Variety (Apr 1928)

Wednesday, April 18, 1928 NEW ACTS VARIETY 37 ALICE BRADY ANp CO. (5) iBketch y 24 Min».; Two and Full (Special) falace (St, V.) Alice Brady was In vaudeville be- fore and now she's back again with the sort of playlet for which legit stars have become justly famoxiB af the Palace. An anemic act In- which Miss Brady makes a personal ap- jpearance and nothing more. Harry WagstafC Gribblo, author, has gone over to the backs-'tage TOgue in showing two principals playing "Romeo and Juliet" and then displaying tbe dressing room jscrap over bo wis. It points a moral Vhen the old timer comes in to con gratulate . both, mentions' that he once played "Romoo" and recog- nizes in Miss Brady's maid his for- mer on and off "Juliet," from whom he separated becilusc of professional jealousy. Basic idea is .sufficient foi- vaudc ville and has been played beforf With a couple Of laughs .somcwheift ■ Jn the running it would Hupply the peg on which to hang the Brady nanie even without a song or dance As It stands It doesn't mt-an any thing beyond a chapcc to p.nzc at Alice. Austin Fairman gives the host performance of the troupe oppo.silo Miss Brady. Aphie JameM and.Har- old Chase, as the old couple, don exaggerated fiiclal makeups to im- ply: agfe that are so ipxtrcme as to appear amateurish. Ah arinouncM- skeletonizes the action, asking for applaiisc to carry out the plot. The Monday night crowd tittered at him. Just a filler for Miss Brady and additional evidence of K-A's "name" proVlem. Doesn't mean any more than the screen trailer which an- nounced "Buffalo's favOrite dancers" axe coming. There's, something for New York to get excited about, Buf- falo's favorite dancers. The tpwh won't be disturbed by Miss Brady at the Palace either. "CAPRICE A'PIED," (8) Dancing- and Songs 19 Mins.; One and Full (Special) Palace (St. V.) Mlm.icking of the modern picture house idea minus the speed of those presentations, and nothing for Roth- afel, Plunkett, Partington or Fan- chon and Marco to worry about. Just a sohg and dance flash layout with ah adagio routine as the high- light. Principals listed are Tommy PEREZCARO SISTERS (Revue (12) Songs, Dances and Orchestra . 20 Mins.; Full Stage State (V-P) Perezcaro Sisters and thoir Mex- ican company,. . whieh includos daricers and an orchestra, are di- rected by a map who docs nothing else but swing the baton. The orchestra is an odd mixture PALACE (St; Vaude) As soon as somebody stops figur- ing tliat those who pay $D and $13 a smash for the big musicrilK also go to vaudovillo, thf^ Taluce is going to have bpttor shows. That's not to say thwe's anything Park Avonue about this week's list. A BUggestion that the Palace has pono Park Lane tho week Ihpy are thoro would prob- ably thid Clayton, J uck.son and Du- rante in New Ovloans in the morn- STATE (Vaudfilm) "Sadie •longer of instruments. A woman plays the and Eleanor," Harold RingOld, Jay I violin and another gal manipulates I'i^p, yixit the .sluVw is running on Coffey' and four choristers. A the mallets on the xylophone. Ro- light signals and thoros a lot of clown costumed carnival serves as mainder of the musicians arc men, cro-^stown trnttio holding up pedes the finale : one a,t the drums, another the piano, trian.s froin 8.20 to. 9 SO. Impationo High kicking youth paces the four thn-d playing a i^<ipHn, whjle t^a ^^^^ girls while the second boy smgs and [.others strum gultai-s. ^ While the „otinng la saving outfit might not read effectively on Uyjij. f„.j.j ^^j^^jj- i^^^ Medley and Du- paper its music is satisfying, and p,.(.y spotted just ahi'ad of Alice harmonious. Brady (.New Acta) who closes inter The PCrezcaro. Sisters are hard mission, workers. They appear for solo] K-A ought to send body guard.*? has his troubles with top notes, pos .sibly because of a cold. Too many slow spots to be an applause factoi: anywheire. Spotted No. 3, would have killed the entire first half had it not been for the following act and its comedy Girl and boy*s adagio has .both some sense and merit, former doing some daring twists and leaps. Other than that it's just another. Stands a good . chance of being verbally razzed before a rough gallery and places the' $2 top here further put of proportion. Four girls are re- stricted to ordinary dance schedules, Sid With the feature ilhn, Tliompson" (U. A.), running than usual the State bilMopped off one of its u.sual acts, giving a five act bill. . • . •Business very good Monday night, with the picture getting the credit for Uie draw. i. The show by its loholy gave, up- . parent satisfaction due to the re- peats of several of the turns at this house and in the returns was Bpb Nelson, a favorite here. The Uarderlanos gave a clean start, theii' oQuilibristio work being a little different from other and like;, turnf?, A corking act and one that was forced to take several bows at , the close, Lillian Bernard and Flo Henri were, second.. These gals put thtjlr songs over effectively, knowing how to gauge that huge house and theU' score was never in doubt. The dances and work .in routines with home wMth the aforementioned team, ^^^j^^^j^ ^^.^^^ changed their routine, two male dancers. Entire program Sylvia Clark.and hohnoxzle and the the better. Two of the new is Durely Mexican . In arrangement two^b_oys ju^^^^ ^ere standouts, fitting is purely Mexican , in ^-^^^^^^^'^^^^^^^^^ the theatre the next day. Plus , .^eir voices and style admirably with . the dances of the colorful qj,^ ^ _ i,>,.(,„cii in the second li>Jl -r, j, tt s'^J-'c aumuaoiy Spanish type that has been seen ?Xanj^one ca.rb^^^^^ Bernard-Henri turn .3 a bar- before. Thei-e are several of the Ut 10 p. m., take a seat ahd .be thor- MARYLAND COLLEGIANS With Louella Lee (13) Music and Songs 13 Mins.; Full Stage Strand (Pet), Nevw York The Maryland Collegians seem to get around in Baltimore or Now York each spring. If . this b\mch belongs to a* college in Maryland they jBhould bring the student body along with them, besides friends and relatives, whenever going out of town. They Will need them for an audience if staying in the regu- lar theatres. A fault with college glee clubs appears to be that they think they are all Warlng'fl Pennsylvanians or ftomethlng hear. This crowd Is . not even near, ■whether singing, playing or trying to do comedy. . Their comedy is terrible, especially the female im personator. Opening as a part of a stage unit at the Strand this week, the act Seems to have a dancer called Louella Lee as an assistant. Miss Lee. had best be content with the dancing classification, for as a singer she goes with the. imper senator. And as a dancer the girl ■looks as though trying out in slow motion. The boys start off with a cheer number after that, then about the only bit that could be called a bit :-of=-the^ejitire-turn-camiB--9nI.-One_ oj' the musicians iriiitating a monkey without wearing .skin, and not badly for this group. After that to the music, oh a bandstand drawn upon the stage. This is where the Mary land Collegians recalled every good stage band, by Opntrast. In those days when almost; any kind of mU$ic can get over on i picture house stage, that thi 12 piece orchestra didn't Monday night should be enough for the return tran.sportation. If this is an ama teur organization, and it sounds so with youth {IS its single recommen datiOn, then amateurs should stay on the .homo grounds and be fortu- nate for that. And man.ngers'-ai\d hookers shouId. be happy if tlu y do. A total loss elsewhere. LOMA WORTH .Musict Dancing, 14 Mins.; One 5th Ave. (V-P) Probably of , tlie. former Worth Sisters arid Coly act, LOroa Is get- ting by In her early moments be cau.se the boys like to -look at her. Good. looking blonde who eventually makes, enough strip- costume changes to get down to short trunks. Meanwhile, Loma has entertained on accordion, violin, sax, banjo, thrown in a tap routine, gone back to a tenor sax, a clarinet and ..then blows, both instruments for a finish She completed in 10 miniites down here, but the gallery wouldn't give in, and by the time she'd done two encores it was four more minutes Miss Worth appears to be in the midst of a fair No. 2 act helped Imnieasuraibly by her looks. A crav- ing to give credit where credit is due sponsor babyish voiced an- nouncements on her version of Varsity Drag" from "Good News, and an impersonation of Wilbur Hall, trombonist with Whltieman's band. Later copy Is Hall's violin comedy bit. It may be the first imi- tation or credit ever accorded a band member. ' Dancing Of this feminine single Is neat if not sen- sational. Teamed with a boy possessed of a knack for comedy and terpslchore, Loma's Instrumental ability and appearance would flavor for some- thing more than the early spot she Is now holding. Yet, If there's no desire to hook up with one of the opposite sex. Miss Worth is quite apt to go sailing along well enough In her present environment and position. A, more direct path to the punch bits would But. Miss Worth ought to grab herself a partner and more money Mexican diances that were effective By way Of diversity and to give the act a dash of American paprika* the sLsters came on for an encore | sh^jriiy-fte^ iV.' and did a BB, discarding some of their roomy Mex raiment for It. Entire turn picturesque and color- ful and carries plenty : of novelty oiighly entertained. . Van and Belle, clo.sing act, didn't appear Monday night, so a ncwsreel was . on. both ends, . All of which let the .show out Few acts have had as soft a spot as Medley and Duprey, Three turns ahead of 'em using up nothing but limes:and yawns. By the time this insofar as the native dances are pair jiirived they could have pulled concerned. The sisters and their up a chair, ordered and the house male dancing co-workers step along would have served^ . e^.. uj* <.»»oM*..i<>ui. ->r,/i alert In fairness to the act it can- be for a bit of eccentricity and a so I ^j^^^ ^^ would have been just as swmg in some tapping done with ^^^^^^j p^^.^^^^^^ j,^,^^^^^y Male half precision and teamwork. is using a lot of funny gags, and the Music alone Is entertaining. While way the hou.sc' gulped them down It the Mexican orchestral and dancing flgured to be a lesson. It's well vogue Is .on this revue will hold nigh become an axiom that almost any comedy:.act, when it finally can get Into thO Palace, has a pushover if .spotted in the first half. Simply because of the early laugh famine which is as regular as E. D.'s glorl fied hiccoughs. "Caprice A'Pled" (New Acts) almost killed the en tire evening despite a couple who finally turned in a good-looking idagio routine. Five girls arid three boys in this outfit, seven with their hair bobbed monious one and the girls seem to be improving the longer they stay in New York. Wally Sharpies and his company of revue workers and singers never looked better. The comedy sketches were well received. Bob-NoLson fol- lowed and had everything his own way. Whether singing or gagging that State crowd was mincemeat for Nelson. Perezcaro Sisters Revue (New Acts) closed the vaude section. Mark. it.s own. Everything Is foreign, even to dressing, but the sisters Inject a lot of pep and tliat's helpful In Amer- ican vaude and picture houses. State audience liked the turn Im- men.sely. Mark. STARR AND ROLLO Song and Dance 8 Mins.; One B'way. (V-P) Two boys breaking In. Can dance more than a little but don't know RIVERSIDE (St V^ude) Some ladies' aid society holding a benelit entertainment at the River- side was more than a K-A aid for the house Monday night, proving a life-saver, according to the size of ' the delegation, as compared to the regular. Still on a 76c top,, it's a matter of weeks before the. 96th street spoke In the circuit goes grind.. With a, flicker feature for program assist- ance, the Riverside stands a good chance, but as is, it'll r^ver get any- where. The currient show thr.ee-shee?*^' Tho.se three cafe sprites (Claytop.. Trixie Frlganza, now billed as "the Jackson and Dui-antc), who talk like Variety writes, are a bargain for the Palace this week at $3,500, more or less. Those who knew them were a thing about trouplng. Dress there to laugh, and did, and tho.se straight and labor hard at getting who hadn't much idea what It was ^"II . - 4«^„„o^^oiu..,» all about also gave In. Lou, Eddie over their idea of "personality, jmimle did 31 minutes for about Start with one of those ha?f-mum- numbers and a couple of dances bled, half sung duets. Typical two- by Clayton, for which there was man hoofer voices. applause ea,ch time he started. The Announce their conception of this boys are probably using their great and that and do one of those unison est comedy number, and that "great;' routines with much energy and if r groadway Do Without Me?" A grace. One of those acts that raise the query, "Why straight boy hoof- ing teams?" Yes, they wear white spats and very elegant dark afternoon suits. Rusli. PEGGY VARDON Pianiste 8 Mins.; One Mark Strand (Pet), Brooklyn, N. way shame to have to admit that this lyric is a comedy cla.ssic. If the boys believe It they're likely to drop It from fright. But It holds more laughs than four dally column writers have been able to amass In a month and ought to be used for the finLsh J.'ickson sent in a hot number with a hop on It, and thereafter kept lay ing his pitch shots dead for Jimmie to hole out. Neither Eddie or Jlmmle Is liable, to break 100 while they're unaware that golf counsea Peggy Vardon must be no novice, irect path to l j^^j^^^gj^ j^^^ recorded in Variety's 1 do have fairways (burn gp, chumps) | also be a help. I^ipg striking appearance, tall but it's a sweet twosome on a floor r^l^^^^^^ to click with t and sJlnky in manner, with a fuU head of red hair as a distinguishing A lot of houses playing acts these I n^^^^j^^ the pianiste does her pop days where hor pcr.sonal renditions would be helped by something more than a five-piece pit orchestra. Sid.- RAY FERN and MARljE Songs and Talk 14 Mins.; One -^odubxjMCV^P) .A man-woman combo usiii.ir a nvlnstrel. bit as its main asset.' The <luo go in for an exchange of gags and al.so try songs with the woman flashing some dancing that wasn't so flashy. Her blackbottom number .suffers in comparison with som<? of the gals doing this dartce to per- fection. It should go out as it iloesn't help. The minstrel gagging proved •"unny and got laughs uptown. Act won favor at th6 Audubon. Hark. WHEELER AND SANDS . { Comedy "Talk 14 Mins.; One B'way. (V-P) Mixed team, man in sap comedy getup, nice-looking, "cute" girl feeding.' rte officiates at piano, while she stalls over song number that never gets far, while she feeds the cross talk. Conversation .fjteers clear of flirtation and domestic wrangle stuff and is fre.sh and bright. One portion has to do with girl reading nut poem she has written, stuff that wows the small theatre, but would be out of order for the wise ..mob and which is not worthy of the rest. Man does nicely with eoniic song and pah' delivers good average with .slyli- and material that is away from u.sual routine. Here I spotted about mid-way, an assign ! ment that they about rate for thi grade of time. Rush- stuff with great impressivcness. Working to Jerry Sear's orches- tral accompaniment, she did two numbers, concluding with excerpts from "The .Rhapsodic In Blue." Miss Vart'on knows her show- nilrhshiFtiird'shainsiy' "Oddities" unit with which .she is .it the Brooklyn Strand. Abel. AL and RAY SAMUELS Tap Dancers 6 Mins. Mark Strand (Pet), Broomyrt, N. Y: With the "Oddities" unit at the Brooklyn Strand fire Al and Ray .Samuels, who rate aniong the last gasps in. neat concerted tap danc- ing. Their clean-cut style recom- mends them strongly for revue or production, and, of course, anything anywhere, with the legit musicals favored because of the cliss of their stuff. " ■ ^ '.. They did an acrobatic.tap in uni- son and a double, military tap that wowed. The Samuels are a.male leivin. AlicL FRANKIE MOORE (1) Sing.'ng with Guitar 10 Mins.; One Engiewood (V-P), Chicago Frankle Moore has special songs of comedy intent which he accom- panies with, guitar. The act at present Is rather unlmpre.s.sive family deucer at iaest. Moore's voice is Just fair and the humor In his special material Is weak as a whole. It might help him to insert one or two publlshofl hits. CHRISTOPHER, and COLUMByS Horirontat Bar 6 Mins.; Three . ' Audubon (V-P) Two men. One works str<ugl)t; other is In cloWnfaco with a loose, baggy suit. Both oh the horizontal bar with comedy byplay by the comic, effective for the most part. Several nifty and fast turns of- fered by the straight, so flasli^y- and tricky that the Audubon crowd ap plauded spontaneously. Pleasing act of Its kind and not overdone. ifnrk< or stage Trio were handicapped getting started hy'Miss Clark coming back, presumably to make sonie sort of an announcement. Having dono very well oh her own, the house started to applaud the comedienne again. Meanwhile the Parody Club band had commenced behind the drop, up it went and the main three entranced una wa re of the mlxturo-of anplausc for themselves and Miss Clark. Lat- ter was hidden from the boys by the toj-mentor, so it looked embarrassing for a .second or two, but the first number sfiuai'ed everything as Aliss Clark gracefully hacked Into the wings. Only iiossihlo criticism of the a<-t Monday, night Is that the band was proivo X<> .smother .Clay- ton'.s laps and .TacU.son's warbling, Jimmie was In fin<' voice, hl.s re.s>- onant tenor. hfing . as clear as a Ih'oadway dOH's explanatioUi Archie and Gertie Falls open'^d quietly, trailed by Wade Booth, who is back in.vaudc with a pianiste ac ompan,vinK. I'-onth started off with the must unanlmiited version of 'The .Song of the Vag.abon<Is" ■which has probahly . ever. '' been rond'^rcd. Hooth should insert a new reading. A switch from "(■Junga Din" to Kipling's "Root.s" b.i.sically sOunded good, and with proper interpretation might be made into Homothing by him. Miss c;]ark otiened tlie second half and was never bothered by anything 1 {^ iTip-^th r-'^ppfT^mi-"p nm^d y-^ "^^^ show up, this frolicsome lass was ill over the^ place, howled 'em over with lier department store Kill, and n'-Vcr both<Tf'd with hrT train bit. fiilhert and French didn't look as good as ■f.vhcT) So. 2 on the All- English bill. Miss i^r.'idy was on top of th<' bllHnt,' for her .sketch. ... CIa,yton. Jackson and Durante ■viill prohahly hold over on their first visit to the p.'ilace. They .should. And if they do the boys ought to start closing the sh-iw at fi.ao. It would save the }';ii:i(e rowr coin •and a ha of bad )ji..(.i-.ing. A'fi. grand duchess of comedy, who, wltli her new bag o' trix supplied by Ne- ville Fleeson and Ha:rry Breen, was the riot of the evening. A trouper Jr to the core. Miss Frlganza knows ■ her vaudeville -ind sells her vocal nl ties hot. In the first stanza, another woman single, Ann Codec, with the modest Frank Orth not even billed, monop-. olized the aiost attention. Outside of the opener, .Tohnnle Pai'ker and Norman Mack, hand-to 'land spe- cialists, the entire first half Is a. Codec unit. The male quat'tet. Four of Us, precedes Miss Codec's own act,' and after that the Florence Vernon Co. and Anne Codec's- Sur- prise round out the forepart. In all, a company of 11 sh 'ts in and out of It .111, Jack Drtakln, juv; Billy Byron, corking Icgmania specialist; ' Marie Duval, prima, and other un- billed or unidentified '^'-'•formers clicking individually - id In com- posite. John Irving Fisher, billed, was re- placed by Will J. Ward, who, with planolog and gags, developed into a mild .show-sto'^ner. Ward relies 1 heavily on syncopated pops of the P^' \ Ar>r,f.a^tnmr\n varloty, and tllCy the customers. Nitza Vernllle, with a class teru and musical rcvuc, was a hiKhllghr. Th(> willowy blonde la a consummate arti.sie and Is of production speed and callhre. Charles Collins is a worthy dance partner, his o\yn taps specialty scoring individually. Ar- nold's Gypsy String Quartet Is the musical background, Louis Debov- .sky contributing a Violin solo. BROADWAY (Vaude—Film) Three turns out of eight that come through for high returns, makes this bill at the Broadway something In. the way. of whoopee for the customers accustomed as they are to routine small time en- tertainment at a near-big time scale of six bits. ; ^. The start was enough to kill off the 8ub.seciuent value and the fact that the evening finally got run- ning in sprightly style, stwuks vol- UT OS for the trouplng of the per- formerH, even If It docs .argue pn;tty poor showmanship In Us assem- bling. " . , , ^ Bill opens with Palermo s Ca-, nines, dog act with .some, good points, but listless routining. Everything goes on a dead lev«< Pups turning off the roKulatlOn tricks such as ,leaping hurdles on hind brs are given about the same T^n ipTi77sTS"''""'ir:s-^^^ thln^rs, vsuch u.s a terrier that takes a long throw to a balance on it.9 front paws on the .out-strctihcd hand of the trainer. Two men work the act, st:i;co dressing by a woman ussi.stant would Ix-lp. .Material 13 <■(, k., pr<-S" ritation fiat. ^ .^larr iind ■ Roilo, couple of boy hoofers, are the s;ime act as Bis.sett and Scott, a.M they dltl it at the Lion I'jil.'icfi in UOth street during the hek'ht of the Meycle craze. Yessir, thev wf.ir while spats and prob- * (Coritln'i«*d on page 44)