Variety (Sep 1942)

22 HOUSE REVIEWS Wedneeday, September 30, 1942 MUSIC HALL, N. Y. Bob Dupont, Bohhy Lane & Edna Ward, Hilda Eckler, Nirtka, Al A Lee Reiser, Anthonv R. MorelH, Perry Martin, Music HaU Glee Club, Rockettes, Music Had Corps de Bal- let, Muaic Hall Symphony Orch un- der direction of Emo Rapee; 'Tales of Manhattan' (20th), reuieiued in 'Variety' Aug. 5. In view of the smash clicks of This is the Army,' and 'Holiday Inn,' among other of his notable achieve- ments, it's not surprising that Irving Berlin should eventually form the basis for a stage program here. And the Berlin numbers go a long way toward making this snow genuinely pleasing. His music, seemingly, re- mains ageless. Leon Leonidoff has brought in a couple of acts that have no connec- tion with the composer's music though it backgrounds for them, as for the ballet session. Settings of Nat Karson carry out the Berlin idea generally, including a drop that serves as a sort of curtain-raiser for each sequence, with Berlin's name over numerous spaces represented ■s windows of a building. The opening shot takes the audi- ence back to 'Alexander's Ragtime Band.' In this Anthony R. Morelll leads the house glee club in effec- tively selling this number, 'Always,' 'All Alone' and other songs. Four pianos are also used. Farther down the show two con- cert pianists appear in one, Al and Lee Reiser (New Acts). Playing several numbers of ballad type, Perry Martin Is spotted to sing three of them. A drop representing the entrance to a theatre, with crowds waiting to go in, serves as a background for the dance team of Bobby Lane and Edna Ward, who work as street urchins In their smooth novelty routine. As the drop disappears into an impres- sionistic set suggesting the stage of the theatre, tl;e ballet group goes into action. Nirska, a return book- ing here, with her highly effective butterfly routine is featured. Her wings are exceptionally large, mak- ing the smoothness of the manipula- tion all the flashier. Hilda Eckler, solo ballerina here, appears ahead of Nirska in a brief specialty that's not outstanding. Entire ballet num- ber, beautifully lighted, has been nicely staged bv Florence Rogge, herself a producer of shows here on occasion. Bob Dupont, vet juggler, works in one, tossing Indian dubs, rubber balls, tamborines and other objects around in a manner calculated to stir admiration for the deftness of his performance. Also gets laughs. He has one of the slickest jugglmg routines. Rockettes are saved for the last, set of which Is similar to the one from the picture, 'Holiday Inn.' They are in glittering routines, doing a familiar but effective type of num- ber. Glee club, led by Martin, sings 'Be Careful, It's My Heart,' heavy hit from 'Inn.' Show Is compact, moves at sprightly pace and has been well laid out Char, with the customers begging for more of the same. Val Setz is on next with his punchy juggling and had the house n an Oproar from start to finish. Crowd couldn't get enough of him. When caught. Miss Raye was bat- ting with two strikes against her: she was easing out of a bad cold and her mike went dead halfway through the act. Despite these disadvantages, the film star was her usual hoydenish self and was swapping gags with the audience. She managed to get in some earthy quips and a chorus of 'Great Day Coming' before the mike disaster, following which she went into her dance and then called it quits. Star got a big hand, although the audience was obviously disap- pointed at being short-changed. Jona. APOLLO, N. Y. Tops Miller, George Wiltihire, Viuian Harris, Sandy Bums, Jesse CryoT, 3 Peters Siiters, Seven Freddysons. Olivette Miller, Noble Sissle Orch (14); 'The Postman Didn't Ring' <20th). ADAMS, NEWARK Newark, 5ept. 25. Sam Donahue Orch (13) with Marcia Rice and Wayne Herdell, 3 Chords, Toy & Wing, Val Setz; 'The Myiiery o/ Marie Roget' (U). STATE, N. Y. Carmen Amaya (6), Peggy Fears, Jack Durant, Davidson & Forgie, Gautier's Steeplechase, Ruby Zwerl- ing House Orch; 'Holiday Inn' {Par). Strong colored vaude all the way— that's the current 45-minuter. Noble Sissle outfit, backing the three Peters Sisters, Jesse Cryor, Seven Freddy- sons and Taps Miller, spells the major here for the boxofflce. Taps Miller, on first, does his well re- ceived tapping which winds up with a specialty seated in a chair. Band follows with a brassy arrangement of 'Massachusetts' and a mellow 'Just As Though You Were Here,' Olivette Miller vocaling the latter. Good comedy stuff is done by Clarence Brown, band's trumpeter, as pre- liminaries to a hot 'Amen' which he solos. George Wiltshire, a house regular, garners big laughs in comedy ron- 1 lines, aided by Sandy Burns and Vivian Harris, also house standbys. Jesse Cryor, singer, does the old faves, 'Without a Song' and 'My Blue Heaven,' with more selling than singing ability. He goes over well, however, finishing with comedy dance routlbes. The Seven Freddy- sons, lone white act on bill, are on next with their standard aerial acro- batics. "Troupe makes way for the three Peters Sisters, standard sink- ing trio. Rotund and dressed m flowing red gowns, they give out with more horseplay than singing. Trio registers, however, delivering such numbers as 'Hip Hip Hooray' and 'Pusliing Sand.' Although their comedy stuff clicks. It is used too frequently during songs that would gc over better if done straight. Biz strong opening night (25). KEITH'S, INDPLS. With the sock 'Holiday Inn' on the screen, this State stagcshow headed by Carmen Amaya should prove a potent grosser. It's strong enough on names and offers a well-rounded entertaining bill. Business opening night Thursday (24) was vWual capacity. Miss Amaya's flamenco dancing backed by the sizzling contributions of two other femme dancers and three male guitarists (all in her family), provides a spectacular cli- max to the show. Finale is a solo by Miss Amaya on a small raised platform at stage center, with the other girls doing a strikingly synco- pated hand-cIapplng accompaniment and the guitarist trio backgrounding. Dancer does one number before that and the two other girls also offer two routines, while one of the men plays a nifty guitar solo in one for a scene-change. Miss Amaya's danc- ing Is blazing and exciting, of course, and the other members of the troupe also click. Peggy Fears, less becomingly tog- ged than at her last previous appear- ance at this house, is additionally handicapped by overly garish light- ing. A softer-colored spot and more attractive gown would frame the singer's unquestioned looks and might better cover her vocal limita- tions. As It is, she gets her best response on a medley of songs rem- iniscent of name singers of the past, including Nora Bayes, Marion Harris and Helen Morgan. Jack Durant retains just a bit of his old knockabout acrobatics in his comedy patter, getting by acceptably at this catching. His material is fairly well varied and contains a couple of novel wrlnkes, but his de- livery is still on the sledgehammer side. Davidson and Forgie present their familiar badminton exhibition, now more than ever stressing the 'showmanship.' Show-opener is the always effective horse and dog act, Gautier's Steeplechase. Hobe, HIPP, BALTO never were offensive anyway in this funster's hands. If the vogue for burlesque stars in musicals con- tlnlies, it should be difficult to hold Morris in either vaudeville or straight burlesque. Production has been trimly paced by Hary Puck, producer. Raymond Brothers, who operate here, always have been able to get the maximum of comedy gals for their shows. Present setup of six showgirls and eight ponies Is outstanding for youth and looks. No attempt is made at unveiling, even the dance steps being extremely decorous. The Olympics, man-woman roller- skating combo, work well, usual stunts being easily performed. Pay- off is that familiar gag of taking audience volunteers for a spin on the skates. Panicked the crowd here. Joe Termini, standard vaude sin- gle, is given next to closing spot, veteran comedy musician cleaning up with his violin, banjo and electric guitar and violin plajHng. Xee Mar- mei',, somewhat statuesque blonde looker, is spotlighted in a couple of songs, going over nicely. She also worlol in production numbers - and docs a modifled hula. JToydeen Wong, an Oriental, con tributes two dances as the featured femme terper. Both extremely mild, consisting mostly of graceful postuT' ing. Bemie Miller and Bobby Lang work as straights opposite Morris in the skits. Biz fairly good first show Friday (25) night, considering opposition at nearby Metropolitan, which had string of film stars on the stage as part of the September bond drWe. Weor. In^ltanapolis, Sept. 26. 'Strike Up the Fun' with Cookie Bowers, Shea & Raymond, Callahan Sisters (2), Catherine Westfield, Zeppo Troupe (5), Jackie Hlltiard; 'Powder Town' (RKO). Marquee and entertainment draw of Martha Raye plus Sam Donahue's peppy crew are keeping the Adams wickets red hot this week and has the local jive coterie giving out with exultant hosannas. First time here for Donahue and his youthful combo, and if first impressions mean any' thing they'll be long remembered. Band makes a pleasing appearance, with most of the boys, ostensibly, looking like 1-A bait. Orch, made up four rhythm, four saxes and six brass, is plenty solid for sound, albeit a bit noisy at times. Donahue him- self plays a beguiling sax and han- dles the intros with poise. Orch's best bets are 'Liza,' 'Jersey Bounce' and 'Jingle, Jangle.' Dona- hue's new vocalist, Marcia Rice, late of the Fenton Bros., crew and more recently a radio fixture over WTAG, Worcester, won herself a wow recep- tion here. She's easy to look at and has a good voice and plenty of mike experience to back her up. Got a great hand for her warbling of 'Who Wouldn't Love You.' 'Always in My Heart.' and 'Little Bo Peep,' the last being an encore, Variety is worthy of its name in the new bill at Keith's, which offers a wider selection of acts than any other show in weeks. While it has its critical spots, it runs along on an even plane of good, satisfying enter- tainment The only two of a kind on the program are dancers, yet they're different The headliner is Cookie Bowers, who gets them laughing with his imitation of a yokel trying to talk while chewing an apple and keeps it going through a round of sound ef- fects on barnyard critters, an auto horn, an air raid siren and a man sawing wood. Then he changes to pantomtne, with a funny dumb show of a fellow getting out of bed in the morning, trjring to thread a needle, a woman taking the plunge at a swimming pool and another femme preparing to retire, with the usual girdle gymnastics. Bowers is s smooth worker and his stuff sells, He shares the comedy honors with Shea and Raymond, who are on the beam with their eccentric dancing, The boys are boisterous in their an' tics, with many laughs hanging on Raymond's assorted headgear. A Carmen Miranda burlesque Is their snappiest number. Jackie HllUard does a slick job as m.c. and proves he isn't hoarding his voice in his own vocal routine. He sings plenty, and all out. His pro gram includes Three Little Sisters, 'Beguine,' 'Miss You,' 'I Don't Want to Walk Without You' and 'This Is Worth Fighting For,' to which he adds a few well chosen words of his own between choruses. He doesn' need a microphone when he turns on the pressure. The Callahan sisters Baltimore, Sept. 27. Bea Wain, Louis & Van, Bert Wol ton It Co. (2), Jo Carrol Dcnnison CMisf AmeHca'), </ce Parade of 1943' (8), Felice lula House Orch (12) "Wingf and the Woman' (RKO). Rather fulsome layout is unwieldy but sufficiently varied in entertain- ment to register well. With the 'Ice Parade of 1942' utilizing fuU stage, all other acts work in one, with Bert Walton weaving in and out as ) rather verbose emcee and contribut- ing his regular standard in a spot of his own. Ice layout closes the works. Opening slot is allotted to IiOuis and Van, rapid tapsters who utilize brace of stairs for their effort, a building routine of legit hoofery ably sold. Make good spot for Bea Wain to follow with her pops. Singer has a definite style, and returns were strong. Walton brings on "Miss America' next Personable miss from Texas wears an evening gown and handles exchange of patter with Walton in straight-forward and pleasing man- ner. Returns in cowgirl outfit to vocalize 'Heart of Texas,' all adding to okay spot. 'Ice Parade' closes with line of four femmes working in unison and in single and double routines around appearances of a skating horse, a boy and girl Spanish number, some fast spins by a lad in formal attire and a bit of hotcha stepping by an at- tractive femme. Finale enlists entire contingent of five girls and three men. Costuming is neat and pace is swift enough to keep matters moving in good style. Makes for good flash with considerable appeal on the novelty, side. Audience responded audibly when caught with good biz of the week credited to tho stage lay out. Burnt STAR, BROOKLYN First of the regular acts is the [turn out some nice, crisp taps in Three Chords, two boys and a piarw Jiijir routines. Their cellophane accompanist, who go through th'*^'^'"'"''* motions of playing real instrumen' ^ while giving out with the vocaf sounds. Idea, as interpreted by them, is plenty funny. Score espe- cially well in their take-offs on Hawaiian and hillbilly music and bring the act to a howling finish with their impresson of Guy Lombardo's theme Toy and Wing, In the deuce, rated fine audience raspon.-te with their clever novelty hoofing, their jitter bug takeoff all but bringing the house down. Fast challenge routine brings their stint to a blazing finish ramcoat and umbrella number is neat. Catherine Westfield, puppeter, fea- es a set of dolls made In the ima gBS -af Hollywood stars. She trots a Cesar Romero model out f<y a dance routine with smart radium light effects. She has Alice Blue Gown and Joe E. Brown numbers, then presents Donald Duck on roller skates. It's an amusing novelty. The Zeeppo troupe, which closes, enter- tains with a bag of stunts on unsup- ported ladders walking and balanc- ing. Biz average. Corb. STRAND, N. Y. Horace Heidt-Fronfcle Carle orch with Fred Lowery. Donna, Cordon McRae, Ollie OToole, Steve Merrill Mimi Cabanne, Trumpeteers; 'Des- perate Journey' (WB), reviewed In •Variety,' Aug. 19. ORPHEUM, MPLS. Minneapolis, Sept. 26. Jan Garber Orch. (14) with Jack Swift, Carl Ladre, Hugo De Paul. Johnny Drake and Bill Kleeb. Houi- ard Nichols, Chester Fredericks & Co. (2), the Whitsons (4); 'Are Hus- bands Necessary?' (Par). Bobby Morris, Joydeen Wong, The Olympics (2), Lee Mar/her, Bemie Miller, Bobby Lan0, LtTie (8), Show girls (6), Murray Auster House Orch (6); irfiOTts. With a number of burlesque strip teasers and comics now in Broad way musicals, the Star is lucky to be able to offer such a strong combo of vaudeville and musical tabloid. Cur rent policy, with four shows daily and pop prices, stands a good chance of catching on. At least the current bill scored with the audience at show caught. It's a solid entertainment entry and seemingly garnered more applause than former burlesque policy here ever did. Bobby Morris, familiar hurley comedian, carries the comedy load, and easily. He works In the Lonely Hearts in the Army sketch, the Firemen-at-Home skit and his bur- lesque strip-tease, all familiar hurley material but highly laughable with the hard-working Morris. All of them have been cleaned up, but Garber and his small but fine orchestra provide extremely list- enable sweet-swing music and in- triguing song. The supporting acts are of high quality and afford some diversity, although belLylaugh come- dy is lacking. The entire proceed- ings add up to 55 minutes of pleas- ant, agreeable entertainment But the socko showmanship and trim- mings that help to furnish heavy boxoSice are absent. Garber's ap- peal is directed to the more mature patrons who like timetulness and melody instead of jive. Outfit comprises four rhythm, four brass and four sax, the rhythm sec- tion including two pianos, the brass doubling on clarinets and the bass fiddler taking an occasional turn on a bass horn. While going in for glee clubbing on a restricted scale, the boys remain pretty serious most of the time, eschewing so-called novelty fare and monkeyshines. The friendly Garber, very evidently eager to please, does a bit of soloing on the violin, but confines himself mainly to his emcee and conducting assign- ments. Twelfth Street Rag' is given an ultra swing dressing for the band's starter and calls for individual and group soloing. Jack Swift, featured vocalist, is a romantic tenor who handles 'Keep 'Em Smiling' and •White Christmas'^ effectively. The band's brass section takes the spot- light as the Texans' to warble 'Hawaiian War ChanV ostensibly in the native tongue and with comedy business. Howard Nichols juggles and spins hoops adeptly. His difficult and un- usual tricks put the act into the nov- elty category. For one of them he revolves nine hoops simultaneously on his arms, legs, ankles and neck. The piano duo, Carl Ladre and Hugo De Paul, team for 'Minuet in G,' an ear-arresting number, and then De Paul offers 'I Can't Give You Anything But Love' as various well-known band pianists would per- form it A band medley of new and old tunes includes 'At Lasf 'Smoke Gets in Your Eyes' and 'Be Careful,' with Frank Fleming, one of the musicians, furnishing vocals. The boys get moderately hot with 'Amen' which has Swift exercising his pipes again and glee club work by the entire gang. Chester Fredericks and his femi nine partner, Kaye Lane, score with their eccentric and acrobatic danc- ing topped off by an unusual tap routine and a jitterbug impression. The band, helped by Garber's fid- dling, comes through well with a condensed swing version of the 'Orpheus' overture. John Drake, sax player and vocal- ist here recently with Eddy Duchln, sings 'Silver Wings,' 'My Devotion' and Tangerine' in a way to cause those In front to clamor for more. Bill Kleeb from the band, wearing feminine attire, contributes a comedy song, 'I Can't Dance,' which isn't so forte. . Novelty has another Inning when the four Whitsons present their smash out-of-the-ordinary tumbling and balancing stunts. Garber fiddles again during 'My Buddy.' a rather tame and abrupt finisher for the show. Lower floor fairly well settled for late matinee show caught. Rces. A screen thriller, 'Desperate Jour- ney,' will take good care of the box- office here, thus offsetting any pos- sibility of a recurrence of Horace Heidt's last Broadway appearance. That was at Loew's State for two weeks, with Heidt then getting $19,- OOU for the engagement, during which the theatre lost around $11,000. Heidt hasnt changed much since h«! won a highschool pianist contest on the Coast and was brought to the attention of Jack Partington, of Fan- chon It Marco, who spotted him at the head of a band in an F. & M. idea in the late '20s. That was how Heidt started in the band business, his first crew being a co-op venture of 19 shares, of which Heidt had 2/19S. Eventually, Heidt got the other 17 shares as well, but only re- cently gave a ftdl partnership to Frankie Carle, pianist-arranger, in order to hold onto that ace. Carle now gets co-billing and, to ^y the least rates it He's the musical backbone of the band. However, even after all these years, this is still a Fanchon St Marco idea. Heidt throws at the customers every bit of corny comeon possible, including the quick alibi (consider- ing the times) in introducing some of the specialists as the 'young, 10- year-old Jack Zilch,' or '20-year-old Joe Doakes.* This must be doubly embarrassing for the performers concerned. Fred liOwery, the blind whistler, is a holdover with Heidt's band, but the leader-emcee has evidently dropped that sympathy pitch. Now he's merely giving Lowery a straight cue, while another member of the organization leads on the whistler, who wears glasses so dark that no other acknowledgment of his afllic- tion is necessary. In foregoing the play for audience' sympathy, however, Heidt has added something fully as distasteful. That's his 'Pot 0' Gold' stage stint, in which he has two servicemen compete against two femmes and thus gets som.e natural applause socks for a paltry few dollar bills. Friday night, Heidt had the soldier and sailor com- pete against one another in extem- poraneous dancing—and, if that's not exploiting the men in uniform, then Toscanini is the Harlem swing king. Heidt also baldly cops Sammy Kaye's idea by having one of the service- men lead the orch. For all these bits, plus guessing bands by their theme songs, Heidt passes out dollar bills. 'That's hardly any compensa- tion for men in uniform being csked to act like monkeys In a cage. Two good-looking femme singers, Mimi Cabanne and Donna, are with the orch, plus two male singers, Gordon McRae, who is introed as the 19-year-oId, and Steve Merrill, a trembly tenor whose only distinction ii holding the last high note until he's blue in the face. There are also several glee club formations, Heidt's own drum majoring with a silver baton and imitations by one Ollie O'Toole, a life-of-the-party type. Aside from Carle's great piano- loging, with the band and solo, and the crack first trumpeter, whom Heidt carefully introes as a 20-year- old, the band is only fair musically. It has a lot of corny showmanship, however, that draws heavj' applause from the mooches. Show is on and off In 53 minutes. Scho. ORIENTAL, CHI CMca0O, Sept 25. Shep Fields Orch (14), Dolly Kay, Jimmy Rae. Scott Morrow, Ross & Bennett, Dick Mulliner; 'A Man's World' (Col). There's a good bill at the Oriental this week, with a fine singing star, Dolly Kay. Shep Fields' musical ag- gregation is featured. , The now tiresome 'Jingle, Jangle gets the show down the runway, with Dick Mulliner, a member of the band, next offering a comedy song interpretation of "Nursle Nursie. Excellent is the band's medley of classics — Chopin, Schubert and Tschaikowsky—in swing time. Jimmy Rae is a click acrobatic dancer. Scott Morrow, a singer with a too-sweet expression, does a couple of pops well enough, being stronger in his swing version of 'Old Man River.' Orchestra does a nice job on special arrangement of 'Anvil Chorus.' Miss Kay. possessed of a powerful, throaty contralto, tops the show with her array of hit tunes. With gesti- culating hands and expressive face, she throws her whole spirit Into the numbers, and the audience went for her big. Ross and Bennett offer comedy nonsense, a bit of singing and danc- ing, some amusing clowning, all of it standard vaudeville. Band gives out with a fine 'jam session and a neat rendition of 'The Lost Chord.' played as an organ would do it. Biz swell first show. Loop.