Variety (Jul 1946)

48 VAITBEVIIXB Wednesday, July 10, 1946 Night Gub Reviews l'al> Society Uplowi , plenty. Pair give out with every ,v.ir«ir .mil tempo possible and do a sterling (NEW iubiw w ] job with delicacy, and charm that - - 1 fcsv terp teams possess, Leonard Sues bows as a nitery maestro with a topflight society style band. There isn't enough of the leader's trumpet on display, al- though, he does give forth nicely in the show for a pair of numbers. On the debit side, however, he takes a fling at. warbling which doesn't come off so well. Show is nice sum' mer package and should draw well. Huts, Soiniv Tli07iipson, Beruie David . Brooks, Patricia Bright,. Ed- mund Hall QrcU y Dave Martin's 3; $3.50 minimum. This is one of Barney Josephson's better layouts and should do plenty of Liz. It'-; less on the Harlem side, save for tiie two bands and boogie- woogie virtuoso Sonny Thompson, and likewise less on the concert side. In short, it's plenty salooncy with the proper admixture of cafe ingredients. Show paces briskly, opening with Edmund Hall's band doing one of its orchestral entr'actes, thence into Sonny Thompson with his Steinway specialty which suffers (1) from not properly spotlighting his digit dex- terity with a mirrored keyboard, and (2) from a slight surfeiting of his talents. He's solid in the boogie-, A -^ A woocic idiom, however. Glenn Miller s orch whreh dished Bernic West, next, is a promising out so much entertainmenttor the comic Starting at the Downtown GI s in the ETO invaded. Chi Fn GS he's .equally potent in the Up-1 day (5) and established town branch. Now billed as an beachhead at the Panther Room, Chi (SHERMAN HOTEL) Chicago, July 5. Te.r Benek-e & Glenn Miller Orch (31) . with Crew Chiefs and Lillian Lnne; $1.50-$2.50 min. '•NBC comedy star.": West satirizes nitery emcees, radio commercials, pix and a Eroadway ftoorshow rou- tine. Slightly reminiscent of the old Billy deWolfe technique, before that mime graduated into a Para- mount contract. West none the less has an. engaging manner all his own. David Brooks (New Acts) is a socko interlude next, and Patricia Bright. ' last seen at the Hotel. St. Regis, clicks here in even better manner with her mimicry. Ah im- pression of Hepburn, doing "Let It Snow": a satire on the French, western, Scotch and English cafe singers; a particularly devastating takeoff on Hildegarde ("My Comb, My Handkerchief and a Pair of Gloves"): and finally a Stork Club habitue make for a tiptop routine. The captious may observe that Miss Bright, perhaps, doesn't improve on the things she satirizes, but it's good floor showmanship all told. Adding to the appeal of this new summer show is the Dave Martin Trio, as rhythmic relief for Hall's combo. Another plus factor is Al- fred; ex-Versailles host, as the new mail re d'. Abel. I'iro's, H'u'ood Hollywood, July 5. Tony & Sally.J)e Marco, Leonard Sues Orch (16); cover, $2. Completely redecorated after a 30- day shuttering period, Ciro's now lias all the appurtenances of the average motion picture production's representation of a Hollywood night- club. Showy, but in good taste, the nitery only resembles its former self in shape and nothing else, be- cause of the complete facelift. Tony anfl Sally De Marco com- prise the'floor offering and they are a firm Sherman hotel's Panther Room. Packed opening night house was treated to the same ultra-danceable music that estab- lished the orch as the overseas khaki favorite. . Tex' Beneke. pre-war Miller standout and ex-Navy man; fronts orch. and. does a terrific job of pacing the show Opener is "In the Mood" with the orch's 12 Addles blending with the brass to give a solid rendition of the old favorite. Beneke follows with his tenor sax and on vocal of "These Foolish Things Remind Me of You." Groaner Artie Malvin pleases with "Give Me the Simple Life," and "They Say It's Wonderful." Orch carries oh with a socko ar rangement of "The Red Cavalry March." followed by the Phil Mo reno Trio with Mareno on the violin assisted, by a. bass and guitar, in clever novelty tune, "Pardon Me Pretty Baby." "It Couldn't Be True" and the long-time Miller fa vorite "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" get a good working over from the Crew Chiefs with -some expert assistance from chirpstress Lillian Lane and Beneke's. homey drawl. Miss Lane does a solo with "Th Gypsy' 1 and "Can't Help Lovin' That Man of Mine." Trumpeter Bobby Nichols draws raves with "Bobby Blue" and "Ol' Rockin' Chair." Orch rounds out the show with Beneke doing the vocal to "Hey Ba-Ba-Re Bop." Carl. Marx winding iip his 10th year as the Panther Room clown continues to heckle the payees and to dispense general nonsense during shows. Fooj. Nicholas Bros., who closed last week in "St. Louis Woman" set for the Latin Quarter, Newport, Ky. July 15. Troeadero, H'w«M»d . Hollywood, July 6. Lectiona Cuban Boys Orch (17), Amaiia Aguilar, De Castro Sisters; couer, $1.50-$2. For their first nitery engagement on the Coast and their second one h the country, the Lecuona Cuban Boys are offering some of the great- est chili bowl entertainment ever seen locally. Musicrew leaves down maraccas. ..cloves., and bongos only once or twice during the. evening, depending : on the most ■ part for Latunes to carry show and customer dancing. On night caught, the brass was slightly heavy for low-ceilinged Trocadcro, but promise of modula- tion is in the offing. Other than (hat, rhumband cannot be. touched for authenticity or showmanship, even on straightaway rhumba music. Amaiia Aguilar is now doing a little vocalizing along with .her tem- blor lerping. Latter has more move- ment than a Swiss watch and sells mightily,' but the thrushing is too harsh and adds nothing to her turn De Castro Sisters, a sort of Latin- American version of the Andrews sorority, get across to the customers thro.ugh drive and forcefulness. Trio "raws encore after encore and looks like.it will be top-line entertain- ment of its type, although it's a little too gringo to mix with 100% Latin show. Huts. neglected by most. of the present day thrushes. Accent is. on the bounce tunes. Gets over in nice fashion, Johnny Silvers accomps are tops, both for the show and dansapation. Carlos Honez handles the rhumbaddicts. Lary. IVoriiiandlc Itoof, Mont'l Montreal, July 3. Jane Pickens, Buddy Clarke Orch (14), Emi Ardi Quintet; $1.50 min. Klliy DavltiY tyNaml Miami, June 27. Tommy DLr, Sharon DeVries, Van Kirk, Palsy. Shaw, Johnny Silvers Orch (6), . Carlos Honez Orch (5); $1.50-$3.50 min. It takes plenty of talent, show- manship and. audience know-how for a performer to keep an audience nterested for 40 minutes, and Jane Pickens does it in current, appear- ance here. She has natural talent, a voice that has charm and warmth and is surprisingly flexible for the variety items she presents. Despite largeness of room, Miss Pickens shows; her sock , showmanship by bringing everybody into the "party" so to speak. Teeing off with "This is a Night for Love," she segues into a deftly ihrased "Gypsy" and follows with ier'mirror song, flashing it around the crowd, ad libbing with ring sidcrs and building to a sock climax. She also does nicely with "Doin' What Comes Natur'lly" and '"Sum- mertice," doing the pianistics herself AH her. other items go over big. Buddy Clarke orch accomps .show up well, as does Eni Ardi in relief stint. Lcua The' Davis boile seems to be run ning in luck in recent weeks, with most of the talent booked coming through for sock reaction from the payees: Current layout is good il- lustration. . Tommy Dix. pint-sized youngster with the robust voice, fits the inti mate room'like a glove. Gets them from opening "Great Day" and boffs all the way with "Because." " 'Round The Bend Of The Road" "Eili. Eili" and the inevitable "Buckle Down Winsocki." Comedy end of show is well taken care of by Sharon DeVries and Van Kirk. The pixieish gal offers carefully blended group of routines, running the gamut from comedy dance to concert pianist burlesque. Takeoff on the chantoosy type is another boffola. Gal is all over the place, with her singing, dancing and clowning with the ringsiders and musickers: Had to beg off after four encores. ■ Van Kirk emcees in pleasant fash ion and in own spot garners hefty amount of laughs with his British music hall humor, laden with Aimer ican overtones. Best bits are the special, material "What-Not" number, containing plenty double entendre and the Bert Lahr "Woodchopper' imprcsh. Patsy Shaw sings in the lusty, un inhibited manner which has been ■1 - Ml! "9*tte>matia*tal jbance QaavuteA." OPENING JULY Is) LOEWS STATE. New York HIPPODROME, Baltimore For 2 Weeks Starting August 1st ' Exclusive Management PAIL Mil ARTISTS, Ltd. In 201 West 52nd Street ° New York 19, N. Y. Blackhawk, Chi Chicago, July 3. Al Robinson & Alkali Ike, Hudson & Sharae, Del Courtney Orch (12) with Dottie . Dolsoii, Gil Lester Johnny Strong; $2-$2.50 min. Chi favorite Del Courtney re- turned to the Blackhawk for a long summer engagement Wednesday (26) to a packed opening night house. Rugged train ride the night before showed its effects, but orch and acts did well enough to rate plaudits from the audience. Courtney crew opens the show with clever gjee club piece "Ode to a Tree." Other orch stints, skedde'd for future shbws, were left out of the opening because outfit didn't have enough time between train arrival and show time for rehearsal. Payees were disappointed by the cut but quickly forgot and forgave after chirpstress Dottie Dot-sou gave with "Cucaracha" and "What Comes Natcherly." Hudson and Sharae, acrobatic adagio team, get over nicely in two fast routines. .Blond and shapely Miss'Sharae docs most of the team': heavy work with Hudson lending an expert hand. Something new in ventriloquism acts—dummy with a western accen —follows, and spends 15 minutes heckling the aud and giving out with some sound! cowboy philosophy. Dressed in outfits that would do jus lice to the most ambitious dude rancher. Al Robinson and his "voice' Alkali Ike make the best out of just average material! Courtney's smooth organization is tops during dance time and consider ing lack of rehearsal, docs acceptable job of backing the show. Foos. Gales stunt provides a half-hour slick entertaining that puts him top class of mimics and satirists. His vocal range from the depths of "Old Man River" to Bill Kenny's (Jnk Spots tenor) top note fairly well encompasses the oral scale and what he does with it makes a solid act. Gale clicks oft Gildersleeve Charlie McCarthy. Lionel Barry! more, Kenny, Jack Benny, Andy Devine, Rochester Babe Heatter Boyer and Gable. He's better on some than on others, but all are i;ood voice likenesses/ Surrounded l»y comedy chatter and winding with "Old Man River," its a neat half hour. Show gets Latin-American flavor from Clarita Souviron, a Brazilian looker, who takes the customers on a musical tour with her piano inter- pretations, ■ She doubles in the Bel- lerive's cocktail bar, the Zephyr Room. Bill Snyder, contributes featured piano work with specialties such as "Rhumba Rhapsody," . "Voodoo' Boom" and "Riding the Offbeat," his own. His instrumentation of two violins, accordion, reeds, drums, string bass and piano lends itself well to full range, of dansapation the crew must supply'for the Casbah. patronage. Qiiin. C lover C lub, Mianil Miami, July 3. Kay Vernon, Judnita Rios, Eslelie & LeRoy, MariaM Wiles, Line (6), Ken Delaney Orch (7); $1.50 min. A tightly knit 'and sparkling show has been installed by ops Jack Gold- man and Henry Neyle. It's balanced all the way, despite lack of a good, comic. Present layout should bring them . anyway, what with it "being a predominantly femme unit working to a predominantly male audience, well filled with visiting Latinos from S. A. ' Kay Vernon, lovely looking and nicely couturiered blonde thrush Is topliner and rates it. She projects some nlftily arranged tunes, among them "They Say It's Wonderful," a zingy "You Never Say Yes" and Sunny Side Of The Street." Could (Continued on page-49) Or sal iVs , Casino (SOMERS POINT, N. J.) Somers Point, N. J., June 29 Max Baer, Maxie Rosenbloom Dick Stabile's Orch (16). with Jan Morgan & Russ Emery; $1 -$1.50 aa mission. The Orsalti brothers, who operate a nitery in Philly, have taken oyer the former Gateway Casino, .three miles from Ocean City, N. J., for giant dine-and-dancery. The place seats 2.500, has a tremendous dance floor, has been handsomely deco rated, and will feature • fop name bands. Admish is $1 week nights $1.50 Saturdays. For the first two nights the Or satti's added Max Baer and Max if Rosenbloom to the bill and the two Maxies would have gone over much better , if they hadn't been fighting the microphone and poor acoustics When they could be heard, the pa: scored with plenty of laughs. Best of their new parodies is one titled "Our Heads Ring" in which they re- call their fistic past. Rest includes the familiar "I Don't Wanna Be Champ" by Baer, and "Personality duet. Dick Stabile's orch backs up the Baer-Rosenbloom combo, with the maestro joining up with Baer to heckle the. hapless Rosenbloom. . Jane Morgan, personable blonde, and Russ Emery,- recently returned from the service, nicely handle the vocal chores for Stabile. Shal." Kl Casbah, K.C. (HOTEL BELLERIVE) Kansas City, June 28. Lenny Gale, Clarity Souviron, Bill Snyder's Orch (7); cover $1, Satur- days $1.50. The Casbah has been swinging along many months on Its policy- of •a name act, a strong supporting act and a-band with a particular flavor. In. the current show which is set for two weeks the standard is more than upheld with Lenny Gale headlining. COMEDY PATTER Per All ■raachti. of Theatricals Fun-Master Gag Files Net. 1 Thra 13 at $1.05 Each 13 Different Script* for $13.00 A "MUSI" FOR MOUNTAIN AND All OTHER MSORT ENTCKTAINERS . Not. 14 Thra 20 READY SOON! ($2.00 Each—Double Scrlptsl (Q « Prepaid Advance Order ON LY) In preparation: . "Fan-MuBtrr Bonk or lllmkoiits, Skit* ft Win." nlso "Fun-Moster llumor-dor for J£im-*e»." $2.00 Deposit on C.O.D. Orders FOR ALL MATERIAL PAULA SMITH 200 W. Mill Strrrt New York City 19, K. T. fHLATIN-AMERICA ACTIVE YOUNG EXECU- TIVE WITH EXTENSIVE LATIN-AMERICAN CON- TACTS WILL LEAVE NEXT MONTH VIA PAN AMERI- CAN AIRWAYS FOR AN EXTENDED TRIP THROUGH EACH OF THE TWENTY COUNTRIES. WILL HANDLE YOUR BOOKINGS OR NEGOTI- ATE OTHER EXPORT- IMPORT MATTERS. BOX 952, VARIETY, 154 W. 46TH ST., NEW YORK 19. Are You a Com Borer? Do you Hire ludlenro* sl^Kr filglil? Do JTW» b«sa rcrk with a Male oOvi iiii'l.<vrn yiHtr W'l frlrmh won't imtll you 7 llrr*'i .vnnr rliinrt lit f rr»li. Ol: 11:1N A I. mMcrlM <.-i"-li monlli. Send Jl.dll lor Trial S,rl|,l. GAGS-OF-THE-MONTH 71. V—310 W. 95lh St.. N. V. C. 25. N. V- NowSpecialities in Re/reshment 1 Service for I DRIVE-IN THEATRE^ ETHEL ROIG Information wanted concerning whew* aboutt of Ethel Roig or Ethel Roi9 Harrison, formerly of New Orleam, La., or any of her relatives. Leo W. Seal, P. O. Box 1037, OuKport, Mitt.