Variety (April 1923)

Thursd ay> April 5. 1923 HAROLD STERN ORCHESTRA (10) ^ S^MinL Full St.g« (8p.ci.l) .^roadway Harold Stern Is a bandmas^Ar. For -^veral years he haa conducted at iocal beach resorts, building up quite \ following. For vaudeville he 1« presenting a regulation dance or- chestra, carrying the name of Belle- clalre In addition to his own. In all Drobabllity the organization supplied Ihe dance music ut the local hotel t,i that name. As a musical combination it stands UD nicely under the Stern direction. The leader'.s years of experience In handling bandsmen has its effect in the manner in which returns are se- cured from tlw present aggregation, gtein Is a director who \h w;.tched closely by his men. which tends to develop genuine music. The routine of numbers \a fnade up largely of current dance selections, with the leader given opportunities for effective work with a muted vio- lin. Away from the general run of Belections is RachmaninofTs "Pre- lude" used in the body of the turn, productive on the strength of its musical cffectivenoHs and the man- ner In which it is worked with de- Bcriptive .''lides. Stern's Orchestra Is on a pir with the better grade organizations of this order in vaudeville. llait. * POWELL and BROWN Sand Picture* > ; 8 Mins.; Two ;' "t":<l Riverside Nice ap!>er»r!n;^ couple in a tine of coorod sand arl'sii..-. picture frame ea!^els are s.lgiitly ^ tilted to bo in view of the orch:':?lta. although a shnrp ang!e di-places the s.uid. Various colored t-and particles are employed to create still portraits by sprinkling on the easelrf. the subjects running mostly to marine motifs. Both work simoltaneou.^ly on two different ei.*<els, completirs two portraits each, which are ntlingb calciumcil with effective subdued lightinpr. The concludin<? number depicted a burning ship, the effect being obtained by igniting the I)Owder with a fnatch. Interesting opvner^ for any house. Abel. N^Ew Acts this week 23 as: .> Tho k^' BERNT and PARTNER V Hand Balancing 10 Mins.; Full Stag*>» . ' Orpheum, Brooklyn Man anl youth in hand balancing turn, the youth doinj? the top mounting being a contortionist. The U3ual hand balancing feats with several new twists to the familiar formations are all done In a grace- ful Workmanlike way. the youth's contortioni.stic ability giving the two high stuff unusual value. The lifts, etiv, are all done in .a hIow. deliberate m.inner after thi^ fashion of Blow motion pictures. The turn Is artistically lighted and carries an artistic lookin;^ scenic drape background. It i.s an .addition to the already large li.st of hand balancing turns, In that it i., ditl'erent liom most of the others. Bell. ROBEY and GOULD Talk and Songs. 15 Mint; Ona. 5th Avenue. . Robey and Gould are two young boys. Where they • came from no one knew, but neither appeared to have been long upon the profes- sional stage.. They seem to have been vaudeville patrons, judged by the quantity of material employed belonglnir to Val and Krnie Stanton. That "you're a case" and "I'm only 11 bottles" has not been officially released as yet, but presuming these young men came from Brooklyn, perhaps they don't care. Or that "You're a darb" and kindred expres- Glons, even-"Shut your mouth" that Sam Sidman might object to. though he did not care particularly about the cumedian'a "Dutch" attempt. Its !i peculiar combination of a buddir.i? two-men straight and comic where the straight i.s the strength of the turn. The com- edians may make the small timers laugh a little each time the comic's hat falls or is pushed off, but every- one will take to the strnight boy. He is personable, has a light pleas- ing voice and "laughs" a chorus, much as the saxophone docs it. That singing 'laugh'' in the final song broutj'iU tlie act a strong recall. Be- fore it the straight sang a ballad rather nicely, removing his hat while rendering the song. Larry tJoldie has been in vaude- ville for r!i years, has seen thou- sands of acts and does^n't Igpow yet \\ hy a l>ailad singer always removes h's hat while warbling a Lallad, You tell him. ■-;•■.,:'. ■"'■^-v:-'' -;■.•'•■■■■, These boys may improve .-md will do it bc^t on the small tirro if they stick tosether Maybe they will work hard thece. save up and buy some cf th-.M'r own materi.il. "TEN ENGLISH DAISIES" • Dances ,14 Min.; Full Stage (Special) City A straigiu dancing turn with 10 well traincl girls devoting the major portion of their efforts to ensemble work. Tho act is routined to allow for costumq changes by a solo dance and double .skirt danc<». The real meat is when the girls all danco tni^ether. With no in- dividuality, the stepping in unison lilts the mirk. The act is reported as haviiit; been With a Shuhert unit. It will have difficulty in making better than the threc-a-day houses iinb' s ilressed up. The ove bend for s,ila!i>s will make it a problem for .small time bookings. . ;;^rt. KELLY and DRAKE Song, Talk, Dance 15 Mins.; One Boy and girl song-dance-talk Xo. 2 spot frame-up. He sports a cam- era on entrance, the opening vocal double number starting interesting- ly. Business with the cameri dis- closes it as a miniature hooi.:h dis- penser. Pressing the bulb for a snapshot produces a "shot" that re- sults in lier becdming in^briat^d. Crosstalk ensue<?, followed ly the mans song and dance number J'\iir. She soloed with a "bluest" Al.so fair. Some inconsequential t.ilk led up to h\^ acrobatic dance to her uko and orchestra .'xccompanimcn*;. A couple of head falls* are fcitnres, his padded cranium striking t'i ^ fl > ""*. They start off well but pel»- out A couple of nobby changes for the girl wouldn't hurt mattc:'^ either. Her one costume cliange is too n^nt- tral and ordinary. Abel. EDWARDS and EDWARDS ~^ Rifle Expcrta 12 Mins.; Fu!l Stage (Special Set) Broadv/ay ^lan and woman rid> temi dis- PliiyiMk' e\-i)ertn.-.v.s i,i the work. The m:ij..riiy of feats are of a deli- cate nature and deinauil exceptional skill. Tho ..nji,. tnember doos the major porti„ti of the sun work with his partner holding many .small tar- gets in her hand and on her head. The manner in which tlw» targets are b;MwH<^<i md thnii- i^>.". ''" ' ' ' ■« 'li" ut iii...st ( Ml-.- ;n the ''J'l'!';""^- '^^^' >■'*""« woman is f**^!'.tally a.H effective as her partnor wiien as.siijned to the shooting' work, ^^'atly clad In white riding breeches and velvet coats, the ap- pearance reaches a high level. A leam ready to take Its place with »* boat in this division, uari FIVE NORMANDIE GJRLS Musical and Singing. 16 Mins; FuN Stage (Special.) Four wotiien musielans and a woman singer. Five are on at dpen- ing. playing long trumpets. White H,u8.siir costumes are worn. After opening, act. resolves itself into quartet as far as muslfris concerned, the fifth woman singing exclusively. Second number is mixed quartet, two comets, trombone and saxo- phone. One cornet ond trombone muted. ' Harmony is Irootl and tone average. Both cornets muted for jazz stuff, very well done, next. Vocalist does ballad, crooning it sweetly with excellent expression and delivery, later making a cos- tume change and doing a jazz num- ber with some peppy strutting that sells for full value. A combina- tion of tuba, two cornets and trom- bone and another introducing four saxophones with the bass .saxo player getting some snapi>y effects are included in the musical portion of ^the act. Selections are nicely varltd. Act is standard for pop houses. Bell. ARTHUR STANLEY Monopcdc, Songs, Danc^, Piano 10 Mins.; One Artliur Stanley Is a monopede, en- trancing carrying a crutdi. He make.s a mat appearance in evening attire and posses:ies a winning smile and perso?ialit\-. OpcniniT with a brief ijjtrnductory song in which he decries sympathy and asks to be judged on liis merits, he follows with a high class ballad w<'ll rendered in a sympalhetiv; bari- tone. Another ballad sung at the piano to his own accompaniment is fol- lowed by a piano solo. I'or an en- roio .<^t iiiloy, afttT pi ijiiig an in- troduction on a harmoni(a, slams over a lap dance that l^ sure fire for anywhere, being composed of real 'wings" and triple time taps in which th»' crutch is utilized. In the No. 2 spot at the liroadway he wa.<i one of tho hits of the bill on \ his merits. ^ C'On. ' PALACE The Interest of the show^ people over the country this week is how the vaudeville houses are handling the N. V. A. collection. Ha plan is to collect from the audience, much as has been so often done for all manner of objects without the actor having been flnanciall/ benefited. The present Is the first public appeal for the actor as represented through the National V^audevilio Artists. Several different schemes to coax the money into tho baskets which are passed around appear to have been found for as many theatres. Some Jazz the impromptu on the stage: others make it ad lib. but for all a set piece of reading matter compiled by Mark A. Luescher of the Keith's special exploitation de- MAZIE, HELEN and DAZIE Singing, Dancing and Comedy 18 Mins.; Full Stage (Special) 23rd St. Combination of "Duich" comic. two dancing boubrets. straight and prima. Act consists of loosely strung together dialog. aongs. dances, etc. At start It looks as If its going to be one of those camotifla^jed hand-balancing turns. Material is familiar apple .sauce. As long as burlesqucy stuff was to be used turn might just as well hove picked the best. W^hat they have could be vastly improved. Siraitjht sings in throaty tenor. Prima has good voice, but quavers a bit in high ones. Dancing team put over several double.^. "Dutch" comic has convincing accent and knows business, but should modify m.ake-iip. Act can go alona: in smaller pop houses. Ball. VAN and ELINORE Dancing 12 Mins.; F-ull Stage (Special) 23rd St. Boy and girl In conventional dancing turn. Boy is obviously a novice and lacks stage presence, experience and most of the other essentials. Can hardly be classed as .a pas.sable dancer. Girl is better dancer, but also shows lack of ex- perience and stage training. Usuafr routine without spark of novelty or attempt to break away from set rules. A year or more in the back woods trails doing four or five-a-day would help tho lack of presence. \ good dancing Instructor for both and particularly for the boy mUht also help. rr' . ; Bell. EKO and KYQ Acrobatic 8 Mins.; Three American Roof. O.'-iental male duo in usual elab- orate far ea.stern costuming. Bar- rel to.sslng with their feet, each lyinj^ reclined with feet upwards fea- tured the first few minutes. Several misses, •4ntentional but seemingly not, made for some laughs with one's efforts to balance the barrel properly. Following this ono fea- tured spinning a hu.'.o top and jug- gling it. His partner's contribution, the kingpin stunt, was standing up- side down and navigating a short flights of stairs going up, protected only by a football helmet. Interesting openers on tho Roof. Abel. PAULIN^TRAVIS Male imfiersonator 12 Mins.; Ona 23rd St. Male, impersonator singing Ihreo songs with changes of clothes for each. Business suit, cutaway outfit with high hat and frock coat and high hat get-ups constitute changes. Songs aru ordinary. Miss Travis !.»« short on* vocal qualifications, consequently needs stronger mate- rial obtainable. Male impersona- tion averages with rank and file. Will) right kind of songM Miss Tr.ivis could arrange a turn suit- able for No. 2 in the pup liouses. Bell. Four of the 14 upstate stands supplied by the Gus Sun Kxchange will remain open this summer. Tiios.' listed for continuance are Buff.jlo, Ni.igara Falls. W'aterlown and Hochester. The balanco are .svheduled to discontinue abouf the middle of May. some assuming an- other jiolicy for the heated spell. A mnnber of tho Sun houses In northern Now York aro booked out of Suus Buffalo exchange. Eddie Green has repl.iced Louis Siblosky as mana ger oi the Gr and. Soulli B.'thlehem, Pa! The Alhambra, Stamford. Conn . has been purchased by interests headed by Jack Ungerfeldt. . , Tho John«.on opera house. Gird- iner. Me., damaged by lire, haa been re<»pen©d. partment was given out, to be spoken after memorised or re.id. It explained the purpose and made the appeal. At the Palace. New Ydrk, Duke Cross does the talking, reading the statement the first couple of days of the week and announcing the invited entertainer for that performance. Those two events, with the collection and a short N. V. .\. film, comprised the entire N. V. A. incident there. It did not. however, include the im- mediate appearance of the cntea*- tainer, who might appear later m the siiow. at his or the theNttre'i* convenience. Monday afternoon Harry Fox wa.i the special; at night, Ruth Roye; Tuesday matinee, Frank Tinney; at night. Gus lid wards, and so on. In previous years the sick and death benefit fund of the N. V. A. has received .in annual contribution from the theatres within the mem- bership of the \'audeville Managers' Protective Association through se- curing the gross of one matinee per- formance in each house, usually in April and on a Friday. The Sunday receipts of this week through the collection route ware said to hxve exceeded more than the entire gross of last years matinees. The Palace has been collecting between |400 and $500 daily for the N. V. A., with the matinee intake about one-half of that al night. Sunday afternoon the Palace got aroud'|15U: at night, about $300; Tuesday on the day. about $400. The Palace. Chicago. Sunday got about $500 and thf- State-Lake $700. The week may give the N. V. A. between $125,000 and $150,000. The N. V. A. .ilso will hold its usual spring bene- fits In New York on May 13 in two theatres for its fund. For the public the Palace .ittrac- tion this week la Sophie Tucker, and a very decided attraction, .'is indi- cated by early week attendance. Mis.«» Tuclcer returns with an all new routine of songs as well as a brand new Chalmers siie enters in. It la driven by a uniformed chauffeur, and Sophie allows him to drive off after the song starts without tipping his hat tx- .saluting. The highly polished machine against the splen- did back curtain, with the two pian- ists at the concert grand. comi>osed^ an attractive stage picture, with the sltir ill Ihe center of it. Too bad the stage car is not So- phie's, because Tuesday morning, wh'le her Ford .sedan, driven by hw brother, stood outside the Palace's stage entrance, some wild nut, who probably thought It could be sold, stole It. It sounds foolish enough to have been done by Buttermilk Mike. . • Miss Tucker has weeded out all of the personal stuff, in her lyrics. That's fine. too. The nearest is her opening, about coming l>ack ("Kover">. used lo explain the auto. Closinq; the hrst half, she held the stage for :'.'» minutes, doing about 1^ songs. They made a varied assort- ment, with I couple In the skit style, uslnpr one for a wejther man she called 'Mr. Mitchell" (out after the second «*+u>w— the "Mr. Mitchell." not the H0115 nor th*» m.m). and an- other for a draxgy ballad that only Sophie could make st.mil up, some- thing about 'autumn leaves tuin- bli.ig down." Tlie leaves t\% they tumbled seemed to be arguing, and sometimes they wouldn't tumble. Her beirt ballad was "When Will the Sun Shine for Me'/'* a plaintive, peachy lyric . anfl melody, while others were along her known style, the latter being taking in "King Tut,' armost a comic, and a real pop stage number for laughs as well as likable melody. For a finish she did "Carolina'" in variations, vocally, making that nice. Another comic, "You've Got to See Mamma Every Night," was one of those things Miss Tucker or anyone else might reserve for private affairs, although theres always tho chance a vaudeville audi- ence wont get U altogether. One or two of the lighter numbers w^re a bit too light for Sophie's strengt^^ as aa act. but she got them all ovar, and, oh, how that gal is looking! Soph looks to be-about just one of the flapi)iest blondes ambling over the headline route, and if that Isn't a squarer. Soph, what Is? Its too bad Miss Tucker Is leav- ing vaudeville this week for the coast production engagement. ThQ current week at the Palace is dis- playing she's better now for a return in the Ijig houses thun before. Another well -liked act on the bill, .-xnd likewise ;• lenirn, is thfi Ben Bernie ban<l. The Bernie orchestra played superbly. Mr. Bernie seemed to give niore than his usinl particu- lar attenl ion to it, including his own solo work on the violin, and iill of his boys rc^p»!i<U'd. No (»ne alters their opinion on the Bernie turn ai« it repe.ils that 1'. Is an orchestra act which miy be a vaur^cvl'.lc standard for as lonu: n.^ thr-y want to stick; it hold.i mu"^:'- and B<'rnle. his punch laugh way of putting over his talk- ing points and hiH piM-soii.'ilify, \\\\\\ a neat crew of ciipihle pl.iying boys. Including ti:e vom»'Wh.'tt c.Kai<gfrat- Ing drummer, th.j latt*^r. however. getting hiH share of attention sind appreci ition, T .i..M.i.v Kdith Cla.sneit w a^ rv.—d from closing to oi»ening • ' Luster Bros rxhnnged vv;;:i i. MonMni. a bin jo piiiver. WiW ser- ond "T!ic Show Off" skefrh w.i^ third, maiung it early, as Ihe i)er formaroN" w;»s t«H^ lorn? Mtmday mii- Inee. Ir «t irl<«d at ♦•ight al niKlit with J^liz ilt'Mi Bnie dropperl ruit to save ninnmn: tim** Miss Bri«< iSubatiluted iu the af»«M-noMn f<»r Sybil Van«. reportingr lU. Lewis and Dody wero No. 4, In a «ood place and to a big score, while after the intermission (cut to two minutes) and the band wore Williams and Wolf us. aime. RIVERSIDE nusine«s was brisk Tuesday night, with Harry Fox sharing the mar« quee tungstens under the announce'* ment of N. V. A. week. The N. V. A. r.riv«», iiieii1*»nt.illy, «r;#5 r;»ih»r pro- longed under the misdirection of several song pluggers. While tho quartet was well-neaning enough in its endeavors to have the audi- ence match several $5 donations, it certainly was not oa decorous and dignified as the simple announce- ment at the Colonial the evening preceding, with the resultant |>ass- Ing of the baskets. The dress- suited announcer who was "hog> ging" the show, a thing his com* freres eeemed to object to intermit- tently, lacked the unction to wheedle the amounts he persisted on. actually breaking faith with the audience in announcing that Buster West would respond with a song or dance If a necessary contribution is made. Younk West said he dances for a living but will sing for noth- ing, and reque«ted "Pack Up Y^ur Sins," which no one professed to know, although Juliibs Lenzberg. the orchestra leader, was vamping U on his fiddle. The prolongation of the nlae-act program brought Fox with the beauteous Beatrice Curtis on at well nigh eleven. His quiet de- livery was only counteracted by his past rep and seeming as«uredness. but he too had to stand for part of the exodus. As for Bessye Clifford, closing. It was cruel. It's a tough assignment for this nifty poseur in the farethqewell po«ltlon on a nor-, mally clocked show, and the overi time does not help matters any. Little Emma Halg. second after intermission, has been pleasingly outfitted with .1 special routine by Alex Gerber. George Grlffln. a diffi- dent though far from Indifferent tenor, plugged the sartorial change waits with his Ingratiating tenoring, later essaying a little Spanish step- ping with Miss Halg. The latter's legmanla was ever a high light of her routine and. following aU sort* of dancing, atood up. Immediately preceding waa.Mig- non, a clever impressionist who«e mimicry is consistently faithful. Mignon did a snappy 14 mlnuteii and clicked on all six. . Powell and Brown (New Acta) opened. The Browne Sisters, the cuties of the accordion, pleased the ear and eye sonoe with their "wind- Jamming" tunefulness and optHcal- easy shapelln(<afi. Arthur Hartley and Hel^i Patterson treyed with a light skit. "One Night," credited to two authors although evincing little evidence of strenuous labor by either. It's very negative on the avoirdupois and is only held up by Hartley'a breezy comicalities. His vis-a-vIs does not click as well as might be expected, She shows evi- dence of some stepping, but the routine calls for considerable cross- talk before the dance cues. How- ever, It Interested for 15 minuter, although the last couple 60-second periods were becoming rather no- ticeable through the letting down of pace. Wells. Virginia and West tied it- up with the youngster's truly mar- velous legmania. After viewing aH sorts and conditions of hock, wing and acrobatic stepping, with the moHt sensational always reminis- cent of somebody or other pre- viously seen. Buster is a pleasant shock with the flock of new steps he crams In. His youth is just a final clincher following his change to kid clothes. Seed and Austin closed the first half, cleaning up as uaual. The Greek waiter's alphabet bit Is an- nounced as an original conception, despite the N. V. A. ruling it be- longs to At Friend (PYiend and Downing), to whom Seed and Aus- tin were ordered to pay royalty lor Ita u.s«. Abel. COLONIAL The current «how at the Colonial is proof qualify, and not quantity, determines good vaudeville. This house until recently featured aug- mented programs of 10 acts each. Last week with only eight the show was a consistent matinee and even- ing riot of revelry. ThI.s week ditto, but even more so—and only seven acts billed! But each art wa« vaudeville. Gus Edwards' He- vue closing the fir-t half Is the top- liner, and worthily so. The turn consumed a solid hour's runnini; time, and c Ti.tioly top.-* any ti»"0 or ihrot^ ai'ts comhined. May Vohe md Band G\'<'W Act.O. ^ub-headlined. were switched from rlosing fo next-to-shut. Jack Wil- .«on cIoM.ng came on at 11 and h'dd fhem to a citi/en to 11:25. with the nudierict' hungry for more. WH- son's :id lili reference to preceding ■Ar*.A d.ckcd .as u.«<tjal. Charles For- \'hc doin.; a nol)!.- :,tr.'nglif. Ad»'I<' .\rd.sley. the 'hiuM yaller" fonfe<- tlon. fltt«'d the picture ingratl.iting- ly. nn<l the diminutive Willie Ward lolhjwed .and t(»pped a barrage of !.ni«hs for a tip-top get-away. Gu« lid wards previously made some ref- erence to W^ilrton's clowning .afffr- niei'e v/liicb would include some of hia compar^y. but ttmt never ^ain«