Variety (Jul 1926)

Wednesday, July 21, 1926 VAUDEVILLE REVIEWS VARIETY 21 PALACE (at. Vaud«> Palace bill this week has all the rariety and color of an acre of flivvers. Only one new act with the applAuse hits going to one act they wouldn't believe until Willie Solar put on big shoes, reddened up the nose, and another trio reminiscent of Stepx>e, Mehlinger and King and other trios that biased out of the west, when good rye was a half a buck a pint Frank Fay, who leaves the bill Thursday to hop on that certain steamer, was in the last throes of his announcing, going on for thej past eight weeks. Fay was far from spontaneous, although his entrance was the signal for a reception that lasted a couple of minutes. The ap- plause subsided downstairs after a normal interval, but the boys on the shelf kept it up. interspersed with shouts of "When do you get back?" Fay answered, "In six| weeks, and right back here." The gallery following may be due to Fay's two "stooges" Messrs. Haggerty and somebody else who work with him In his regular turn. The trio harmonized Just ahead of the cloHing act. Fay also introduced the uke player and girl dancer from the box. They climbed the ros- trum to oblige and the girl turned in a buck with wingH that stamped her a real tap dancer. The bllf ran as programed, prob ably a record fot- the hou.He. The Tom Davies Trio, a motorcycle thriller, opened unusually, followed by Stan Kavanagh. an English juggler, and very nice. too. Kava- nagh can make hats, balls and clubs behave like nobody's business, but his continual line of patter did and didn't. A couple of lime juicers in a stage box got everything, but the rest of the peasants were suffering from static Kavanogh's shapely assistant in opera stockings didn't hurt any. Willie, West and McGinty thirded and tossed props all over the place in their "House Builders." The act is a low comedy natural with no slow spots. Eddy Brown, a concert violinist, assisted by S. Shankman at the piano, made even the tone deaf ous tomers believe it. Brown performed pizsicato and other catos and closed to heavy applause from the far from capacity attendance. He is another one of "America's Oreat est Concert Violinists," according to the program. The line should be left standing. "Rhyme and Reason" next, fea turlng CJeorge Wiest and Ray Stan ton, proves that Billy K. Wells knows that the current big time vaudeville audiences have short memories and don't get around much. Billy has given them sev- eral generous slices of standard burlesque comedy bits that can be seen in half of the shows on the Mutual and Columbia wheels. He has wisely hung the drapes and eyes and stuck In a coupl'e of spe cialty dancers to give them "that vaudeville atmosphere." Among the standards is your old pal, the money bit. "'She won't take it," almost as ancient as "Krause meyer's Alley." A Charleston drama Is modern, but ''A Cabaret Per former's Idea of A Drama" also Is enjoying a contemporary popular- ity in burlesque circles. However, they went for all of it Wells and Max Hayes, the producer, know their onions. After Intermission Adler, Weil and Herman rolled on their own piano and after seven or eight fast trio, double and solo numbers, rolled off with the hit of the bilL The boys have plenty of Elinor Glyn's "it," in addition to knowing how Their routine of songs fits them like pre-war pants, and they can yoodle A corking act for the "pitchka" foundries also. If I'm not too in quisitive. Albertina Rasch's "Pompadour Ballet" playing a return engage- ment, scored signally following. Noree. the contortion dancer, runs away with the solo honors. Noth ing more supple has been seen in bodies, including the new whippet models. In a world championship match for the bending title she would be at least even money to cop. Tho ballet work of the sup porting cast costumes and Japan ese dance of Betty Conely. Edith DeFay and Stella Eyerman, also stood out. Willie Solar ran out of songs in the next to Phut spot and was forced to tell all about his coming Euro- pean tour before they would let him go. Solar also explained he was playing his Blst week of Orpheum and K-A vaudeville. He didn't ex plain he was probably the cause of the epidemic of big shoes and red beesers that clogged up the books • a few seasons b.\ck, after he had thrown away the tux. Georgalla Trio, one of the most intereHtfng sbarpshooting acts on the sta?e, closed the show and held them In remarkably well. The turn includes two males in gob and chief petty officer's uniforms, and a girl who also can shoot without a false move. Sans stalling, the trio tan through all the trick assortment of mirror shots, up^de down. etc. They feature a periscope rifle, their own patent and it should pruve deadly for trench warfare. A pip closing turn for any bill nn! ttlnioFi cummuter proof. Con. RIVERSIDE (St. Vaude.) Ei^ht-act bill of Kood quality held an audience Monday night that could have been put in the flrst six rows. It was sweltering anywhere, but the house was cooler than the lifeless air outside. Program was framed for summer entertainment with Joe K. Brown and Marion Bun- shine as the draw (New Acts). Fairly fast singing and dancing bill surrounded by musical comedy pair with fair comedy values and some variety, all running in the pro- gramed order, which put the head- liner on closing the show. It was preceded Immediately by the rather rough low comedy turn of Jimmy Conlin and Myrtle Glass. The latter held the stage for 2S minutes. Even after that the Brown- Sunshine turn, brimming over with class, held them In to a man. Worden Bros., pedal jugglers, opened the show in acceptable style. Frank Jerome and Evelyn are straight dancers, mostly stepping in the acrobatic style. The man has a number of striking bits of hoof- ing combined with ground tumbling that would stand up on its own. Girl has a great kick and her con- tortion commands attention. Too much announcing. George Yeoman and "Lizzie" stage a brisk 16 minutes of sparkling talk. Yeoman goes immediately into his monolog. reelinsr off wise cracks. There are moments when they come rather too fast for an ordinary audi- ence, but the sum total is sure Arc. Lizzie now appears in person, as a sleeping stenographer. The turn has amusing by-play, but the fast repartee is what gets it over. Yeo- man does wisely in working fast and steadily, just pouring his pat- ter out without waiting to shade meanings or work up points labor- iously. Shaw and Lee deliver a laughable comedy song and dance act, but the humor for their stuff la the keen burlesque they do on the .old-fash- ioned song and dance turft. World of smooth satire in their poslngs and theri demeanor of earnest, sol- emn unison stepping. The grotesque acrobatics, particularly the limp flopping aboi^. of the smaller man. is genuinely funny. Dave Apollon. now using two girls and the Manila Orchestra. Philip- pine band of seven stringed instru- ments. This Apollon is a specialist of the first water. He is slow to get started, choslng to open with a piano solo and then going into a long session with a mandolin. But when he gets into his flrst Russian dance with the two girls, playing a piano accordion, he is set. Monday night the act ran for two minutes beyond half an hour. Apollon is an artist. He has no excuse for using up the time for a sort of symphony of the "Giaconda" number by the orchestra, but his Russian acrobatic dancing is a whale of a bit. Another Item that sticks in the mind is his solo on one of the Philippine instruments. The selec- tion probably was apparently of Russian drlgin, but for a simple bit of playing the curious, bizarre ca- dences were novel and arresting. The two girl dancers are extremely pretty, and both agile in a variety of steps, from the Russian man euvers to a toe dance in rag time to a "Charlecton." Miss Marcelle was disclosed as a coon shouter of the kind familiar a few years ago. with all the tricks of the day—and some of the same numbers, too, such as "Dinah." She blacks up to light brown and at the flnish doffs her raven wig to show her own blonde hair. They like< this so much at the Riverside that they called for another number. Conlin and Glass go in for low comedy with a good deal of energy and determination. They get laughs by means that are not particularly unctuous, but they get them. It's a noisy, hammer-and-tongs kind of fun. Man and woman horse play and roughhouse always get results of course, but so does the slap stick The Brown-Sunsblne offering was the cream of the bill and the pair carried off the honors of the evening overwhelmingly. HQLBORN EMPIRE London, July 6. If there exists a single patriotic Britisher who is still of the opinion that native talent is as good as for- eign today, he has only to witness the show at the Holborn Empire the current week and cure himself of his belief. Seven of the 10 acts comprising the program are aliens. Five oX these are American, a mlxth. la Chineso, under the managem^it of an American, while the seventh is continental, probably French or Belgian. Of the three remaining native turns there is Len Jackson, a revue low comedy character artist with a Midland dialect, in a skit culled from a provincial revue organiza- tion.. He is assisted by Charles Rodney, an especially competent "straight." The act is old-fushloned in idea and language. The second native is Mamie Sout- ter, a bright little singing and danc- ing soubret who resorts to low com- edy to cover her avoirdupois. It is a pity, for the girl Is a good soubret and dances daintily, with a reason- ably good sense of values in putting over a song. The other contribution of home talent is that of the Littleflelds. a wire act—man and woman—open- ing with a bit of hoop rolling. There is an attempt at comedy crosstalk throughout the proceed- ings, but it is of little avail. The only thing of any special moment in the turn is a knee-stand on the wire single knee—picking up handker- chief in mouth. The two debuts in London were Fay Courtney and Madeleine Ran- dolph, and Greenlee and Drayton. Courtney and Randolph sang har- mony for 16 minutes and were cor- dially received. After getting away to healthy applause and a speech, in a misguided desire to show their gratitude, they did one more number which detracted from the sum total of good will. A wag in the audi- ence, after hearing Fay's speech of thanks and asking what else wras demanded, yelled ' Charleston." Greenlee and Drayton, a fast- moving pair of colored singers and steppers, had a hard time of it to persuade the orchestra to coincide with their movements, and it is all the more to their credit that they registered so emphatically. Their immaculate appearance is worthy of commendation. Newell and Most made their Eng- lish debut at the Holborn last week and are retained for a further week. The audiences already know them by now and love them. Their com- edy is infectious—it is insidious, gets you whether you want it to or not. They look happy and seem lit- erally to "ooze" happiness. Stewart and Olive are another re- cent American Invasion, a mixed couple, with Stewart doing triple tap dancing and giving an Imitation of Eddie Leonard, whom he de- scribes In his announcement as "the Eugene Stratton of America." The couple got away to riotous applause. Julian Rose, with his "Levinsky" character, has a bunch of new songs, the flnnl one of which Is so locally topical it would mean little in tho States. Julian was accorded a warm welcome on his first entrance and on doli^ his comedy bow acknowl- edging the applause, the Jokester who called for the "Charleston" made a similar request of Rose. Julian is getting to work like George Robey. in one respect at least that of waiting for his points to sink in and then looking straight at anyone who happens to laugh boisterously The Six Chinese Gladiators—« foreign turn in any event—might be classed as American, In that they were organized there and are un der American direction. A speedy turn, they sell their goods like good showmen and are certain of success anywhere. The closing turn, Les Eldons. acrobats, doing hand-to-hand work, with some original triple combina> tlons, are weak in the matter of comedy. In fact, the three men are more than crude when they atteihpt either pantomimic or verbal humor A continental turn—the few words they utter indicate they are either Fren2h or Belgian., The act would have no value for America. Jola. seemed a surprising contribution from a quartet, yet the dancing was good enough for the boys to en- core with it The Colonial Sextet came on lourih. three men and three wom- n. with music of the operatic type, 'he prima donna stood out and won , big hand with her solo. The >resence of a quartet and sextet on he same six-act bill seemed stn*.nge, hut worked out satisfactorily. The Hori Trio opened. There is a woman in the act now. She opened on her toes working on a small plat- form supported pedally by tiie men who are on tables. The barrel manipulation Is familiar, neverthe- ess adroit and amusing. The perch closing exhibition is now the stand- out feature of the act One of the Japs works aloft on an inverted bicycle, and it is nervy stuff. The act would make a good fair or circus turn. Ibfie, LOEWS STATE (Vaude-Pcts) Nothing implying summer light- ness to this show, topped by a nov olty in Rahman Bey (New Acts) the Egyptian Fakir. Rahman Bey should unquestionably draw, yet the bill around him is above the aver age here. Summer heat is no longer a deterrent for houses equipped with modern cooling systems such as this one. Monday night Joseph Jordan with the house orchestra faced a wcll- tcnanted house, with only the top .section of tho balcony vacant. Jor- don scored with a slide and sing pop number medley called "Lessons In Love." Novelty short fllms pre- cedf^d that. Included was one pic- turing tho native dances of va- rious countries, and the organist cleverly worked in the casUnets (special stop on his keyboard) when a Spanish number was pictured. Plenty of singing in the show, with a minimum of dancing. Com- edy strength stood out with the novelties to such a degree hooflng wasn't missed. Marty Collins ("you're a wis© guy") and Harry Peterson hoked it up next to clos- ing for an excellent score. Collins ventured to say it was too hot to wear two pairs of pahts that came with his suit His undressing pan- tomime had every girl in the house giggling and he landed with cor- netting. too. Collins is probably a good muslcker, but he is an excel- lent clown. Peterson puts it on too much In handling a ballad. Mardo and Wynn (New Acts) were on two numbers with a com- edy turn, too. Tho C. R. Four made a real No. 2. Their quartet sImr- Ing runs to a llRht form of lyrlcH. permitting touohes of comedy with numbers like 'Sonora," "Mamie Could Dance" and "I Certainly Could." The buck and winging BROADWAY (Vaude-Pots) Plenty for the money at the Broadway this week, but no names." of course. Eight acts, flght pictures and screen's "Mabel's Room" combine to make the show a goo! buy at 76c. Vaude ran along with precision, with Vee and Tully. mixed team, contributing gymnastics, hand-to- hand balancing, tumbling and in- strumentation, all making a novel offering. The fem is understander and manipulates her partner as though a bunch of feathers. Away to good returns. Coogan and Casey, another mixed duo. with breezy comedy in which Coogan registered as the girl-shy applicant at a lady medico's cot- age, with the latter proceeding to :ure the shyness by subjecting him to chiropractlcs, worked up for lowls. Even in this early spot It r?ot full value as a comedy turn. Melissa Ten Eyck and Co. more than sustained the pace in follow up with as nifty a dancing act as the little lady has ever projected, either individually or when with the late Max Welly. Boyce and Gvans, nifty male steppers, figured prominently In the support regis- tering heavily with two eccentric routines and a "lay down" dance. The boys' numbers were spotted between Miss Ten Eyck's solos, the latter comprising a waits number. Snanlsh and a snappy jazz at fln Ish. The act is there from an enter talnment angle and also has claM Kemper and Bayard, male team, held their own on next with the comic's "boob" registering heavily for laughs despite mediocre mate- rial. The routine seems premedita- tively set 60-50 for big time and mediums, with the boys flguring their hokum would hit both ways Most of if did with the mixed audi- ence at the Broadway. The te&m evidently co-booked with the follow up. Jeanie and Co., additional hokum comedy, featuring Jeanie. a fem midget, as a fresh kid. with most of her stuff with the "boob" comic. The "kid's" mis- chievousness and embarrassment of the "boob" trying to make an at- tractive sandwalker provided the pivot upon which the comicalities -evolved, workinv nn for a scream when the straight discovers the comic's conquest is his wife. Went over big. with the midget recalled for a song and Charleston dance. Jyner and Foster, two men In "cork." with argumentative chatter and dancing, drew the tough assign- ment of following the prevlou^ double-barreled comedy turn, bai managed well. Vhe talk or most of it got over, with the stepping also standing out. Booth and Nina, man and woman, closed with trick cycling and stunts that kept them interested. Fklba. will shortly force herself to sub- stantial attention. Not ntany singles of the Suter kind left, those who can sing and comede. While next to closing here, she mi(;ht take a No. 4 teat for bet- ter time. MIsfl Suter will probably land in the big time next to closing if the meivgre remainder of the big time doesn't do a fadeaway before Ann can reach it. Another return was Jake Rut>e Clifford, a rul>e character player, as hts middle name indicates. Mr. Clif- ford does the character very well, but there's no novelty left to the aged rube or vet since so many have gone to It That Mr. Clifford does it as a single, using a piano player for a straight man, doesn't make suf- ficient difference to distinguish this turn in its rube class for New York. Clifford has a little new comedy through becoming entangled on a settee with his legs, but the switch- ing of the right leg over the left knee is also familiar. Sotto voiced Mr. ClifTord remarked to the accompaniment not to step In on the laughs. Inferring he was re- plying too quickly, but the waminc was necessary but once.. Wherever vaudeville Is not toe old the Clifford act should be heartily weloom«L The deaf business In those spots win be certain for comedy. Ollfoyle and Lang finished second best on applause, with Ollfoyle working very hard for a warm even- ing. Miss Lang did her hardest lat>or changing gowns, and that must have been labor Monday even- ing. At other times she sang pop ballads. Her voice entertains thUi crowd. Opening were Oscar Martin and company, a ^three-act with « boy contortionist also used by Martin for his hand-to-hand and lift bits. The boy has been well trained for contortions and acrobatics, likewise to keep in the background when Martin takes bows. It might get Martin more at the flnish to permit this youth to come forward. Other- wise an opening turn with a Con- tinental semi-pantomimic twist to start off the turn. Gordon and King, two boys. No. 1, walked on wearing Eton suits with the white collar, a smillar costume to that worn by the youngster In the preceding act The two boys are hoofers and hoofed theouslves into the gallery's favor. Probably good enough for a road musical or burlesque. They should grasp at either for experience, which wUI give them better ideas on dressing; also assurance. Safe for ths Nq. S or any *'one" spot almost on these kinds of summer bills In Corre- sponding time In season. Arthur and Morton Havel olossA the vaude. Btm€. 5TH AVE. (Vaude-Pots) At the 5th Avenue the flrst half the bill looked as flat as Indiana and nearly played the same way. (Could have made that Long Island for flatness Instead of Indiana but prefer Indiana at present). Which left nothing for a draw be- flide the Delaney-Berlenbach flght film, running in three reels and con- suming about 35 minutes. It was independently taken and is so ex- hibited. A feature picture also In- cluded. Quite a nice attendance for the opening night of the week, not so nice in calibre perhaps as numbers. A couple of the acts got the gallery, with the gallery seemingly crowded and cheerful. They were going to see a flght for 25c. that had cost many another $25 or more—mostly more. Newest turn in the vaude section was Ann Suter, returning to metro- politan time after an absence of four years or so. Miss Suter in her slnqle singing turn of dlvorsined ch.'iracter numbers did easily the best of the easy lot. As an eccen trie singer, mostly through muggln(t but with motions (or gestures) and with a changeable personality in elusive of hair dressing. Miss Suter Kct« over quickly for results before an audience such as here. She can put over the types of songs chosen by her, lively ail and of wide enough range to suggest the young woman, I if in retirement upon this return 81tt ST. (Vsude-Pots) Heat, despite opposition of a good picture, got the best of this K-A opera house Monday night. Or maybo it wasn't the heat. Probabljr one of the poorest vaudeville lay- outs that could be given the cus- tomers in the "wisest" section of the town. Downstairs about half loaded. This emptiness seemingly reacted on the audience. With tht lowsr- Ing of the curtain on Welch snd Mocre (New Acts) only six persons in the orchestra applauded (the spsrseness made counting easy). Glntaro, Jap juggler, opened. Nifty top spinning and balancing of blocks. Before seen in metropoli- tan vaudeville circles. Glntaro was traveling with the Harry Lauder road show. This was In 1024. Since then he has graced variety. A clever showman and trlclcster, quick afoot he would flt anywhere. Herma and Juan Reves (New Acts), pianist and violinist, fol- lowed and were liked. So much so that they were recalled at the half- way mark of the Welch and Moore entrance music. Bert FItxgibbon kidded and nutted his way through 10 minutes' and got plenty. With a plugger singing from a box, FItsgtbbcn drops coins while tipping his hat to the windows of a house painted on the drop. The Monday night au- dience joined In the dough chuck- ing.. The flrst three rows did plenty of tossing and a guy in the middle of the house made a long throw. His was a dime. It was Flti's turn to laugh his way out of an embarras- Ing situation, which he did. But the coppers continued to come right up to the curtain calL Fltsglbbon has added Laura Plerpont to his turn. With her there is a sobby, sentimental number, heard In any burlesque show, good or bad, sum- mer or winter. Ballad of the mis* guided gal and something about the "easiest way" being "the hardest way." Sure-flre on 14th street. ITore ft would have failed to gain response had not Miss Plerpont lent strength of good selling to Its weakness. Her action of a "cokey" during the flrst verse Is too good to be dropped for a senllmental pose, which she does when going Inf^ the chorus. CarTton Emmy and his beauti- fully trained dof^s closed, making the audience laugh, which it had not done previously. "•Mll^nce" was nn excellent screen feature. Hut II failed to help the show or attendance*