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Wednesday, October 29, ,1958 NIGHT CLUB REVIEWS 55 tsfotiEfr Hotel Pierre, N. Y. "An Evening With Sigmynd Rom * berg** narrated by and with Earl Wrightson and Felix Knight, plus Betty Benee' starred ;' produced by Stanley Melba; staged by Dolores Pallet; orchestra, Joseph Ricardel; lighting, Leslie Wheel; $2 convert. • Stanley Melba pulled a sleeper with the opening “Evening With Victor Herbert” and, if the waiters and the pro in the powderroom are any criteria land they are invari¬ ably the best barometers on saloon biz),* the second show, “An Evening With Sigmund Romberg” should be more of the same. If so, Melba, who has been 18 years entertain¬ ment director at the posh Pierre, has achieved a neat trick—a box- office gimmick at low-cost. He tried it last year with a fiddle pol¬ icy which, while good for Chez Vito in New York and the manifold violin boites in Paris, didn’t come off. The $2,500-$4,000 - names left little black ink for the Cotillion Room. He figured that i£ Herbert, Romberg et al. On records are perennials, if the al fresco munici¬ pal auditoriums and outdoor thea¬ tres can do business year after year with revivals it might work in a class saloon. It did. In Earl; Wrightson and Eelix Knight the room has a couple of seasoned pros and the blonde diva, Betty Benee, who was at the Cotillion last year with the string policy, is no novice either, for all her young years. They’re an ideal combo for the pot-pourri of Rom¬ berg melodies—and what a medley that is! Longtime Broadway musicomedy favorites like .“May-time;”^ “Desert"- Song,” “New Moon,” “Up In'. Cen¬ tral Park.” “Student Prince,”. “My Maryland” and “Blue Paradise” are richly productive of most of the melodies, plus a filmUsical ex¬ cerpt, “When i Grow Too Old To Dream,” from “The Night Is Young.” Not part of the Wrightson- Knight narration, it may deserve mention that the last song is the lone 1.000,000-copy pop seller for either Romberg or Oscar Hammer- stein 2d who did the lyrics. A nice professional touch for future pro¬ gram credits would be inclusion of the divers lyric collaborators — without Mrs. Rida Johnson Young’s and Hammerstein’s words, perhaps, even the highly - durable Romberg melodies might not have the same significance. Strangely enough there are no excerpts from “Blos¬ som Time”—there was long a show biz axiom that “the sun never sets on a ‘Blossom Time’ company which is touring somewheres in the world.” In. fact, one Coast revue, later brought to Broadway, made much of a scene about a “lost” company 6f “Blossom Time” troupers, so prolific and vaga- tbondia have been their tours. “Desert Song” and “Student Prince” each contributed three bal¬ lads to the company; there are two from "New Moon”; and the rest are scattered. Wrightson, in attrac¬ tive Van Dyke, is a goodhumored barytone and so is tenor Knight, no stranger to full-length Romberg productions. The beauteous Miss Benee is. the right dignified touch as the romantic vis-a-vis and in her solo opportunities. •The staging seems improved as they make their entrances from the slightly raised balcony tables on . the sides and full-stage centre. The narration is also in proper mood, light, informative and literate. The titles strike responsive chords with the more mature moneyed Crowds and the tunes are undeniable to any listener of any age: “Will You Remember?”, "Riff Song.” “Want¬ ing You,” "Romance,” “Softly As In A Morning Sunrise,” “April Snow,” “Deep In My Heart,” “When I Grow Too . Old To Dream,” “One Alone,” “Lover Come Back To Me.” “Serenade,” “Golden Days,” “Your Land and My Land” and “Auf Wiedersehn.” Click of this policy has prompted other hostels to buy the original unit; and when the Richard Rod¬ gers show (lyrics .both by Lorenz Hart and Hammerstein 2d) comes in Dec. 3 this, too, will go on tour. Mimi Benzell so far is the only one signed for the Rodgers “night.” New managing director William Ebersol and entertainment director Stanley Melba seem to have hit on the right formula for the Cotil¬ lion Room. Idea, also, of one din¬ ner show nightly, Tuesday-Thurs- day is good; there’s a midnight frolic only on Fridays and Satur¬ days (room is closed Mondays). It’s a realistic awareness of -current conditions where supper .business is. a problem. Maitre d’ Pasquall is again happy to handle the traffic (the predecessor show did so well that it was held over* an extra week) and “Gogi” continues as the new personality host; his New York, Hollywood and Palm Beach following has interpreted itself in socialite patronage. ,Joe .Ricardel backstops tlje, ^if-, ficult musical pQjtrpourEL-as^expert-T floor. Incidentally, he has a cutie of a thrush who is not only decor¬ ative but acts as if she’s constantly “with it.” Many of the vocal look¬ ers just sit there; this canary, Marilyn Mitchell, contributes to the general spirit. Abel; Hotel Carrera, .Santiago Santiago, Oct. 18. Johnnie .Ray .(ninth .Herman Kapp), Marcel Lebon, Los Huasos Quincheors (4), Saul San Martin Orch (12) with Jorge Foster, Val¬ entin Trujillo Tropical Orch ( 6 ) with Luchb Arareguiz. Intercontinental’s Hotel Carrera temporarily moved its Hanga-Roa nitery on the mezzanine to the more spacious and terraced 15th story roof garden to accommodate the overflow crowds for Johnnie Ray, Warbler, on S.A. tour, flew into Santiago from Buenos Aires to make personal appearances at the Astor Theatre, Radio Cooperativa Vitalicia, and the Carrera in a hec¬ tic 2-day stay. Programming included French singer, Marcel Lebon, and curtain- raiser, a Chilean quartet known as Los Huasos (Chilean Cowboys) Quincheors. Only Lebon was bedded with high fever and couldn’t make it to the roof. Quincheros, who’ve been pacted- by Intercontinental to perform at hostelries in Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Cuba. Mexico, El Salvador and Colombia, trimly outfitted foursome, specialize in rhythmic ballads known as “cuecas,” Chile’s national tune. Four guitarrists are brightly attired in typical Chilean cowboy costume of jingle-jangling spurs, short white- pea jackets trimmed with Chile’s national flower, the scarlet copihue. high- cut trousers and colorful ponchos. Quinchero group has been around for some time, changing members with the years, and present group’s looks are okay for the distaffers. Repertoire is strictly Chilean but they’ve varied presentation with a parody on rendition of “Rio Rio” as it would be presented by Argen¬ tines, Mexicans, Cubans and Amer¬ icans, to healthy mitting. ^ They top off warbling with call for vol¬ unteers in audience to dance the cueca while audienfte joins rhythm- makers by palming the catchy cueca beat. Ray’s appearance was widely heralded, and there was plenty of curiosity regarding the emotional yanqui warbler. Not many U.S, acts get down this way and Ray’s arri¬ val had been well paved in advance by his disks and film work. Open¬ ing night cro.ftd, including heavy attendance, by younger generation, was a bit taken aback when one of Ray’s coterie appeared to set up mike with careful “1-2-3-4-Mary- had-a-little-lamb” call for testing. Why this sort of thing hadn’t been done beforehand was a: mystery or was it just buildup? But if the Chilenos were going to sit on their hands, they didn’t for long. Vo¬ calist ingratiated himself with ef¬ forts to say a few words in Spanish which the polite Chileans liked, and he was off to the races with around 10 of his best-known songs. His belting, contortions, arid styl¬ ized warbling drew hefty palms. He went over big and when he sud¬ denly bounced over to the side¬ lines to buss a gray-haired matron, the crowd loved it. Final number was a spiritual with which he tried for audience participation but with only fair success. The locals didn’t seem to go for that kind of tun¬ ing. Herman Kapp (“my musical director and friend”) handled the drums with local ork expertly ba¬ toned by Saul San Martin although the lads had a tendency in the opening phases to almost drown out Ray. Edie. Ktitz Carlton, Montreal Montreal, Oct. 23. Fernanda Montel, Johnny Gal¬ lant, Paul Notar Trio; $2-$2.50 cover. An established fave with the patrons of the Ritz Cafe, Fernanda Montel is currently scoring in this attractive boite with her husky piping, glamorous appearance and breezy songalog. With' practically no English songs when she first played this city, Miss Montel is now in the 50-50 stage and experience ac¬ quired over past few years is evi¬ dent throughout. Payoff numbers, of course, are still on the Gallic side and this time around she intros several new Parisian clicks and reprises the standards for plaudits. General manner with a song and with the customers is better and visually, she is more striking than ever. Johnny Gallant gives her fine backing, resulting in a more re¬ laxed performer capable of .han¬ dling comedy or the torchants with equal/ease.. The Paul Notar trip, besides assisting during the.J&qnteL Sets. ? •* i i ■ “Birr vivM 1 Copacabana, N. Y. Nat (King) Cole, Blackburn Twins: & Jerry Collins, Peggy Wo¬ mack, Lou Donn and M. Pagan Orchs; staged by Doug Coudy; mu¬ sic and lyrics by Mel Mitchell and Marvin Kahn; orchestrations, Deac Eberhard; $5.50 minimum. What Joe E. Lewis does for the Copa’s yock department, Nat (King) Cole does for its song division. Following Lewis in for the second show of the fall season. Cole wraps it up with one of the slickest vocal- ing jobs in the biz. There are few singers around who can hold the f.oor for more than* 50 minuted and run through a songbag of 17 tunes and still have the fablers asking for more, but that’s just Avhat Cole did opening night (23) and it should be credited more to his showman¬ ship than to the partisan preemers. Working mostly with arrange¬ ments concocted by Nelson Riddle and backed by an augmented orch, the instrumental sound is perfectly suited to the Cole pipes. In be¬ tween the opening number, “St. Louis Blues,” rand the closing “Joe Turner’s Blues” are nifties ^from the standard and recent pop "cata¬ logs. When he does some piano doodling as on “I- "Want to Be Happy,” the musicianship is par¬ ticularly evident. All in all it’s a rich and rewarding session. The Blackburn Twins, aided by Jerry Collins, are not in the same league. The Blackburn boys are okay in the hoofing department but their attempts at funstering, with Collins, don’t come off. And it also takes up too much of their act. It’s noisy and slapsticky and not very funny. The Copa line is one of the pret¬ tiest in some time and their decked out handsomely in costumes de¬ signed by Billy Livingston and ex¬ ecuted by Mme. Berthe. Jeggy Womack is solid in her solo terp- ing stint and Bob W’arren handles the Mel Mitchell-Marvin Kahn pro¬ duction tunes in acceptable riian- ner. The Lou Donn and M. Pagan bandsmen keep the terp crowd happy. Gros. Palmer House, €hi Chicago, Oct. 23. Marguerite Piazza, Martelli Trio, Ben Arden Orch <11),; $2 cover . Opera diva Marguerite Piazza is a handsdown winner in the ritzy Eippire Room with it’s “mature” clientage. It’s an easy 30-minute conquest for the svelte soprano. But her warmup skein of light aria fluff, condescending for its trite¬ ness, is mechanically paced for a let’s-get-past-this effect. She does as well as an operatic thrush can with the “Witchcraft” juke hit, but tune’s inclusion is of moot point to the act overall. More’s the per¬ plexity why Miss Piazza chooses for her operatic nod a tenor aria, the w.k. “Vesti La Giubba,” when there’s any number of soprano lyrics suited for the clown dra¬ matics that accompany. Star’s pacing is overall brisk. Effective entry has her caroling at ringside, and there’s not a fork- plunging tabler in the house for the later strip bit that’s followed by some nostalgic song-and-hoof- ing. Getaway is boff for its visual appeal, a circusy number with toy instruments. Martelli Trio,, in eight-minute warmup, plies smooth acro-ballet for comedic emphasis. Two males and a. loose-limbed blonde looker do some exciting variations on the torso-tossing art. It’s a chuckle- some act among the best in its class. Ben Arden orch* (11) is ex¬ cellent behind the show, especially with Miss Piazza’s orchestrations. Los Chavales come in Nov. 20. Pit. Steuben’s. Boston Boston, Oct. 23. Marge Cameron, Inga & Rolf (2), Lucio . & Rosita <2), Don Dennis, Tony Bruno Orch (5); $2.50 minimum. Marge Cameron, tall, svelte bru¬ net comedienne, rocks Steuben’s with a barrage of chi chi material and solid one liners delivered with wham effect. In for two frames to Nov. 5, she’s a performer who takes full advantage of her sex. Opening with “Laugh It Up” song, she covers a lot of territory ranging from femme outer and inner accoutrements to tv commer- cials, marital problems and hula hooping. She’s sock with an im- presh- bit of Dinah Shore selling the auto, a cigar commercial and a frantic Presley takeoff in which she kicks off her shoes and knocks herself out with “Heartbreak Ho¬ tel.” Her material is probably the most sophisticated verbiage ever unleashed in this spot. She hits her marks effectively working iff badinage with ringsiders, dividing ,it up. equally .with both sexes,,. ! ^Seldqm, .has . Stephen's 'been. works with sizzlers such as put out by Miss Cameron. Called back, she takes a red hula hoop for gags and impresh bits of Leo the Lion, goes into moppet gags, marital, monster and martian affairs, after previous¬ ly ducking her head in a bucket for “echo chamber” version of how hot disks are cut. She’s good -with the sight gags and fa^tfon the trig¬ ger with a voice that carries, all adding, up to socko entertainment. Luc.o & Rosito, Latin dancers, open the show-. Black-haired look¬ er and white suited partner go through medley of torrid Latin dances, cha cha, samba, merengue, for nice mitting. Don Dennis lakes an eight-minute spot for singing ^afte.* wanning up aud with parly j announcements and. introing celebs and honored guests. Inga & Rolfe are a visually i pleasant production number of bal- \ let movements performed in.grace¬ ful fashion by distaff side of the team. To “Lieberstraum.” the dark haired femme spins and twirls in clocklike precision with partner coming in for nice spins, lifts and twists. Femme gets impact w*ith costume changing in View of aud, and wrapup is a saucy “MdJe. de Paris,” with shoulder lift and spin to floor for heavy mitting. Tony Bruno cuts the show in zestful fashion. Guy. Hotel Plaza 9 N. Y. Hildegarde, with Martin Freed; Ted Straeter and Mark Monte Orchs; $2.50-$3 cover. Sands, Las Vegas Las Vegas, Oct. 22. Dean Martin, Mattison Trio, ; Texas. Copa Girls (12), Antonio'. Morelli Orch < 21); created & staged py Jack Entratter; $3 mini- mum. ' Along the Strip this is normally that time of year when the crowds thin out and competition becomes keen for the customer’s cartwheel. In this.respect, the Sands—for the next four weeks at least—can con¬ sider itself in fine shape, with Dean Martin’s name on the mar¬ quee a surefire bet to draw long lines through' the casino to the turnstiles of the adjacent Copa Room. Martin’s act is altered lttle, if any, from his last appearance here a few months ago—it needn’t be, ii ; opening night reception to his format can be used as a gauge. While he has proved himself in all of the mediums, a night club floor certainly seems to be his natural forte. He’s a charmer from the opening bar to the final curtain; weaving his tunes and patter in such a casual manner as to immediately arrest his nitery audience. 4 Particularly ingratiating to local showgoers is Martin’s injection into. familiar lyrics a seemingly spontaneous run of gambling lingo, a surefire way to nail the attention of casino patrons and outsiders alike in this town. Producer Jack Entratter’s bill is rounded by the Mattison Trio— two guys and a doll—who turn a neat toe in a series of well exe¬ cuted dance routines. Act is a new one to this beat, and bears watch¬ ing by iocal bookers. Mattisons confine themselves to strict ad- herance of technique, costuming and lighting, relying on no flash stuff at all. They might, how¬ ever, strive for more balance by reslotting their “Bolero” number to follow the dance medley of Rodgers-Hammerstein show scores, instead of preceding the latter with Ravel’s w.k. dance. This, since “Bolero” is by all means their most effective number. The R-H salute is almost identical with that being presented at the Tropi- cana by their former boss, George Tapps. Texas Copa Girls dress up stage in numbers at the top and between Mattisons and Martin with hold¬ over numbers, while Antonio Mor¬ elli and his tootlers lend usually proficient musical accentuation to the show. <5 Duke. It has been almost 10 years since Hildegarde played the Persian Room of the Hotel Plaza—“just imagine, over 3,000 nights in other places,” she soliloquizes, as she mentioned she has since been three times abroad, played Cuba, Mexico and spanned the country countless times—but somehow even the waiters imparted it was good to have the chantoosie from Milwau¬ kee back "home.” First at the across-the-Plaza Hotel Savoy-Plaza «it’s now called the Savoy-Hilton) she was a fixture in the Cafe Lounge, and then ditto in the Persian Room. Hildegarde is a class saloon sta¬ ple of unique proportions. She is an ageless, boundless-in-energy pianist-singer whose gamut from unmitigated corn—her studiously disarming manner of self-spoofing the deliberate outrageous puns is good showmanship—to sentimental schmaltz has been surefire in al¬ most every strata of cafe enter¬ tainment. In her long runs at the Persian Room the competitive saloonkeepers would crack “they (meaning the hinterlanders visiting Gotham) get off the train and go direct to the Plaza.” For all her pseudo-Gallic sophistication she is a folksy chanteuse who can alter¬ nately ingratiate herself and scold an inattentive customer—and score with both. It’s her basic desire to please, and the whole-hearted ap¬ plication to doing a compelling show charms the payees. Hildegarde is too much the pro not to know about leaving them hungry. Dinner show' reportedly ran 80 minutes, but on the supper show caught she had pared it to an hour. On the other hand, consider¬ ing the strong personal rapport with virtually everyone in the house, those tw T o opening shows, the asides, ad libs, by-name greet¬ ings, etc. are understandable and will undoubtedly go, by the board automatically as the days progress. Hildegarde, ever a clothes-horse, flashed a Fontana number that ain’t off the Klein’s racks. Always easy on the orbs, for both sexes, the wardrobe gets the femmes and she charms the guys what brung ’em.' ^ * Chanteuse tried for change-of- pace with several new numbers but the fractured-French, the Vien¬ nese, the pops in German (viz., “Bake A Cake”), the “Gigi” med¬ ley and the like score best. In¬ tended perhaps as Hildy’s defi to Van Clibum was her Russian piano- log medley. She essayed such, new items as “Never Give Anything* Away” which somehow, with its leerical motivation, doesn’t become the warm, house-party aura that she imparts to the Persian Room, Her French rock ’n’ roll number is good; so is practically all of her repertoire save for the over-gen¬ erosity. Per usual, the Ted Straeterite* give her expert backstopping be¬ sides their assertive dansapation, and that goes also for Mark Monte's Continentals. Biz look* beaucoup bullish with the "Darling. Je Vous Aime” star incumbent for the next month. Abel. Le Cupidon, Y. Y. Mary Small, Howard Beder, Ish Ugarte Orch (3), Catun’s Latin Orch (3); $3.50 minimum < $3 Sat.). Colony CIuli. Omaha Omaha, Oct. 23. Henny Youngman, Colony Club Trio; $1 cover. Henny Youngman and his rapid- fire oneliners are apparently just what the doctor ordered for the swank Colony Club. It’s a matter of ropes up every night, and the comic’s stay was extended one week as a result. This marks Youngman’s first ap¬ pearance in this region for many semesters, but recent exposure on the Jack Paar Show has made him a name. And the vet doesn't dis¬ appoint, doing a hangup 30 minute show at 10 and midnight, and spending the other minutes table hopping. At show caught, Youngman went to work on his hotel and wife jokes and had the crowd palmed early. His blue but funny lyrics on “My Fair Lady” set up the pins for his w.k. violin stint arid a big blowoff. 9 3. i* SI f C * 1 / il.-f fi ( A solid singing stint is chalked up by Mary Small in for at least a fortnight at this cozy spot. Sh« carries her 40 minutes at a well¬ paced clip, showing a wealth of special numbers and adding much by zestful interpretations. A big assist came in this opening night from her husband, Vic Mizzy, .sit¬ ting in at the piano, and some oi his clefings crept into her reper¬ tory to also heighten the event. Show gets under way with a pail of tunes from singing host, young Howard Beder, who smooths th« way okay. Then Miss Small is into it with “A Woman Must Be a Lady All the Time,” an opener done with more import on story line than on verve. She goes- to the pop lists for “Something Wonderful” and “The Day That the Rains Came,” the latter extra well liked, then runs into several originals, all ‘ fetching nice response. A quartet of numbers in the ; Freudian vein, among them, i “Shririker Man” and I’ve Got the i Will To Fail,” takes particularly well with the clientele of this hjgh- \ styled haunt. She is among' the first to extract from the "Goldi- ‘ locks” score, and closes strongly with “Whose Been Sitting in My : Chair,” “I Never Know When” and “Give the Little Lady a Great Big : Hand.” Gale Robbins is due next, j * . * ' \ *' • v * • ; QuinJ ; c > J