Variety (February 1924)

Thursday, February 28, 1924 WiiW 5HUW5 IHia Wilfc-iv 25 «TWlN BEDS" <5) T«bloid Farce j6 Mini.; Full 8Uge (Special) fifth Avenue Helen Raymond Is featured In this tabloid of the legitimate play, "JTwin Beds" a comedy success of several Masons P ast - Tne condensation has ^cast of five, three women and two men ■— The pie<'e looks a bit old fash- ioned in construction in tab form, tbe action and situations falling into the stenciled groove of the French farce school. • It's good theatre, however, even If not particularly close to life. A "aouse" husband of a woman living en one floor of an apartment house, falling into the bedroom of a mar- ried couple who live on the floor ^beneath, is the basis of a series of comic situations that seem mechan- ical, but which are marked with good stage comedy and plenty of speed. A special set builds up at- mosphere. At the Fifth Avenue the act ap- peared somewhat talky at the open- ing, necessary, probably, to plant tbe plot, situations following. As toon as the piece got to the, action portion, it wa3 a continuous suc- cession of laughs. Miss Raymond gives an excellent performance and the four In support handle their farci-al robes Creditably. No. 3, In tho better bills, would seem about right for It, with the title, "Twin Beds" figuring as an Mset. Bell. CRYSTAL BENNETT and CO. (2) Athletics 12 Mine.; Three (Special) 23d St. A black and white eye supposedly to convey the idea of an interior •f a gymnasium furnishes the set- ting for this offering, contributed by two athletic girls and & man. '. girls carry the brunt of the work with the man acting as an- nouncer and referee. They open with club swinging and Juggling. Followed by a slashing; three-round boxing contest be- tween the girls. The latter is given a comedy slant through the girls missing their objective and swat- ting the referee. Old stuff, but the mob howled at It. Later Miss Ben- nett dons the gloves with (he male member who plays particularly rough with her In the beginning but Is later swatted all over the place. A spirited wrestling match between the girls provides a finish. The turn was a show act here on Monday. It held second spot. Got over well, but naturally belongs as an opener or closer. SINGER SISTERS Songs 11 Mini.; One Two pretty little girls with an act varying from the usual sister turn only because one of them has a better sense of comedy values than is generally found In simi- lar teams. She ie a vivacious bobbed-haired youngster with a knack of using her hands, her arms and In fact her whole body ex- pressively when selling a number. The other sister wears long un- becoming curls which will probably handicap her with many, but aside from that she is right up to scratch. She handles the piano neatly, has one soprano solo and holds up her •nd of the harmony aptly. Six numbers were sung when reviewed, four of them running to light comedy stylo with the contralto clowning to returns. Two or three of the songs mean little and might advantageously be dropped for something brighter. Otherwise the girls look set for the Intermediate time. O'MEARA and LANDIS Talk and Song* 18 Mint.; One. (Special Drop) 68th St. The scone is a bathing beach, A man is being chased and runs Into one of the beach tents—the wrong one. Out comes the Irate woman, black hair, good, medium figure, and attractive face, and, with the man as a skinny, be-spectacled sap, the comedy all comes his way, with the woman doing the feeding. Later she reappears in a black bathing suit and sings well. A com- edy bit concerning tho finding of liquor in a suitcase is also worked |n, with a police-man figuring. This •s good for five minutes of laughs." As the act stands now it is pos- sessed of good materia), and with a little retouching of the backdrop it ought to be able to strike the big- time bills. Certainly its mate-ri'-l Is far superior to tho average skit dialog, and both flic man and the woman do their work deftly. PALACE Elsie Janis, making her sporadic dip into vaudeville long enough to get her talented feet wet with the liquid gold thereof, did 43 minutes at the Fa lace Monday evening, 40 minutes of It great, the other three being one Walter Vern Pldgeon of her concert troupe. Pidgeon walks and acts like Abe Lincoln, and creaks of the best correspondence school of vocallsm in Iowa. He is a baritone and he sang two ditties while Miss Janis changed her frock. He held his hands poised at the waist and never looked at the audi- ence. He was either too upstage for vaudeville, or too scared of it. When he burst Into a Salvation Army hymn about eradicating sin from the soul it needed only a few of the agents to run down the main aisle and hit the trail. But when he encored with "Markeeta," a pas- sionate little tropical love ditty, fragile and wistful and poignant, In the same mannerisms which he struck and held for his Sunday school chant, it was probably as grotesque a combination as vaude- ville had ever seen. -Pidgeon per- haps had an Idea that this was some prayerful plea, also. Thrown Into the midst of a routine of Miss Janis* fin-> exhibition of satire and humor, she had her little chuckle, too, at the interpolation. The rest of the time Miss Janis was on alone with her pianist, Les- ter Hodges. Hodges is also of the concert world, but he didn't let that stick out conspicuously. He Is a very workmanlike accompanist. Elsie, fleecier and more versatile than ever, ran a string of originals and imitations that pyramided up to an uncanny and amazing per- formance in all. One by one her cameo impersonations and vivid personations flowed from lips, eyes, finger tips, toes, hair; each seemed the last word and each was topped by the next word. A Will Rogers, with some nifty rope twirling, was nowhere short of a classic. Miss Janis scored a mighty triumph and tied up the show solidly after 11. Only the clowning, falling and unabashed low comedy of Charles Winnlnger saved the Blanche Ring- Wlnninger act. Miss Ring could not get started, somehow. Once she faltered entirely and made an audible comment to the effect that she had "been on the water wagon for five weeks," and several times she audibly argued with the orches- tra about the key. She seemed un- able to get her voice working, and when she sang some of her old- time choruses it was but a faint echo of their better days. Winnlnger worked like a beaver, going to cartwheels, heavy tumbles, breaking trombones, sliding into the foots, slipping down a ladder, and any number of comedy-shoe gyra- tions. Whenever the talk was in progress the turn stood still, the material being flat without a re- deeming moment. This team, held over at the Palace, surely did not earn this extension because of as- tute or careful preparation. The movie scene from "Snapshots" is a skeleton of what it was and lacks all rhyme and reason. The scene in "one'' following is at no time up to what might be expected of two such representative "names." DeHaven and ?Jice scored with their range of burlesque panto and dancing, a unique vaudeville act, and always in tune with the vaude- ville spirit. Eva Puck and Sam White come under the same classi- fication. There was no evidence of the nifties publicly objected to in tho advertising columns of this newspaper some weeks back and publicly defended by White. And, whatever the merits of the owner- ship of the jests at issue, thfey were not missed, for the team banged in a laugh a second without waver. Meyer Oolden'fl "Antique Shop" suffered from a little too much crude talis- by the announcer, who wandered afar and not always wisely. Some of the wise cracks were in poor taste; others were rather brisk and bright. Somehow a sidewalk monolog before a suc- cession of such dainty dancing pic- tures seemed not to synchronize at all. The dancing and the produc- tion bits were lovely, perfectly done and as fine as anything of their sort In any walk of the amusement realm. A pretty girl in costume or a man of more fanciful spirit and remaining in the atmosphere would lift this offering to. much higher effectiveness. It closed in - termlsslon strongly as It was. Olga Cook, the dainty blonde young prima donna, accompanied by Eric Zardo, the affected but able concert pianist, sent in a sensational hit. Miss Cook was Inclined too much toward operatics and should have done one lighter number for variety. She finished with a solo from "Blossom Time," and this, too, she made extremely difficult, which scored heavily, but did not permit the revelation of her charm in more reposeful songs. Zardo's two solos were done with much eyebrow maneuvering and frank posing for effect, but were smash- ingly received. This is an extreme- ly telling act and will vie with any in vaudeville for applause on any bill. Chevalier Brothers goaled 'em In second spot with some easy lifts and balances, at times quite up to anything Rath Brothers ever showed. But the Chevaliers are far more versatile, and such wows as a double cartwheel to a hand- to-hand stand, and remarkable single foot on head balances tore down the house, as early as It was —about 8:17—when they came on. A hardshoe dance by the topmounter going into an amazing pin up to the one hand of the understander, who enters, sweeps the other up and carries him out all In one un- broken motion to the music, sent them out to a complete show- stopper. Adelaide Bell, a powerful girl who does some fine ankle dislocations and refined contortions, opened, featuring some contortions in the way of head and back kicks and some foot-on-head postures for a getaway; very neat girl with per- sonality and too smart to overdo the contortions. Kay and Lorene Sterling, with good roller skate dances, tricks and novelties, appeared after 11, to a Janis-drawn audience, following Miss Janis, so the going needed roller skates. They held in a goodly share of the mob and did rather bet- ter than the circumstances promised. Ziait. ADAMS and GRIFFITH Comedy chatter 17 Ming.; One A team of long association with the basic idea of the act the same as in years past, but with certain eliminations and addition*;. Sam Adams and J. P. Griffith have used for some time the Idea of the Im- maculate singing teacher and the elmpish boob, badly clothed and unable to speak clearly. With the mugging of the comic, which plays a large part In getting the laughs, the turn gets real returns. Some phony singing is put over and as a finish some old time stuff. "Sweet Sixteen" and others, are used to applause. The old stuff gets the hand—at the 23rd St - got a hand big enough to force a le- gitimate encore after the stage had been darken'd. The act Is good for the Inter- mediate houses. HIPPODROME Too much dancing In tbe current Hip show. Ten acta and eight held stepping of one. sort or another. Four had large ensembles of chorus and ballet dancing. Three of these were essentially dancing acts. Four of tho remaining six contained some form of individual dancing. The only acts that didn't slip over a little hoofing were a juggler and trained sea-lion. That made It pretty nearly a terpsichorean contest. The whole show went over pleasantly. No riots or panics though. Half of the ten this week are repeats. That seems too many. About two du- plicators would appear nearer the right number—If the Hip is to keep the repeat thing In. It's a question whether the hold- over idea in time won't work out inimlcally for the Hip. That de- pends on how many weekly regulars the biggest show house in the world develops with its new Keith vaude- ville policy. If a large number of the same patrons decide to make the Hip a weekly ceremonial it's likely too many repeats are going to pall a trifle and tend to keep away po- tential regulars. Conceded the Hip used to keep a show on for a whole season—that was a different type of entertainment. Thie Is vaude- ville and vaudeville calls for va- riety with each week's show as differentiated from the previous bill as possible to make it. Always allowing exceptions to every rule of course. The Hip dancing girle make an excellent permanent feature. Then there are unusual cards like Marcelle's Talk- ing Sea Lion, with special value for the Hip. This is the fifth week for the loquacious amphibian, with three more to go and he easily jus- tified his lengthy stay Monday night. The holdovers, besides the sea lion, were the Csecho-Slavakian Orchestra, Runaway Four, Harry Watson, Jr., and Co., and Yates Revue. Opening this week are Norris' Toytown Follies, Enrico RastelH, Miaeahua, Vera Michelena and Fred Hillebrand and O'Hanlon and Zambouni. No change in the program run- ning order Monday night. Norris' Follies, a dog and monkey turn with a troupe of fine looking collies and jumping hounds, and a couple of cute monks Initialed. Good sight turn a step off the beaten path for canines and simians. Norris cut his talk apparently for the wide open spaces of the Hip. Made a practical opener and did nicely. Deuclng it was the Czocho-Slc- vakian Orchestra. The program says it's a national one and its debut over here. There was a Czech band playing around a year or so ago and this sounds a good deal like it. May bo all Czccii bands sound the same, however. A typical brans band of the old school the Ozechos are handicapped with tuneless old-fashioned ar- rangements, the general tonal effect being almost Identical with the stolid blaring the old-time brass organisation! used to produce at the Dutch picnics and Schutzenfes* rackets over in Rldgewood and Ho- boken. The music la undistinguished, to put it mildly, most of it having a distinctly delicatessen and sauer- kraut accent, especially in the tempo—jerky, and marked with a noticeable Teutonic peasant rhythm such as tin- silver cornel home tal- ent band of a Bavarian village might have. Folk dances by a troupe of Kills in Csei ho-Slav costumes produced nothing "'.' novelty, with the gen- eral effect i-f 'be several ensem- bles being commonplace, Flolowlng the exceptional dancing turns the Hip has had since it started this season was about quite as much of an impossible task as the Czech instrumentalists had in trailing along after Ixipez-not to mention Ltnzbcrg's crack house orchestra. The Runaway Four picked the show up Xo. 3, and their medley of acrobatics, singing, hooting and clowning gave the running an au- thentic vaudeville atmosphere. The four gobs woke the slumbercrs up and got away to an enthusiastic finale. One of the high lights next In Knrieo Rastelll. Showering seven plates while balancing a ball on his head is made to look like child's play by Rastelll. He showers eight plates while maintaining another balance just as smoofhly. He's billed as th*> "master juggler of the world," ant that finishing trick he does prove bis claim to predomi- nance. Thie has him doing a head stand on a revolving globe, manipu- lating objects with both feet and hands and balancing a revolving umbrella in his mouth. He made a couple of misses Mon- day night, but covered 'em up neat- ly. Rastelll held rapt attention while on, but did not close to the applause his efforts deserved. Harry Watson. «Jr., fifth with the ever green telephone bit nnd bur- lesque boxing business. Both got laughs, but the Watson turn also closed a bit quietly for the way It had gone previously. Vates Revue, with its two tal- ented solo dancers, Josephine La- vole and Lester Lane, supplemented by a background of choristers that Included the well-trained Hip girle, closed the first half. Miss Lavolc has form and style in abundance, with a kick in any direction with either foot that's the acme of grace. Lane is also an expert at the leg- mania stuff. Miaeahua, wire walker, with Al- bertina Rasch's Bullet doing some Introductory toe dancing In a spe- cial black and silver spider well set, was second after Intermission. Marcelle announced Miaeahua as making her debut In America, or something to that effect. But that's wrong, because Miaha- cu played the Rivera in Brooklyo a couple of years ago. Probably Marcelle doesn't figure Brooklyn In America, and that's a pretty tough rap—and by a guy with an English accent, too. The Brooklyn "Eagle" ought to have listened in on that one. Wait until Marcelle plays the Orpheum with his talking sea Hon. The seal which specialises in laughs ae well as conversation is going to have the time of its young life laughing off that crack about Brooklyn not being in America. Hillebrand and Michelena next to closing, with Halsey Mohr assisting at the concert grand. The team offered a comic opera travesty that's basically the idea used by .Cbas. Olcott for years, and more recently by Jim McWillianis. A grand opera travesty was along familiar lines. The two travesties secured laughs, with Hillebrand personally better- lng the material. Miss Michelena sang tunefully in the operatic bit. The couple need an act. The pres- ent hodge podge isn't on a par with their legit standing. O'Hanlon and Zambouni, in "A Cabaret in Cuba," a dancing turn with Spanish atmosphere, closed. i.New Acts.) The act held 'em in until it proceeded about two-thirds of the way. With so much dancing before, a number of the commuters started to get restive, and quite a few walked. Business Monday night was ca- pacity in the w-'chestra, four-fifths in the balcony, and a corporal's guard in the gallery. Hell. Cherry sketch could be counted on one hand and were more a perfunc- tory tribute to th<> legitimate repu- tation of the star than to any merit cm! .ined i.i the manuscript or the dt livery given it. As a matter of fact the sketch in any other hands would be utterly impossible. At tint it was spotted third, about as fa- up as you could place it. Millard and Marl In, a mixed dou- ble turn doln», two numbers, re- ceived noma laughs during the cross* lire in the Bowery number. The male continue to knock the girl's lid off, which through repetition he- comes funny. The girl, when she can be understood, gets results. It's a passable deucer for the big time bills. The artistic hit went to Marga Waldron, closing the Aral half, with Josef Martin at the piano. Both are artists of the first water. Miss Waldron captivated from Mr en- trance on her toes down a practical staircase backed by a black cyclo- rama. an effective setting wet off by a prop parrot hanging on a perch. Her toe work Is exceptional for va- riety, grace and elevation, but the quality that makes her work su- perior to he army of toe dancers in vaudeville is her personality. It's a constant duel between her toes and her expressive face and was voted a draw. A speech was in- sisted upon before they would let • the pretty dancer go. Mr. Martin's piano solos were a real treat be- tween the dances. Dolly Connelly, with Percy Weln- rlch at the piano, was handed the toughest assignment on the bill fol- lowing the sketch. Number four is usually c.neldered a clean-up niche, but the sketch let the show down into a well from which Miss Con- nelly's dainty artistry partially suc- ceeded in boosting it. Her songs, written by Wclnrich, are tuneful and adequate, the best liked being "Irish Rose," accompanied by an Irish jig. and "In tho Five and Ten," a vocal recital of her meeting with her husband on the cover of a piece of sheet music in the "Jit" and "thin" emporium. Mulroy, McNeece and Ridge, a corking dancing skating turn of two men and a girl, opened speedily and deceptively, as It turned out, and Robbie Gordone closed, holding them well with ber artistic posing turn. About three-quarters of the lower floor filled with the boxes and upper portions In less proportions. Co*. RIVERSIDE Business at the Riverside hasn't been any too good for a number of weeks and the current bill won't help It much. Two "names" In the line-up and twin headliners arc Charles Cherry in probably the poorest sketch of the reason, "The Bachelor," spotted third, and Nellie and Sara Kouns, the singers, open- ing after intermission. The program as laid out is a con- crete example of the importance of low comedy turns and comedy acts in "one" to a vaudeville show. All the names in the world don't mean a» thing ae far as entertainment Is concerned unless the proper comedy proportions are kept, and this lay- out looks like u famine and plays the same way. Williams and Wolfus, next to closing, were the only legitimate comedy entry and they wowed them as usual. Herb Williams' low com- edy business with the leader, the prop piano, fruit, etc., were wel- comed with open arms. A new bit Includes a mechanical prop, a mov- able scaffold upon which the leader Is hung when he attempts to recti- They were a panic. The first half was sans comedy. Tho Juugiot during the Charles STATE A fast show and a good one—six acts and Gloria Swanson in the film version of "The Humming Bird." Business a trifle off Tuesday night. Plenty of vacant rows on the main floor. An orchestral novelty, "The Sing- ing Lesson," contributed by the house orchestra, provided a happy start. The legitimate opener was "A Day at the Races," an animal act that went across in a pleasurable gusto (New Acts), with Three Odd Chaps sustaining the speed tempo In the follow-up spot with songs and nifty stepping. The trio present a neat appearance, all being ' dean cut chaps, and what they don't know about dancing just isn't; that's all. Each of the three has a distinctive line of hoofing that makes their turn •sufficiently diversified. They are away before one has really had enough of them. Which, If nothing else, bespeaks good showmanship. Grace nnd liddie Parks, treyed with an acceptable line of conver- sation, songs and dances that clicked for an outstanding hit. Ed- die's clowning and- legmania stuff was worthily received, while Grace lent valuable aid to the double num- bers and also put over some neat dancing, although not quiu» as In- tricate as Eddie's contributions. Townsend Bold nnd Co. held fourth spot with a classy dance re- vue (New Acts). Frances Arms, accredited head- liner, scored neatly In next to clos- ing with songs leaning more or less to character numbers. Charles Strickland's Entertainers held get-away spot and wowed them with a mixture of songs and instru- mentals. "The Humming Bird" closed the show. BROADWAY Business well up toward capacity and a congenial throng made for a fast-moving evening Monday night. Seven acts and "Name the Man." ' Al Moore and his Naval Hand impressed as being the best known of the participants, due to an ensem- ble reception and through the recog- nition allotted the soloists as they carried on. Placed In tbe closing spot, the 11-piece orchestra, which includes a trio of pianos, blared out their conceptions that, With the com- edy offered, made the at t n walkover at this house, and can probably re- peat for an Identical conclusion at any other Intermediate theatre. Crawford and Broderlck were placed one ahead of the sailors to adequate results. A corking mixed duo, this, possessed of excellent ma- terial and always capable ><{ itx.n than holding up their share of the assignment. The Ernests started of the n ght on a trampoline and horizontal burs, (Continued on page 26)