Variety (May 1926)

i . i r Wednesday, May 19, 1896 PI^ENtX+lONS VARIETY r t 23 ■Velude to "•FARROWS" (39) I The men Impersonating Keaton and tinging* Danelittf, ete. I Torrence went Into the dance. The 17 Mine.; One and Full 8tage (8pee.) replica of Torrence was a wow and Qrauman'e Egyptian, Hollywood. I his grotesque stepping goaled. Sid Qrauman ia old originality It- A£t» this the announcer eUted Jit Staging prolog, or preludes as that th « foUc » woul <* the pre- ^ tnem now, lid is past grand J"?* of •'Sparrows' when the cur- Sliter He does not worry far In tal » went up into full stage and ££nce nor is he the fellow to be -howed a duplicate of the attic in ££d by the fact that he had two barn ■•Quence of the picture. Sretudes to stage on one night. He * ? 8 ° Pran ° ?"* SIciSeTabout five days ahead of the "« f» »*»>y Sleep/ surrounded by JSS of his double bill that he ha " * « oz ™ klddI ?J; ™» «» ' opemue " . _ A # mental touch put the audience In roing to do a certain type or ■* rtf the double bill at Gniuman s 1 or 1 . al . „ . 4K . f on the screen what had been shown Egyptian. Sid also figured that he 1 ** was going to give the folks a nov on the stage only a minute before| Leo Forbateln, pit chief, wrote a Ung. •It* ;-omething thoy would not see overture of a semi-operatl to New York Chicago. London * Paris or Kansas City He^ gave beat musical P nrrangements hcard in them something that could only be conceived and done In Hollywood, m *"J » aay - eonceivcu « * Sid Qrauman sold them something and only by the prolific Sid whlch fl|d nQt re fc ^ Mr. Grauman recaHed he had n Maged a Wampaa Frolic and that ^ had ^ ^ far gave him a smack of an Idea for a better than man pre tentious greater portion of his prelude. However, the prelude needed an In- 1 ° troductlon, so Sid with a sense of humor as well as artistic taste, fig-I GILDA GRAY and Co. (20) ured he would take the lone -Sheik" | "South 8ea Idyl" who has paraded on a parapet above g Mine.; One (3); Full (3) the forecourt of the theatre since It Rj a |to, New York opened three and a half years ago Gi , da Gray wlth ner QWn com and bring him in close touch with I any q{ six dttncer8 and Prlnce La! the audience. Result was that a Un , and hlg company o£ Royal duplicate of the wall was built. As SamoantJ are presenting a very e f- the curtain came up, one saw the fectlve . prelude to the sh0 wlng of Guardian of the palace of amuse- t , |e GUda Gray fitarrimj picture ment standing at rest. That was a .. Aloma of the Sou th Seas" at the laught in itself. Rlalto. The engagement Is to be Then off stage came the voice of for g|x week8> . It is pos8 i b ie Miss a female addressing the lone patrol- Qray and the company wl n make man Inquiring when he was coming severa , additional personal appear- down and how long he had been ance3 Jn key citleg euch u8 Cnicago> there. Los Angeles and St. Louis with the The song cue as Sid had written picture following the Rialto engage an original travesty to the tune and ment> words of "Always." The man sang The j^y^ samoans opened the the first verse telling how he was presentation with a knife dance that on the Job, rain or shine in a clear won something, followed by another and corking baritone voice. He was numDer by the men, after which the George Hayes. The crowd got an- cur tain lifted on a beautiful repro- other great laugh. duction of a South Sea island beach For the introduction of the second set w j tn a wa ter effect on the back Terse the girl Inquired what was drop tne samoans starting with a going on and why the orowds as- cna nt and the six South Sea dancers aembled. That was his cue to say on £or a fagt Hula, leading up to "To see a Grauman opening and look I the entrance of Miss Gray for a at the stars." This was in lyric Hula number that brought down the form too, and served as a snappy house. tleup with the second scene. It was The presentation is atmospheric the forecourt itself with the crowd a nd attractive. It leads naturally can Bisters, and were specialising in "Dune" imitations. In their make- up the youngsters were the walking Images of the creators of "Topsy and Eve." They did several num- bers from this show and exceedingly well. The Foursome, a quartet, next. The lads have nicely harmonized voices and their opening selection, "Dinah." deserved the generous ap- plause it received. Two more har- mony numbers and then Clarice Ganon, soprano, added her pleasing warbling to the ensemble. For a finish the Granada Girls mado their appearance on an ele- vated platform in the rear, each rising out of a huge painted flower. They were dressed in orchid-colored silk costumes of a high sheen, which when the lights were turned on them full force fairly coruscated In their brilliance. It waa a massive blaze of color and with the harmony of the Foursome, Miss Ganon and the orchestra brought the curtain down to the accompaniment of un- stinted enthusiasm on the part of the nudience. Jack Partington staged the act, and it did him credit. Rivera. few times. Aside from that and taking It aa a unit. "The Grecian Urn" looks decidedly like a weak sister for the simple reason that the average picture fan doesn't care about cither Keats' or Gluck; no presentation like thin will make new readers for Keats or new worship- pers for Gluck. The thing that lays these preten- tious presentations open to so much ridicule is that they set themselves up as pretty fancy In the first place, when they quote the Keats' poetry, and then they follow it up with the old stuff—a series of spe- cialties well dressed but loosely strung together. flwte. assembled to witness the entrance | Jnt0 tne picture. Fred. of the stars. This was the similar idea Sid pulled at the Wampaa Frolic so that I "MAY DAYS" he would have a legit excuse to Revue with Orchestra bring the stars on and face the 35 Mins.; Full Stage audience. Granada, San Francisco Then Sid pulled another nifty, by Opening with a spectacular May using wax figures as the greater pole dance, filling virtually the en part of his court audience, with a tire stage, and utilizing Steffani and few of the performers who were to Imbru, adagio dancers, to lead the do their specialties scattered among 18 Granada Girls, the Granada had them. a colorful, tuneful and thoroughly Scorned the opening night the meritorious presentation In "May crowd did not know or realize that Days." preceding the screening of Sid had put on his prop figures "The Rainmaker" (F. P.). It was whom only in the show before he certainly needed to bolster up a had clad In the regalia of soldiers picture that was a sad excuse for for a courtyard display. Then on entertainment came an announcer who worked to The May pole dance with its un the dummies and told them the usual flash launched proceedings stars were on the way. with sufficient vim to get the au- T^e manner in which the an- dience immediately interested. The anouncer addressed his audiences orchestra, on a raised platform, causes this writer to reminisce of filled the background the occasion when Sid gathered a As the big plush dropped on the couple of picture men to address a final steps of this opener Jim Mos- group of notables on the matter of i e y, billed as "The Ukulele King," censorship, and the notables were filled in the time necessary to per- nothing but wax figures. mit a rearrangement of the setting. • Of Course, the wax figure Idea is Mosley reminds one of Cliff Ed a nifty as it entails no weekly wards and offers much the same payment for services and the dozen sort of music. His efforts didn't ex of so used probably save some 500 c ite the crowd to any alarming ex- a week. tent, but won him a satisfactory Then walked on the chorus of 16 hand, attired as house ushers to do a drill Mosley off, the plush was pulled and dance routine. up and the orchestra with Its new The announcer Inquired whether leader. Don Wilkens, got right down ' there was some one in the group to the business of concocting mel who would like to entertain while ody. The numbers were light and waiting for the stars. That caused modern and several distinctly blue Stanford Jerome to announce he jazz. Wilkens got away to an un- would give an Imitation of Baby usually hearty reception. Prior to Peggry. Jerome, in falsetto voice, being elevated to leader he was a rendered a kid number that hit well, member of the orchestra and fre- After him another pair of suppoed quently made his bow as a soloist, figures in the person of Ted P.rad- The audience seemed genuinely glad ford and Fay Adler did an adagio, that he was placed in charge. Evl- The dexterity of this duo was the dently the management is feeling occasion for the show stop signal, its way so far as Wilkens Is con A black-haired damsel wafted her cerned, for as yet they are not giv- way onto the stage to perform an lng him any individual publicity aesthetic number. It sort of slowed except on their own screen up the proceedings for a second un- Wilkens has a pleasing personal tfl the announcer stated that Anna ity and without doubt knows his "THE PIRATE 8HIP" (30) Prelude to "The Black Pirate" 8 Mine.; Full Stage Grauman'i Egyptian, Hollywood, Cal. Second half of the Grauman's Egyptian Prelude for the double bill was short and snappy. It showed the deck of a pirate ship, with rig- ging, etc. As the curtain arose, George Hayes, baritone, sang "The Pirate Song." Trotted on the 16 chorus ladles of the Grauman In- stitution who introduced a duel or sword dance. It waa fast, snappy and peppy, keeping the girls en their toes for a full five minutes, dnrlng which time they stepped around, exchanged blows with cut- classes, then went into a dance rou- tine again and more of terspslchore. They sure were a well-drilled squad of stage soldiers. As their dance was about three- fourths finished, Bradford and Adler came out and did the Pirate dance, an offspring of the Apache. This was a cyclonic number and regis- tered. At Its conclusion with Miss Adler in the rigging hiding away from her pursuer, the 16 coryphees again did a bit of dueling, finishing with a march routine that got a rousing hand as the curtain descended. These dance numbers were staged by Fanchon and Marco. It is safe to say were far different than any pirate or duelling numbers one sees elswhere in prologs or musical shows. The scenic embellishments for this prelude were richly mounted, excellently Illuminated and gave the impression of splendid taste In staging. Ung. GENE AU8TIN 11 Mins.; One Metropolitan, Washington. Best proof of the value of this visitor artist to the local picture house Is told by a second week at the Metropolitan. Gene Austin had the local review- ers writing special stuff on his crooning method of putting across songs. Austin is fairly well known as a writer of song hits. Austin plays his own accompani- ments. Being a composer gives a house management a double pub- licity selling argument. Austin did four numbers here Two were accompanied by a stringed quartet from the house or- chestra. Each brought big returns. in "one" in a tux, Austin's pleas- ing manner of putting a song across plus his likeable personality will click anywhere. Afeafcfo. Everett Clark. Miss Miller was out in "one" to Introduce the dance finale, which Nitza Vernllle opened by doing kicks and acrobatic work. Too heavy a makeup hurt this girl's appearance, although her dancing got over nicely. Tivoli Girls, six, next with unison stepping taking applause honors. Sammy Lewis stepped in for fast ground work and then the finish of the dozen house girls, sextet, and Miss Vernllle, all on. Presentation dovetailed nicely and won curtain approval. 9kig. May Wons was in the offing. On trotted Moran and La T.ort, man and woman in Chinese costume, for a bit of tap stepping, an out and out wow. Along came a k'w\ announced a«* Betty llronson to do a bit of danc- ing in Peter Pan cost time. Fol- lowing were announced the T.tI- madp© sisters. Marion Davie*, duster Keaton and Krnest Torrcnco. business. He acted aa master of ceremonies in introducing the va rious performers, keeping up a breezy chatter that was neither in trusive nor unpleasant. Rather it served to blend the offering of one :>rtist into that of another. Wilkens brought on the I'arV Sis ters, presenting them with a neat little speech to the effect that they were personal frk ;m!s of the Dun "THE GRECIAN URN" (12) Divertissement 12 Mins.; Full Stage (Special) FUvoli, New York This Is the newest of the John Murray Anderson Publlx presenta- tion acts. A title says it is based on Keats' Poem, "Ode to a Grecian Urn," which has the line "Beauty is truth and truth is Beauty," etc., and also that the "immortal melo- dies of Gluck" are utilized. That's the tip-off right there as to how this fits Into a picture house. If more proof, the program lists a "pas de deux" by a pair of dancers, Instead of merely saying steppers are going to step. That "pas de deux" business is applesauce for the film palaces even if Anderson's opinion differs. And he's proved this season that he's no authority on what the picture audiences like. The stage setting is backed by velvet curtains. On a high plat- form is an urn of heroic size, mpon which three people pose at the base and three more around the sides. At the bottom of the platform, a harp ensemble of six is placed, with Mig- non Laird of that group doing the one dance of the act that the audi- ence liked. A singer, Maria Muga- vero, is also used. When she grew tired of singing "the Immortal melo- dies of Gluck" she did one of those coloratura specials, "La Caplnera," which had the flute obllgato. Three dancers, apparently from some very classical school, did a classic routine of the bended arms and the tiny, clashing cymbals. Mile. Rhea and Ralph Santoro (who also did some balancing with Joseph Witt) performed a vigorous rou- tine nicely done but not of the type calculated to provide cither novelty or joy to the average audienco. The turn, running about 12 min- utes, did fairly well at the opening, although the orchestra gov lost a "CARNIVAL OF JAZZ" Orohestra and Revue 20 Mins. Globe, Philadelphia Charlie Kerr, with local reputa- tion very high because of his chain of Jazz orchestras In this city a year ago, made his first appearance here after a lengthy absence in a three weeks' engagement at the Olobe with his orchestra and group of entertainers. He has a novel idea—a repertory of revues. His offering last week was called "A Carnival of Jams." In his company Is Edith Keller, "blues" singer. Margaret Freeman Is a personable ballad singer whose hit is "Some- body's Lonely." Patricia Fay la a diminutive little blond dancer whose style is "a la GUda Gray." She has two solo dances, one a shimmy and the other a snappy Charleston. She teams up In a Spanish number with Ronald Mou- quin, who has an acrobatic dance. The carnival setting Is provided by the band in harlequin costumes. There are 11 syncopators in this outfit led in person by Kerr. Their feature numbers last week were "I Won t Go Home Tonight," "It's You" and "Moonlight and Roses." Victor Butz, the saxophonist, is an eccen- tric dancer who pulls a lot of laughs In his "jumping-jack" number. Tho offering of the previous week was "A Plantation Revue," with band In the overall, straw hats and blackface of the South. Blues and "down-south" numbers were fea- tures, and in the revue appeared Lee Hall and Essley in dance divertisse- ment; the Haley Sisters in songs and dances; Viola Lewis, singer, and George Wong, Chinese vocalist. The first revue was "The Surprise Revue," and the added stars in- cluded Vincent Caruso, saxophone specialist, Cooney and Newton in songs, and Hall and Estley, in dances. Water*. MARK STRAND FROLIC 23 Mins.} Two and Full (Special) Strand, New York Five skits in this week's (May 16) Frolic, winding up in a "Danc- ing Bee." It opened by a mixed team singing "Love Call" ("Rose- Marie') in a woodland sat, the small circular sheet again being used. Upon this was thrown moun- tain scenes during the vocalising. Muriel Pollock and Vee Lawn- hurst, feminine piano twosome, fol- lowed for a short recital, using the numbers from "Tip Toes" aa a start and afterwards going Into a popular medley. This finished them off to healthy applause. "In Dutch" had Mile, Klemova and M. Daks before a picturesque atmospheric set backed by the house ballet of 12, nil In wooden shoes and corresponding costume. Well done and a "sight" bit. "A Cup of Coffee, A Sandwich and You" (Chariot's Revue) had the Strand quaret up ji^.-iinst a lunch counter dressed as a street cleaner, tramp, cop, cte., augmented by Pauline Miller behind the counter, and "Ironsides" in the Making (Continued from page 1) on the Ironsides. Several people were reported to have been hurt* but un- til last week there was no attempt to repair these top masts. Delays were later caused by wrong direction winds which hampored the views of the camera man for cer- tain trick shooting. Every boat In the fleet Is equipped with broadcast- ing receiving sets, while on the "Construction," which is used as a flag ship by Cruze to direct the pic- ture, there is a sending set which gives the Instructions for operation. B. P. Schulberg, supervising head of the Famous Players-Lasky studio, and Milton Hoffman, bus- iness manager, have been after Cruze to speed things up as they are afraid it may take three months longer than his original shooting schedule, which would entail, It Is claimed .an extra cost of at least $200,000 In salaries. The studio offi- cials have given Instructions to Cruse that he must speed up shoot- ing so that at least 10ft extras every day are eliminated from the pay- roll. The extras are paid $36 a week with food and lodging. A Working Day The routine for the work is to get up at 4.30 a. m., at 5. a. m. re- port to the mess halls and hall tents each of which seat 600. At that time they must also have their make-up and wardrobe on. At < a. m. the extras must assemble on land location; at 7 a. m. all must have been distributed to the various boats to which they are assigned, as that Is the starting of the shooting hour. Before leaving the camp the ex* tras take their lunch with them. There is only one-half hour In the day's proceedings to eat. Shooting for the day is generally finished around 6 p. m. At 6.30 every one must wash up, discard their wardrobe and be ready for dinner. For the balance of the evening the extras are privileged to view mo- tion pictures, supplied by the Los Angeles Paramount exchange, or they can visit a tent which is called "The Casino." In this tent there are games, all said to be run on the level without profit to any one. Police Force for Extras There Is a police force of 10 men to see that order Is maintained. Last week the cops discovered a crooked gambler among the crowd. He was Immediately run off the Isthmus. It Is said pickpockets have gotten Into the crowd and that they have been active day and night on the ships and on land. From the Isthmus to Wilmington, on the mainland, are 20 boats run- ning. Each has a capacity of from 16 to 600 people. These boats have been rented from private owners. The food given the actors and ex- tras is reported to be excellent and plentiful. For sanitary and medical attention Is a physician on every boat, as well as a number stationed in the camp to attend to the physi- cal needs of the workers. 40 Camera Men Cruze has a staff of 40 camera men besides a group of assistants and technical men* who number about the same. The demands of the studio officials that Cruse speed his work on the picture have not been looked upon favorable by the director. It Is said. He Is known as the fastest working director with F. P., having made pictures In quick time and with less over shooting than any other director in the em- ployment of the organization. Cruze claims that at no time has footage been wasted In the making of what he believes will be the mas- ter picture of his career. If you don't advertise in VARIETY don't advertise