Variety (Oct 1936)

«VAmmf s* mhtook oirtos, • St. Mutla'* Place, Xwf*lg«v Squr« INTERNATIONAL SHOW NEWS Telephone Temple But 5#11-S04S . Cable Address: VARIETY, LONDON 65 Head* Says He likes U S. Attitude Paris, Oct 12. Edouard Bourdet, new. director of the :. CbmedierFrancaise, just back from an American visiV says he is. going to apply some, of the things he learned there... " Fr ance's leading theater. . 'One of the things I learned in America/ he says, 'is the absence of traditional, reactions in American audiences. Here in France ah audi- ence goes to the classical theater: knowing all . about the; play, the author arid the : traditional impor- tance of the piece. No matter, how badly the play may be performed, they applaud at the appropriate mo- ments and they never reveal their boredom. 'Americans, on the other hand, are frankly interested in the perform- ance they are attending -without any thought about the reputation of the writer or the play. If they don't like the production they show it. If they like it they are thunderous in their applause. . T like that simplicity and T think •we ought to have more of it here. I shajl keep the example before me in my work at the French National .Theater and will consider all pror ductions from the point of view of the present, audiences, not the tradi- tional aspect of the plays.* Leontovitch's Quick Flop; 'Jane Eyre' Rec'd - Much Better, London London, Oct. 20. Eugenie Leontovitch, Russian dra- matic star known, in America, opened at thfr-New Theatre. Wednesday (14) in 'Anthony and Cleopatra,* staged by Komisarjeysky, Russian. It closed four days later. . Londoners couldn't see the Russ Version of Shakespeare's play, de- spite its 'modern' handling: in the English language, and panned it bru- tally. Press generally called it the direst flop in a long time. ; 'Jarie Eyre' Opened at the Queen's Tuesday (13). It is a dramatization of the Bronte • novel by Helen Jerome and was well-received,, newspapers acclaiming Curigwen Lewis in the title role as a new West End star. Dramatization *, patchy, but the venture looks successful. Martinez Ballet in Cuba Havana, Oct. 17. Ballet Espagnol . de Juan Martinez arrived here Wednesday from Europe. Ed Perkins, in advance, has been in town, since Oct. 7. Ballet broadcast over CMX and has been oh the front page of some of the-local papers. A reception at the Taberna Espan- ola of the Regina Hotel has been arranged for the press Sunday (18) at the exclusive Casino Deportivo Club". C. B. Cochran's Next London,. Oct. 11., Charles Cochran's new revue by A. P. Herbert is to be titled 'Week-End/ and is having a tryout at Manchester "Dec'.' 23," before coming to London. Run is likely to be for six weeks- Cast is headed by Gitta Alpar, Binnie Hale and" Rawicz and Landauer. Likely show will go to the Adelphl : after Manchester tryout. Milt Hayes Writing Nice, Oct. 9. Back from three months' vacation at Cap Ferrat, Milton Hayes, for years. of Britain's best laugh- getters, is putting the finishing toucheson 'Prevailing Winds,' which he intends to produce in London this winter. : ■:. . , . ; Hayes will have the play produced, but won't take a part. New London Revue London, Oct. 11. New indi .company,, headed by Peter • Farquharson, has been formed to produce a new revue at the Com-; edy theatre, to replace . William Walker's 'Spread It Abroad.' ,;.. Revue was -written by impn Carries and Herbert Farjeon, and is titled 'To' arid Fro,' ith; cast lined up ag follows: Hermibne Badderley, Queenie Leonard, Viola Tree, Esmc Percy, Edward Cooper. Opens coJd Nov. 23. -. Daly % Reconstruction London, Oct; ; Reconstruction of Daly's theatre in Leicester Square, Which is con- trolled by I; W. Schlesiriger and is a $1,250,000 investment, will shortly be put. in 'operation. Lessees intend to continue it . as a legit house, but the rebuilding will be of such a nature that, in case the legit policy does riot prove profitable, it can be operated as a picture house. IN GOOD Budapest, Oct 9. . This is the. first theatrical season in many years here which starts with a guarantee that none of the im- portant Budapest stages will go bankrupt, after one or two failures, leaving their companies, . technical personnel arid.authors in the lurch. This happened' in many instances during the past years, but at .present all theatres are in firm and experi- enced hands, both financially arid artistically. . Vigszinhaz management, repre- sented by Iirire Roboz and Daniel Job, who have, directed the affairs of that house for the. past 15 years, has acquired lease of the Pesti The- atre, arid Royal Theatre Ctjvice in the re'd~Huring the last'seaspn) as well. They alreadyj have one success here with Denys" AmieTs 'Femme . en Fleur* at the Pesti theatre, with Mar- git Makay and. Lili Murati in. the leading parts. At the Royal, re- hearsals of a stage version Of Ferenc Molriar's 'Paul Street Boys' (which was 'No Greater Glory'in the Frank Borzage Columbia picture) - are in full swirig. Arthur Bardos, who managed the Belyarosi theatre for many years^ has acquired the Muvesz Szinhaz (formerly;Fovarpsi Operette theatre) in addition. It has just opened with a fine production of The Merchant of Venice* with Elma Bulla as Portia and Lajos Gellert as Shylock. New. theatres' program is very varied, comprising classical arid modern plays, as well as musicals. Magyard theatre and Andrassy-uti theatre continue under joint manage- ment as before, in the hands of Elemer Wertheimer and Paul Brody. . "State-subsidized Opera and Na- tional theatre, of course, are not sub- ject' to any financial shocks. . Curiously enough, there is not a single musical comedy stage left in Budapest, where/musicals used to,he enormously popular and from where many world successes started in the old days. Kiraly theatre, once the home of some of the best musical productions in Europe, has now been converted into a vaudeville house. All that 1 is left for musicals- is the small Kamara theatre, recently leased by Laszlo Szucs, tenor. N.Z. Tour Set for Melbourne Revival Co. Melbourne, Sept 29. Following the success of the Car- roll-Fuller legit revival try here, ar- ; rangements have been . completed to send the company on a tour of New Zealand under the management of Stanley Grant. Sir Ben Fuller left during the week to make arrangements in N. Z. for the tour, due to open in the Do- minion at Yuletide. As Result of Franc Devaluation Rome, , Kiki Palmer, Emma Gramatica and Angelo Muscp will start off the Rome theatrical season: with their respective companies at the Argen- tjan, Quiririo and Eliseo theatres., Kiki Palmer's company includes Gina Sanmarco, Nini Dinelli, Ce- sarina Gheraldi, Giuseppina Facini, Enrica Banfi, Luigi. Almirante, Fi- lippo Scelzo, Gino Sabbatini, Flavio Diaz, ief Pablo Porta, tJmberto Giardini, Ermete Tabberlani and Guido; Lazzarini. Besides novelties by Alessi, di Betti, C. V, Ludovici, Pompei; Molnar and Kaiser, her repertoire will include plays by Scribe and Pirandello. Luigi Al- riiirante, Tatiana Pavlova, Pietro Scharoff and Guidp Salvini will take turns at directing. Emma Grarnatica Co. includes Franca Domiriici, Ida Gasperini, Rina Sarda, Ri Centenaro,Annetta Buffi, Maria Pelagatti, Memo Be- nassi, Cesare Bettarini, Edoardo Toniolo, ttore Masi, Corrada Conti, Arnaldo Marchetti, Ruggero Dal Fabbro, Edoardo Menichini and Rug- gero Capodaglio. Plays by Piran- dello will be included in the Gra- matica. repertoire, tpo; among^ the novelties there will be' plays" by Alessi, Ludovici, De Stefani, An- torielli, Behrman and Somin. Angelo Musco has already started his run at the Eliseo. His program there includes performances of Rorn- ualdi's The Master pf Masters'; Santi Savarino's 'Don Gesualdo and the Ballerina'; 'San Giovanni Decollate' ('Saint John Beheaded') by Nino Martoglio, and 'Article 1083,' by Russo Giusti. LOW-PRICED STOCK CLICKS IN MELBOURNE Natala Korel's Vienna Flay . Capetown, Septl 25. Natala Korel, Capetown . writer, has. had a icoriiedy, 'She Nibbled the Frriit of Knowledge,' accepted for staging at the Josephstadt Theatre, Vienna. It is. being translated into German^ Johannesburg Ddo . is Majesty's, legit house, and New Empire, with vaude, are the only two houses parts with, stage shows.;. Seymour Hicks is presenting 'Vintage Vi Majesty^. Hetty. King heads the vaude bill at the Em- pire. Berlin, Oct 11. , ; With the Scala rehearsing another production of the 'Herrliche Welt' (Magnificent World) type, to follow the' Russian Ballet season of Col. de Basil Oct. .16 and run - consecutively until Nov. 30, and another 'Crazy ; Show' due Jan. 1, it becomes evident that. the Scala. management is turn- ing definitely to the. revue-style of entertainment. ': Difficulties of getting the right sort of international acts, constant worry about the financial angle in satisfying foreign acts about getting their sal- ary out of. the country, and the fact that productions of this type are ap- preciated by the audience her§, have influenced the Scala .to change. There will, however, be numerous acts in all such productions. SOPH'S LONDON CLICK IN VAUDHLM THO' ILL London, ; Sophie Tucker opened the Trbxy for Hyams Bros. Mondpy (19), returning after two years. Despite being under doctor's Orders, Soph scored well, She is. doubling from the Grosve- npr House and plays vaudeville unr til Dec. 12, when she . is due to sail for a! Hollywood date on the- Metro lot in 'Broadway Melody of '37/ GOING PLACES . London, Oct 9. . Musical comedy by Guy Bolton, Fred .Thompson; lyrics and mui»lc, Vivian- EMI", rresente'tl by Arthur Rlacoe and Cllitord Whitley at Savoy theatre, Oct. 8,' "30. Prpr duced by William Molllson Gerry Turner., fihella .... ............. Max- Klrb.V ....... .Arthur Riscoe V ... . ... .. June r ~Kn tgh't .. .......Robert Nalnby Jlmf/ DjiBiria Petrova.......Olga' Bnclanovu Gendarme .. .... ■. .. ......., .-W. 1 . S.' Percy IHrcarrto-.;': ; . . —. ;. •.'iV.TrDihft-GlflVUltl - Professor Lp Bru'ri.........; ..Gus Sharlan<r Paul Freddy . Bax...-.. Jerihno^ TJaporle. Thomas Bsix..' .Richard Dolman- .......Peggy Rawllngs Melbourne, Sept. 29. Carroll-Fuller legit try at the Apollo with low admissions is. turn- ing Out a profitable venture. Sea- son gpes into its 13th week on good b.o., with reviyals^ of^ former: musi- caircomedy favorites. Top runs to 75c.~ ights,. with lower scale for Thnats.r -Success is. mainly due to the splendid stock cast by Sir Beri Fuller. Shows so far produced included "The O'Brien Girl" and "Lady Be Good." ; " Sir Beri Fuller stated that, as soon as he can secure a good site in Syd- ney at a reasonable figure, - he will build a theatre there for the presen- tation of legit. Had a site picked out but the City Fathers would not' lower their price and the deal fell through. Knight would also like to take another flyer into vaude in both this city and Sydney; only thing stopping him is the fact that his ace spots are let out for pix to Snider-Dean. Conventional musical comedy with an important cast of players, pro- duced by veteran in that line of endeavor, .Williarri Mpllison. Scenery and costumes in good taste, a smartly drilled chprus, and . all the other ingredients that go to make for agreeable entertainment. . Show goes. along smoothly. until near the finish, when the comedy be- gins to sag. a bit. \Just before the finale, however," June .Knight puts over- a strutting number, backed up by the chQrus, v/hich is the real sock of the show.. There is not very much originality in the. story, but sorrie of the busi- ness is funnily executed, arid some of it is a bit cheap for West End accept' ance. One or two of the bits are on the low plane of a provincial panto- mime. . Music has one.or two tuneful nym-. bers; some of the lyrics are sharply arid cleverly pointed, and dialog , is definitely weak. '. Arthur Riscoe suffers mostly from lack of material. Miss Knight,.on the other hand, stands out by contrast with her specialty fiumbers, 'Which register' all the more strorigly. Olg.i -Ba'clariova scores with her ybcalizin^ and' gets..all there is to be extracted from a stereotyped part...Another, girl: who scores neatly is Peggy Rawlings. ' Show should be cut and built up with more up-to-date comedy, when it can be clasisfied as having better than an even chance. Joto, CHARLES THE KING London; Oct. 10. Historical play In two acts: (18 scenes) by Maurive Colbourhe, preeented by H'. -.M. Tennent, , Ltd., at tyrlc. theatre, Oct. O, '3tf. ' MuhU\ ; rterbert Merigeu; decor by Motley; vtuRlng by author,- Charles.'I.'.....;.;....... .-. >.... .Barry. Jones Henrietta' Mar ... wen_ Ffrankcon-iDavleft ^riiramTTTnud.'rV; ".ViV.V. ."TMbTrand Grabaro William Juxon............. .Charlen Hodges He.nry .Hlrh.: . .....Robert H/>lmes .Viscount We.ntworth.. ...MaUvlce-. Cinlbournc I.oj-il Colt Infirm.......,X£mbert. J/hrkln^' John- fltmu't......... .«i,,^iMnIcoIm RuhscII: CountPKH of Carlisle..Joyce Kennedy Sir Henry VaneV,...,.;... .Stanley Urewltt f>r, .Harv<;y.'.y,.;.^...;.-,.i,,.H.- O: Nicholson Thomas Hifrbert.:.. ........Stafford .'Hllllard Anthony Van Dyck'.........v. .Carl Hnrborrt^ John.. Pym : ..'.. . . .Gordon' McLeoil Prldftv. . .;.'.....'./.;.,... raveley Edwards Qllvc'r Croimvcll . Gcoi-ko Merrltt Mr*; -Crotnwoll,.........V Betty Hardy William X*nth»U...'.... ...-.. ^.Guy Ilelmbre William Prynne-.John- Abbott . Sincere and interesting portrayal of the vicissitudes and tragic ending of the Stuart King; at whose door so much blarne was laid'which was the due of his ministers and advisers. Of necessity episodic, covering 12 years iri 13. scenes, there is. no sense of scattered or \meaningless inter- ludes,, each one, however brief, bear- ing on the development of the drama. Story covers, the. first rumblings of. discontent, when the Bishops take control of the churches, the prayer book is forced on Scotland, causing a rebeilipri leading to the King's de- feat, farcical trial arid final dignified journdy to^ the scaffold. : If .Charles is somewhat idealized, and his loyalty to friends and ser- vants emphasised, rather than labelled with .the istorian tag of 'weakness' it is a pardonable act Pf grace for dramatic purposes. Most" dramatic highlight of the Monte , Oct. 9. Days reminiscent the old 'Riviera gold rush* are seen here by proprietors of casinos, theatres and other amusement places as the result of devaluation of thjfr French franc. , With the dollar at' the pound at ; government's promise to deal severely with price-raisers" and profiteers, and a baririer surrimer season just behind, owners expect the best winter season in five years. Transformations arid repairs in casinos, hotels and. theatres are al- ready being pushed in order to be ready for a slice pf the biz antici^ pated when the season starts. Many hotels and smaller night clubs which have been closed for several years are getting ready to open. ^ Societe des Bains de Mer, gambling syndicate controlling the Casino and Sporting Club, has ordered renova- tion of the Sporting Club pushed through in order for an early De- cember opening. In a bad financial way for several years arid forced to float- huge loans to kwp operating, the Societe was undecided Whether tp open the Sporting, Club at all a few weeks ago. ,'• Royalty Bar Royalty Bar, which caters to the elite cocktail and tea drinkers, opened last week with a brand new staff ready for pack-i business. Oscar's, the Knickerbocker • and the < Cafe de Paris seem to have taken on a new lease Of; life and plenty. of bows and smiles are forthcoming again. In Nice a iiurnber of the smaller night joints have already opened. Broadway and Black Cat, which, were closed last year, have been do- ing great busihessSmd the Negre has / been filled every night since ppenfrig, two weeks ago, - Pierre;.Passerbn's Le Perrpquet opens this y/aek. Plans fOr the opening; of Holly- wood in Frank J. Gould's Palais de la Mediterranee casino, which had a successful season last year . despite bad weather under the direction of Ben and Anne Litt; are yet up in the air, but the club -will open. Cinema ' Rial to theatre, Nice's, cinema ba- rometer, opened its doors last week with 'Desire' (Par) for the winter season. Edward VII, featuring Amer- ican films: in English, will enlarge before the season commences, antic- ipating a flood of American and Eng- lish clients. Luxury hotel palaces on the Cannes Croisette are rushing through re- pairs in order to be ready for earlier than usual openings. . Hotel Carlton and its bar, famous as a rendezvous of King Edward when he. was Prince of Wales, will have a new dress, ac- cording to manager Mero. Dolphin ; night club opened this week and the Bastide is setting a betwe^ri-season record. Even long-faced real estate and tourist agents are relaxing and ad- mit it looks like things will be brighter. play, which is of considerable power, is the scene of the trial at Westmin- ster Hall, where, after eight days, the King still refuses to defend the charges brought against him. ;on_the _ ground no one has the authority to try him. Despite a few hysterical protests from, a few loyalists, he is condemned to death. Some of the dialog is authentic, particularly ja this, scene, and is most riioving. - as is also the later one where he takes leave of his young children and goes bravely to death. .' StOry is vividly told, giving an in- timate insight into, the life. of . the English monarch, who. according- to the play, was perhaps the first king with communistic tendencies. , Sometimes the titular character is contradictory; as drawn by the au- thor. . probably to depict him as a vacillating personage. His weakest ripirit ' revealed as being swayed by his Papist-ridden.' French wife, whom he adored, and Who ruined him by her constant interventions. Barry Jones handles the central role with charm and effortless dig- nity, and the Queen of Gv/en Ffrang- corirDavies . has -; its own especial merit./ Nobles; 'regipides.- and most„- parts are solendidlv acted, the only exception, being George JVTerritt's rendering.of Oliver Cromwell.. It is too bluff arid boisterous, and has not the fanatical austerity one. associates; With the first of the;dictators.^. Production is reieal. but unostenta- tious, and soft' dimming and . rising of lights enhances artisfio. impres- 1 America :would probably be. m-i 'lerfpiod in this presentation, sio istic jstaglng.- -