Variety (Apr 1935)

^eanesday; April 5, 1935 VARIETY 19 STATE, N. Y. (EO 8UULIVAN REVUE) Ed Sullivan is getting; to be more bf an actor all the time. He's riot the'only actor of the present day ■chool who's lost It he loses the mike, but he Is acquiring :Btage presence arid ease of manner. He also essays a bit of slriglnfi; In the finale parody on 'Mlraicles.' Heading his own: Dawn Patrol revue, as it's billed, it plays more ms a straight vaudeville bill tha.n as a preisQritatlon. Sullivan is hielped. a lot by Harry Rose aind perhaps even more by the . Saxon . Sisters, who stole the show while they bad the stage. They called It a day after ia second song and took, ai flock of boWs, winding; up with a 'thank Vou' through the mike. ' But the audience couldn't see it that way. Most of them . bad seen the girls often and knevr thit, they ctarrled iriore music than that, so,. for the sake of peace, they had to come back for a third number even after Bose bad pulled the starter bell twice. That ne&rly. got them in morerencore trouble, but they yi'ere firm, and the show: went ori. They were a tower of strength where a tpwer was badly needed, for the acts, while acceptable, are. riot well blended, and the paclrig is far from miking It a riot. Even Boise slipped, In his medley parody, on the DIonne sister act. The gags did not cue In smoothly and there was not the usual giggle which parody' gag lines should . com-» mand. But he was .a help _ln ,keep- ing thiriga moving along, and he Is one , of the few m.p.'s who- does thei acts the courtesy.. of pronouncing their names intelligibly. Pat him on the head again for not 'trying to : riiake theni stooges for his,.-patter; He works to help them along, and he doesn't move in on therti unless he can really help. . " Bbse starts the baU rolling with the greeting and then" Sullivan , ar- rives to. go into a cross-talk, arid read some fake telegrams;. That part fairly begs for the.-'shears; neither rieWj ridr furihy. After BOse assures him he is the best coluirinist In New York they; moVe off to give space to Dudley and Cole In gesr tures. They call It dancing,' but it!s mostly- posturing. AH right, for jthos^ who like It. but It's getting to be worse than the adagio. Dolores rarrls, who twirls a. biaton while ■inglng and standing on her toes, follows. She does a bit of a dajrice, but her costume Is tbe clilef point ■of iiiterest. . Little but eyefiUlng., . GalliGaH, brlenial magician, does things with the cups. Once upon a tiriie the cup and ball was the yard- Btlck for magicians, biit, that was before springs and mirrors .were in- Vented to make things easier. Gall stands the test well, and makes a diversion iri using baby chicks. Adds a couple of coin and ring tricks, biit the cups are outstanding. He got a real round of applause. Sullivan shows some old-time film iri his "Water Under the Bridge' interlude and then Boss Mcljean ex- . hlbits a. lusty high baritone. ; He was eased off on the second rium ; ber, but Sullivan dashed up to the —mlke-to-iBsk-^the'Tiudlerice^f'-tbey^ didn't want, to hear ■ aridther and they ■ 'tolitely .ianswered .in; the afflrmative. Idea seems to have been th&t he has a couple of trick head tones that he uses only in the third song and Sullivan wanted the audience to hear them. The Saxons followed and after their riot Bbse did his parody after Introducing Buby Zwerlihgi who was on the stage with/his house band. Sullivan followed with a bit ; of burlesque niagic and a song In which he made: a musical apology tor talking the monkey. Every one ' was introduced, but without repeat-: trig on a specialty, and the close iri tor a weak finish. Show was punc- tuated by a couple ■ of blackouts worked from a stage above the back \6f the band, but they didn't hurt or ':■ help. Bather pointless; No line of : girls; bandls on the stage: .through out. Show rims 65 minutes with : the entire show a flat three hours; Feature, fWhole Town's Talking' (Col), Metro tone, news and a cartoon ishort. Business light ori the. swing ■how. r ' Chic. CHICAGO Chicago, March 29. Another ■session nf w aiHfig wall "luues. Chicago theatre a^dmittedljr, haa gone Tout tb7TjucIt the opposi- tion of 'Boberta' at the Palace, and they are not doing It successfully. This week they are depending on Mary Brian on the stage to buck Fred Astaire, Ginger . Bogers and Irene Dunne. Malry Brian, who has pra,ctlcally dropped out of sight In the past year; Mary Brian , who has played this town at least twj[ce be- .for^.ia the.past .couple-of years^arid- once played as sort of stooge to Ken Murray. ■ She ma^ be better than a lot of other acts which might be avallablei *t a, siniilir price, but she is not strong enough to hold up this stage, looks nice; dances ple'aB&nlly arid .'has some sort of vaguely eet per- ■onality which might; get across In a lesser house. But ' whatever chances she might have had wcrC ruined by the two hoofers - she brought along with her. Two- rip personality boys who hoof even worse. At the first show they stumr bled, glared at /the orchestra and ^tamped their feet first before igoing off in one-two-three fashion. House even dragged out Orvllle Whltlege, of the Barry arid WblUege act- It waa a lucky thlnjg, because Wbltlege managed to add some tducb of showmarishlp to act. , ■ While the orchestra Is being riien- tloned, it should .hie 'mentioned quietly. The B. -& .K. economy drive has fltlflied what was once the pride pf the Chicago. .Small-tlmey Is the opening act of Carter and Holnies. Have played everything around this town, and their appearance here demonstrates that despite all vague threats there. Is no such thing as 'opposition' In the town of Chicago this time. Talent of the playable kind Is too scarcis for the. theatres to worry about opposition. \ They're too con- cerned; about getting a show of any klrid to worry about what the Other guy Is doing. Carter arid Holmes look like a couple of reformed acrobatic hoofers who have added a couple of makeshift gags to, call it a aerril-cpmedy turn. There's no coriiedy for thie class house of town. More to. the; tempo of this theatre at^ Fray and>Bragglbttl, the piano team of CBS, who appeared here some four': years ago as accom- parilsts for Maurice Chevalier on his legit concert tour. The- men play well, but .made unfortunate choices In selections. In attempting to cover the entire iSeld, from classical to popular, they do nothing com- pletely. .Play, 'FlreDarice,' 'I. iSaw, Stars' iand ,'Continental.' Have done better prpgrams on air. Sright spot .Of-the Bhow-ls in-the standard Barry arid Whltlege. Their chiseled ' repartee slashed through this; houise to continuous Maughter, Timing of this team; has become classlo land their laughs - clocked right;, through the act to bang-up mudevllle, entertainment. Production of show . Is excellent, Sceneiy, dances and costuming are of hleh' order. While th.e rest of the vnoiise vriiay have fallen, off, the production departriient continues to, operate! with the finest of resiilta Picture la 'West Point of Air" (MO). Business off baldly at first shgw Friday. : Qolii Metrpp6litan/ Bostoh , ^ Boston; March 29. Jack .Benny's In town this week; and his batch of talent aS framed and embellished by Harry Oourfaln, the Met producer, is the nuts. It's b. o; ,all the way, but the actual show closer, is a gag that shapes iip as about the most urilque flnale seen in these parts for a lon^ time Benriy's raido fans,,who are filling the house this week, hang onto every familiary ether quip he lets loose,,; arid especially on the gag about , playing, 'Love in Bloom' on the fiddle. This standard B'enriy gag is the. keynote of the closing stunt. He has already tried to do the sdlo ea,rller in the show, but Is promptly Iriterrupted by a stooge coming on Stage and telling, bird to cut It. so 't^e next act can start working. But as a surprise finish to .the show Benriy arinounces that at last he's going to .do that fiddle -sold—tliatrS—been—ori-^his—mind—for so' lone:. - Just as he*s getting to-flrsr base with the tune; out oh the apron, everything goes berserk. The sheet comes down In back of him. the feature picture socks On, and before the audience ■ realizes ,what has happened the sourid has drowned out the Beririy solo and he's strolling off with- that - genial grin of his. That's one way of get ting hlrti off. - Opener is a Congo number by the Elida . Ballet, climaxed by a hip wlisglihg solo by a gal on a circular platform, held by the ballet gals. Good music, costuming .and rou tlnlng. ■ ' V Then Benny makes his first bow; and it's a swell idea td get him out there ealrly. After a, chummy ses- sion with: the Congregation, about nothing in particular, Benny brings on Mary. Livingston, who is received as if she's a home town gal. With some extremely good dialog,' they subtly weave In the, riian-and-wlfe idea so firmly that anything they do from, that point is oke. Wlth the customers. Miss Livingston hiaiils out a tailor-made bit of poetry about Boston, entitled" 'Philadel- phia/ arid ending in a IJunny qtflp about 'Labor Day.' Then it'p time for Eleanor Whit- n ey and h er_taPJ)irig^She2i.shoota the works, and is loaded with per sonallty. In the . next frame^ Benny is In terrhpted on his violin bit and he Introduces Ji Harold Murray, barl tone from: plx. Murray's vocals are aces, but he's sdid most bullish in a masterful bit of showirianshlp In which Mary Llvlngstbri plays up to him .while BChny stands out in left iield, fidgeting^.-;,; ;Ballet prances on for a military tap in marine costume. Outstand Ing; Item in thlS routine is the riiuslc —a paraphrase.' of the familiar riiarch, 'Semper- FldellS,' exception ally well iktranged by Sid Relnherz and Peter Bodge of the Met music staff. Next-to-cloBlng ,shot Is Benny' Koman holiday with the Chicken Sisters. Introduced- as aii amateur 'discovery,* they set off a roar before they reach, the riilke. Chick^ns_flnale Avith their dfellvejry of 'Dream 'Walk ing' In the ultra hoke manner. Picture Is 'Private Worlds' (Par) Biz swell. Fox. REX, PARIS Paris, March 22. . Francis A. Mangan comes back to Paris and to the Bez with the current show, after exactly two years of absence. He gives the 4,000 seater Halk-Qaumdnt boule- vard house a show such a sit—and Paris—hasn't seen since he left. It's an all girl spectacle, nothing but dariclng. Only solo dancer, and only : non-Ehgilsh - performer, ; IS Doris NUes,: American, Line con-^, slsts of 32, Just ^ridtigh to cross the huge stage, abetted by If tall arid wllldwly ballet, girls drilled by an- other American. Betty Ann Hiigler. They all work In color and light effects-such as only Mangan; unong the producers working here, can produce. .Opening number donei by the ballet Is constonied In sequin dreSseS of blue, red and- gieen which do wdndera with the spotlight, and the main set consists of tinsel pil- lars which, contribute their little reflections, too. For the entrance of the line, Man gan uses the two:-balconles~ hlglr on either side. of the proscenium. On the left balcony Qermaine Sablori, local warbleFi sings. -A Night of Love' Into a mike, and on the sec- drid chdruB the girls appear on the right balcony, and all -S2 of. them wind down a stairway, to the stage, getting Into position, just as the third chorus, ends. Impressive staging; for Paris. Doris. Nlles; who has settled her Identity card: troubles and la :back from4i tour-ot Spaln-and-Italy^wlth her husband, Serg* JLesUe, does an excellent .clwslc. toe I dance-aS-the feature of the next number, back by the ballet of 16. Miss Nllea has as hiiich class as-any toe dancer to be seen (uround ber^ Including the stafs df the Opera, arid her work iri this show Just gives it the llttlQ Individual touch it needs. : Following her, the line does the black-glpve number that Mangari's, girls put over when he first opened the Bex with stage shows fi couple of years ago, arid the finale; consists of a scarf. darice, first by Doris Niles In Japanese costume and then by the St Hellier alaters. Color and light effects, with the whole troupe, are arranged for the .final splash with the aid of a spiral wheel which revolves In frorit of the backdrop, Finale Is a bit antl-cUmactlc,' riot so much because It lan't good as be cause what went before was better, Gaumont liquidators can't see spending much money on publicity, or, advertising, ab relatively few peoijie have yet had means of flrid- Ing out that there, la a fine' show at the Bex. Mangan la, here for month, howeveri and. bbfore Ke goes the news is bdund to get out. Stem. sonable looking youngster wiio per- forms some .expert riiaglc, includ- irig Cardlhl's well-known clgaret Stuff, but his plece de, resistance is a Stunt in which he takes a wad of paper: from his mouth, rplls it around on ari ordinary harid fan un- til it turns Into an egg. It's a smart bit Of bUslnessvand sends hlrii off to an excellent hand. Apblldh follows hlrii on, with that Filipino string ensemble and from then on it's all his: show. He's a vei^ltable dynariiO throughout, works like ; a Trojan ■ and gets results. Crdssflre with the swarthy-skinried mlusiclans is ishrewdly developed and the laughs are there in quick succession. Brings on Bosemary Derlng, who fills a sinc^le spot satis- factorily with ,a ,neat toe danpe^ arid- then Introduces Harold Aloriia, from the band,, steel-gulta.rlst;; with a corklnjg pair of pipes. Kid had a tough time getting off. Incidentally, Apollori has fdund a couple of A-1 conilca In that Filipino crew, arid they help him enormously in talx- Ing 'em up. ,1 Dan2l "6bddell," who's Tbeen with hlrii for years, doing: some singing how In addition to her hoofology,[ but It's stlll tierp in which she shines- and vocal acquisition doesri't add jnuch>.br anythlrig. For a clhcher, Apollon brings on comedy dance trio of Lowe, Burnoff - and Wensley, and they get bver with room to spare. : What stands out ^through all Of 'International Varieties,' however. Iff cunning showmarishlp of Apollon. He has his unit paced so effectively that~there'£r"never "armomerit's^let^ dowri. Production Iri general is -flrst-rater-and-costurifilriff-ls-plenty- colortuL ; Cohen, PARAMQUNt; OMAHA Omaha, Miarcb 29, After weeks of unlta^ revues and seml-unlts. Paramount returns to a standiard vaiUde bill current week Customer U actually getting more, though it . doesn't look like lt . be FOX, PHILADELPHIA Phliadelphla, March 29. First, nameless pip Fox house has had in a while, '$10 Balse* (Pox), throws the bUrderi. of b.o. appeal ori Donald Novls iand, a' suriroundlng four-act stage; stanza. Ether warbler hsj^n't shown here for - a year, but some Question what, the results'will be. Band is on stage in full, .but bet- ter showmanship to hold them In the pit. . Nature of the :blll, with two slrigles, an acrobatic quartet and a dance trio, restricts all turns to one and two, and there's no reason for It Openers are the Olyriiplc Aces four turiiblers, who offer a straight rilp-up and flip rbutlne. Nothing ex ' citing here, boys somewhat shy on gymnastic form. D6uce spot to Ma6 Questelle, Intro'd as the Betty Boop of, the cartooris. . She establishes herself as the pic character by chat- ter and then proceeds td tie things up nicely.. O^ s, straight ditty and then irito- 'Dangerous Betty ,Boop.' ; An arranged number of imitations ifolloW. Donald Novls is at the mike next 'Warbler's appeal IS noticeable at.the start, swell vocal pipes clmchirig it. Novls has a nice intimate - style of delivery and runs through 'Every Day' and 'Isle of Capri' like ROXY^ N. V. Very clever puppet display is alb'o very long. Cut in half the rbutlne of the Salica Troupe would have served the purpose equally well and have ndade , an appreciated obei- sance to thait Ariiericari ideal-:—snap,- pinesB. , Shov^manly' touches of revealing. the puppeteers at wbrk, and later, ■ on the bows, highlighting the three , gerieratloris is excellent as Is; the majority of the stuff. Just a mat- ter of time. .-■ It slows the jEihOw dowii SeVeral.Warlonette brligades have successfully, played the; larger film theatres, so this Is not a novelty. MayblB It's a cycle. Which may ba ' okay, but In sriialler doses. Grandpa arid' Grandma SB,llca and theU' brood were liked, got nice applause^ arid deserved it But still the cdm- plalnt about slowness. Stage Show for the rest followed the usual Boxy pattern of vaude-. ville perforriied with drapes for scenery and with the Ga,e Foster Girls ■fbr- lnterruptlons.-- — -' Lorralm^and Dlgby, girl and boy. and the Six; DanwtUs is the resA dt:.: the' bill. One to fill turned oUt to: be a lad nariied Henry LUckenbusli. (Bush for short), who won a recent Fred Allen radio amateuf shindig. He does all right on an accordion. Danwllls risk theh* spinal vertebrae ori an assbrtriient of gasp-lriduclng Journeys through mld-alr. It's an a,ct that can play anywhere. Dialog Is the weakness of .the otherwise effective activities ot fcorra1ner-a;nd-T)lgby.-T dagS-^klnda- blah, but the rough-house and the comedy-stepplrigr^is a strong sight routine; Hard workers and on the tight bduleVard the pair Impress as a couple that may prosper. ; Columbia's; 'I'll Love Tou Always' on the screen. House uslrig Urilversal short, 'Old Age Pension' and Disney. Silly Symphony, 'Goddess of Spring.' Latter is another Instance of Boxy booking a second riiri short 'Which - seems bad : showmanship, as the short In question la Scarcely ..of a quality to Justify its repetition. ■ Ijund, ■ pausetoeata^lsn^tjj^^^ thei>^r^7? ^in^tn g. i,« t Rkea the takeBnip~arinnrd~i9lxty mmutes, tnis five, act blU. runa and hour and quarter. -: Name of the bill Is Polly Moran, oUt on. a personal toUr arid soon to head for London and the Palladium, She's the reason for the long show, gabbing with the customers and do ing her Song routine for upwards of half an hoUr. Her Informal arid chummy manner get across and: It wouldn't tUive made any difference if she had taken a. full hour. Be sides, her ad llbbing makes each performance practically : another show as was evidenced by the hold overs. She Is on number four in one, with only a pianist to help but. :■■ Other billed act IS Irene Vermil- lion, acrobatic and rhythrii dancer, who carries with her the Dart Eri' seMble, five lassies on the truriipets, and a pianist. . Spmethirig like 12 minutes riipve along ariioothly, with the ensemble entertairiirig' between the dance nUmbera They dose.; Opening are, the danCe trio of Mema, Earl and Carroll, making their best number a.soft shoe ecceri- trlc. Bdund out their routirie with toe and acrobatic routines. ' Deuce notch, taken by the Three S^nrlfts, ace Indian club Juggler s and come- -dlanat:—^liird'~Biwt~tgkgB by JacTT TVailer ana JerrjTLee, couple gag- ging, banjding,: dancing and singing for their part of the show.. PENN, PITT .. : Pittsburgh, Mar. 29. Dave Apollon may not mean a lot on the riiarquee, but Inside he means 65. minutes, pf so.lld_entertainment. iVussian's current 'International Va- rieties' la ,one of the best packages he's ever wrapped and certain to send 'em away talking, with an out- sidc'chance that stage trill develop more wordrof-mouth ' than flicker, 'West Point of Air' (MO). Never a let-up. onCe Apollon .swings into, action in pit, directing house ork, all outfitted in smocks, in some concert stuff. Switch to stage reveals elaborate 'Arabian Night' production number featuring Danny Dare girls arid winds up with the Seven Arabian Sheika putting on a -whlMwlrid tumbling act Tommy Martin, In one, Is a per- umber-strongly- , , 'Trees,' arid sCores. Encore Is' the 'Daughter of Peggy p'Nell,! iri brogue, for an okay finish. ' Final act, Betty Jane Cooper and the LathrOp Brothers, Is a smooth dancing act. Gal has a Marilyn Miller quality in appearance and manner, while the boys handle their feet neatly. Act, however.' closes show with flash whlirl that .Cheapens the whole routine. Fox clips and Ernest Truex short Winds the thing up. Biz first show Friday way be- low par. Oosch. HIPP, BALTO Baltimore, March 29. " Fact that biz was deplorable Fri- day afterripori nilght have accounted for it, but until Carmela Ponselle (New Acts) came on to close the four-act bill, the. show hadn't made a ripple of impression. There couldn't have been more than 300 in audience, and house manager and ushers provided most of. the ap*- plause up till Miss Pohselle'a spot. Opener, Monroe and Grant, com- edy trampolinlsts and not so bad, but mob refused to stir. Next, Boss -and—Edwardsr-wbo play—tWs-town- -falrly often. . Their cross-flro chat- ter isn't of innately humorous vein arid no gags' of worth are used as bracers. They talked and sang, but dldnlt come close to a click. Brought on an unbilled lad, who did a. soft- shoe aero routine, and that met with rebuff. Wound up with Itoss playing a uke, Edwards rhythmically snap-- ping his Onger.s and the boy hoofing, but,audience Btlll flhrUBgcdi : In—the—trey- Is-a- lxlance--fla.sh,^-10- Ambassadeurs. , ■ Odd routining , of acts, this prefacing Mlas Ponsellc's operatic orlollng with a multi- peopled dance flourish. Set In,full, with no changes, turri drdn't achieve any response an<l understandably; Consists of a line of four gals and four correspohdlng boys doing thi'ee different routines, separating which were li!:cwlse number of rhythm tappings by a iad-and-lsws, hoofing twain. Not much merit evinced and lighting was poor, with exception of one line humberewhch the 'Poet and Peasant' score Is' tap-danced.. On screen la 'Laddie* (Radio), also Pathe newsrcel. ; : MEDRANO, PARIS - : : ■ Paris. March 22. Grandest feature of this spot Is its audience. Has a regular family- trade week Iri and week out, and they like everything. Ydu can't get them mad, and when they're un- usually amused they raise the roof. When ari artist doesn't do so well they give him a good hand anyway because he tried. Piarle, In general. Is a tough towri to play, but th* Medrano is the ^exception. : : This fortnight Is a good exariiple. Show la a couple of notches below standard, and relatively little class Is .apparent But the mob gives' it Just as good a: break as if it were all hot 1 Headllners are Blgoletto Brothers^ Italo-American t^m, the only first- class act on the bill, Paris crowd likes their solemn^ cocksure foolish- ness, and effectiveness Is increased, by the fact that t h e little- patter ^ey-use-ia-^done-ln-thbroughly-ainZI derstandable French. Their parody on a couple of 1900 acrobats goes especially big, as does the gag In wiilch one of the brothers explains how he does the threading-the-, needle trick. Second spot goes to a troupe of fairly but riot remat-kable Icarlaii acrobats hilled as the Kirks. Beside their nuiriber, and the horseback Juggler, Ferronia, a holdover,' about the dniy class in the rest -of the bill la shown by one girl member of a team of Egyptian cdntortlon- ists, the Sphinx Trio. She is one of those rare contor- tionists who can put speed into their twlstlngs. She trots snapplly and gracefully across the ring on her hands with her legs wrapped around her neck. -Act is dressed in. what seems to be second hand tinsel tights—the girl would be a thous- and tlmea better if the tights fitted her. But her work puts it over, and her two partners know it and give her the breaks. PALACE, N. Y; ■ Friday night a real problem ex iBtfed here which had to be fin settJea oy itudy Vallee. ~Ahea.d ot the vaude show the iiouse cbiiductcd the finals in a 'Sweet Music' con- test, with winners of various neigh- borhood BKO houses on deck to try to cop the big prize, a tiamllton watch. - ' it took 36 minutes td settle the matter, much of the delay being duo to inability of Eddie Per.horty, rn.c'lng the finals, to decide on the winner between two lads who rated jLve—applause -honors.—-Valleo,—on- hand, to pstiss out the. watch, de- cided in favor of Lou Connor.s be- cause, he. sang a number from. 'Sweet Music' (WB), object of the contest. Ho" pointed but the other lad, singing- 'Vagabond Lover," had an unfair advantage in ' that this number, was ^ a ■ tetter, :orie ; than 'Every Day,' frohi 'Sweet- Music,' done by Connors. Vallee took the opportunity to polnt.out the whole thing was an RKO publicity stunt and criticised the contest because It didn't specify numbers from hla hast plf tnro-,ha'(l to. be sung. Iq addition to the contest finals, .• (Continued oh page 31)