Variety (Oct 1942)

S2 HOUSE REVIEWS WcdMsday, October 14, 1942 KEITH'S, INDPLS. (Continued from page 20) viib bis teetfa, -walks on bis .^nds. ge*s badt on his feet and cirains &e glass without distarbing tbe )3onae. Tl«e NsUke TroKpe ol ex- pait synmasts. two boys and « giil, opernnes -on paraBd bars. fV>r &eiT iopptir-. -one cS libe bo>-s mates a tuB lnK& (flip, oatc3iir% his shoidder s on the pBndite3s ss he oomes down. lires JroHoe it up *or laushs by stop- piT^ <SB iDto space, etc. iraie caaeds afle ol UJe show is E tme ng H b epea ^ Ross and Bennett in tbeir versatile i«mnaT>e <S singing, (InacingE! «Dd igses. They're a cute ooirAnsatioB mi Boss has a nnty eocoiJtirjc 'daooing style In h is so ft Bhoe oomber. TThey wind op wiOi a medley ol pegmtsr ^aaes and SfJ* warm sendoff. Bromley m£S vte Bhovc aroeTJt^ay. Biz ^1 the lopening w«snt as gooa as <a sood show deserves. Ta« ORIENTAL, CHI Philadelphia, Oct. ID. Franfc Fay. Una Merlcel, Bonnie Bafcer. Bettv Kean, Clarence GosktO, John Kirbi/ Orch («): Borle House Bond t20); 'You Cont Escape Por- COCT." CbioBgo, OeL 9. Art JSerrcW Ordh <1-*). Shiriev Riois. P« JJ^Birorw. -to* Tom mtypgam., Jeri ^SttTJwron; TjucJci; Lieps' ■{<Col'). Sts^ ^w aa tbe Oriental this, vwdk is esNsditent, ^(lath Aal jfaw etfs nmsioaa .^Kr^aJtion delivering B; soflh peirS««niiiinoe. Suriey Bo ss rfso - goes ower 9Aft and Pat ShsiiiiiTiE roQses «nd>eDee to agspilense with bis concentrated insanity. Jarrelt exudes a warmth and friendliness that reaches over the footlights. As for Miss Ross, radio and motion picture singer, she has looks, 'Charm and sings niftily. _ Band gelts '^wn the runway with a fine arrat^ement ■of "Tidi Fiy,' fol- lowed by b«aid,"s Jnale vocrfKst, Tommy Morgan, in a couple of pops. Barney Koppitch, pianist, spiritedly tickles the ivories through 'Tea for Two' and "We're In the Money." Jcri Sullivan, warbler featured •with Jarrett in his long Blackhawk run, is a looker who can sing. She does the conventional pops. The audience liked her. Jack. Jean and Judy, two gals and e boy, are a standard vaudeville ti>"ibling act. and clickp. Miss Ross features favorites from h • pictures. She gives out wifli Tsnks for the Memory,' Two S'cepy People,' 'The Lady's In Love With You' and others. She got Jag Br-^Iause. M e n n i n g * 9 impersonation ol C-.mrlcs Laughton in 'The Hunch- back of Notre Dame,' his pathetic plea for four bows 'to impress the management' all got hearty laughs. An expert performer. Jarrett does several popular melo- dies in his high, sweet tenor. He's suave, and is a smooth, entertaining vocalist. Conclusion, 'This Is tbe Army.' ducted with Jeri Sullivan, is a nice bit of harmony. Biz good. Loop. APOLLO, N. Y. Eorl Hincs OtcH (17) luith Dfaie- line Greene, Billy Eckstein; Patter- son & Jackson, 4 Queens, Jijnmi; Smiili, Viuian Harris & Tim Moore 'inside the Law' (Indie). a knee-high piano. He danoes on large hisged keys, in that way strik- ing notes recognizable as "St. Louis Blues.' 'Stardust,' etc. Vivian Bairis and Tim Moore, bouae comic and straight, come up with a piece this w«ek that's un- usually pleasing to this type of audi- enoe. ui it Moore is a henpecked budiBod who strives to turn the tables. Biz okay. Wood. EARLE, PHILLY Very little co-ordination about this ^ow, indicating a lack of prepan- tion by the heaoLiners. Ccnsequenfly, de^te redmSliag by the manage- ment of routines; order Of appear- ances, etc.. it doesnt tpiite add up. Frank Fay''s humor apparently doesnt click with Wully's peasantry de^te his unmistaicatale desire to please. Only br^t spot in his oSierwise colorless routine is his dis- seetieai of papular songs. 'When cau^t he tot* apart Tea for Twa' acoempanied by Clarence Ga^ill at tbe piapo; it was good for a few bdlylaugfas. Una Merkel suffers from the oom- plainl common to many Holly- woodites who make in-person «p- pearances—lack of material. The day is long past wlien tbe customers ai« satisfied to see cinema cbaraoters just come on with some meaningless chatter just because they're from the glamour capital. After a meaningless monolog. Miss Merkel returns for an encore and some clowning with Fay, who em- cees. Bright spots in the bill are fur- nished by Bonnie Baker. Betty Ksean and John Kirby's six-piece swing ensemble. Miss Baker is making her first ap- pearance here since starting as a sin- gle act after Orrin Tucker dismantled his band prior to joining the Navy. Baby-voiced gal still has plenty of appeal and she had to sing six num- bers before the down-fronters would let her call it quits. Miss Kean, a tall, svelte blonde, clicks with her comedy terping plus a tricky vocal with something called 'Vitamin U.r She's a neat addition to «ny bill. Jtftin Eiiby's boys really put zmg into the proceedings. They take over trom the Earle pit cre*v, v/hich aacompanies tbe preceding acts, and really give out with some old-fash ioned gutbucket rhythm. House almost capacity-flUed when CBQ^t (Saturday dinner show) RKa BOSTON Boston, Oct. 11. JCTTV Waia Orch; Joh-rmy Downs, SyM BouM>n, florrofe Miwneritch Harmonica Rascals; 'FootliBht Sere- Tuute' <20th). EARLE, WASH. Washifiirton, Oct 9. WcQv West, tliriam LavtUe, Her- zoffs. Roxvenes, Helene Fnye, Jee LomboTdi's House Oroh 'Are Htit- bonds KeoesMry?' (Par). A little show with plenty of pro- dueticm. Koxyiettcs come on for a short number in which they say, lyrically, ISiey've been ashed to beeooie acro- bats. This introduces tbe Herzogs, pi«sumatdy from the dancing line, lor a trick entrance. After some nifty bar worit, two girls ask if any is the audience would like to be- come an acrobat. Up comes tiie plant for some exoeuent comedy stuff on the 'flying trapeze. Miriam Lavdle on for some fancy body twists and i^ile toe work. Short session but it rang 6ie bell. W^Oy West gets out of tbe groove wifit his imitations. Best is a take- off of dead pan Charlie Butterwor&i, but his budget also indudes Major Sowes, Donald Duck and 'fte 'Good WiB Hour.' 'With 30 oameo impres- sions this imitator had ^em winging, could have stayed longer. » Bdene Faye is in a deep south 9c<titing for some s^lful bowing with a tuneful violin. ReaQy an artist, Qtou^ for vaudeville nnmbers like' 'Yoa'TC AJways In My Heart* are closer to Ibe heart of ■Qte pUlte. JFoe Lombardi's overture is ttmeily. 'with hits trom This Is the Army' and George M. Cohan's old-timers. Short Aow, beaotiSaQy presented, for whicli Harry Anger takes « bow. Arhe. Stars B Mist far O verseas CHICAGO, CHI Chiraeo, Oct. 9. Jack Durant. Lmda Ware, Tip, Tap & Toe, Lime Tno, Chicago Theatre Ballet; 'Pied ?>iper' C20th). As colored stage shows go at this Harlem spot this 75-80 minute pres- entation is -dkay. There's nothing particularly outstEmding about it from a downtown point of view, but when caught the aadience pnesent grt a bang oot of almost everything. Saia nines' band of lour trumpets, three tronAnmes, Ave sax, four rhythm, rated among the beitter ctf the name ocOoPed baEds, does a satis-' factory job. Tram the opening gun. which is a wild bit of arranging and play4i% bogtm by Mines' phos-: (ihoresoent-t^oved hands on a dai4c- erred stage, the «utflt is blacked out only once, during a sketch. Majority of the things the band plays are jump arrangement^—guaranteed to create response in an audience su<3i as this. They're wild, hot things full of individual solos, played without prrlicular distinction with one ex- ec-lion, that a fine writing of Idaho.' "and shows the flexibility it dis- pl. ycd on its last date here, however. In rn arrangement of 'Manhattan Ssrenade,' spotlighting Hines' ^ne pianoing. and tasty backgrounds fcr Madeline Green's well done ''He's My Guy.' She also handles the rhythmic 'Five By Five.' Billy Ec*- stcin. the 'Neuro Bob Eberle.' who Sim.': well, but doesn't sell, hit the j?rkpot with this audience, too, with Trke Me.' 'Just As Though You Wrre Here' and 'Skylark.' Patterson and Jackson, rotund d;;ncing comic.-;. .<;corc easily with tap routines and comedy chatter. It's Bti ictly stuff for this type of house. Pci'luips the .TCl's strongest point is th? extraordinarily true imitation of Billy Kenny's (Inkspots) falsetto tcii'iring, which closes. Jimmy Smith, given a buildup by Hines. oilers an unusual turn. He has a xylophone built in the shape of As band shows are the rule here 'this season with a succession of mostly unknown combinations, the Wald band, new to this spot, ranks with the loudest and best. It registers stoutly. The bill hasn't the drawing punch of some recent memorables here and there's the added handicap of playing against a heldover Aim,, tiut the show ranks well above aver-' age for etU-arotmd entertainment. Business is building. The Wald layout Is hep all the way but weak on the spectacular stage manner. Orch shines in its hot ensemble stuff particularly, with smart arrangements, salty harmonies and off-beat attadts requiring pleu^ ■of precision. Its bot-dicjks i>ays aren t sensational in theaftre ^urronndings, but Anita Boyer, warbling know- 'mgly, clicks. Outfit does best with a couple cif tunes that have consideisble jam distinction. They are given with too much fortissimo, though, which dis- torts their cleverness. The band steers away from clowning -or mugging while Wald himself, very seitf-effacing, fools around <m the clarinet, playing some neat, if also over-loud, choruses. l^e_Harmonica Bascals. old stand- bys, throw their weight around with more horseplay than music, gagging up one another's .«olos, but, as al- ways, take a healthy slice of the audience enthusiasm. Sybil Bowan, a staunch performer in any com- 'pnny, reaps tbe plaudits with a set of tasty mimicries langinc from a Swedish diva to Gracic Fields and whamming with a killer on a woe- begone volunteer nurse. A little loo trite for the audience, however, is her takeoff of a passe film star look- inij for work. Johnny Downs, from HoUyw.iod. does a neat job in the top billing. He has plenty of looks and Der.son- alit.v. and nlthouiih his .sinpinn and hooflnR aren't of heaviest caliber, he recrister.s. He has a subtle and clever t';-"? t.-) indicate his H-A status when he hauls out a hanky nholo of his daughter. Got a big hand all around. Ette. Show In conjunction with "Pied Piper" (20th), is not outstanding though plenty entertaining. Chicago theatre ballet gets off with Russian number, half the girls at- tired in black and silver Cossack cos- tumes, tbe other half in oimson and gold. It's colorful but the routine is conventional, highlighted somewhat by a spirited accordion solo by Van Dany. Tip, Tap and Toe are still tapping on a huge, elevated drum, and still whammo. Jack Durant, veteran musioad comedy and vaude entertainer, has a good aB-around act—a little turn bling, some somersaulting, a couple of imitations and a bit of clowning. Limla Ware, doubling between the Chioago and the Chez Paree, has grown from featured moppet per- former of Paramount into a stream lined blonde looker with excellent delivery. She sings pops •well, but her best <drtty is a love song sung to a sailor apparently picked at random from the audience, culminating in a hugTand-jdss scene that roused the audience to warm applause. Tbe ILime IMo is a continental type novelty act. Two actors carry trunk on stage, 'open -it to wveal doable-ijoiirted entertainer janmied into it. They flop him aTl over Sta£e and he Teacts in fashion, loose- jointed and mechanical. Over big. There's a nice train setting for ICalamazoo,' danced by the ballet Jt's a minted nmrlber, competentlly routined and colorful, with the girls executing some nice patterns to con elude show. Biz good. Loop. ADAMS, NEWARK Neujork. Oct. 9, Ouirtie Bqt^ Orch (M) with UHa Bradiey, Huck Andretus, Cliff Leemon % HouMtrd noOhee, Xmg 4 Arlina, .Smith & Dale, Frances Faye; 'Pacific Rendezuoiii' (M-G). Adams is back to the swing genre this week -with Charlie Barnet's strident crew. Orch easily walks off with tbe honors, if any, <<h being the loudest «onfl>o ever to plsiy this swing-conscious house. It's an caco- phony, and all poteift hepcat bait. Band'f eight brasses dominate vir- tually every number, with the sases coming in, on occasion, to vary the monotony. The rhythm is very much in the background, with the exception of t'le crack bass slapping of Chubby Jackson, Bamet has an Interesting and novel opening number, with the band playing behind a scrim and a battery of opalescont lights from the flies pioking out the individiul per- formers. Number is very long and comprises 'Simimer Time,' 'Just Plain Lonesome,' and 'Can't Believe That You're in Love With Me.' Band cuts loose with 'Smiles.' with Barnet's tenor sar.ing featureil. and then Nita Bradley, crew's new vocal- ist, comes on to sing 'Wonder When My Baby's Coming Home.' and 'Idaho.' Gal is suttry-looking and has fine pipes. ^ Barnet's male vocalist. Huck An drews, has blonde 'wavy hair, a good-looking mug and very little else to recommend him as a soloist. Sings 'Be Careful. It's My Heart' and ■Just As Though You Were Here' in a wooden, listless voice, not helped for a much needed rest Bob Bbfos substituted. Result -was a hypo to BAA. and « renewed public ister- est in Burns, «^ese radio siBaiy has since zoomed upwai'ds. No QaMto The theory of flying to I x mdmi tor a couple of days and htiag bade next Sunday to pick tq) wbCK tbe show left off is rldiodous, ler tiie main reasons of not being able to preserve secrecy or flying sdiedules. Die theory of shortwaving oemmercial shows with Benny or Fred AUen, from London or Australia, isnt feasible because of tmoertain atmos- {Aeric conditions. It must anlymean a complete hiatus for a number of weeks. TKe following a^habctized raster of acceptances for overseas enter- tainment may well become toe show business honor rdfX at 4^ war, ^- Ihoogh many ha^>e yet 'to be beard from. It will be noted 'Qiat the mas- culine ba'tting overage is now tdcay, because it became an open secret that when Lastfogel was assembliES 13ie Jolson lineup be had diffioolty filling in. This 'was due, in part, to commitments elsewhere, but the ■ex- pressions of willingness to fly any- where to entertain U. S. forces come predominantly from the femmes. Jinx Falkenburg. prior to making her current trek to the Canal Zone with the Ritz Brothers, came east on 24 hours' notice, leaving some Mich- igan whistle-stop to make clipper connections. Merle Oberon dittoed when joining the Jolson entourage, as did Patricia Moristm, although McHugh and Jenkins were pressed into service on 24 hours' notice. The acceptances for the future in- cludes: Abbott and Coslello. Walter Abel. Larry Adler, Frank Albertson, Don Ameche, Desi Amaz. Jean" Arthur, Mary Astor. Gene Austin. Fay Bainter, Belle Baker, Bonnie Baker, Lucille Ball. Binnie Barnes, Ann Barrett, Donald Barry, James Barton, Douglas Beattie, Jack Benny (with radio troupe). Sen Bemie (with radio troupe), Gloria Blondell, Joan Blondell, John fioles, Ray Bol- ger. Victor Borge, Connee Boswell, Eddie-Bra(Aen, PhyBis'.B,rooks, Hoe E. Brown. Edgar Buchanan, James Bui^e, Charlie Butterworth. Joseph Calleia, Judy Canova, Ed- die Cantor. Ben Carter, Chick Chandler, Bicardo Cortez, James Craig, Broderick Crawford, Cross and Dunn. Linda Darnell, Jane Darwell, Lo- raine Day, The DeMarcos, Morlene Dietritii, Ibirton Downey, Ellen Drew, fihcie Ounbar, Jack Durant. Oessna DiaWn, Renee de Marco. CliS Edwards, Leon ErroL Benny Fields, Graeie Fields. Su< anna Foster, Fay Francis, Jans Ftaman. HfginaM Gardiner, John Garfield •mSSam Gargan, itaryarie Gateson' KBy Gilbert, Geoi«e Givot, Lucile Oason, Bnss^ Gtoason, Paulette GeddH<d, Betty Grable, Edmund Oweiifi. - Alan Hale, Jack Haley. Jon Hall, Sir Oednc Hardwidce, Bob Hawk, Bidiard Haydea, Paxil. Semeid. Irene Hervey, Sarriet Hilliard, Waller Boston, EildeBBrde, The Hartmans, Mary Sealy. Geoi^ JesseL AUmi Jones. Stan Kavana^ Danny Kaye. Eve- lyn Keycs, Fnz^ Szii^t. Bert Lafar, Arfibur Lake, Carole Jjmdifi, Sosemaiy Lane, J^rofessor Tamhnrti, Jeiry Lester, ^m Levene, Joe E. Lewis, Gene Lockhart, Peter Lerre, Wm. P. Ltrndigan. Fred MacMurray, Mai:ione Main, Jane Manners, H ei b e r l Marshall, Jade M«r«!h«in. Maiy Martin, Ci^cdio Marx, Haipo Marx. Bobby May, Merry Macs, Mitzi Mayfair, Adc>^die Menjou, fieO^ Merivale, Jadde MUes, Mantan Moreland, Fraidc Moisan, Alan Mowbray, Paul J'uni, Ona Munsonr-Dean Murphy, George Murphy, t.en Murray, Wynn M rray, Clarence Muse.. Cliff Nazarro, Ozzie Nelson, Lloyd Molan. Vinginia O'Brien, Una O'Connor, Martha OTtaascoU. Bennis O'Keefe, Winter OlCeefe, Maria Ouspcnskaya, Jack Pearl, Hal Peary (Great Gil- dersleeve'). Pick and Pat, Dick Powell. Anthony Quinn. Cieorgc Raft, Rags Ragland. Luise Rainer, Ginger Rogers, Roy Rogers, Cesar Romero, Martha Raye, Bev- erly Roberts. Dr. Rockwell. Fred Sanborn. Harry Seymour, John Shepperd. Dinah Shore, Martha Scott, Randolph Scott, Willie Shore, Herb Shriner, Ethel Shutta, Phil Silvers. Sims and Bailey, Red Skel- ton, Mary Small, Gladys Swarth- out, Gale Sondergaard, K. T. Stev- ens. Rise Stevens. Alec Templelon, Franchot Tone, Arthur Tracy. Gus 'Van, Benay 'Venuta, Romo Vincent. Gloria Warren. John Wayne, 'Vir- ginia Weidler, Bert Wheeler and Hank Ladd, Richard Whorf, Warren William, Marie Wilson, Barry Wood. Blanche Yurka. Vera Zorina. much by Barnet's fiuleral-paced music. Unbilled, but easily the outstand- ing member of the crew, is Chubby Jackson, an ace bass «lIQ^per and a guy with a swell sense of comedy. Does a lot of mugging and the crowd loves e\'ery minute of it. His bass solo is the outstanding nimiber in the show. Barnet's intro of Jacteun isn't as funny as it might be, and that gag about difiicating fte next number to his mother-in-law CI Wor- ship the Ground That's 'Oomlng to You') ought to be laid to rest, but permanently. It's bad showman- aliip. Harry King and Arlina's plain and fancy hoofology came in for warm re^onse, gal's abbreviated costume getting i lot of ooh's and ah's from the balcony wolves. Smith and Dale's venerable Dr. Cronkhite skit seems like an ana- chronism in this jive house. Ciags are very much dated, but the timing is perfect and the finesse is atil! pretty neat. Art sold very well. Wouldn't do any harm, though, to eliminate that awkward tap dance ^ish and also 'Smith and Bale's sole concession to the times, a corny chorus of 'Jingle, Jangle.' Frances Faye, on last, is intro- duced as 'the 1942 streamlined ver- sion of Frances Faye.' She'5 all of that, and then .some. Gal has drappe(l 62 pounds and is positively svelte and running over with pap. Warbles 'Abraham' and then, with a fine .lense of dietary humor, 'All That Meat and No Potatoes.' Crowd caught on, and went for it big. She's cleaned up all her numbecs and "^•led them for family house listen- ing. All in all, she's 100% improved. Jona. EMBASSY, N. Y. (NEWSREELS) Several wSll-photographed and as- .oembled clips highlight the current .ihow here. Due to the length of numerous items, filler material, gen- erally of an unimpoitant or news- less nature, is in the minority. The fir.<rt pictures of President Roosevelt's 8.000-mile trip acro.ss the country Ijikes the lead. Journey was covered by Par, with camera laying focus on the President and others at various points stopped. Following this up is an excellent compilation of shots (Par) dealing with a fleet of convoy ships, billed as exclusive. Par shows a convoy pulling out. Official permission was obtained for the clip's relea.se, ac- cording to a caption. An excellent contribution is made by News of the Day (Metro) dealing with Russia and picturing ruins of the war there, troops in action, etc. In another piece of newsreel mate- ria], Fox-Movietone ably portrays results of precision bombing over France, showing military targets be- fore they were struck and, in close- up, after terrific damage w?s done. Clip is effectively put together. Alaskan highway under construc- tion, importation of Mexican and Canadian labor for farm work, land- ing of British troops in Madagascar, homecoming of a hero from the Pa- cific war theatre, new tanks in Eng- land and miscellaneous bits not bearing on war, round out. This in- cludes some sports stuff, including final Yankees-Cards game and sev- eral football tussles. Pasty-faced speakers at the W. C. T. U. conveirticm, tirading against the rattlesnakes that IwSn in nicely- labeled grog bottles, draw a lot of laughs and, when this show was caught also hisses. A Mardh of Time release. 'The FS.I. Front,' has been added to the layout. Clinr. Ft iiy Shsw to Uk Web Variety radio program, written, directed and produced by Army men will bow on the Blue network in a couple of weeks from Fort Jny, (Governors I.sland) N. Y. Titled 'Salute from Fort Jay' the .show will occupy an evening half ho\ir .'ind while majority of the talent will be cyllcd from the ranks, occa.'ionol guests frotrf show biz will be u-ci\. Until the post puts together its o^'-n dance band various name oiK:heslras will supply music. Program will originate from Jay's thcatrt, which has a 1,000 capacity.