gullivah close it luxe, tossed an apple In the air must, however, give tip the ^ea up between them as the musicians and cut It In half on the end of a that it can depend on World s Fair scram home, "The. musicians here pole balanced on his chin for his' mobs to do business for the house are the regular pit burtch elevated ace bit, and did other standard whether or not the show Is worth- to the- stage, with Ruby' Zwerllng tricks. 'Lewis and Ames cross- while* That system worked In 1933; swinging, the stick. fired, drawing some belly chucklies. it doeisn't in 1934. Palace must de Despite the torriti weather, atten- then tried io top themselves with a velop a steady native patronage, dance was heavy at the night show seveh-fOoter in the encore. This It has tried to do this by in- after good business all day, Marion dragged. I stalling a permanent master of Davies' 'Operator 13' (Metro) the | 'BoWery Follies* opened with a cere^nonies. This week there's line of girls, good, which was fol- Billy House on the start of what lowed by the'Beet Trust. The three everybody hopes Is a run. House Gay Blades topped with a comedy looks like the right man for the session on the 'Man Oh the FlyipglJob, a standard performer and per- Trapeze.' Audience held their sides, sonality who needs only material . , „ .V. , June West did a Mae West of those to make a right Job or «e with Gertrude Nlesen supporting aays. MbronI and Coralee were cbmes to the Palace after a lone him on draw as an added attrac- smooth with, some acrobatics. Then s**y,J-t the Grand in the legit au ' Dqvair and Tregg clicked in an the. King's HoM^^^^ Apache dance. Loop I strated that the audience Is with plcttire. Bige. . MET, BROOKLYN Leo CarrillO headlinies the show. tl.on. . The show Is still but five acts and judged as a whole, is hardly the kind of entertainment people would .leave the showers and beaches for. Feature, 'Murder in tlie Private Car' (MG), is a hokum comedy mystery that just barely him and for him on the opening day. And he managed with some of the poorest material heard in- a long time. It took a real perform^ er to -sell such weak stuff. If House .^'^^ K^»i,'.<. In l is to continue, however, he must storm that broke In Germany | himself some brighter material. Show itself this week Is com- NEWSREELS (EMBASSY, Y.) holds the attention. , , • ^ CarrillO is the nearest to box 'n°'^ than, a week ago, and the San of lice on the .whole'show. The cool-. 1 Franciscd dock strike clashes, head I p^ of genuine talent thi'dugh STATE, N. Y. (ED SULLIVAN UNIT) Ed Sullivan, Broadway columnist of the New York News, is currently playing a. quickie: repeat at Loew s State oh Broadway after a lapse of only iwO months. His business on the first trip here warranted the re- bound date, as did the money drawn by the Sullivan troupe all over the Ixie'w circuit. . For this diate the unit: has been, overhauled in personnel and rou- llhe, with only Harry Rose retained, and with Rose making a show of It Just as he did the la^t time. Once more much of the units value Is derived from the visiting talent. Sullivan attracts a flock of guests and stage friends to his State performances, as for Instance, .the Friday night line-up Consisting of .Bid Marion, Flo Haley, Frances Langford, Dick Himber and Cross and Dunn. Marion, Miss Langf ord and' the singing duo all did their stuff on the rostrum. Abetting the regular Sullivan - company, they miade it a socko show for an hour and a quarter, with the house per- mitting more elasticity in the run nlng time, but certainly worth it. . Without making any pretenses at being what the boys on the 47th street curbstone call an actor, Sul- livan kids his deficiencies in that line, clowns at his owA expense, and all in all makes a very, pleasant im- pression. A modest Broadway col- umnist is surely a novelty. Sullivan doesn't for a moment permit his foot to slip; he's kidding, himself all the way, with Harry Rose there to keep things both iniieresting and amusing. Sullivan has scrapped most of his old reel of film, with exception of a few feet, and now presents a tour Of the various hite spots -with the celebs at the tables picked .out by the camera. It's an engrossing piece of business for audiences, and by its applause the State-audience . signified it regarded the brief foot- age., as being too '.brief. This. is Sullivan's only serious item, his other duties being taken up by the clowning with Rose atid introduc- tions of the visiting celebs. Rose on his own piled up a big score of laughs and applause te;- tiirhs Friday night. He flhishes with a parody on the Canadian quintu- plets, hut before that he takes an extra good look at the orchestra pit to see if his platform is there. Rose does the m.c.'lng also, ushering on the five specialty tdrns that go with the contract. Acts, as. they appear, are Dolores Farris, Barbara Blaine, Ken Harvey, Mears and Mears. Joan Abbott and Georgie Tapps. Miss Farris, a standard cafe sin- gle; is described as doublijig from Marden's Riviera. Rose says she does a carioca on her toes, but the carioca part is conHned to tlie mus- ical accompaniment and the pair of Tattles Miss Ferris wields while ..=d.ancJUagtoiieji;klae.=wijrS^^^ ' extraordinary in this age of versa- tile line girls, but Miss Ferris looks .. nice, and that seemed to count mostly in the results she giathered in the opening spot. Another spe clalty girl whose looks are most im portant is Barbara Blaine, comely contortionist, Introduced as an ^Eicrobatic dancer.' Miss Blaine combines beauty with expert show manshlp. Ken Harvey elams a bianjo through 'Rhapsody in Blue' and a ing system may also jbe an attrac- a large collectloji of hewsreel Items, out, and in the running looks pow tion on New York's Equator, but ] majority of which are lacklustre as erful enough tO make a legit revue. only when people are downtown or news. The miscellaneous stock stuff Maria Gamberelli Is the^acme or have taken the trouble to make the making up the bUlk ol the show grace in her two toe. numbers, one trip. Business Friday night was lands mther short of providing an modernistic according to tne brutal as a result. exciting hour here this week. 'Stratosphere' tag, and the other a CarrillO was suffering from ill- On HlUer all that's hew is the off- classical under the Snow^Waltz ness and worked under a handicap, screen dialog briefly reviewing: the label. Lambert girls in both num but followed through on his act, situation and speculating On the fur bers delivered outstanding ensem- doing. an encore out of dialect In ture. What's on the screen is resur- ble work, ^ ' ^„ ^-^ whjch he. talked of characteriza- h*ected from the files, Including Joe -P«te. JMichon cont^^^^ tions. Hollywood stars, his ranch glimpses of Hitler, one of his big- tops^ as a straight eocl^^ne ^^^ude out there etc. It anneared ttk though \ s<sat rallies and brief lens snatches routine. These comedy acrobatics fh^six-^SSi^encor^^^^ Nazi chieftains, including some have yet to miss their mark. One ine SIX mmute. encore was a staili ^j^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ Paramount sup- item which this team Insists on plied the Hitler matter but could keeping in their act has lost Its have done a more newsed-up job I punch and not worthy of the Mich- ort It, It seems; . oil routine. That's the TJbangI bit The Frisco dock-strike riots and done with the bathroom fixture clashes with police lend the cur- It's a cheap note In an otheBWise rent show its . biggest action punch champ vaudeville turn, as cops retreat from flying stones I More legit class-in the ..act-com- and other missiles, later charging prising Jack Whiting, JeanieLang, with tear gas to repel the enemy. the Three Rascals and a duo piano President Roosevelt's takeoff on team. Whiting, the juvenile, re- a vacation, the chief eixec explain- mains an easy performer on pipes. Ing what he plans to do; the Har- and personality. Miss Lang had a rimah, Tenn., hosiery mills and little dilHculty at the last show on . . . ,NRA trouble, and appointment of Friday night, for some reason leav- Closing act, Enrico and Novello Joseph P. Kennedy as chairman of ing"out those laughing trills which (New Acts) is a dance flash of bet- stock eichahge control board are identify her style. There Is no ex- ter than fair entertainment value, the only other Items of Initial im- cuse for a trio like the Three Ras- althOugh the Bolero number Closing portance. cals to call themselves by that is slow, probably because of an old Harriman-NRA setto was briefly tag. It's bad judgment. Rascals orchestration. No. 2 holds a hoke but Well handled. by Par, who got, to the public must mean either slapstick iac.t, Carr and Martin (New an official to give his side Of the Ljoiored warblers or hokey bur- Acts), Which is in need of punch, [dispute and the government to say hesque acrobats. It is not a good Opener-Four Trojans, agile aero- pts bit. Pliis this. Par's cameraman name for three white singers. dug up an employee of the mill for Palace anyway has made a step a few words, although this looked the right direction. With proper suspiciously like a plant by the attention more good can still be Harrlman people in support of their Ljone. Billy House can be built treatnient. of workers. Par's clip [into a steady draw here. In fact; Good vaude at the Palace this on the matter noted that this man, K^^^j^ the house going to 60c, It week, with plenty of variation but r?®*^*"^^;'^'^ several hundred em- would be a good idea to hold him or v«,i ,a.tiu„ uui 1 pioyeeg^ „ot Include the strikers. ' - waiting for the closer, Enrico and Novello to come oh. Carrlllo works in the costume of a Miex bad man, with a drop to suit, a character and background that is particularly ap- propriate following his part In •Viva Villa.' Gertrude Niesen Is ahead in the middle' of the, bill, .malting her per- sonality and voice do the trick. She is around with a nice selection of 1 songs. Including one from 'As Thou- sands Cheer,' 'Temptation,' 'Carioca' and 'Snnoke Gets. in Tour Eyes.' Tueeday, July 10, 1934 Fax mU Bid bats. Char. PALACE, N, Y. perhap.g not blends okay. enough comedy. It [-bY.^mlllhVss "is "ih^^ H'ears-t"-clTp I ^^-^Jf^f tT^^^^^ on crowds avoiding heat at the Starts fast with the Four Gvrals beaches, to which Hearst couples one of the better roller skating turns and a cinch audience pleaser performers as they did at 83c. Picture, t Give My Love' (U), land busineiss was fair enough. OoU. ALBEE, BROOKLYN Friday evening, When thermome- an ice ballet' at the Chi fair. _ Much Is grouped under Metrotbne In the two Is' GtVorge'SeiTtice" wiVli INews Flashes and his Punch and Judy act, which Isn't P*^™™**""^ Flashes from Europe, anywhere near as bad as It sounds P^t none of it is of more than pass It is. In fact, genuinely amusing. M"^ or secondary importance as On only five minutes, with plenty of J^^Y^- ^Considerable from Europe, laughs and off quick for a Pleasant ^"t nothing hot, and within the ^ pulling mountain-climb- novelty Interlude I States also a lot of short clips on | .'■^•'' ^ In the trey Is Gracie Barrie a planes; gliders; aquaplaning; ing acts, Brooklyn remained youngster who sings Interestingly cattle. .fording river; Peoria bank home.. Not that the Albee stage- When caught, Friday night, Miss r^oi*®"*"^:^^**^^?. ^*'*'^ S^"*"** show would haVe raised the natiVes' S£SlcaI%{"lS^ Se K S^Sier'^tS^^S^dSg S temperatures to -any great extent, rush to get to a plnichle game so oW hut interesting. Ibut they figured why walK out on he kept his lads tliree or four bars Not a single Universal clip has 1 gj^g^alks that would fry cold ahead of Miss Barrie throughout her Its way Into this weeks bill, storage egg. iResult here was that four numbers. In spite of which, her pleasant. personality and neat, though, not flashy, style, won at tention. Jack Pepper leads his five stooges on here for 15 minutes of lunacy, it's 15 minutes of lunacy. It's a funny act and Pepper, himself. Is working harder-:-and better —than he used to. In the past. He has subdued his singing falsetto some I Unusual Patronage I very weak. Saturday. PALACE, CHICAGO , the five-act bill played to a near afternoon empty. theatre and, holding very Cftor. I little, it got nearly nothing. Faulty booking - j,udgment is de- cidedly a.pparent in the . closing three acta of the show, where, con- fllction Is rampant. Pappy, Ezra and Zeke start the singing, with (Continued from page 4) $600,000 under what the bondhold- ers' committee has been indicated as asking. In the meantime, Special As-. slStant Attorney General John Amen continues to sit in observing the progress of the negotiations at the court hearings, The Bondholders' Angle rom some bondholder angles, the Loew-Warner offer, as originally made, minus the $1,600,000 cash held by the receivers, would amount to only , slightly over .30c. on the dbl- ar, The argument looks. to be on this score, therefore, as against ac- cepting the Loew-Warner .offer and maybe indicating to the court that since there Is sufficient money oh hand to pay the bond Interest, (or nearly) that the theatres go along aia is and leit the bondholders get the cash now lying In the banks as duei interest^ oh their bonds. Fact that'there Is such a large amount of cash on hand has im- pelled, certain bondholders to perk up over the suddenly realized fact that the Fox Met. theatres have been .earning their bond Interest right along. Were such a stand to hold up with the court anything may happen at Thursday's (12) hearing.. At' the last session objection was heard from the operators' end against delaying disposition of the matter much longer. It was In- dicated to . the court by attorneys for this operators that owing to the uncertain status of the final dis- position of the. Fox Met theatres, It is diflicult to negotiate new sea- son filhi contracts. Such a condi- tion existing is likely to prompt the court to expect a final determina* tion of the case at the next hear- ing. Indies Worry Some of this complaints against passage of the Fox-Met houses to Warners and Loew's is corning from independent theatre operators who fear a shutoiit. on pictures and. op- position from a greatly augmented XjoeW chain in Greater New York. Indie exhibitors themselves. express fear for their position If LoeW. an- nexes additional houses in the. New York zone, notably the 42 Rand- force theatres In Brooklyn. This chain, part of the Fox-Met setup, does not play Metro at all, Indieis figure that to Loew's the buy would be worth the price. If for-no other, reason than that the Rand- force houses would serve as In- creased outlet for Metro. .The Metrotone newsreel alone would benefit greatly, it Is added, while indies now getting Metro In oppo- sition to Fox-Met would be deprived, of- this program. Plus that and other pictures which might be taken away would automatically convert certain indies into third and fourth runs. In opposition to Loew's at low admission scales. The original bid of Loew's and WB was for $4,000,000. It was In- creased to $4,600,000, Loew's to bear the biggest burden in, view of get- ting the majority of the Fox-Met houses. Loew's is to get everything east of the Hudson, Warners taking the minor portion of the F-M hoiises west of the river. Bidding at first wias not between Loew^s and War- ner Bros, but against each other. When they combined to try for a purchieise, sbm^ indie bliserVefs still believe that it's a deal between the two chains on k compromise to keep the pricie down rather than run it up too high by bidding in an oppo- sition manner. Chicago, July 7. After a year's futile attempt to I Arren and Broderick following right retain the highest admission tariff on their heels In next-to-closlng ouuuuvu iiic) BiJiBiiiB ittiBCLuj Boiii«- I ,„ t-i^^ T.,i.ii™^bf 4V.JO TJTTo Viao iwlth a lullaby opening, and-then what, with the result that his songs midwest, this RKO acer has r^^^^ Rimacs, who close the bill with are actually worth listening to. He decided to clip its scale from 83c [gourd music. Rumba dancing and a always did know how to seli 'em. to BOc. House has tried everything else in order to attract business Finish is the surprise' turn of the, * ^ „ show, a new act and a peach, hut everything else has failed. It Rocky Twins and Nitza VerniHe in [is simple arithmetic to realize a flash closing that has a couple why. No matter what RKO may of rough spots yet, but-is a cinch think, the B. & K. Chicago is still to satisfy audiences in picture or the premier house of this . town, vaude houses. Rocky Twins played The public has so accepted it. The at_ t heXasino:^de_Pari3.in Paris not- Jopat^ the C so long ago at about the same time ditference between T&c and 83c is as Miss Vernille was appearing over more than eight cents. At the Ori there. They met, this combo act Is ental, a block away from the Pal the result, and a happy result. Trio ace, the top is 40c, while the State makes a very good dancing blend. Lake is operating at 35c. All over Ernest McChesney plays the piano town the neighborhooders have been satisfactorily, and Allen Foster dropping dimes off their admission could be stronger in some song In- scale in order to. meet a condition, terludes. The Palace stayed tied to 83c and 'Hell Cat* (Col) is on the screen, ivrent down with the ship, there are a couple of shorts and a There is now some chance of re newarcel but biz Friday night none I floating it by careful maneuvering, too forte. KauJ. "The clip in tariff Is a step In the dash of vocalizing. Opening the show are the three DeLong Sisters^ whose acro-contor- <floh -wbrk on a platform la suitable for the spot. Then Don Cumming's Jocular quips while twirling the lariats, also an effective audience pleaser, but from here on the heat go t the show-buy^r.^ The Tnn-^niy turn Tn tTie middl? frame pleased the few in the house, despite the too much stres.s on the down-to-the-soil stuff. Their vocal and musical work is good for what it is portrayed to be, with the chief honors here going to the sub-billed Elton Britt, a mountain yodeler In three keys, each higher than the other; Pappy is the bearded patri arch with the quick temper, ZekC" essays yokel comedy and plays the accordooh, while Ezra Is on the violi and delivers a creditable tenor solo.. Perry TX-ins, the fifth member of the turn and in city clothes, paces the talent like a radio announcer and hone too forte. Due to the singing pi-eceding them, the surprise ecentric comedy of the femme half of Arren and Broderick was lost in the shuffle after her straight vocal opening. When she glides off on roller skates the. auditors are too far back in their seats. In the latter half of their act the response, is better to her hoke and the male's piano-harp efforts.. The Rimacs' standard Rumba and Carioca music and dancing fares well, ' but_ probia,bly not 3s bjg jas usual Juc to'THeTr^qOTclt x^pca't^n this downtown Brooklyn .spctor after a work at Loew's Metropolitan recently. T.orso tossing of the two femmes and 'Charley Boy' lllmac to the sexy Cuban rhythms was tlio only thing on the bill to make the evening seem hotter than it wa.s. I3ut the BrooklynltQs did not come to .SCO whothpr the further di.soom- fort was worlhwhilr. On the screen, 'Vovk'*' (Radio).