Variety (July 1923)

Jip- Thursday, July 12, 1©23 pictures' -I^T-C -...^M" iWjV •■■iT, .usr-vviK; t7 ■i y fe If fpiRESENTATIONS I (Extra attraction* in picture theatret, when not pictures, will be carried and described in this depart- *ment for the general information of the trade.) ^ ^ h r I. I MADAME STRALIA, ,, ^ ' Soprano . ^ > . ^.. 2 Mm*.; F""f ... -. Capitol, Now York. Madame Stralla. according to the Capitol program, is a' former qiem- bor of the Royal Opera, at Covent Garden, London. A statuesque type with undoubted vocal ability, she fcortid with the Capitol's orchestra program of Wagnerian composU tlons this week. The,arrangement calls for the orche»tri^ playing three seiectioJiH from "Valkyrie." namely : ♦'Magic Fire Music," "Wotan's Fare- ."welr 'and the "Rise of the V^lky- ries," upon the conclusion of which Jifme. Stralla appears and renders ^•••Dlch Theure Halle" from "Tann- hauser." Before a Maxfleld Parish blue '^'^y effect, broken with high pil- lars, her appearance in a gown of whitA was most striking, and then vocally she won the audience. The arrangement worked out wonder- fully rnr both the arrtiste and the orchestra* and was most effective. ■ '-f Fred. 'i -WHISPERING FLOWERS" " ' BALLET ■''■ ;■::•.■■,;;■.■ '^ 3 Mine.; Full • ' Capitol, New York Mile. Maria Oambarelli, dancing at the Capitol since the house came under the managerial directorship of S. L. Rothafeli appears on the program there this week-in a *ne*w guise. She Is now "ballet mistress" of the theatre. The ballet offering for the current week is entitled "Whispering Flowers," with Mile. GamBlrelli as the prima ballerina, assisted by five of the members of the corps du ballet. It Is a decidedly pleasing offering, enhanced greatly by the manner in which it Is lighted. The effects are a sunrise-to-sunset idea, with the blooms ^opening and dancing through-the day and again closing with the coming of dark- ness. Fred. PROLOGUE TO "RUPERT OF HENTZAU" '^ 6 Mins.; Full Stage Strand New York, July 11. A simple singing introduction to Anthony Hope's romance. The stage is set as a vaulted chamber, with a chandelier hanging from the centre arch and a rough board table run- ning from right to left. At the opening four men In elab- orate steel helmets and hussar uni- forms, such as those worn in the play, are sitting at the table drink- ing. They sing a short refrain, be- ing joined by four other soldiers as they proceed, and at the end a fine double quartet of male voices is singing a love ballad, "The ]^nd 1 Love." There is r snow fade-out un- til the stage is quite black, and for an instant a cinematographic rep- resentation of two sword arms and flickering raplei^s Introduce the main title of the picture. An effect^e bit of atmosphere building. RusK M^RIE ANDRE V Danse Jazzique '^ 4 Mint.; Full Stage ;•-■• Rialto, New York New York, July 11. A single girl dancer in Jazzed bal- let costume goes through a series of mediocre steps and a few pas- sages of toe dancing. Not particu- larly well done and extremely poor material for so important a house as the Rialto. Almost any girl from a dancing act could have devised a better routine on the spur of the moment. It wa.s billed as the intro- duction to the film feature, "Children of Jazz," but on Tuesday evening was switched at the 7.30 show to the end of the program, following the feature. ?:*'-:''* The act has no setting, the solo dancer appearii\g before a dead black drop at the back. Ruth. HARMONY TRIO ,\ . Songs 10 Mine.; Th^M (8M«i«l ••«) Missouri, St. Louie ^ Bt Louis, July II. Steve Cady, tenor; Arthur Nealy, lead; Billy Teasdale, barytone, local song ' pluggers working in cork. Hershel Stuart, managing director, conceived Ihe idea and Charles Dahl staged it. The offering won laughs and applause at opening aqd main- tained pace throughout, closing to genuine appreciation. It r^ccts credit on the capable slnpers. that master producer, Charles Dahl, and Hershel Stuart, who shows a genu- ine individual original style in ad- dition to his practical knowledge. A very striking scene, yet very simple and inexpensive—a fence set backed by eky-blue cyclorama. (The fence offers an excellent op- portunity for advance posters, which was taken advantage of.) Very softly the orchestra Is play- ing chorus of "Seven Eleven." First a live chicken Is heard off stage, then Is seen flying over fence. A shabbily dressed "coon" rushes on, trying to catch It. Seeing bis Only chance pt a ehlckea feed "depart on wings." be becomes desperate and decides to bold op some one. Simultaneously two swell dressed "coons" enter, and as they reach centre the shabby fellow puts a gun to them. While searching the two men the robber found, among other things, a pair of dice, which payed the way toy opening number, "Seven Eleven." Additional comedy was spotted throughout song, which, with flawless harmony singing, "rang the bell." "Annabelle" and "Little Rover" followed In order, each given additional punch and proper atmosphere, the trio succesfT- fully keeping pace. The offering is twenty, times better than some of the more costly presentations that have appeared here, and, judging from applause and comment, the audience thought it was, too. Aom. LONDON FILM NEWS *' •■<"• '.■"•,*■ After a prvcarlous existence- of some years during which they went through an odd revolution or two and a spell of really good civil war during which they never icnew when they were going to be bombed or ordered to close by one or other of the belligerent parties. Dublin ex- hibitors are now running a war of their own against their employes They wanted to cut down wages, declaring the decreased cost of liv- ing entitled them to do so, but the employes refused to listen. There- fore, dating from June 16 all the kinemas in Dublin are clcsed In- definitely. Thisraction also affects the theatres. Davidson * company has started work on a new film with the some- what clumsy title of "My Lord of the Great white Itbad." The story is a costume one and appears to be- long to the days of the Regency. Arthur Rooke is producing, and the company includes Victor MacLaglen, Hugh B. Wright, Bert White, George Turner and Irene Rorke. Syd Walker piayk "Old Bill" in the Bruce Bairnsfatner picture being made by THbmaa Bentley for Ideal, Gladys Folliott Is Queen SUizabcth and Austen Leigh William Shake- speare. Many well-known leading players are doing crowd work. 4>e- ing compelled to do so by the weight of unemployment, which gets heav- ier every day. f 'if.. ■ ^ ■ LOTTIC% HOWELL ^ ' "^; Songs 8 Mine.; One Strand, New Orleans New Orleans, July 11. Lottice Howell has become a standard in the large picture the- atres, and her engagement at the Strand Is a repeat. A very pretty girl with method and a voice, her moment has now become accredited as sure-fire.* Quite a difference between singing In a picture and a vaudevUle house, the wide spaces and supreme lati- tudes, acoustically speaking and otherwise, being very much removed fromHhe close-up, semi-lntlmate va- riety audience. . Miss Howell has attuned herself hi bearing and in vocal infieotion In such manner as to be "closer" to her auditors in the large pictiire pal- aces than most of her femlnjne con- freres, which must help In measui;e to account for her steady, continu- ous booking, although from all an- gles of ^appeal she looms an attrac- tion par excellence. * ' Samuel. EWING EATON • % Dance and Violin 6 Mins.; Three (Special) ' • Missouri, St. Louis St. Louis, July 11. The management backed this girl with costly silk drapes and flawless lighting effects that reproduced a very pretty stage picture, but the girl quite clearly proved to be the greenest novice to shake a leg on the Missouri stage this season. It s^med that the audience real- ised that Yiothing particular was supposed to be tmppening on the stage during this particular six minutes, and Justly rewarded her with silence. ftosa. "FUN ON A DREADNAUGHT^ (12) Patriotic Spectacle 20 Min.; Full Stage (Special) Chicago theatre, Chicago Chicago, July 11. "Fun on a Dreadnaught" was a particularly good presentation for Fourth of July week, as :t had been preceded by a film history of the flag. The big set exhibited a portion of a warship with a turret containing a big gun which had its barrel fac- ing off stage at the opening of the act. The Chicago theatre quartet, four boys in sailor outfit, sang a medley of old time songs and then took positions at one side while six girls (Abbott Dancers), similarly cos- tumed, did the "Sailor's Hornpipe," with modern injections. FVank Mack and Jack Long, a dancing team, also dressed as sail* ors, came on with guns for a brief drill in connection with their steps. Parting with the guus for a time, they did single and double steps which brought very bic applause. Resuming their guns, they took po- sitions on the turret with the six girls and the barrel was made to face the front and the turret itself was moved forward until the gun was over the orchestra. Here there was an effect of firing with electric lights, indicating the shots in the end of the gun and a noise back stage as though the guno were at a distance. All the while a moving cloud effect added to the stage picture. Mack and Long do a blackface dancing act with brooms In vaudeville, but were drafted for this act on short notice "BY THE BABBLING BROOK** Organ Novelty 10 Mine.; Screen j, *' * ,.-, Rialto, New York New York, July 11. A great novelty to supply a short film subject in conjunction with the usual organ solo, programmed for the end of the show, but moved up before the news topicaL , The screen is divided from upper left to loWer right hand corner, one half being devoted to the printing of the lyrics of *a ballad and the other taken up by simple scenes such as a boy fishing in a woodland stream, or tramping through the woods. The words of the lyrics coue out one at a time In exact time to the organ tune an^ the ani- mated half of the screen changes to appropriate settings. Alexander D. Richardson Ib at the organ, while the novelty is credited to the Wurlitzer company. It makes a neat, short subject, giving the bill variety and novelty. Riuh. James Lindsay has been added to the cast of the 1. B. Davidson "The Knight of the Great White Road" picture. This Is a Granger-David- son attraction and great care is be- lf\g taken to prevent the title or de- tails of the production leaking out. When the Fox Film Company shows the Lupino Lane five-reel comedy at the London Pavilion on June 2$, "Nfpper" will make a per- sonal appearance and the now cus- tomary "present{ttion" will be dis- carded for Paul Whiteman's band, which will give selections from its repertoire before th^ screening. The invitations being on the usual lavish scale customary here, it is more than probaile more people will come for the band than for the picture. Wurnlngs h«ive been s^t out to take scats early, and the result will as usual be that the trade and press, which cannot spare time to wait for half an hour, will either not get in at all ox have to stand. WcL-jh-PeaVaon !• making a new Squibbs picture. This is entitled "Squibbs M. P,." and although the stosy was writt<>n before the elec- tion of the one-time Gaiety girl. Mabel Russell, to the House of Com- mons, that event will help the pub- licity end immensely. Betty Bal- four, the Welsh-Pearson "star," will play the title role, and the supi>ort- ing cast Includes Fred Groves, Hugh E. Wright. Frank Starmore and Irene Tripod. The picture is being made at the Famous-I^asky studios in Islington. •^ -t... Frank H. Craig will direct the film production of the Tom Walls and Leslie Hanson comedy, "Tons of Money," which is one of London's outstanding theatrical successes and which is still going strong. Flora. Is Breton will be the leading woman, and an exceptional cast ie being engaged. ' The trade show sysfem here gets worse with every successive show, the idea app4^ntly being to broad- cast as many tickets as possible, twice as many Invitations as the capacity of the house allows, in or- der to make .certain of a "packer.** These tickets are given haphazard, with the result the busy exhibitors and pressmen whose duty it la to be .there cannot get in. An example of this was seen at the showing of the I^la Negri film, "Mad Love," when the Oxford was packed to suffocation long before the time of shelving and numerous pressmen and exhibitors were turned down. Among the latter was one promi- nent exhibitor wlio controls several first-class kinemas. The showing company's explanation that the au- dience rushed the reserved seats and could not be oontrolled says IH- I tie for their organisation. and did very well. Loop. ANDRIEFF TRIO Dances 8 Min.; Full Stage (Special Set) McVlckers, Chicago Chicago, July il. The Andrieff Trio consists of two men and a woman who have been in vaudeville for some time. The men are Russian, dancers and the woman assists, but contril^utes the punch in a "backwards" dance in which she assumes a sort of novelty witch character. 'The opening Is outside a high fence surrounding a mansion in Russia and the three do a skating dance. Snow falling makes a pretty affect (pictures). One man finishes this number while the others leave, which Is awkward. The other man returns for a single after which the woman presents her individual contribu- tion. The men start the closing number and the woman reappears In tights. Sortie fast stepping Is After Two Triumplmnt Weeks at tfie Rivoli Presented by Carl Laemmie 't ■ '■-■.:' ' . v'^'^v- '' ■'■,.. . . ■..'.■K J*/ t Universal Super Jewel Directed by Rupert Julian '■-; .i' UNIVERSAL'S SUPREME SURPRISE OF OF THE YEAR HELD OVER On BROADWAY AT THE RIALTO For 3rd Big Week SASCHA LOIS A.r4D CREATIONS PLAYING RETURN ENGAGEMENT FOR SIX WEEKS AT THE BALABAN A KATZ THEATRES, CHICAGO, CLOSING AUGUST 5th • Presenting this week Fatist Fantasy, which Mr. A. J. BALABAN said was the best dance presentation he had ever seen and meant nure money to the box-office ,^ . * than any other dance presentation. -, ^ ' V DIRECTION ^ EAST MORRIS A FEIL WEST JACK GARDNER PRODUCERS AND MOVING PICTURE THEATRES ADDRESS CHICAGO THEATRE J*