Variety (February 1958)

Wednesday, February 12, 1958 Waldorf-Astoria, N. Y. M c Guir e Sisters & -Go. : (3), Emil Coleman & Bela Bahai Orchs; $3^$4 coven The foster of talent at the Wal¬ dorf-Astoria’s Empire Room looks like a list of fresh faces. Impresario Claude C. Philippe has reached out into many fields, for his act collection. The newest, the Mc¬ Guire Sisters, last played New York at the Copacabana, and prior to that were a pre-sold name na¬ tionally by virtue of their work on anti subsequent firing from the Arthur Godfrey teleshow. The girls fit the room Well. Their act is cheerful, has a bright facade and they provide a brand cf gaiety that-results in a continual roimd of applause. There is one mysterious facet to their .act. They carry three boys with them. They appear ever so briefly at .the beginning of their turn, and : during the “Sisters” number, two of them make a return for a quickie. Their, exact .function, is not too easy to divine. The McGuires have nearly as many visual as. aural Values: There is some sight Comedy, particularly by Phyllis, to go along with their vocalistics—for . example, a takeoff on the jgirl chirpers of the -20s in Which they don costumes of. the period. In addition, the numbers are designed to have periodic com¬ edy breaks. Christine and Dorothy during “I Feel Pretty” have a mir¬ ror routine that gets off. However, it’s Phyllis who takes the front & centre role most frequently to give the turn its greatest strength. Their one serioso attempt is ah English translation of “Un bel di” from “Mme. Butterfly,” which comes across with ease, .charm and sympathy for the aims of the Com¬ poser. They, get oral applause for this ■’ one. The entire turn is mounted excellently, the act ppl-. ished to a, bright lustre, and pro-, vides a lot of payoff moments. The Emil. Coleman band, ba- tonned by Murray Kane during the McGuire : turn, backstops excel¬ lently, and the Bela Babai aggrega¬ tion provides Magyar tunes pre- dinner,; as well as alternate dansa- pation. Jose. El Rancho, Las Yegas Las Vegas, Feb. 8. Sophie Tucker (with Ted Sha¬ piro), The. Vagabonds (4), Barry Ashton Dancers (10), Dick Rice Orch (li); presented by Beldon Katlem ; produced by Tom Doug¬ las; $3 minimum. . Sophie Tucker’s back in . the Opera House with some new mate¬ rial added to the fresh routines she intrped here on her last visit. Bill is balanced by The Vagabonds (4), and some zingy terping by the Barry Ashton Dancers (10), which results in a solid hunk of bistro entertainment. Miss Tucker has some clever up- to-date songolOgy in which . she slaps Steve Allen on the wrist for accusing her in his new book of “selling nostalgia.” She gets yocks and hefty mitting for her number in song that “There May Be Half A Million Second Sophie Tuckers Hut There’s Not Another One Ex¬ actly Like Me!”' (an honor she says also applies to her 88er Ted Sha¬ piro); “Entertaining Papa,” and “Calypso Soph,” latter number be¬ ing done in her ultra-fancy gold calypso costume. For the “Some'of These Days” reprise, she sez, “1’ve been singing this song for over 47 years, and tonight I Want you to sing it to ME!” Lyrics appear on large board, and the patrons join in a rousing community sing. The Vagabonds open with a “Medley From The Hit Parade of 1919,” and also click with “Write Myself A Letter” and their w.k. “Salt Song,” plus some good im- preshes and musical slapstick. Miss Tucker is joined by the quartet in an upbeat finale. The Tom Douglas production, skedded for four frames, is capably backed by the Dick Rice orch (11). Duke. Eden Hoc, Miami Beach Miami Beach, Feb. 11. Joe E. Lewis (with Austin Mack) , Marie McDonald (with Hal Borne), Norton & Patricia, Mai .Malkin Orch; $3.50*$7;50 minimum. With return of Joe E* Lewis for his annual two.rweek stand, the Cafe Pompeii is getting its first overflow crowds , of the. slow-start¬ ing season. He’s rooney-in-the- bank for prexy-booker Hafry. Muf- sph Who has buttressed the top¬ per’s, draw values with added at¬ traction Marie McDonald. The package looks , to be the first big winner since the Myron Cohen-Bil¬ ly 'Daniels Xmas run outdistanced rival hotel cafe offerings. That Lewis is one of .the few re¬ maining Cafe acts who still draws the moneyed hosts and their big parties is evidenced in thucluater- tabled groupings that fill the ring- sides and terraces. For them he can do iio wrong as he unwinds his rambling, rowdy book of strictly adult material. The Lewis mus- ings. add up to a howl-filled 50 minutes of material fori the devo¬ tees. Between musical spoofs, the ad libs with ringsiders and collec¬ tion cf topical observations - he tosses around are . plusses in a stint that, from. the. Walk-on, is greeted with mitting from the faithful and grows rapidly on first-viewers: who take/to . his amiable, puckish ap¬ proach with mounting laugh reac¬ tion. There’s plenty of the new in his catalog, and. inevitable re-, prises on the requested faves from Other stands here. Austin Mack, ini his quietly efficient way at the SteinWay, adds to the overall pounding-for-more result. Miss McDonald played here, last summer as the topliner, and clicked big. She looks to ^ditto in this outing, handling herself in smooth, confident manner as she sets up the Smartly blended. song-, book her adept arranger-accom- panist-stagef, Hal Borne, has con¬ cocted for her. The eye-appeal is there from teeoff but -'The Body” and heWs-stories rep are forgotten when she hits into the vocalisticsv Although not of the big, belting songstress school, her pipings win progressively strong fabler re¬ sponse. The looker works in fluid, i easy manner to add to. the authori¬ tative takeover a must in her case if she is to cash in on the ya-ta-ta physique. That she does is evident in the sock reception accorded her songalog. With / “Tenement. Sym¬ phony” and many-tuned arrange¬ ment of “Around The World: In 8 Minutes” the standouts. Norton & Patricia el : ck in the teeoff spot; youthful, fresh de¬ meanor and." smoothly achieved 1 ifts and spins wind them into a sound payoff. Mai Malkin’s crew back in top style. Due on the 21st, Nat King Cole. Lary. • Jazz Workshop, S. F. San Francisco, Feb. 5.: Paul Bley Quartet; No cover, or minimum. This bright little modern jazz room has imported the Paul Bley group frOm; L.A. and figures to get some action with his modern styl¬ ings/ Key mail in the group is pianist Bley, a conservatory grad who has indoctrinated the unit with con-, siderable overtones, of classical music, Dave. Pike, an engaging vibraphohist is the other featured soloist and holds the audience’s at- ; tention well through his solo num¬ bers. . Even more cerebral than Bru- beck, the Bley Quartet at times get so faf but it loses the audience, especially in its free-form atonal moments. This is compensated for, however, by a concentration on bluesy numbers and jazz Standards in a hard. Swinging manner that is right, up the current jazz groove. Bley handles the m.c. chores for the group and might -profit by a more outgoing Vocal manner. As it is, the. crew-cut visual impact of the group turns slightly stuffy via the leader’s pear-shaped tones. Rafe. Eddys’.K.C. Kansas City, Feb'. 7. Somethin’ Smith & The Redheads (3), Tony. DiPardo Orch (8); $1- $1.50 cover. It’s only occasionally that the Redheads seem to get in town, but each trip here they bring a well¬ paced, entertaining round of songs. This is their first in the Eddys’ spot, and they live up to their rep. They give the customers 4(b min¬ utes Of music and fun while being the only entry On the show. This round ,the three, Something Smith, Saul Striks and Major Short, are: intermixing some of their Epic label hits with a sprink¬ ling of impressions and general foolishness. First show they rah out “Always Hurt the One You Love,” “it’s a Sin To Tell a Lie” and “My Baby Just Cares for-Me” from their recorded roster, along With, a fancy “Cumin?*, by Striks at the piano and “SWeet Georgia Brown” With Smith leading out on the banjo; Short chiming in; on the big bass viol: There are .also some broadly drawn impressions of “everyday” types and some jibes at the classical as., they kid “Mr. Stokowski.” It’s the music that the. Custom¬ ers come to heaif from this group, and the special numbers, if amus¬ ing, only serve to space out . the songs. There is some advantage in the contrast of song and buffoon¬ ery, and they keep it moving to the delight of the audience. Russell Arms and the DeJohn Sisters (2) are due in Feb. 21. /.<. w., . Quin, c l P^SsaETY NIGHT CLUB REVIEWS 67 Hotel StatleiyN. Y. Xavier Cugat Orch (15) with Giarnia, Ray .Carle Quartet; $2.50 cover after 9 p.m. There’ll be a Whole lbtta shakin* going on in the Hotel Statler’s. Cafe Rouge f or the next few Weeks while Xavier Cugat and his caballeros make With, the music. For this booking, the Rouge, which up to this point Was the last remaining NeW York hotel room available to swing bands (a vanishing. species), has been decked . out in Latin de¬ cor with palm; trees sprouting all over the place, a new menu that spotlights dishes like ‘‘polio bar- ranquilla” and' drinks like “belidas tropicales,” and a crew of waiters, with varied accents as Of. yore, garbed in a Spanish, touch. It looks like a payoff formula. On opening night. (7), despite a driv¬ ing downpour, there was a solid turnout. Gugat’s formula is as durable as any in the music biz. Sort cf a south-of-the-border Guy Lombardo. Cugat has a band that lays down a steady beat for the clientele who have a yen. for the rhumbas, lhanW bos, cha cha chas and similar torso shaking tempos/. Cugat has a slick, Well-trained crew bidding his baton. _ Consist¬ ing .of four trumpets,, four reeds with sidemen who double on flutes and French horns, a conventional three-man rhythm section plus vibes and a couple of bongos and maraccas, in addition to Occasional fiddling by Cugat himself, this orch. can dish up pretty-sounding bal- lads or can blow up„a tropical storm on the hot, uptempo tunes in the Hispano groove: Throughout, Cu¬ gat gets striking instrumental color effects out of his reed sidemen and the precision work of his brass and rhythm, sections. In all, a swinging organization iff a highly commercial Latin format. For this stand, Cugat is without Abbe Lane, who is starring in the “Oh Captain” legit musical > on BroadWay, but has come.up with another standout . looker in the morio-monickered Gia nn a/ A thoroughly stacked re d h e.ad sheathed in a blue gown, that spot¬ lighted What it bothered to cover, Gianna fronts the band with a non¬ stop oscillation. She undulates and she gyrates, she wags and she . wob¬ bles, she rocks and she rolls, all motions in time to the band’s beat Which she abets by knocking two sticks together. She also sings/ And her vocalizing, while not up the level of her other talents, is good enough. One of the bongo sidemen, un¬ billed, also shares the vocal chores registering with strong, sure pipes on such ballads as “All The Way*” “Autumn Leaves” and “I’m Learn¬ ing.” Ray Carle foursome, with accordion in lead, is a peat-sound¬ ing relief aggregation. Herm. is the return of Fran Warren to Manhattan cafes following an ab¬ sence of several years during which she declaimed the lead role in “Pa¬ jama Game” oil the. road. The road experience Seems to have given Miss Warren an increased appreci¬ ation in niteries. Her travels have endowed her with an insight into the likes of the provinces and her native sense of sophistication seems to have a natural bent for urban audiences. Result is a boffo mixture good for mass and class trade. Her LQ' turn has good arrangements, a strong projection and excellent taste in material. There’s good variety and solid musicianship to go along with the Other attributes for a maximum re-, sponse. in . this house. Another neWcomer in this hos¬ pice is Halier & Hayden, making their first bigtime’ date in New York. This team gets off to a slow and. tasteless start, but once the smaller gent (Benny Hayden) gives an impression of an international walking race, the lads start paying dividends. The turn, generally, has to achieve a higher lustre, more smoothness and a better choice of material at the forepart of session. Strength, of the latter part of the act gets them a potent mitt. The Malagon Sisters. Who pre¬ viously performed at the Chateau Madrid, are energetic workers, knocking off some fast Latin pops With terp interpolations that get them excellent mitts. Los G^tos,. also newcomers to this spot, work rapidly in the aero department, do¬ ing some good . hand-to-handing that rates them a strong exit. The surrounding display is vir¬ tually intact. Chandra Kaly deliv¬ ers a bit Of tasty East Indian dances,, and the Jamal Twins, a pair of belly ballerinas, score with sexy diaphragm duets. Martha Ami Bentley continues her strong terp turn around the boards in an ap¬ plause-winning manner. The pro¬ duction singing is by Bob Kennedy and India Adams. The early production number has been modified by Frank Wagner to encompass a tie-in with Pan-Amer¬ ican. Airways, which justifies the travelog approach to the proceed¬ ings. Jo Lombardi backstops ex¬ cellently and Buddy Harlowe Trio provides relief. Jose. Hotel Monteleone. JV.O. New Orleans,.Feb. 8; Hildegarde (unth Martin Freed ) Nick Stuart Orch (7); $4 mini¬ mum. Chase Club, St. Louis gt. Louis, Feb. 6. Rowan & Martini Gerri Gale, Charley Spivak Orch (14); $1.50-$2 Rowan & Martin’s brand of hu¬ mor, an offbeat article,, plight to carry them quite a way if audi¬ ences elsewhere are anything like the opehing-night crowd at. the Chase Club; which started laughing the mOment they came onstage and hardly stopped to take a breath till the boys walked off. There Were some sourpusses on hand through¬ out, but by and/ large all hands were with ’em all the way. Personable; lads with a satiric rather than a fast-gag approach to laughter, they score their biggest yocks with a sign-off bit. in which straightman Rowan tries to do some serious stuff at the mike while Martin heckles 'raucously from a nitery table. Both boys are humor Writers themselves, so the material is original. First-nighters, many of them regulars calloused to the same old repeated gags of; other comedians Who haVe been out this Way, definitely appreciated the refreshing look at something new. Gerri Gale; a leggy lass who mixes in a bit of comedy with her dance routines, made a special hit with a fast-stepping- session ; in which she utilizes a. fancy array of chapeaux to fit the dances. Charley Spivak, in for a six-week engagement With his orch, sparks; the fine danceable tempos with that eyer-lOvin’ trumpet, which gets purtier every year. Bob. Latin Quartet*, N. Y, (FOLLOWUP) The Latin: Quarter’s stage-set- ting, which runs from Rangoon to Mandalay to Cairo, has tightened the pace so that it’s now a smooth- running and colorful production spiced with some potent perform¬ ing values. * The major highlight in this event Hildegarde is back for her sec¬ ond romp in the plush Swan Room and a romp it is. She’s tailor-made for. the spot. Always an arresting and photogenic blonde, the Mil¬ waukee . chantoosie is all pro and her two-week stand is a cinch for filled tables and ovations. What, she can do with a song needs no introduction here. More relaxed this trip, Hildegarde un¬ veils new and fresh techniques that captivate... Her Impact is ; immedi¬ ate and with lights dimmed and service halted, she holds rapt at¬ tention with her tickling of the 88. songs, and. badinage. Thrush’s 45-minute assortment of pops, musicomedy tunes and French, German -and Latino songs are offered in an animated con¬ text of. stories and movements that sparkle. At show caught, Hildegarde was Wearing an upswept hairdo in a new shade, an eye-catching dusty rose creation: by Fontana. of Rome, a White mink stole, and usual, long gloves: Her hankie was still in evi¬ dence but wasn’t waVed as much. She makes a striking figure on¬ stage. Hildegarde’s offering stacks up brisker and more forceful this time around, and her piano playing and Warbling found the customers with her all the way. Chanteuse, a fa¬ vorite here. Was given ovation at end. Liuz. Statler-Hilton, Dallas Dallas, Feb, 7. Denise Loir, Bob Cross Orch (12); $2-$2.50 cover. Copaeabana, N. Y. Pe<ggy Lee, Al Bernie, Four Es¬ quires, Ted Morrell, Dattii & Genii Prior, Mimii Copa Girls (8), M*- chael Durso & Frank Marti Orchs; staged by Doug Coudy; music and lyrics, Durso, Mel Mitchell, Marvin Kahn; costumes, Sal Anthony (Mme Berthe); orchestrations, Deac Eber- hard; $5.50 minimum . Denise Lor, French songstress on a hiatus from the Garry Moore tv show,. .scores easily as a»supper club act. Her pipings keep Her Way ahead; only a worn Texas gag be¬ tween tubes hinders the fine show¬ casing. . Miss Lor’s song Selections are excellent—she varies the menu neatly and a medley from “Bells Are. Ringing,” with running be- tween-tunes dialog anent the musi¬ cal, keeps tablers intent. She leans to some standards, “Some of These Days” and “Comes Love,” for good response, spins a neat, taxi-driver yarn for yocks, then cleans up. A spicy blues bit, slightly suggestive, precedes a great vocal version of “Happiness. Is Just a Thing Called Joe,” that grabs hefty palming. Wrapup, and begoff of the 35-min¬ ute songalog, is a belting “Rock-A- Bye Your j Baby.’^ Baric, -. It’s a subtle sort of atomic en¬ ergy that Jules Podell is fielding foi the top of his dlporshow at the Copa this session. The slow, tan¬ talizing nuclear stuff is fissioned out by Peggy Lee. On the other side of the Podell pole is the Strictly hit -’em - in - the-ribs Al Bernie, a comedian who, though with plenty on the ball, injures himself by several examples of plain, unvarnished vulgarity.:Third act rounding out the bill is the Four Esquires, par for the har¬ mony course (New Acts). If there’s nothing like a dame, there’s also nothing quite like an in-person version of Miss Lee, Who’s, gorgeously coiffed and gowned. A reviewer, who last caught her flashing in the flesh way back nearly five years ago. at ex- Copa impresario Monte Proser’s ex-La Vie Eh Rose, had' nearly forgotten how quietly elec¬ tric this singer can be. Her tele¬ vision appearances have meant money in the bank to cry with, but a Lee doing a couple of numbers to rigid production requirements and the sometimes slip-happy vid-. eo cameras is, at best, no substi¬ tute for the mccoy live done vis-a- vis customers who breathe and are in a position to react so that a performer can catch the pulse then aind: there. Miss Lee had a rough few min¬ utes in her opening entries, prin¬ cipally because Copa customers are not exactly oriented to the kind of whispering campaign that’s in her Reg.-U. S.-Pat.-Off. style. They either take Peggy Lee this way or they don’t. After a couple of songs, they did and big, to pro¬ duce a threesome of. encore sets and an authentic begoff. This, after nearly three-quarters of an hour— a lot. of singing for anyone, and perhaps just as wearing on one with a deliberate style such as hers as with a straight-out belter and whammer. The phrasing, the articulation, the authentic charm and the sin¬ cerity show all the Way through, finally to encase the audience in an indefinable aura; they know they’ve been had, by a singer who sneaks up on them without* them being aware of it. There’s hardly anyone in the business more art¬ ful, that way and in others, than Miss Lee. Significantly, she avoids current songs like the Asian flu, has a romp or a serioso session with the old standards or special- material, capped by such fasci¬ natin’ rhythms as “Don’t Fool Abound with Calico,” “When My Sugar Walks Down the Street,” ad infinitum. Her edition of “My Heart Stood Still” is andante cut about in half, of sloWer than Rodgers & Hart in¬ tended it to be, perhaps, but as done by this thrush, a thorough winner. She has a carload of other stuff in other tempos, with “You Give Me Fever” a particular smash, complete with spotlight and. tom-tom effects. She will segue from the cheerful to the ballady stuff, oozing sensitivity and envel¬ oping as the accomp pianist directs the beat ’and the fiddles fiddle the jernt in a mood, and then into “St. Louis Blues” for another score. One of her encores, “Nothing,” is a beaut. Ditto the whole* turn. Al Bernie is a first-line comedy impressionist, an energetic worker with an ingratiating puss and the manner of one who wants to score. He does, in part. He opens with a singing routine that Isn’t too bad as an autobiography, then Into a declamation on sex, dialatectic takeoff on the March of Time, soap operas, Belafonte and then wham —a filthy joke about Christine Jorgensen, the sexual remake. He has a couple of other offish one- liuers (specifically, one about a hammock) which are hotsy even for some of the Copa crowd. But he is back in stride again near the finish When lie assumes all the roles in the making of a film. He’s a click at doing Nat Cole and Al Jolson, Elvis, et. al., so why would a skillful performer like Bernie mess around with vulgarities? Does it help the boxoffice? The Copa Girls are bright and pretty in three production num¬ bers, with the lively team of Danii & Genii Prior purveying the terp¬ ing end and Ted Morell and Mimi Working on the vocals. The line’s , final number, “Pick a Partner,” is good, if overlong and repitrtious. Mike DursO’s orch expertly han¬ dles the showbacking and Frahk Marti’s crew takes over for the customer- dancing. Txmu.