Variety (May 1937)

Wednesday, May 19, 1937 VARIETY HOUSE REVIEWS VARIETY 55 EARLE, PHILLY Philadelphia, May H. Freezing or sizzling, sunny or moist, name-bands pack Philly houses, as is demonstrated aigain with appearance. of Guy. Lombardo and Royal Canadian creW on Earle stage. Featuring on screen, 'Way Out West' (Metro), with Laurel and Hardy, who have a fair Philly fol- lowing, house was nicely occupied when caught, at 11:30 a. m. opbner Friday. High school and college kid crowd was out in force, but: there was also a healthy sprinkling of older heads. ■ " ; , With only two extra attractions m Lombardo unit, show is a little shorter than usual, and-seems, to end all too quickly. Could have well used orie more number liy the band, although whole set-up as it now stands is calculated to leave aud inoi^e than pleased. Unusuial is ovation the gang gets on opening , of thie curtains. Partly, due to nice appearance of the.band and effective setting. Drops are very fiill and of greyish-silver silk mate ial. Showed bandsmen oft to ad vantage in their red jackets. Seating of the orch also attractive, with the two pianos. bn one side, one back of and higher than the other. . Following entrance theme, trio does 'Little Old Lady.' Carmen, ac- companied by muted trumpet, then goes into an arrangement of 'This Is My Last Affair.' The two ivory- thumpers are featured in 'Midnight in Mayfair' and also do a strdng backing for brother Liiebert chirping •When My Dream Boat Comes Home.' Carmen gets healthy plug from lead- er before trio goes, into 'Boo-Hoo'/ which he authored. Strong close is provided by trio doing 'Love Bug' with interpolations by brass. Accompanying the band are Gower and Jeanne, ballroom .terpers, and a Bobazooka Burns' protege, Rufe Davis. Dancing duo are a doiiple of kids with okay personalities who aippear .tb be, having a. great time doing their stuff. Real applause grabber, however, is Davis. Seldom have Philly auds let themselves go in rafter-rattling ap- peals for more than they did when caught. Five encores. leavb the kids down front, and many of their elders, whistling and howling. Davis puts in hill-billy, appearance with a banjo, tut uses the warbling and picklhg only as a vehicle for his real forte-sound effects. Herb. HIPP, BALTIMORE Baltimore, May 14. Mild show at Hipp this week with four acts using, up 44 niinutes.in which to sell the customers sonie rather puhchless doings.- Featuring Tito GUiziar, in the deUce spot. Rest of bill has Three ICitaros, Ross and .Bennett and the Mattison Rhythms. . Kitaros, two men and Jfemme for dressing, Jap nsley act; open, with okay barrel juggling and. usual bal- ancing stuff, finishing with a three high platform toss to position. Nice- full stage flash' with intermittent clowning good for some laughs. Tito Guizar oh next, opens with 'a Spanish number, followed by 'Si- boney' and 'Serenade in the Diark.' Uses guitar for legit accompani- ment and has a good stage presence; Should dress more effectively. Caught opening show, was working in ordi- nary business suit. Can make better bid for femme response With snap- pier wardrobe. Sells very nicely and responds with 'Good Night My Love' for well-earned encore. Ideal spot for a coniedy sock here, but Ross and Bennett are in the trey spot. Youthful talking song-and- dancers score fairly well with their gags.' Femme member, a giggly silly type, helps, to sell. Boy con- tributes an okay dance interlude and elosing song and dance of duo rates legitimate curtains. Mattison Rhythms, dance: flash, working full stage and made up of f6ur girls, the O'Connor Twins, Leo O'Neill and a boy singier,. clo.Se. mat- ters in good .shape with a f ast mov^ ing hoofing session, O'Neill, in two separate spots,, comes through,, with some okay routines which he sells capably. Picture is 'Thunder in. the. ity' (Col) plus V1 o ri n e Quintuplets (Pathe) in ah entertaj ing short. Burm. ploits libay have, she.is hardly suited for vaude,. even in this decadent pe riod of variety. Act laid an egg at today's opener, despite .a fairly well-filled house, and the headliner failed to draw even a single bow. Holding oyer at the brpheum for a second week, and scoring decisive ly is Sherrill Cohen's novelty act, 'How to Undress in Front of Your Husband.' Jt's a new type of strip act,: excepting that it is done with finesse, lacking .in any suggestive ness and spliced with genuine com- edy. Pair of femmes and ah an- nouncer are used. Qne of the girls, a looker, undresses as a refined woman might , be expected t(? ' dpi^ TJie oth.er'femme. is a Bedelia type, showihg-,. the contrast.'by sUpshod methods of disrobing. Cdmmentatbr provides the comedy lines with neither of the girls called upon-to offer, dialog. Act. is .$o geared that it will fit in on any bill without •igiving offense. Opening turn is the Arizona Duo, pair of youthful ropers, who present a conventional rope spinning turn and fill the spot nicely. Undress act is jotted in deuce spot for holdover week, with Ted and Al Waldman, blackface comedy harmonica team, treying. Pair!s music is spifly, but most of their gags run heavily to the blue. Mris. (Bafrie) Barrymore is in next to shut spot,, with Medley and Du- prei?, and .an linprogifamimed stooge, closing. Pair's .comedy singing and talking: gets over* for excellent rer suits, while stooge provides a few lafts. Screen 'Mama , teps Out' (Metro) '23% Hours Leave' (GN). V Edwa. ORPHEUM, L. A. Los. Angeles, May 12. Elaine (Barrie) Barrymore will havc' to. get new material or at. least, some:kind of a sketch with comedy Imes and situations, if she is to conr .tinue in vaude.The Ariel; who made newspaper history in-her pursuit of Galaban, makes her local vaiide debut here at the Orpheum, topping the show in billing,, but occupying the lowest bracket in point of per- formance. Ex-Mrs. John Barrymore is . ap- pearing in a one-act sketch titled ^he Talented Talcotts,' with Eddie Franz playing the lead role opposite. Its a weak yarn built around, the personal battles, of a married vaude team, with the scene laid in a dress- ing room of a small theatre. Franz carries the bulk of the tulrn and does as good a' job as could be ex- pected considering the material he has to w6i:k with. Miss Barrie • fails to display any unusual histrionic ability and aside from what draw her name ahd her matrimonial ex- Embassy Newsreel, N. Y. The Coronation and the hold-over clips on the Hindenburg disaster :dbmihate the otherwise ;dull news- reel panorama this week. ■ Coronation footage, contributed by all the reels, did not .cover, the actual ceremony opiening day ' (Friday), showing instead portions of the re- hearsal of the ceremonies and stock shots of the Royal Family. Embassy advertised the King's Coronation speech, but this. was covered by Pathe and Paramount; prily by showing folks: listeninig in on the radio. RCA was heavily plugged i the Pathe footage, but Par ignored the company carrying the broiadcast. Pathe also inserted still photos ■ from childhood lip of the new king. While Metro has some in- teresting footage on the reunion of the Duke of Windsor and Mrs. Wallis Simpson, Shows the ex-ruler, de- parting hurriedly to see his future wife, but latter is included by a still photo only. . Destruction of Bilbao, Spain's Holy (jity, is also covered well by Metro, clip showing graphically the appall- ing desolation of a once thriving city via air raids. Also on the European front, Paraimouht reveals Mussolini dedicating a neW motion, icture studio in Italy. President Roosevelt telling a fish story in Galveston, Texas. (Metro) and the San Francisco hbtel. strike (Universal), are about the only other portions of the.reels this week which can be put into the spot-news class. The excellent Fox and Para- mount shots of the actual explosion of the Hindenburg are augmented currently ..by the services for the Zep's dead by Universal and cover- age by Paramount of the investiga- tion proceedings at Lakehurst, Femmies are well taken care of by extensive street, bridal and beach fashion shots by Fox arid U, and that just about ends the interesting celluloid in this week's melange. Rest are stock or routine clips, aug- mented by a travelogue covering Java. 5cho. DENHAM, DENVER Denver, May 15.; Haven MacQuarrie, his assistant: and pianist, three in all, try to put on a stage show at the Denham, and it does hot mean a thing at the. box office. In fact, a double, bill, or pictures as Manager Dave Cockrill. runs them, single bill with a good sprinkling of shorts, would have meant more. In the first place scripts that have been aired on the Chase & Sanborn hour are being used. Of course, it would have run the cdst. up a few dollars (but only a few surely) to have a series of new scripts. Maybe MacQuarrie thinks his radio program did not reach theatregoers, and that new scripts Would have been a use- less expense. Those who both:heard- the airings.and see the show, in Den- ver fail to do much boosting, and in a town no bigger than Denver that, sort of thing travels fast. On the show caught there Were nine bbys and 15 girls on the stage. It's no fault of MacQuarrie's the sort pf talent that applies—in fact some of it was fair-to-middling. But a name or two should be sent along. MacQuarrie means nothing to •film fans, and if only for goodwill alone Warner Bros, should have been willing tb have spent, a few grand to make the show pull. On the screen is 'Her Husband's Secretary' (ITM), and business at the early bargain matinee Saturday was vei-y poor. Rose* Grand Central, N. Y. (SHORT FEATVIIES THEATRE) rand (Central theatre (located on upper train level in the Grand Cen- tral Terminal) enjoj'ed a swank opening attended by social celebs, in- dustry representatives: and the press on May 11. the theatrci which is the largest regularly operated .newsreel house located in a.railway station in the Avoi'ld, opened, its doors to; the public the following day, running oii a 9 a: iti. until midnight schedule.' While the hew spot will not de- pend strictly on- newsreels foi- its programs, much pf the screen mate- rial vfi 11 come from the hews week- lies of Which four now have been contracted. Of the remaining time on the 50 to 60-mihute show sked, cartoon comedies, travel novielties or outstanding short, featuries will be .used; Thus, on the opening \bill, be- sides the selected clips .'from the jnewsreels, 'The Servant of .the Peo- ple' (Metrb deluxe tWo-reel. histor- ical-dramatic subject), and a cartoon cpmedy rounded but the screen fare. Theatre natufaily expects its big grosses to come from the quick turn- over, brief programs . and long grind since the cozy house seats only 242, with room for more than 70 standees^ Besides catering to the trav^ public, with the . management counting on grabbing its share' of about 350,000 persons passing through the terminal daily, the Gtand Cjentral , naturally will benefit from its close.proximity to numerous hotels aihd east side office buildings in the neighborhood; No other theatre of this type is within reasonable walkirtg distance. An unusual feature"l)f the theatre auditorium . is the daylighting, achieved with regular prbjectioh. The RCA .equipment includes such high-intensity projection that virtu- ally normal lighting is used through- out the peirformances. This is an-, bther practical deyelPpment of the drop-in policy. Another. is the ar- rangement of seats to permit easy passage between rows, A third is the pitched fioor which makes the vision of. each seat holder excellent. An- other practical feature of the appeal to traveling" public is the clock. With illiiminated dial, located to the right of the screen. . Auditorium section is framed with a background of . pine boards, de- signed to carry out the restful at- mosphere. This unusual motif is the idea of John Sloan, of Sloan & Rob- ertson, architects for the house, and president pf the theatre operating company, . Sloan also is identified as a commissioner of the state racing board. This quiet mood for. the the- atre interior is in direct contrast to the French renaissance of the Grand Central station. Thie lounging room, immediately oft the entrance to the theatre proper, is decorated in novel fashibn by Tony Sarg. With the hew theatre already pointed out by permanent signs throughout the station, the manaigement expects this lounge to be a central meeting place for. those having appointments to meet friends in the railway depot. David Dubin, veteran, showman and exchange executive, , is theatre manager. Wear. SCALA, BERLIN Berlin, May 3. With Scala closing down anyway for June and July, the. management is playing cautious with a light- weight payroll. The Four Gastons do somersaults from one. bar to the other without- touching' the trampoline. This and other tricks make, good No. 1 stuff, but not too well sold. Ih the deuce is Terra, rapid-fire modeller, who easily fulfills brag to sculpt Wagner in one minute. ' The. Diecks offer standard cycling, punched by a guy Who rides. down a laddci: and up onto platform, . finishing a somersault. Fritz Hiddessen, plus easel, m.G.'s through first half with comic gab and drawings; With each ^appeai- ance. his black and whites get.a little, more suggestive ahd his chatter more insinuating. He's a good artist, but handicapped, when caught, by a house three-quarters empty. Mimi is a contortionist with a pretty smile and. loads of pep whom the aud liked. Three Oifatis tumble and acrbi with tempb and plenty of style. Specialty is a three-man stand with the middle one balanced horizbritally between. Done with exceptional ease, the act goes over well, Frank Eders, billed as the laughing Her- cules, i.s a pleasant strong-arm guy who keeps gigantic lead balls and bullets in constant motion between his chest and back of the neck. Has personality, nbhchalance and humor and gets a lot of well-deserved palm patting. Anita Spada, blonde looker, does two chirps at the mlkc. Pipes are okay, but ditties not .yaude fod- der. Grade Schenck, acrobatic dancer, is more, acrobat than dancer. Joe Mara's theatre Within a thea- tre, mai-lonette stufT, is miich. too Weak arid uriorifiinat fare for the Scala, Ruth and Herby, mixed terp duo, appear, new and. insecure . and dp only bne number, which is just as well. Next to closing is the eagerly I awaited -Meisteir-Scxtette,. foriherly billed as the Comedian Harmonists. They croon and harmonize,: adding hefty chunk of refined dbwning; Which clicks big. Open with 'fieaii- tiful Blue Danube,' doing, in all two sentimehtals and tWo comics; Stamp- ing and palming bring them back for an encore, O'Dprtnell and Blair, in clo.slng spot, give the folks hbkuin. galore.: Teh minutes of everything and everybody socking everybody else and those, out front, holding their sides, are. loath to go home.' .It's an American act. vc^iich has been booked on the Continent for the last four months, and is doing so nicely here .it looks: as if the , two-week stand at the Scala ill be extended tp the end of the month. STATE-LAKE, CHI . . Chicago, May 14. Six crack acts, and two routines by house line make up the best bill this house has seen in many months. Opens with a not too entertaining routine by house'line. Dressed well, but novelty of squatting tP show baby faces painted on tops of hats, while knocking out a tap routine with shoes on hands doesn't shape up. Same line in closing spot looks exactly the bi)posite. First time the new girls' have been introduced, and here they all do. specialties, singly and. in teams, _ . Standouts are singing number by Ona Jbnes, and tap sister-act of Evelynne Ward and Ruth Gans. Handled by . V.erne Buck, tn. C; and orchestra leader since house opened, it gets the friendly: spirit across in great style. . Mbrohi and Coralee, openers, get away to a slpw start, in their hand balancing-acrobatic turn. Couple of clever shoulder and head.spiT'-, ex- cellently timed^ pick it r and they're bang-up at the flnisi'. Girl dbes the talking for both hersolf and man partner, in accent, sfnd affects awkwardness. Only thing about Barry and Whit- lege, in -the second' spot, that's changed is some of the chatter ma- terial, and his "pants; . Switched to striped slacks now, instead of striped formals. Fresh material is as good as the old. They remain a top act. Little too smart for this audience. In stage presentation. Bliss, Lewis and Ash, Will and Gladys Ahem, and Muriel Parker all get away with the customers wanting more, Muriel Parker,, soprano, doing 3:. classical (even with Faust's 'Angel Chorus') semi-classical, and folk song routine, looks to be a cinch tor a holdover. Bliss, Lewis and Ash, two men and a.girl; tap trio are zi'hgb all the way. Toe tap routines done on prop drum, and military trio, as finish, are fine. Next comes Will and Gladys Aherh, solid click. Gags are new, rope tricks different than anybody else's,, and yippee singing along with girl's dancing has 'em right off their seats, Mexican and 'Calamity Jane' stuff still in, slnd still triple bang. Picture is 'Night Key' (U), and last show opening day saw house hear capacity. Loop, LOEWS MONTREAL Montreal, May 16; , Harry Anger, working with some- what scanty, material and lacking variety, puts over' fast-paced, smartly-costumed show here cur- rently to a better than average house at Friday's -(14) opening night, Eddie Sanborn's orch, opening the show, grabs applause in stunts in- volving lining up bra.sscs in upper boxes to spotlighted instrumentation, fiddles in lowers; piano and singers Pn stage and finally curtain ri.sing to orch. swinging hot melodies pn stage. House shown tbsslhg around in feathers at bacJc, act in support bf first turn by McKay and La Vailee, who clown and do.some knpck-about stunts, building up. to soft shoe .stepology. and a flock b£ fllpS; They get a call and return for a drunk scene. • Nicely put acros.? with enough pscudo. rough stiiir to gain plenty 'Of laughs and closing with flips from sitting position .and . flip- ping off stage, Duval, magician, in the deuce,' has a pleasant manner and though he .does nothing hew, ■flicking scores of .yards of .dry goods from: hats, tubes and. han s, Is ap- preciated by the crowd. This act also' has a backing from girl, line coming on In long blue drc.sses to put. on.i itatl conjuring act. Line in century costumes back for Giark and* Eaton, tumblers and acrobat.'?. In the trey, wlio have routine act, but . who. later In the show return for some, stand-out pos- ing and strong man stuff that;gets them the nearest approach to an en- core in the entire show. Final act is Charles Granese, Jean Grancsc and .Tito di Fiorl, Girl sing.s. at miltc aiid i.'; interrupted by the twri. men, who rib each other in dialect from: a box, coming, on stage for a trio; .'Show, closes with, line back a.<; doughboys with rifles in a snappy drill routine. • 'Hit Parade' (Rep) and 'Navy Blues' (Rep) oti screen. Lane. Follow Up Comment'^ (Continued from page 44) increasing lack of woman-appeal news has not already done sb; Doubtful if 'Hymns of : All. Churches' belbngs on this program, destroying , any. build-up the rest of the show' gives. It lacks vitality. Other two shows oh the hour 'Betty and Bob' and Betty Crocker's cookery sessipn-^are splendid models of their kind, Formed, now as ever, sets a standard for housewife . aPr* peal, with mystery, ^intrigue and do- mesticity. Betty Crocker's:: food talks" are hicely done. Ronald Colman,4^adeleine Carrbll^ Riiymbnd Massey, C, Aubrey Smith, David Nivens, Ray Noble and Dpuig- las Fairbanks, Jr„ broadcast a v tribute to Britain's new King and Queen over NBC and BBC from the sound stage of Selzhick'S Interna- tional sound stage. Culver City,. It was not so much what they: said-^ the. Iraditibnally formal; even rever- ential note wais sounded—-as the fact a group bf box office names had been rounded up for a broadcast which made good mid-afternoon reception for American dialers and must have constituted popular stuff, fbr early evening loudspeakering in England. Apparent that the thespians were mindful of. the impression they would leave ,with the folks, back home; ' Fairbanks, of course, had less to think about on this score. He made" it. eniphalie, foUpwing . an introduc- tion, as emcee, in which he Was; re- ferred .to as an 'American ambassa- dor of good wilt to Ehgland,' that he felt aS American 'as an Indian chief,* He was breezier and a. trifle more informal than the Britishers. John .McCbrmaick, having 'retired, and given lip singing forever and a day, duly appeared on the Bing Crosby ..Kraft Music Hall hour and sang a couple of numbers. Numbers weren't impbrtahtrhor for that mat- ter the fact that he had come out of retiiement at his very first moment after announcing it. What counted was the fact that the Irishman was in .rare goPd humPr and had himself a royal good time all through the pi-bgram, clowning With. CrOsbjf, Bob Burns ' and Lionel Stander in no amateur manner. It wa.<i good fun throughout,, and, if McCoi-mack really means it, about quitting the concert stage, but wants to shift over to some other branch of the biz,,he might .consider being an. m.c. He could. get away .With iti l^hil Baker has dug himself up a new comic named Shimen Ruskin. Shirhen comes from Yiddish legit by way of WPA to. the curi*cnt cast of 'Having a Wonderful Time' at the Lyceum, N. Y., and .appeared on the Baker program for the fourth, time Sunday night. He has only a minor bit in the play and had just a line Or two on the first broadcast, but he's had a healthy chunk of dialog .Sun- day night and handled it well. Nothing unusual in his delivery on the air, striking very much the sajne key as other Jewish comics, but that's a fault of the dialog, which was nonb too good. He got his points over and helped the prograni considerably. Incidentally, that 'Three Trees' iteimi as recited by. Harry McNaiigh- toh and played on the whatchama- callit by Baker is a peach of a num- ber and a real highlight. CBS Workshop offering Sunday night consisted of a radio play writ- ten by William Stephen Behct. Pulitzer prize pioet, called 'Paul Revere.' It was' written especially for air presentation, and was not good from either an artistic, a poetic or a radlo^tandpolht. But it brought forth quite distinctly the possibili-. ties of the medium,.much riiore so., than did the first in this ■.series, j special radio-poem by another Pulitzer prizer, Archibald MacLeish, -The City of Panic' There is rooni on the air channels foi' fine dramaj' oi: poetry, or a" C() bi 4 ' form bf: bothi and Irvin Rcjs is making innpbrtant experi- ments. CBS management tolerance Is there, as Well as the technical co- operation, AH that is now needed is .scripts, and those cartnot come be- fore the writers conquer the mcdiii . Thus MacLcLsh's effort was too dim and Benet's work was played down top much.. Type; of audience Which would listen in to thi.s .sort of pro- gram, in the. flr.st place must, not be played down they do have some intelligence, Benct piece wa.s acted by Parker Fcnnelly and Edgar Stehll—and viiry good. too. There.Was an uncrcclited ferhalo voice which could.have beea improved xipon. crt Lahir is the victim of some of the mo.st description-defying mate- rial ever inflicted upon a comedian on a night-time program. One strained 'and tortured line of: al- leged comedy, after another sinks Lahr ill a iViar.s.h of .sheer ,sUliness.' Advertising agency ^must share the odium; It bespeaks a drastic failure, to know what can suffice at night, lis daytime sloppihes.s made the more glaring because it follov/S W- G. Fields and the sophisticated Chasa I &i Sanborn program.