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Wednesday, November 84, 1926 PRESENTATIONS VARIETY 21 «>A PAGEANT OP PROGRIM" Publix Production Paramount, N«w York As the Paramount theatre apexes the motion picture business of America to date, aymbolically or n ilict or both. John Murray Andcr^ion upon ocoaaloh to pic- torlally brint? back a historical bit recording of that really brief picture field all within a stage liriaentatioii ot « little beyond the usual leni^lh. Nothing need be said beyond this; tha* Mr. Anderson in producing and inrobably as he thought exclusively to ornament, decorata and enter- tain during the Paramount's liist week, has put forward something nipaatially attractfra In Ita eight and •ntertainment. so mqieh so it is stage material for any theatre— picture, vaudeville or musical comedy. In the march forward of pictures the producer Inserted a catchy re- minder ot the old days of variety , fthd in such a manner as to maice it * eiiiiually as entertaining to those vfho do not recall or never heard of Koster & Rial's Music Hall In New York. That idea was suggested through showing a picture by Thomas Kdipon's Vltascope, as ex- hibited at Koster & Bial's April 23. 1896, asserted as the* ilrst moving picture thrown upon a screen. To bring in the moving picture the entire K. & B. program was In- cluded, with six Tivoli Girls as the Pony Ballet In their full-length red costumes and large flowing hats, doing the old-style steps. Also the old illustrated song with still slides on "The 'Shade of the Old Apple- tree," with the Whirlwinds (a pres- ent turn) doing a roller skating act after six stage hands had unrolled their, mat In view of the audience. The irtiow was opened with a song, ^•When Old Broadway Was Young." This bit alone completely cap- tured the house. It "made" the •tage show for the premiere week, though there is much else in the same act and on thie same program. The Presentation ran in three parts, opening as Tre-Hlstory of the Screen," with a living picture group within a frame as in 1829, a family picture with the source credited to Louis Ja<iues Mande Daguerre. Helen Torke sang "The Days Beyond Recall" during the •cene. In the second part, containing the Koster St Blal bit, was InterwoYen a series of first motion pictures leading up to today, the more mod- wn, commencing with the first pic- ture eVer «xlilblted by l^mous Players-Lasky, "Queen Elizabeth," an imported feature with Sar^h Bernhardt starred; then the first full-length feature Famous made, •'The Prironer of Zenda," with the If' ♦e James K. Hackett in the ler Ing role, followed by the first pic- ture the (JaSM L.) Lasky Picture Cc^'^vr'** 1 turned out, "The Squaw Man." with Bill Hart. In sequence came other famous stars of those davs induced Into pictures for a •ingle feature or more by Adolph Zukor in pursuance of his then firmly conceived fam9us players in pictures, for which his organisation was titled. In the third and final part was "Paramount," "The Cross(>oads of the World." with a lyric to the •*Cros8road8,** sung by Paul Kleman. having again the Tivoli Girls in their current dressing, and con- cluding, with a spectacular "In- augural Banquet." The staging was on the uplifted stage, all descend- ing later to the stage proper on a couple'of short ladders. The hy- draulic stage for performers may be an innovation in pic^ture houses. It is for New York. For the picture theatre in the usual course the second part by Itself of this Presentation would be •ufilclont, without great expense. In this bright turn are a consld- •rable number of people, besides these credits: Nathaniel Finston, general music director; Boris Petrolf, dance arranger; Rubey Cowan, special songs; Mr. Ander •on, lyrics; John W. Harkrider, fnodern scenes and costumes; Regi- nald Marsh, period scenes; Charles LeMalre, period costumes; Alex. : Hall, Paramount curtain; Brooks Costume Co., costumes executed. ; Irvin Talbot is the house orches- tra (regular) conductor, . That would appear to say that —Publix furnished this pro»luction with Mr. Anderson producing only, it being a special work for and by him—and excellent Sim: If You Don't Adyertise ia iJpETY Don't Advertise J east L. CRAWFORD ''Oroana i Have Played" Paramount^ New York In this office and at this type- writer day in and out, at intervals from 11 a. m. to after midnight, come the strains of the organ in TjOcw's State theatre, when the house orchestra is not playing. Va- riety's'^building backa up and ad- joins the auditorium of Loew's State. The State opened about five years ago, after Variety moved into the present 4fth street quartera* Over a year ago it notice was posted on Variety's bulletin board, Instructing the picture reviewers to read the film house weekly reviews from Chicago and note the con- tinual comment upon organists in them. The injunction was for the New York staff men catching pic- ture showa to run a notice of any organlHt in a Broadway picture the- atre doing anything out of the com- mon tiM a special Presentation re- view. In over a year suoh a notice was run once, on Murtagh, at the Rivoli. Variety's reviewers constantly stat- ed there was not an organist in New York other than Murtagh who did anything other than expected— and then they sent Murtagh to Chi- cago, a city seemingb overcrowded with idea-organists, although their ideas may have been suggested or inspired. And here comes Jesse Crawford, whose fame preceded him, In and out of the trade, the man who dis- covered the organ for picture the- atres, after picture theatres had warily indulged in them In the old days to rid the house of tlie ter- rible piano or keep musicians out of an orchestra Job. So now the best picture houses have the or- chestra and the organ, but only one theatre has Jesse Crawford. At the new Paramount, New Tork, opening, he knocked an elite audi- ence for a score of 1,000 to 0 with a dem6nsU«tlon on an organ no one on Broadway believed was In a player or the Instrument. As an organist Mr. Crawford is comparable, for ahow buaineaap In worth to the acrobat who can do a triple somersault from the floor -and no acrobat can do that. But Mr. Crawford aeemlngly can make his Wurlltzer, or at least the Para- mount's Wurlitzer, do somersaults. Any kind and any number. So is it surprising that after lis- tening to the State's organ for five years that this fellow said to his companion as Crawford waa com- pleting his playing, "Why did they allow that orchestra to bust In here with him?" "They didn't," aald hie com- panion. I'that's still Crawford on the organ alone." And the fellow-tired-of-an-organ sat up to see if the Paramount's house orchestra was playing. It wasn't. But Jesse Crawford was obtaining the effect of a full sym- phonic orchestra out of his single organ. And that's the difference. That's the difference throughout show business. That's why one man can shoot so far ahead; why one policy can beat out and beat down an- other. Mr. Crawford tells It even more simply In his moment called "Or- gans I Have Played." Slides detail the circumstances and his forward steps, from a small Pacific slope town to larger ones, from the coast to Chicago; from Chicago and final- ly, thank the Lord—to New York, and always on the organ. Aa the turn progresses the player Imitates the organs he played In other days, notes the improvements in the in- struments and his own reaches (with little mention of the latter), until comes Now York and the Paramount, when Mr. Crawford's slide declares that here is an in strument which measures up to his dreams* He proves it in the play- ing. Besides a corking absorbing en- tertainment as an organ recital in the lightest of moods and most modern of method for any show business, Mr« Crawford makea It an educational for the masses. He will probably lift the organ in New York to a higher pitch with the public than he did In Chicago, and that was hiph enough. I'nder the spot and on his raised platform with that console ap- parently running the entire building full of mu.sic, Mr. Crawford took the tumultuous applause with a single bow. Then he disappeared, as though 4ccuM6ht«d 16 MIR, WARIII he must be from Chicago and oUier points west. What an organ boy he is! Now the organists in New Tork will (ommente to step, rao.st pro!»ably, and as they did In Chicago but too late in both places to catch iho Crawford. , , ,. . ... ^ \fe««<e's s(ei>t>fn|f fn playing' Wept the salary stepping along too. No matter what ho's gottln« ho'a worth it and more. The Crawfords can settle down in New Tork or in the suburbs; they are in New York where they belong, arul for a long stay. You have never heard an organ played until you hear Jesse Craw- ford** Bime, LOEW'S STATE GRAND ORCHESTRA (66) Sunday Afternoon .ConofH * 1 Hour. Full State, St. Louis St. Louts. Nov. 21. Heralded by a tremendous pub- licity campaign that Included vir- tually every form of press agenting St. Louitt has ever seen, the first of Loew's Sunday concerts by an or- chestra of symphonic size, under the conductorahip of Don Albert, was presented this week. Richard SpramCr, venerable music critic of the "Globe-Democrat," In an address preceding the concert, termed it "the greatest event in the art history of St. Iiouis," and such it was. An audience of 2.600 waa seated when Albert walked on, and the leader was given an enthusiastic hand. The well arranged program in- cluded Wee Willie Robyn as tenor soloist. Albert directed throughout with- out a score. As director at Loews for the last two years, Albert by his sincere effort to give better mu- sic, has drawn a following of music lovers many of wiiom are known to attend the theatre weekly be- cause of the ezcellenco of his or- chestrations. The success of his endeavors was realized forcefully at this Sunday concert by the spon- taneous register at the conclusion of each number. And the fact that the house was almost capacity at 1:30 Sunday afternoon la rightly amazing. The St. Louis Symphony stood a loss of about |2S,000 last year, but if the expected happens this soaaon ought to show a profit These Sun- day concerts at Loew's are great educational work for the symphony, reaching as they do many of a claas who have never heard the latter, whose musical appetites will be whetted by Albert's presentations. "The greateat orent In tha art history of St. Louis"—admitted. Marcus Loew's Mister Albert and tho manager, Harry Greenman, are all to h* congratulated. Ihielsl* RITZ-CARLKTPHIL NIGHTS Revue 4S IMinai Ona and rull Loaw'a Static St. Louia Here Is another Instance where a mighty good item threatened to "kiU" itself by length. It was full of everything audiences 7ove, but that 48 minutes made It too long for a picture house. Ten or 15 minutes could have been chopped off. Forgetting Its length, It can be said that Ous Sdwards has a nifty presentation hero. ' Edwards, him- self, is featured, and acts as a mas- ter of ceremonies. And there's a flock of principals—all great. Ed- wards gets In a few plugs for hH school by Introducing thorn as "graduates." Nitza Vernille made- the biggest hit in a corking acrobatic waltz number. Virginia Martin, another acrobatic stepper, was a close sec- ond. Roy Bolger, wi i his comedy, amused and fitted in between num- bers. The Reynolds Sisters have a Black Bottom that shows the na- tives out here—for the first time— how the thing is really done. Doro- thea James, a tap-dancei with a world of stuff, and Leota and Lola Lane, of pleasing voices, complete the cast. Everyone Is good and how infrequently that can be gald of any .shuw. Essentially a dancing revue, the turn has a chorus of four men and four girls, who add more dancing. This one Is going to circle the Loew houses and is due for good notices everywhere. JSnsMI* shocker, and the audience least su.s- pectlng that tho pseudo-Inanimate prop which titt<>d the atmosphere so well that .Stlckney did not foteh "fe second look up until his dance spe- cialty. The resurrection itself won him a round of applau.se and his dilficult stepping atop the stilts got him two or three more. Rita Owln dovetailed beautifully Into tlio bucolic atmosphere with lier ocot'iitrio personality and acro- batic stepping. The talented step- peuse dances like a boy, ao agile are her nether oxtreniltles. A real novelty are Charles Gugli- eri and Mardo Kolhn, the former skillfully playing melody pop num- bers on an inflated rubber glove and on an inner tube. The musical saw and even the blcydo pump may have been seen and heard be- fore, although exceptionally well done by Guglieri, but the inner tube and rubber glove wrinkles arc totally new and capable of building up since Quglleri employs only his fingers as the rubber goods are de- flated to produce musical sounds. His partner, Kalhn. a lanky tenor, fits the picture nicely. Rex Schepp, the banjolst, is also an atmospheric asset besides musi- cally. In total. Ilyman has a cork- ing presentation tliis week. Abeh and the story is that of the heavy coming hi)me and finding another man making h>ve to hi.s wife. The affair U presented y^'ith uU the spot.s. suns and other lights goins full epeed. the music cues are timed for each bit of action and tha camera is grinding. When caught with a capacity an* dience the act ran 26 minuten. fully 10 too long, but ordinarily it is .set for 20. The average audience at the Newman is pretty well **np town" and, judging from the way it laughed at "Making Movies," It looks like a push over for |>rac- tically any house« ''IN A MUSIC SHOP." . Publix Presentation. 15 Mine.; Three (Spooial). Rivoli, New York. Paul Oscard contributes a more popular form of presentation diver- tissement than the artistic Anderson or the musical Plnston or the terpsichorean Petroff have been wont to supply. Oscard strikes a happy medium with tho "song shop" idea, employing a male pianist, music shop songstress, a harmony girl duo, a dance team, and a "hot" jazz quintet. Tho specialties dovetail nicely. Billy lyrically introduces the idea at the piano. Florence and Darling with ukes produce some fetching harmonies, their lyric diction lend- ing nuance and charm to "Hello Aloha*' and "Where'd Tou Got Those Eyes" which leads Into "Roslta." The number introduces Harry Losee and Margaret Daily in a Spanish dance specialty. Come the Novelty Instrumental- ists (poor billing), who evince .some cafe and individual picture house specialty posslbilitlM. It's one of those blue blowers combinations of uko, harmonica, kazoo, banjo and guitar rhythms, including "playing" a piece of atovo-pipe and a wash- board among other things. In ad- dition one dances energetically and another's uke solo is fairly good. Peggy Bnglish as the song demon- strator Is another solo-posslblllty. Miss Kngli.sh already has some reputation on the phonograph rec- ords, her handling of pop ditties registering favorably. She would fit In well on a cafe floor also. Billy Rhodes is a likely juvenile, handling tho Introductorles nicely throughout. The specialists score generally, the "song shop" idea permitting for oonalderable latitude. The p r a o anta tlon shapes nicely, Rhodes conclud ing with "Dear Old Southland," an nouncing the spiritual as a relief from the preceding jazzlque. Oxcard's presentation will bo cren erally liked. Abel. ' DANCK POEMS'* (40) ' Singing, Dancing, Music 43 Mins.; Full (Special) Loew's State, Loa Angeles Fanchon and Marco are featur* ing Kddie Foyer, "the man of a thousand poems," in their "Dance Poems" Idea at Loew's State, but it seems any other of the numerous features Introduced might better be entitled to this recognition. The failure of Foyer to die. may have been due to his unfamillarlty with the acoustics of the State, but at any event lie Was indistinct when reviewed, and aside from a Uttla meaningless patter at his openingr he rendered onljr.;gina Mipk, by ff»r» quest. ' 'i ■' ' ' The balance of the *adea" to hi harmony with the.recent preten< tlous Fanchon and Marco offerings. Charlie Mclson ofllciates as guest conductor and with hia strong fol- lowing had no trouble getting laughs and applause. A somewhat unique idea in stage setting consists of a stage upon the atago fMtfS which several of the principals ftS introduced. Melson and band starts ed the action and got away nicely. Carloa (Cartoa and Jlnatte) ran* dered a Spanish number with six girls and six boys, all in Spanish costume, introduced upon the auxil« iary atago. Jlnatte Joined the atafar and they went into several Spanish dance numbers, in which tho ..e|^« semble participated. Melson put over a baited, fiSiich served to Introduce T'arguerlto Shaw, toe dancer, who scored espe. dally with her novelty finish. She danced upon a black circular plat- form, held aloft by five boys. Kfhel Pearlson, recently elevated from the Fanchon and Marco chorus, clicked with an accentrld dance. The llttia miss shows great promise. Bill Rit- chie followed with a soft shoe and acrobatic work, Aida KawakamI, Japanese dancer, was introduced with a bevy of Jap- anese dancing girls. After doing a brief routine of native sters she re- moved her outer robes In favor of a white costume and speedily dem- onstrated she has mastered Ameri- can jazz steps. She scored heavily. Bddle Foyer followed. aSA at the request of the auditors recited "Gunga Din," which as above stated, was audible only to a por^* tlon of tho crowd. Carlos and Jinetto sang a balUid. with the ensemble joining in for a dance routine, and tht coiipio Wo^nd up witfe It wattg aatf Uv^y jass fin- ish. For a finale two drapes in "two" were masked In for a gortootia set- piece, draped with girto aaS boyi* PUMPKIN CENTER HUSKIN'BCE Rural Thanksgiving Party 19 Mins.; Three (Special) Mark Strand, Brooklyn, N. Y. With Rita Owln, Robert Stickney, Hex Schepp, CHiarles fJuKlIerl and Mardo Kalhn as a nucleus, Edward L. Ilyman has built up a flashy sea- lOBftl iiruauiitatlun lutiud i ietng his regular ballet corps as tho bucolic barn dancers, some of the gUis af- fecting "rube" masquerade? Stickney has been sensationally incorporated, his e^onpaftd figure (nn Htilts) reposing in a comer as a ;iawky R(arccrow for over 10 of tho )9 j^plnutes' running time. before it comes to ?iff*», mal<^s for n BERKOVA PROD. OF HOLLY- WOOD Making Movies 26 Mint.; Full Newman, Kansas City Kansas City, Nov. 16. Tlooey, hokum, burlesque and laug:hs. That's th<^ whole story of the stunt featured on the Newman stage this week. Several ^'making movie" stunts have been seen here before, but tho Horkova organiza- tion idea has some new angles. Everything is in total daiicness when the curtains part. At the word from the director a number of high-powered lights are cut on simultaneously, directed full on the audience. The glare is terrific and almost l llndlni?. The effect In but for a minute, when they are cut off and the replica of a aiudio interior la ahown. Dave Smith, who directs the comedy which follows, ctIvoh a brief description of the several lamps, their uses, and announces ho will show, with the assistance of sevor.'il ](>r:\] niovlo npftirints, jiint how different scenes are .shot. TIic cast, some localites and ''plants." eomo f i' om tho a Md Ie n e e a nd thn fun In on. The subject of the pii turo Is "Who Stole the Salesmnn's Wife? ', and the heavy, always a "plant,'' Is a fnlrlrgood comic, f»r tho sIHy or "JAZZ A LA CARTE" (40) Singing, Music, Dancing U Mine.; Full (Special) Metropolitan, Lot Angeles This week's presentation at tiie ifet was tho boot offasod In oeftiMl^ weeks and proves that someone has been putting forth a little extra effort back stage. The band was particularly good; B^dio Peabody was good; the Metropolitan girls were good and each separate tltfll was thoroughly entertaning. Peabody shows Improvement and was received with enthusiasm, more so than when last reviewed. It was liarnum who said, "A haby doei^n't play with a rattio for H\ years," and KMdIe Peabody Is dis- covering this fact. Albert Hay Malotte offered as a prelude selections from 'The Stu- dent Prince." This pot over to nic% returns and was in tho nature of a one-man prolog, with Malotte car- rying out the atmosphere by being In uniform. The presentation opened with 15 ',;lris stiindinK before a scrim with tho hand playing In the dark and hrhlnd. As the ninilior elosed tlift Hcriiii i»artod and tho band jtl.it- fot ni iiiovi d <lown.staKo witli tliC fiMu oalmly wnlklng nff Htnj;e no .'ipi».Trent pmpoHo. I'«'Mh<>dy'H unit was Ijetter this week than it h IS l»^en In a long time and shows evidence of plenty rehearsal. Tho l.r.'iss ■ ion and pti inj-rs m>io\v ft d"r and responsible for most of the 1 va.st imi>ni\enicnt. An intercsteil laiivrJis. Most of his stuff i.** he.ivl- ludieneo approved In no uneertaHi ly overplayed, but the fuuM seem , i< i in.'*. roVftT rt Up. :\ prop ifw* r'..t?MftA<^ fhf»-