Variety (Sep 1942)

48 ttEYIEWS Wednesday, September 23, 1942 House Reviews Continued from page 45 , FOX, B'KLYN point, but too musicianly to be en- joyed by ickies. Band kicks up good tempos and does good work behind the act£. On its own it doesn't get too many chances, only 'Savoy' and 'Ru.stles of Spring,' a piece of legimate music cut down to popular Eize. It's okay. Sister Rosetta Tharpe is connected with the band; her reception here was wild and she could have done mroe than three numbers. Plucking a guitar, with band accompaniment, she delivers That's All, 'Rock Me' and Tall Skinny Papa.' Pegleg Bates, tapster with a wooden leg, is widening his reF>er- toire. He now talks one's head off as well as generating wild acclaim for his footwork. His song intro re the pegleg is too long and most of his between-hops chatter should be avoided. His terps are more elo- quent. Does three routines, wind- ing up with the usual flash landings on the wooden pin. Crowd blistered the walls for him. Morgan and Roberts are come- dians who get more out of mugging than any particular skill. Decked in green and yellow suits, they justify their place on the bill in only the flnal few minutes onstage; in this they cut loose with flashy acro- batic dancing. They, too, got heavy reaction. Inkspots close. Quartet delivers 'Shout, Brother, Shout.' a good rhythmic opener; 'Every Night About This Time.' This Is Worth Fighting For,: 'Apple Tree' and 'If I Didn't Care,' winding up proceedings in a blaze. Numbers are almost identical with ones used on recent Para- mount N. Y.,' date and the reaction to the work and style of delivery just as strong. Wood. five tunes, winding up with her in- evitable 'Tisket, Tasket.' The Douglas Brothers, an amiable pair of knockabouts, shoot the works in a frantic session of acrobatic dancing, pratt-falling and chatter, all of which adds some livelines.s to the show and helps give it pncc. The shows could use another novelty to good effect, for the Wheeler band doesn't carry all the burden expect- ed of it. Biz remains scorchy. Elie. ter not without Its humorous touches. H. V. Kaltcnborn. with the footage held down better this time, answers three questions of a theoretical na ture bearing on the world conflict while Tex McCrary, another Emb regular, currently discufsed the tendency toward over-optimism with respect to the war. Char. EARLE, PHILLY Philadelphia. Sept. 19. Joe £. Lewis, Linda Ware, Miller Bros, and Loir, Louis Prima Orch (13) with Leon Prima and Lily, Ann Carroll; 'Are Husbands Necessary' iPar). Night Club Reviews Continued from page 47 ' ICELAND, N. Y. CAPITOL, WASH. Washington, Sept. 20. Patricia Bowman, Jacfc Dtirant Vikings, Al Gordon, Rhythm Rock- ets, Sam Jack Kaufman's House Orch; 'Tish' (M-G). Straight vaudeville for a change, and good. Rhythm Rockets bring back their 'Magic Garden" number with black costumes and radium ef- fects for an opening smash. Then Al Gordon's 'lazy' puppies, who 're- fuse' to do their tricks, thus getting much comedy, followed by a fast session on the merry-go-round. Gor- don is an excellent showman selling a good line of patter. Patricia Bowman comes next with a rhythm number on her toes danced to Raymond Scott's 'Dance of the Penguins.' On later with the Rock- 'n a classy candy-box specialty to Mmuet in Jazz." A short routine, but it's the essence of grace. Jack.Durant has freshened up his gab and added one or two new film imitations. His sideway cartwheels register for laughs, and he was off to a rousing hand with his short ec- centric dance. The Vikings, male singers, run to orayura songs, blowing the roof off with Song of the Vagabonds,' fol- lowed by a patriotic medley which Is a real rouser. Sam Jack Kaufman's house band gets the show oft to a fine sUrl with a special arrangement of 'Tisket, Tasket,' as Rimsky-Korsakoff, Sousa. Strauss and others might do it. Lynn Allison shows off her colora- tura with Street Singer's song from "Naughty Marietta.' Arke. RKO BOSTON Boston, Sept. 20. Bill Robinson. Ella Fitzgerald Dougla.<! Brothers, 'Doc' Wheeler Orch; 'Pardon My Sarong' (U). This is a wham show on paper, but It doesn't quite fulfill its promise ex- cept when the old master of the tap Bill Robinson, appears In the ace Bpot to set things aright. And then things begin to buzz along in top gear, but it's a little too late to save the show from its near-mediocrity. Bojangles could use a couple of new stories all right, but, as ever, his infectious personality, his knack for handling a reet-pleated audience and his superb dancing (with which he IS plenty generous) is. whamo stuff for any house. He hadn't had a chance to work out with the 'Doc' Wheeler band before coming on for the first show (Friday) and there ■were a couple oy rhythmic accidents. Yet he had the audience holding its breath for his 'In the Deep of the Night' number, and caught a tremen- dous reception with his familiar "40 years from now' turn. Ella Fitzgerald, whose warbling has plenty of distinction, also has a little trouble in that the band's style doesn't exactly suit hers, and she needs a more intimate background to really project her wares. She registers, however, and stays on for After an almost steady diet of swing bands, and nothing else, the Earle this week dishes a little more of the variety line without, however, neglecting the jivesters. Joe E. Lewis once more proves that he's tops in his fleld. He walks onstage a little out of breath and nervous, explaining he's just been placed in S-F in his draft board— 'single men with children.' From then on the crowd's in his mitt.' He skirts the off-color stuff, slightly risque for an Earle audience, but never offensive. He sings a couple of new parodies, "What Every Young Man Should Know' and 'You Can't Get the Mer- chandise,' encoring with his ever- popular, 'Sam, You Made the Pants Too Long.' Linda Ware clicks with an audi- ence loaded with service men. A well-put-together lass, she has a voice to match. She tees off with 'Kalamazoo,' gets in the groove with 'Embraceable You' and winds up with new version of 'I Said Yes,' with a sailor picked from the audi- ence as a stooge. It winds up with the gob and Miss Ware in a drawn- out clinch. The stunt almost caused a riot with the fleet. Miller Bros, and Lois are playing a return engagement here. They're a trio of talented sepia hoofers who amaze with their nimble footwork atop a high narrow platform. Louis Prima, his horn and his showman- ship, plus his dark-haired canary, Lily Ann Carroll, with a pleasing voice, add up to lots of entertain- ment on their own. Prima's trumpet-tooting as well as that of his brother, Leon, pace the band through the sweet and hot licks in which the band specializes. Band numbers include the Prima theme, "Be Happy,' 'Sweet Georgia Brown,' 'Night and Day,' 'When Day is Done' and 'Basin Street Blues' (Prima vocalizing). Miss Carroll is likewise dicko with 'I Got it Bad,' 'He's 1-A in the Army' and 'More than You Know.' Band flnales with 'Ravel's Bolero.' Attendance was somewhat hurt by unseasonable heat and humidity Saturday night. Shal. EMBASSY, N. Y. (NEWSBEELS) Personalities on the home front as well as abroad dominate the miscel- laneous and not-so-exciting clips here. Lack of deep interest in most of the items is more than compen- sated, however, by the actionful, well-produced U. S. Navy short, 'Battle of Midway,' which has aroused much favorable comment among fans. The short is done in color and being distributed by 20th- Fox. Churchill, Roosevelt and Willkie are all in the lineup. Prime Minis- ter is caught on his recent visit to Russia. While he speaks in English, Russian translations are superim- posed on the film. Wendell Willkie Is photographed on his arrival in the middle east, but his voice is not recorded. President Roosevelt is heard at ceremonies during which a sub-chaser is pre- sented to Norway. Shots of bombed portions of Norway are gut in. Numerous others idenUfled with the war include Bernard Baruch. who expatiates on the tire situation as one of a committee of three ap- pointed to study the problem: Wil- liam Jeffers, president of the Union Pacific, who has been pressed into service as the rubber crar; Nelson Rockefeller in Brazil to sign the food treaty and witness a parade in his honor; and a Government officral ex- plaining measures to be taken or expected with respect to fuel ra- tioning. Among clips dealing with the war effort is one supplied by Paramount which, according to a notation, has been passed by the censors. It cm- braces photographs of cleverly ca- mouflaged gun nests along an un- speciflcd coastline. A couple sports Items have found their way into the show. They are Pathe's coverage of a recent race won by Whirlaway and a ball game bctvyeen the Cards and Dodgers, lat- here nor there. Barton and Brady (New Acts), acrobats, are on for around nine minutes. Danny White emcees, sings and essays comedy for which he hasn't the proper material. Penn and Devon warble and Nils and Nadynne (New Acts) combine ball- roomology with aero dancing. KikI a coocher, is on and off inter- mittently. Les Kramer who reputed- ly weighs around 300 pounds and looks it, wanders on and off in a couple of random skits wherein White and other members of the cast also appear. In all, it's a somewhat loosely woven unit marked by pointless comedy, though some of the turns are individually fairly ac ceptable. There's a line of four. Mori. Tic-Toe, Montreal Montreol, Sept. 11. Roy Rogers, Richard Lane & Willie Frances Mercer, Grace Drysdale Taft-Tahitians (6), Milt Sherman Orch (7), Arthur Van der Haege Band (4); no cover. Spark, of the show currently in this pleasantly-atmosphere 300-seater is Roy Rogers, whose work as emcee is extremely incidental to several other talents he possesses,. He hangs up a laugh score from the opening gong of the 45 minutes out of a 60-minute show that he's on the floor. Not that the other turns are negli- gible. They provide pleasant con- trast, but Rogers is standout material for this town. He acts drunk from start to finish but never offensively. His machine-gun patter is clean throughout, his exuberent personal- ity, acrobatics, zanyisms, ad libblng and ribbing of his audience wthout embarrassing anyone thoroughly earn the big audience reaction he gets. Show tees off with Rogers and he has the crowd on its toes at once. He presents Lane and Willie, ven- triloquist with a standard routine and a rather different manner. This detracts from his crowd appeal, but in a singing session with dummy he achieves some high notes that clicked solidly. Rogers back for balancing act which almost topples him onto the tables from the floor for an ovation of screams and laughs. Winds up with a couple of running 'suicide' falls the length of the floor, devour- ing almost a full sheet of a news- paper, eating 'live' fish out of a bowl and swallowing burning matches. Crowd ate it all up. Introing the Tahitians' these turn out to be six eye-flUing redheads who have a good deal more stepology than the standard house line, plus plenty s.a. Frances Mercer sings in the next spot, mostly oldies but got herself an encore on 'Way You Look Tonight.' Grace Drysdale handles cleverly a couple of marionets in the next-to- closing, not appearing personally un- til presented by Rogers at the flnlsh of act. Shows how her act is worked and does a neat step herself .in the process. A smart act and niftily dressed looker. Redheads close the show with a Gay 90s portrayal in costume, each one of the six taking a character of the period. As the only dance act in the bill they add a useful touch of color and rhythm which was much appreciated. Milt Sherman orch does well both for show and dancing: Van der Haege fills in adequately. Biz quite good at this viewing. Lane. 'Muscle' Carroll Contlnned from page I thing was rolling along smoothly until Carroll told everyone in the Loop his business and his plans. Antagonistic feelings that an out- sider would be allowed to come into Chicago in such a lavish setup im- mediately became apparent. It did not take long for the local cafe politicos to start using their in- fluence to stop Carroll. This city is famous for the amount of licenses needed to run a cafe, such as liquor, amusement, food, after hours, etc. Anyway, at a regular meeting of the full executive board of the Mor- rison Hotel, Carroll and his contract found themselves out in the cold. Carroll, who returned to the Coast, now threatens suit. Meanwhile, his contracts with bands, acts and chorines are a problem. The chorus especially, as it rehearsed for two weeks and has not been paid. New Acts EI.LA FITZOERALO With Four Keys Aqaarlum BesUuiVpt, N. T. Miss Fitzgerald recently discarded the full-sized Negro band she in- herited after Chick Webb's death to hook up with a quartet of harmon- izer% who accompany themselves on piano, bass and electric guitar. The move was a smart one since it opens to her jobs that heretofore she couldn't accept. At the same time one-nighters can still be played with one of the other large bands handled by Moe Gale, her manager. Miss Fitzgerald Is a distinct click with the Keys. Her vocaling would stand far above the majority of con- temporaries with any accompani- ment. With the Keys her unusual ability for improvisation, which somehow never lacks taste and Is always a treat, is given freer rein. The boys behind her do not read music: they all get together and work out head arrangements, which always leaves room for spontaneous tricks. Briefly, this combination is great stuff. Musical background Is fln^, too, particularly the guiUr work. The one performance Miss Fitz- gerald gave at this new Tihies Square spot (her very first appear- ance with the Keys, incidentally) clearly exempliflcd the esteem in which she is held. Spot's p.a. sys- tem broke down just before she came on and only those close could hear her work. This is a noisy place but when she couldn't be heard on the speaker the room stilled com- pletely. What more can be said of any singer. Wood, JOHNNY MORGAN Comedian Yacht Club, Pittsburgh With the right material, Johnny Morgan .<;hould go places. He's a nice-looking fellow with an easy, affable manner and just the right personality for a peddler of non- sense. Only trouble with Morjjan now is that some of his stuff is just a little too biological. In the better places that might be resented, and not without reason either. Sad part of it is that the guy doesn't need it; he's got enough on the ball other- wise. Obviously Morgan started out as an impersonator and his comedy tal- ents sprouted from there. As a mimic he's okay; he doesn't give it out straight but hokes up his take- offs. Voice isn't bad either and he has some pretty fair parodies, but that one on 'My Mama Done Tol' Me,' about a kid who has to go, should be chucked in a hurry. He's an easy bird to like on the floor be- cause of his old college try in every department, and once Morgan stays above the belt all the time, he ought to be in there pitching with the t)est of the guild. Cohen. LUCILLE NORMAN Stager Mins. Brosdhnrst, N. T. Lucille Norman is a Metro starlet and a Metropolitan Opera Auditions- of-the-Air contestant making her vaudeville debut in 'Show Time,' two-a-day vauder just into N. Y. from a Coast run. She replaced Kitty Carlisle, who originated with the show in Hollywoo<l, and while not as terriflc a s<}prano sock as the brunet, the blonde Miss Norman turns in a highly competent job for a stage unknown. She's lissome and pretty, with an ingratiating manner and nice de- livery of such tunes as 'Always in My Heart,' 'Beguine' and 'Falling in Lo' ; With Love.' Later, in comedy romance bits with George Jessel and Jack Haley, she proves she can take care of herself in the talk clinches as well as with the musical com- sositions. She has a nice stance and mows how to use her hands grace- fully A hep show crowd ^ave her a neat reception here opening night. Scho. ELLSWORTH & FAIRCHILD Dancers 8 Mlns. Lake Tarleton Club, Pike, N. H. Neat terp pair, their dancing is not of the conventional ballroomoljgy Idiom, It's in the ballet school, fur. ther distinguished by Insuring them- selves skinful accompaniment, via recordings. This is a happy make- shift for resort bookings, as at ;his New Hampshire spot, because their classical music Is too difficult for immediate rendition by the average hotel orchestra; but It's patent they're equipped to work with the average cafe or hotel band, as occa- sion warrants. They utilize classic excerpts from Strauss et al. for accomp. but their terps are by no means highbrow. It's a happy compromise of the ballet school. Pair costume themselves intelli- gently and their holds and routines are commercial for general consump- tion in the niteries. Abel. PERLITA GRECO Songs 8 Mlns. Rainbow Boom, N. Y. Highly touted South American senorita is just another Spanish warbler, of the type seen around the Havana-Madrids, El Chicos, et al for seasons. Of pleasant but not sock appearance, her RR'debut fell short of her heraldry as a standout song- stress. She does three numbers, oke but np wow. Her booking, as presently constituted, is eclipsed by the league she's now playing. One of the songs is a rose giveaway routine, appar- ently her trademark. She Is said to have done pix and rddio work also in S. A. For the U. S., a so-so goodwill neighbor who niay Improve with better routining. Aoel. BARTON AND BRADY Acrobatic 9 Mlns. leeland, N. Y. Fast acrobatic male team, handling standard routines for sock results. They do head turns and cartwheels across the floor without use of hands for a series of nifty climaxes. Good bet for all nitery and vaude bookings. Mori. NILS AND NADTNNE Dancing S Mins. Iceland, New York Mixed team of ballroom dancers serves nicely as a flller for lower- scaled niteries. They come through with a couple of familiar but satisfactory aero dancing routines, the man handling arm lifts and swift twirls deftly. Mori. GLORIA GILBERT Dancing ~ Mlns. Versailles, N. Y. Gloria Gilbert is a youthful toe dancer who commands attention. She's played top bookings for some time now. but this mairks her debut in the 'Variety' New Act files, al- though around in theatres and cafes both sides of the Atlantic. She specializes in routines dis- tinguished for flash and speed, especially the pirouettes. Also in- cludes some work along acrobatic dancing lines. On her engagement here Miss Gjjbert is doing one number singly an^ another with a line of six show- rls. She can play anywhere. Char. GILL ADRIAN Songs . 8 Mlns. Lake Tarleton Club, Pike, N. H. Gill Adrian is a personality song- stress who should go places. A cute trick, .she's strictly a mike performer, but wisely knows how to handle it so as not to eclipse her sight values. Her stuff is modern, and that swine arrangement of 'Milking Her Cow" clicks. ^bel Nitery Bounce ss Continued from page 1 si show business,' continued this cafe man, 'but it's accentuated in our business. And here's the Hitler an- gle. What can you do with your money nowadays under war restric- tions? 'Buy jewelry? You know every mama and chorus girl is hep to the fact it ain't fashionable any more to flash the ice. Th^t goes for furs and glad rags and fancy things. 'Buy automobiles? Why, when a gallon of gas Is worth more than Chanel No. S. 'Buy clothes? What clothes, what with Victory suits and those reet- pleats and drape-shades no longer de rigeur for the duration. And most of the gals look better in those WAAC, AWVS and kindred Canteen cutaways. 'So what do you do with your extra com? You buy bonds, worry about taxes—and in between you're driven to drink, gambling, stepping out with the gals, or your wives end pals. The gambling fever has hit America today to the degree that Mayor LaGuardia really has some- thing about those bookmakers. Look at Aqueduct a week ago Monday- some 19,700 customers clocked. Imagine, on a busy Monday, almost 20,000 horse bettors.' And how they gamble. That goes for some of the swank casinos all over the country, staying open longer, booking fancier attractions and getting more play than ever before. Those hectic weekends are no novelty any more. What floors me is the boff ^iz all through the middle of the week." This sums up a national picture, because defense-workers, especially on weekends, just drink it awa.v. And call it war jitters, or what, nitery ops agree that 'you ain't seen nothing yet!' and that this will be the all-time, record-high biz. even topping those mad mid-Prohibition days.