Variety (Sep 1938)

MUSIC HALL, N. Y. Viola Philo; Jan Peerce, Eunice Healey, Paul Haakon, Glee Club, Rockettes, Ballet, M. H; Symphony with Errio Rapee .conducting; 'You Can't Take It With You' (Col), re- viewed in Variety, this issue. A tight, thoroughly entertaining and smartly produced stage show, held down as to running time, goes with the overlong feature, 'You Can't Take It With You' (Col). The pic- ture runs 126 minutes, making, turn- over difficult in spite of the fact the presentation is kept down to 27 mins., including a brief orchestral opening. Additionally there is the newsreel and organ interlude. One of the beauties of this week s stage portion, produced by Leon Leonidoff, is that it's short and, , in addition to being colorful, is fast all the way. -.■■. Show is labeled erry Widow Melodies.' No effort is made to re- produce actual scenes from the Franz Lehar operetta, with Leonidoff providing backgrounds of his own, which, however, are satisfactory.' Strung across the stage in a straight line, the Music Hall Glee Club, featuring one of its members, as an old man, whose performance suffers from poor diction, opens in front of an attractive drop. Another drop takes its place to background the tap waltz specialty by Eunice Healey. the Glee Club also remai - ing for this. The Rockettes have an excellent routine, being costumed smartly In vivid red and black lace outfits. Costuming throughout, de- signed by Willa Van and Marco Montedoro, with execution by H. Rogge, is highly effective and cred- itable. Love 'song, done well by the Hall regulars, Viola Philo and Jan Peercej sandwiches the opening and the finale, 'In Marsovia.' Closing set is brilliantly gaudy and serves as the locale for Paul Haakon's flashy dance of Russian flavor with four ballet girls as well as for additional singing and the big dance number by the' Rfickettes-ballet corps combination. Seventy, girls do. the ' erry Widow Waltz.' obtaining pretty effects with ostrich fans and lending pretentious- ness plus glamour. In the finale, Miss Philo leads the choral ensemble in •Vilia.' , Business opening night at the peak hour of 9 capacity. Char. EARLE, WASH. Washington, Sept. 4. Poppino & Camille, Ruth Robin, Wences, Phil Harris Orch; 'Four's a Crowd' fWB). '_ House is presenting one of the smartest, streamlined little revues to play local boards in months, Phil Harris band, across full backstage, opens with .'You Do Something to Me' and 'Hindustan,) Harris m.c.'jrig: dominating show at start with smooth patter, which is never forced. Peppino and Camille on for waltz, rhumba and swing ballroom to bring down house without apparently working too. hard. Ruth Robin fol- lows to keep, 'em on the edges of their chairs with 'Music, .Maestro,' 'Sweet Leilani' and a sock duet ar- rangement of 'How's About It?' ith Harris. Band takes it back for smash spe- cialty, The Two Old Vets,' drama tizing 'Dixie' and 'Yankee Doodle.' Wences on for smooth ventriloquism, using small dummy and his fist for its head, and closes strong with com- bo juggling and ventriloquist bit. Harris takes over again. to' warble 'Devil and Deep Blue Sea' and gets over big with 'Nobody.' Harris band better with Charlie McCarthy Ber- gen and Lionel Stander. Others helnine to fill out the 55 minutes are the Van Zant Sisters, opening with two accordions; By ram Bros., tap dancers; Vivian La , Mance, aero dsncer; Neva Ames, xylophone; Her- man Silverman, youthful tapper, and Mack, who' fills a spot, of his own nrjr the middle of the bill with some clowning, then takes ofTwith good clariheting of 'St. Louis Blues with house orchestra. -No. amateur is tied in with the particular radio program, nor is any given a buildup. Bowes is mentioned only once as on- stage label is applied tounit Biz fair at last show Friday (2). VARIETY HOUSE REVIEWS EARLE, PHILLY Wednesday September 7, 1938 TOWER, K. C. Kansas City, Sept. 4. Jan Garber Orch with Lee Ben- nett, Fritz Neilbron & Patricia Nor- man; Serge Flash; Jeanne Lorraine & Rdgnan; 'Speed to Burn' (20th). Vaude at- the Tower, this week goes musically-wacky, but it's all.ex- plained by the appearance of Jan Garber. ^he radio maestro is mak- ing his umpteeth. appearance in town, this one six months after his last dance engagement at the Pla-Moor. His show is basis for his popular reception here. Show is left almost solely to. Gar- ber as the house line, the Adorables, takes a week's vacation. Bill , in-, eludes only two outside acts with running time, let out to 60 minutes. There's sufficient variety supplied by members of the band, plus the addi- tional acts, to prevent dragging, though. Gartner's m. c.'s and gives all his boys a chance, does his own spe- cialty and gives the supporting acts plenty of plugging. Leader shows showmanship and strikes at infor- mality with novelty band numbers,- hear slapstick comedy from, pianist and general kidding throughout. Patricia Norman, featured, disports herself before the mike with swing songs, mountain music, torching, novelty tunes and sweet .stuff. Has the looks and shows herself in a very becoming gown. Her two scheduled songs became four before the' cus- tomers, would let her off when caught. Male vocaling is handled by Lee Bennett and Fri,tz Neilbron. Bennett is back with the outfit after a long illness, and. absence; he's familiar to Garber. followers, from way. back, even though he was out with his own band for a spell. Neilbron takes the novelty tunes, Bennett the croon-, ing. Serge Flash has worked out an in- tricate, intriguing, routine with a couple of rubber balls and flock of juggling sticks. He's above par in his bouncing' antics and works his routine to -the proper climax, also ringing in the audience to toss a few with him. Lorraine and Rognan burlesque a ballroom routine, some- thing which has been done .a great deal here lately, but mix in enough comedy to stand out over the gen- eral run of this type of acts. Biz good. Bill opened Thursday (1) in place of usual Friday starter. Quin. STATE, HARTFORD Hartford, Sept. '4, Ozzie, Nelson Orch with Harriet Hilliard, Evelyn .Poe, Edna Janis, Marc Ballero, Gil Lamb & Tommy Sanford, Raleigh at Verna Pickert, Sam .Kaplan 'house orch; 'Romance o/ the Liiiiberlost' (Mono). Philadelphia, Sept. 4.; Ethel Merman, Chester Morr\s, Rnfe Davis, Three Samuels and Har- riet Hayes, Pansy the Horse, Lou Schrdder house band; 'Give Me a Sailor' (Par). Combo of two film names is pro-, viding plenty of b.o. hy po, plus con- siderable entertainment: Topping is Ethel Merman, whose, 'Alexanders Ragtime Band' (20lh) is at the Stan- ley, while, in next-to-closing, is. Chester Morris, whose "Smashing the Rackets' is at the Stanton. Pan-are spinning the wickets' merrily.. Rute Davis m.c.'s and in his own turn also clicks. In absence of the usual name band Lou Schrader's capable house crew is switched, ffo,n pit to boards. Greater care has been given also^ to drops and decorations behind the tooters to provide neat,, colorful set- ting. Davis, corralled out of his regular spot to mic, is highly refreshing in such a spot. Distinctly a get-away from the usual smoothie act-introer, he's as good as the best at bringing 'em on and gets in a load of his own type humor as well. , Also does a full turn In his usual hillbilly style, twanging his guitar and hasaling dizzy lyrics. Opening the bill are the Three Samuels and Harriet Hayes, two men and two gals, in a tero routine. Make a second appearance later in fourth spot. Both hoof - sessions sfereoed, particularly the late- one: in military dress, and tod long. There's also a mediocre attempt at humor by one male getting mixed up in military commands. , ' . Patsy the Horse, two fellows In the skin, who work '.iard, get. good re- sults, although the act and its imi- tations are starting io wear by now. Davis next comes along in. his turn-, clicking solidly all the way. He fin- ishes off by-introing Morris. Morris has pleasing personality; not quite so good in the flesh as in films, but at show caught he had. a pleiily big following. Turn is a disr tinctly Unusual p.a., and its merits lie in that more than in actual enters tainment value of his' performance itself, which .is sometimes slightly dubios. He . gets under way by espousing hi* 'new idea'—that stars visit the homes oi fans, instead of fans com- ing to' theatres. Then he goes into his idea of Chester Mcrris visiting the Jones family some night. Good monologue: Follows with a story of a mysterious box. sent him by a Chi- nese as a gift. Uses this as the take-, off . for about five minutes of magic, consisting mainly of . yanking silk scarfs from the empty box. Encores by producing a bouquet out of the air for the band leader. Very strong applause. Miss Merman, in long white dress, white cape and white flowers in her hair, looks swell, a surprising • im- provement over her phiz in 'Alex.' Chirping, however, suffers from tendency to stand too far from the mike.' Tones .veer slightly to the nasal, side arid as the. p.a. 'system gives them depth, Miss Merman would be wise to take all' possible advantage of this. Also errs in run- ning off instead of walking with dig- nity into the wings. Her running is so hobbly-leggged it's almost: funny. Nevertheless the turn is socko. Does 'Pocket Full of Grief,*' ith You on My Mind' and medley of tunes she is paid to have Introed. Herb. APOLLO, N. Y. Unable to draw with straight va - -,v «nu - ,.,u t -. t -, i riety biHs - the state this y ear is con^ encores with Thats What I Like tinuing its policy of last year, pre- A Ua»( *Ka- Cn.tfK* f%nA TJ^prie „*s/4 1' I i . . About the South' and. Harris and Miss Robin team again to ring down curtain to thunderous applause with trick lyrics to ^Thahk You for a Lovely Evening.' Biz passable. Craig LYRIC, INDPLS. Indianapolis, Sept. 4. Major Bowes' Revue, with . Ted Mack, Van Zant Sisters, Byram Bros., Concert Serenaders (4), Viv ian La Mance, Larry Eisler, Straw^ berry Russell, Neva Ames,. Hyde Parkers. Stosh, Herman Silverman 'Boy Meets Girl' (WB). House orchestra Is moved on stage for week; with Ted Mack wav- ing the stick and introducing the tyros, doing-a smooth job, Only one act has a pro touch. Strawberry Russell, Negro, being standout with slow delivery of gags, and playing of 'Roses of Picardy' on his One- string, home-made fiddle. He fin- ishes with a shuffle dance. Stosh, given feature billing among the amateurs.' has a false tenor and baritone, which he strains to squeeze out *0,< Ma-ma,' 'Gold Mine and number with quartet. The Concert. Serenaders (4) don't measure up while the Hyde Parkers, four boys, playing bass fiddle, guitar, trumpet and clarinet please, with their Im- pressions of well-known dance or- chestras. , Not go good with Imitations Is Larry Eisler,. who. muffs on Ronald Colman. Ben Beraie. Edward G. Robinson and Ned Sparks. Does senting name bands and radio and screen stars. Also continuing its policy of 90-minute shows. All for a 40c top, Featuring Ozzie Nelson's orchestra with Harriet Hilliard, house has a strong show, with both splitting the hand patter With the balance of the acts. . Miss Hilliard, despite a bad cold, warbles effectively. Nelson's band opens strong with 'Alexander's Ragtime Band,' then jumps into, a swing version of 'Old Gray Bonnet.' Evelyn Poe, a looker, has lots of what it takes, singing 'Rhythm Man,' 'A-Tiskct, A-Taskct' and 'Love Bug.' Edna Janis, interpretative, tap dancer, follows and is brought back for an encore. Several members of the band indulge in some goofy comedy while Nelson vocalizes an original number on the trials and tribulations, of a band leader. Marc. Ballero, impersonator, fol- lows next Clicks with his imper sonations, all excellently done. Gil Lamb, dour-faced comedian arid dance flash, and Tommy Sanford, harmonica player, are winners, too, as are Raleigh and Verna Pickert, who do a novelty big apple on stilts. . Miss Hilliard duos with her hubby ' (Nelson) i 'Don't You Remember?' arid then goes into 'Kid in the Three Cornered Pants,' which was written for their 22-month-old son. She. bows off after 'Music, Maestro, Please' and 'I Can't Give You Anything But Love/' which she encores, Band finales with swing version of 'Martha.' Biz fair at show caught Friday (2). Eck. House line (14), Jimmie Baskette Baby Hines, Stump and Stumpie, Pigmeat, Four La Vemes, Annabelle Wilson, Erskihe Hawkins Orch. with Merle Turner, Jimmy Mitchell, Avery Parish; 'Dark Sands' (Pic). This week it's Erskine Hawkins; next it'll be Jimmie Liinceford's or chestra jivin' away at Harlem's Apollo. For Hawkins, who's a name around the dancehall spots as a fave of. the jitterbugs, the Apollo is some- what of a step-up, inasmuch as he's leading off the fall season for colored name bands at the Harlem theatre, The Apollo is presenting Haw- kins rather conservatively; nothing much in the way of production to help. However, tha dapper band- leader .manages to offset' that with an innate color all his own, his blar- ing trumpet peckin' away for an exp- edient climax to the band's end of the show. Hawkins, however, gives several of his boys a chance to disport themselves without attempting- to hog' the spotlight. There's Jimmy Mitchell, who quits the bandstand for a smart vocal, and pianis* Avery Parish really gets hot and' clicks with 'Three Little Words' and 'I Got Rhythm." Merle Turner gets by with a. 'Cheri' vocal. There are 14 in the band, includ- ing Hawkins, four saxes, three trom- bones, three trumpets, guitar, drum, piano, arid bass violin, Band's'good enough , for this spot,, but will have to temper its brass! for the ofays, Opens with 'Swinging In Harlem,' 'What Goes on Here' and the swmgs Rachmaninoff's 'Prelude In C Sharp Minor,' the latter being all to the good. Another stumbling block is the band's, mode of dress, their civies being far.too somber and. out of keepi ities, In the rest of the show there's con- siderable variety, paced by the ubiquitous Stump and Stumpie, mad- cap tapping youngsters formerly with Cab Calloway at the Cotton Club. Pair disport themselves gleefully and with aplomb, particularly in their solo taps, but they even give out with vocals that, while not show- ing particularly good voices, indi- cate they know how to reach an audience with them. ' -. , ,Then. too, there s Baby Hines, who's built along generous propor- tions, and who vocal's 'Drifting Tide, and then returns later to parody 'The Laziest Gal in Town,' good. Jimmie Baskette is in a sketch with. Annabelie Wilson, from the line;. Stumpie and Pigmeat old faves here and from burlesque. Latter type acts still get over here. .. . Opening nutnber, in . which the house line figures, is on the : show- boat angle and serves to intrb all the principals, including the Four La Vernes, white knockabout acros, three men and a femme, with the latter taking some brutal punish- ment Act, while fair enough, is not for here, PARAMOUNT, L. A. Los Angeles, Sept. 2, Emily Hardy, Keene Twins' with Vic & LaMar, Kenny Gardner, Rube Wolf's House Orch, House Line; Spawn oj the North' (Par), Paramount is staging finals' in jit-, terbug swing contest that has been going ori at the house for past sev- eral weeks, and opening day's near- capacity turnout sat through a rip- snorting exhibition; Four white couples ftom Hollywood are vieing with four Negro pairs from the Har- lem of Los Angeles in the finals, with the . audience judging the . win- ners, aided by an applauseograph. Contest gives the stage unit plenty of punch and has the customers going for it in a big way. Emily Hardy, concert soprano, registers well with a couple of Italian arias, and then introduces a 'prodigy,' seven or eight-year-old- »irl. who warbles one "number in Italian and another in English to tre- mendous returns. Youngster, who shows a decided resemblance to Miss Hardy, has great promise. Keene Twins .with Vic and LaMar offer fast, acrobatic hoofing, while Kenny Gardner, singer, now in his ninth, consecutive week at the Para- mount, is a winner' with a new rep- ertoire. Fanchohettes. are on for two rou- tines, first, at opening, being a pre- cision number in which the femmes manipulate batons and then toy drums. For finale they do a: roller- skating routine that -shows expert training, and careful direction. Rube Wolf m.c.'s and conducts the house orchestra. Edwa. LOEW'S STATE, N; Y. Roxy, Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, Sept. 6. Jan Riibini, Large & Morgner, The Four Steppers, Barbara's Pome- ranians, Frances & Wally, Orch (9); 'Anything for a Thrill' (Conn.) and . 'This Marriage Business' (RKO), Pot pourri of acts, well-paced and effectively staged, headed by Jan Rubint, violinist, Riibini, not new to vaude patrons locally, is at ease while batoning nine-piece band of local cleffers, introing several. acts, and displays " acute showmanship during his solo fingering. Increasing the personnel of the house stand-by band from six to nine enables Rubini to present sev- eral well-received musical stints. Show opens with band playing ex- cerpts from 'Faust,' alternating from serious style to swing arrange- ments. Fred Wally. of the mixed team, Frances and Wally, m.c.'s in a wacky style, relying on gag falls and hoke instrumentations to mete out laughs. Four pomeianians strut their well- rehearsed lessons at the command of their singing-dancing .mistress, Barbara. Gets by for No; I spot. Surprise, is tapolbgy of four mop- pets, whose efforts rate plenty of palm-patting. Act built around two> boys and two girls, dressed effec- tively, and hard workers. The Four Steppers will bear watching as each is talented enough , to sew up dates on any Class B and in some top houses. Wally and Frances, comedians, on next. FemiTie's forte borders on screwball handling of operatic themes. As a foil for her partner, handles her cues o.k. Her costume is a hindrance when dancing and taking tumbles. Rubini pitches extraordinary, devoting more than five minutes to a spirited rendition of a medley of old Irish songs. Stage lighted artistically in a me- lange of greens, lending Erin at- mosphere. Rating several calls, his encore is 'I Hear You Calling.' ac- companied by the stage, band. Dramatic ending provided by Large and. Morgner.' monopedic gymnasts. Act receives tremendous applause for Its uniqueness and the one-legged' strongmen overshadow their physical deformities by per- forming seemingly impossible', body lifts and hand balancing. Guu. Ed Sullivan, Robbins .Family (3) Marjorie Gainsworth, Stan Kava- nagh, Harvest Moon Ball Winners Ruby Zwerling house orch.; 'Love* Finds Andy Hardy' (M-G). Loew's State's annual b.o. mopper- uppers (by virtue of a tie-in with the N. Y. News), the Harvest Moon Ball winners are current this week, Ed Sullivan, who shifted from the Broadway to Hollywood beat for the News a year ago, came east espe- cially to m.c. the ball at Madison Square' Garden Wednesday night (31), and opened with .the winners the following day (1) at the State. Show is tentatively set to. stick here two weeks, with the screen fair switching to "The Crowd Roars" (M-G) for the second canto. On the way back west, Sullivan will stop off for a p.a. in Chicago. . In sharp contrast with recent weeks, the State's gross for these seven days will go well above $30,000. Last week; the house didn't hit- $15,000 and ' went into the ' red. Numerous friends and relatives of the. five winning combos, plus, natu- rally, the horde of swing and shag fans, are a tremendous help in boost- ing the take. State is grinding six shows daily to accommodate the mob. As sharp a contrast as the State's grosses is the comparison of' this year's winners with those of "37. Current, crop is quite ordinary, not one of the teams showing anything really, unusual in the tango, rhumba, shag, waltz and lindy hop routines. The Harvest. Moon Ball contestants must have been an especially poor lot for these to have copped the first prizes. Oh the hoof and in appear- ance, none of the winners rates a professional break, All - around champ team, Sylvia Teitelman and Walter Bourie, are getting $750 for their waltzing at the State. Other teams are getting $250 each. They are: Lillian Warga and Luciano De Lu- cia, tango;' Mildred Pollard and Al- bert Minns, lindy hop; Grace Mur- ray and Nick Haas,, collegiate shag; Anthony Yacovino and Rose Kuhn," rhumba, In addition, there are the second and third-prize winning lindy hoppers, colored. They're each get- ting $100 for this date and evidently spotted in as an audience enthusi- asm-hypo for the particularly medi- ocre crop of winners. Entire layout is running only 50 minutes to allow for the six-show grind, with the result that the out- side-booked acts are held down, to three, besides' Sullivan. On top of the introes, Sullivan is also doing his now familiar' newsreel of fllmites, bid and young. His present reel if a hew assortment,' and all right, as is his spieling. Also, he's going in for guest stars; Bill obinsbn showed up at this catching (1) and, after do- ing a brief routine, found it plenty tough to get off. Opener is the Robbins Family, two boys and a girl, in hboflrig-acrobatics. Smooth, punchy stunters, their hoof- ing is -good-enough to make , their actual forte a surprise when it comes. They start the audiehce applauding and the response hits successive crescendos with Marjorie Gains- worth, sock soprano, and Stan Kava- nagh, ' juggler. M'iss Gainsworth rims the gamut of vocals, nursery rhymes, pops arid operatics and the customers demanded a couple of en- cores. She could enhance her ap- pearance, however, with: a gown, that's rnore trim than the organdy affair she wears. Another handicap and also easily fixed is the blasting effect she's getting from the p.a. sys- tem in a couple of her songs. Kavanagh has added several tricks to his ball and Indian club juggling. He's one of the tops in his line, with plenty of panto com- edy to the tricks. As usual with all columnists-pre- sided shows here, the layout is in a nitery setting. With Ruby Zwerling s pit orchestra encamped ori the stage. The musicians' pans are becoming ■so well known because of the parade of columnists, the kids will soon be asking for their autographs as they lounge around the 46th street stage- door. The State was forced to ante up an extra $250 currently by the New York News. for' the Harvest Moon winners. Ex tra coin-went'.to the allr around champ team, which got $500 last year. Individual dance winners, fox-trot, rhumba, shag, lindy-hop arid tango oach got same as they did in '37. Sullivan is drawing down $2,500 weekly for the probable two- week m.c. stint. The. personal, at the State is actu- ally the major prize offered by the News every year for the Harvest Moon winners, with the State paying off. This year, the tab wanted to make it more lucrative for the con- testants, hence the salary boost, for the champs. As a means of upping the gross, the State boosted its early-bird mati- nee scale (25c) one hour earlier the first three days of this week, Thurs- day, Friday arid Saturday. Admish of 25c prevails only till noon, when the scale goes to 35c till evening, when the 55c-75c tap is in effect. - Seho