Variety (Sep 1927)

Wednesday, September 28. 1927 WOMEN'S PAGE VARIETY 41 GRAY MATTER By MOLLIE GRAY (TOMMY GRAY'S SISTER) At th* Palac* Kather like a slnelnB contest at the Palace tliis weik. lua Kremer sang for every n;itiijnaHty and ik-liKhleil tli< m nil. sh' igoked beautiful In a gown of metallic lace and not. The l.ico niadi' a Muitl down th« front, tho n«t In (olds swept the floor and the satin back they knotted at the' waist from which they continued to the edgo of the skirt. Hyde and BurrlU arc billed a.s "a I'it different and that could apply to Miss Burrill's gowns. A lovely flame colur velvet with surplice bodice ■Sd CMoade drap* on the left side witli bislutp sleeves of matching ei«pe embroidered In colored silk, tier previous velvet oT blue with flare of crepe and cape of rainbow hues haj no sleeves. Another cos- tume had blue velvet for a tisrht bodice and white tiiffeta with plaid bem tor the skirt. Plaid was used for a long scarf and a blue beret Wbked cute but didn't quit* mattcb the bodice. Pale green aatia allppers were worn with thia eoatvn* be«aua« titejr matelied tha ptplnv adglng the plaid trimming Nazimova is just as splandM to Woman of the Eartk" as when ■sen some time ago. /n ttw^iata ~ Benorlta Alcanis and Company at the State this week supply soft music and graceful dancing. No audible reason for the singing. With her hair In braids the Senorita clicked her heels in green and orange tatln, and then ruffled green with rose pattern, carried out by a rose on her comb. She was a gypsy In many coloVed georBctte pieces as a skirt and tangoed In a pretty blue shawl embroidered In white and while fringe. Her comb with this was dark blue and so were her slippers. Miss Wells (Cassler and 'Wells) .seems to have a Rood professional voice but amateur gestures. She looked lovely In a blue chiffon over ■liver with silver lace hanging longer at the sides and again In pink valwt with bead trimming following the diagonal Une of tta wrpXee bodice and continuing to the hem of the skirt. The singi* wnr on tin left of the skirt was beaded too. Langfoid and Myia clispluy the latest In fancy pillows In their "Malson de Mode." Miss Myra's pearl encrusted white satin panels with heavy white lace between that made the skirt for a tight b94(a«l. with more pearls was a late model too, even though they are iMilC ttlfk same gag as an act at the Palee about It. . ■ \ . LllUan Shaw s robe dc style of black satin had a single fMS Ma broldered on the front of the skirt and the lining wras als0'S«M Hiaking it verr effecUva with the acalloped hcnUiM. Hbm Shaw's Ions atring of beads were gold too. Cartnel Myers makes a goigeuUH Spanish dancer .ns ' The Oirl Krom Rio." Her gow n shone and glittered and her eyes did all sorts of damage. Not satisned with Jswela around her neck, arms aaA anfeMi ahe had them in her cigaret holder too. She had a trailing gowft: 114 l WI «r »te long coat entirely of spangles later and for a dilTerent kind «t wMv* flrlish white frock and transparent h.it with laco flowers apfOiflM,- A dark crepe frock liad do'uble revere and cuffs of lace. Mildred Harris used lace also for a pretty hat and (rock. Walter PIdgeon really brought all the trouble on himself. Beeauae ho was a big coffee man he thought he was strong enough to spend an evening with 'The girl from Rio" and lake neitHfr head nor heart. The most accommodating villlan ever seen menaced this picture and some beauti- tnl outdoor aoenaa decontad it. Woman in PietHraa Motion pictures are really not fair to women." Practically o»ary week ■oma picture exposes on© of their tactics. First thing we know every year win be leap year to those who still want husbands. In "One Woman to Another" at the Paramount and "The Drop Kick" at the Strand the hero spenda most of his time eluding AamsRiaS females. In each case it todk another woman to get him out of the trap, be- cause she understood the bait. As always Florence Vidor dresses beautifully. lleilJa Hopper helped Theodore von Elta out of his dlftlculty in this just as she did Hiek Barthetaneaa in the "Vnp Kick," making her the busiest flxer on Broad- way last week. To a white ensemble she wote had a striking coat wltb add sleeves .nnd bl.ack and white t>ixe<lo collar and cuffs. She also handled an ermine wrap like a poor relation which it is not. Krniine may make poor relations so perhaps It should be tre.ited as carelessly. 3 Women Tosether Bed da Hopper wears smart costumes In "The Drop Kick," a brocaded velvet gown with wide band of fur at the bottom and train of plain erepe coming from the side. A grey cloth coat had a cape to the elbows and tight collar of squirrel. Dorothy Hevler used lacc for her vamping, one black negligee having high net ruchlng for the collar while, another of light color lac* had no collar. Alberu Vaughn's spansM sown had a loop of metallic ribbon caught at the shoulders with tha ends loose In back. Hedda and Dorothy and Alberta often visit the New _Tortt_ theatre ■oreeo individually. Seeing them together is unusual. Good Performancaa * T-orers and Enemies" wends It's way up and down through every human affection and aahs "WhyT" after every wend. Tha anawer is "yes and no" with snhie laughs, te.xrs and a good performance on every- ones part. Particularly fine ones by Leo N. Bulgakov and Kva Condon as the elderly couple. The play affords the cast splendid opportunities but the philosophy is rather deprasdnc. Esther Mitchell wore a yelloW crepe de chine frock flrat but in black with long tunic blouse, brought out her blonde fairness more sharply, ■loanna Roos' w ine color silk frock waa shirred at the top of slei ves and skirt. Paula Truoman's youthfulneas was emphasized by a white voile dress made with rod stitching on the peasant blouse the same color as her alippera. A two piece frctek of black talfeta blouse and finely Pl«it^ sMrt of vertically striped crepe had a tie of the samo stripes In thrhith edltar. bsoerming "Psrtslan Flsppera" Olympic burlesque belong to poor relation branch of the musical com- edy family. Of course Olympic clings to the side of Tammany Hall on 14th street, and ni<w wHh a 2t-story building on top of it, it's ptgtectloii MM W per- Ip f ^bubert Vaudeville. Bathing Suit Viewpoints Danbury Conn.. Sept. il. Women in Uowayton, a resort town on Long Island Sound, are >pIiL over the baihing Ix-.iutie.s. A iloi k of beauties clad in short. blight baihing suits paraded down . the tow n's main street last week, A woman leaned against a doorway and watched them. I "Ought to be ashamed of them- i seUes, running arouTKl the streets half naked," she salil disgustingly. Another wouu-in, Mrs. Leon l>orn. wife of the noted artist, watched the group. "uh, if there were only some artiata herol" aha said enihuslastic- >^ ACADEMY (Continued ftrom pasa M) the advantage of abundant radio exploitation to give It box office pull. Placed second from closing, this medley of spirited song and dance took up an even hour of running time, making in Itself a smart spe- cialty sliow, with production flasii ami iiriin-esslv© array of people,, puncluated with sprightly bits, ail building up to an important total. Tile turn t;enerates in itseli some- thing of the jolly atmosphere of a real night club, even to the device ol" Introducing other regular turns on the bill as casual night club drop- pers in. A preludo to thatr .focmal turns which are ttus tncorpontted into the revue. This was the method of present- ing Keller Sisters nnd Lynch. Be- sides this act, and the I>rescnee of Friedland himself presiding n.-er the festivities, t^'haz Cha.so, an earlier act on the bill, workeil through the entire hour with his own pantomimic comedy, and to good effect. Zastro, White and Co. opened. Two young hoofers are backed by a chorus of six girls. Turn has been werklns several years and haa im- proved vastly since last viewed. Boys Iwve typical hoofera' voices and their song numbers do them no good, but their own stepiiing, mostly acrol)atic and legmania stulT, is striking. Oirls are the usual halt <loZ"n, dressing the stage agreeably liiit developed notliing but neat cos- tuming and animation. Jack Merlin, card manipulator with comedy patter and a boy and girl assistants, held tha stage too long. In la mtautaa ho would have scored iM.^Ia:_M.minutes feo was permitted to depart quietly. It wasn't a bill to oncourage quiet talking eomediana Nellie Arnaut and Bros, are another young act that have progressed. They have relinquished the comedy pantomime and now give free rein to vigorous straight dancing while playing vio- lins. Some of the acrobatic stepping is remarkable. One of the boys doe.s a row of butterflies apparentb without missing a note on his fiddle. Tlie girl is a sightly little person ami a whtilwlnd on her feet, also playing while doing difficult acro- batic feats. A thrso Sanea to the "Merry WIdoW Wilts iOr WSS Out- standing. Chas Chase was another who overstayed, doing 16 minutes, al- though he. too, had the justification of a genuine encore following his low comedy business. L,ess Would have been enotlgh, though. Consid- ering he to eomo on again for the Anatol act. Then into the night club medley. lieBIanehe and DuCharme, adagio dancers, had two lively numbers to themselves, and a girl acrobatic stepper announced as Marmie Green rates mention. Al Jockers led the orchestra for the revue, which em- ployed 15 people or more. Harry How nnl stepped into a spot most single comedians would give a gowl deal to avoid. Crashing into an audience that had Just been fed Jazz nnd undressed girls. Howard went to it in high. Be talked fast and loud and oairrM tha battle to the audience. Stronf arm tactics, but it fastened attention, and thence onward he was set to the tunc of IS minutes and a curtain speech os the clock arT>roaehed 11. The Four Readincs, standard ttirn for the spot, finished, holding after the first Sroup of walkouts, when they got lmo haad Mtaacing. Wiljli NELLIE REVEL IN NEW YORK l4 By NELLIE REVELL You can always tell when you get way out West—not only by the fact tliat the change from a flO bill consists of cailwheels—but also because you start hearing new words. An Kasterner usually returns from liully\\ood with more "I'urrin'' terms tli.in a S'-hool teacher iust l-'a< k fioin a t'.M.k s tour of Kurope. une of tliom is "SucKerlius.' The word its.'lf Is a laugh and what it stands for is a bigger one. It seems that at various street corners fa Los Angeles stand big, palatl.al motor busses and the barkers have a goi.>d line. '-s. e (lie eit> - free! W'iW not »*ost you a cent! Kree sl.;ht- secing loi- li.iinsis""' And the un.suspecting lo\\ans—and New Yorkers- pile in, bles.siug so generous an organisation as the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. The ride starts. Up and down the boulevards. Over the hills and far a«ay. Hut with many slops—and eaeii at .\ hot dog and rold-di ink parlor. \\ Idi li would l>e all light, if it werfri t that priees ol weiners and pop are ju.st double the usual charge to anyone riding In tiicse buasea. With the drivera getting a big percentage of the overcharge. Then the ride always winds up in front of a aubdivision real estate ofllce, where the driver just "lias to see a nian for a minute" which lengthens into a quarter hour, .\n^\ ilie pa'-sen^;era have to alt and listen to a high-pressure sales talk—or walk home. Another ierin~ind1gen<>OB to^ioa Anjreles Is ^ttmrhboT ntrh" Votr-— see them everywhere on the main motoring streets. Yon may not Know what they are at ftr.»,t but you'll h-ai n. Someone con. eived i!ie i-Iea that It might not be fashionable to cany lunch boxes any nutre hut that people still liked them—it someone else would carry them. The re- sult was a legion of pretty girls—and I mean, pretty—who take up posts near all the picture studios and on prominent comers, selling l,ox luntjies to hungry pleture extras and to tourists who tlon't want to wa-ste time slopping for lunch on the road. The Idea has evidently been suMSSsful tliougb It Is hard to say if it was because of the con- tents of the lunchboxes—or the beauty of 4he lunchbox girls. but feet Tharo may be dirtier, rottener shows than "Parisian Fla4>pers, there never was more vulgar dan'Ing. It's a mutual show. If that means anything to you, although It probably haa a lot of meaning to sailors. A public benefactor sells the audience of the filymple the "finest < liero- •ates fo f t l ) c^hU t P&Hfld, Mfh bnx with a wonderful prize." Tha fits; customer got a pen and pencil 6<'t. shou-n to the house, and later the salesman collected it. His next was "Life and Confession of a Choru," (llrl by the T N. T, ^aked Truth Publishing Co. If you're modest or bashful don t take the liook. It cents." Many were neither. A m.in aiwut 80 sat reading his program w^th a magnifying glass •bout two inche.'i from the stage In a box. For that man to be at a ■••utual 8bow waa cruelt: It may have puzzled some fans how dire, tors induce the eh'ldren in pictures to cry at the right moment and at the risk of bringing down the Gerry Society on Hollywood's head, I'll disclose the secret. Some- times it Is by frightening them and aometlmes by spanking them. Miss Piekford's p<'t story Is about the five-yenr old little girl, Horeen. who h.xs appeared In lior pictures and whom site calls her llitle "Nellie Kevcll." Which is hard on the youngster, considering the sort of a child I hear I was at that age. It waa a scene In a war picture and the little girl was suiiposed to be standing beside hor deatl mother, patting her face and weeping copiously. But Doreen saw no i.au.se for crying—she had been having much too good a time all morning for that. And no persuasion rnuid bring tha needed tear. Finally, Miaa Pickford and the director decided to frighten her, spanking, not being allowed on the Pickford lot. So the child's mother, who w.ia In on the scheme, was brought on tlrt set and the director proceeded to rage at Iier, to order her off the lot, to tell her never to come back. Tlie mother departed, Doreen burst Into sobs and the scene was shot Tlie mother returned and Doreen smiled impishly. 'Tou didn't fool mo at alV she shouted, jumping up and down. "I know it nU tha thne." We hate to go on spoiling the Illusions of the move fans—but Hidly- wood is the one place In the world where a forger could make a good living and stay out of Jail. In fact, there is a real need out there for persona who can imitate the signatures of well known pleture pla.\ers. The situation revolves around the fan mall received by popular flimitea. Tan letters received by the stars often run as high as 1,000 a day and it is not unusual for even the less well known actors to get from 50 to 100 letters dally. E^h one, of course, must be answered and in most cases an autographed picture must he sent to the writer. The highly-paid stars have from two to four assistants to sign the photo- graphs and replies tor them but many of the picture people cannot af- ford even the full-time services of one person. So, In answer to their need, have sprung up several organizations which do nothing but t.ake care of fan mall and see to It that Sophie Blotz, of Hogwallow, Ark„ gets her picture of the actor whom she "considers a very swell actor and I would give anything If I could have a picture of you signed with your name." In the minds of many members of the Ladles Aid Society, Hollywood, is synonymous witii soplilstlcation, sinfulness nnd suvoir falre. I'crh.aps so —but here is a scene 1 came across on the last day of my stay there. Tiie Interior of Hollywood's smartest restaurant, the haunt of picture stars known all over the world. An orchestra crashing out the latest and hottest dance hit Film producers In a corner haggling over tho details of what was probably another million-dollar production. Boft- foote<l waiters translating menu French to women in Paris guWns and men in Txmdon clothes. And in the midst of all this smartness, this worldly ehlcncss, a waiter padded across the floor bearing on his tray a baby's nursing bottle, Hlled with milk. Hp had been heating it In the kitchen for the six-month old child of the picture queen who sat three tobies from mo. BURLESQUE MERGER (Continued from pa«e 8S) come the operator for one se.ieon It's rcportc»l that if the hurle.squ' wheel denl goes througli. It will be- come a fact before Now Year s. John Quigley with "Be Hapiiy" jumped to Clark's "Foolln' Around' I show wh"n ' I!e lafipy" faded. —Sam-Sciil-'ntr^ liead of i),e c ; bla Co., left town yealrrd.Ty (Tues- day) to visit Baltimore and Wash- Ington. He will be In touch with (lie I..-!Tl1ry .-iliow whii'h h.'i" beetP r^perl'l likely to close, i^er Hours pi . senro there Is exiieete.l to stralcliten miitters with the show W remain Intact. Considering that I h.ad seen but few horses while 1 was in California, the di.scovery of a watering trough on one of the most prominent street corners on Sunset boulevard was like Bnding an old-fashluned melodeon In the orchestra at the Metropolitan. "What In the world Is that for?" 1 Inquired of the chauffeur of the studio car in which I was riding. "Well, ma'am," he told me, "I never did see a horse drinking from it, but once In a while some studios makes a horse scene and they use the watering trough for atmosphere. And once I saw a man luiing it to flII his automebilo ladlator." John Barrymorc was approached by a good-looking actor on the lot and stopped as tho man held out his h.and ond said, "Mr. Barrymore, please pardon my presumption but I want very much to shake hmds with y))u. You see—again you will make allowances for the stateiio nt— my friends all insist I look a great deal like you; not so -er- handsome, perhaps, but enough like you to r ause comment.'* Mr. Barrymore regarde d the young man solemnly, then nodded, "No doubt you are right, sir. My father was a very extensive traveler." RUTH NUGiarr ROBBED f'hiengo, Sept. 27. Kuth NoKint. star of "An Amer- ic in Tr.itredy," playing at the Gar- liek here, has reported to police the theft of I'i 000 gowns from her dressing room. Tho actress collapsid, delaying li.e show, when she learned her vV^.T dliiK Bo w u w as III th e ioirt. ENGAGEMENTS William 1.. Elk Ins' negro ihorus f2G). "CJolden Dawn" tllamnur- ateln). Si .to l our .\I.ih- Quartette lor "W hite Ligh"i',ti.a J['»nnaJ• NEW ACTS (Miss) Tommy Allen, nine people. Jean La Marr, feni pui'iii.-t and wr*;stler. Is expanditu: lor former act. The new arrangement will carry a mixed d/melnp team. births" -Mr -nnd—Mr Ti ll i..11— Kua (Norma Lee) In Ne-.v yorlt. .«ept. 23, daughter. Father la the son of .r. C .V'l;- nt. Mr. .li d .\Ir-i. flos .Minton. d.iugh- ter. nt i^t. (•ilhirir''s Ib-pitiil. Uroi.kl.vn. Mother e,., • .i .U of UBS Sunkhine tiulk, ^a .d•^.ll«,