Variety (May 1946)

S9 Masterp,ece ! Jammed The Place! 0| w of the Greatest! lanyAntks...Stfflteh! fimn/erfvejy y ear f Funniest Guy in the Business . "Lou Wallers having revamped hit show with Willie Howard as topper, apparently hoi sufficient confidence in the current layout to have gone off to the Coast a day after the preem. His confidence isn't misplaced as Howard's classic skits will be a certain lure lor the tourist trade as well as natives who never tire of Howard's comedies. And there ore many in that category. "There probably isn't a show-wise audience which wouldn't feel put out if he didn't per- form his classic French professor, with Al Kelly as the double-talking stooge and the quartet from 'Rigoletto' MASTERPIECE, with on ostist from his famed pork chop piece. Doing those he completely satisfies the audience." JOSE. VARIETY. April 24. If46. "On Broadway I am known, as a fast guy with a superlative. I think no more of tossing □round 'sensational,' 'tremendous,' 'colossal,' or even 'beggaring description,' than you do of lipping the waitress a nickel. "But one trouble with being so generous with circus-poster praises is that you run out of adjectives when you run into something really big. . . . Willie Howard. "This is straight reporting. Howard is still the FUNNIEST GUY IN THE BUSINESS He had the opening-night AUDIENCE HY§TERI- CAL for 45 minutes and could have continued as long again. His act and material are adult, literate and intelligent. His choice of stooges is uncanny." LEE MORTIMER. Daily Mirror. April 24, 194*. "Willie Howard M ONIUM in the Latin Quarter. "Willie reveals what the old-fashioned showman has up his sleeve. Willie comes from the days when the artist had to give; there was no trumped-up publicity to put him across. But the Howard chronicle it too well known to warrant repetition hers, and for the young folk or those who have somehow misted him, tFere is only the need to study his face for a moment to see what the great ones have. At various times in his hilarious stint, Howard is everybody. Look at his eyes; listen to him as a not-too-bright delivery boy; notice hit response to Al Kelly, the double-talk clown; hear his vigorous vocals—and then you'll tee just what the artists of the Howard school learned to deliver. "Respecting his audience has made How- ord the expert and the star he is today." VIRGINIA FORBES The New York Sun. April 29. 194* "An old hand at the business has added a new punch to Lou Walters' stunning Latin Quarter revue, "This Is New York." Never in all his years—and who can rightly say how mony, he looks so young—has Willie Howard been funnier or scored a more resounding triumph than at the big New York night club." ROBERT W. DANA N. Y. World-Telearam. April 27. 1944. "Willie Howard says he's 60 and the books . say he's 63. Much of hit material it almost at old at he is. But if he ever changes any of it this reporter is going to write some bitter complaints. He opened at the huge Latin Quarter Sunday night, JAMMED THE PLAC E and simply tore it apart. He's OWE OF THE GREATEST men In the whole, tiaE worldTT". . "He looks obout 40 years old and his face gets FUNNIER EVERY YEAR, He's the last word." = Jm ROBERT SYLVESTER. Dally Newi. April IS. 194*. "Recommended: Willie Howard's BJG- LEAGUE HILARITY at the Latin Quartet with double-talking Al Kelly (Howard's quar- tet from 'Rigoletto' remains one of the top comedy moments of the Stem) . . . Howard's sense of timing is one of the great techniques of the stage." ED'SULLIVAN, Dally Newt. April 24. 194*. "Comedian Willie Howard, who turned 60 recently, is the latest Old Guy to come back on Broadway. He's A BIG HIT at Lou Wol- ters' Latin Quarter." EARL WILSON. New York Pest. April 22. 194*. "The ZANY ANTICS of Willie Howard ot the Lalin Quarter, STILL FRESH ofler neorly a half century." DANTON WALKER. Daily Ht*i. April 24. 194*. Will i e II © w a r d CURRENTLY Annoyed by AL KELLY LATIN QUARTER Opened April 21st 4-WEEK ENGAGEMENT NEW YORK Pertonel M... c. c>: HERB RUBIN Booked by: FREDERICKS BROS. 1270 Siitfc Ave.. N. V.