Variety (Jul 1937)

W«^dntisday, July 7, 1937 INTERNATIONAL SHOW NEWS VARIETY 59 Plays Abroad LA REVUE DU RIRE <'Rcvue of Laiishter') Piaris, June 24. Ttevuft )n two acts (10 scenes) by I'lerre ^'lelx Outa»d and Hemdey; dances, Floyd ,111 Pont; coBtumes, Max Weldy; wchestm , Olyeiitloii, Lionel Cftzaux. At A,. B, C„ Pill is- ■' ■ . . This one is a production reckoned cash in on the iiiflux of visitors I ^ith an eye. toward home trside also, and, while not tops, it has the stuff ; to serve its purpose. • Cannot be ex- petted to draw a great deal of the foreign tourist trade other than those wanting to see a thoroughly ;Frertch revue. But it should puU o.k.- With' the natives. , . . ^ ^ seemingly no attempt has been ~ made to produce a spectacular offer- ing, but it is full of French humor, mostJy satire, and the cast carries its parts well. Little if any of the music is jiew iand the costuminfc for thie • n)o.st part, js on an ordinaty level. Marie i)ubas, who stars, has long ' been a favorite in music-halls herei, and her popularity , seems not to be vwaning. She handles French dorii-. edy in a way localities like and her songs are rendered for the French taste. In het solo appearance near' the w^ind-up everything she sings is '^knbwn and has been popular for some time. Opposite is another .of thie tried ■ and trtie miusicrhall. stars; Mauricet.. His songs have next to no: music, biit the gag lines draw laughs steadily. Included in the repertoire of his ap- pearance is his poem 'Liberte,' which Stakes on new stanzas to fit the latest developments iii world politics. Outstanding is the- rise of Mile, bleo from announcer to a top spot. Her personality has put life into more than one A. B. G. bill, as well , as former revues. Her Latin viva- ciousness -almbst steals some scenes from Mile. Dubas. She proves this time that she has a good voice, and scores in two duets with Meurisse. 'Ideal Couple' brings ias. the first pair of hewlyweds MUe; Oleo and Metirisse,'as night club-entertainers, who are marrying for publicity. Hit- ler follows with Miss Navarre, whom, he is marrying for :power. Lestelly, as Tino Rpssi, gets th^ best laugh of the scene With hi^ singinig and imitai- tion of Rossi in his last revue. Ex- Premier Blum and Presidenit Lebum follow, the latter being played by Mauric6t, with Marie Dubas as his .wife: ' 1 Silva and Ferrara, dancers, are spotted twice. First time after the ppener, doing an ordinary foxtrot number >yhich lielps put. motion into the show. In their second appeairance they turn out a' Bolero that bias plenty of showmanship and good dancing, MUe. Silva glides through the dance with suggestion at every turn, but it s6 smoothly done she deserves credit, . In both *Un Coup de :Rhum' and *La Masseuse Est /iumoureUseV Maris Diibas takes the lead to inject vital- ity and plenty of a ve^y French per- sonality. In the first of these she is a countess who; by mistake, drinks a new concoction which has juist been discovered for making crimi- nals confess. And she loosens to pull plenty of laughs. Nothing unusual or extraordinary is offered in the show, biit it contains enough of what, it takes to make a revue to assure it of a good run. bookmaker, and she tells her father of her unhappy life in such middle- class, bohemianism. Daughter feels instinctively that her father is car- rying on an intrigue with the wife, and when she hears the elder Woman declare the girl interferes with their relatiohs, the daughter accuses them, and says unless her father takesvher home .-with him she Will tell the husband. Wife tells: her lover he must go away, and he decides to return to South America. Cripple refuses to permit his cioiisin to depart, offers to send the ypung.girl to Italy to study singing, arid things are eventually arranged that. way. It only, devel- ops^toward the finale, in a . fine scene with the invalid and the young girl, that, he has been aware of what is going on, and confides in her he. has but a short time to live—^a year at the utmost.. So why not wait around? Outstanding is the fine character- ization by .Keneth Kent in''the role of the cripple. All the others in the cast, including the two comedy re- liefs, are skilfully handled. Acting throughout lives up to the old Hay- market tradition. Jolo. The Oreat Romancer London, June 23. . N'eW play InVthrpe: ticls liy Jules Eokert Gooiiiiitini' presenlf'U .by .Hbw.arj ' Wyi.idhain <!fe Bi-onson: Albery; . jjvoiliiced by Chiii'les- ijefoaiix'^ at the' Kew thefitre, l^ndon. Outdoor Ida .KeiTler .Michel ... i... .Victor ruii...i,-.. AUBUSLe .MA<luet..., I'aiil. Meiirite ■..,. Alexandre Duma'a,. J)iipun't'/..,. .V..;,,. Aiexandi'e Du ' Miirie borvol' ; AlCred de Vlttny.. Dr. Bixlo.. Adah'Isaac . ■ Coral Browne '.. onald SlIiipHon . ..-. Ki'lc Pbrtrnnri .Harold .Scott Iblinid I.lttledale .'... Kobert .Morley .. Charte's I.iefeuux . Pet^r Coke .A'ivlftnne Behri]6tt .'.; ,■ iCdft:ar Norfolk , ..'.Alhol Fleming .... .Carol Gbodner After being tried out sOme weeks ago for a single Sunday ■performance by the Repertory Players, this latest play by . Jules Eckiert Goodman, had a public- showing at the New thea-. tre. Robert Morley irepeats his excel- lent character study of Alexandre Dumas, of whose, thriftless, shiftless,, up and down career the story is coni2erned. It shows him surrounded by his .coterie of literary 'ghosts' and amorous actresses. The genial, happy-go-lucky scribe, the pivot Of the boisterous household, takei misr fortune and ..good favor all in his stride. Although much of the cir- eumstances: are fictitious, there is sufficient faet and colorful incident to make ain interesting, play, which;, if not successful in itself, will un- doubtedly make the reputation of Robert Morley, whose name went up in lights stfter the first night. Carpi Gppdner has the best of the supporting roles as Adah Menken, but the entire production is finished and praiseworthy, THREE SET OUT London, June 23. 'Cdmedy ■ In three .acta ,by Phillip Leav ; produced- by MHrgki-et WebHter at the 'tiibRSsy theatre, .I.ondoii,. June 21*,. ';t7; ■;■ liUrry Starr, to Have, and to Hold . London,; June 23.' C<Mnedy lhr«<e kctB by liionel jBrown, produced by . iretie Uentschel at Hay- , market theatre,. l<ondon. Robe) la de Winter...... Ignon O'Dohevty Hobert de Wlnlev..........Basil O'Dpherty Cyril. ,Riohard Warner Max >lardlriK;....Hartley Power June Hiirdfnfi. .. .Marie Ney Briiin Jd,«rd]r.K..........Kwieth Kent I'eiiSy .Hordinjf ;Oorothy Ilyson , /Without SO well chosen a cast, this play; pri a novel triangle situation, might': not be received' enthusi- astically as it Was. It isn't a bad play-^bn the contrary^ it is a very well. constructed and well - written -piece on a .theme that has always been utilized for such a purpose and, ;necessaiily, always will. It is differetit froni most of the Ptners that have gone before. Care- . fill avoidance of pldrfasbiohed heroics in plot, ialog and situations bring to the story a modernity Of uncommon, merit. It should enjoy success here and is worth seriously eonsjdering for America. Several .American rhanagements, including i^e« Shubert, aire already negotiating. A WelUtbrdO: nian marries' the young daughter of an. old Stafford- shire family, buys their estate'and proposes to cultivate it scientifically. 'js'visited by'. his cbiisi from aouth America, and the youhg wife and cousi fall in love. On the aay they are abotit'to tell the hus- P^"? .they wish to- go away together, n* f&lls from a hprse ahd is crippled ;.Jpr liie.. They decide to remain, the •1-'J^'to. nii.r-«!e him,, and the cousin to ; over the ruhnirig of the piQP- '■■^This- noement is.upset by the 'BT^ival . the-cousin's iSryear-.old oavigihlor,. whose- mother had re- marned, this time to a boisterous Peter Ilalne....... Penelope Marsh..,, Mlifs .Stevens Mary..-. ....,...... ,■. Sir Arthur Maniii Ijiidy MannlnK,.., Miss Trouble...... I^ord ■ I'renhain. ■..: Johnson.'....;... . ,., .Michael Redgrave ..........Walter Hudd .Constance Cuintnlngs .....Olga Martin .Pauline Wynh . i..,.. Hetiry Wolston '....Marjorie Fielding Juliet Mansel ....Robert" Holmes .., Howard Deyonshlr illed.as a comedy, it has sufficient plot to' cohie under the category of comedyrdrama. In, its present form, it is a. good play, but not in a com- nnerciai way, and has more the mak- ings of a descriptive novel than dramatic motivation. At the finish there is a sense of incompleteness, in thiat , theatre audiences would be in- terested in the eventual outcome of the problem of the characters, which is left to .the .imagination. Drastic revision: of the story should trans- form the manu.script into a play that would be a healthy candidate for the West End. A young man and. \yomian are a team of tap dancers in Search of em- ployment, as is also a youthful/archi- tect. Inevitably the first act is, laid in a cheap boarding house, Three acts are described in rotation as 'A Meanly Furnished Room;' 'A Pleas- antly Furnished Room Six Years later'; 'A Beautifully Furnished Room Eight Years Laterv* The girl's stage partner is in Ipve with her; but hesitates to ;ask. her. hand " marriage, owing to their poverty.' The yourig architect, also, in love with, her, playfully remarks that if'he had 50 pounds he would ask her to marry hiiiii. To which sine responds: 'If you had 20 I'd accept.' The team gets an .engagemeht, and the girl and the architect become engaged. The. prospective, groom goes torAmeric^i on.a two years'job; and in the second, act you see them ji'ajjpily married., she a. star, and he $iiccef:sful in. his 'pi-pfession.' Her tap- dancing partner has gone)' to Soiilh Africa .with,, a tptirlng com.- paii.v. re he' dpei Very welU He rehirn.'t, announces he has abai5- doiTcd a' .vtajie career and' bbcbme a; novelist. They • all lirm Iriends Rome, June 18; An outdoor theatre that can ac- commodate 3,000 spectatpirs is to be built summer in Rome's big public park, the ilia Bbrghese Gardens.. The stage ' to be only a: Summer affair, tP be disniantled after the sumrher season,. The 'Feriii ' Co., which is to be composed: almost exclusively of femhnes, will start its. siirhmer.season at the Barberini' Theatre in Rome, .thence go on to San Remo, Salso- maggipre, and finally to Milan.: PietrP Scaro. and Gian Maria Gonii etti ill dfrect the corripany. Reper- toire ihcludes 'The Rebels,' .;by Gina. Kaus and Thbnias B. Fo.ster; 'Fasci- natipn,' by Robert .Milton and Alice Duer- Miller; 'Mattinate . d'Aprile,'. .(April Mprnirig), by AleissandrP De Stefan; >'Beauty Parlor,' by. Vicki Baum, and 'Serpente a Sonagli,' by Edoardo Antpn.: Venice legit plans per- .formances Pf 'Roi and Juliette' starting July 20 and-performances of tbe old Veneti cpmedy, 'H Bugiar'do' (The,-Liar ). uido Salvi i Will ifect "Romeo,' while Renato Simorii is to. direct the •GPldoni play. Latter will be given in the Campo Sah Rovaso, where the jperformanees of ?Merchant pf Venice' were staged three years iago. ' fburregular dranriatiic: companies that .will tpur the cities during the summer, there will be three "Thespian Garts'^-orie operatic, and two dramatics—which will tour the small towns and villages. These 'carts' are furnished .with .complete equipment for setting up stages ias. well as seats, lights, costumes. They are manned by regular dramatic companies and their repertories in- clude the plays and operas that, have been most . successful. befpre city audiences during the past seasons... limelight' Clicking London, Jiine '27. Without attracting any notice on the part of the show folks in the •West End, .'Black Limelight' has caught on. After a slow- start at the St. Jimes', iminediately running .into the bus strike, it was compelled to move to the Duke of York's to make rpom for Gilbert Miller.'s production of 'Yes, My Darling Daughter.' The libraries are novL-buying reg- ularly and the show is playing to a steady weekly profit, ith every in- dication it will stay, six months in: the West; End. BUY ON'VICTORIA'THE BIGGEST YET IN LONDON London, June 27. iggest deal for any straight play has just been cpmpleted by Gilbert Miller 'Victoria Re- gina,' Deal is fPr 10 Week.s at $6,250 per, Week, and star tWo and a half weeks after show's opening, ais hpiise ir-s6ld out tin then. Conditions of deal. are also, rare, calling fPr 5%. for the libraries, iiristead of the usual 7V4%. ^ • Loiidon's Guild Plan London, July •.. Forbes Randolph, former New York Theatre .Guild jprPducer,^ is here to promote a similar scheme for Lohdoh. Randolph has the backing pf Atiya Begum, of Jiain Jira, and several Indian potentates. A meeting.tb discuss'the plan was held here Sunday (4). and the novelist and the wife a.ssist the husband financially in starting in basiness oh his own in a big way. Eight years later the wife hais. given up her stage career for. do- mesticity; . The novelist, who had be- come engaged to. another girl, is still a bachelor as his fiancee waiskilledin an airplane wreck. They all live to- gether the- wife is bored -with in- activity; the architect's, eyes are giv- ing but; and it develops he had taken all the money of the three of them and lost i a stock speculation. They decide the thing mPst wrong ,with ;them is that they had been too successful to continue their ambi- tions, thereby enjoying life; Play ends with the authbr settling down to write a play for the wife, who will return tb the . stage, and. the architect deter irig tb do bet- ter Work than, iever. in his career, though the indication? are his eye- sight will go. This make.s: a most unsatisfactory endi Audiences; would like to have -seen anpther act a few years later, in Avhlch they had once more .attaihed success in their res^jectiv.e careers. Written by : ah actor, there as is Usual in most cases when an actor can write a piay all, ppl-andid character dravving.<; 'and ' cleycr dialog. The three leading rble."^ are buUetVprobt- for :experienced ailists; in "■ the haiid."- of Constance Ciim- rriini?s,, Wa.rier. Hiiclrl Hnd Michael Red'sir'yve. they take on the- attributes Pi stellar -iperfbrmancc... -Jplo.' ' With. ris Interhatidhal Ex- hibiti' opien exiactXy mbrith, much can't be said. the. impression the big show -has made after the public has had 30 days in: Which ip rurrtmage arpuhd. , 2,370,000 isitors have paid spmethihg in the neighbbrhood of $500,000 to view that portipn which, is sufficiently conripleted;' to Warrant a lopk. And to get down to bare faicts, that includes Only iabbut a half of what, the Whole will be when it is completed. Of the 42 foreign pavilions only 22 have, opened their doors to Te.veal something like a. finished intei-ipr; These include those of Belgium, which has one for. the' poimtry proper and another for her African colonies, Germany, Russi , Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Den- mark, Holland, Palestine, Monaco,. Portugal; Austria, Hungary, Liixem-. bourg, inland, Egypt, Pbland', .iBar-; tic StateSi , Japan, Czecho-Sloyakia and Great ritai > Much steel . Work is :Still.'showing on the United States uilding even at this late date.. Qitficiar opening is set fpi: July 4, but it is • imderstood; the building will bie clbsed. to the public again after the inauguration- so the interior, can be finished. A twp-day istrike there last week re- tarded com^letiPn. The foreign pavilions which are yet to be finished are tho^e of Ar^eri-. tiiie, . Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria,' Canada, Finland, Iraq; Italy, Mexico, Peru, Roumania, Siam, Spai , South Africa United Staties, Uruguay and Venezuela and Yugoslav i The new Trpcaderp building is. far frorti being completed and -the pa- vilions Which will be devoted to the cinema industry and the pres.s are not yet open. For the first time in the troubled story of what is and What, is not open in the present Exposition, the bosses of something concerned with the big show haye shown the work- ers, and direetorS) too* for that. mat* ter.fhow to turn a real closing trick. This time it is the Pare des. Attrac- tions; It closed June 28 at two o'clock in the afternoon and those in the know say it is going to stay closed until the concessionaires .who hsive invested money there get what they want; Entire. battle hi . on ad-, mission fee of 25 cients.. Admission price charged for the Exposition it- self is 30c, ile another 25c' is charged by the expo for entry into the . Pare des Attractions which is entirely separate from, the expo. This, the cpncessi ires claim, was not agreed upbh. im thait: because of this 25c. admission price they are only getting about; one- teiith of the'yisitprs actually visiting the expo as people are. not going to spend money fPr the right to spend rnpre of it Because of thi.-?, every display, ride, sideshow and lemonade stand in the park pulled dbwn the shutters and told the customers, to scram, that they- did not want their money. And so far the boys are sitting tight. They say they are, going to leaive the shutters dpWn until the 25c en- trance fee is eliminated.. isitors no visitbrs, aind whether, those here are spehdirig money or-not,, ight club ppcihings ' i is town have kept up the aver- age of abPut two a week for th» last six weeks. Fourteen sppts ip all. haye put; .signs in front pf new interipi's or lor clubs Which have changed hands,, been redecorated: or jiist reopened; Lsirgest cphtlrtgeht came witlii last two weeks with no less than si opening. Largest of is the I^al .Moulin RbUge, Where the Cotton Club Show with Teddy Hill's, band is the ii'ttraction. High in Montr martte; this' spot seats close 1,000, Operated by Pierre Sandrini and Pierre Dubput, it is run alon£ the sarhe lihfW as the Bal •rab?irin, which Sandrini also heads, ut/cpm- pstitibn between two p is prac- tically' hit as offerings, are diametrically diflerehti Arheirlcan musici rhaind for the night: No less than seven: of which are colored, Playing in Paris. Led by Willie .Lewis, still at Restaurant des. AmibassadeUrsi- ther» is Lepn Abbey at the Cotton ClUb, Bobby Martin at. Chez Florence, Freddy Taylor at the Ilarlem Club, George Johnston at the Villa d'Este, Teddy Hill at the Moulin Rouge and Hay ward F'pwers and his Society; Boys, the only ..White band pf fh* lot, are still playing at the Bagatelle. SHUBERTS TO STAGE 'BAULAIKA' ON B'WAY London, June 27. Tommy Bostock has finally is- posed of the American rights' io 'Balalaika,', after several ibbles by Marti Beck, Max Gordon and th« Sliuberts. Milton Shubert, when last over here, reported adversely on.the show. But when J. J, Shubert saw it re- cently> he thought it good enough for Broadway, with Lee finally cinching the deal, which calls for 10% royalties, ith $10,000 paid on accPunt. Shuberts are in on any fu- ture film deal to the extent of 10%. Deal also calls for Bostock to super- vise the Broadway stagi in Oc- tober. He leaves London sometime in September. TWO LONDON LEGITS FAIL TO IMPRESS Lpndon^ leep for the Wicked;' ich opened at Daly's Friday (30) is an outmoded .secret service-interna- tional spy plot drama. It's uncon- vincing playwriting and extremely unlikely for success. Claire Luc© and Delano ^mes, author of the, play have the leading roles. Authpr is a cpusin of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. British Lion tried out a play at , the Arts Theatre Club same night, titled 'In the. Best Families,' with a, vi to future ^ filming, Vehicle prpvied old-fashioned French farcer; plot being about ah infant left oh a doorstep and three men suspecting themselves as its father. Play is crudely written and valueless. Tibbett for Vienna" Lawrence Tibbett ha.<: .ci appearanPe in 'Rigolctto' i opera some' time in October. Will pr&bably fbll'ow i Arrest Fern. Chargii^ Lehar with Plagiarism Mrs. Lanik Laval was arrested and will be charged With attempted cx- lorti of Frahz: Lehar. She still clainris that the book. tb Lehaf's operetta, 'Giuditta' is a plagiarism, that she had sent a libretto like it to Lehar and that the maestro used roost of . the ideas of her plot,' iWrs. Laval has written a le.ttei: lb the French Minister Ijlcfript. bqcayse -'Giuditta' will be .produced at the I Paris 1J;<po.^ition. She wahiied yi'ench (aullio'iilies of the alleged ' ' iarisia.