Variety (August 1949)

B4 REVIEWS Vcdneflday, Augugt 17, 1949 Night Qub Reviews Siarlljj^hl X. Y« I (WALDORF-ASTORIA) I The same forthriKht dansapation, vith accent on the melody, as is the trademark of such successful combinations as the Loiiibardos. Wayne King, Russ Morgan. Sammy Kaye, et al.. distinguishe.s Freddy Martin’s terp tunesteving during tlveir current semester at .he Wal- dorf Roof. It’s not accidental that the exponents of “recognize the tune’’ have the best longevity as dance and show bands. Martin, who inspired the pop crack that “he’s made moie money than Tschaikowsky’’ by playing that composer’s works, still uses tlie Piano Concerto in B flat as hi.? i theme as he and his 18 Martin Men i whip out the tempos. .Actually, that ; MM caption covers the sextet doing | the vocalizing — baritone Merve Griffin, trumpeter Stan Wild, i trombonist Johnny Cochran, savi.-ts 1 Johnny Setar and Andy Kostelas, and guitarist Rex Dennis. ’Fhey, along with pianist Art Dovaney, are featured. The rest of the crew comprises Norman Bailey, Barry McKeehan. Dick Arand on brass; Charles Thompson, Don Pessell, reeds: Louis Sherman, Dale Bech- tel, Homer Stephens Sam Bog- ho.s.sian, violins; Barney Spottle, bass; Gerard Burke, traps; and, of course, Martin also on sax. The solid tempos apoarently are surefire getter uppers on the floor, and there is enough versatility in all their vocal formations to augur pearance and are a smooth and graceful dance team, sweeping through a series of routines in which they mix a variety of steps and dizzy whirls for neat results. Tastefully costumed, they are an asset to any show. Gali Gall, magician, mystifies with an assortment of tricks. He uses coins, chickens, cards and a host of other props to provide plenty of fun. Trick that got most palm pounding is one in which he makes two bills turn up in the center of an orange. It’s a switch on the old lemon trick. Capacity biz when caught. Liiiz. showcase newcomers. Lewis and White, who have made appear- ances at Harlem’s Apollo and the midtown Strand theatre, have an extremely dreary turn. Humor of these colored comics isn’t always in good taste and lines could .stand a rewrite. They show up consid- erably better in their brief terp turn in which they wield batons. Development of the latter and ton- ing down of their gab would make their turn more acceptable. Jose. New Acts Kl f/aHbuh« K. C. (HOTFX BF.LLERIVE) The Harwonicats (3), Joe Vera Orch (6>; no ininiuium. HolNini^N* «'hl Chicago. Aug. 9. AI Morgan, Leon Miller, Dick Gale, Billy Chandler Orch (4), Adrian Lorraine: $1.25 minimum. In an effort to hold summer biz, the Casbah has boosted its enter- tainment budget during the sum- mer. and it is paying off. In their stand here the hard-working Har- monicats have upped biz nicely. And with the Joe Vera orch lead- ing off and closing the show, the patrons get a solid 35 minutes of well-paced entertainment, twice nightly. The orch leads off with Vera fea- tured on the piano in “Rhumba Rhap.sody,” a booming Afri-Cuban number. Vera, as m.c., then brings on the Harmonicats, on the Harmonicats, and the room is all theirs for nearly a continuing effective stint when , 30 minutes. Running through such they hit the Capitol on Broadway items as before returning to the Coast. In- > Boogie,” cidentally, the Martin orchestra will play the Palladium in L. A. in.stead of their stronghold at the Ambassador’s Cocoanut Grove, as heretofore, due the fact the hotel has gone into a “music impres- sions” policy (as created by Ernie Byfield at the College Inn, Chicago) and is cutting down on the big band costs. Per usual the Mi.scha Borr band Is the standby standard, a versatile alternate combo as it has been with each successiv'e name orche.stra. Abel. Flmtio Mpis. ' (HOTEL RAD1SSON) Minneapolis. Aug. 13. Jessica Draqonette, Datmy Fer- guson Orch 19); $2.50 min. “Lover,” “Harmonica and “Fantasie Im- promptu.” for a smash start. I They take a second inning then, featuring Al Fiore in their estab- lished hit. “Peg O’ My Heart.” then switching to Don Les on their original “The Cat’s Polka,” and “Little Brown Jug.” Head man , Jerry Murad leads off a round I of imitations of current band I themes, for rousing applause. Threesome then runs through a couple of novelties and close with “Hora Staccato” and “Peggy ' O’Neil.” Applause Is heavy all the ; way. and it’s well deserved. ' Vera takes show back to the band and finishes up with another ; of his Latin rhythms. More turns like this will mean steady trade for the Casbah. Quin, After about a month’s hiatus, Al Morgan returns for another 15 weeks. Riding on the success of his pop disk, “Jealous Heart,” and his television show, pianist-singer has revised his catalog with more pop tunes, but it’s still the no.stal- gic items that pay off with the customers. Opening in whirlwind fashion, Morgan races through “When You’re Smiling” and “Everywhere You Go.” For a change in pace, lanky singer reaches into the oldies for “I’m Still Without a Sweetheart” and a sapolioed ver- sion of “Frankie and Johnnie.” For his pop tunes he does “Brown Eyes,” “It Took a Dream to Wake Me Up, Sweetheart,” "Do You Ever Think of Me,” “It Had to Be You,” and special version of “My Blue Heaven” for solid re- turns. Leon Miller has a novel slant on bookings of the ’20’s and earlier. He terps through “Ballin’ the Jack,” ■ “Walking the Dog,” and “Alabama Stomp” to nice re- sponse. Dick Gale, youthful comedian and emcee. Is handicapped by too much blue stuff and borrowed ma- terial, Billy Chandler’s combo does a neat job of backgrounding the show. Adrian Lorraine does a pleasant stint as intermission pi- anist. Zabe. Al Shean Continued from page 53 ROMOLO De SPIRITO Songs 12 Mins. Versailles, N. Y. Ezio Pinza's engagement in “South Pacific” has apparently started a vogue for mature singers. Romolo De Spirito, of the con- cert stage, is a singer in the classi- cal tradition who’s e.schewing the longhair field temporarily in favor of an excursion into the pop realm. After one concession to tlie tra- ditional type tune, he, like Pinza, delivers a pair of tunes from "South Pacific” after which he stays with operetta tunes. The ef- fect is pleasing vocally although De Spirito is a tenor, pitched on the sweet side, as against Pinza’s ro- bust basso. He has technical per- fection, a melodic delivery, a good concert stage presence, and pipes that carry sans mike. De Spirito. however, has yet to develop a nitery personality. He plays it straight throughout. He needs some slight touches of humor to provide a closer bond between him and the audience. A tune with sly lines might do the trick. As is generally the case with singers of this type, a click in the cla.ssic realm enhances the wine trade. Nick Prounis and Arnold Rossfield, both possessing boxoffice acumen, have been attempting to make this class restaurant a ren- dezvous with a type entertainment not available in competing east- sideries. Their long-term Gallic invasion with such singers as Edith Piaf, Suzy Solidor and others re- sulted in a cosmopolitan clientele but it’s necessary to introduce an occasional change of pace with some fresh faces. Thus singers from the concert field serve an im- portant purpose In the Versailles scheme of things. De Spirito serves this function admirably and once he acquires more cafe floor presence, can make the class nitery rounds. Jose. Jessica Dragonette brings a more distinguished type of vocal artistry than one usually finds in niteries. At this swanky supper club with its intimate atmosphere, her superior thrushing finds a happy hunting ground. Miss Dragonette wisely confines her piping to the kind of numbers that have a wide appeal, siach as “I Love You.” “You’re 'Too Dan- f erous” (in French). “Wunderbar” rom “Kiss Me, Kate” and a trio of “South Pacific” hits. “Some En- chanted Evening.” “Bali Ha’i” and “Wonderful Guy.” Encores with “Happy Tonk” and “Gypsy’s La- ment” for a solid hit. Danny Ferguson orch, concluding a long engagement here, again does its chores nicely, playing ac- companiments for songstress and providing tunes for customer dancing. A full house at dinner show. Rees. l*oa<*o€*k I'ourt. S. F. (MARK HOPKINS HOTEL) San Francisco, Aug. 10. Dorothy Shay. Ray Hackett Orch (14 ): cover $1.50-$2. Itliie KfMim. !V. O. (HOTEL ROOSEVELT) New Orleans, Aug. 12. Joe Reichman Orch. (12); Lan- dra & Vcr»a, Roger Ray, Gali Gali; $2 minimum. Dorothy Shay is a big click on repeat date here. A jam-packed hou.se was on hand to give the “Park Avenue Hillbillie” a royal reception. Songstress responded with 4f> minutes of songs, ranging from her old reliables to some newer numbers. For good measure she tossed In a sock ballad. “He’s the One” to prove her versatility. She breezes through “I’m Doing All Right” for an opener and fol- lows with “Coming Round the Mountain.” “Marry Mary Ann.” “Dear Mr. Sears and Roebuck” and “It’s the Little Things That Count.” all slanted to provoke po- lite guffaws, with Miss Shay help- ing the lyrics along with adroit, though restrained, tossing of her well gow'ned torso. For encores, custc.ners w'ere rewarded with her I in-the-groove “Cousin Alice Clug.” I the winking number. “Hills of Ten- nessee” and “Efficiency” to sew things up nlcelv, i Music by Ray Haekett’s. outfit ' Is excellent for show and teroing. Ted. This swank nocturnal rendezvous has come up with another bell-! ringing show. There is never a let-' I'afo S€»4*io|v« !V« Y. down or dull moment In the three Dorothy Donegan.'Cofeman Ham- , , * I j ^^artha Lou Harp, First and foremo.st is the music Lewis & White; $3.50 minimum band. of Joe Reichman and his held over for a run of four more weeks. The genial “Pagllacci of the Piano” sparks proceedings with his adroit planning and generates plenty of audience enthusiasm. Ho He displays mastery of technique, particularly in his interpretation of tunes such as “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes,” “Tea for Two” and others. The hand goes sweet and swing with equal ease, displaying their versatility in smooth arrangements of tunes that range from “Tico Tico” to a scintillating medley of George Gershwin’s works. The way Reichman keeps the crowd dancing and applauding is a tril)ut(' to his warm personality and showmanship. Opening the floor acts is hard- working comic Roger Ray. .4fter feigning some serious work on the xylophone he proceeds to get in- volved in zany antics for plenty laughs. But it’s his skit of a tele- vision announcer demonstrating a liquid product that rocks the room with laughter. Off to heavy ap- plause. Landra and V'erna make nice ap- Cafe Society Downtown has come up with a brace of draw acts for its second summer edition Dorothy Donegan and Coleman Hawkins band eon.stitute the ma- jor portion of the show, with .Martha Lou Harp (New' Acts) and Lewis and White rounding out the bill. I It’s a fairly expensive show for this time of the year and proba- bilities are that this spot will snare most of the Village trade. Miss Donegan has e.stablished her.self here via a previous appearance, while Hawkin’s tenor sax is a valued item for the music fol- lowers. Miss Dimegan plays commercial piano witli a of humor. Her chief trade, the weaving of a myriad of tunes through one numher is done skillfully and with a deal of hu- mor. These mixtures are good for potent audience reactions both for her regular stint and her encore. Show’ caught indicated that she could have done an additional stanza. The additional spots are used to a highly sly 's(*nse stork-in- done the material for the family act and by way of branching out as a writer submitted the “Gal- lagher and Shean” song, which the team reputedly bought outright for a modest sum. Although the comedy team were standards for a number of years, the new trend via the song cata- ! pulted them into the high salary bracket.s—and kept them there un- til Gallagher suffered a nervous breakdown from which he never recovered and which caused his death. After the enforced split, Shean, solo, diverted into legit and pictures. In the former field he is probably best remembered as star of “Father Malachy’s Miracle, ’ wherein he acted the role of a Catholic priest and drew accolades from critics and Catholic clergy alike. After he and Gallaglfer hit the jackpot with the singing-act idea, others followed, principally Dody & Lewis, with “Hello, Hello, Hello,” and while a clicker, it never approached the Gallagher & Shean .stanza in poularity. Kids around the country adopted it as a byword. It al.so had a tremendous sheet music and record sales when j publisljed by Jack Mills. Foy, now a film producer, is said to have gotten some additional coin on .song via royalties, but it was Shean and his partner who got the real gravy from such sales. The song, originally introduced by the team in the “Ziegfeld Fol- lies” (1923), created a demand for their services from all branches of show biz and at top coin. When going back to vaude, their salary ; had skyrocketed to a new high. i Prior to teaming with Gallagher, Shean had done an act for years with Charles Warren titled “Quo Vadis Upside Down.” Prior to hil- ling the bigtime he and Gallagher had appeared in hurle.sque, “The Rose Maid.” Princess Pat” and scores of other musicals. i Among the’ motion pictures he appeared in were “Chills and Fever.” “Sweet Music.” “Ziegfeld Girl” and many others. His more recent stage appearances were in “Meet a Bodv” (1944i and “Windy City” in 194fi. His last ap- pearance was last year in a revival of “.Music in the Air.” i Born in Germany, he was the son of Louis Schonberg. a magician- ventriloquist, who died at the age of 101. He was an uncle of the Mai-x Bros., their mother having been his sister. Another nephew is agent Jack Lenny. He is survived by a son and a si.ster. i ALAN KING ! Comedy [20 Mins. , Leon & Eddie’s. N. T. I Alan King has obviously knocked I around before this Leon & Eddie’s preem, but appears to be a comic , who’s ju.st starting to find himself. I Test of his abilities is seen in the : fact that he’s able to keep an au- ' dience interested for a stretch of 1 20 minutes. Much of his mate- ' rial is good and a lot of it is fresh, i Stylistically, he resembles lots of other zanies, but mixture seems to be peculiar to King. ! King’s current development Is reminiscent of several other comics who got their start at Leon & Ed- : dies’s as stand-in for Eddie Da- I vis when the boniface went on va- cation. Jackie Miles and Joey Adams got long stays in that spot and afterwards came out as head- liners. Whether King will attain I the same stature at the end of his [stand here still depends. Definitely, King shows the mak- ings of a top comic. He’s able to i get laughs with clean material, : shows a good voice in his singing i interludes and generally registers well with the audience. His Brooklyn accent may temporarily limit the field of his employment, but with a few more dates under ! his belt he’ll be a serious con- tender for the favored spots, j Jose. MARTHA L^U HARP Songs I 9 Mins. Society Downtown. N. Y. Martha Lou Harp, making her nrsf cafe appearance, indicates that ' she can make the rounds of the I smarter showshops once she attains more experience. Chief as.set. as evidenced in her initial job, is a I warm, well-placed voice in a con- ‘ tralto register. Tone control is good and tune selection is fine. However, the mi.stakes evident in ' most newcomers are similary; shown here. Defect.s can be cor- rected with more playing time and once that s attained, she’ll be okay : disk work, i Miss Harp’s ballads come off ex- i ceeding well. Deep pipes have mo- ' ments with a high degree of ex- i pressiveness. She seems to be on ' the right track as far as interpre-1 tat ion* is concerned. A few rounds around smaller cafes will probably! reveal a highly improved singer wiien she next makes a major Jo.se. : AI^TEN WATSON & JERRY . Songs I 25 Mins. j Sw'iss Chalet. Bismarck Hotel. Chi Latest addition to husband-wife song and patter duos, couple’s de- but was hindered hy this L-shaped,; low-ceiling room and faulty mu- .sical hacking. Their vocal rendi- tions project, and the special ma- terial by Richard Barstow\ inter- spersed with light banter, show'. ca.ses the potentialities of th« comely couple. Both Miss Wat.son and Austen have made a name for themselves as singles in the niusi comedy field, so the know-how is there. Only thing missing is a de- veloped routine that might give the act a personality all of its own. As I is, kids are attractive vocalists rather than a programmed and well-paced act. Jerry Austen tees off with “Most Unusual Day,” introducing Miss Watson, who singles on “Cheek to Cheek.” Couple get together on “Happy Talk” with special Ivrlcs and conversation and do very‘well when vocaling together. Combined talents on an “Oklahoma!” medley I goes over with seat-holders, as does their finis, “Wiegenlied.” a lullaby by Mozart. Duo’s pleasing stage manner projects, as do their vocal efforts. A little more de.sign here and there and they’re a cinch for the cafe circuit. Greg. DORIS PATTS & MRS. WATERFALL Comedy 10 Mins. Palace. N. Y. The late Nan Rae and Maude Davis act has been revived w'ith Doris Patts and Nina Olivette, lat- ter taking the Mrs. Waterfall role. Manager Al Grossman, who man- aged the late comedy team, has built this newer duo up to the high standards of the original act. Re- issue has been working for the past few months with break-ins in the hinterlands and has come into first class situations with an act that be- speaks professional polish. There isn’t much variation be- tween the old and the new’. Lines, with few exceptions, are the same that served the old team nobly through many years in vaudeville. Angle of an inquiring reporter is used, with Miss Olivette making her entrance from the audience. Her characterization is especially good having the looks and mousey stage personality that makes her a good type. Miss Patts does a good straight as the femme interviewer and act bespeaks good potentiali- ties on the variety circuit. Jose. FRED LOWERY With Leslie Roberts 8 Mins. Palace, N. Y. Vet performer Fred Lowery rates another entry in the New Act files becau.se of acquisition of a new partner replacing Dorothy Rae. Leslie Roberts is now’ in the singing spot and compares well with her predecessor. With new alignment of the act, Lowery is given all the prominence and billing. Lowery still whistles out several of his big numbers in- cluding “Indian Love Call” and “William Tell Overture” and har- monizes with Miss Roberts in a tune. As per usual, Lowery doesn’t capitalize on his blindness getting across strictly on his puckers and act hits handsome returns. Jose. THE SHERWOODS (3) Aero 7 Mins. Palace, N. Y. The Sherwoods, two boys and a girl, show some good balancing tricks. Their three-highs with the femme in the middle, intricate holds and terp interludes between tricks provide a dressy and a^ plau.se winning turn. Mu.sical back- grounding adds to the turn’s recep- tion. Many of their tricks, however, resemble those of other acts in this category. While they are performed well, some new twists would help differentiate them from others oi this type. Jose. RAY ALTON Dance 5 Mins. Leon & Eddie’s. N. Y. Ray Alton is a cute tapster whose youth and routines belie any ex- tensive experience. There are some good stretches in her turn with some fast spins and most oi her work shows that she lias • good terp foundation. Mi.ss Alton once learning more tricks of the trade, will be abl® to assay stands in regulation nii- erics and vauders. Ju.se. JANE ABEL Songs 7 Mins. Leon & Eddie’s. N. Y. . Jane Abel looks like cafe fare in the singing line Snes got capable delivery and good sp^ cial material. Voice register* nicely and projection is fair. Mi.ss Abel, however, has to learn how to point up her coineriy line in a manner that will bring audience reactions. With more ex- perience she’ll he In line for en- gagements at the standard run o nitery. Jose,