Variety (Nov 1938)

tTednesday, November 9, 1938 VARIETY HOUSE REVIEWS VARIETY 55 APOLLO, N. Y. ill Cooper Orch (9), Avis An- dfews. Willie Bryant, Joe Medley, George Roche, Jackie Mabley, Bert * Ann Royce, Red & Curley, Vivian HmS,tIou3e Line (16); 'The Mw- ing Gttcsf (U). It's Avis Andrews, AJ Cooper's or ehestrav and Willie Bryant, in that irder, here this weiek. They, of course, don't make up the whole ihow In numbers, but they do in effect. Bryant is an occasional band- leader, booked . In here as m.c. for several weeks, starting Friday (4). Enfant takes part in several com- edy skits as a straight, also. Nice looking, well tailored, he has i breezy, affable manner of Introing that helps performers. Miss Andrews, recently vocalist jor Cab Calloway, socks. Attrac- tively garbed, singer was forced into two encores when caught (4), and for good reason. For her turn Coop ' er's nine-piece aggregation is aug mented by extra brass and a violin from backstage. Her style is hard to define. It's a cross between swing and ballad , de- livery, and plenty appealing. Leads oil with 'You Go to My Head,' fol- lowed by ^While a Cigaret Was Burning,' with interpolations of 'Smoke Rings,' which Bryant leads . her Into by proilering a cig. Neatly done. Encores 'At Your Beck anu Call' and 'I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart.' Fresh from a date at the Kit Kat Club, New York, where Jimmie Lunceford now holds forth, Cooper's Sultans, as he calls them, spend more than an hour backing the show before coming out on their own. Four rhjihm, three saxes, and two tnmipets, with Cooper part of the sax team, and the string bass man doubling to wind bass, is the setup. And it's hot. Stage layout is not what it could be, although it blends with the red-uniformed cats. Crew really gets few chances, but those few are eye-openers in view of the limited pieces. Spends half the show in the pit, then shifts to stage, where Miss Andrews, Red and Curley and the line break into band's time. Red and Curley are, In approved Harlem fashion, in white tuxes. Pair take honors from among the re- mainder of the lineup, tap terping being a delayed treat in comparison to show's previous tap acts. It's a mixture of truckin', taps and what have you. done with a loose-jointed grace, with almost the entire act be- ing challenge work. Along the same lines, but less ef- fective, are Bert and Ann Royce. Two work In one of the line's out- standing efforts. It has girls out- fitted in blue, floor-length dresses, with red bolero and red, wide- brimmed hats. Tapsters, in tails, work well in unison. However, hardshoe taps are not clear, adding up to a confusion of sound. George Roche is' also a tap turn. He's on in several spots, and in one essays the Chilton-Thomas and Hal LeRoy stunt of dancing on metal plates. Act Is far from sock, latter stunt being particularly anemic. Whether he doesn't know or tries to go the aforementioned acts one bet-, ter is not clear, but he terps'on the plates while they're in normal posi- tion, Instead of turning 'em bot- tom up. Joe Medley tries 'Marie' In the opening number, with line back- grounding him. Voice Is high, and he has trouble with it occasionally. Jackie Mabley handles what little comedy there Is, using Bryant as a straight. Best is an old hurley bit whose type goes over better with Apollo audiences than elsewhere, as a rule. They lik? the 'honeymoon' skit given 'em here. Linework is shorter and conse- quently better than usual. Only the opener, 'Fun at the Hotel,' ap- proaches any length, but the antics of Bryant and Co. forestall any boredom. STRAND, BROOKLYN Teddy King house orch, 5 Juggling Jewels, Bobby Joyce with Billy Brothers & Sylvia Dean, Sid To- mack & Reis Bros., Mary Small, Borrah Minevitch's Harmonica Ras- cals; 'Touchdown, Army* (Par). The Strand has a sock show this ^eek, but only because two of the acts steer the bill in that direction. Mary Small's warbling and Borrah Mmevitch's Harmonica Rascals sup- ply the heat and they do it with a plus that makes up for a couple of turns that threaten to freeze the Au- dience. Minevitch's gang, sans the leader, nut with a big youngster who acts for him, is still the excellent, show- manly troupe that it's been for years, including musical contribu- tions and comedy alike. Of course, there s Shorty for the real comedy. The little fellow is still getting slammed about by his larger con- freres, but now is giving it to them tofore ^^^^^^"^ proportion than here- Most of the gang's stuff Is rough- nouse, but it does manage to settle aown for one straight number that mdicates Its musicianship. It's Change Partners,' Irving Berlin's hit from 'Carefree.* Mary Small, who not so long ago was the child fave of the air lanes, has acquired a splendid grown-up manner. She's now with Ben Bei: nie's radio show and recently ap peared at the New York Strand. She warbles 'I've Got a Pocketful of Dreams,' 'Small Fry' and then classicizes swing, just to be differ- ent, she says. The latter isn't very effective, since the music of the classics that she employs is too greatly disassociated from her swing lyrics. 'My Reverie' is her encore and, when caught, she had to beg off. The Five Juggling Jewels, blonde femmes, have been arouiid for years and still a crack opener. They fling those Indian clubs about with aban- don. One number, in which the stage is darkened and they twirl ra- dium-treated clubs in various for- mations, is very effective. The skidders here are Sid Tomack and the Reis Bros., recently back from abroad. Thejr're a trio of males whose experience at gagging should have long since taught them —with them it's too much smut—dis- crimination. Their talk Isn't very effective because of this, although they get fair returns towards the end of the act with their impersona- tions of singer types. Bobby Joyce, Billy Bros, and Syl- via £)ean are acrobatic tapsters, who work hard enough but don't have enough, except enthusiasm, to get by. Teddy King wands the house or- chestra and m.cs. Too. there's the usual Friday night jitterbug con- test for amateurs and it's a wild shambles. Biz good when caught, last show Friday (4). EARLE, PHILLY Philadelphia, Nov, 5. Horace Heidt Orch, King Sisters (3), Alvino Rey, Larry Cotton, Charles Goodman, Red Ferrvngton, Bernie Mattinson, Agnes & George, Jean Farney, Art Carney, Peggy Pope, Bill Dyer; 'Broadyjay Mus- keteers' (WB). Horace Heldt brings his usual big unit into the Earle this sesh, pro- viding the entire stage bill. There are 28 in the crew, comprising the largest band unit ever to hit the Earle, including 17 instrumentalists. To all this, Heidt has added a neat touch by presenting Bill Dyer, base- ball gabber on local WCAU, who's well-known in Philadelphia. Sixty-minute show is solid all the way. Musically, aggregation tends to the -sweet side of swing, which Is okay. Some unusual* effects are ob- tained with an electric guitar, played by Alvino Rey. M.c'ing, of course, is handily taken care of by Heidt, whose phiz is clicko with the femmes. He's also extremely handy, for iii addition to singing a bit, he does a bit of shagging, juggling and some baton-swinging, a la college drum majors. He does none of these expertly but it's more a lark than anything else with him. It all gets over big, though. Following the usual theme tune, show opens with novelty, 'As Long as You Love Me.' Three King Sis- ters next, harmonizing 'Lambeth Walk' and then dancing it with some of the lads. Warbling and terping good, but femmes not much on looks, which isn't helped any by the coutouriering. Rey and his guitar in 'Song of the Islands' follows and slows up the proceedings appre- ciably, although the actual instru- mentation is good. Larry Cotton, swell tenor, doesn't help to speed things, either, with two slow ones in a row, 'Reverie' and 'Ave Maria.' Latter is unusual in a spot like this, splendidly done and is a solid winner. More chirp- ing then by Charles Goodman, do- ing 'I Had to Do It.' Also has. nice pipes. Jive nuts get taken care of next with nifty exhibish at the traps by Bernie Mattinson, swinging 'Dinah,' and terp sesh by Agnes and George. Gam-flingers are kids in a nice ses- sion, aided by Heidt's terping with the femme. Jean Farney, a recent acquisition, then sings 'Small Fry.' Art Carney, mimic, does the usual Lionel Barrymore, Al Smith and Roosevelt, very good, though Roose- velt overdone. It's Dyer's flrst stage apnearance, and he works like a vet, though on slightly too long. Gabs concerning leading football teams, with band playing their songs. Then he speaks of Hei^it as one of Walter Camp's AU-American stars, reciting some of his record. Heidt asks him the most exciting bit of baseball he has ever announced and he tells of the eighth inning in the second game of the recent World Series. Follow- ing a short preliminary, he goes into, it as though he were announcing at the field. It's very effective, Peggy Pope, warbler looker, with niftv pipes, warbles straight the Drinking Song from *La Traviata,' aided by Cotton and Bob McCoy. Strong. Finale is kinda flat. It's a mixture of a minuet and 'Flat Foot Flootree' by practically the entire unit. Not too funny, although aided by the. antics of Red Ferrington, who works hard throughout to grab chuckles, although actually he does nothing but sit with the band and heckle Heidt for most of the show. Herb. Embassy Newsreel, N. Y. With airplanes growing steadily more frequent in the n6ws as well as m the sky, it's natural that the newsreels devote more space to the field. It's inevitable at this time of year, too, for football to be a topic of lively interest. Quite properly, then, this week's bill at the Embassy, N. Y., gives plenty of footage to these two subjects. Grid sports grabs the major share. Theatre's camera crew was at the Columbia-Cornell game for much more complete coverage than the normal football clip. Unusual fea- ture is that the sound track was made as the film was taken. Ted Webbe does the spieling acceptably. However, it might be better to follow the method used by the other com- panies since it seems rather useless to describe the action as it's unreel- ing on the screen. Comment and explanation, which could be much better prepared and delivered in the studio, might prove more informa- tive than the present narration, which is somewhat hysterical. Special reels are rushed through developing and printing and are on the Embassy screen about 9 o'clock the night of the game. Other con- tests included in the regular releases are Pitt-Fordham, Notre Dame- Army, Dartmouth-Yale (all Fox) and Northwestern-Minnesota (Uni- versal). Also on the football sub- ject are a Paramount clip on kid teams and a Pathe treatment of Sid Luckman, Columbia's ace passer. Among the . air reels are an endur- ance flight (Fox), a stunt girl being flred out Of a cannon while aloft (Fox) and a new fool-proof para- chute (Pathe). Typical war games clip (Metro) is redeemed by the in- troductory sound track admonition not to be alarmed, 'this is all in fun,' referring to last week's Mercury Theatre broadcast sensation. Grim bit is contained in Paramount's treat- ment of the recent New York kid- nai)-murder revelation by G-men, while foreign affairs get attention in an interesting, if too oDviously posed, bit about the pretender to the French throne (Fox), Czechs fleeing the German invasion (Pathe), the Palest tine revolt (Fox), 15-year-old King Peter of Jugoslavia (Par) and Ital- ian troops returning from Spain (Par). Other vivid clips include the Sea- biscuituWar Admiral match race (M-G), excellently filmed, as well as a glimpse of a new English plowing machine (UX women's corn-nusking contest (M-G), the recent Atlantic Ocean schooner race (Par) and a Chicago University soph-freshman battle (U). Hobe. PARAMOUNT, L. A. Los Angeles, Nov. 5. Joe and Pete Michon, The Del Rios (3), Ted Blakely, Rube Wolf Orch, Fanchonettes; 'Men With Wing^ {Par), Fanchon & Marco has a far better than average stage show in conjunc- tion with Par's 'Men With Wings' currently, although two of the three vaude.acts are acrobatic. - It's a fast- moving show, with the house Fan- chpnettes spotted opening and dos- ing, and adding Substantially to the entertainment. Opening is a tableau with group of the Fanchonettes posed on a cut- out ship, from which they emerge for their opening routine. Special lighting gives a color atmosphere, in keeping with the tint of the pic-> tur.e. While femmes are cavorting, Ted Blakely, tenors offstage. As a finale to the number, three of the girls, wearing large-sized wings, appear as. shields for the entrance of the three Del Rios, acrobatic danc- ing turn. Two men and a femme really go to town, with balancing and mounting, to score decisively. Rube Wolf follows with a trumpet solo, dexterously executed, and then Blakely is on for a couple of effec- tive numbers. He has strong pipes and personality. In next to closing are Joe and Pete Michon, springbo^ird comics, who also inject a lot of hokey magic into their offering. Boys clean up all the way and are off to ringing applause. Edwa. STANLEY, PITT Pittsburgh, Nov. 5. George Olsen Orch (11), Imogene Coca, Phyllis Colt, Tanner Sisters (3), Jimmie Brierly, Massey & Mil- ler, Kirk Allen, Julie Munson, Bob Burton, Hank Russell;' 'Listen Darl- ing" (M-G). George Olsen has gone • new- every thing in his latest setup. What's more, it looks like pay dirt. Mae- stro's latest crew, showing here for the first time, needs considerable work, but once the extraneoxis ma- terial has been eliminated and the unit tightened generally, Olsen will have a top lineup. Even the band has xmdergone a face-lifting. Only 11 men now, piano, Hammond organ, three saxes, steel guitar, two trumpets who double on French horn, trombone, drums and bass norn, but arrange- ments have been built to keep Ol- sen's usually silken, sweet style pretty much intact. He leaves the hotcha stuff to the corking collection of youngsters he's assembled, and even they keep it at a minimum. Right now, miniature revue Is more or less of a high-ciass version of Benny Davis' shows, minus the whoop and holler of latter's offer- ings. If anything, it's just a bit too heavy on class for mass consump- tion. One sock low comedy act planted strategically would work wonders. Opening's sluggish, with Olsen consuming too much time in a set of special lyrics introducing indi- viduals and his 'Music of Tomor- row.' There ate a couple of slow spots at the midway mark, too. but otherwise it's a fast, peppy show. Band, which goes in for the glee club stuff expertly, has a flock of entertaining novelties, chief of which are the- 'A-Tisket' lampoon,' led by Jimmie Brierly, and Olsen's hoke fiddling in a symphonic num- ber. They're both good for plenty of laughs. Top turns are Phyllis Colt (New Acts), who's going to pay Olsen big dividends, and Imogene Coca, a vet- eran of two 'New Faces' revue on Broadway. She fits into the pattern like a glove, being a cute, winning comefjienne, with a flair for gurg- ling satire, and makes her three appearances count heavily. Among the others, the Tanner Sisters, harmony trio, look promis- ing, but when caught they were ap- Earently a bit nervous and got off ey, which cut into their- returns, Massey; and Miller (New Acts) are attractive ballroom tap stylists, Julie Munson also registers nicely with neat comedy. Biz just so-so. Cohen. Freeman'Par (Continued from page 3) months ago was asked to take charge, ,it is understood, but declined because he and his family didn't want to leave New York. Zukor has' been at the studio for around three years, having gone out following reorganization and the appointment of Balaban as president. LeBaron reportedly wanted to re- sign a year ago but was urged to remain on, signing a new straight three-year contract at that time. Understanding is that LeBaron signed the contract on agreement that he would be relieved of inter- ference from above.* As chairman of the board, Zukor will probably not remain long in England, where no successor to John Cecil Graham, managing director, has been named. He will no doubt return to the h,o. John W, Hicks, Jr., who has been in charge of Par operations in England following Graham's resignation, is also return- ing shortly to the h.o. He is a v,p. and director of Par, as also is Free- man. A revision of Par personnel at the studio and an immediate program imder Freeman to reduce production and operating costs in keeping with market possibilities, are expected. There may be some shifts in the the- atre department under a successor to Freeman but not expected that any shifting In this division will be of major Importance. Department is very well organized under Freeman and following emergence of Par from 77b, has not been overstaffed. It Is probably one of the smoothest theatre operating departments In the Industry, and under Freeman's leadership has shown treinendouis profits. For many years from 1916 asso- ciated with S. A. Lynch in Southern Enterprises, later acquired by Par, in 1933 Freeman joined the home of- fice staff in charge of real estate. He rapidly rose from that post to head theatres and was later elected a v.p. and member of the board. He is a recognized leader in theatre op- eration, as is Balaban who, on reor- ganization, shifted from active duties in operating B&K to accept the pres- idency of Par. Zukor will probably sail for Lon- don as soon as he cleans up hang- over matters, including private ^- fairs at the studio following return there in two weeks or so of Free- man. Zukor's $150,000 a Tear Zukor gets $150,000 yearly, of which $50,000 is paid annually against the settlement of the $13,- 000,000 directors suit brought by the Paj" trustees under bankruptcy. Other former Par directors are also paying off on the settlement reached, including Eugene Zukor. In a prepared statement from the Coast announcing the transfers of Zukor and Freeman, Balaban ex- pressed satisfaction oyer the prog- ress the. studio is making on the 1938-39 pictures. He said that the plant was farther along in its an- nual program than in years and has piled up a substantial backlog of completed product. Of the 48 being made this year, 27 features are completed or shoothig and 11 more will go into production between now and the first of the year, leaving only 10 to start. CASA MANANA, >^|^y Benny Fields, Lou Holtz, VeU, / Yolandfl, Helen Morgan, AbbotM& Costello, Gaston Palmer, Betty ffttt- ton, Delia Lind, Helen Reynolds* Skating Girl?, Borrah Minevitch's Rascals, Vincent Lopez orchestra. New show, opened here Sunday (6), looks strong on paper and plays strongly though long. First per- formance ran away overboard, going two hours and 25 minutes. Bill,' headed by LoU' Holtz as m.c„ is the most costly Billy Rose has. booked, some $4,500 more than the prior show which ran four weeks. This one may go six. For name marquee value, in ad- dition to Holtz, are Benny Fields, Veloz and Yolanda and Helen Mor- gan, all of whom are stout individ- ual draws. In addition to the Lopez' orchestra, Betty Hutton Is held bvei^ from the previous show. Latter has attracted much attention since stop- ping the show cold on her opening here a month ago but Sunday night (6) made less of an impression, probably because of some wild dancing and rotistabouting, includ- ing business of running up to Lopez to muss.up his hair, trying to push over Holtz. etc. Latter acted as if he didn't like the roughhouse. Miss Hutton, little jitterbug shiging bomb- shell. Is doing four numbers, in- cluding 'Old Man Mose,' her best. Holtz is working hia hardest, be- ing on the stage with most of the acts in addition to doing his regular stint and spacing between acts with stories or gags. His material is surefire but includes considerable that he has done before. His comic arrangement of *Musie Maestro' and the 'Married An Angel' are . stand- outs. The maharajah material, Well known by now, is still sOcko. Benny Fields closes the shdw with 15 minutes of singing and goes over big, although |t may be felt that some of his arrangements axe a bit overly' arranged, notably that of 'Alexander's Ragtime Band.' It tends to take away some of Its more, vital charm. 'Lullaby of Broadway* ar- rangement, long done by Fields, is unusually good, 'Melancholy Baby,' also done before, is included and closes Fields strongly. Veloz and Yolanda, outstanding dance teamp shortly going to Eng- land, were on 20 minutes openingr night, doing Seven routines, among them a delicate ballroom number, a couple of novelty dances, a tango, an old-fashioned number with new- fashioned trimn&ings and the dance they did In 'Champagne Waltz' for Paramount last year. Plus Holtz, comedy Is supplied by the surefire Minevltch Harmonic^ Rascals, sans Borrah, Gaston Pal- mer, the juggler, and the vaude team of Abbott and Costello. Palmer slows up the show considerably with too much stalling. Besides, his constant. chatter isn't $o hot. Ab- bott and Costello are on ahead of him with their routine along lines of the "how high is up' roaterisj Moss and Frye used to do. They're alumni of Kate Smith's radio hour. For singing balance In addition to Miss Hutton are Helen Morgan, on early, and Dellii Lind (New Acts), who is more favorably spotted far- ther down. The positions might he reversed since Miss Morgan is the better known of the two. Latter is doing five numbers. Including one of Holtz's specials with the m.c. behind her prompting as she gives out ,the lyrics. Miss Lind, signed by Metro a year ago, has not yet appeared on the screen for this company. Shd is a tall, attractive blonde and .pos- sesses B good voice. She sopranoes in French as weU as English. Helen Reynolds' Skating Girls (New Acts) open in a ve ry fast rout ine. Char. ' PALOMAR, SEATTLE , « i. Seattle, Nov. 4. Pinky Tomlin, Geraldine & Joe, Billy Black, Jerfy Ross, Bert Lynn ^^.^?AJ^h VcUra Bros. & Denis (3);'City Streets^ (Col), 'Under Big Top' (Mono), Reason for the ' Sterling chain's current vdudfilm 'success Is em- bodied in the type of show this week. Clean fun, some clever diancing, a generally well-balanced program and a fair name make another good one at Seattle's lone vaude house. Prices recently hiked from 37c to 42c top, haven't affected the b,o. Pinky Tomlin, who^ headlines, warbles some of his own songs pleasantly. He says he hasn't a regular act, but if the folks don't like it, he goes out to eat. In that case, he went hungry at the show caught. Jerry Ross m.cs nicely. He gives Tomlin, a gooa sendorr and latter ' works almost naively. 'What's the Reason,' 'The Love Bug,' a couple of ditties, and the windup 'Object of My Affections,' all of which he wrote, are sung by Tomlin. Geraldine and Joe are a clever dance team, acrobatics by Joe also being Inclvided in the turn. Bert Lynn and Co. means principal^ Lynn, who did a nifty m.c. on Ross* day off, and plays an electric guitar, which he calls a vibrolln. It goes over big. He .also clicks With his imitations. The other members of the 'company,' a femme, does a nifty hula as Lynn guitars a la.Hawaii. • Volera Bros, and Denis, gymnasts; close the show. They're okay. Billy Black and his little white dog break the ice. Treop.