Variety (Feb 1937)

58 VARIETY t O NO E R T—BURLESQME Wednesday, February 10, 1937 era CAPONSACCHI Opera In -three-'- act?, prolop nnd epilog: tionls. Arthur ..Goodrich':'• '• rouble,', • Rlchunl nfionmn; Hduptetl-rroiii play.ot B(\mt» niune, l>y Goodrich nnd Rose A. -rainier. liiiHecl on Robert |->i'o\vnlnK's pberii. 'The., Injr: arid the Uook'; at Metropolitan Ojieru House, N. T, Feb. 4: '37; HnRernan concJuetlnK, ..,,-'. .Mario .Ohaiploe Lawrence Tl)>i>ett ..... Normun Cordon. . , ,\ . XouIh d' Anpelp .GeorRe' CehiVnbvulty .Giordano Fnltr|rilerl ....... ..James Wolfe ...; ...., John Gurney. ,. i. Mas AltRlnssJ ....;; . Arnold GalVor . ; 'ilfred IflnKel.nian .. .John Gurhey- . .G'eorfce Rapely. .'Norrrmh Covdon- . . i Jhmes: Wolfe Cuponsncclil Guldo Ki-iinc'esit- Pope Innocent To in mail '...... ven.tui'lnl Scalohl ........ Mnntlnl .... . ............ Giotto -. Melchlor ........ A ndre:t ............. .';';•/. <• Canon Contl. ..'.;; '» Fletro.- Pom ' '\ Gherardl. ... The Governor of. Arezzo ,. The Archbishop of Arezzo The Innkeeper at Castelhuovo, Lou I a d'Anselo His -Servant;. A Guard,..;'.. A .Messenger.. Pornpllla .,.'. Vlblante ..-... .Margherlta . i. Marlneltn .. . lordano Paltrlqierl :. .George Cehahovsky, . iordario • Paltrlnlerc ... .;i:'. Helen- Jepaon: Doris Doe . .. ..:.';'. Anna, Ka?l<as .Loelelle Browning role, a mite hard to 'believe. His bald spot and inclination to a paunch make it none too easy to.accept him as the lover. But he has a sweet, and penetrating voice and he is young. .Rest of the. cast is just about okay, with the Met standbys, James Wbjfe, Max '. Altglass and Norman Cordon outstanding. ' Kauf, Lumawig e la Saetta (.'Lumawig and the Thunderbolt') Rome, Jan. 29. .-. . Ballet lit : two'■; scenes'; music, ■ AndrlAno T-unlill; book. Maner Lualdl; produced at Royal Opera House, Rome r with Attllla Radios as .first ballerina rind -Flljppo Movuccl.as 'first dancer; • Carlo Plcclnato,- .director; •' Boris,; Romanoff, dance*, director^ sets. : -Miirio Clfo' Fllo'mftrlno/i orchestra conducted by Tiillld Serafin; costuniea by: 'Mario.. Clto Fllomarino. A bit over a year ago .the Metro- politan-Opera House was in trouble; not enough business, no resppnse from the younger set.Big house announced a new policy—new faces, s.a. femmes, American talent where- ever possible, and new works'. For one season there were steps along all these lines. And now, in the sec- ond season of the new regime, the Met presents a new operar-first pre- miere of the season—and takes, a large step backwards. If any legit producer, no matter how small or big, tried to put ojn a new play, no matter how important, with slovenly second-rate scenery or costumes Jhe'd be shouted down. But the Mefc thinks it can get away with it. At .$7.70 top, the Met - poses its close to 4,000 seats to a new show with re-painted drops and flats, and shabby costumes. •. Maybe that's economy* And may- be it's suicide. Not'that the hew opera is in itself any great shakes. It won't stay in the repertory very long; BUt there have been worse shows given a better chance. And Edward Johnson and the Met direc- torate ought, to realize by now that the. days of iive-'em-cake are over. There is still; and always will be. probably, a certain percentage/ of customers who' will go to opera no matter -where, how or when. But that doesn't pay. the bills. The bills are* paid by that, additional mob •Which fills the pews, who are at^ tracted by worthwhile theatre. Because that, in the final analysis, is what opera is—theatre. Highly sensitized^ perhaps; off in a corner, perhaps—but theatre. And nothing proves this contention better than the current new opera, 'Cappn- sacchi.' As a dramatic, vehicle for Walter Hampden, it got a certain amount: of attention. Transmuted to operatic regions it is still a creaky ( though occasionally exciting melo- drama. The musical score* intended by v the composer (so he, says) tc merely underline the dramatic ac- tion, is just about that. . As a com- posite, the stage antics impress more than do those in the pit. Originally, this play was conceived as a poem by' Robert Browning, 'The Ring and the Book,' It was a very . long-winded poem, one of Browning's poorest efforts, but .'intriguing from a literary, standpoint because of its unique and complicated Viewpoint. The story of .a crime and intrigue, the. poem tries to present fully the. various - viewpoints of everybody concerned. In 'transmuting this to the. stage, Arthur Gppdrich and Rose A,, Palmer simplified things consid- erably; centering the plot. In operp tic clothes, the plot and action are the same as in the drama. Play was produced by and with Walter Hampden in New York in November, 1926. Hagedorn, the : composer, saw it, liked it and started to work on it here,-finishing-it in .Miami. But the first performance •it got was in Germany in 1932. Vienna also saw it before America .got a peek at it for the first time Thursday (4) night at'the Met. Hageman's music is a puzzler. O Dutch extraction, he has a decidec ■Viennese lilt in his work. Well . along in years and with a lot of ex oerience as a conductor and com -losefi he nevertheless doesn't seem jure of himself. For moments his music is very modernistic and in the heo-Stravinsky school. For moments 'only, however, because most of the time his. score is reminiscent of the Italian composers* without the tinkly components thereof. And through - out* it is full of artnoyingly reminis- "cent strains. It totals into more of an unhappy pot pourri of various Strands than an original composition. From a singing . standpoint, the 'Met gave the performance its best. Lawrence Tibbett is the heavy, Guidp, which gives him all the op- portunity 'in the world to strut fcnd swagger around, the stage. (Inci- dentally, this is a thought for film- doni, which hasn't quite figured out what to do with opera singers: the Met doesn't hesitate making them Heavies, or character actors, whereas Hollywood thus far has alwavs tried to make thfeni romantic leads With, sometimes, disastrous results.) Helen. Jepson is a lovely picture as Guido's wife. fMarld Chamlee, in the title Both the theme and music , of this ballet are interesting, but the dances are ugly and anything but original. Even if they hadn't been'podr, how- ever, their effect would probably have been spoiled by the. costumes, which .made everyone lodk as. un- graceful as possible. They are garish, unartistic and cluttered up with un- justifiable gadgets and frills. First scene plays in a forest on an : maginary island. Animals are seen. playing under the trees and then the inhabitants : ; of the island come to gather, fruits. Storm approaches.-ahd all the: islanders run for shelter ex- cept Venka. Lumawig, god of the storm, passes over the forest in a >lack storm cloud, and annoyed at Venka's lack. of fear, strikes him dead. Islanders return and, finding' Venka dead, beg the . god to give him'back, but they are answered only by the angry claps of thunder. Finally, spurred -on by Habima, the wife of Venka, they .become defiant and go off in a fantastic war dance. Second scene shows the throne of Lumawig resting, on a storm cloud above the mountain top. After one of his servants does some rearrang- ing, of the • sky, taking down the moon and putting up the sun,, the god awakes to find the inhabitants of the island'all gathered on top of the mountain, shouting defiance at him. His warriors stand ready to defend him, but-he tells them not to bother; his throne is impregnable. Then tiie island women, start to dance/ Led by Habima,' wife of the slain warrior, their dance, becomes more and more provocative, until it lures the god and his guards down - from the cloud throne onto the earth. Once. Luipa- wig has comie' down from his throne, it is an easy thing for Habima to snatch the thunderbolt, symbol of his power, away from him. There is a peal of thunder and the ffod vanishes. In his place appears Venka, thus, returned to his people. He and his wife do a dance of joy and triumph. . ' Helnl • BASKETBALL WITH STRIP-TEASE FUVS Basketball is no dice for burleycu houses. That is what the Apollo (burlesk) West 42nd Street has decidec after trying to interest the strip-tease fans for 10 weeks. It cost the house $1,000 to find out. House paid salaries of 13 players each week for the Monday night contest but regular patrons failed to enthuse.. Apollo still retains its Amateur Nights on Wednesdays- and continues to. go for novelty stuff op vaudeville. Has used small toe ballet to get away from .usual stripping and this week is using an aerial act (The Santellos) and comedy team billed as-. Three Lunairicks. GIRL IN FISHB0WL Burlesque House Tries Lobby Nov- elty—Girls Alternate Raymond operators of the Star and Century, rooklyn, N. Y., are exhibiting , the 'Girl, in the. Fish Bowl' lmmick in the lobby of the Century as a cuffo come-on. Rights were secured from Bern ays Johnson; originator* Gal in glass has been heretofore confined : to iteries,, haying been used first in Billy Rose's defunct Casino .de Paree and later in the French Casi ' a first time use in a'theatre. Raymonds have taken a sixrweek contract for the use Johnson's idea. House girls are used alter- nately... idea was for both houses to. use .it but Star lacks lobby space. Monte Carlo, Feb. 1. With the Monte Carlo Opera sea- son under way under irection of Charles Putman more names have been added to the programs in an effort to make the 1937 season the best since the war. Reynaldp Hahn will appear for the first time here in charge of the orchestra, on Feb; 3, When the 'Festival Mozart' will be presented under the direction of Sacha Guitry. Henri Rabaud will direct the or- chestra on Feb. 10 and 12, and Sid- ney , Beer, will present concerts on the 17th and 19th. Composer Rich- ard Strauss will present a concert on March 12, Bruno Walter on March . 31, and the Greek Master DimitrirMitrbpoulous will be * in charge 6ni March 3. ' Artists on the program include Charles Pansera; Mile. Gioconda de Vito, Gaetane Ulimo; Anita Volfer, Jacques Thibaud, Walther Gieseking, Umberto Benedetti;. Marjorie Law- rence, Mine. Eide Norena, Mile. Plio Palo. Fritz Kreisler will present con- certs on March 1.7 and 10 and Serge Rachmaninbv will play March 24 and" 26. Adolf Busch, April 2; Ruth Slenczinski, April , and Mile. Francoise Holnay, will sing April 9. Others who will also appear, on programs are . Pau| Tprtelier, Van Bocxtaele and Mme. Paulette Mayer, pi 1st. Mexican Cleanup Mexico , ity, Civic fathers have warned lesque houses' to dirt from •their programs iii of losing their licenses, Several shows mandate. the Lola Pierce 111 1 Billy Watson's Beef Trust played to heavy business at Rialto, Chi, last week!.^^Lpla .Piercej.' starred stripper, was forced to leave show because of illness. ' Pierce girl was replaced by Babe Davis. Kpner's Recital Pauline Koher, American inter- pretive dancer, signed by Ed Perkins for a concert seri the west coast beginning early in March. Will take in Hollywood. San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco. D; , just back from the Soviet, will give a New York recital at Town Hah before ' westward, Clause Bars Burlesque . Louis, - Feb. . Whatever hopes Oscar Dane may have . entertained: in introducing a Negro or burlesk show in shuttered Orpheum, downtown Fanchpn & Marco house, closed. several weeks ago when F&M failed,to obtain con- cessions from 1ATSE ' relative to stage 'hand personnel, was .blasted When representatives' of Charles Cella,- owner , of property declared lease specifically prohibited burlesk in this house. "- Recently Pane opened negotiations with Harry C; Arthur, for Orpheum on which F&M-has a three year lease. Dane said he wouid seek angel to help him open hpiise for an all sepia shpW. However- Dane has been identified with independent burlesk here, fpr many years and it was figured he intended to install that type of entertainment. Independent Burlesque Week of Feb. . ;China Dolls'—Gayety. Minneapolis. 'X'iUdlea In. Lingerie'—Rialto, Chicago. --■■'TeaHe> hnd.Wheezes'—Oasln Torotilp. 'Fades and -Paticlee'—Open. 'Swing Girls'—Lyric. Ailentow.n, Mon.- Tue;:; Majestic. Harrlshurg, Wed.; Capitol. Reading, Thnrs.-Frl,; Majestic r WI)liamsp6rt, Sat. - 'toylnnd—Tr.6c;; Phlladoiphlai 'Swing Yoiir . Baby 1 —Hudaoni Union City. ' 'Twinkle Tooh'- . / ... Tues.. ami Wea. .'Pepper Pot Revue'—Howard'. -'Crnv.y. Quilt'—Bhiplre, N'ewarlt, VNb'Uii But Oniiics'—Gnyety, - ..i.:isrton.' ..: "4'op Hat Rpvue.'^Gayety. Baltimore. ' 'ParlH By Nlgrlu'-^-CaplloI. Toledo. 'Alohte Carl6 Girls'—(4ayej.y, Detroit, ■Merry Mnldeliw'—Carilck.. St. Louis; . . .'Pardon tho Glatnour'-^-CaHlno, Pitts- burgh.' '' . ' .;■ 'TiVlnUle Toe's'-r-Lyric, ildgepprt, ThuiH.y I'Yl. and Hat.: 'Bozo Snyder's —• Century, Brook lyh.- . 'Beet Trusl'-^Presklent, Dea MolrteB. Burlesque Reviews ORIENTAL, N. Y. (STOCK) ■Living' Minskys, H. Kay and Mor- ton,, appear how to be acquiring -a Ziegfeldian complex tp augment their predilection for advertising their ability-to breath. They've got a long way to go to equal ziegfeld, but, if they know the secret of life, they should impart at least a small portion of knowledge to their show- stager. From the looks of. the new presentation which opened on a grind policy Friday (5)^ the house producer must be quite inanimate. Mirtskys are spending a little more coin oh their shows than the other Metropolitan exhibitors of flesh and filth, but without achieving much* Flesh is pink and young and seem- ingly firm .(from the loge section), but in' a frame , that's an audience- chaser instead of holder. House has been pretty successful since its Christmas night opening, but if the dullness continues it will certainly start slipping. ' House* with its miniature stage and off - the - beaten -path location, must depend on its shows to draw. This show will not get any word-of- mouth. support, probably the re- verse, in fact. Bpbby Sanford (he operated' a showboat on the Hudson) is billed as the stager; Jimmy Mahr gets credit for the dances (and npt much* credit is due): Mischa Salmon did the scenery, While Russ Kahn batons the pit orchestra. All of them could benefit by a trip down to the Irving Place, one of the city's rowdier bur- lesk. spots, because , the' only, things burlesk-y around the Oriental right now are the strippers and the con- cessionaires. Comedy is pretty brutal, with two of the bits (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and the dice game) lifted almost bodily from two vaude acts, though not done .nearly as well here by the burley comics. . Other comedy, por- tions are typically -burlesque except for the surprising minimum of dirt, and all of them are typically blah. . Strippers do the usual-undressing, though showing less here than at most pf. the other jspots/with a gilded dancer : and her ' exceptionally well* educated stomach and thigh muscles really stealing the show. She's billed as Little Egypt' and Will probably wind , up in one of the West 52nd street niteries before many 'weeks go by. Other strippers aTe Vireihia Mann, Gladys Fox, Queenie King, Julie Bryan; Terrah. Noah, Mile. Verhe:. Comics and straight men in- clude Phil Silvers, Jack LaRue, Al Golden, Jr., Hank Henry, Sid- Stone, Show's juve singer is Henry La- Marr, while Ralph Brown and Rol- land Holder make up a male colored buck 'n' wing team who ,dance okay but are out-of-play in a white, strip show. This week's show' title is ?From Bad to .Worse'—and it ? s just that.. Scho, TWINKLE TOES ; (CENTURY, BROOKLYN) Usually boastful of moderately clean shows, the Raymond Bros, this week has a'highly spiced Izzy Hirst wheel portion; Show was caught by Raymonds in Union City, N. J.> to permit changes, customary deletions and building up of weak spots. Ray- monds admit that 'Toes' was difficult to ' alter, because of roughness all through and that little was done in the way of reform. House added several 'attractions' to maintain its show values, which here- tofore Were not found lacking. Madge Carmyle, ace stripper and dancer, and Midgie Parks, stripper and balloon dancer, are plenty nude but never attain the bare facts status of the show proper; Aunt Hattie, 200- pound, colored gal, stopped the show with her risque songs and mock strip .for-an encore. Hefty Hattie drops her .dress in a quickie to re- veal ebony; undies. Good for plenty of laughs. 'Kiki' Roberts, widow of late Jack (Legs) Diamond, ' the, piece de. resistance of the house's added fea- tures. ; Miss . Roberts was obviously engaged for the value of her rep and not for talent. Fan dance she does at the conclusion of the show could have been spotted : as opener and done on a bicycle instead of her toes With. equal results, GAIETY, N. Y. ', Abe Minsky and Izzy Herk have tried a little showmanship in form of a European finished, nude dancer (with talent) and the application of a little soap -and water to good results. House carries the average number of strippers (5), augmented by a line of 14 and six: showgirls, to slake the psycho patrons. There's as much un- covered as ever, which is'plenty, but it has taken on a thin veneer that sort of. removes the raw beef hue; . Trick 1 of revealing all as soon as possible to keep up interest is dis- pensed with here. 'Same procedure would probably spell curtains else- where. Trick lighting, neat costum- ing and obvious thought Replaces the short order meat-on-a-dish attitude. Jane Dobbins, the imported Amer- ican girl, who actually went to Eu- rope, on art exchange basis with the Alcazar to Par s, displays more than a strip talent in her turn. Clad in transparencies the girl removes th* upper half completely during her wiggle terpmg in first number done before the curtain in the manner of the teasers. Second appearance in a production number, and in the alto- gether, is also more arty than lpne- shpremanish. 6 Dorothy Dee, Betty Duvan, Diane Johnson and the pop Joan Carroll and Toots Brawner strip in the order or disorder named. Gals all know -their business though last two men- tioned are high-schoolers. Of the funny men Frank X. ilk is the best. Npt dependent on his ma- terial or comic raiment. Silk is of the school that, really has talent. Maybe he has too much for Comfort Of other humorists, ex-vauder Herb Faye and Walter Stanford. Situations, although probably an- tiquated, somehow gather a freshness here that is not in evidence else- Vrtiere. Added to this, is the fact that same are also de-blued. Leon Devoe and Joe Lyons play straights. Geor- gie Kaye, singer, is a pleasant change from the frog voiced'yodeTers of the profession, • ■:■ Chorus is ho worse, and possibly-a little better than the average. Work is certainly in the latter category, Better all around performances are probably accountable in the better thah minimum pay that Gaiety, insti- tuted early last summer as an added inducement when the girls shortage Was first felt; . Hurl WEEK-END BURLESQUE PROSPERS IN Reading, Now in its second 'revival' year— in the Orpheum last year—burlesque here, at present in the Capitol the- atre, is swinging along With a satis- factory volume of business'thus far. The house is operated every Thurs- ,day and Friday, matinees and nights, by L B. Hurst, Philadelphia, pre- senting IBA wheel shows doing a-21- week circuit, most of them one-Week stands. For the rest of each week the. Capitol is a picture house. Jack. Beck is manager on burlesque dates. .. Starting from, a week in the Troca- derp, Philadelphia, companies doing burlesque here spend Mpnday and Tuesday in the Lyric, Allentpwn, and the rest pf the week in Beading,- William'sport and Harrlsburg. Each company carries its own musical di- rector, 16 girls in the line and 15 principals. -The route covers To- ronto, Can.; Minneapolis, St. Louis; Chicago, Toledo,- Cleveland, Des Moines, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Balti- mpre, Washington, Union - City, N., J.; Boston, Bridgeport, Newark and Brooklyn. Factor aiding burlesque this year, after less satisfactory results last season, is a more liberal advertising policy, Capitol is drawing from many towns outside this immediate district. Gincy Burlesque Lease Is Ripe for the Courts incinriati, Feb. 9. Some ligitation. over the Empress here, which reopened Friday (5) after being closed because, of the flood. Art Clamage, operator of the Avenue- and Gayety houses, Detroit, claims to have secured a lease, but the present owner, Jack Kane, fuses to vacate'. Looks as though they'll fight it out in court. Canton Burlesque Folds Canton, ., Bob Burch's burly stock company folded here Thursday (4) after 21 Weeks, longest burlesque run .here in almost ten years. Burch gave no rea- son for closing the house, other than he had other plans for the immediate future. r Final week's business was better ■ than any in more than a month and settlement here of, a sit-down at the Hercules Motors Corp.* return- ing 1,700 men to thejr jobs, would have helped business further. Tod Much Stripping Chicago, Feb. Milt usteV's Chinese stri Amy Fong, at the Rialto, to .d.oubie Colisimo's scheduled. ■ Reason, iven by the stripper was that she couldn't do the 4 a.m. show and keep up four or five buvlcy performances at the same time.