Variety (Jul 1947)

20 HOUSE BBVIEWS Wednesday, July . 30, 1947 Alnsie Hall, IV. Y. "Melody Time," produced by Rus- »cU Mar'Keri, wxih FavX Haakon, Stephanie Antle, Joseph Levinoff, OlUi Serova, Ken Davidson & Co. (5), The parks (3), Marjorie WiWamson, Earl Covert, M. H. Ballet. Rocfcettes, Prospectors Qwr- tet M H. Choral Ensemble, M. W. Svmph conducted by Cliarles Previn. '•Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer' (RKO) reuieiued in VAniEiY June 4,'47; Musk Hall's Show' this sessioil^ls • a bit'on the livelier side than usual— ■ and welcbmely, so. Unfortunately, ■. however, it is ; unable to hoi/ the sprightly pace , all the way and^ bogs An the finale when the .choral en- semble takes over for . a;too-lengthy. - and duU medley . „ S'^"^"he : .Bombsrg's "New Moon. Set. is the familiar plantation, manse, with tn| bovs and gals colorfully overdressed in pre-Civil War lace. Marjorie WiuFamson and Earl Covert are principal warblers. It's all ,\oo stiff and ■ long-winded and doesn't touch ll^e surlfire curtain-drop , P^vided when the Rockettes are held lor flie ^'nockettes, incidentally,^ outdo thSves this, stanza. Producer . Russell Markert has been highly generous in the amount of time he allots them-and every minute of it fc to the gobd. Given an especiaUy attractive set and Pleasantly scant costumes, gals work to Rf? biiK Stockings and p'een Perfume ■while the Prospectors Male Qua™* backs them. Plentiful gam-flashmg *rith the Rockettes- unexcelled pre- cision remains an unbeatable attrac- *^°Ballet opens the show with Paul Haakon Stephanie Antle. .Ipseph Eevinoff and Olla Serova doing a ^Harlequinade" routine. Its li\ely and colorful, although the pnncipaLs do not show themselves to great . "^Cnl'ldded to the M. H, regular., are Ken Davidson & "Co.. m David; son's standard badminton exhibition^ and The Parks, a gal and ^wo ™en in an excellent and unusual balanc- ing act. Davidson has done .a nice lob of spiking his racquet turn with comedy, via trick shots, and running commmtary of an announcer. There a?n^ two gals in. the act who turn over the cards indicating the score, buildirig it to a company of five. ' Hcro. OlyiMPia, Miami Miami, July 24. Dolly Daujn, Ross Wyse Jr., with Peaay WomdcJc, Lew Nelson, iWtl- ioune Christopher, Lewis and Va^^^^ XeJ Rhode House Orch; "Calcutta . (Par). J ^ Current Olymipia layout rates solid audience response via neat blend or Fast pace is set by Lewis and Van in tee-6ff slot with tap trickery. Precision heel and toe work sends them off to solid salvos, to cue warm reception for acts following. • . , . Milboume Christopher's sleight- of-hand work with ropes maintains Dace. Guy works smoothly, ac- iomped by fast patter which adds to values. Off to hearty reception. Emcee chore is handled adequately by comic Lew Nelson. It is in his own spot that he makes his presence felt with'a routine of fresh sounding gags and special material songs. Rated the enthusiastic sendoff he • got. ■ Songstress Dolly Dawn has gone well in this house in previoas en- gagements and repeats in click fa.sh- ion this time out. Blends stmt cleverly with accent on the jump numbers but works in "Glocca Morra" for neat change of pace. En- Cores with band leading bit for boff reaction. Closers Ross Wyse, Jr., and Peggy Womack, garner heavy load of laughs with their burlesque adagio and .screwy chatter. Tall, graceful gal contribs artfully contrived acro- Sance to sequence and makes a per- fect foil for Wyse. Les Rhode's house orchestra backs :«how in usual effective style. ■ ■ Lary. hentio piano Intenudes of 6Ii that ^arhtrs Apt. l^Od leS givti .out thumping, not wlH audience nanltipi S«?y I'MrWl beSbfi wbel caught. . ; ,. , • ... Babbitt is a pleasing vocalist with an easy styls which holds his auditor? to every phrase. Gives out with "Sunny Side of Street,"^ "My Desire," "Cecilia," "If I Loved You, "Peg O' Mv Heart" and "Mam'selle. Encore in'kid falsetto is a pleasing novelty and extra dish of oldie Who Wouldn't liOVe . You" is just right. Joey Preston next with a torrid sesh of drumming,, well received. ; . Musical. backing bji Joe Lonabardi and house orch on .stage, a standout from curtain to curtain. ■ Biz big. Burm. Apollo, N. Y. Sid Catlett Orch: in), Arnett Cobb Orch. (6), Freddie Gordon, Larry 8e Jimmte, Four Jfotes, Brotun- skin Chorus (8), 5pider Bruce & Co. (4); "iSepia Cinderella" (.Herald). With Sid Catlett and Arnett Cobb's orchestras holding down the musical wing of the fort, current offering at this Harlem showcase is a sprightly entertainment package ribboned with a line of chorus girls and boys. Chorines haven't been featured at this "house in months and they're a nice change of pace. Tagged "Night Club Revue," show opens with an unbilled male singer introing four couples ^garbed in evening attire fol- lowed by a line of eight ponies and four chorus boys. Group is backed by an appropriate drop. Emcee 5'reddie Gordon, a slight, ingratiating chap, opens with a nov- elty vocal paving the way for drum- mer Sid Catlett's 12-man combo. Outfit tees off with a Catlett original, "Out Of Way," followed by "Organ Boogie," which spots tenor saxman Eddie Davis in a neat solo. Larry & Jiramie. announced as grads of the theatre's amateur hour, are a fair terp team. Run through some aero stuff, splits and faps but need more polish and better execution. Spider Bruce garners strong returns, in a standard comedy bit. Catlett's combo, comprising three rhythm, four reed and five brass, has a staccato style that's built chiefly around it's leader's skinbeating. One of the jazz greats, Catlett shows he's very adept with the sticks on "Mop,- Mop," which wins a hot mitting. Band backs the show and in general does a creditable job. Four Notes are a vocal group along the lines of "the Charioteers, Vagabonds, et al. With guitar ac- companiment they open with "Across Alley from Alamo" achieve ing solid harmohy effects. Follow with so-so arrangement of "That's My Desire" and close with "bur- lesque of the Ihkspots. For the lat» ter, quartet warbles "I Can't Stand Losin' You."' Some portions are so exaggerated' that it's not in keeping with good taste but nevertheless lads ftnaled to a fancy reception. To the warbling of "Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody," chorus does a production number smacking of bur- lesque, but it draws audience appre- ciation. Gordon, whose emceeing chores are comparatively minor, does another novelty vocal. "Give Me a Fat Woman," for oltay results. Clad in top hat and tails he also does some nifty stepping with a stick, a la a drum major, for healthy ap^ plause. . , Arnett Cobb's Sextet (Band Rer views) rounds out show-. State, N.Y. Benny Ftelda, Adrian RoHini Trio, Tim HerBcrt. Pons« the Horse, Monor & Mifln'on, Winter Sisters (3); Louis Bosil House Orch; "Hiflh Bar- boree" (M-G). Fiuning job to trim 10 minutes or so off the State's current stage lay- out would'have aided much in boost- ins the bill into a well-paced session. Outside of its overlength (show ran more than 70 minutes when caught), it's a neat mixture .of music, dancing and comedy, grooved for midsummer taste. ... , . : ■ Benny Fields is back in the n?xt- to-closing -and does his usual stand- out, job of selling tunes on pure slipwmanship know-how. Employing practically the same repertoire that he used in his Copacabana, N. Y., stint last winter. Fields gets the audi- ence with him at the start and; has them practically eating from his hand at the windup. Sporting a new summer tux With his standard'top- hat and walking stick props, he tours the gamut of pop oldies, demonstrat- ing convincingly that nostalgia pays off. There are the usual tribute to Al Jolson, audience participation, and allusions to his Blossom, earning him a well-deserved begoff. Adrian Rollini Trio furnishes the instrumentalized music for the bill. Offering solid rhythm with vibra- harp, bass and guitar. Little smile now and then would be a welcome relief from the boys' stolid dead- pans, but they please anyway with their music. They tee- off with a nice jump beat on "Mardi Gras," slow down a bit for "Tea for Two," perk Up again with "Limehouse Blues" and walk off to heavy ap- plause in a jazz rendition of "Minute Waltz," with the Rollini doubling at piano. . -; „ Winter Sisters, a trio of well- muscled blonde gals, open the show with a neat bit of acro-terping, pro- viding a flash with spins, hand- springs, etc. Balancing routine offers a good change-Of-pace and they come back with ultra-fast tumbling spins to complete a good turn. Pansy, the Horse, with Ann Evett in the trainer's role that gave Virginia Mayo her show biz start, is a- crowd- pleaser. Horse's ■ gyrations, dance steps and nonchalant way it disobeys the trainer's orders, draw hearty, guffaws, with Miss Evett's cheese- cakey appearance aiding consider- aijly. Tim Herbert, brought in as a last- minute replacement for the ailing Paul Regan; has a lot of new mate- rial that doesn't all get across. Im- personation of nitery performers is- good, as is his takeoff on a hammy thesper, but the Mexican peon rou- tine falls flat. After a slow warm- up, he finally wins the audience with his eccentric dancing and ambles off to okay response; Dance team of Manor & Mignon have a difficult assignment in fol- lowing Fields but their well-exe- cuted ballroomology, demonstrating that they're equally fine dancers, gets them nice mitting. They please with waltz, tango and flamenco num- bers and close on a novel touch with' an interpretation of George M. Cohan's-song hits. Louis Basil's house orch, playing from the pit this session, does its usual excellent backing job. Stal. arrangements and should do well for themselves. . Martha Mears end.s the show with a group of popular tunes. She whams them with her warbling and has a style of presentation that hits the .spot. The house was full When caught with show drawing good talce all week. Circle, Imlpis* IhdianopoUSj July 25. Jerf^ Coionna, Bank Sieman & AfGhie, Martez & Delita, Jimmie James Orch, luttli Gene Stewart, Mary Ellen; "Web of Danger" (Rep). This bill played three different ways opening day, and flnally went sailing along with Jerry Colonna taking over as emcee in addition to his - own substantial .ch.ore .as head- liner. ^ It's a good, clean fun show, paced by Colonna and Hani? Sieman with an able assist from, Martez & Delita and routine musical back- ground by the Jimrale James orches- tra.. ■ 1 i Highlight is Sieman ventre turn, in which Colonna takes part in a nifty four-way conversation. Sie- man gags with. Colonna through his dummy, at the same time gabbing with a girl called up from the audi- ence. Sieman tops this for laughs by taking Colonna on one knee and the girl on the other, using them for dummies. It's a good stunt. Colonna gives the show pace and color with his snappy introductions and be- tween act gags and puts up his free- style' singing in his own turn, exer- cising his tonsils on "It Might As Well Be Spring," "Caroline," "Long Ago and Far Away" and "Saloon" for a click reaction. ■- Martez & Delita also get a nice hand for their acrobatic dancing and balancing stunts with a light comedy touch. James band is good for sound but slow for action, specializing in dance arrangements that .are frequently too long and unanimated for stage entertainment. It's best is a solid if not brilliant "Begin the Beguine." Mary Ellen, vocalist, reveals a nice voice and personality in "Blue Skies." Gene Stewart registers moderately with "Red Silk Stock- ings and Green Perfume." Biz okay when caught. Corb* , Capitol, Wash* Washington, July 25. Sue Ryan, George Prentice, Stu- arts (2); Juvelys (2)., Bob Knight featured ujith house orth;. "Ghost and Mrs. Muir" (20th), Hippodrome, Balto. Baltimore, July 26. Harrj/ Bobbitt, Ish Kabibble, Leon , Jiavara, Joey Preston, Joe Lombardi ond house orch \l2);"New Orleans" iVA). ' Well selected layout is paying off at the b.Oi Name strength-via Harry Babbitt and Ish Kabibble, fugitives from Eay Kyser'.s orch; local inter- est in p.a. of Joey Preston, juve <}rummer currently spotted in "Fiesta"; and solid showmanship of vet Leon Navara, adds Up to smooth playing setup and maximum audi- ence response. • After a brief bit of aero dancing by an unbilled femme, Navara takes on emcee stint for brief gagging and an jntro' of Ish Kabibble, trumpet- playing comic with trick haircut and a dead pan as main props. Lad essays some comedy verse, gags,-a prop trumpet and a parody winding Up with some legit handling of his horn to a rather pleasing getaway. Gets plenty of recognition on en- trance and should build a stronger routine for his current stint in vaude. Navara is next with his stuff at the ivories and it's solid from the tewft. Changes pace smartly and Afliilon Dollar, L. A. Los Angeles, July 25. King Cole TriOj Benny Corter and All Stars (6), Macfc & Ace, Marie Bryant; "Shoot to Kill" (SG). It's an all-music show being of fered this week, with King Cole Trio headlining the bill. Trio is in top form with seven songs. Group kicks off closing spot with "Route 66," following up with "Come in Out ot the Rain," "Don't Learn That in School," "Meet Me in No Special Place," "Breezy and the. Bass," "Baby I Need You" and a closer shared with Benny Carter's special six-man musical crew. Each song sells big and opening show audience still wanted more. Benny Carter arid His-All Stars is new aggregation formed by leader. It still needs smoothing' out as a unit but that will come, There's a strong piano and Carterls top alto sax work to carry the major load, other instruments are bass, drums, tenor .sax, trumpet and! trombone. Carter's arrangements, very sharp Srom musician standpoint, need to De made more commercial for gen- eral audiences. His sax: work on opener, "No Name Bop" 'is mellow. Drums are good but tenor sax and trombone fail to register. Next num- ber, "Malibu" demonstrates Carter's ability to weave interesting tones around pop piece and give it con- siderable edge. Same goes for "Cocktails For Two," a standout for popular listening. "Conga Roo" has a promise not entirely fulfilled by sidemen's Interpretation and "Lover" fails to hold interest. JMack and Ace prove solid jitter- bug dance team that pleased. Marie Bryant, vocalist, uses more body English than tone quality on "Pig- foot Pete," "Why Should 1 Be Topsy" and "Pocketful ot Dreams." It is the bumps and grinds between choruses that help her get by, firpg, Param^t, Portland, Ore. July 21, 1947. : Hoosier Hot Shots (4), Dewey sis- ters (2), Martho Mears, Curt Massey, Max Terhune, Ike Carpenter Orch. (12), VThe Trouble With Women" (.Par.). Manager Frank Pratt is smiling these days as current package show^ bring an increased volume of biz, Hoosier Hot Shots Jamboree heads a one hour and twenty minute stage show playing to excellent biz. Fun-promoting Hoosierites are very generous with their encores, playing tunes requested by members of the audience and receiving heavy response throughout. They use most of their best known recorded tunes, best being "It Couldn't Happen At the Metropolitan." Also do some legit stuff with "Someday" going over well above par. Timing is ex- ceptionally good as is their exhuber- ant clowning. Vigorous palmpound-. ing requires four encores. Dewey sisters click in the opening slot with an act entirely new since last seen here with the Ted Lewis band. Opening scene is pointed up with mock thunder and lightning as the girls come on stage in raincoats. Peeling off the slickers, they are decked out in snappy midriff sailor suits. They go into a routine of pre- cision tumbling and tricky .terping with a tew contortion bits thrown in for good measure. They receive the be.st hand of the bill.. Max Terhune, western movie star, entertains with clever ventriloquism stint and some snazzy tricks. M.C. Curt Massey takes over from there, singing a group of westerns initiated by '"My Adobe Hacienda." Massey, formerly with The Westerners, docs a good job of holding his listeners. Ike Carpenter's orchestra executes a beautiful arrangement of Liszt's Second Hungarian Rhapsody and an original* jump tune, "Streamliner." This youthful band; Jed . by Carpenter's piano has some line Plenty of meat on the bone this week, with Sue Ryan, the slick sing- ing comedienne topping the layout. Gal clicks throughout with' her en- joyably raucous .offering. Her best offering is the little job about no mustard for Franlcie (i.e. an outsized wiener on roll which she ijses for a prop.). She goes along fine also with "Zip-A-Dee Doo Dah" with variations, and opens with a number about a jazzy kid brother who can't appreciate the classics. Encore is "Chi Baba" as it might be sung by a couple of odd female characters. George Prentice has a scrappy, fast moving puppet show in the old fashioned European tradition which did very well with adults when caught and is a wow with the kids during matinees; It's all slapstick with Punch dnd Judy, a cat, a rabbit, a sltunk and a devil all showing up -at various times and all flailing each other with a board. Richard and Flora Stuart are a smooth ballroom dance team,. noth. ing sensational, but a comfort- able spot filler which closes the bill nicely. On a considerably higher plane-is the opener, the Juvelys, a top notch balancing and juggling act, which features a shapely blonde balanced atop a ball on the head-of her partner while both twirl hoops. This is one of the strongest openers this house has had in some time. Sam Jack Kauffiman's house orch brings in Bob Knight this week for a turn with the steel guitar. He hots it up plenty with "Night and Day," "St. Louis Blues," "Bells of St. Mary's" and "Hold That Tiger." Lot«e. Uoxy, N. Y. Hermanor Williams Trio, Maurica ' Hocco, Abbott & Costello, Audrey Yowwt Joe E. Howard; "I Wondet Who's Kissing Her Now" (.20th), re^ viewed in Variety June 11, '47. Old gags, old bits of business but still the same, old crowds. That's Abbott and Costello for you. ; ; There's hardly a piece of new ma* ■ terial being done by the veteran com- : edy team, but only if you're apt to be a little too captious would yoij ■ be conscious of this factor. AlkO have their comedy down to a fine art, and there's hardly anything they do—however old-^that doesn't stir laughs from even the most inveterate A&C listener. - From burlesque, to muisicQmedy. to pictures and radio—that's the climb of the pair, and now that they're back in the vaudfllmers there's no doubt that they maintain the pace of their previous successes, though a couple of gags are out of the Minsky files. Roly-poly Lou Costello is a master of the "hurt'' look, the "dumb" re- joinder, and he gets all the laughs, as usual. And Abbott? Here's one of the fastest, glibbest foils for any comic, and when anyone starts dis- cussing what a funny fellow Lou Costello js, remember, it's a guy like Bud Abbott who is considerably re-/ . sponsible for those laughs. ■ The way Abbott darts those lines afCosteUo! He's .of a lost clani--rthe ' oldtime, expert straight without whom a comic could hardly get a laugh—"the other guy." At any rate, he's in good company. Remember Ben Bard, George Le Maire? They, too, were "the other guys." But don't make any mistake about Costello; . either. They're a distinct comple- ment to eac6 other. Audrey Young, young jsoreen star out of their last pic, does one song negligibly, but she's here mostly for s.a.—and has it! Otherwise, this is a show that to some extent carries out the flavor- of the screen's tenant, "I Wonder V Who's Kissing Her Now," the pur-- ; ported biog. of songwriter-showman*" performer Joe E. Howard. Howard: ' is on stage for some sonK and dance ; out of another era; .and - on open- ing day George Jessel, producer of the pic, and June Haver, femme Star of the film, made perssonals to assure the getaway. It's tough to judge the standards of any show with Jessel, since he.; adds so much to it, always. But ifs. a fitting tribute to the layout gener- ally that it has clicked without him since opening day. Otherwise, the rest includes Mau- rice Rocco, in one of his frequent re- turns, doing,' as usual, his stand-up fingering of the keys in an as-always showmanly presentation. Give him a chair to be seated, to put it face-, tiously, and the guy would be out of sfiow business. - The Hermanos Williams Trio of two males and a blonde gal singer- With-guitar feature the men's air ways-entertaining acrobatic tangoing, : and without getting their hair mussed, M that. The whole layout,-as usual, gets a handsome presentation. Kahn. Cuffo Guesttngs Continued from page 1 JACKIE CAIN ■ Sones 10 Mins. Hotel Sherman, Chicago Jackie Cain, 19-year-pld torchy songstress, who has created a stir at southside nabe niteries, is flnally hit- ting the bigtime with her opening, at the College Inn of the. Hotel. Sher- man,. A tiny gal. Miss Cain at first loots a.bit lost on-huge floor at the. Sherman, but as soon as she begins piping "Happiness Is Just a Thing Called -Joe," she impressed with a strong and new vocalizing personal- ity. The petite singer pours a youthful ambition into "Poinciana" and "I Only Have Eyes for You," but her habit of working on top of mike cheats aud of expre.ssive personality. Her voice is fresh, her arrange- ments are heavy and suit her "catch in the throat" offerings. With an ex- pansion of her materiali and more'of same hard work, she'll be writing her own ticket. ' Hunt "and it's ours," says Par, hiding be- hind the hairline technicality. Marty Lewis, Par radio topper, says Par's people are being used solely to exploit Par's own product. Joker in it all, however, is that .show 6nds Aug. 1, when Johnson returns. Even it MPA gets its dander up due to others beefing. Par will have got- ten its plugs over and the event ended before official hearings start. Then Samuel Goldwyn's studio got in the soup, though it's disclaimed, due to Tommy Dorsey having "lined up" for his disk-jocks airer a host of players from the cast of "That's Life," in Which he's working. Arch Reeve, MPA Information head, stated that Goldwyn studio was guilty of three counts, the cuffo, platter and jockey bans having been violated in that instance. Studio released the : story that Danny Kaye, Virginia : Mayo and others were set to guest for Dorsey, who had badgered them in the commissary. It was all great until the story broke the same day of Par's impending castigation, then came a flood of denials from all : corners. Reeve's statements anent Goldwyn were denied, and studio took ihe stand that it was not responsible for the actions of Dorsey. Miss Mayo; would be refused to Dorsey "if and when we are approached," it was declared, femme player being sole Goldwyn-controUed personality. Pre- viously it was intimated around that the Goldwyn plant felt free to play with Dorsey due to having a "con- fidential" agreement that permitted it—provided the studio supervised, sale of the platters to preclude abuses by local sponsors. Now that, too, is denied, along with Reeve» known statements about "open vio- lations," and so Dorsey is carrying the blame.