Variety (Jul 1939)

38 VARIETr VARIETY HOUSE REVIEWS > Vednesday. July 19, im^ MUSIC HALL, N. Y. George and Jack Dormonde, Earl ''iPPVf Norma GaUo, Jan Peerce, Music Halt Glee Club, Corp$ de Bal- let, Rockettes, Jacques Gasselin; 'Man in the Iron Mask' (UA), re- viewed in Vabibty, June 28, A compact and agreeably-enter- taining stage show, running but 38 minutes including the orchestra overture, is the production worlc of Russell Markert as companion diver- sion to the heavy-costume drama, 'Man in the Iron Mask' (UA). Mark- ert is putting oh all the shows here during the absence abroad of Leon Leonidofl. He stages them from time to time as an associate prod while the latter is on the job. The overture features Jacques Gasselin, violinist. He plays well the ear-compelling 'Concerto in B Minor' by D'Ainbrosio, appearing In center- stage while the pit crew is lowered about halfway into the dugout This provides a somewhat differ- ent opening for the four-course pro- duction layout that follows, starting with a weirdly effective ballet along impressionistic lines in a simple but strlldng set As a break before the dock scene which cards third on the stage show, the comedy cycling team of George and Jack Dormonde take over position two. This act depend- ing on some talk, but more on the comic and clever unicyde routine, meets with no difficult in getting across properly here. Earl Llppy impressively sings "Stars of Duna* as an opener for a colorful fishing village-dock scene, topping it off by relating the legend of the' mermaid, and the sailor. As he tells this story, the scene blends Into a water effect to bring forth the mermaid. Norma Gallo, at first with a,fish tail. She maneuvers herself around the stage in a novel and ' clever acrobatic routine. later getting her limbs, as the related legend goes, to finish the dance routine in a more traditional manner. A spiralled kick past her shoulder, standing on one foot, gets a hand. Finish is a very Impressive street scene with Jan Peerce soloing as an .organ grinder, backed by a vocal chorus, and the Rockettes polishing It off with a dance as school kids. As usual they are the big hit of the show. Business virtually capacity Thurs- day (13) night when caught Char, CAPITOL, WASH. oldies as 'Bye Bye Blues' and 'Mexi- can Rose,' Carlsen's technic results in a distmct tempo and theme, and comedy is often injected by Inter- ruptions from the bass player, Paul Skinner, a mellow tenor, handles most of the vocals. Two encores were demanded of Skinner at this catching. Three Zilch Bros, go In to do a comedy interpretation of 'Little Fishies' and 'Ferdinand the Bull,' Routines resemble closely those of the Ritz Bros. AU of the acts on the bill click. Natalie and Howard, also localities, are okay in a takeoff on the apache dance. Neat tap routines are exe- cuted by Billy and Joyce Severin, Texas Tommy and his Wonder Horse perform a number of catchy tricks, culminated by a hula-hula, dance by the horse. Biz excellent at the opening show Friday (14). Weber. FOX, PHILLY Washington. July 17, The Reillvs (4), FoffutrSprinffman, Paul Nolan, Sue Ryan, Milt Britton orch; They All Come Ouf (M-G). This one's labelled 'The Crazy Show' and with four of the five acts distinctly on the comedy side, and production emphasizing nuttiness throughout It makes swell hot weather falre. Even house orch, which knocks off after three quar' ters of show, does its stint in screw' ball overture in which pit fioor rises empty and musicians straggle on one by one. from all directions, Sianist starting and playing solo, rummer following to make it a duet and others drifting on and. Joining In to build to sock finale of pop medley. Show proper opens with the Reillys, male trio in tux who give out with amusing modernistic eccen- tric tapping,- usmg gal tapper lor pantomime flirt dance. Finish oke with standard challenge stuff. Lew Cavies. pit guitarist takes over an- nouncing lob and introduces Fague Sprinjman, young baritone discov- ery from Virginia. Kid has pleasing presence in grey flannel business suit and makes 'em like 'Mandalay,' •Water Boy* and encores with 'Annie Lnurie.* Paul Nolan follows In tails to jug- gle too hat cane and tennis balls cleverly. Sue ttyan tears out next and takes hold with her burlesques of night club warbler; torch singer, opera star and chorine, replete with aut props and horseplav. Finishes sock with 'Alexanders Ragtime Band' as originally written and then ■s swung by jitterbug vocalist. From here on in its the Milt Brit- ton band, with smart specialty stuff emohasized and straight slapstick, which formerly was its mainstay, used only to clinch the climaxes. It's smash from start to finish as always, Biz fair. _^ Craig. RIVERSIDE, M'WKEE Milwaukee, July 14. Bill Carlaen orch, Paul Skinner, Zilch Bros., Texas Tommy, Natalie A Howard, Billy & Joyce Severin, Lee Roth's house crew; 'House of Fear- (U). After being groomed in the ball- rooms, niteries and on the radio. Bill Carlsen. local lad, is making a socko preem on a vaude stage here and manager Eddie Weisfeldt appears to have manipulated a heavy b.o. stanza. Carlsen, a likable, modest maestro, does some excellent tooting on the clarinet and sax as a getaway. His music is sweet and of the- danceable type, 50, much that the aggregation got excellent applause for such Philadelphia, July 14. Bert IjOhr with Sam Brown, Htlde- 0ard€, Lewis & Van, Del Rios (3), Jimmy & Mildred Mtilcahv, Lou Schrader house band; 'Good Girls Go to Paris' fCol). Skipping both Hollywood p.a.ers and name bands, either of which have heretofore been inevitable at flesh houses here. Fox this sesh turns to muslcomedy. and radio for Its two top attractions. There's Bert Lahr for the. older trade, to vhom he has been known for years via legit, and Hildegarde for the younger set. Teamed with a fairly strong film, it's a powerful combo from an rntertainment standpoint but one of ihose shows which must depend prin- cipally fbr its ' buildup on word-of• mouth, which unfortunately can't do much for It in a one-week stand. Without the usual flash act or band number for the blowoff, Lahr's hand- ed the finale, spot and makes the most of it, ■ He does two skits, visit to .the Income tax collecter and "The Woodsman'. He's skillfully aided in both by Sam Brown, who takes the role of the Federal man in the first and neatly fills in the stage wait while Lahr changes costumes for the second by giving Lahr what appears to be a legit intro until the funny boy steps back on the stage to sing 'Trees'. Lahr's socko sense of com- edy values and unique business add to the material, which is of solid base. Both are excerpts from recent Shubert stage musicals. Hildegarde precedes Lahr. Her piece de resistance is 'Lady's in Love With You,' which she does to per- fection with one exception—the toss- ing In of a very corny "You said itr Only Interpretation that can be given the insertion of this bit of small-time stuff by anyone of Hilde- garde's stature - is that she's kidding, but unfortunately, the audience thinks it belongs. Preceding 'Lady's Jn Love,' the tall, extremely striking looking gal sings a medley, including 'See a New Sun' and "Sing a Song of Stmbeams,' following with 'Our Ijove' and 'How Strange'. For her encores, which click tremendously, she does "WjA- ing,' piano solo witti orchstra back- ing of "Three Little Fishies,' and warbles 'Angels Sing* for the get- away. Greatly resjMinsible for her solid reception Is the ease with which she uses her pipes, her excellent dic- tion, her pianologing and her ap- pearance. She accompanies herself part of the time on a ffaixi down front of the stage to achieve a nltery intimacy which also aids. Lewis and Van, oair of male hoof- ologlsts working in tails, open the bill. They're more or less standard, smartening things up a bit with two small flights of steps on wtaich they do part of their tap work. Really win their big hand-patter, however, with their flash finale,/ a challenge round of speed stepping. In the deuce are Jimmy and Mil- dred Mulcahy, harmonicists. Jimmy opens the stanza as a single, doing the ancient but in this case stlU strong, bit of supposedly playing one harmonica to sound like two, then stopping, while the sound of the mouth organ still continues. It's his partner, of course, revealed in the wings, who's playing harmonica No. 2. Mildred Is a highly personable blonde and, although she's plent^ adept on her instrument, the har- monica playing is more of a' second attraction in her case. Duet, 'Rhap- sody in Blue' and 'Carnival in Ven- ice', latter with trick tonguing ef- fects, "Tiger, Rag' for encore gets them away In great .style. Del RIos are a different aero trio, consisting of a tail boy, a short boy and one hefty gal. Turns out that the femme is the middle lifter in their stunts, with the smaller lad on her shoulders. Aside from the value of this angle, they're show- manly throughout, executing a fiock of tough stands that win them a large quantity of favor from the h<iuse. Revue idiom is jjiven the show by taking tiie house band from the dug- out and setting it on the stage. In- troductions, however, are by an off- stage voice, never the equal of a flesh m.c. Incidentally, Lou Schra- der's Crew makes Its initial appear- ance as the pit orch this session, switching over from the Earle for seven weeks while Adolph Korn- span's toijters vacation. Herb.' STRAND, N. Y. Clyde McCoy orch, with Bennett Sisters (3), Larry Powell, Wayne Gregg; Wally Broum <Ir Annette Ames, Tip, Tap & Toe, Geo. Andre Martin; 'Indianapolis Speedway' (WB;, reviewed in this issue. The Strand currently is light- weight on both ends and the b.o. will probably show a marked drop by the time the onc.'week booking of both stage and screen features is over. McCoy's qreh is good enough for musical entertainment, but no great shakes in marquee draw, with the supporting acts in the same cate- gory. Band's standout is McCoy's own wailing trumpet Specialties with the band are the Bennett Sisters (3), fair harmonizers, Wayne Gregg, nice- looking tenor,and Larry Powell, drummer, who~~ls giveii one spot- lighted moment to heat up the house. Latter, incidentally, was only half full and very cold at the last show opening night (Friday). The tem- perature outdoors was the opposite. Outside acts yfHh the band are Tip, Tap and Toe. colored male trio working a brief challenge session on a raised platform. They represent the show's punchiest item. Second Is Geo. Andre Martin, paunchy finger-dancer. He's better suited for niteries than theatres, the Strand aur diehce, for instance, being too far back to appreciate his work. His session also is short but Martin had less difficulty getting off thaiv the colored trio. Wally Brown, with the tiny An- nette Ames providing a sock dancing finish, also found it tough getting a rise out of this house wiUi his dou- ble-talk. His ordinarily very funny routine got Tery few laughs at thts catcliing and the audience didn't be- gin t9 really sit up until Miss Ames' first appearance. She's of almost midget - proportions, but ' talented enough to take them off to excelieiit applause. One excellent aspect of McCoy's band is its ability to play a variety show. It also does very well with its own arrangements, holding an audi- ence quite well, «ven if not meaning very much in pulling 'em in. Scho. PARAMOUNT, L. A. Los Angeles, July 13. Eddie 'Boc/iester* Anderson, June Carr and Joe Kollo, Loroine Girad, Auburn aTid Dodge, Don Rice, house orch; 'Man About Town' (Par). Eddie Anderson (Jack Benny's 'Rochester')'is personaling in connec- tion with screening of Par's 'Man About Town,' In which he appears at Paramount currently and proving heavy boxoSlce magnet Sepia comic (New Acts) does 17 mlns. Opting was ragged In spots. Balance of show is straight vaude, backed by house orch on stage and with Don Rice functioning as m.c-as well as clowning with everybody on bill. Rice- is inclined to become somewhat noisy before the mike, but customers seem to relish bis non- sense. Auburn and Dodge, roller skating pair, open and perform dexterously. They are clean cut youthful couple, and know their rollers. Their finish, with girl suspended by one leg from male's nedk for a fast twirl, is strong. Loraine Glrad uncorks a soprano to warble several operatic arias and accompanies herself on the piano- accordlon. Girl has a sweet voice, of opera calibre, and registers soUdly. June Carr. and Joe Rollo do a hcdcum act with girl handling most of the comedy and Rollo playing straight They dance a bit clown all over stage and offer plenty of nonsensical stuff which goes over big. Gal's burlesque fan dance and couple's bull fight are both good for howls. Rochester Is spotted near finish wlQi Rice closing show with a bit of patter that slows tempo and means nothing. Incidentally, m.c. does sev- eral . short bits with an unpro- grammed stooge that are good, Edwa. DENVER, DENVER , , - „ , Denver, July 13. Jack LoRue, Irene Vermtllton A Her Trumpeteers, Floyd Christy <b Co., the CSafcis, Row Rogers & Bill Guthrie; 'Good Girls Go to Paris' (Col). This show has. nothing io apolo- gize, for. It rates high in its 70-min- ute running time, with applause strong for every act Jack LaRue's turn, with his sister and a pianist, has a bang to it as he does a one-act playlet, 'His Last Breakfast.' It's about a convict about to die. Up to that point it's a com- edy act with all three doing their share in gags and songs.- Irene Vermillion and Her Trunv- peteers,' with another pianist, put meat in a dancing act. Not that the dancing by Miss Vermillion wouldn't stand alone, but the trumpeteers add much by keeping things moving while she changes, as well as enter- taining in their own right. A quar- tet of girls, they play the trumpets as though they have been brought upr on them. Miss VemllUon does several routines and finishes with the snappiest Hawaiian number to be seen here in a long time. Plays two drums as she starts the dance and then sheds grass skirt for finale. The O'Sakis do a fast OrienUl novelty with perch and pole. Male is the understander, while femme does difficult feats atop. She Juggles barrel with feet and nun juggles two shallow vessels filled with, water at ends of rope. Floyd Christy and company In- dulge in knockabout comedy, their best being the slow-motion rollover. Roy Rogers, with hi$ paper tearing, drunk bit and other comedy, doubles as m,c. BUI Guthrie, localite, sings "Stair- way to the Stars' and 'Old Man River' with a theatre-filling and pleasing baritone voice. Business good, STATE.LAKE, CHI Chicago, July IS. Billy Wells & Four Fays, Al Verdi & Dolores, Dorothy King, Buddy Fisher orch (12), with Dorothy Con ver; 'Within the Law' (M-G). Buddy Fisher's orch has the bulk of the running time on this show, taking 40 minutes of the hour's bill with a musical pot pourri. Fisher was recently here in the Blue Foun- tain Room from the LaSalle hotel. He has an agreeable turn on the stage, with the b&nd dishing up highly listenable music for the.gen- eral mob. Including a number of novelty bits that are suitable for variety houses. Rhythpi Is simple for the most part and the songs are all pops that are recognized immediately by the audi- ence. For novelty stuff there is a hill-billy sequence, while novelty songs such as 'Little Fishies' and 'Beer Barrel Polka' are utilized In such a manner by individual workers in the band to point up the comedy twists. Dorothy Conver is a tall warbler who sings popular songs for the pop- ular taste. She makes a pleasing ap- pearance and sells herself neatly. Fisher himself worlcs hard as gen- eral factotum, winding up with a bit on the xylophone. For some reason he uses the line 'union, but good' to start the orchestra off on numbers. Evidently Fisher believes this is clever and funny,' but it failed to impress this audience. Preceding the Fisher spell are two standard vaude acts. Opener is Billy Wells and the Four Fays, who click with their energetic hoofing and dancing bits. Wells still Is waving his at>domina1 muscles as a trick stunt and it still isn't so much. Bet ter are the regulation dance numbers in this turn. Al Verdi's musical nov- elty and comedy act is next and goes over neatly here. In with the Fisher gang is Dorothy King, a neat little dancer with a Russian ■ number as her specialty. Okay for vaude or niteries any- where. Biz okay at last show Friday <14). Gold. ORPHEUM, L. A. -Los Angeles, July 12. Clarence and Claude Stroud, Sally Rand's Frisco Expo girls with .Flower dc Paul, Herb Scnriner, Mini & Toy, Al Lyons orch; 'Back Door to Heaven' (Par) and Tell No Tales' (KKO>. Sally Rand's 'world's fair glamour girls' are given equal promiiience with Clarence and Claude Stroud In current stage show, but hardly live up to the baling. Line is made up of 12 dancing girls who offer several routines of ordi- nary stepping and one production number m which Flower and Paul, exotic dancers, are featured. Clos- ing routine of the femmes lacks speed necessary to wind up stage diversion. - Otherwise they acquit themselves okay. Stroud Twins ^ow much improve- ment in material and stage demeanor since last caught here, and aside from a few gags runninU perilously close to border line of offensiveness, keep tteir auditors in constant up- roar. Clarence is Introduced by m.c. Al Lyons as a single and after a few gags, at the expense of the orch leader. Introduces twin brother (Claude, spotted in audiencef. Pair then go into their nonsense and wind up with some better-than-ordinary stepping, Ming and Toy, Chinese coupIe,have excellent repertoire of songs and gags, interspersed with somfe nifty piano-accordion playing by male member of duo. Girl has good so- prano voice and knows how to han- dle her numbers. Routine runs mostly to swing stuff, which she puts over in big way. Herb Schriner plays the harmonica expertly, but his running gags are mostly out of line. His attempts at broad comedy fall fiat but his play- ing scores heavily. Flower and Paul do a sensuous routine with a finish not in keeping with customary Orpheum shows. Dance will • have to be toned down before most of patrons will like it Lyons orch plays novelty overture. With leader scoring with 'Bell In the LlghthoMse.* Edwa. STATE, N. Y. Rudy Vallee and orch, Lyda Sue" Rubens & Rita, Bob Neller Gil Lamb, Tommy Savoy, Gentlemen Songsters, Betty PhilHps; 'Only An- gels Have Wings' fCol), Comparatively short, punchy show hefty with laughs is on tap here this week headlined by Rudy Vallee. In with Col's 'Only Angels Have Wings' Vallee and his supporting show should hold up the State's b.o. aver- age. Stage portion nms 50 minutes, lengthy enough to make it thor. oughly entertaining and short enough for compactness. Biz good- when caught last show opening night (Thursday). Vallee's support Is evenly divided between copnedy and terp turns, Bob Neller and Gil Lamb covering the former, and Lyda Sue and Rubens and 9ita the latter. Tonsil stuff is, of course, handled by Vallee, aided in spots by an unbilled male quartet and girl singer (Gentlemen Song- sters and Betty Phillips). Travellers part on Vallee's vocal- Ing of 'You Took Me Out of This World,' fbUowed by 'Aln'tcha Comin' Out' latter helped along by the quartet Later the singer-maestro changes to tails to put over his 'Plaza-3-4783,' melodic satire on es- cort service bureaus. It's from last winter's legit musical 'Sing Ont the News', Still later he comes up with - 'I Poured My Heart Into a Song' and 'Back to Back' from the film 'Second Fiddle' (20th) wherein Vallee Is a feature. However he doesn't so an- nounce himself. Miss Phillips works with Vallee in the last named and It's her only try. Lyda Sue gets away the dance turns ■ in slick fashion. Her high kick-acro stuff, studded by half and full flips and difficult twists, is easy to take. She makes even the most trying tricks look simple. Nicely cos- tumed, too. Rubens and- Rita (New Acts) follow Vallee's' fairly lengthy escort number and click. Turn is hard to figure, seemingly being some sort of interpretative routine, but It's well done along Apache lines. . Bob Neller s mtro labels him as 'one of the best' ventriloquists. His long stay garners solid laughs one after the other and often it's at Vallee's expense. At -one point Neller's dummy, 'Reginald J. Trick- puss,' comes up with a 'One-punch Vallee scores again' line. Midway. Vallee exits from the wings with a second dummy and while it's never made clear who's supplying the Voice' for the added starter, Neller proves his ability with Tne swift changes in tone, etc. His act goes over solidly. Closer Is Gil Lamb and his aids Tommy Savoy. Lamb's on till the finale with his zany antics and har- monica contributions by Savoy. Lat- ter mouths "Nola' in sock style. Lamb's eccentric tap routines and succeeding fol-de-rol Is duck soup for audiences, and the bit wherein he's supposed to have swallowed t midget mouth organ gets strong laughs. Vallee picks up a sax and clarinet occasionEoly tb show he hasn't for* gotten how to toot Sax number, Sax-o-Fun,' is okay. APOLLO, N. Y. Al Cooper orch with Evelyn White; Sister Tharpe, Renee & Estelte, Four Alphabets, BiUy & Chorley, John Mason, Sandy Bums, George Wiltshire, House Line (16); •Big Town Czar* (U). ApoUo this week hikes itself out of its standard groove and provides Harlem with a batch of entertain- ment that's considerably better than average at this house. Show runs the Apollo's usual 00 minutes, di- vided into two portions—first a re^ vue, then a. band—but it doesnt seem to be so overboard on time as 'ordinarily. Principal pick-me-up is in the pro- duction. Instead of tossing together a flock of dismembered line and comedy numbers, Apollo has added a couple good specialists and woven the production ideas arotmd thera. This peg not only ties things to- gether, but gives room for colorful costuming or the line and provides a good jumplng-off place lor the comedy, which is improved; Opener is based on the appearance of Sister Tharpe. Scene is a holy- roller meeting, with gals dressed in bright-colored old-fashioned dressM on folding chairs around the back of the stage. Around a mike in rear center are the Four Alphabets, quar- tet of male warblers, also dressed m reds and greens. They provide in- termittent harmony,' while John Mason, Sandy Biirns and George Wiltshire, house comics, do. the preacher stuff from a rickety rostrum and with a telephone book for a bible. Burlesque of holy-roller an- tics gives line opportunity for work. Sister Tharpe comes in for the finale of the scene. Strums a ^itar and sings to the harmony backing oi the Alphabets, Follows with a sm- gle in front of the travelers during scene-shUtlng. Having won what- ever billing value she possesses ss a swinger of spirituals. Miss Tharpe errs in departing from that idea. <Continued on page 46)