Variety (January 1961)

54 NIGHT CLUB REVIEWS Wednesday, January 25, 1961 fopaeabana, N. Y. Patti Page, Guy Marks , Elliot Ames. Douglas Clarke, Copa Girls 18), Paul Shelley & Frank Marti Orch; $5.50-$6.50 minimum. This is the first Copa date in years for Patti Page, recently on the Coast but who made a name for herself in her Mercury record¬ ings string of hits. She clicks solid¬ ly despite opening on the night of a heavy snow storm. Hence, she seems assured of attracting many to this Jules Podell nitery. Miss Page held her auditors for nearly an hour. The Mercury Re¬ cording star has the knack of delivering every word of her songs so they’re distinctly heard. Wearing a dress with white top sequin effect and a full, organza skirt, she tees off with “Rolling Along” and segues into “This Is My Song.” “Night and Day,” one of her top ballads, is helped by a sock or¬ chestration. Miss Page employs a traveling mike to go through most of the audience doing several songs. “Back To Oklahoma” and “My Home Town” go over stoutly. “Teach Me Tonight” has her sib ting beside ' the orch pianist for light duet effect. She finales with “Tennessee Waltz,” her trademark. Jack Elliott conducts the Paul Shel¬ ley augmented orch for Miss Page’s appearances, turning in a topflight job despite some mike trouble. Show gets a tremendous lift from the comedies of Guy Marks, who was at the Copa last May. This versatile lad is smoother and more aud-appealing than on that airing. His mental disorder routine, with his novel steps and panto, is an innovation for a mimic. It follows some politico gags which he uses to open. Marks cleans up with his “Wag¬ onload” western sequence in which he emulates the voice of Gary Cooper, Robert Mitchum and Humphery Bogart — and the fantastic dialog of Chief Crazy Horse. Here is a comic who fits into any sort of nightclub, a fresh talent with fresh material. Remainder of the show here is typically Copa with production as¬ sists from Douglas Clarke and El¬ liot Ames. The Shelley orch plays a solid show and furnishes music for patron dancing. Frank Marti’s crew alternates for terpsing. Wear . Flamingo, Las Vegas Las Vegas, Jan. 19. Jack Carter, Jane Froman, Barry Ashton Dancers (14), Nat Brandwynne Orch (1); presented by Morris Landsburgh, choreography, Barry Ashton; $4 minimum. Jack Carter toplines here, with Jane Froman extra added. Carter vaults all previous Vegastints ^with this one, and they’ve all been highly successful. The entertainer virtually had his first-night audience doing one long 50-minute laugh with his situation stories, one-liners, singing, mug¬ ging, and mimicking. Most of his material is brand new, and he scores solidly with a great piece of special material called “Show¬ manship,” which is generous with accurate carbons of other celebs. Many of the gags aFe topical. Miss Froman looks beautiful and is gorgeously gowned. But on open¬ ing pight (possibly because of nervousness) she lacked the stir¬ ring Froman quality heard on her previous Vegas visits. She seemed to have difficulty singing in tune, and the intonation was faulty. In¬ itialing her turn with “Are You Having Any Fun?” she sings about seven numbers before winding up the act with a nostalgic selection of the numbers she’s introduced. Barry Ashton’s clever “Who Needs Nudes?” production Is held over, and entire show gets fine backing from Nat Brandwynne orch (11). Bobby Darin preems here Feb. 2. Duke. Shoreiiam, D.C. Washington, Jan. 17. Tippy Stringer. June Taylor Dancers (7). Bob Cross Orch (12), Gao Gurgel Quintet; $2 cover. Tippy Stringer, an enchanting thrush, was a Blue Room regular (as well as a weather girl on WRCTV here>, before she became Chet Huntley’s bride a couple of years ago and left for New York. Shoreharh Hotel bonifaces Bernie and Allan Bralove lured her back into their big swankery for the inau¬ gural week, figuring she’d be com¬ ing here anyway with her telecaster husband for the Kennedy-Johnson installation. Miss Stringer has a big following here and drew a huge turnout at her opener. I^untley, held in N.Y., missed her initial performance, but David Brinkley was on hand with the new NBC News v.p., Julian Goodman. Several highranking politicos were in the receptive crowd, which encored her twice. Her voice is pleasing, especially with the slow: and sweet tunes. She selects them almost exclusively and sings several accompanied only by a guitar. Registering most are her potent personality, charm and cute¬ ness. She has class. Miss Stringer sings in French and Spanish and works in one comic bit with a chef and a waiter. But oldies like “April in Paris,” “Hey. There,” “When Your Lover Has Gone” and “When I ‘Fall in Love” take the lion's share of her act. The June Taylor Dancers, six femmes and, one fellow, have fast and clever routines which dick. The Bob Cross Orch, expert with any tempo, does a dick job, with the Gao Gurgel Quintet alternating with Latin numbers. Cross does some special inauguration week ar¬ rangements, singing the new tune, “Lady Bird,” himself. Carp. Flame Room, Mpls. Minneapolis, Jan. 20. Julie Wilson, Bob. Alberti, Danny \ Ferguson orch. (7); $2.50 cover. There may be better gal singers than Julie Wilson, but few can top her in looks, sex appeal, charm and the ability to woo and win a bistro audience. Miss Wilson can do more with a raised eyebrow or a shrug than most chantoosies can with gorgeous voices, elaborate gestures and lowcut gowns. Not to miss a bet, this nifty entertainer also dis¬ plays a whistle-provoking ward¬ robe to fire up male tablesitters. With her offbeat specialty ma¬ terial, Miss !Wilson is a welcome change in this tony room in the Radisson hotel which has had a< run of talented but unexciting chirpers. She sets a fast pace with her opening “Most Gentlemen Don’t Like Blonds” and drew heavy mitting at her preem with “A Man Could Be a Wonderful Thing” and other numbers from her disks. Less appealing is a medley of French tunes which have lost their punch, here at least, because of constant repetition. Miss Wilson’s specialty numbers, however, re¬ main fresh and enjoyable. While her material has a risque air, it isn’t likely to offend the most deli¬ cate taste. Bob Alberti is Miss Wilson's pianist-director; he does the same standout job he did in this same room several months ago with Jane Morgan. Denny Ferguson’s band, holidng over here, backs up Miss Wilson with gusto and plays for supper dancing. Rees. New Lotas, D.C. Washington, Jan. 21. Louis Prima & Keely Smith, San Butera’s Witnesses (6); $5 mini¬ mum. The Louis Prima-Keely Smith engagement at the New Lotus is reportedly the most expensive ever booked by local .bonifaces, costing the King Brothers in the neighborhood of $25,000. In an ap¬ parent effort to assure fiscal suc¬ cess of the fling, normal coverminimum was discarded in favor of admission tickets ($4.48 Fri.Sat.; $3.36 rest of week) good for one show only. Also, an early (7 jp.m.) show was added to squeeze | in three shows on Friday and Sat¬ urday nights. The tariff system naturally requires smooth mechan¬ ical and psychological handling to clear the old patrons out and make way for the new. With a sparse crowrd on hand for the opening 7 p.m. show Saturday (21), it was carried off without major hitch, however. A light snow, which threatened to become heavier, probably ac¬ counted for the empty tables dur¬ ing the first show. Those on hand, however, gave a hot reception to the noisy, boisterous, fast-moving and sometimes bawdy song-andbanter of the Prima-Smith duo and the Dixieland sextet of Sam Butera. Using essentially the same material as in Las Vegas, whence they came for a stint in the Inaug¬ ural Gala last Thursday (19), they clicked with every number during the 55-minute opening show. There was only one encore, but, despite lack of a full house, there was ample demand for more. Show closes Feb. 4. Jay. PSKMEfirt Deauville? Miami Beach Miami Beach, Jan. 21. Gogi Graiit, Marty Allen & Steve Rossi, Henry Levine Orch; $5-$7.50 minimum. With Betty Grable's cancel-out, prexy Morris Lansburgh got Gogi Grant to help reopen the Casanova Room of this key hotel of his sixinn Beach chain, and with Allen & Rossi, as added attraction, has come up with a solid brace of acts that should hold their own at this “soft” biz time of season. Going on the plaudits earned at opening night. Miss Grant will be another addition to the email corps of femme thrushes who have be¬ come regular toppers on this cir¬ cuit. She belted them to a farethee-big in her first showing on the Beach — Miss Grant worked a date two winters ago at the Diplo¬ mat, 16 miles up the line. Going ; on performance at this showing, she’s a much improved performer in all departments. Smartly gowned, cleverly arranged, con¬ fident in demeanor, she hits to all corners with a book that encom¬ passes the pops; a brilliant run¬ down of the score from “Gypsy” to add the “new” note and finally, her standard soundtrack dubbing for the "Helen Morgan Story” film of several years ago. The melange allows for display of wide open, tone-touch, high-range flow, to earn peak returns; affords showcasing of an adeptness at turning throaty torch or love-lyric to complete auditor appreciation. Miss Grant walked on to a warm group of tablers, thanks to the funfest tossed up by Marty Allen with ace assist by his straight-man part¬ ner Steve Rossi. This Allen is a buffoon in the classic tradition. The peculiar waddling walk, the moon-faced, wide-eyed look, the soft and deceivingly bewildered vocal approach combining to make him one of the most appealing laughmakers around. He’s yocked them up along this jaded circuit before, but never to better effect than in this date. With much-im¬ proved Ros§i setting up the feeds, his topical approach gathers a har¬ vest of howls, such as his almost impertinent lines on the Kennedy family; his quickies romp on names in the news; standard “man in the moon” and a series of ad-libs to round out a socko turn. Rossi’s contrib is equally effective. The handsome songster whams with his startlingly apt takeoff on Tony Martin and other singing toppers, and on his own, he stops matters with a full and ringing version of the clown aria from ‘TagliaccL” They have to beg off. Henry Levine and his crew showback in fine fashion. Due Fri¬ day (27), Billy Daniels and Jackie Miles, In the lower budget fore¬ runner (estimated $12,000 total weekly) series to the high payoffnames, due later in the season. Lary. Chase Club, St. Loafs St. Louis, Jan. 19. Jim Hetze-Ps “Japanese Spectacular” (31), Johnny Polzin Orch (12); $2-$2.50 cover. The Oriental extravaganza, “Jap¬ anese: Spectacular,” judging by the kudos of first nighters, may well prove to the Chase Club’s most popular attraction of the season. A magnificently, ^costumed show, featuring a lineup of 31 Japanese dancers, singers and jugglers. It moves as "fast as a Samurai war¬ rior’s sword arm from the lav¬ ish opening production number, “Flower Viewing Dance of Old Japan,” through a swirling mixed bag of mambo dancing, sword fights and juggling feats. Mitsumi Maki and Tony Toyodo, "thei Frank Sinatra' of Japan,” stars;i of the show, both have stage savv£ par excellence and voices to match phis the sort of good looks that have the young people swooning back in geisha land. The line of 15 Japanese girls, all beauty contest winners back home, is an added treat for the bald-headed row. “Japanese Spectacular” will be on hand through . Feb. 4 with Johnny Polzin 's orchestra doing a hangup job of playing the slam| bang arrangements. Bob. . Freddie's, Mpla. Minneapolis, Jan. 20. Erroll Gamer trio; $2.50 cover. There’s nothing showy about Erroll Garner, .except his music. No one laughs when he sits down to play, perched, as usual, on a double-thick. New York telephone directory. There are no words, no clowning, no costumes. The man comes to play. If the customers come to listen as most do, that’s fine. If some would rather gab, it doesn’t upset Garner. He’s strictly business, piano business, and that means tumaway biz for boniface Pete Karalis. Garner’s, fortnight appearance here, a return engagement after eight months, also means top em tertainment value in both quality and quantity for patrons. His re¬ laxed, seemingly effortless artistry had the packed house at his open¬ ing here cheering wildly. Garner responded with a concert perform¬ ance which ran 95 minutes. The management finally had to dim the lights to get him off the band¬ stand. One doesn’t have to be a jazz connoisseur to appreciate Garner’s talent. The man with a knack for producing a big band sound serves up the most listenable ja«z extant. Such trademarks as “Misty,” “Nearness of You” and “Lady Is a Tramp” are showstoppers. His inspired improvisations are enj hanced by the topnotch rhythm backing of Eddie Calhoun on bass ! and Kelly Martin on drums. Latter also evokes an enthusiastic re¬ sponse with his solo on “Just You." Garner continues here through Feb. I with table reservations booked solid. Comic Guy Marks and thrush Joanie Sommers follow in a nine-day stint. Rees. Village Vaagaard, N. Y. I Nina Simone (4), Ornette Cole | man Quartet; $4J50 minimum. \ This Greenwich Village cellar continues its modern jazz policy with, the return of Nina Simone, who’s gathered quite a following with a vocal and piano style that’s at once gutsy and blue and classically sophisticated; and Orn¬ ette Coleman, who’s Split the jazz buff ranks into distinct camps of dig and don’t dig with his atonal plastic alto sax. Miss Simone charges her sets with electrifying piano virtuosity on crescendoing Instrumentals, low-moaning vocals re anguished torch lyrics and some mad wailing to drums that could only be called Afro-Simone. There’s also some highly jazzed folk music in the repertoire, notably a swinging ver¬ sion of the old plantation number, “In the Evening By the Moon¬ light.” Support from Chris White on bass, Bobby Hamilton on drums and A1 . Schackman ‘ on guitar is solid throughout. Schackman, on the alternate melodic instrument, is remarkably versatile in comple¬ menting Miss Simone’s varying piano moods. He moves effectively from banjo-like strumming and piney-woods twang to hip modem improvisations. A highly potential act since moving into the limelight several months ago. Miss Simone seems to have added a polish that gives the group high commercial values. The Ornette Coleman return precedes an eight-week assault on European jazz centres, which prob¬ ably will do little to clear up the domestic controversy. After sev¬ eral catches, it’s this reviewer’s considered opinion that Coleman’s cacophonic protest to current jazz forms has about run its string, and the group should tnove ahead, or maybe backwards. However far out, group seems now to be blowing its own cliches, and if they keep it up the van¬ guard crusade may end not with a [bang, but a batsqueak. Resides Coleman, there’s Don Cherry on trumpet; Eddie Blackwell, drums, and Scott LaFaro, bass. Bill CInb 76, Toronto Toronto, Jan. 17. Max Morath; 50c cover. Pianist of ragtime era faves from the Gay Nineties to World War I, Max Morath Is already packing ’em into the 90-seater Club 76 where no coffee is sold and the customers are expected to buy hard liquor. Dressed in a turn-of-the-century suit, plus derby and colored weskit, Morath (whose mother used to be a silent screen pianist) has an added gimmick: Apart from his glib pat.ter and his singing of old faves to self-accompaniment on a 1905 honkytonk piano, he has a collection of tinted, oldtime illustrated song slides, plus titles, that are collec¬ tors’ items. He projects ’em via magic lantern on a 5 by 7 foot screen for his seven-a-night stints with the nostalgic sing-songers of both sexes. McStay. , Fontainebleau, Miami Brack Miami Beach, Jan. 19. Crosby Bros.; “ Latina Extrava¬ ganza,” Len Dawson Orch; $5-$7.50 minimums. This is last week for the Latino revue in the 850-seat LaRonde, and first time for the Crosby Bros, at this resort. The dispensing of the long-run Cuban production, which has been working with added zing and zip since inclusion of top dancerssingers from the folded “Latin Scandals” at the Versailles, comes at a time when it is beginning to jell and tighten. Withal, in this highly competitive run, it’s risky to keep a big-nut production plus a high-payoff topping act in one of¬ fering. Thus, for next few weeks the “Holiday In Japan” revue, which clicked at the Latin Quarter in Gotham and previously in ini¬ tial stateside long-run at’ the New Frontier in Las Vegas, is being brought in until the two-supporting [ acts and names (ala Sammy Davis, [Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra) start the peak-weeks stands in late [ February. The Crosby freres are a pleasant i trio. They won’t set an aud off into palm-pandemonium, but they do provide an entertaining halfhour or so of song-trio-nics with easy gab in their pater’s, style. The special material contained is lined with references to their famed Dad to lead cleverly into tune-arrangements Identified with him. On their own deffing course, they do well with pops, a “folk tune” set and wind to warm re¬ ception. Len Dawson’s orch backed solid¬ ly the Crosby threesome of per¬ sonal musickers, led by the pianist# Lary. Ben Bine, Santa Monica Santa Monica, Jan. 20. Ben Blue, Barbara Heller, Cully Richards, Sid Fields, Barbara Eng¬ lish, . Ivan Lane Orch (5) ; no cover, $3 minimum. A dropper-in here would never be sold on the theory there is a shortage of available talent or a lack of customers in the nitery biz. In fact the deadpan comic’s tavern has been operating in the (highly profitable) black since popping the first cork four years ago. This show is a sex-ational staging entitled “Les Corps d’ Paree.” And like the title denotes it is loaded with gals, comics, gals, dancers, and more gals. In addition to a sextet of cuties romping around the stage scantily clad, Blue has brought back Bar¬ bara Heller. She co-stars with him in a show that bustles from flagfall to finish. Miss Heller, certainly no bust herself, is the rudder that keeps this ship “Paree” on course, under Blue’s direction. She again displays her tremendous versatility in the art of mimicking stars (Bette Davis, Tallulah Bankhead, Judy Garland) in between straighting for Blue in a series of bur¬ lesque bits that keep the laughmeter ticking. “Are you a professional?” asks Blue. “Not if I like a fellah,” replies Miss Heller. ' That’s a sample. Additional impetus Is given by blonde, long-legged Barbara Eng¬ lish who has her moments to bump about. She also proves flexible as a foil for Blue who, per usual, keeps himself surrounded by cuties while parading his Chaplinesque pantomime. There’s this to be said for vaude-vet Blue: vaude is dead but he didn’t kill it. The comedy he purveyed 25 years ago still rocks ’em, as he proves here. Aside from regular comic aides Cully Richards, and Sid Fields, headliners on their own, other con¬ tributions follow Blue’s policy of introing new talent. This he draws from the working help (busboys, waiters, bartenders, etc. ) employed in dual capacity, for one check! On Tuesday night (17), A5!ue spotted busboys John Robeson (“Maria”), Mel Bryant (“Almost Like Being In Love”), and Tom Peters (“Some Enchanted Even¬ ing”) — and all three scored vocal¬ ly. Others aiding in keeping “Paree” alive are Karen Dolin, Jerry Paul, Hymie Lefkowitz, Thelma Wood, Jan Weaver and Patrice Michaels. Latter trio shape up nicely a “Lili St. Cyr ” routine. Ivan Lane's house band (5) keeps “Paree” musically gay. Show is booked indefinitely. Kafa.