Variety (Oct 1938)

Wednesday, October 12, 1938 VARIETY HOUSE REVIEWS VARIETY 45 AUDITORIUM (HASTINGS^ NEB.) Hastings, Neb;, Oct/ 7. Close on the heels of the national playing time given 'Boys Town/ the M'etro flick about Nebraska's Father Flanagan boys home near Omaha, comes this 115 minute roadshow, •Boys Town'Unit,' produced by Will J. Harris, the songwriter, and the Central Booking Office (Al Borde, Leo Salkin, and Dick Bergen). It features 60 youngsters actually from the " Nebraska home for boys, who have been groomed for musical novelty and dancing assignments for about nine weeks by 'Harris at the home. This was the second date for the show, the opening having been at Fremont, Neb.- Roadshow hope is a faint one^ the only future for the unit being in un- merciful cutting all the way which will skeletonize it to 55 minutes, in- crease the pace to three times its present velocity, and not wear out, the welcome. It's not a whale" of. a show, only a novelty in' the mariner of Bowe$^ units and to be handled as such—one .number to each single, . and an encore if the acclaim merits it. As it is,. every kid doe's thi-ee before he-even recalls how h^ came on the stage and realizes exit can be made, the same; way. •. ' Its strength is dual—sympathy and Catholic interest, coupled with addi- tional appetite'Whetted by the "film. Nobody will fail to give a homeless youngster a- courtesy hand, or fail to fall over for him |f he delivers in any kind of shape. Pep talks to Catholic clubs and societies before the show hits town will be an aid. As- a roadshow, -the GBO has four or Ave men hitting town during the two weeks previous to the show g[oosing the sponsor bodjr from behind to stir up any lagging interest. The Nebraska dates were not too good, nor the sponsoring grouos very hapt)y about the thing. Unit was asking an $80Q guarantee for the one-nighters in towns of 18,000 nopu- latiori, representing a sponsor's loss in both cases. A lot of this was caused by insistence on the scale be-- ing too high, considering the bum crops this year. Fremont (Neb.), the flrst date, asked $2.20 top and $1.65 was the gate here. Talent in order includes Master Jerome (Marvin Merritt). xylophon- ist, okay; Snow Black and the Seven Dwarfs number, featuring Royal Brent, should be deleted as it pro- vides nothing; Harry Glasser, kid- accordionist, good; cowboy number, songs by ensenible, rope tricks and featuring Bobby Lyons singing 'My Little Buckaroo,' a neat number: Royal Brent, singer, does one num- ber too many; McCarthy-Bergen number with impersonations by Dawson Butler of McCarthy, excel- lent; a military number, too long, but a hand-getter; dance evolution by Ernie Glasser, all right; harmon- ica ensemble led by Johnny Special, oke; and the finale, a rah-rah stunt, good. 'Intermission taken at this point precedes the a Cappella Choir, led by Edward Paul, and it does a string of semi-classical and religious tunes taking from 3'5 to 40 minutes. Boys ire in good choral voice. Runnmg too long are the numbers by Master Jerome, the Harry Glasser accordion bits, the western and riiili- tary numbers, although some are ob- viously stretched to give the stage time to be set for ,the next number. Sets are not complex, but involve come building. One religious num- ber by the choir and the 'BOys Town' tune for a closer would be plenty in a pic house. Incidentally, the 'Boys Town' tune is written by the show's producer. Will J. Harris. Too much credit can't be given Harris in this show, because he had almost nothing to work with when he started and brought the kids to a remarkable degree of stage personal- ity, without losing their simon-pur- Ishness. . In. the cowboy . number, where eight boys spin ropes and do many clever things, with them, is alone a terrific assisnment to accom- plish. The show is already interesting toew, and B. & K. houses, so in its present size its life will orobablv be short. Comoany manager is Billv ■Mick and the musical director is Arsprie Siegel. Mick says the hone Is to eventually bring it to the N. Y. Worldli Fair. Show, carrying as it does 70 peo- ple, is not burdened with too much salary, although the'coin is cut ut> a lot of wavs. None of the youn»T- sters is paid, of course. Iheir money earned comint? to Xhc Fr+^er Flana- gan home, so to speak. Six teacher" travel with the comoany ?nd school Is held every morninf. During the day, they're taken in pronn.<? on tour of whatever town they're olavins as part of their educational pro<"'am. Born. per man, takes some definite shape this week. Evidently convinced that pop type of doings more salable than long haired attempts hereto- fore, current layout has D'Artega, jazz arranger, in as guest conductor for 'Jitterbug Symphony,' with in- terpolated specialties in the groove. Opening with orchestral treatment of 'Limehouse Blues,' D'Artega, han- dling announcements as well as stick-waving; brings on Dixie Dean, blues singer, in fairish vocal of Tm Gonna Lock My Heart.' Fol- lows with "tricky and colorjful ar- rangement, of 'Dinah,* .nicely re- ceived. . Kidpodlers (New Acts),. three lads with radio background, punch out a fairly interesting Interlude on make- shift instruments. Set good spot for jam session next, a hectic if some- what corny performance of 'Flat Foot. Floogee' by orchestra, aided by vocal of house organist Harvey Hammond. Show takes a" decided lift with entrance of Hayden and Mowrey. shag team, who hoof away to fairish curtain. Symphonic ar- rangement of.'Where Or When' rets good reception. D'Artega makes good anoearance and handles him- self With considerable showmanship. Biz big. Burm. FOX, DETROIT Detroit, Oct. 8. Phil Spitalny Orch (22)_, Evelyn, Maxirie, Three Little Words, Loiiis Da -Pron, Rochelle & Lola, Ginger Harman, Sam Jack Kaufman's house band; 'Five of cTKind' (20). Phil Spitalny's gal orchestra socked 'em here last summer when he chalked, up a record af Westwood Gardens. He's picking up currently where-he left off in August, if not in a boxoffice way, at least in enter- tainment. Evident, however, Spitalny is the big draw despite much-publiciz'efd world preem of Dionne . Quints' 'Five of a Kind' (20th). Biz is generally pretty dull hereabouts, with resump- tion of work in auto plants marred by labor difficulties. Set spiffily, Spitalny's aggregation turns in good job. Hot or harmoni- ous tunes, 22-piece band rates in the top bracket along with its bright spe- cialists. Especially Ginger Harman, billed as America's No. 1'jitterbug. Tag or not, she's about the cutest and ablest swing warbler to hit town in long time, and has to beg off. Evelyn is equally adept with her violin, and ditto Maxine and her torchy pipes. Three Little Words also offer couple oi nifty tunes, es- pecially their contribution in band's novelty, 'A-Tisket.' Spitalny's glee club shows to good advantage in the same number. Band's cleverest, how- ever, is closing rendition of 'Bolero.' Lone male act is Louis Da Pron, gangling, nimble tapster. Provides needed contrast midway after nu- merous femme offerings. Spitalny himself rates ace on his m.c.'ing. Sam Jack Kaufman batons his house band in overture. Frank Con- nors, house tenor, is on a week lay- off. Biz good at early show Friday eve- ning (7). Pete. GARRICK, ST. LOUIS CENTURY, BALTO Baltimore. Oct. 8. D'Artead House Orch <^0). Dixie Dean, Kidoodlers (3), Hayden & Mowrey; 'Too Hot to Handle' (itf-G). , Loew's local experiment with mu- sical stage, flash, limited to 20 min- utes by deal with musicians' union, which okayed slash in scale to $35 St. Louis, Oct. 8. fiillV Fields. Billy Hagan, John Cook, Irving Karon, Romano, Ming <fe Toy, Harry Bardell, Deehold Twins & Meredith, Phil Bernard. Al Tint, Joyce Brazelle, Lillian Har- rison, Joan Mavis, Sunny LovAtt, Line (14). ' It's costing Bill Picftens, operator of the Garrick, plenty to reviVie vaude here through the medium of acts he books weekly to augment the traveling burlesque shows. That success of the enterprise may be near is indicated by. a steady upbeat of patronage, especially from femmes. .Inquirifes at the b.o., 'when do the vaude acts go on?' convinces Pickens that natives here are about ready lor this form of" entertainment agtfin. . ■ Currently, Pickens has the Dee- bold Twins and Meredith, ballroom and adagio trio; Ming and Toy, Chinese accordionist and singer; Harry Bardell, juggler, and Al' Tint, yodeler and barnyard imitator. These acts, clocked at 44 minutes, COP approval. Miss Toy. a looker, without a trace of accent, scores with her interpretation of 'A-Tisket.' among other numbers, and her change from native costume to a glistening white evening gown puts the palm-pounders into action again. Bardell also draws heavy applause, and Romano, who mandolins and sings, also scores. Irving Karon outs over 'Now It Can Be Told,' Billy Fields and Billy Hagan, the comics, please, and Fields tops his efforts in a cafe scene when he produces rhythm with a couple of tableknives thumped against plates, cups, saucers and bot- tles. Some of the blackouts drag in reaching a climax. The line, with plenty of routines, also choruses a couple of songs. The strippers. Joan Mavis. Lillian Harrison and Sunny Lovett each make two appearances and peel right down to the G-strinf. They work with speed, in keening with the fast tempo set. for t>;e bal- ance of the show. Sahu. Embassy Newsreel, N. Y. Opening game of World Series be- tween Yankees and Cubs in Chicago (5) was headlined in program- here last Thursday night (6). Movietone reel used by house for this contest*. Besides pre-battle color and closeups of celebs, reel follows' closely every scoring play, including Crosetti's alertness in pouncing on the ball that caromed off R'olfe's glove, to halt the tying Chicago run in the third inning. Also captures another snappy Crosetti defensive" play; in the seventh, when he grabbed Rey-. nold's. grounder, to slart .a double play, which squelched another Cub rally. It's a graphic photographic story of the first game. With every newsreel apparently having. received surplus items on the critical war scare days in Eu^ rope before the Munich peace settle- ment, editors • are confronted with trying to adjust it to present setup. It means painstaking commentation to bring it up to date .and even then seems a bit anti-climactic. Anyway, Paramount had vital phases of situa- tion the preceding week. None has films of Munich confab. Movietone and Par break even on showing hurried call to colors, call of reservists in France, tearful fare- wells, trying on gas masks, digging bomb-proof cellars, etc. Crowds in streets of " Praha, caught by Par, show apprehension felt there. Sumner Welles, speaking'in staged ■ interview; on U. ,S..' • ,'prop.ei; course' for the future,; seems'too much" of a plug for the adrriinistration 'as- done by JRathe. Clips; from- Japanese'-Chii nese warfront by N^ws of .Day-fur- nish a little action, though, some of scenes are foggy. ' Universal "depicts group of Chinese natives "who have volunteered to fight for Japan. Nom- ination of Thomas Dewey ■ at Sara- toga Springs and Governor Lehman at Rochester for N. Y., State's chief ex:ec post are handled impartially and adequately by Par, with.audi- ence, rather lukewarm to both. "' Columbia-Yale gridiron battle leads procession of football contests,, and is easily the best handled. Movie- tone's straight coverage gives a;fair idea of Luckman's clever passing, the splendid drive of Columbia's back- field and the team's expert blocking. Par's treatment" of same game is largely a series of closeups superbly done. Universal has the Southern Cali- fornia-Oregon State game, won by former, 7-0, with the sole scoring play adequately stressed.. Movie- tone has a tough one in the Notre Dame-Kansas runaway, which for- mer took^ 52-0, being impossible to show all of touchdown marches— just the easiest ones. U shows youth- ful military school teams tangling at Cornwall, N. Y., for laughs. Lew Lehr comnients on chiropractors ex- aming perfect femme backs on the Coast, subject being in his groove for punning. Remainder of newsreel material is more humdrum than usual. Included, for instance, are N. of D. shots on ballet dancers, launching sister air- ship of Hindenburg (U), Coullee dam (Fox),-roller-skating derby (U), Society horse show at Piping Rock, L. I. (Fox). Whitestone bridge, near_ Flushing, L. I., fair site, and also $1,- 000,000 fireboat being tested in N. Y. harbor (both Pathe), tornado dam- age scenes in Charleston, S. C. (Fox), man buys circus and invites Chicago children (U), N. Y. police parading at Madison Stjuare Garden (U), preview of new 1939 auto models (Pathe) and Will Hays speak- ing at site of Edison's first film show- ing in New York (Fox). Wear. here for years but never have worked so well. Like the Ritzes in their -"more recent vaude • days. Slates',hoofing, once a long suit with them, accounts for only a minor sec- tion of the act. Most of it is patter, situations and bits,^ and all in the groove. For additional guffaws, they bring on Faye Carroll, as the dumb- dor'a, who takes a ribbing from the boys. They give her a chance, how- ever, to get off a song at the end and femme, a looker, reveals an okay voice. Par had Slates for 'College Swing' and any major studio look- ing for Ritz competish could do plenty worse. Frazee Sisters, both, stunners, smack over a vocal session at the mike and go over big in. three num- bers, winding up with swell ar- rangement of 'Joseph.' Femmes have come a long way in the harmony line in few years and no reason why they shouldn't eventually reach the top. Conklin and Thomas round out the talent with some vigorous shag- ging, good-looking kids fitting the atmosphere like a glove. Band Davis leads' has its own femme vocalist, gal billed simply as Meredith, and she's on early for several click min- utes. Biz big. Cohen. STRAND, N. Y. JoHiiny. Messner Orch, Chester Morris, Mary Small, Ray & Trent^ Jeanne D'ArcVi, 'Secrets, of An Ac- tress' (WB), Tevi:^wed in this issue. >-This is a-bnerweek show and some- what weak. It's the first .under the new policy, that isn't, in for a fort- night. Johnny Messner, not as well known as bands preceding him, bias the boxoffice "misfortune of having been booked with a weak. film. : Messner, however, has Chester ■Morris on .the bill with him, plus Mary Small, both of whom do much toward boosting the. week's pit show. Morris is carrying a good act, in- cluding some • magic, while Miss Small helps with her swing songs. Harry Gourfain's show lacks color generally and does not pace well. Messner opens weakly and except for the music-box interlude -with one of his men, billed as Prof. Cole- Slaw, his band does not excite. The closing swing number is his best and should open the show. -Vocal soloing and choral work by Messner and his men lack punch, poorest ef- fort being in the medley of college songs. A pop on top of the opening,- led vocally by Messner and two of the boys, particularly staggers. Messner carries Jeanne D'Arcy, who sells one of her two numbers, 'You Go to My Head,' very effec- tively. Messner's orchestra, from the Mc- Alpin hotel, N. Y., uses the novel music box specialties to advantage. He and George Hamilton's band have been spatting over the music box style. Show also includes Ray and Trent. On perhaps a little too long, male team of contortion acrobats clicks nicely. Char. PALACE, MWKEE STANLEY, PITT Pittsburgh, Oct. 8. Johnnie ('Scot') Davis Orch (12), Miss Meredith, Wayne Morris, 3 Slate Bros., Frazee Sis (2), Faye Carroll, Conklin & Thomas; 'Room Service' {RKO). Here's one of the smartest book- ings for the WB flesh spots in years. It's a crackerjack layout, fresh, live- ly and entertaihing, a. miniature edition of ,thp sort of thing Schwab and Mandel Used to grind out in the good old days.^ It's long on youth and plenty of zip. Covers more than an hour, and seems half that long. What's im- portant, too, unit has beaucoup marquee pull from Johnnie ('Scat') Davis and Wayne. Morris, ^oth of them, but Morris particularly, with above-average film reps. Davis, of course, is right at home, having made the deluxe circuits for several seasons with Fred Waring's outfit. Batoning a 12-piece crew that's not bad at all on its own, he turns in a slick job all the way, m.c.ing like a veteran, pushing the show out at a rapid-fire tempo and knotting things in his own. niche. Gives out hot on the trumpet and scats through a flock of songs-he's done in pictures for heavy returns. Davis likewise brings on Morris cutely ne::t-to-closing and latter keeps UP the pace with an amusing and self-kidding monolog. Packs bundle of laughs and his boyish per- sonality, to.gether with an attractive shyness, helps loads. For laugh fin- ish. Slate Bros. (3) come on and in- dividually get his autograph and then tear then) up when they dis- cover it's Wayne instead of Chester Morris, who played Stanley last week. Slates have been coming around Milwaukee, Oct. 8. Veloz & Yolanda, Jerry Shelton, Ben Beri, Carter & Holmes, Jimmy Innes' house orch (11); 'Campus Confessions' (Par). With "Veloz and Yolanda current and Benny Goodman. and Gene Krupa to follow, house is having no trouble playing to capacity with its off-and-on vaude pojiicy. Jimmy Innes* house orchestra clicks with a medley of smooth tunes, spotting trumpets, sax and trombone; Classical violin solo from Innes is followed by Carter and Holmes, from Chicago. Comedy act, which includes "terps and acros, has audience laughing continually. Jerry Shelton, with his accordion, is surefire with old but streamlined numbers, including 'Stormy Weather' and 'Flight Of the Bumble Bee.' " Ben Beri,- better-thauraVerage juggler, Offers a satisfactory comedy routine, getting the . laughs consist- ently. This paves the way for Veloz' and Yolanda, who slip from their usual dignified ballroom stuff to of- fer 'Darktown Strutter's Ball' .and 'Alexander's Ragtime Band.'. 'Waltz Poem' and 'Cobra Tap^o' go over big as encores. Jitterbug Hypo APOLLO, N. Y. Blanche Calloway Orch with Charles Pharm, 3 Harvards, Johnny & George, Two Novels, Earle & Frances, Pigmeat, Jimmie Baskette, Vivian Harris, House Line (.16); 'Prison Break' (JJ). Apollo has been setting up some better than ordinary stage fare late- ly and the current offering suffers slightly in comparison. Biggest slice of the overboard show (85 mins.) is taken up by production numbers and skits, splitting the remainder of the time among Ave .acts. Blanche Calloway's crew with Charles Pharni doing , the vocals okay, is hot and ordinary alternately, and cuts in for 35. mins, but the Two Novels (New Acts), and Earle and Frances take return .shots during the band stint. Lineup rates with .the customers, though, a packed house indicating its approval often when caught (8). Opens in a gym setting with the house line decked out in maroon sports sweaters, lettered with a white H, and white tights, and Jimmie Baskette piping via the p.a. hookup.. . Line neatly paces itself through a dumb-bell Swinging routine that fades into the 3 Harvards. Lat- ter are comedy dumb-beU lugglers. Tuxedoed straight foils lor the deadpanned gags of. the other two . while tossing the wpbd with speed "and accuracy in three-cornered exchanges. Gags could stand re- ■fu'rbishing. , Johnny and George have been around in theatres and nlg^t clubs and had . a finder in the .cTebut.^of last year's hit,--'Bei Mir 'Bist'Du Shoen' while at one of the New York 'bistros. ' The A-'v"-. sin- ters, click recording of the tune out- distanced them in t^e resuiiani, snuf- fle. They duet with one at th6 piano, then solos by the noh-play- ing half make turn click. First, it's bombastic style then in soft 'Music, Maestro,' tempo. Wind up with scat version of 'St. Louis Blues.' Pigmeat clicks, as usual, but his stuff is from the book. First trip is with Jimmie Baskette and Vivian Harris, using hurley's unexpected husband blackout.- Gets howls, thoU'^h. Second, also a blackout, is familiar to burley, too, and uses the same straights, it's the picture-set bit,' with Baskette as. the director. Punch line in ,the latter is weakened by cleanup. Line girls haye more, to do than usual, showing pretty evenly in four dances. Midway, they're on for the standout try in long, hobpskirt^d dresses for their 'Champaene' dancre, neatly coupled "w^ith" the current 'You Go to My Head.' Again near the close ponies return for a tap bit done in eye-searing black and white cos- tumes, , eight togged as femmes and eight as boys. Femme half of Earl and Frances (New. Acts) helps here with a tune. Costumes are retained for the finale, which brinfs on the whole company, and . fades under fast-changing lights, simulating slow motion. Blanc)ie Calloway'js outfit.- hasn't been under her baton long. .She picked un the band in Boston sev- eral months ago. It's in the. nit here for the show under a sub-leader then shift to the stagfe where Miss Calloway picks up. Crew is ham- pered bv some poor arrangements. .Miss Calloway, pipes plenty, - LYRIC, INDPLS. (Continued from page 1) night a week for four weeks. Champs .chosen each night nrieet for house championship the fifth week —which is this one. Next week, winners at each theatre will vie with each other at the midtown Earle, Following week they will play the Earle at regular pro salaries and the week after that they go to Brooklyn to make a short at Vitaphone. Warner houses holding the contests are the Alhambra, Allegheny, Frankford, Oxford and Kent, Indies going for if include Faye, Philly; Runnemede, Runnemede, N. J.; and Broadway, Camden. Instead ot pro- fe'ssional engagements offered by WB, indies giving straight prizes of $25. $15 and $10. Indianapolis. Oct. 8. Ozzie Nelson Orch with Harriet Hilliard, Benny Baker with Lew Spencer & Jeffry. Gill, Marc BqI- lero, Evelyn Poe, Freda Sullivon; 'Mysterious Mr. Motto (20th). Packed into 62 minutes of well- staged entertainment, Ozzie Nelson presents one of the most pleasing dance band revues to come to town. Band has original arrangements and special lyrics, with Nelson m.c.'ing ^effortlessly, : He opens with 'AlexsLnder's Rag- time Band,' then swin|;fi ;qfl into 'Old Gray Bonneti,' in: which orch^'s- tra members join lor vodal. Eyelyn Poe conies on to torch 'Rhythym Man,' followed" by •A-Tisket' and then repeats on.'Lo'ttie Bug,* which she duos with Nelson.- -FreiJii Sul- livan scores solidly with a' re- strained, polished aero dance. Band giv6s out once more as N<el- son vocals 'Band Leader Blues,' in which he. extolls the trials and tribii-^ lations of a band leader. .Low spi)t of the Ijill is Marc - Ballerb,' "ivho gives quantity of imitatioris • which lack quality. Miss Hilliard clicks with her special lyrics on 'Remem- ber Me?' in refierence to her marital life, and straights on 'Says My Heart.' 'Kid in Three-Cornered Pants' and 'Music, Maestro.' Benny Baker shows that he has net forgotten his former -vaude days before going to Hollywood, by per- forming in a free and easy- comedy style. He gags and then introduces Jeffry Gill for a vocal of 'Thanks for the Memory' ant!'tiew Sncncer, who tans. Baker walks up and down the aisles and sits with the aiudience during the turns o! his partners. Show closes with band pl&ying I'Martha.' Biz good at last show Friday (7); ' with standees. • Kiley.