Variety (Jul 1935)

Wednesday, July 31, 1935 VARIETY 15 ROXY, N. Y. A $1,000 act at the Roxy la like a $3,000 act In any other big house on the street—Roxy tops at 55c— and the Roxy Is playing one this week. But where the other houses with a money turn usually sprinkle the liberal b.r. down the line, the Roxy restrains itself from further spending, and the result Is a show with everything In one spot, as cur- contly. The $1,000 act ($1,050, to be ex- act) Is the Three Stooges, here di- rectly from Loew's State down the street, which is another indication that the bookers, for Broadway at least, have put 'opposition' on the Bhelf along with 'confllctlon.' Shows aren't booked like they uSed to be. It's catch-as-catch-can and gfrab what the boys have to offer. Although one act is getting most of this week's coin, with the usual one-punch show as a result, the trimmings are so disguised as to satisfy the customers. Besides the Stooge.s,. bill consists in two ama- teiir' singles in a row, another sin- gle not far out of the amateur class, a six-piece Arab tumbling act and the Gae Foster Girls. "Whole support. bill for the Stooges can't run to $1,600 extra in cost. Yet the audience went for every- thing. Including the amateurs, like a $2 Palace crowd on a Monday night in the old days. The Roxy's secret of success is no secret. It's hanging right outside over the box office, and further evidence is vis- ible on the stage, where a flock of practically nothing dolled up to look like plenty has created a prof- itable following for the Roxy and built up the steadiest regular 'fam- ily'' trade enjoyed by any theatre on Broadway. This week's show is a perfect ex- ample of the Roxy system, which makes up in profit statements what It lacks in artistic rating. It opens with the 30 Foster Girls in an ori- ental number as background for the Six Achmeds, of whom it can never be said that they wouldn't give the folks a tumble. Then amateur No. 1—George Lo- gan, who won a prize on the Fred Allen air program by playing a home-made one-string gazumpa with a horn. He plays two num- bers wearing a scared look, and then off. Next Is amateur No. 2, JJarle Phillips, a big girl for her • announced age, 17, who won first -prize on the same air show. Miss Phillips sings in Italian, voicing a hope In a curtail) speech that she'll some day sing at the Metropolitan. From an amateur show at the Roxy .to the Metropolitan—maybe. ' Follows the first .part of the tooges' turn, which is split into two .sections here. Foster Girls .break It up with a sightly under- water ballet. Stooges return for ■<h,elr . blowoff,' to be followed by Joaquin Garay, Mexican kid who Is .having an extended stay here. Ga- ray. doesn't know everything yet, but he knows enough to wham a Roxy audience with a song and a Btyle that passes for cute in a boy of ' his type. He'll certainly go "laces with the right seasoning. ■' Garay helps close It up with the Fosters, back again for a well- staged rumba in taps to 'Lady in Red.' The girls always look good. ■ Stooges' do about 15 minutes all told, keeping the laughs going with few laipses, and assisted all the while by Eddie Laughton, a vigor- ous 'and most excellent straight. After an m.c. career In the middle western- picture houses, this looks 'likfe a new field for Laughton. He makes the old time straight look like a cigar store Indian. Stooges- (Howard, Fine and How- ard) use gags and slaps in the kisser alternately for as big a com- edy click as Broadway has seen In a long while. Incidentally, Ted Healy ])lays the Koxy next week in a picture, Freddy Mack conducts the pit orchestra for tlie show and mikes the introductions for the acts. They .seem to like him here. Picture is 'The Arizonian' (Ra- dio) and hou.se pads out with a Fleischer cartoon and U news. Bige. PALACE, N. Y. Light show of five acts, plus 'In ;Caliehte' (WB) was the draw for a throe-quarters house Saturday aCternoon. Vaude half, despite con- fllctlons in e^-ery act except the closing novelty, kept the audience fairly well amused through its one- hour duration. Opening and deuce-spot turns both feature dancing, the former being I3irdie Dean and Co. (5) flash, and the latter, Sylvia and Clemence. .At the least, they furnish the Pal- .ace with a greater amount of femme .'appeal th.an the house has had In .a long time, but there's nothing wrong, with the hoofing, either. .Opening flash hfis three girls and two boys, one of the gals sticking to the piano, .and the terpsing, scen- ery' and costuming are all good. IJeucer's two gh'ls are comediennes of ability, in' knockaljnut work, be- flidcs dancing and sin.tjlng. . Other contlictlons in the show lay in the pi.ano wdrj; nf Leo Sims and liomay Bailey, in the trey spot, and Bud.Harri.s nml JIo-.voll. who a;c in tile , clutch with IIarri:i' son, Paul, lending hoofing support. Colored act's comedy got over nicely, though it began to look as though they had taken a year's lease on the stage when they remained on for almost 25 minutes. A sugary atmosphere pervades the stage when the saccharine Sims and Bailey (Mrs. Sims) come on, but that sweetness is in their favor oust as much as Miss Bailey's fine sing- ing and Sims' catchy ipianologlng. Radio team Is headlining the show. Real punch of the layout, how- ever, lies in the closing Great Gre- tonas (New Acts), high-wire act that injects a thrill hot usually found outside of a circus ring and certainly not In vaude houses of late. jSc/io. FOX, B'KLYN Combination of a comparatively cool night and Grace Moore's 'Love Me Forever' (Col) gave this two-bit downtowner a full house Friday night. Figured to be a classy mob, but a hoke hillbilly turn and an amateur singer walked away with the applause honors for the stage show. Latter, because of the lengthy feature, short subjects and news- reel, was trimmed to 48 minutes. Outside of the amateur and the Hillbillies, the stage end has very little else to offer. The Eno Troupe, Jap rlsley and perch turn of three girls and two men, Billy Keaton, holdover m.c, line of 12 girls and Ben Nelson's nine-piece stage band comprise the rest of the talent. All of them perform capably. Keaton paces the show humor- lessly but in a nice fashion. His props are a flashy light suit, a cane and a hat that's worn constantly, A toupee would probably better cover what he lacks. Hoke singing, dancing, barnyard noises and trick musical work of Jeb Carver and the Mainstreeters (5) got a good measure of audience compensation, but it remained for the tyro baritone, Harry Winder- man, to tie the show into "a knot, and not all of it could be attributed to sympathy applause. Kid has a nice voice and appearance and sang till he ran out of numbers. Next best bet in the show Is the chorus, directed by Dave Benis, which shows excellent precision, though hardly overworked in two routines. Scenery and lighting of the show are both very good. Scho. ■ Earle, Philadelphia Philadelphia, July 27. Earle has a definitely above-aver- age show this week, and Friday afternoon's crowd was a long way above average. In fact, it hit sell- out proportions—remarkable for this time of year. Pic Is W. C. Fields' 'Man on the Flying Trapeze.' 'Vaude show includes only four acts— which is less than usual—but they are okay on quality, with Ina Ray Hutton and her bunch as headliners. No. 1 spot is held by Falls, Read- ing and Boyce, two men and a girl, who. devote themselves exclusively to tap dancing. First the trio offer a number, taking turns in the solo spot. The gal then presents a well- sustained tap on her toes and then the two men follow with acrobatic tapping with plenty of comedy in- cluded in the routine. It is fast-and fairly funny. All three appear in the finale. Mason and Yvonne have the sec- ond spot. Latter is a midget with Mason as straight man and piano player. Idea of the rudimentary sketch Is that she's little sister coming to see big brother. Yvonne does a brat pretty well and varies with both singing arid dancing. Her ditties Include 'Be Careful' and 'Say, 'Young Lady,' which she duets with Mason, who adds a bit of tapping to his vocal and straight require- ments, Joe Kelso, who uses two men of the stooge variety, is in the trey with his ma.gic. Act emphasizes comedy more than is ordinary, with the stooges helping. The old busi- ness of mixing the batter In the tall hat to make hot cakes is employed. Kelso does some clever sleight-of- hand tricks with a cigarette. As a surprise finale he goes into juggling with Indian clubs with the other two men assisting. Ina Ray Hutton winds up the show and gets plenty of attention, especially from the men In the audi- ence, who liked her hot-clia stuff. Her Melodears Orchestra consisted of fourteen girls as on last appear- .ance here, which wasn't so many months ago. Act strong on specialty numbers. They include Ruth IJrown, who torch-songed 'Night Wind' with fair effect; the Norman Sisters, harmoViy trio, who warbled 'IJroadway Lull.aby' and 'How Am 1 Doing?' and Ella Ruth, who con- tributed a hot 'Hhylhm' bit. Ina Hay h.ad her familiar wiggle dance, offered a tap and also soloed the chorus of 'In My .Solitude,' a special arrangement oC which w.as given by the Melodears as the finale. It's .a mistake for .Miss Glutton to vocalize. Art was enlivnnwl Friday by the lady bass vioIini.st(» tumbling off the ;il;itfonn in the middle of a number. Routine wasn't Interrupted, Waters. EMBASSY, N. Y. (NEWSREELS) Most Interesting feature of this week's show Is a short which hap- pens to be of current news value. It's a 24-minute compilation on vol- canos entitled 'Krakatoa' (Fox- Educ.) which has Graham Mc- Namee as narrator. One of the most impressive shorts of Its kind ever made and here, on its con- clusion, rated audience applause Saturday afternoon. Not exactly new, but up to now' missed by ■Vauibty. ■\VIth Inclusion of this short, the show runs rather long, around 70 minutes. It could be trimmed. If desired, having a number of clips of unimportance. King George's Jubilee review of the army and navy draws opening billing, followed up by the Italian- Ethiopian situation. On the latter, Pathe warns Europe to listen, to America and then reviews the sit- uation completely and intelligently, discussing the political angles and giving an enlightening picture of what's happening. Pathe also goes to the man in the street in America to get opinions. 'Very ably done. A little further down In the pro- gram, the German situation is touched on from a paciflstic point of view, with Germans paying hom- age to French war heroes In Paris and Frenchmen doing the same at a German war shrine. A clip cover- ing the French Independence Day and parades, with large crowds tak- ing in the r.adlcal element Is the follow up. Hitler's name Is never mentioned. More that reminds of war or its threat is dished up by the various newsreel makers. The U. S. launches a new type destroyer; Moscow women train to be parachute Jumpr ers; Tolvyo stages an air raid, and a Maryland factory is busy turning out a large order of new air bomb- ers. Unrest in . various parts of the globe is also mirrored in the Paris demonstration, milling mobs in Mexico City protesting against po- litical dislikes and the serious strike which tied "up Terre Haute, Ind. In the field of Invention scientists have perfected a tempered glass which will sustain great weight and resist fire. Interesting tests are made of Its durability. A new type bullet-proof glass Is also demon-, strated. Two different flivver planes, come within focus of the camera's- with one able to perform, the other unable to take off. The usual filler prevails. Includ- ing . a laugh itein In Lew (Fox) Lehr's dialectic. Commentation on various animals and Teddy (Pathe) Bergman's unique description of a diaper race out in Seattle In which men compete for speed in putting a diaper on a baby. Fires, rodeos, sports items, new fall hat fashions, floods and earthquakes ^ro included on a show that Is rather varied and diverting. Two quake items lead up to the 'Krakatoa' short. In one Par pre- sents Ruben Greenspan, young sci- entist, who has discovered how. to foretell qUakes, while In the other U reviews the havoc wrought by a recent Japanese earthshake. Attendance pretty good on the Saturday matinee. • Char. CENTURY, BALTO Baltimore, July 26. Two turns tucked back In New Acts headline currently, Babs Ryan and Her Brothers In the. trey slot, and Cliff Hall and Sidney Marion in the fancied frame. Babs and Bros, fared best with mob when caught, topping the bill. The boys in act are local lads. The Hall-Marion combo got over nicely, If unsensa- tionally. Opening, Alf W.-Loyars Stallions. Nifty dog act, and one which mob fully appreciated. Loyal has a dozen large black French poodles which prance through sound stunts under, over and around multitude of props. Couple other varieties of purps, of contrasting color, on hand for handing out lafts -with clownish capers. Deugp, Paul Gerrlts of very good appearance, he has a soft, dry humor which he uses to pace self through an assortment of mild skating stunts, with bit of Indian club juggling thrown in. Rather a decidedly different type of turn than usually encountered. He is togged out in toper and talis and disports himself very dlgnlfiedly, all of which lends certain flavoi- to work absent from run-of-mlne skating acts. He didn't wow, but is such an .agreeable fellow with so forceful a personality, audience—and most es- pecially the femmes—rewarded him unreservedly. Shutting, Hal Menken revue, a whistling fast, snappy flash th.at presented the only terpslchore the show possessed. Menken himself Is a very adroit rhythm tapper, hav- ing pair of strong solo spots, first a routine to tune of 'Piccolo Pete.' last a routine on small stair.s and drums that closed act. Both very good. There Is a femme harmony three- some, gals nicely contrasting, since one- Is titlan-topped, another a blonde and the third a dark-tre.ssed trick, The.v Have couple of chant- ing opportuntles, and utilize 'cm fully, working into mike. Anothei' gal w'-orks In the pair of ensemble bits at opening and close of act and has a solo mid-way, in which she delivers a socko hock hoofing rou- tine, punctuated by downright ter- rific splits. A boy strums a guitar as background early in act, has de- served single spot when he comes down and squats on the apron fin- gering the strings for a couple of corking cadenzas he coaxes out of his instrument. On the screen is 'Paris In Spring' (Par), also Metrptone news, a color cartoon and customary trailers. An organlog by Harvey Hammond prefaced the vaude. Big opening show, Friday. Scharper. R. C. MUSIC HALL, N.Y. More zing and zip to this week's stage show at the 6th avenue film parlor. Overture is peppy and that helped. In general the various scenes of the presentation bearing the gen- eral title of 'Calliope' moved with a faster beat than the stage direction usually stomps out at this house. 'Ferry Ride' looked out from the contacting end of a river portage. As the company sang, led by Beatrice Joyce and Arthur Perry, travelog footage of the Manhattan skyline was cleverly worked into the aperture to give the illusion of the ferry nearing the dock. Paul and Nino Ghezzi aroused the sparse Friday night audience to ap- plause with their physical power, which suggests steel pistons rather than human arms. Later they en- cored with their dance, performed upside down on their hands. This is a sock getaway but should be called the rhumba or some modern dance instead of the outmoded and for- gotten black bottom which is still credited. 'Red Hot' is the sort of novelty the Music Hall does superlatively well. Working In a pitch black stage the corps de ballet in radlumized effects dances a fantasy of frank- furters." First the weenies them- selves. Later the mustard pot and wooden stick. Then the buns. Cute, fast and memorable. It's out of the catalog, but worth repeating. Summer amusement park motif led eventually into a wax museum. Robert Weede spoke the role of barker and with fine diction. Sock specialty act, Five Wonder Girls, were discovered in the museum as quintuplets in a giant perambulator. Whirlwind acrobatics registered solid. Billing is not hyperbolic. Presentation brought to a close by converting part of the museum set into a merry-go-round (practi- cal) which broug.ht down the drapes with a fanfare of noise and move- ment. 'She* (Radio) is the screen of- fering. Land. STANLEY, PITT. Pittsburgh, July 26. With 'Broadway Gondolier' on screen and Little Jack Little's band on stage, Stanley has pretty close to an Ideal warm-weather antidote. It's light entertainment from start to finish, with management wisely limiting flesh to half-hour on ac- count of .flicker's length, 100 min- utes, getting away for a change from those hppeles.sly boring three-hour sessions. Stanley has been taking smart ad- vantage lately of a strictly local situation and making it pay neat dividends. With Penn sticking to a straight picture policy through- out the summer', WB deluxer is bringing In low-budget stage show whenever possible, getting a higher admission and overcoming disad- vantage of ordinarily low-gross pho- toplays; though In the case of 'Gondolier;' pic could stand on its own, if for no other reason than of the growing popularity of the star, Dick Powell, who used to m.c. at this same hou.se. House originally figured to play 'Gondolier' on its own, but decided at last minute it would profit addi- tionally through a double-ban-elod attraction. Opening show had 'em ."<t-andin.g behind the rope.q, some- thing Stanley hasn't seen during the summer for a lon.g time. Half hour bctofc' the b.o. opened, mob was winding around In three lines for a block. Act Little .Lack Little has is smartly built .around leader himself and shows him off to excellent ad- vantage. Diminutive air veteran, who got his radio start In Pitts- burgh more than a decade ago, still clicks big with those Individually hu.sky pipes of his -and has plenty of zip for a band's front man. Out- fit of 12 men. Including Little, pleas- ant enough musically, but offers nothing outstanding to .set it apart from a flock of others. He's doing something every min- ute, announcing, racing hi.s lingers over the keyboard or warhllng into the mike. Opening is .a medley of four numbers, with Little getting In a couple of solos and near the clo.-ie going Into his still suroMrc specialty, an Impression of a broken- down nickel piano in .an old-time saloon. It wowed 'cm this .after- noon, as in the past. .Uand al.';o does a. take-off on Hal Kemp's out- lit, followed by one of Ouy Lom- bardo—latter the best, chiefly be- cause of Littlc'H satirical imitation of ^luy Lomlwrdo. Two acts nre on the blU with Little, first to show ballroom team of Stuart and Lea. They do a sin- gle number, a pretty waltz routine, but team was badly hampered by that downstage piano. It m.ade' them cautious and nervous. Other turn Is Selden and Ender. Men, rigged in evening clothes, do an al- coholic combination of hoofing and acrobatics, merging them shrewdly to develop into a bonafide ahow- stopper. Some of the falls they take can't help bringing the sponta.neou3 palm-pounding that punctuated their offering throughout. They're what amounts to the next-to-closing act, with the band going into high, and Little racing over the keyboard a mile a minute on a lighted piano, at the curtain. Whole presentation is rapidly paced and it's wisely held to 30 minutes because any more than that with the material at hand would entail job of uncertain padding.. Pit crew has nothing to do this week except play a short musical interlude before and after stage show. Cohen. Color in Va. (Continued from page 1) has never come within striking dis- tance of any profit. Tough, too, on the poverty plagued residents of the region, since it was premise of Mrs. Whitney when she took over what was once a shack and converted it into a theatre that whatever profits accrued would go to her needy neighbors of the country. Young gal of 20 who. lives In Mld- dleburg manages the spot, books the pi.x. In daytime she holds down an- other job at the town's only bank. The projectionist does booth duty as a sideline; regularly he works in his father's pants-pressing em- porium up the street. There remain but the ticket chopper at the door, and the porter. The femme man- ageress doubles as cashier. Three hundred of house's chairs are on lower floor, remaining 40 are up on a semi-shelf which Is where colored folk are spotted. They enter by means of an outside stairs that looks more like a ladder and have to climb in a side window to reach their roped-oft seats. According to the manageress one large-looming angle which militates against profitable operation of house is fact that the aristocrats of region don't like the flicks that attract the lesser-lights, and. vice versa. The plodding populace pours in for strictly action plx, while blue bloods come in only' when class product is on tap. Also the class trade do not comprise steady pa- trons by any means, since they hop around, the country so often for the various social seasons. 'Becky Sharp' (Radio) recently played a 2-day date; a strong pic plays two days here, weakles one day at the Hollywood. It did pretty well. Something of a foregone con- clusion, considering John Hay Whit- ney's connection with the flick. House' was told that in publicizing 'Sharp' the Whitney connection was to remain unmeiitloned. But the countryside knew all about It, ap- parently, and all sorts flocked forth to see 'neighbor Whitney's' picture. Exploitation about nil on house. The manageress says she Just puts print on spools and if people want to come, o.k.. If not, o.k. Herald Is printed weekly and thrown around, and small ad Is inserted In the country newspaper. Only orders from Mrs. Whitney are that if some- thing 'extra good' comes along, her friends arc to bo phoned and told in advance, with a letter sent along afterwards as supplementary re- minder. Despite fact that house has been operating in the red since it first opened, salaries of staff have never been cut. And, according to the manageress, probably won't be, bo- cause they are, and have been, loo low to stand any slashing. N. W. ALLIED mCORPS Minneapolis, July 30. Northwest Allied States Is now a corporation. The indcperident ex- hibitors organization has Incor- porated as a non-profit association under the laws of Minnesota. Accordingly, members are not financially liable for any repre- hensible actions on the part of their fellows. LOU DENT, WILBY DUE Louis Dent, Par's Texas partner. Is In Xew York on product deals and for home ollico confab.s. Other f)i)ei'ators arc expected In shortly. Including Bob Wllby who, wiih JI. I''. KIncey, heads the larg- est unit in the Par cl\ain.:,.. •