Variety (Dec 1936)

1 VARiETY V4RIE¥V HOUSE REVIEWS W^jdjil«8^y, p 30, 1936 STATE, N. Y. , , % T. Granluhd is tack here once iriore with a typical N.T.G, tevue, and. it's certain to .b0.' a' Ijanner Christmas week for the State as well as i'ts fans. N.T.G> not dhly has good •drawing power but. having played ■this, house niimer.olis times, no . doubt hais built up a following that watches ior him around Broadway's loiie: vaude, theatre. . Granlund'S^ rievue is ^socko enter- tainment all this, .w^yr including a- lineup of talent headed''by. Ffahk- - Gaby that insures results both on iiovelty and laughs as well as girl display^ Gaby is new with .N.T.G., *i^)t>; having: appeared; with his girl revue'the last time playing, here, " The Slate Bros; were with Granlund on that occasion for principal com- edy chores; The Gaby act sustai itself beau- tifully on a ^pretty long assignment ahd.outside' of the regular spot for it Gaby and hi;? stooge, Jerry Hausler, pitch in extra work, in ^digging .for laughs. As. result, the present N.T.G. frolic is loaded 'heavier with .comedy than, ever before. Gaby i.and his co-woirkers; fiausler and^^Kay: Stuart, are spotted aboili middle, workihig in front of the -Ruby Zwerling house -orchestra .Bind a. riihway upstage- over which the girls iare paraded. He has Haus- ; .ler in bialcony box . most of the : time, . exchanging .'crossfire- that :jnust have come from ,a good ma-, teriiil writen Some .of the gags , iire ti bit zippy, biit nothing ih the whole N.T.G, ighOw is objectionable, Jinclud- ■ing the,-freshness of business -with the .; f at girl working in, the Earl-^ -JjackrBetty $ks|tihg act. Gaby <^hd A ■■: Hausler. larigely figure: jn ,the. ,hpwlr ;ihff session >j^ithv the girl of Ine vajst '/'dimensions; vwhich . closes the' unit ; to ai ^trohg .Iatl.' finale. . Another girl ; ' precedes, her- onto the stage ior ' . spin with, the skaters, both cbnuhg ,.:but;df tjiie'audience. Earl, Jack and fiet^ wiere with rl.T:G. years ago at ' the Itolly wood, xestauraht; N. Y^, . \%here the. s&me . spi ihg., stunt. was ■■■■always'-socko.. . 'i NiT;G<'s show isn't as heretofore, '53. minutes;' presumably for better turnover.. 'Revue opens in the , fa< vorite' NTG manner with noisemak-' .(^s being, handed out. ; Gloria. Cobk"s dance specialty^ is ' jBbr^v.;: Jt-isn-t a knocko but the ; V Cuban" pSirtion. of . the routine-is fair- .r-ly .well done. Another dancer, ■ Christine .Fay, follows in an acro- . batic ^number that Has an original twist . as the dancef goes through , ^yarioiis tricky stunts with', one foot :.,.'liiboked'around her neck. The fans tated this - feature of the number '■ -worthy of'plaudits. . ,* . With. the. girls on for the bathing ' feuit. parade, N.T.G. chatters . effec tively.. Buddy pouglaiS and Helen Maigna, midgets, at this point, in a cute song .: and. -dance nuniber, scram. so that ■ Gaby can get- in the big licks .he -scores. ' . While two girls are. on .for pop solos, Betty Van Auken- and 'Very .Hall,. N.TwG. iand the Gaby-Hausler team are'getting laughs through in- :terruptipns... Some of . the lines ' ar^ ' from offstage. '; ; . 'Griahlund has the :.dance team of .,. WaUy and Verdyn iStapleton with : : ;him agai. This week the Stapletons ' .are doing, two novelty tap ballroom ixoutines topped by a fast buck and • vvihg.: The second number is a bit long/but ' the . team scores smartly, rating - a tcqpi'salute.'^ In - addition , to. • the skating i finish, there is a fur fashion parade through a tieup with I. Fox -Which cian do that estab- lishmeht no' harm.. N.T.G.. ihtroes all j-the. girls and explains -what the furs are. One,0f the girls is .Collete Frances from the Texas Centennial. Feature is *t(Ove' on the Run* <MG). House; packed early Saturday afternoon and lid doubt will go into one of its highest igrpsses during the year. Char. KEITH'S, BOSTON Boston, Dec. 24. 'HpUjrwOod Hotel Reyue'^ uniti with ., Jimmy , SavO: booked in for 'added 'strehgtb, proves to be a neat biz- gettihg.formiila. Given the; day-be- fore-Cliristrnas test, it .opened here today with fiill itekm. lip at the b.o. Savo Is no stranger in this town, and because of his pei:iodic'visits to local- boards has built up' .an apprer ciative following who give him the glad mitt at'Kis first entrarice. He brings in his faihiliar bag of laugh- able, pantpibimic tricks , thai include phoney "legerdemain, , rich, isatires of such- pop tunes/as'River Stay .Way' and . Trbpical Heat Wave' and his delivery 6f 'O .Cpme to: Me.' em- broidered with . ■ hofscrplay •With the pit band., • Feiatured in the, unit its.elf is Sibyl fibwan,' a. sure-fire iinpfersphatbr. Her xepoirtoire- is also well known in the Hub, and the newest additioh, of Eleanor Roosevelt, is sockp stuff. Her Bee Lillie' mimicry'is another Jiighlighf. Al Norman. , .his'^ eccentric dancing. istpoges, is spotted midway ih the unit. '.Mf^ Norman's opening remarks fall short of the .hunior mark. In fact,, the gags are ,be- whlskered, but when the. stooges get rolling in their raucous heckling the act redeems'its'elf. Stanley Bros., in the> trey, get a good welcome with their fast aero -linispn dance and novelty challenges) «nd Fat Stanley appears again to good, advantage in the finale, stum- bling through a driinko specialty. Vocals are featured by Wilnia Horner, !'introducing a 'Hot SpeU' line number, and Richard Stutz, who' brings on ?Stairs of Silver', and the Penthoiise' finale. 'Both serve their purpose well, but Miss Hprner gets' an extra: nbd for exceptiphally. gobd sohg-sellingi ' . - Production numbers are . colorful, of big-time calibre;,.;and in good' taste. ' Costumes, sets, lighting are. all top-flight; and the giirls are handled with finesse. Xiine's routines hold attention all the way. Producer. Harry/ Howard Icnpws his stuff., For example, he adds thie right punch to the 'Silver Stairs' .hurhber by work- ing in' Clark/arid tJaton, a; smooth iacro-adagib team. This sriiart.coUble .'woiild enhance any .show, and in this tiiiit they stand . out; i ' retrospect; as orie of its.highlights. On . the " screen: 'Our Relations* tM[G)V r Fox. PARAMOUNT, N. Y. It's .just year, since the Parar mount- on Broadway, struck a. hap^py coinproniise between t6b costly stage shows and. top skimpy straight pic- tures, and in that time. the pit band- show idea' has 'clicked,., and good;' With - regulation. stage shows the grosses: were high but the Overhead was even highei^; the straight film overheiad -was low but the; grosses .were" lower.- ,Through, rianrie. bands for the. past year' the Par -has ,seeri the grosses tpp the overhead - sistently... i;---''" .■ :%To start off ^the second year-as it started the first, the Par, booked the Casa^ Lemai band;, which opened the ^licy, for thie current 'anniversary* bill..,:This is bhiy the second,band to play a repeat in a year at the Par.: . Casa-.Lbma is .a .good, band musi- cally and an' ehtertainihg pne for straight:' entertairiment.: purposes, al- though it's the" niusic. that realiy counts in the pit as well as. for the hoofiiiif, \ Plus the: band, the. house, cohtiributes Sylvia Frobs for singing? and: an amateur ' team for' dancing.- The team, , mixed and called Cdnklin and Coleman, %bn the . recent fcol- legiate stepping. contest conducted by Mai Hallett at the Commodore. They're cute kids and a refreshing novelty, but they apparently have oine, routine-only. and. where, they: can go from. here is' a question^ Miss Froos does'threie numbers,.all cleverly, - and winds up, strong with' her best, item, a semi-cOmic treat- ment of 'You Do the Darndest •rhings.' ., Pee-Wee Hunt, big guy whose looks don't indicate much hot. stuff, but who's< hot just the ..same, and ^Kenny Baker,, straight singer; are the band's pick-out boys. . Glenn Gray, the real, leader, sits in the sax section , and just takes a bpw: ' The conducting is handled by an unbilled boy -who makes , a good appearance and : who' probably is okay , on the dance jobs, but; is lacking for stage purposes. It's > peculiar arrange- ment and has a strange look on a .fbstruni. ' The. band's : best is. a corking 'St. .Louis Blues' -arrangement, along with a- trombone, 'battle' betwee.ii' Hunt and- another slider. . Routine . has: speed,' fexcept' fbi* the. opening : num-; ber,. which lyrically speaks of the biaind itself iand may not ;be as in- teresting to the customers, as it seems to be to the Musicians.... Pic is Par's .'College Holi EMBASSY '<NEWSBEELS) ^ 'Mostly a library show; this Vreek^ With resumes of 1936 events kaiei- doscbped: across the Screen. Uni^ versa 1 goes for the goofy numbers Of 1936 and Pathe takes the sports ahgre; Movietone brings the ancient cere mony of proclamation as Britain and; her dominions beyond the seas beget a new monarch,. 'King George VI, arid his queen.. TMovietpne also, brings a harrowing clip of.'stricken Mildrid, natives scurrying tb shelter, men, women, arid babes, while .bver- head''FiIaries. fly low,- raining. dpy;h terrox^ onvthe helpless; Mpyietorie; it is also; which brings Gehriariy on skis, Jn- the Bavarian -Alps. ISurope is having its f un. One of ..the reels.falls for ..an or- ange juice • spiel frorri .Mianu . which isn't much. Cpiiple of bathing girls rubbing sliced. drarige over .their •faces as a sunburn protection. and for beautifying purposes, allegedly. Paramount gives a brief scenic of Salt Lake City terriain, v^hefe that plane .carrying iseVen'is believed to^ have been lost. Movietbne offers the •usual fashions' plus, a male coiffure burlesque by Lew Lehr: -Universal has the wreckage scene of the Army bomber . which crashed recently around Hempstead;'L. ;I> " . A travelog-on Paris iand a shot on dogs round out the program which close the ..Embassy's 1936 program with* very; little' current or topical matter, JUst one of those' bills. Shan. TOWER, K. C. Kansas City, Dec. -26, Fifi D'Grsay, saris the bangs arid black, hair (it's brown now),: and sans a single glimpse of the D'Orsay nether extremities, is handling the. 60rminute . vaude section of " .^the Tower's holiday Week" show. Pic is 'Polo'JOe- (WB) with a color car- tpoh. and Fox news. . House has tilted adriiish to 35c. for itis heiv;. policy pf booking name talent: :Place: is brily . vaude spot iri town iirid has. done average biz the past, two-years with run . of the mill acts.: Ted Cook is currently handling the' rii.c. assignment arid wiggles the baton for the . house band (12); Cook's-work at show . caught. .was pretty, hialtirig, didri't seiem to be sure of himself. Lad . didri't get .• very good break when \he was se- lected to stooge, for Miss: D'Orsay. The Six Lucky Boys have the bill's outstanding iturn. so fair as :thie 'out- fronters were coricerried at . Satur- day's viewing- They have the sort of : stuff these, audiences beg for-r puife hokum, dished u^>: in' gerierous .portioriS: Burns, Mbriarity arid Dell; two. men and a girl, have standard hoof, routines,-but .manage to.' g^t across with spme rapjid challerige work. -Miss D'Orsay Is on for. about ten minutes pf songs arid clowning.: The line (12), with a can-can routine, brings her on. She sings three songs, one in French aftier she has recited the English version. The v kissing gag she does with Cook is pretty, old stuff. The line inbreiaised to 12 this iveek gets on the regulation three, times. Lester Hardinjr;,' <vho hios 'been doing- the m.c. stint for past four weeks, sings in two portions of. the layout. First 20 minutes of the. bill are given over to som^l Iti students from a local dance' ischboL ' Hoj/t. AMBASSAPOR, ST; L. St. iiouis;, Danny Meehan, late of Ben Ber-^: rile's troiqpe, is m.c.'ing for next four .weeks at.;'Ambassador. Theatre arid packs plenty of zip into . the. current 45-minutei: show.. Meehan^ who Opened engagement Friday (2,5); flew, here from California and; re- placed :George ByrOn, Who is 'now band leader of .St. ..Loiiis theatre (another . F&M house, show.irig istage shows' here); ' Current showi opens with Meehan doing .a newstator stirit with latest news bulletins', obtained by theatre from radio station. WMOX. Meehan :introduces'f the Boer Bros., imidget hand-balaricers, who scOre. In the nekt slot is Budk Ward, a sound ef feet rijan'^ fi-om Holly wood -who does barnyard, imitations, arid clicks. House band's arrangement of XmaS melodies cbriies next a:nd clicks.. Ruth Petty; who won a Miss Per.- vsonality cpritest conducted by Frank Fay at. Missouri Uleatre severi years ago arid lis . no-w 'agairi 'in her native town, warbles well enough to be forced into two encores. Mah Jong Dub; Chinese boy and girl, close, the show with okay tap dancing. Girl does a knockout toe routine that registers. Meehan^s Siriging was hamperied by a cold. Screen . holds 'College Holi * (Par). Biz great. Sdhu. PALACE, CHI. icago, Dec. 26. They -were jammed and packed at this house on opening day (Friday) and ' at >the .last show they were crowded iri every portion of the the- atre, Blariie itbn Benny , Fields; who is in for a week after cracking rec- ords, in his eight-week parade at the swanky Chez . Paree. Credit must be handed, to Fields for his barig-up sense of showmanship arid his tre- mendous willingness to work as long as the customers -want . him. . He firiished up at the Chez on Friday morning a.t 4 o'clock, then eame into the Palace for the regular opening day rehearsal and piled into. five shows that day.. And at . the last show, when he could be figured as all- in and ready to skimp on his act; Fiblds was 'but there giving a full measure, greasing the patrons and working 'em up to a general lather. "He did three en- cores after doing four, numbers as his regular routine, and still they wouldn't let him go. He. mentioned Blossorii Seeley and the house rocked so that Miss Seeley had to come out for a bow. ' And that wouldn't quiet 'em. Fields finally had to: plead, .with''em and go^ into a song before they'd quit. From the rocking reception that Fields got; there could be no doubt that; hC: accounts for a great share of the business. Picture is 'Rainbow on the River' (RKO). ields is inserted irito a neat little unit built by Jack Fine and tagged 'Park Avenue Revue.' Unit contains some excellent vaude acts and Fine has arranged them neatly. Standout in his .show is Jack Leonard, a good comedy handler. Dpes a fine job with his material, and with a right set of lines and' routines Leonard would be a great bet. Goes over in bang-'up fashion now with a helter- skelter routine that runs from gags to flip-flops. M.C. on the show: is Jack Pepper, who has some weak material-and who hurt himself by trying to sing. oh. this bill. Pepper has a good voice, but somehow failed to click on his pipes when caught last show Friday. . Carrying his stodjge, Sammy' Cfintor/>frho ' tfotild Use a better co'Medy dress. Now he only looks sloppy^ Instead of funny. Both Pepper and Leonard suffer from a lack of knowliedge of where humor stops and smut begins. Maxellos are surefire with their risley work. Boys make a good ap- pearance and toss off some excellent stunts. Have a change of pace and a method of building up their tricks which punches: thei act pVer smartly. Use Leonard for sbriie cbmedy and burlesque risley stuff as a good nov- elty insert Rodney and Gould held the audience well throughout their afct, especially clicking with their burlesque hand-tp-hand acrobatics. For novelty, Fine has the 'flying guitar,' with Marge Greely almost ruining the noVelty through her woe- ful pipes. Could use stroriger warbler in the spot. Janet Rieed is on early for, a tap' arid rope-jumping routine. Unit also carries 12 girls in the line and six show girls. ■ Cold. STANLEY, PITTS. itt^burgh, Stariley has a wow on papbr and a dud on the stage. Name power is terrific, with Herbert Miindin (New Abts)i -Eleano* ttolm and Art Jar- rett and Johnny Perkins all swell for a holiday marquee, hut the results are blah.: Holm and Jarrett are last- minute silbstitutioris for ailing James Melton, who was to have made a personal alorig lyith his flicker, 'Sing Me a LoVe' Song* (FN); * but it's^ doubtful if even bis presence would have made any difference. ^: Show consumes iirpund 70 .minntes and it's more than half over before there's the slightest sign Of action. That's provided, riot by one. of the big shots/but by lesser laminaries, Dick, Don and Dinah (New Acts), three kids Who finally warrii' up the mpb with their comedy acrobatics. On' their own, tarns are Satisfac- tory enough, but they don*t jell, and whole impression is one of stiff stag- natibn. t)ave. Broudy's house, crew works from stage and opening has Balabanow troupe, two boys and four femmes, spread across for a squeeze-box ensemble. For a. finish; one of the gals delivers an acrobatic dance, number that isn't half bad.' iPerkins has always been a big fave, literally and. > figuratively,. and his entrance gives him an opportunity to solidify previous impressions; Capi- talizes fully on his obesity and it's alWays good for laughs. Hdllida^ and Clark follow him on for "a. trio Of ballroom routines that are cliass and grace without being spectacular, arid then it's Madelyri Killeen straighting efficiently in, some cross-fire with Perkins. He permits her to hang around for an okay , song and some attractive high-kicking, on her own; Turn ' of Mundiri, the cockney cinema comicj is mostly static,' and customers are plenty ripe for some- thing active when Dick,. Don and Dinah turn up to sock across' their niit straiight-.armsi They don't , make it any too ieasy either for Miss Holm and her husband, the crooning Jar- rett, who follow. Couple work: with a riiale accompanist and after :crack-; ing about Brundage and swimmer's Olympic disbarment ■ briefly, they sail into a duet that does one of two 'things: . It either emphasizes - Jar^ rett's . excellence as a vocalist or merely coriipliments him' by ' cbm- parison. While Miss Holm is changing into a sexy white bathing suit, Jarrett Solos and then the two of them go into a parody on 'An Old Cow Hand,' winding up with another riose-thumb at Brundage. Good break for. Miss Holm is that Stanley's current issue of Par newsreel, detailirig outstand- ing sports events of .1936, -has a shot 'of her and makes mention of Olym-. pic incident.. J' Next-to-closi spot „ Perkins ab- sorbs himself, iving out with gen-, erous holiday greetings arid then cashing another • of those sentimental ballads ' he ■ irivariably does so well; Finish finds Balabanb>ys on' again, this time with miniature accordions and flying about in viariety of dances while the arms , are moving backhand forth. It's a good flash. , Second sho-w was down about 10 minutes, which hielped some, biit the consistent punch was still riiissirig. Opening performance Xmas day-r^ house at last minUte changed from, five complete bills to four-r-pliayed to full lower floor, but there was nobbdy itiri|; at the,break. ,, Cohen. (Continued from page 1) police reserves necessary on Satur- day (i26) to handle crpwds. Because of the healthy, increase in busiriess during all of December, with Xmas shopping this year, having small effect; the final quarter of 1936 will probably set a. record for:busi- ness nationally, not excepting pre- depression years. Hotels, restaurants and night clubs are also expected to enjoy the best December in the history of most of them. Not Only hotelsj bars; niteries, etc.; but theatres benefited this year. HIPP, BALTIMORE Baltimore, IDec. 25. The indie. vaudfllmer is spearing for kiddie trade - this holiday week with 'Rainbow on River' (|lKO) on the spools and 50-min. stage show that's right iri the groove for youngsters and good fare for the adults. Only three acts ori the bill, Eddie Peabpdy, Olive and, (Seorge Brasno wtth Buster Shaver, and the Sialici 'marionettes; First-named dobs sort of •■ an m.c. chore. Sprinting out at start he ioins with Felice Alula's 12 men-in the pit for thumping over- ture. ■• '/■ The tiny tM^aln, Olive and George Brasnb, 'haven*t b^ri>seejh here since they were . screened * /Great Bar- hum' (UA),. and their work- is still tops for midgets. Start with boy- and-belle clockwork clog that's "wbw- i Then OUve—incidentally,; v>ork- i , almpst incredibly hard iii act— Spins through the Waltz rOUtirie .with the elbngaited Shaver, who steps, for the nonce down from the Steinway stool. George does a bit. of a solo ^orig, and his sister is back attired as Mae West for some Tsack-and-' forth byplay. The tots then wind it up with , a whirlwind. ' Peabody -follows with the core of his:'stuff, his gusto arid personality hypoing his .Strumriiing as,, usual, Slips-in the novelty nip via a 16- . string harp-guitar and - a fiddle. : The Salid. puppeteers (6 ..men, lone maid) have a bevy of new dolls and routines ^ this' season, notably the opening nuriiber,' represent!' a Neapolitan street dance. For all- around beauty this number; is tops. Other new bits are the pair of hand- equilibrists, the .- nitery . band . and. torch tonsiler,'and, for. a closer, quint of' bike racers tearing arbund ; .'drome. Still in repertoire is the doll that, fifes .and puffs :a .eiggie> .Show slammed over right* across the board late Friday afternoon, when lower level held full quota. ' BerU FOX, DETROIT Detroit, Dec; With 'Stowaway (20th) screen and Harry Richman i Fox is setti -the tbwn rently, grossi its best biz in moons. illing outHhe card is the Cappy Barra harmonica ensemble (8); Carr Bros, and Betty, knockabout come- dians; Enrica- -sthd NovellOr talented :dance . duo; and the Liazeed Arabs, tumblers. Added to- this is a nifty, ': holiday overture by the pit bandt under baton of Sam Jack Kaufman* -In.the next-to-closing cog Richriian dusts off several of his .old tunes and adds a few newer ones to provide 30. minuteu of sock entertainment. He injects plenty of his old sparkle and personality into the turn, and result is rocking applause -even after-three or four encores. .y : Opening the swift hour's show are the Liazeed Arabs, who have, plenty on the ball as regards. daring tum- bling. Enrica; iand Novello; a pair of neat appearirig and talented daficefs, contribute a round of swell ballfooRi dancing, -which clicks. ■ No-vel arrangements. feature the. turn of the Cappy Barra harmonica ^ group,. which gets over well in the closing. Good comedy emerges from Carr Bros, and Betty, whose knock- abouts and chatter occasion a hefty response. • . Jammed house -at. late show Fri- day evening. Pete. if. -C. Rubbetneckinsr (Continued froni page 1) teridarice on the studio tour of 60,000 or more, representing an increase of 20% to 25% over 1935. Adriiiission fee is 40c. Although the way holiday dateis have fallen this year has been a hand- icap to big business as fiar as the radip studio tour officials are con- cerned, mere fact that Virtually every riionth * 1936 will. show an increase' over comparable rtjpnths: last year represents material flux of out-pf-tbwn iggest day: of Christmas . period was last Saturday (26), when 2,739 pai to go the against about 2,000 in 1935. frOrii a heavy influx of out-of-town- ers. Travel, , bus and rail is the heaviest since 1929, according to traffic agencies, An indication of the prosperity era that is ai ing the amusement field may be gairied from the fact that retail sales ] throughout the country this December skyrocketed. r les for the week before Christmas, according ■: to retail checkups, ran from 10«?i to 25% better, than for thif same week last year over the entire country, some sections being better than others.