Variety (Oct 1926)

20, 1926 VAUDEVILLE REVIEWS VARIETY 71 PALACE (St. Vaudc) It took Jim Thornton 60 yean to set on a Palace bill, and Frank Fay eight weeks to get off. But times have changed at the once ritzy *lab. If the bill didn't hold two comedy acta this week, one In each half, It would have taken a Country Store Night or a Neighbor- hood Follies to ball It out. And you can get a fair price In the morning line that if the customers con- tinue to shy at the $3.30 tap for 55- cent vaudeville without pictures, the managers' Idea contests will be In lor an old-fashioned revival. The bill this week, due to the presence of Freda and Palace (New Acts), number four In the first half, and Ann Codee, next to closing and on very late, developed a vaudeville tang that has been sadly missing from the Palace for some time. The first of the comedy turns did about as they pleased with the laugh famished customers and grabbed plenty of noise at the bends. The other duo, although playing the house for the steenth time, never went bigger or better, proving they may tire of drops and drape repeats, but comedy acts can play the house every 20 minutes. An early kick was Inserted In the first half when Reed and Duthers, a couple of nifty and fast stepping anklers hoofed their stuff. The act Is as neat as a Navy Yard on In- spection day and the boys can hop the buck. Third, was Mr. and Mrs. Norman Phillips (New Acts), par- ents of the unusually stage kid who holds up and makes the act possible. The turn by Billy K. Wells, "A Family Revue," Is an Improvement over their last two vehicles, the youngster scoring heavily, as usual. Closing the first half in one of the classiest dancing acts of all time, Harry Roye and Billle Maye, two of the best dancers in the business, cleaned up. and deservedly. In a house where one or more dancing acts weekly seems to be a religion this one stands out like a man on stilts at a midget convention. The solo dances of Roye and Maye are unusual and their doubles are a de- light. The production Is on the same high plane with the contribu- tions of Boyd Davis. Thelma, Vivian Lee, Leah Lewis and Babe Fenton, also above the average. The act Is an artistic gem. Heavy encoring required the principals to do a Black Bottom. The costumes of Miss Maye deserve special brackets. After Queen Marie was welcomed at City Hall by our own Jimmy Walker via the flickers, Ella Retford <New Acts), making her Palace re- turn, clicked nicely. Miss Retford passed the danger line when she started doing "impersonations," al- ways surefire with an American audience, whether good, bad or In- different. Roger Wolfe Kahn and orchestra followed. Young Kahn has an un- usual unit, each man being a soloist of ability and a specialist in addi- tion to adding his mite to the har- monious whole. The arrangements are a tribute to some one who knows his business. The act went heavily. Young Kahn leads In a likeable manner without frills and Bans the usual bologna. Ann Codee, next, took the milk man assignment, and was followed by the Arco Brothers, who lost a close decision to the commuters. The Four Kadex opened, featuring their aerial anchor upon which two of the men mounted on one end of the hook loop the loop with the girl on the other. Business good, but plenty of^seata a permanent flls good effect. Opening are Gordon and Day, comedy cycling turn, which starts very "straight" with boy-and-glrl in crosstalk, he doing an eccentric "dumb" comedy. Rose O'Hara (New Acta) was a negative Inter- lude. Casper and Morrissey, canny "high-brown" team, milked 'em plenty and left 'em hungry. Aa astute a showmanly turn as this, however, owes It to Itself to cut out that banal "poem" In connection with the woman's "pal" ballad. She hasn't the necessary dramatic abil- ity, either, to register with the ex- cessively "heavy" blah. "Waning Sex," film feaure. Business good. Abel to be had. STATE (Vaude-Pcts) - Goes to show how some acts fit In where others fear to tread. Take the Cansinos at the State this week as an illustration.* One would think an expert Castllllan combo like this Veteran duo (third member for the stage presentation) would perform handily in a class night club. But not so, according to their Casa Lo- pez debut, where they had every- thing in their favor: atmosphere, spotting and what not.. Given a scenic background with the vaudeville facilities for quick changing and entering, and the re- sult is quite different. The Cansi- nos ml* seemingly destined for the stage rather than a cafe floor. Of course, the picture houses aro their meat along with any kind of vau- deville, not to mention production. They have had everything, and lt'9 now a question of money and per- sonal choice with them. There's no other big noise at the State currently. Julian Hall and "Red" Dexter, mixed team, is the only comedy entry. Hall doing a two-in-one, having his own nov- elty band for the closing act. The Hall-Dexter combo t»—s—comedy standard, the band being something extra. After they get through with vaudeville this act, too. is an okay picture house bet- If some of those exhibitors who were clamoring for suitable Paul Ash-type band mnes- troes are still In the market, Hall should be given the o. o. He has personal ability, showmanship, por- nalitv, and possesses a fine flair HIPPODROME (Vaude-Picts) A picture with a punch con- tributes much to this week's Hip- podrome show, backed with a bright dancing specialty bill. Busi- ness was somewhat off Monday night, the house being well short of capacity for the evening show at eight o'clock. "The Ice Flood," Universal- Jewel Is the feature, a picture with a sensational melodramatic finish In the ripping flow of a broken Ice Jam through a logging camp for heroic effects on the screen. Glynn, Val Jean and Co, two men and two women with an elab- orate routine of hoop rolling, in- clude a number of novel twists to the specialty. They get spectacu- lar effects by using all four people In passing, which is smoothly done. The turn has all the ear marks of being a seasoned number, for the people move swiftly from feat to feat and work with such smooth- ness as could only be worked out by long experience. The novelties are in the use of hoops with ec- centric weights which perform odd stunts, one of them a drunken, reeling roll and the other a sort of cooch wave, tipped off by the music cue. The principal worker is fast and sure working with string catches and rolls. For the finish the other three toss hoops at him swiftly. as he dives Into them. First rate opener. Joyner and Foster, blackface comedians, were something of a let down No. 2 until they got to their stepping. The comedy talk—al- ways hard enough In this huge place—was not enough to wake them up following a dumb act, The talk Is tangled words without much business, while the situation they walked In on called for a brisk comedy opening or a snap number to get started. With the stepping, however, they livened up for a good finish. So far It was light comedy and It got no better when Bazazian and White followed in a straight routine of a robust tenor (Bazazian) sup- ported by a quartet of women play- ing brasses. The White of the act is apparently a woman cornetlst, who also goes to a piano for ac- companiments to the tenor. He has two solos, both absolutely straight, with brass quartet numbers in be- tween. It fell to the lot of Pat Hennlng and Co, to save the day. In the fourth spot it was pretty well along In the evening to go to the post to whoop up vaudeville bill. The turn started with the club throwing of a middle aged man and woman, but got Into Its swing with the Intro- duction of young Pat, apparently their son. The boy (evidently around 20) has a capital brand of humor and is a dancer par excel lence. His triple wing and his fast execution of novel steps, adapted from the Russian style, scored. His kidding with "Papa" in the en trance also got him something. He makes a number on the saxophone the excuse for some fair talk and again uses the uke for the same purpose, although he does do a number on each Instrument. The turn ran beyond 16 minutes and left them asking for more. The boy looks like a comer. Miss Patricola took up the run nlng and carried It a step further with her brilliant singing and her violin specialty. She uses several sentimental numbers to her own melodious violin accompaniment, and then for a change of pace goes into comedy lyrics at the finish Monday night she pulled a great finale by bringing on Pat Hennlng for«an imitation of Tom Patricola. A couple of weeks ago Miss Patrl cola might have had the aid of the Hippodrome girls, but this item of the permanent policy has been dis- continued, perhaps because Ida May Chadwick brought along he/ Six Dizzy Blondes for her closing act, or because this 50-cent grind policy isn't so forte on the intake after all and it's been considered good Judgment to lop off side is sues. First they had the Foster fiirls and after that a group of Rasch girls were used for a time. The tap dance carnival of Ida May and her little girl friends made a whale of a closer. This sextet of hard shoe choristers measure up with anything of the kind. Their meneuvcrs on the staircase made as neat a bit of ensemble stepping as comes to mind. Ida May, her- self, was a young riot In her fast wing routine and going Into a tap version of the Black Bottom tor AMERICAN ROOF (Vaud.-Pcts) A bottom heavy bill lint half with the first section woefully short on comedy. The present line-up has the only two comedy acta following each other, Nos. ( and T. That, to say the least, menaced the chances of the first divisions™, Monday night. With comedy absent la the first part. It occasioned cosiderable rest- lessness, anything making the task harder for the comedy click turns Cameron, Howard and Co. In sixth place and Van and Vernon, mixed comedy duo In follow-up. Despite handicap of a preceding alow bill, both displayed excellent showman- ship, aa weU aa ability by coming on, licking them and cleaning up deserved hits. A rowdy audience, aa well aa a packed house Monday night. Male gophers In the upper tier vied with hard-boiled bimbos scattered throughout, wisecracking and all but doing impromptu with moat of the turns. The main target of the "razzers" was Milton Berle. single, No. 3. and undeservedly so. Milt's breezy de- livery of chatter prompted uncalled for remarks from the balcony. They temporarily threw the comic out of gear. Smartly enough, he canned the chatter and went into a song that drowned out the asides from the balcony jurists. Nothing in the act to warrant such treatment. Just a few smart guys trying their best to disrupt the performance. When Berle gave them no visible "tumble" they quieted down, but the guffawing dame* In the back of the lower floor, continually laugh- ing out of turn didn't until the comedy smashes came on and then the audience couldn't discern the difference as to whether they were laughing with or at these acts. Most were laughing with them, so the majority ruled. Bob and Olive Nelson opened with fast contortion feats, registering aa likeable. Chilton and Thomas, mixed dancing duo. clicked In follow-up with a fast dancing routine (New Acts). Berle held next place. Acts). Berle held next place. Mile. Ivy and Co. (4) offered a so-and-so dancing flash. Mabel Drew, assisted by a male accompanist on the piano, offered a likeable song repertoire, on after In- termission. Well balanced routine was lifted considerably at the close by a reprise of hit songs of past and current musical shows. Cameron, Howard and Co. sound- ed the first comedy note thus far, and were a veritable panic with a nifty line of hokum, dancing and tomfoolery with Lew Cameron reg- istering above the other* with his eccentricities and hoofing. Howard, working straight, warbled a «ob ballad and clicked heavy, while two unbilled girl* lent feminine piqu- ancy and contributed some dancing, as well. Van and Vernon romped oa to the yell* of the previous turn, giving way to a show stopping demonstra- tion for the former, yet going on and equalizing If not surpassing the previous turn in net result*. Van's eccentric wide-trousered comic got a howl on entrance, and hi* ensuing chatter kept the out-fronters with them. Mis* Vernon made aa excellent foil for her partner'* (unmaking proclivities, handling her stuff la a pleasant unassuming manner, such as Is a rarity among straight wom- en In vaudeville the»e day*. The Van and Vernon duo hit heavy. Fred and Al Smith, gymnasts, closed with aerial acrobat!oa and balancing that held them In. Raymond Griffith in "You'd Be Surprised" (F. P.) feature picture. GREATEST WAR FUJI (Continued from page 56) story by Thomas Burke It shows how very carefully American meth- ods have been followed. Llmehouse under these conditions is about aa like the real thing aa Variety'* London office la like St. Paul's Ca- thedral. For Instance, a "pub" Is apparent- ly given over to a public dance held In the bar. Any London public per- mitting such a thing would prompt- ly lose hi* license. The story Itself Is weak, but the acting 1* good, notably by Glbb Maclachlen as a chink. Dorothy Glsh 1* the girl sold to the chink for $15, but escapes. Wandering westward, she la be- friended by a charitable and wealthy woman, become* a society lady, tall* under a cloud of scandalous rumor, and return* to Llmehouse to find happiness la the arms of any- thing but manly looking Chelsea, artist. The company will be In their new studio* at Elatreo next month and begin work on "Pompadour." Qora, (Continued from page (1) era, and Robertson-Cole, the Brit- ish exporter*. Kennedy, it la said, has refused to accept a profit of $2,000,000 on his purchase price of the company. The English bankers and their as- sociates are reported to have dropped something like $9,000,000 In trying to operate the company over a period of years. The sales price to Kennedy I* said to have been $1,090,000, of which some $200,000 was paid over In cash. Will H. Hays and Kennedy have been friends for a great number of year*. Hays. It Is understood, was largely responsible for the Boston banker, who already held the New England franchise for the distrlbu Hon of the company's product, tak lng over the entire F. B. O. organi- zation and to drop hi* banking ac tlvltlc* and devote all his time to the picture organization. In less than the year'* time Ken nedy haa had hold of the picture end he ha* In a remarkable fashion developed the F. B. O. In such a manner that It now rank* most favorably with the producing and distributing companies outside of the Big Three. The offer of a profit of $2,000,000 to Kennedy 1* said to have come through Famous Player*, who un doubtedly wanted to assure them- selves of a line-up of product for their class B and C houses through- out the country, in view of the Kelth-Albee tie-up with P. D. C and the booking of the Universal picture* Into the New York Hippo- drome as alternate attraction* with the P. D. C. picture*. When Kennedy refused the F. P. offer It 1* said ha so manipulated the offer that he closed a deal whereby F. B. O. 1* assured of a certain number of booking the Publix (Continued from page 1) Theresa Helburn and Aarons and I'reedjy. Those most interested in this course will be the people on the other side of the curtain who want to know something about the busi- ness management of the play. The author, designer, artist and possibly musician are those at whom the course is aimed. There Is also the person who loves the theatre, but who la not possessed of creative genius to put across, can find aa attachment through the business end. Bela niau, C. P. A, la a graduate of the City College and lectured la the School of Commerce of that institution for eight years. He was the producer of "Children of the Moon," with Jacob Welser, and haa been stage manager, actor, business manager and consulting account- ant A textbook on the Business of the Theatre 1* to be written by the professor, based on the lecture* given during the course and oa Variety. Variety ha* been twice honored within the past by requests from college* presenting a Journalistic course, asking ror expression* upon trade paper journalism. Variety prepared In each instance an ex- tensive paper, to be read before the class. NEW ACTS Paul Burns Is not going into the cast of "The Daring Duchess,' legit operetta, but win return to vaudeville. Scott Bros, Alio* Frederick, Bobble De Nance. Bee Hunter. Helen Delray and Dorothy Barts In "Fourteen Feet of Dancing." (Chi cago). Mabel Fisher and Co, with Jack and Jane Frost. Audra Lake, Betty Moore and Pauline Denlston. (Chi- cago). California Revue, with Cain Sis- ters, Younger and Clouder, Al Mlstle and Gene Gray. (Chicago) Barbara Kaye. Dale Revue (Chicago). with Frank Dale, Florence Kepp, Mar guerlte Grosscup and Betty Flat cher. Iroderlck and Felson will be In George Clioos' new production act, ■Ballet Caprlse." a ballet carrying seven people. IF YOU DON'T ADVERTISE IN VARIETY DON'T ADVERTISE MARRIAGES Miss Caroline Butterfleld, daught- er of Walter S. Butterfleld, and Mrs. Caroline McCord Butterfleld. was married to Mr. Clarence Dewey Al lea at the Park Congregational Church, Grand Rapid*. Saturday evening (Oct. 16) by Rev. C. W. Men-lam. The bride, who was briefly known on the stage aa Ann McCord, la a 1026 graduate of Vaa- sar. The newlywed* win spend their honeymoon at Mrs. Caroline McCord Butterfleld'* winter real dence—Caromao. 'VARIETY' AT COLUMBIA QUEEN AT CAPITOL (Continued from page 1) atre for the morning to the Olrl Scouts and girls' civic association* for a reception to the Queen'* daughter, the Princes*. The Princess ha* assented, bnt while the Queen ha* not. It 1* ac- cepted that she will appear during the reception. Mr*. Ira Nelson Morris, of Chi- cago, who ha* been Influential la the schedule of Queen Marie'* so- cial engagement* over here, ar- ranged for the reception to the Princes*. Last week the nam* of Lola Ful- ler crept Into the dallies a* the storm centre for the Rumanian Embassy and It* Charge d'Affaire*. Mis* Fuller, the former classical dancer, had met the Queen abroad, where Mrs. Nelson also first knew her. It was reported that Mtaa Fuller had assumed charge of the direction of Marie's social function* while In New York, disturbance of the lomat*. The doors of the Capitol are to be opened at It a. m, and ap- proximately (.000 girl* have been Invited to be present It 1* expect- ed the member* of the royal Ro- manian family win arrive about 10:30 and occupy the royal box, after which a score of girl* win appear on the stag* dressed la Rumanian costume and the or- chestra wlU play the Rumanian National Anthem, following which the regular performance will be given. After the performance the Prin- ces* neana will hold a reception oa the balcony floor of the big the- atre, at which a select number of young Her Highness. ILL AND INJURED Dr. Slegel, the theatrical dentist, I* in with blood poisoning. The doctor became Infected through treating a patient it la reported. His condition Is not serious. Claire Dcvlne did not open at the Carter deHaven Music Box, Los Angeles, on Monday night as prima donha. Miss Devlne, about 10 days before the opening, was stricken with Influenza, and after her re- covery had to return to Now York. BIRTHS Mr. and Mrs. Frank Pazey. at their home in Los Angeles, Oct 14, son. The mother professionally Is Agnes Christine Johnston*, Metro scenario writer, and the father Is the playwr; PATENTS Washington, Oct S. An automatic stopper for picture machines, a musical instrument with rest* for finger*, and organ of the reed type that will imitate a pipe organ, are Included In the cur- rent list of patents granted on new Inventions. Information on any, or all, of the following may be secured by for- warding 10 cents, In each Instance, to the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C, at the same time giving the serial number: Pictures Camera Shutter, Hans Oescll and Heinrlch Bruns, Munich (Germany), assignors to the Frlm Frledrlch Deckel Preclslonsmechantk and Ma- schlnenbau. Munich. German pat- ent, Oct 13. 1922. 1.600,407. Motion Picture Machine. Charles K esses. New York city. 1,600,592. Apparatus for Making Photo- graphic Reproductions. C W. Bho- sys. New York city. 1,600.709. Art of I. I'lii -Sensitive Photo- graphic Materials. R. F. Punnett Rochester, N. Y, assignor to East- man Kodak Co, Rochester. 1,600,736. Automatic Stopper for Motion Picture Machines. Peter H. Post Marahfield, Wis. 1,601,260. Color Cinematography, Method end Apparatus. Claude H. Fries Greens Bromley* England. Or*