Variety (Oct 1939)

Wednesday, October 25, 1939 VARIETY HOUSE REVIEWS VARIETY^ — 45 STANLEY, PITT PitfsbUTflh, Oct. 20. . Ted Weeiiw Orch (14), Fritz & Jean Hubert, Paul Winchell, Hudson iVonders (2), Mary Lee, Marvel Maxtcell, Red Ingle, Perry Como, Ormond Doiuns, Elmo Tanner; 'Danc- ing Co-Ed' (M- G). Lot of show and most of It good, too Ted Weems is an old favorite in these parts and he's carving an- other notch in his local popularity this week. He's alw^s been a good showman and is getting better. Band has kept in tune with the times and can swing it with the best of 'em and at the same time go back to the ewect stuff that's long been the out- fit's trademark. Themer behind closed curtams brings the orch on to nice applause. Weems immediately romps into a blues that winds up with Ormond Downs doing a sizzlin? solo on the drums. It's not music, but it's topical and mob went for the workout heavily when caught. Band's new vocalist. Marvel Maxwell, is-a strik- ing eyeful who gets by principally on looks. Vocally, she's just average; tonight (20), her lyrics came out m a jumble and 'My Lucky SUr' and •Dipsy Doodle* were just titles. Weems' other two singers. Perry Como and little Mary Lee, also have diction trouble. Maxwell gal Is followed by Paul Winchell, voice-thrower with a dummy that doesn't look unlike Charlie McCarthy and even sounds a bit like him. Wlnchell's up among the top practitioners of the art; ma- terial's fresh and amusing and the wooden-head's got personality, Elmo Tanner's next with his standard whistling session and over big as usual, but it's about time he looked around for a couple of hew numbers. Hudson Wonders are aptly billed. Two femmes are wonders all right with their flexible forms. Kids imi- tate whirling dervishes, bounce, tumble and contort at a mile-a- minute clip and never let up. It's five minutes of dynamite and topped this show cold. Gals had to beg off, as did Como, who followed them. Latter hails from these parts but his toothing, satisfying pipes would win him the same results even if he cnme from Paducah. Aside from aforementioned laxity intermittently he's a nifty. Gave 'em 'Old Gang of Mine,' 'Over the Rainbow,' 'Go Fly a Kite' (which, incidentally, isn't for him) and 'To You' and they were still yelling for more at the finish. He had to pacify them with a little speech-making. Fritz and Jean Hubert. In their standard drunk dance, are also high spots. They've been doing more comedy than physical stuff of late; however, their comic falls and bumps give them upper-bracket rating on the. aero side, too. Weems' juve singer. Miss Lee, whom he can't use in New York pn- account of her age, shapes up better than she did last time around. Kid's developing personality as well as voice and is sending them down the groove. Youngster, who did a film trick for Warners comparatively recently, Blaps across two numbers smartly, and for her third teams with Red Ingle on a cuties 'Billy Boy.' Then Ingle sticks around for his chuckling Imitation of-Ted Lewis and finishes with a hoke violin solo that packs loads of laughs. For a closer, Weems sends Ingle out with some lowdown swingin' on •Runnin* Wild.' Msx Adkins' house orch is In the pit and dishes up an ear-easy overture. Cohen. MINNESOTA, MPLS. ner perform on the xylophone. He plays the instrument with sticks at- tached to his feet a la Will Mahoney. The Tryon Sisters petite lookers, demonstrate remarkable strength and muscle control in their adagio and balancing feats. Ates has a pretty and personable feminine aide in Barbara Ray. He lands solidly, with his stuttering, clowning, gags and stories. The ex- change of banter with Miss Ray is also productive of laughs. Miss Ray also contribues a neat song and a dance. A flash production number with the Wynn girls in strikingly elaborate costumes is a praiseworthy finale. Business only fair at the late open- ng night show. Rees, Metropolitan, B'klyn Eddie Cantor, Jean Mona, Sidney (Guffv) Fields, Edgar Fairchild & Adam Carroll, Bert (Mad Russian; Gordon, Joyce Hunter, Leni Lynn, Sluart Morgan Dancers (4); 'Fast and Furious' (M-G). Chicago, Oct. 21. Joe. Cook, Saper & Shcrmon, Deweys, Fulton <t Wells, Charles Senna, Ptccadillj/ Girls (20); 'Fifth Ave. Girl' (RKO). This is the last vaudeville show for the Palace.. Duals replace. With .generally inferior pictures due to the necessity of relying on only two companies, the Palace has always depended largely on its stage fare for boxoffice strength. But the vaude bookings have been handled with such poor perception that even the most loyal Palace vaude fans have been forced to give up in diS' gust. They have given vaude here a good finale, however, with the wind up show being very worthy. After an absence of years, Joe Cook is back and welcome. He is a sample of excellent vaudeville, being a smart showman with solid delivery and a routine that's unique. ' His screwy stories remain a high spot, with tiie 'Four Hawaiians' item alone rating the price of admission. Cook ' repeats most of his fool- proof and established routines, in- cluding thb comedy pitch spiel, along with his acrobatics and juggling. He's on and off throughout the show, and dynamite at all times. Rest of the show Is comparatively minor. The Piccadilly Girls, line, are excellent and turn in three solid numbers, particularly impressing with an intricate fan routine. Charlie Senna works hard as Cook's stooge. Sager and Sherman are a man-and-girl dance team, okay, with Sager repeating later as a dancing single for a good specialty, Fulton and Wells are a hand-to-hand acrobatic team With standard stunts. Finally, there are the Deweys. ju"*?- glers, who setup background for (book's Indian club manipulation. Biz good at last show Friday (20) Gold. Minneapolis, Oct. 21. Jncfc Molerich Orch (18), Joe Oriffin, Jack Hilliard, Patricia Wynn Dancers (12), The Rutons (2), Dave Alonohan & Co. (2), Tn/on Sisters (2), Roscoe Ates & Co. (2); 'Mutiny in the Big House' (Mono) . This show stacks up acceptably, While , lacking the all-around strength of many of its predecessors. It provides considerable pleasing di- version, thanks mainly to the hard- working and efficient Roscoe Ates, who unloosens a bundle of hefty gughs in his headline offering. House units—Jack Malerich and his 18-piece orchestra; the Patricia Wynn line of 12 girls; singer Joe Griffin and m.c. Jack Hilliard— come through well, as usual. Malerich is in fine fettle, conduct 'ng his 18 musicians on the elevated platform in a stirring overture, Songs of the Range,' which has Grif- nn displaying his robust tenor to ^vantage In 'The Last Roundup.' With the town gripped by football lever, Malerich appropriately de- votes his organ solo to songs of the Big Ten universities. Hilliard, m.c this week sings 'South American Wav and registers again. The Wynn dancers get the .show off to a fast start with their lively Mexican hat dance. A terrier that jumps rope is one of the canine stars trotted out by the Rutons. man . ^Jd woman. The man balances one of the dogs on his thumb as the piece de-resistance of a succession of •stunts that also Includes a double ■omersault by another of the anl ■^als. Dave Monolian and his girl part, PALACE, CHI ORPHEUM, MPLS. Minneapolis, Oct. 21. Bloclcstone & Co. (12), Everett West, Colstons (2), Marie Wilson & Bob Oakley; 'Fast and Furious' (M-G). Headed by Blackstone, the magi- cian, and Marie Wilson, Hollywood fllmstress, this show has plenty en tertainment. Blackstone works at four intervals besides neatly m.c.ing. He's still smooth, personable and an excellent showman. , , , . The seven shapely, good-looking gals brought along with the rabbits and canaries help to dress up the stage nicely. Show opens with the girls, in elaborate costumes, parading ahead of the magician, who starts his performance by producing floral bouquets from the folds of his ap- parently empty wrap, and making caged birds appear and disappear. His swift temoo enhances the. tricks baffling qualities. Such poD numbers as South American Way,' 'Over the Rainjjow, 'Dark Eyes', and 'Two Guitars are nicely sold by Everett West, a per- sonable chap with a pleasing tenor. His encore is 'Bectin the Beguine. Blackstone follows with his mys- tifying snook handkerchief stunts. The handkerchief, borrowed from one of the .customers, seems to come to life, wiggling and dancing and cutting other didoes at the magician s bidding. . There's a good laugh response for the Colstons, man and woman com- edy adagio and aero terpers. They punctuate Ihcir clowning with scv ernl difficult whirling feats. Resuming his magic, Blackstone extracts various articles and finally a irirl from an apparently emuty chest. Then he makes an electric lamp float through .soace. . .„ Miss Wilson gives dumbbell an <:wers to the nuerips nropounded by her oartner, Bob Oakley. The pat- ter is only mildlv amusing, but the Hollywood comedienne is easy on the pves and hrss a nifty looking cha.s.sis. For a finisher she does a dance. La Conga.' that entails some torso twi.st- ine and bumps. It's not very ef- fcctivc> Blackstone concludes the .show with a .<;eries of illu.'sion':. including This downtown Brooklyn house. Is a perfect gauge of Eddie Cantor's b.o. potency. For one thing, it hasn't played a stage show in exactly four years; secondly, it's off the beaten track and in strictly a daytime shop- ping area. The night biz must be drawn from the outlying residential sectors. Opening day (Thursday), Cantor played five shows and biz was nifty up to the final performance. This was staged a bit too late (10 p.m.) for sleepy Brooklyn and the house was considerably thinned out for the last show, but profitable neverthe- less. With the exception of Leni Lynn, 13-year-old soprano, this is essen- tially the same show and same ma- terial that played Loew's State on Broadway a few months ago and on the road since. It's tested and tried entertainment and surefire with au- diences. There's a plenitude of comedy from Cantor, Bert (Mad Russian) Gordon and Sidney (Guffy) Fields, good singing from the afore- mentioned Leni Lynn, pianologing by Edgar Fairchild, who was Can- tor's radio musical director, and Adam Carroll, and a closing smash via the adagio Stuart Morgan Dancers (4). Latter live up to Can- tor's Intro as one. of the finest acts of its type and represent a swell blowoff for the show prior to Can- tor's singing of the patriotic 'Let Them Keep It Over There.' Only weak turn in the show Is Jean Mpna's hoofing at the opening. She's only a fair stepper at best and the band here on opening day did just about everything but help her impression. Another femme in the show, tall and stately Joyce Hunter, is used almost chiefiy for a comedy bit between Cantor and Gordon, though also singing one song in nice fashion. Cantor is playing the house on a 50-50 split from the first dollar. Scale has been jumoed to S5c week- day nights, and 75c for Saturday evening, only a slight jump over the straight pix tariff. No matter how large Cantor's take will be, he's earning it via a very strenuous rou- tine for so many shows daily. He's seldom off the stage and when he's on there's always a gag, song or piece of business. He also appears to be working much rougher than before, especially on himself, with one of his gags still in questionable taste. That's . the one about the flapping uriderwear that supposedly encases Rudy Vallee. The five-show daily policy Is be- ing continued for all days except Saturday (21), when six were sched- uled. If nothing else, this great number of performances should at least whip the 12-piece pickup pit band into shape for the closing day. It was plenty bad opening day, evi- dencing lack of rehearsal. Starting tomorrow (Thursday), and thereafter, the house reverts to straight pictures. 5cho. Tiny Ann and Tony Small add com- edy relief, the guy being a half-pint while the gal's a hefty six-footer. Tommy Trent's punnets are also in the jitterbug motif, with a darky doll a nifty in a cakeWalk. Trent also has his- standard Punch and Judy act brought up to date. Lou Schrader's house band plays the overture. > When caught Friday night the ropes were up. Shal. LYRIC, iNDPLS. EARLE, PHILLY \ Philadelphia, Oct. 20. Glenn Miller's Orch (18) uitth Marian Hutton, Ray Eberle, and Tei Bennecfce; Roberts & Martin, Tiny i4nn A Tony Small, Tommy Trent, Lou Schrader's House orch (20); 'Pack Up Your Troubles' (20th). The most tumultuous audiences since Benny Goodman's appearance here two years a?o are jamming their way into the Earle this week to gander Glenn Miller's orch. And the bespectacled maestro doesn't disappoint. A varied program ranging from the latest In jive to the sweet, melodic 'Danny Boy,' satisfies every- one. Well-arranged 45-minute .show is aided greatly by tasteful back- drops and okay lighting effects. Show opens with Miller gan" jam- ming through a medley including 'Sunrise Serenade' and 'Moonlight Serenade/ Ray Eberle pleasingly tenors 'Over the Rainbow,' encoring with 'To You.' The band pace "fits hot again with 'Jumpin* Jive,' Miller soloing on his horn. Stage then is darkened, with a faint light shining on Miller as he introduces 'Danny Boy.' Band sepavtes into voice units, and as each section goes into action differ- ent-colored spots play them up. It's very effective and brings plenty of plaudits. The five saxes especially clicked during this number, Marian Hutton, zippy blonde eye- ful with the band, does a good job with the vocals of 'Jr^pin' Jive' and 'F. D. R. Jones.' In an encore .she teams with saxoohonist Tex Bennecke in 'The Little Man Who Wasn't There.' B.ind bows out with 'In the Mood' and 'Running Wild.' Supporting acts are naturals. Two the levitation stunt, the Indian rope 'et^..^^ ''hag^artists, lied as trlck aiid the disappearing horse, all ^^A^iicht housie at the openln<» mat- inee show Friday (20). Hcej. Harvest Moon Jitterbug Champs,' cavort to the delieht of the young, sters. Roberts and Martin do a straight jUtegbug number, while Indianapolis, Oct. 20. Milt Herfh Trio, Stanton <& Curtis, Mirth & Mack, Jim Wong Troupe (6), Pansy, the Horse; 'Angels Wash Their Foces' (WB). Five acts playing the house this week present a new streamlined ver- sion of vaudeville. Each act has a novel twist and moves swiftly. Lack- ing people in the acts, the house lends weight to the stage fare by moving pit orch on stage, where it performs well and looks good backed by nice hangings and good lighting. Jim Wong Troupe opens being pri- marily a standard Chinese juggling act, with five men and one woman doing flips, barrel an dish juggling and contortion work. One of the men also tosses in a tap dance, executed acceptably. Followed by Mirth and Mack, hoofers with fine sense of comedy. After getting off some nice taps in natty tails, they do an Impression of Arliss, Durante and Sparks, flnish- ing as Harpo and Groucho Marx. A new ending since the act played here last is a military tap routine tied up with an introduction to the current fuss abroad. Pansy the Horse delivers heavy giggles, with the two-man nag, coached by a femme looker, putting across some neat equine pantomime. Stanton and Curtis have a new twist on ventriloquism. After Stanton does a few. sound effect iinltations, his femme partner comes on. He goes through the motions of a song while she actually does the vocalizing In high soprano. They reverse then to the baritone department, with the woman doing the singing again to Stanton's ventro antics. Milt Herth Trio closes bill with l4 minutes of the 54 minutes running time. Electric organ, drums and piano go swingeroo on 'Jumpin Jive', '18th Century Drawing Room', 'Beer Barrel Polka', 'Bumble Bee", 'Pagan Love Song' and a college medley. Drummer doubles at marimbaphone oh 'Polka' and 'Bee'. Terrific hand would have been good for several encores but Herth wisely left aud- ience wanting more when caught. Biz good at third show Friday (20). Kileu STATE, HARTFORD Hartford, Oct. 22. Phil Spitalny Orch, iDith Maxine, Evelyn, Three Little Words, June Lorraine; Johnnie Koy^ Sam Kaplan Hou.te Orch; 'Mutiny on the Blacfc- hauifc' (U). Ciirrent divertissement Is pleasing and nicely paced. Spitalny crew gives out with a nifty mixture of swing, sweet and light classical, sat- isfying all types of auditors. Spitalny is heavy on vocalizing with Maxine, The Three Little Words and an unbilled femme. Entire crew also canaries in glee-club manner. Maestro handles the reins excellent- ly; without loss of pace he changes the mood and tempo of his music, going from light-lasslcal to swing and getting over solidly. His featured vocalist, Maxine, was only on once at show caught, but left an indelible impression. Her first is 'Tain't What You Do,' followed by the antithetical 'Ave Maria,* with concert-mistress Evelyn, band's ar- ranger, on here for some solid fid- dling. In both numbers the band glee clubs in the. background. The Three Little Words are spot- ted a couple of times and do nicely. Variation of 'Beer Barrel Polka' is solid. A click with the jitterbugs Is the unbilled femme, who's In the groove with 'Jumpin' Jive.* Gal had to beg off at this show, with Spitalny exDlaining that she's new to the band and h<>s only one number prepared. On tonight's show (Sunday) gal was forced to do 'Jumpin' Jive' a second time. Two snecialties support the band. Johnnie Koy, only male member of the unit, is spieled by Spitalny as 'one of America's greatest dancers'; June Lorraine is a mimic. Both are solid and register heavily. Koy, a youngster, is. on for two routines. In tails, mixing ballet with tap terping. Gal does impressions of Lionel Bar- rynibre. Bctte Davis and Charles Lpn-fliton. Several of Spltalny's crew are fiven .solo .spots for nice returns. A bit of hefty work on the skins Is In- dulged in by Mary McLenihan for excellent results. The fiddle section (6), led bv Evelyn, and the two ninno players are also .spotlighted! Arr.'<p'»ements of 'Bolero.' 'You and the Ni''ht and the Musir' and 'Dcen Purple' are nlcnty creditable. Last "how tonight wps aircast for General Electric over NBC from the stage of th" State. Weekend biz good. Eck. EMBASSY, N. Y. (NEWSREELS) War, military preparations, tha partition of Poland and other news relevant to the European confiict again hold the spotlight here. Con- siderable of the clips concern these subjects, which meant a big task in. their compiling because little con- trast is offered. That the show holds Its audience is testimony to nicety of editing. Metro's 'News of Day' scores heav- ily with four of the first seven sub- jects on the bill dealing with, di- rectly or indirectly, the crisis. N. of D., with John B. Kennedy doing slick commentation, shows scenes at surrender of Warsaw, vividly depicting the havoc. Camera- man took some scenes right behind Nazi machine gunners and artillery crews firing on Poland'^ capital. Parley between Polish military chiefs and German officers at War- saw is also trimly caught Germans entering the Polish city and prison- ers evacuating, destinations un- knowni is also seed. N. of D. makes clear that all material came through German censors. Reel also grabs some trim material from the western front; explaining that the films were taken after Allied military officers had consented to photographers and newspapermen visiting the front What happened to several Nazi towns is graphically shown. N. of D. also digs into its files for some excellent and presumably fairly new shots of U. S. navy at sea. Same reel has an obviously old clio showing test made some years ago by American navy aviators in bombing a station- ary old-line naval boat off Cape Hat- . teras. Movietone . feiatures the partition of Poland, getting nice closeups of wrecked guns after Nazi bo'mbs hit them near Warsaw. It also shows how railroad lines, terminal^ and equipment were blasted. Reel photp- graphs Russians and Nazi forces to- gether some place on the eastern Poland front Movietone grabs views of U. S. troops (first battalion of 51st Coast Artillery) shoving off for Puerto Rico to defend approach to Panama CanaL More humorous side of warfare Is captured by Par In England. Done in good taste and snowing how British are laughing off multitude of inconveniences. Par is shown grinding away from atop of London hack. Same company also covers test made of new U. S. giant guns in Maryland and Polish-American, parade In N. Y. Former contains maximum of thrills showing ' guns bein>! used against tanks and anti- aircraft artillery In action, climax- ing with the firing of an artillery giant shell 30 miles. I>athe shows string of bomber planes testing In California. Same reel touches on world refugee con- ference. Gridiron parade Is next In Import- ance. Par heads the procession, contrasting the professional game with the college type. Precision and ease with which plays are executed show up in camera focused on N. Y. Giants' victory over the Philadel- phia Eagles. Dash and college try also Is well Illustrated by Minne- sota-Purdue tie, as first one side and then the other forges plays. Com- pany also gives Columbia nIght-be— fore-game rally as an Intro to the Columbia-Armv game. Same reel shines on the Pit vs. Duke struggle, alert photographer capturing an un- usual closeup of fumble which fig- ured in the Panther 14-13 win. Yale- Penn (Metro), Cornell-Princeton (Universal) and UCLA-Stanford (Pathe) are other games caught. Both Par and Movietone handle the N. Y. auto show, former show- ing ne.w car styles, with latter also going In for furs on display. Open- ing of N. Y. airport at North Beach Is by Pathe. Same newsreel covers Lou Gehrlc accepting job as parole officer in I^. Y. Fatal bus accident in West Virginia Is by Par. 'Stranger Than Fiction* (U) and 'Glimpses of Australia,* Metro's Fitzpatrick Traveltalk, round out bill. Biz S.R.O. at late show Thurs- day (19). Weor. Jannsen Qoits Symph Baltimore, Oct 24. Werner Jannsen resigned as con- ductor of the Baltimore Symph last week. The orch experienced Its most successful b.o. under his direction.. He had been maestro two years. In his letter of resignation, for- warded from Hollywood, Jannsen claimed the effort put Into working up necessary quality of performance for limited appearances was not jus- tified. Symph, a municipal project, L limited because budget doesn't permit more than five concerts a season. Scribes On The Move Hollywood, Oct 24. Five writers finished their jobs at Warners and checked off the lot while four others signed In. Outgoing were Fred Finklehoffe, John Monks, Jr., Maurice Leo, Earl Snell and -Theodore Reeves. New- comers are Alex Gottleib, George Bricker, Detlef Surek and Charles Reisner. »