Variety (Feb 1927)

VARIETY Wednesday, February 2, 1987 VARIEITS CHICACO OFFICE HAL HALPERIN in Charge State-Lake Theatre Bk'g., Suite 520 Phones: Cekitral 0644-4401 CHICAGO ProfMtionatt haw tHa frM UM of Variatyg Chioafo Offic* for information. Mail may bo addr*ciod caro Varioty, ttatO'Lako I'ho- atro Bldg^ Cfiieaao. It. will bo Hold tubjoot to cart, forwa r iiii or LQttor Liat. ativtrt'aad ia Vartaiy'a Flavaooe Meora, Itald over at the Fnlace, ducked her sketch of the week before to do a "inMsttr of ceronionies." Dialect stories and others compose her between acta material. MiM Maara waa baal in a ante af aaaga. Naylito vgbaaon wraia tiMiai» «Bd Nevllla^a atuft got a break through the aamadiaMia's i^tm comedy delivery. Lieut. Oitx Rice waa also held over. The piano "aingle" with whifijh tha wHtor aC *l>ear CM M •f mine*' deuced last week is out of thia bill and the Lieutenant hasn't mucli ta do accompanying Miss tfaaaa. waaldB't iNtva kaawn When in Chicago Viui Th*9m Uii0 QI7f WYM MATIlfSM THUnaDAT 9HLiVV I W BATUltDAT k fl Cautata'a vlw-rroek«M eoMdy Ut. witb GREGORY KELLY Brimming Over With Laughtl LjUTTER EGG MAN AND the Lieutenant was around had not Mian Moore announced the fact. Mias Moore, Robert Warwick and Anna Case are tiie Orpheum thea- tre's three names. Warwick makes hlmeolf and material entertainini; In "Oiie of tlie FMnest." a sketch by John Wray and Elaine Sterne Car- rini^ton. The set Is the hideaway room of "Lefty" Williams, who has killed a cop. The finish is a sur- prise in a gripping situation. Sev- eral lines were nifty, too nifty for the audience. Warwick, as a mufti copper out to get the guy who shot hla pal in the back, la natilraL His support is good. Anna Case, the Metropolitan songbird, scored immensely. Miss Case has beauty and a wonderful voice. Her songs were of show- atopping proportions. Les Ghezzi. equilibrists, opened the show. Jed Dooley closed it. Dooley packs plenty of laiighs in his turn. "loyalty" placed Bob Hall next to closing. All those tickets he passed out went for naught. A "tough" break for Bob Rosalie Stewart presents Renee Roberta and Jay Velie in a aong and il^ioa production, placed third turn». closed and wu.** liked. Their tango stood out. Tlie Uabbarts, man and woman acrobats, opened tlic slu>v\. Thoy work on stepH. The man's best trick is the turning of somersaultH down the steps, land> ing on his head at each twlsl. Ha wiselj' closes with tliat. Business fair and very Juvenile Saturday matinee, with "Prince of Temptera" film feature. Advance sales have assured the capacity gross of $14,500 for Ruth Draper in her six matinees of char- acter repertoire at the Harris. Miss Draper has the house oa a rental basis. Very seldom does the Maje.'^tic get as good a bill as it has this week. More the pity, as business remains the same whether the best acts or the worst are featured. Bxcellent weather failed to help. Some of the better material re- oenUjr seen in neighborhood Asso- ciation houses is in the lineup. Bolstered by a couple of standard turns the bill is exceptionally g^ood for this houae. TlM Wiiaan Brothara, in street WOODS THEATRE WAK^Kft BBonms* VITAPHONE Frew—tatfa— J0L80N^E88EL-JANI8 HOWARD MI0TH8m World's GrMtMl Starw and ilD CHAPLIN M OLD BILL H "THR BKTTKR 'OLB** ; A Gorkisg Comedy Shubert GARRICK Wli.LIAM POX Preaanta Tlia Vaai% iriHiH Maliaii Pialare 'What Price Glory' SAM H» HARRIS^ed."and Sat. 8AM H. HARRIS Presents CRADLE SNATCHERS Wilk MARY BOIAIID m BtACI^TOIlE ii?"^ <J'i«B! A. V tfMaagtr a narty 1. Powara. Mora. INA CLAIRE la Pred'k Lonadale's Crook CoiMdy "THR LAST OF MBS. CHKVNKY" wita Boland Yoaag Md Jmmrm Dale MINTURN^ENTRAL ▼aa Daren at :9WM|paa sth MONTH is&.'irts rvsr •*OIIE MAini WOMAIf Original 4lth 8tr««t Producttoo Bv«a. al S:30 Mat. W«d. and Sat. t»M<«l PtrfofMMeM at Emy OPMrtaalty C ORRESPONDENCE All matter in CORRESPONDENCE refers to cvrrant week unloss otherwita Indieatad. The aitlaa undar Carratpandanea in thia iasua af Vif^iibp 4^ as follows and,an Miaat ALBANY ..... »-f-»» » 58 BALTIMORE 62 BRONX .. BUFFALO CHICAGO CINCINNATI DETROIT INDIANAPOLIS 62 a a eaa • ^ a-'a « f 4.A.a'#'e • ». a a a-a a O'tTf ^-a a • • < • • • • eoeeeoeeeei •••••eaeooei M 59 56 62 KANSAS CITY ■ • • a'-n • • ••• • •.• LOUISVILLE 62 LOS ANGELES .......58 Milwaukee ss MINNEAPOLIS 58 NE\VARK r«. 59 NEW ENGLAND 59 NEW ORLEANS 88 OKLAHOMA CITY 58 PITTSBURGH ................ 59 PORTLAND, ME. 56 PORTLAND, ORE.. ROCHESTER 62 ^T. PAUL SAN FRANCISCO SEATTLE TORONTO .... WASHINGTON « «.M« ....... • •* •..•••••« ......«••«.•. ...... .9* . . • • * 58 58 58 89 One of the girls is at the piano aud another provides a flddle interlude. Nothing above the ordinary, but a welcome variant for family bills. Barry and Catto, girls, with the comedienne fleshy and the straight providing' normal contrast, lacks Quite a bit. Johnny Black is back with Billy Hebert in an act that should catch on. (New Acta.) Ito(k'y and Termini, male comedy team, have made a decent turn irom bits of business and gags that have been proven cinches innumer- able times. While all stuff is fa- miliar to the regulars it ahould go well with the families. "Raffles" closed the show. His escape feats in straitjackets and torture belts, all worked in plain view of the audience, pack plenty of interest. He provides opportu- nity for theatre managers to pull exploitation stunts durinir hia en- gagements. •*The Better Way** (Columbia), feature film. Buslnata heavy early Thursday evening. here. While not out of the ordi- nary in dance or vocal talent, this one is an eyefull and rates on that. The staging, programmed as by Miss Roberts, is superb and holds up the act until Miss Roberts smashes by closing with her Indian dance. Special music and lyrics, credited to Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart, will not further the rep of that palr^ Wlitta original In spots, it contains nOBO of the Rogers-Hart flashy conatruction. Violet Baeha alii tiouiaa Black- burne are dancers, but batter lookers than steppers. Coada - ant Verdi were No. S. With plenty of slashing here, they and their Addles could walk Into any picture house and stay. Buslne.'js about capacity, as Is usual at Supday matinees, itoop* Through the sale of stock in the Babcock Theatre Building Co., Billings, Mont., by L. C. Babcock, local theatre man and banker, the Babcock theatre and building was transferred to Hyme Lipsker, Billings merchant. The deal In- volved about $250,000. Lipsker closes the house in June for re- modeling. Vaudeville Saturdays and Sundaya and picturea preaant policy. A. H. WOODN' ADELPHI KIghtIr at tiM Mas. Wed. and aat 8«ata4Wks. In Ad vases A. H. WOOD8 Preaenta FLORENCE REED IN THK DBAMATIC 8RNMAT10M "the shanghai gesture;' staged kr Q coirr MsCLUmO MATINEES WBDNBSDAT A HATITRDAT "12 MILES our FBANK MHANNON.WABBBN WIIXIAM JOHN WB8TLBT, MABT CABBOLI. "I almpir had to mo 'It Mllen 0«t* nil ever sgala."—Aahton Stevrnii. H«r.-Bk. ERLANGER Mati.ioe. MviBM^s^^aiwa Wi:i). A SAT. C'HAHI,!:.'^ Dir.LINOMAM Prcaenta The funiiU>6t and Iwnt otniftly from llnrndway 'ON APPROVAL' By FRKHERICK I.ON.SDAT.K Author of "The Last of Mr«. Cheyney" with WALLACE EDDINGER V II X If a mb la rso n er and HUGH WAI Vaudcvillians playing the Ameri- can seem to And the Ashland-Hal- stead atraai house a peculiar apot. Either they work listlessly or play around. Only the break-lna are in earneat. Chester Xelson, on fourth, had the musicians laughing. The union lads arera More fortunate than the audience. Nelson knows his make- up boa. His messenger "boy" char- acter fa almost perfect. "Tm" strictly ad lib, ' Nelson gagged to his partner. Nelson is a pleasing comic, both with flip and set ma- terial. Miss Parish is a looker and a competent straight. Tock and Toy are Oriental songsters, man and woman, with perfect English spoken Chinese. They sing well. The Arthur Alexander Co. (4) needs revision. A female Im- personator, Alexander Is blessed only with a double voice. One can penetrate his disguise in a moment. Dressed well and in fashion, he does not carry his clothes like a woman, neither his gestures nor walk being acceptably feminine. Three of the company, including Alexander, ap- pear as high yallers. The comic is in cork. All are men. T^os Sevll- lanos. not different in any way from clothes Instead of M ettstomary coppers' uniforms, in next-to-closing spot, stopped the show. Al Tucker and his orchestra, recognised as an Orpheum rather than Association act, bordered on a flop in closing position here. The hoys got a laugh when the curtain revealed them in hobo costumes and that was about all. Tucker's wfaa aoaMy li too much for the Monroe street audi- ence to disest at one sitting. He even failed to get a lauith oUt af an Almea MacPherson gag. Aimee has replaced the town of Cicero lo- cally as first In aofaWri Ui la aetart rti . George Armstrong, monologing his familiar bits, held good while he was present but died the moment he left tha t>oards. James "Fat * Thompson, with his skit in which he takes up burglaring in black- face, farad aimllarly. "Wiggins- vllle," seen previously In better houses, also pulled heavy laughs in the running. Company oonaiata of two men and three p;Irls, the comic relying on his material instead of personality for effects. It's the old hoke about the man who is substi- tuted for ^is friend in a marriage arranged by tha parents, with the latter deciding at the last minute that he wants the girl himself. Angel and Fuller, old man-young girl team, have another old reliable. The gent gets a trifle dirty, appar- ently excusable in elderly charac- ters. Closing is highly forte, being an excellent "Dapper Dan" vocal number by Angel. Potter and Gamble, reviewed last week, did well in the deuce spot. The man plays the piano and the glrU in kid clothes, siiigs and tap dances. Joe Melvin. Juggler, with aoQia. novel tricks, opened nicely. • Bualneaa off aa uaaat. THTTW—ffiHifilnh— i l ai i i e a nd stfing U IIKN IN CHIC^AfiO KTOI* AT 1IIK NEW TREMONT HOTEL tf 80m DBABBOIIN aTBRBT In the Hesrt of tha Thestricsl snd Shopping District 8PECIAL RATE8 TO PERFORMERS fllsgla. wKhoat buth, flO.50 p^r wmk and ap; wUh bath, tlll.tt mn weak 9tf mk'SSt^* wIthMrt bath. 914 per week and sp. .IMmMs with both. gilM McDevltt, Kelly and Quinn, for- merly McDevltt, Kelly nud Lucy, in the fourth, at RIalto, olaaiied up at Monday'a first show. Powers Duo, equilibrists with lad- der and pole stuff, opened. A slice of comedy would help here, though the tricks are good in themselves. Rose O'Hara, with good ainylng voice and better appearance, is capable of holding the stage by her loaasome. Misa O'Hara has three changes, but wears one costume in all of them. Her opening gown is of green material and accentuates a comely figures. Miss O'Hara Is a good bet for deuce on any inter- mediate Mil. She held that apot here. Tower and Darrell missed a com- edy hit on third. An incompetent finish can take the rap for that. The girl is probably the thinnest person in vaudeville and builds her monologue around that. The man has, compared to his partner, little to do in a "goor* role. Johnny Herman, blackface single and not very different from the rest of that school, followed ' McDevltt, Kelly and Quinn. A girl plant, sing- ing from an orchestra chair, helps considerably. Herman gathered soma laughs with his talk and did okay with two pop numbers. He is a reliable single for small time. Helen Davis and Earl Nelson have been .seen to fare better than they did Monday. The quick fire gagging (%' "Smiles" passed 'way over the backs of the chairs. Nelson's por- table suit, though not original, is excellent for comedy business, as handled by "Smile.s" and Nelson. A« for "Smiles." she looks better and works with more finesse than in her former singing and piano single. She and Nelson team well, but their act needs lining and a bit more continuity. "Revue Fantasy" closed. Six voices and three dancers in a beau- tifully set production turn. The opening resembles a picture house unit, both In grouping and working order. A pair of adagios are better than the ordinary. A young lad who twirls comes on toward the end and stops the act with some mile-a- minute whirling. That is the high point. The singing means little, though all of three men and th^ee women have passable voices. Brushing up Ln this department would prove an aid. A apangled front drop looks like maney attd probably is. Near capacity at midnooil Mon- day. "Woira Ctothing'* (Warner Bros.), picture. Just why gags have a habit of doing a brodie at the Academy was explained partially last week, when a tubby little gent with drooping moustaches caught each pun on its delivery and translated it into his native tongue for the enlightenment of his wife and three kids. Maybe they weren't so funny from the homelahd standpoint; anyway, the translatlona failed to bring a laugh. Seven acts at the Academy in- stead of the customary five. Mostly familiar and prol>ably in just to be working. Carl Thorsen. juggler, I.s known. If he can eliminate the several misses he made when seen he is suitable for the Association trail. He carries a woman assist- ant, who also juggles, and manipu- lates steel balls for hl.s forte. W a rr e n and Brock way's .t wo- man comedy turn is okeh ns Is. The idea has tlie comic as a chauf- feur and the straight as a cop, with gags to fit. Tiie pair clo.sc with a trombone and trumpet duet, which provides good closing applause. I'iit(<rtJiinment not in line with what the Academians go for, but still good for other unpretentious bills is provided by Sally, Irene and Mary, three prettv femmes with a semi-classic and pop vocal routine. Revival of Sunday picture shows in Evanston may occur if the efforts of the West Side Boosters' Club, led by Peter N. Jans, alderman of the Fifth Ward, are successful. Frank Albert s Kit Cat Club or- chestra is broadcasting nightly over WHT. With the opening of Schoenstadt's Piccadilly. 51st and Blackstone ave- nues, Balaban & Katx featured their Tivoli. 63d and Cottage Grove, in newspaper advertising, announcing a record-breaking program for that house. Extra advertising also was car- ried for the Chicago, the idea of the ad being that customers should at- tend the Chicago first every week. The Tower. 63d and lUackstone, has also increased its advertising ex- penditures. It plays Orpheum vaude and ploturea. PORTLAND, ME. By HAU CRAM Strand—"summer bachelors.'* Impira —"Sorrowa • of Satan." Vitaphone featuring Jack Smith. • Keith's—Vaudeville and pictures; Thursday, "The Old Homestead." Jefferson — "The Hypocrites'* (stock). Portland—Oiffolo. On Feb. 7 the local B. F. Keith theatre here will go back to the old once-a-week program instead of the spilt week as has been tried for the past three months. Beginning Thursday this week "The Old Homestead" will be the attraction, with vaudavUle. ' MORRISON HOTEL CHICAGO World's taUraU 1944 rooms and baths SOL WAGNER and Hit ORCHESTRA Witk HABET WmnSl Playinc at the New Green Mill CHICAGO LOU BOLTON Artists' Representative Booking Picture HouM€g, Cafes, Clube ^ Suite 005, Woods Buildinfl CHICAGO Booking High Class Stage Attractions Ta Nation Picture TlM Exclusively Pimiier AttnctiMS, Inc. Wooda Theatre Bldg. Phone X Central Mi CHICAGO RIALTO STUDIO, INC. Photographmn Salts 1S02 lot No. Dearborn St. Chicsso. Pbons 8t«t« 1689 B s n ed e e ti snt Ugh Otads Weifc BKASOMABLB PBIOM EUGENE COX SCENERY 17M Ogden Atmmi* BOB* MM BOMBkkU -IVAN FEHNOVA- Ortttbt fsslsa af mmsUsmI Oi Nsw idsaa ia Ballet, toe, charscter, acrotMitlc & contortion dsncinf (Mass and private 1< nsonn for the baglanfro. Complata muUnes clvm to Uis adTsneed papil in 1 to 3 Icsiioni. I'ltra ■mart ballroom danrlog. Arnold A Fehnova ttudioa 605 Lywi a NMly PMt. Wab. Mtl. 6M6M* SCENERY DTK 8CKNVRT. VKLOdR CURTAINS R. WE8TC0TT KINQ STUDIOS ttlf W. Tsa Bsrsa St.. Chi«sat« The FROLICS RBDBCOBATBD THK MOST DBAITTirtJL CAVB Df MS WWIB Al Bast ttd Strest (opposlta •X- station). Chiesfe, III. Tha Rendesvous of tha Theatrical Stara CIVIO AND POT.ITICAL rELBBRmBB .........RALPH 0.%I.LiCT, Manavftr JISSM3^ATIQ?ffl_Ar(ngPTBP___ Phon« tat ttmbt t»6t_