Variety (Mar 1937)

66 V4IIIC1V MOWiE HEVHEWS Wedneeday^ March 24, 1937' MUSie HAJI4-, Y. Radio City Music Hall's, curteht stage , show is in three unrelated sec- tions, pretentious and colorful, but, •with only one exception, slow and never very peiiiettating of audience- emotions. Show's lone'interlude of sbck' pToporiions: is. ,also comprised of an entertainment style that's bfeen quite foreign to the Rockefellers' showplace, namely, hillbillies. But it isn't the'latter (the M; H; male glee club) who register the Click so much a^ the eccentric dancing of the vaude vet, Art Frank, show's only ©Vitside act :thisrweek. Van Lihdhe'is credited with di- recting "The Rill Billies' section of the Ihree-^part show, and he does a • line job of byilding tip to Frank's solo hoofing in front of the rilstic choral group. All of Frank's three routines register with the crbwd, his topper being the impression of a modern hotcha singer, and the half- house gave him a sweU sehdoff. Spe- cilft' mijsic and lyrics by Maurice fiiarbn ahd Albert Stilltnan help greatly : the illusion that the glee club boys are from the Virginia hills; Stillman's lyric coupled with Kay Swift's: music also build up to the opening scene, 'The Trojan Horse.' Robert Landrum does the comedy vocalizing in front of the traveler., •which parts for a setting and dance by .the Rockettes that's a constant repeat at. the M. H. Actually the line's routine is Russell Markert's military drill, only in this instance girls carry spears instead of muskets as they . come out of the big prop. Show's finale is The Dance of the Hours.' ballet to the ipusic^lrom ^La Giocoiida/ which is also a repeat for the M. H. The'graceful Nicholas Dakisi and Betty Baiinister do dMb terpsing with Florence Rogge's toe vcdi^s, augmented tor the blbW- off by' the Rockettes. Colorful cosr turning, and excelleiit lightiitg high- lli^^t this section. Erno Rapee leads the Music Hall syi|ik>h in the 'Poet ahd Peasant' overture, a classic HhaKa also pretty sti^ard in the Radio.City theatre,' , to get under way; the 38 inihutes of sta^e. and orchestra melange/ . fric currently is' Joe E. ^Brown's (BKO). Biz (Thursday). opening night Scho.' l)uman stupidity of the whole mess again made' manifest. Here is emo- tional h^aH-tug that ha^ not failed to excite syrnpathy, applause ahd hisses for the past six months or. longer in. the hewsreels. Animated! map accompanies ' the clips to'. sujg- gest the nature and exteht Of the. naval blockadCi Pathe Par again , team on preparations for the English-Ameri- can slpoping event this summer. They start at the spinning looms and show the niaking of the sails in con- siderable detail. Footage . is pretty long on this arid there's some repe- tition between the l^wo releases. Baseball trai ing by; the sundry big league crews. iii their assorted quartets is . strictly regulation. Lew Lehr is off screen, all the way in his 20th . sbecialty. this week..t>i'6f. I. M. Kuts, Universal's answer to the one-man trend of hewsreel come- dians, takes the laugh honors with a gadget for dunking doughnuts. Cute ■ things in. hats constitute the fashion contribution. . There's an alligktor strapped; to an aeroplane flying over Miami and an NBC-Cole Bros, publicity, stunt, involving lions, among other things that don't seem worth iteriiizing. Land. ALHAMBRA, PARIS , March U< An amateur contest tops this One ahd.gives.the nickel seats a chance to give themselves- a good workout. Americans are billed high oh the program, with Fred Sanborn tak* ing the lead oh ia card ^ which inr dudes the Monroe Brolliers, the Keehe Twins; Vicy and Lamar and Joe Ortnes and partner. Show is slow ' getting started but finishes strong. Trio Voiair, three French aerial acrobats, open with soiiie fair'triekSi Two members play, straight, other does a drunk, which draws only fairly. He elides best when he pulls drinks in- glasses- out of his pocketa after doing stunts in ^e air. Two straights draw well for what they do, , but nothini; extr^ordihary. litarfeFrr^^»hen^X«url^Wrthd^ —Ginette^d-Ricbardff-do.-a-dance: -SSS;' '^^^ light 'nnitninf mftht.: eu^..* .^^^..1.1'^ «..>_k^» netier Embassy NewSreels, N. Y. Hioiitmarish disaster that oc- cttmd Frtdov (19) in N«tu Lon- don;.Texas, iuhen the hiaH school exploded was added to the 'Em-^ lbc(s»vr reels over the tbeeh-end. P<^rdmaunt leads off with, a cap-, tion' recognizing that this close- up of htthuin tertor and suffering 'is ncit: entertainnient and-is not offered as such.'.: Cbmrrtent both ^or Par and the Pathe folloio-up is subdued ancf reverential in the jace of something bevond the power of words. Pathe is the more detailed and —has euerWitnesft iaccbunts. ^eoeral- hoysi d /other who. saw his own . child among the riiins.; a: mother tohb' thanks God for saving- her children;, are, anjtOTtg the citizens toho speak for PatHii >t^lhat4s-mo4t-*loqucnt-i»"the— slab of: granite thai, was flung through the air and deTnolished an dutoinobile parked nearbv. Both reels had that. Speed with Which the event was.CQVered and the dc-:^ veloped negative-; imspooled 1,000 • miles away in^Tunes Square is an- other exampie'.dj^:^ reels opcrot- ing at thetr.'ntfuclmum best. .It's such fine iebrk 'ds this that ex- cuses some of the press dpent j>lants that clutter 'em uo. Here, : of course, is emotional voltage, the blojw that stuns. . . 'fiTosottal stuff, views of the piled uv cojfftns watting their I'onnq vic- tims, the : numbed r with anquish parents and bystanders, the tdn- qlsrt mass of splinters the school- -books left , on desks—it's olcntM heartache, Abottt eight minutes in all. . Then into the comparntTt'el]/ pleasant matter of sitdowh strikes. Reels are edited .this week to go to post in the foUpwing irqtation: - Sit-dbwh strikeis. Supreme Court, St. Patrick's Daiy, Spain, Yachting praoaratibns, Royalty. ' Which is probably about right, cbnsiderihg that filler and who-cares stuff predominates otherwise. There's a 'Stranger Than Fiction' from Universal and 'Quaint Quebec' in color from Jim Fitzpatrick to round, out the hour. No identification of the first clip from Hearst. Just right into the action. Qnly the voice of Jean Paul King tags it. Sit-down stuff is shown in some detail, mostly Detroit and Chrysler. Massing of pickets and some huge crates full of nuts and bolts used as barricades brings allu- sions to possible violence. Comment is neutral, unless the word 'hysteria,' as* used to descrit>e the spread of sit- downs, might be picked on. Roosevelt versus Copelahd, Burke, Hoover and a couple of others is the line'^up on: the Supreme Court issue. Wipht caught, they listened to the • Senators, but Hoover drew a derisive reaction which students of propa- ganda might read as proof thait his being against the prOSM>sed changes would not particularly strengthen that side. , , / Spain is treated by .Pathe and ] routine. Short openli^, number is followed by the male poiftioh doing a fair solo on a banjo. Girl also does a solo, aiid they double in a waltz number in. which she tries to insert some comedy via rhumba shakes. Act is far from tops and the chiinges are jerky. Jacqueline (jlaude, i^ench so-, prano, follows. Her voice is strong and. clear and goes, well with the very French songs she offers. First act that r eally catches, she'is called back for jnbre, \ Monroe Brbthei^. make the -first appearance for the American con- tingent Their first time in Firance, they should be' good for other trips. Comic uses bis laugh while trying to talk to . good advantage, although the audience ■ could not understand liis French When lie- did get some- thing out. Laugh is liked, however, and fast moyen^ent draws well. Mauricet, French comic, comes next. His is the usual French act of its-^erwith-^or-ies-and^ongs-based: on politics and World - eVeiits. He razzes, politicians and their works and finishes by.roasting Tino Rossi. Seen here not too long ago, but liked a'nd okay. Keene ."Twins, Vie and Lainar, fol- low with their tap acrobatic routine. Opener with the entire troupe is fair, and gives way to some good stepping by the two males. Twins return . With some interesting and well-executed acrobatic dancing. While the entire troupe closes with acrobatics. Freddie Sanborn closes the first half to the best hand of the bracket, if not thej^tire show. French of Sanborn's partner is bad,- which de tracts from the act. Silent Clown ing of SanBorh needs no language, however, and he makes his xylo- phone speak for itself. His busy manner and continued action an- swers the French': conception of Americans fand he is repaid accord- ingly, -Joe Ortnes and Partner' open the second halt with good balancing and juggling. Wihdiip is done with spin.. ning illuminated hoops which are lighted against a diark background, .which, catches best results of alL Billed as the 12 Liazeed Arabs, there were only 10 in this acrobatic troupe in the show caught. Orie girl in the troupe works right along with the men and supports lower parts of the pyramiids. They've Worked mostly in America and go oyer well. Amateur contest,. last number, is presented by Joe Bridge. Regular Major Bowes setrup, gong and all. From 12 to 15 Wbuld-he artists are fiveh a trial each rtighti. Prizes are 37.50, $22.50 and $15 highUy, with grand prizes consisting of $150, $75 and $45 to be awarded at the finals, in two weeks. AU but one of the, tyros .on the night caught were singers. Fivie judges volunteer from the audience. Any act not liked is howled down or off the stage long before the gong rings. Although male contestants led by two to one, a girl won the top prize on the night viewed. Piano .is the only accompaniment given the amateurs. Serge Glykson in the pit. Mile. Pairai^A^nt, liriih the hmrror andl Regine Grandes announces. Hugo. A B C, PARIS Paris, March 7. Getting back to straight music- hall, Mitty Goldin has a well-bal- anced bill this tiiiie, with a French javorlte at the top.. Chaz .Chase and Lela Moore are the only Americans on the' program and both are well liked. Marie Dubas, whose songs are French to the nth degree and liked almost as well, leads on re- turns, with the Yanks and Pierre. Dac close behind. ' Lena and Dora, twb French femme singers, open with three bits of harr mony. Good but badly placed as an opener. Fair applause, hov/ever. Following ■ Max-Martel, French comedian. He opens with gab of the usual music-hall type,, to go into a song, and finally impersonations. Using only cotton, he sticks it on his , face to; Satirize various, personalities of Europer Gets best results with his Hitler. Act nflioves, and was liked. ■ ■ Ghezzi ros.. . follow with .control acrobatics. Roiatine calls for some difficiilt head-arid-hand baliaricing, which is well presented. Finish with a sock dance on their hands. Lela Moore, fiiist of the Americans to appear, does her half and half dance. Half of her body dressed as a. man, other half as ai; woman. She opens with some realistic love-mafc^ ing bh a park bench, to follow with a dance, during which she presents herself with a bracelet and then re- turns to the. bench .for more love. Novelty and convincing presentation of the act .put it over, but the audi- ence, here, was ei bit uhcertaih of What it was all about, at-first. Jacques Tati «is next -With a sports routine. Goes through all the mo- tions of tennis, lacrosse ahd football to mtisic. Follows this with imitation of a boxer in his first ilght, a man fishing, and trick horse-rider, his legs moving as the front legs of the horse would. He is graceful enoUgh and. has a good comedy sense, but it is all a bit thin.. . Marie-' Dubas doses the first half with songs of every iype. Beginning with, comedy, she gets niOre and more serious, to end by offering two venr slow, sad love sohgs. Her voice changes-fittingly and lighting effects, Better than most in France, help a lot. To get off, she had to shake her head, stamp her loot and run. Willardy opens the second half with some lighted cigarette magic. He is. baffling enbugh. Follows the cigarette routine by putting .a canary, an egg and a lemon in paper bags on one table and an orange in a bag .on the'othei*. Peels the orange'to find the lemon, peels the lemon to find the egg, and the canary hops out of the egg when it is broken... . Begging, off because of a cold, Pierre Dac, Old favorite with French audiences, cut his act short. Only one story, a song and a list of ciriacks, mostly hinging on politics, Dac is nearly always a good attraction in this town; his songs in dead-pah are good for plenty of laughs. Victor Gllle, French pianist who comes from a family of composers, follows with selections from: Chopi . Although a classical pianist seems a bit ; but of place, he makes a nice break between two comedians. Holds Jhe^ouse well and the' breathing spell is appreciated.' Chaz Chase eats, dances and bathes his way . to best returns in the sec- ond half. First time in Paris this year, he has been here Often enough in the past fo.k- his act to be known and liked. Pantomime, always liked by the French, makes this act sure- fire, even though there is lots of comedy on the bill. Short one-act comedy with Maris Dubas and Pierre Dac taking the leads is the closer. Thin, but funny. Lionel Cazeaux ih the pit, Mile. OleO announcing. Hugo. HIPP, BALTIMORE Baltimore, March 19. After a succession of name band bookings on its .stage. Hippodrome is trying a unit to stimulate Holy Week biz and, from looks of house opening show, move is a good one. 'Folies d'Amour,' Nick Boila's latest effort, is the bill, and satisfactory. Show, which runs all of one hour, is replete with'showtnanship ahd en- tertainment, thanks to the inclusion of- such standards as Joe arid Jane. McKenna and the Nbvelle Bros, and a clean-looking and well-riiburited production. Opening brings on. line of 12 gals working in front of permanent set- up of feriime band of four sax, four brass and three rhythm, plus leader, who fronts the outfit, taking her stick-weaving cues from the pianists It's an abbve-;the-average aggrega- tion. musically, and they whang out a good show with plenty of tone throughput, Wilford Dubois, juggler, using ten- nis racket and balls, billiard ball rack arid , cue and coins,; starts the proceedings with . a good routine, wbrking easily arid selling nicely. Milton Blakely, terior, follows to fair returns, bringirig on a parade number, gals coming down both sides of bandstand; from rear plat- -fonn. Ballroom team, the Curries, in.a waltz, capably sold. Brief close-in, with scrim, spots Sally and Bobo, girl and a dog, In a short turn, followed by the Novelie Bros, in French unifonus arid put- ting over their usual sock routine of 'aerobatics and flddting. Line num- ber introduces Lorraine Damon as ah Oriental, evidently under wraips for family trade here. Okay, though, and a perfect spot for Joe and Jane McKenna, who , go : right to town. Comedy adagio is highlight, of turn. Band takes over with medley/ and gals really sdl. Must have sturdy lips to play an hour show four times a day, bUt they come-through,, and deserve the solid hand they get. An- other line number, brings back, the Curifies in a modernistic bolero, and the Novelles, how in tux, in the sure- fire bird routine, which never fails. Flaishy finale,. with gals^ beating on drums, closes matters nicely. , Film is. 'When's Your Birthday?' (RKO). Brnm, CAPITOL, WASH. ' Washington, March 20. House back to straight acts again, but has riiixed in enough local talent to keep it far frorin routine. Most hovel stunt is return of .Talbot Has- lett,- who went from sanie istage to Earl Carroll's 'Sketch Book,'-.before newsreeli Turn, done in two against a black drop, is a-la concert,, with baritone going over nicely withi'Sortg of Vagaborid' and;'Show Boat' med- ley. With overture,.this time dressed up by Evelyn Sheridan, pleasant local warbler, also preceding news, possible monotony of virtually seven successive acts is overcome. Regular bill gets under waiy with eight Heleri Reynolds Skaters who flash non-stop routine of Whirls and variations; Next is Arthiu: Reilly. local; newscaster, who does. spiel through lighted opening in backdrop; Making surprisingly satisfactory in- terlude; Wirii Shaw, on next,, sells, sophis- tication-plus via 'De-lovely' and 'Too Marvelous for Words,* giving them 'Lady in Red- as her traditional en- core. Stone and Lee follow with chatter backing \ sbng-dance-trpm- bone-piano business, all as sure-fire ias it is bearded.V Billy Wells and Four Fays finish show with fast succession of single and double comedv acrobatic dances. Rbutine could be cut in half with- out losing anything so far as Cap crowd was copcerned. Pic is 'Espionage' (Metro). Craxg. STANLEY, PITTS. Pittsburgh, March 19. Really only three acts here this week but they're spread out to look like more. Johnny Hamp arid his orch featured, so it's chiefly a band show, with the Samuels Bros, turn sandwiched in and only Stepin Fetchit working apart from others. He's still doing his bit iri one,, the; only break in the full Stage set-up. Average presentation, nothing, dis- tinctive, but moderately; satisfactory. For -Hamp, neW to moyie houses, it's a nice window display but there are still flaws in his showmanship that must be corrected if he's going to make a play for theatre bookings. Musically, outfit gets by with eribi'gh to spare but his mariner of presen- tation' smacks too muCh of dance, spots. One instance is that 'Gobna Goo' number. Hamp explains it's a new recording bt theirs and then proceeds in exactly the manner it was done for the discs. Iri a m.ike. or on wax, a gal starting it off with a trill of the title and then break- irig in again a couple of minutes later -with a full chorus is all ri<;ht, .biit on a stage it looks clumsy when she steps out front at the start, then sits do-wh again and marches back after a verse. Same with one of Hamp's male vocalist announced for 'Sylvia' and then doesn't step down until number has been gone through once. Maestro could have simply mentioned the turie and then in- terpolated an introduction right be- fore singer got under way. They're minor flaws, to- be sure, but Hainp should watch them early in the game rather than later. His novelty numbers, while hardly orig- inal, are fairly effective-^in turn that hoke fan danCe by three of the boys, which has. been done, to death, by the way; the imitations of various name barids, and a brief , take-off ^on the amateur hour. Carries three vocalists; one John McAfee, doubles in sax. Jack Campbell and Millicent Hope.: Latter a striking brunette leaning to the crooning blues' style and makes neat alppearance; Samuels Bros,, (New Acts) and their two. femmie partners split their turn into three sessions and all of it flashy hoofology presented smartly. Their last appearance follows Fet- chit, back hei-e for second time iri less than, a year: with exactly the same routine. ; Cinema laizybbnes riiight dig up some new material for his p.a.'s since; he's been wbrking the thing to death, riot only on the stage but on his guest shots ori network pro- grams: Only alteration is the. finish, in which he's wheeled on in a cart tO 'take a bow.. -Curtains come in on Hsunp's themer but should arrive at end of the . Samuels flashy firiale. a more logical finish. Dave Broudy's ork in pit plays only si single pop tune in what's supposed to pass for an over- ture. Flicker 'John Meade's Woh\an' (Par ), with Betty Boop cartoon and Par newsreel rounding out Biz jiust fair, with little more tiian half down- stairs and sparse balcony. Cohtn, ROXY, N. Y. . Four short turns are sandwiched in between two numbers by the house line of girls land it's called a stage show, . with the mixture dragged out to 40 minutes of running -time. ^Friday night found the at- tendance good, but the enthusiasm, for the stage proceedings slender 'Breezipg Home' (U) is the mai screeri everit. •Following -introductory 'tap routine by the girls, two opening acts are put on in succession. First it's the diverting Carlton. Emmy and-hi pooches and then Mottier arid Davis, two lads of ; the body beautiful calii bre. Who carry on -with a series of. smoothly; arid deftly' devised hand and leg Stands. More acrobatics de- rive frorii the next turn,. Al 'Whitey' Roberts. Latter, also tries gagging arid pl^te juggiirig, but thb real kick of his act lies in his clog acirpbatics, with the interpolation of rope sltip- pirig riiaking them that much mov diffictUt and interesting. - .Finale presents, the line in a whirl of capes and rhiriestone. umbrellas and the teiam of Harris, Claire; and Shannon, two young woinen and a male, hit it up colorfully if not ijuite expertly oh such'ballroom gyrations as the tango) the waltz adagio , and plain lowdbwh hop-skipjping with a dame perched On. either arm. ■n ST. LOUIS, ST. L. St. Louis, March 18, With Faih'Chon &• Marco's do^vri- town. de luxer, Arribassador, having discontinued, stage shbWs "Thursday (18), St. Louis becomes only house in town. with.cOmbo policy, and high quality of bills offered every week should put -theatre -in the heavy sugar soon. Bills offered are among best ever, seen here, and current pro-^ gram runs 7S - min., abbiit 14 min. over average running time.' ' Nbvelty' occurs at start, when Roixyettes come on %nd, while doing a tap .routine, cut up pieces of folded paper and,, when completed, exhi it a double cutout of Johnny Perkinb. m.c,, how in his eighth Week, which are distributed to mob out front Perkins gjBgs with line and intro- duces Van Cello and Mary Make- trick. Former, in tails, does a nice novelty foot juggling turn and wins bows. .In next slot is Bbbbsr.Short, a nine- year-old Negro. Youngster - is an ivory tickler and warbler, and wows 'em by warblihg *It's a Sin to Tell a Lie,' also a piano.number from 'Sam- son and Delilah,' and, for an encore, sings 'Rhythm in My Nursery Rhymes.' Next come Bobby Tomson, Betty- Lewis, Vivian Rhien . and Frances Bennett of line, and gals, do nice close harmony with 'Swing High, Swing Low,' and a tap bit as balance of line comes on for a smart routine. Jack Prince, who copped week's .enr gagement by winning amateur con- test several weeks ago ahd is h.o. by virtue of audience demahd. is on. neixt He sings 'The Night Is Yourig and You're; So Beautiful' and 'Dinah' and,. after flock of bows.' comes back for 'Star Dust.' Patrons also insisted that Perkins sing chorus of 'Star Dust.' Freddy Lightner, brother of Win- hie, and Rosella .McQueen come on- fbr 10 minutes of foolery between themselves and later with Perkins. Pair sing special numbeir, and turn ends with -a bit of soft-shoe hoofing. This brings show up to Park and Clifford, hand balancers, with Per- kins assisting for laughs.. Balancers do some of their stuff on a. platform behind the Venetian blind as line does a colorful disk routine; Coming on.to apron for rest of rou- tin's synchrohized with Joe Winters' tooters. Park and Clifford scored with every bit, with Perkins taking part in comedy parts. Line returns for another routine, with principals all coming on for a final bow. Screen offers 'On the Avenue' (20th). Biz good. .Sahu. TABOR, DENVER Denver, March 20, When the Tabor brought back vaiide they started with seven acts, but how they have chopped it to five, but so long as the audience thinks it's a good show, that's suffi- cient; Crowd at the Saturday show Caught was good. Opens with the Harrisons, comedy and bicycle act. Comedy opening, then the femme does some difficult pedestal work followed by both workirig on the bike together. Okay for opener. Baldwin and Bristol, cop. and bartender, give the crowd oldtime songs and chatter. It's ah oldtime vaude act with , plenty of hoke, burlesqued melodrama, arid they get good hand. Reams arid Fancheoh are a heat darice team, with their test being a number with their right and left legs chained to- gether, respectively, dancing taridem to the tune of the 'Prisoner's Song.' , Milton Wolf has the m. c. job and does an impersonatiori act, with re-i lated bits. He also taps. Aerial La Zellas, in a balancing act, dose the show. Customers; at least, get their money's worth here. Three hours and It minutes of stage and scleen. Feature, three shorts, and news make up the screen end^ and thejop is only two bits.