Variety (Mar 1927)

VARIETY REVIEWS Wednesday, March 16, 1827 ROXY (NEW YORK) New York. March 13. Friday night marked the opening •f the new Rozy theatre. The house called "The Cathedral of the Mo- tion Picture" la the largest In the world devoted to the de luxe presen- tation of screen and stage entertain- ment. In reality It Is an opera house, beautiful In a quiet way. It was previously described in Variety. Th> Roxy seats 8,250. and on the opening night there wasn't a vacant ■eat. The box office tariff was $11 top for the orchestra and mezzanine seats, and In some spots as high as $60 a pair was paid for seats. It was a class opening. The open lng night's receipts were around $30,000 for the single performance. For his opening bill Rozy laid out a big show, one that was too much show, If anything. But it was a remarkable show that he gave when It la considered that he had the stage of the house the first time on the morning of the opening per- formance. Very few hitches to the performance, but his company looked as though they were pretty well tired out when It came time for the Inaugural performance. The bill opened with a Grand Organ Concert on the three Kimball organs In the orchestra pit with three organists at three consoles. This got underway at 8.67 on the opening night and lasted until 1.16, far too long and the music played much too sombre. Then the house darkened and Stephen Wright was shown far up stage clad In monaa- tary robes to pronounce the Invoca- tion as follows: "Ye portals bright, high and ma- jestic, open to our gaze the path to wonderland, and show ua the realm where fantasy reigns, where ro- mance, where adventure flourish. Let every day's toll be forgotten un- der thy sheltering roof, oh glorious mighty hall—thy magic and charm unite us all to worship at beauty's throne. Let there be light." And with that every light In the huge theatre blazed forth to disclose the gigantic orchestra of about 90 men In the pit and the audience broke forth Into thunderous ap- plause. The overture for the dedi- cation was, described as "A sym- phonic tone poem" arranged by H. Maurice Jacquet, a medley of Amer- ican patriotic airs which led into the showing of the first stage picture. It was the deck of a British shlp- of-war, and back of It In the sky blazed the American flag, Its field of ■tars, the sky with its luminaries. Its white stripes, the clouds and the red furnished by the glare of the bombardment. It led Into the intro- duction of the choral members of the theatre company who sang the National Anthem for which the audience stood. The third unit was as pretty a bullet as has been seen here In some time. Incidentally of all of the Roxy company it was Mile. Gambarelli, the prima ballerina, who received the only reception tendered by the audience. When the little dancer appeared the audience -arose as one with applause. The ballet was entitled "A Floral Fantasy," with Gambarelli as the Fairy. Allan Wayne as the Wind, Harold Ames the Storm, and Alex Fisher as Lightning. There were 36 girls In the ballet, the sets being broken in a rather unusual manner. Right In a set of roses, ten as carnations, and 18 Les Sylphes. The set held a gi- gantic willow tree in the center of the stage from which the fairy ap- peared. The ballet ran seven min- utes.. Next In order was a special film arranged for the opening by Inter- national News which conveyed to the audience a few of the expres- sions of good luck sent to Roxy from President Coolidge, Secretary of the Navy Wilbur, Major Gen. LeJuene, Governor Al Smith, and Mayor James J. Walker, which ran six minutes. The first two public offi- cials studiously refrained from men- tioning the theatre but conveyed, their wishes to Roxy personally, but the commander of the Marines came right out from the shoulder with his tender of good luck for the the- atre as well as its director. The Inaugural presentation was "A Fantasy of the South" and it ran for 14 minutes. Here the public first got the effect of the unusual number of people that there are in the Roxy's stage and musical organ- ization. The huge orchestra of 90 down in front and behind them on the stage about another 100 persons. For the opening scene Julius Bled- soe, the colored baritone, was dis- closed on a dock at the Jersey river front with a small screen showing the Manhattan river front in motion picture, with the boats plying up and down the stream. This was projected from the rear of the screen. Bledsoe sang "Swanee River" In pleasing enough manner feu. appeared to he extremely nerv- ous and at first his voice faHed to •arry. The second scene was The South- ern Rhapsody, arranged by Erno Rapee, with the principals of the Gang including Florence Mulhol- tand, contralto; Margaret McKee, the whistler; J. Parker Coombs and Frank Moulan, working in blackface, and the big company shown on eemlngly the lawn of a A auaftet of colored j dancing boys were also on to pop up the scene. Huge pillars reached from the stage Into the flies and the vast plaster eye sounding board at the rear was flooded with light to give the impression of sky. An ef- fective picture and fairly entertain- ing. In the Roxy Pictorial Review the International, Pathe, Fox and Kino- grams were all represented with a single shot each, but then Fox stole a march with a special showing the development of the Roxy theatre, which proved highly Interesting. Ten minutes. A Russian Lullaby was the next unit. The music and lyric were by Irving Berlin, with Gladys Rice and Douglas Stanbury handling the number in effective manner. The former was at a cradle behind a scrim while Doug was down In one. Next was a Vltaphone presenta- tion of a Bcene from "Carmen," with Martlnelli and Jeanne Gordon as the soloists. There was an orchestral prelude of selections from "Carmen" during which Krno Rapee conducted the orchestra, and he showed him- self for the master-showman that he Is by getting the first real ap- plause from the audience for the musicians. Rapee, directing with his left hand only, his right being In a black sling because of a torn ligament, fairly pulled the audience from their seats with the masterly manner in which he handled the men. Then came the Vltaphone. and what a sorry contrast there was be- tween the mechanical contrivance and the music that had preceded It. Not even the voice of Martlnelli could then get over to the audience A brief prolog was given before the first Gloria Swanson-United Artists starring production, "The Love of Sunya," which ran for 72 minutes but was so slow and draggy that it seemed much longer. It would have been easy for Roxy to have eliminated both the "Rus- sian Lullaby" and the Vltaphone from his program and had a much better show. Undoubtedly there have been changes since the open- ing night, for It Is understood that now the Vltaphone Is given only at the performances when the orches tra is not In the pit In all for a first show, produced as this was under the handicaps of the finishing of a theatre It must be said that It was good entertainment Roxy can and will do better In the future, however. Even the chance to look at the house and to see a stage Jammed with people as was the Hippodrome in the days when it housed those huge Arthur Voegtlln spectacles, Is more than the public's money's worth. Fred. turo soBooeted favorably for film palates. For anyone who appre- ciates music, the overture, led by Dumont Is alone worth the price of admission. Henry Murtagh, solo organist, had an offering conceived by himself and named "Popular Classics." Slides flashed on a special drop dec- orated with organ pipes explained that several tunes, classic In their origination, have become highly popular with the years, while origi- nally popular tunes have passed out In no time. He played a couple of the nop classics, varying straight muslo with comedy variations of how they would be played by the young girl pianist next door, on the calliope, etc This solo got much applause. ' "The Taxi Dancer." feature, with International Newsreel completing. Business off somewhat, perhaps due to Lent. Loop. SAENGER CHICAGO (CHICAGO) Chicago, March 10. Where picture house customers have been all their lives is for vaudeville "names" to worry about. It has been proven here every so often that a vaudeville satellite Is so much nothing to a picture house patron In advance billing. That is, if his or her rep has been earned solely in vaudeville. When Van and Schenck came to town to loiter around the picture houses for sev- eral weeks they were Doe and Doe before the cash fares met (hem face to face. After the Introduction It was easy. The same goes with Nora Bayes, In a way. To the film peasants here she has been a myth — somebody they've heard about vaguely and in- frequently. Like the name of the guy who Invented Llsterlne. But before Nora packs her trunks and blows the burg she'll be listed among the democrats' best friends. Picture house occupants are sur- prisingly easy. They'll laugh at gags that would bring tears to the eyes of Joe Miller's grandfather, and they're as unsophisticated as a tank of tadpoles. Vaudeville acts who have crossed the great divide are well aware of this. And because they're so unsophisticated, the cus- tomers don't know who's who. If you have the stuff, however, It's a great life after your Introduction tour. The bill is better than customary at the Chicago this week. With Nora Bayes (presentations) feat- ured and flicking through 25 min- utes, the rest of the program fol- lows with no letup in pace. "Under the Brooklyn Bridge" (Publlx unit) carries 20 minutes with lots of snap. The unit's feat- ured team, Helens Heller and George Riley, are popular here, having played around for 12 weeks. A dash of gagging, some good har- mony, and they had the house from fore to aft. The Bowery dan' e by Johnny Muldoon and Pearl Frank- lin also drew well. Johnny throws the dame Into the river for a final laugh. Other specialties In the turn also kept the pace. Ben Dova, entering ns a drunk and doing some contor- tion work on top of a lamp post, got a healthy tribute, and the tap dancing on a barrel by Relna Van Geen was no slouch. A male har- mony team, Mario and Lazarln, did a ballad early on the program with effect. Frank Cambria produced this one. It's what the houses want. Ap- plause through to the end. The pit orchestra, conducted by Adolphe Dumont, had its moment wita "Capriccio Italienne," an over-1 the (NEW ORLEAN8) New Orleans, March 11. A short show, but not a merry one at the Saenger this week. In- dividually the various Interludes were adequate In the main,'but col- lectively the impression left some- thing to be desired. ' Right at the start, Castro Cara- zo's orchestra, while displaying technical proficiency, none the less rendered the merry strains of "The Chocolate Soldier" in sad mien. They lost all of the sweep of Strauss' score, and as a conse- quence, received only desultory ap- plause. The news weekly seemed unfortu- nate for the nonce In that It dis- closed few happenings odd or Im- portant. Just an "off" week, may- hap, for the event "shooters." John Hammond, the organist, who has a habit of bowing ahead of his appaluse, did not get heavy "hands" at the end of his "How Do You Like Your Opera?" The idea was corking, but Hammond failed, In this instance, to make the most of hts opportunities. The excerpts employed were not of the sort that appeal universally. He has been doing much better, and Is a master of the Instrument. The Publlx presentation, "Garden of Dreams," proved highly colorful, but ran along much as other mo- ments of the sort that have pre- ceded it The dancers were quite good, but their routines disclosed naught that remotely approached originality. Featured midst the dis- ciples of Muse Terpsichore were Renoff and Renova. It became necessary for Lon Chaney in "Tell It to the Ma- rines" to crash across and the fea- ture did that very thing, coming in for acclaim from all sides. Just ahead was a well staged prelude that encompassed members of the United States marine corps. They created Just the right atmosphere. CAPITOL (NEW YORK) New York, March 13. A crackerjack show at the Capitol for the current week. Its running time Is Just a little short of two hours, but there is so much real en- tertainment Jammed Into the pro- gram which moves along with a zip the program really seems longer. Picture for the current week Is '"The Show," in which John Gilbert Is starred and Renee Adoree and Lionel Barrymore featured, and the trio of names on the Capitol marquee certainly makes a great box office flash. Picture Itself is not going to particularly build up John Gilbert's following with the women, for he has the role of a first-class European pineapple of the Apache type. That the names drew heavily Is shown by the Saturday and Sunday receipts of the house In the face of the opposition of the Roxy opening. Saturday the figures were Just a little short of $12,600, while Sundav brought $1».77S. The opening flash has 86 men In the orchestra pit. 40 first and sec- ond violins, eight bass viols, eight 'cellos and the rest reeds, brass and drums. It Is an Inspiring picture and the rendition of "Capriccio Espagnol" was thoroughly enjoyed by the audience. There were 1? minutes given over to the overture md there was a strong applause ap- preciation of the number. The second number was a bari- tone solo In costume by Carlo Fcr- rettl. the selection being "Cortlglanl VII Razza Dannata" from "Rigo- letto," with the singing before a tapestry drop the full width of the stage. Five minutes for this num- ber, which finished to rather mild applause. The first screen entertainment was a UFA short entitled "Secrets of the Sea." showing what the waters eon- tain In the way of mlnl.iture animal life photographed through a micro- scope. Six minutes. Picture Is a straight black and white shown through a green gelatine, whlcli cave It some color. One of the best "fade-In" set- tings for a number was disclosed In the presentation of "Llebestraum." In a garden set down stage are dls. rinsed fella Turrlll and Yashn Ttunrhuk. the former a vocalist and his 'cello. They rep- resent an old couple seated out doors at twilight and as the number progresses the light falls and there Is a fade-In to a pantomime bit by Pavla Pavllcek and John Trlesault, who finish it with an adagio. Very pretty In coloring and composition and effectively given. Capitol Mag- azine contained bits from Fox, Pathe, Klnograms and International. Shots furnished by the latter of scenes in China were shot at vary- ing speeds and a Job for the orches- tra to keep the tempo of the picture. Eight minutes. "Fete Boheme" was the title for the ballet with 40 people on the stage. Highly colorful at the open- ing with the set a French garden with the dancers in the costume of Louis XIV. A garden fete Is in progress and the score of dancers are enjoying themselves when they are Interrupted by a Gypsy, who begs alms and on receipt of them proceeds to show, the dancers how they should have stepped. The Gypsy Is John Trlesault, who is as much of an actor as he Is a dancer, and his pantomimic work here is most effective. He Is assisted in the dance by Joyce Coles, who per- forms most creditably. Then there are 18 Gypsy dancers on for a fin- ish that gets over in great shape. Feature follows for 50 minutes. STATE (BOSTON) Boston, March 11. Just what caused the draw Is hard to explain, but the fact remains that this bill not only drew but it satis- fled, proving to be a great break for this Loew house. It may have been the automobile show, reasonably handy, but the way the business grew through the week seemed to indicate that it was good entertain- ment. John Barrymore is a good but not a wild local film card, and Dan Gregory's recording band was ex- pected to And tough work making the grade because of the appalling number of good, bad and indifferent bands on the Loew presentation cir- cuit which have been having good, bad and Indifferent receptions In Boston as Publlx opposlsh. Gregory's band did not measure up to the best but It climbed the hill on its second number and was given solid applause. The drummer had a vocal bit with a little megaphone and even then It did not carry any too effectively to the depths of this 4,000-capaclty house. Some day some unit is going to put across the amplifier Idea for its better bits of solo work and It cer- tainly ought to get across better than the frequent spectacle nowa days of somebody working behind a megaphone. Phil Spltalny while guest conduc- tor here was talked Into trying a ukulele speciality by a member of his unit and the 10 per cent, of the crowded house that could hear It at all went goofy over It The other »0 went goofy trying to hear It Barto and Mann, lanky and stubby pair of dancers, actually stopped the show, being the pop type of team that fits In with a band unit. The house couldn't get enough and the final burlesque dance, cleverly intro- duced, was one of the surest fire bits shown here in months. Other picture bits included a fable, news and a pictorial, with another of the flat song-plugging series of slides that failed to get over at all through the absence of a leading voice or graphic depiction as to what note the audience was sup- posed to be singing. One new num- ber was more Interesting than usual, due to the fact that the few In the audience who were trying to Join In the festive occasion made a desper- ate and really laudable attempt to sing the words of one line of the song while the organist was playing the next line. It produced a new song that was fairly good, but at the end the audience still had a flock of words left while the organ ran out of notes. Libbey. MARK STRAND (NEW YORK) New York, March 12. Joseph Plunkett was up against It this week for a program layout. The chief difficulty was that the feature, "Beloved Rogue" (United Artists) with John Barrymore, used up Just about 130 minutes. This left him 30 minutes for overture, news reel and what have you? He solved the problem by strip- ping the show of all subordinate fea- tures. The topical was trimmed down to about 10 short clips, giving play to all the services. Parade of English troops to overawe Chinese was best news feature (Interna- tional) and a western woman farmer driving a 36-horse team drawing combined plow, harrow and planting machine (Fox), Bpeclal novelty In- terest aside from news value. That left the matter of musical and ballet material open. This was neatly managed by staging an elab- orate music-and-dance prolog for the romantic picture, a one-set pro- ductlop that packed fn a lot of ma- terial and delivered abundant at- mosphere. The setting showed a Paris Inte- rior of the middle ages done In poetic style with platformed stair- case running high on the gloomy walls, and a capital troductlon for the film. It used up only about 12 minutes, but In that time they got over two big chorus numbers, a solo, "Romance," besides several ensemble arrangements of "March of the Rogues," finishing up with a smashing tableau of the French rolllckers frozen Into a pa- triotic pose as the scrim dropped to. take on the title of "The Beloved Rogue" against the constantly dim- ming background of the richly light- ed tableau. Even the overture was cut from the 7.30 tonight There probably was some effort to cut the running time of the picture Itself by shav- ing footages from the titles, most of which came and went before the less alert in the audience could absorb them. Riuh. STRATFORD (CHICAGO) Chicago, March 11. Inexpensive and "nameless" as are stage shows here, they stand up as entertainment of a type. Three changes weekly. In pictures and stage stuff, with Ted Leary, master of ceremonies, and the 12-plece stage band conducted by Maurle Hllbloom as permanent attractions. Leary has become popular In En- glewood. They seem to like his flip nonchalance In gagging with the orchestra or In introducing acts. There's no question as to Maurle's ability In conducting an orchestra, but as a feeder or gagger he's not at his best. Leary should let him alone, rather to deliver himself. Last week's first split had Jimmy Kearns, Mabel Harper and Co. and a dark Mr. Peterson to offer, be- sides a good draw feature picture, "The Music Master." Jimmy Kearns has been here be- fore, and Is fairly well known. Also fairly well liked. Two ballads were sung nicely. Mabel Harper's company Is a girl at the piano. Miss Harper cinched with two comedy numbers, going to an encore and a speech. Vocal se- lection by the pianist was okay and better than usual - fillers, though Miss Harper didn't come out In a new gown after all. Peterson Is a 47th street stepper and about as hot as they make 'em there. He ran out of steps after the first routine and surprised by get- ting over smartly with a faked en- core. They wanted more after this, but he didn't have any left. Three numbers by the Hllbloom orchestra sounded good. Music of this combination has Improved ap- preciably since last heard. House "ballet" of four girls black bottomed around In the Interims. Addition of two more girls wouldn't hurt, as four make a somewhat flimsy looking chorus. Leary calls 'em the McGunka Sisters. Doris Gutow's organ and slide stuff made a pleasing bit. A plug- ger, under cover. Joined in for a chorus and the number fared well with the customers. House well filled when caught, this at the last evening show. STRAND (BROOKLYN) Brooklyn, N. Y., March 13. A quadruple feature this week Is doing plenty trade for this Brook- lyn house. The Vltaphone and War- tng's Tennsylvanians (return) on the stage as the presentations are nicely balanced with "An Affair of the Follies" the feature and the Will Rogers short subject, "In Dub- lin," for the flickers. Of the Vltaphone, Will Hays, the "Spirit of 1918" Overture and Mar- tinelli's "Vesta La Gulbba" from "PagliaccI" were the offerings, the latter Impressing most favorably. Following the news reel the col- legiate orchestra scored heavily with 25 minutes of versatile muslco-en- tertalnment. Warlng's Pennsylva- nians are playing a quick return at this house. The Warlngs are the consummate picture house attraction. Their type of entertainment is generally appealing, '.hey run the gamut of musical divertissement. Interspers- ing comedy and general entertain- ment, although relying primarily In the music to impress. For an en- core "Gallagher and Shean" by trumpet and trombone as the "con- versationalists" is a version unique In Itself. It closed the offering rouslngly. Of (he specialists the drummer Is a comedy highlight and Paul Mertz at the Ivories with his trick "Hur- ricane" solo with orchestra also stood out. AM. NEW ACTS Lew Welch In "Laughing Gas." Solly Joyce (Fat Boy of Joy), doing a single for the past three seasons, two-act with Harry Sate (Basil and Sate). Wanda Ludlow has shelved her former production act and will shortly do a 2-act with Willlem B. Fredericks. • Jeanette, formerly of Seymour (deceased) and Jeanette and Synco- pators. McDonald and Close, 2-act. Nick Copeland and Harry Stone, 2-act. Lindsay and Mason have shelved their former production net and will revive their former dancing act