Variety (Jun 1928)

44 VARIETY VAUDEVILLE REVIEWS Wednesday, June 27, 1928 PALACE (St. Vaude) V\)v once the Palace headllnors aro not repeats. Tliey dugr up new material, but at a terrible cost in antertainment. Handing the Palace fans Eva Le Galllonne. In .a par- ticularly dull sketch was taking a chance; but when on .the same bill they rang in Adela Verne, concert pianiste, opening intermission, they were taking dangerous liberties, with the broad-mindednijss of even a vaudeville clientele. The Le Gallienne sketch, called "The Open Door" (New Acts), by Alfi-ed Sulro, and aa sedative as only a casual British sketch can be, Vouldithrow a pall oyer any special- ty bill. .Its only pos.sible merit here ■was the Introduction of a, fresh vaude name and one that has been in the public eye through Miss.vL Gallienne's repertory adventures. To that end it perhaps serves a pur- pose. But there is little reason for the .presence of a concert pianiste solo- iste in the "middle of a variety en- tertainment. However, she was there. The situation left it. up to. a selected few of tried , and true specilalty people to hyp.6 some life into a pretty weary evening^ : Diverse experienced troupers la- tored at this assignment and made- .some headway under discouraging circumstances, but it was Jack^ TPearl, making one ,oif hiis periodic excursions from musical comedyi who saved the day. Pearl took charge of .a wearied aiidience at about 10:45 and, iiext to closing, made them laugh in ojie unbroken caohinnatioji for 19 minutes by the clock. All through the medium of a comedy bit that might have been lifted from the old burlesque wheel, polished up and elaborated, then treated with the inspired comedy of this gifted clown. , .. That 19 minutes of Pearl re- trieved an almost wiasted evenin&, Pearl does a portrait of an emotion- al .German trying to make a French- man tell him the name of the a,i\to- moblle he's trying to sell, and since the late Sam Bernard first strained tortured English through a heaving . breast to the delight of an enrap^ tured American public, nothing has ■ been funnier of the tyjpe* t*earl's character is el6.quent, once again demonstrating that no caricature •can ever be genuinely amusing un-. less it has a basis in sympathetic truth. Rest of the show was routine in- , ahd-out vaudeville. Carr Bros, and Betty opened; a distinctive acifobatlc numbec^ staged in ahowmanly style Two hand balancers do some good comedy falls and sbm© remarkable lifts, while a buxom young womari obliges with acrobatic and contor- tion feats. The straight work of the men is remarkable. It'Includes such striking bits as a complete roll-over by an understander while support- ing the top mounter, in a hand-to- hand. It sounds . Impossible . and . looks quite as, surprising. This piir do it quite jauntily. ■ Gaston Palmer, Juggler, who has specialty material and method of selling It all his own. Excellent turn of the kind, with good comedy / andi clean-cut manipulation. Nel son Snow and Charles Columbus presenting Joyce Coles, danseuse (New Acts), on No. 3 for flfish turn for indifferent returns. Scott Sanders, Scotch, comedian, did nearly 20' minutes, went to an encore sohg and then a speech, and more than that, made his entrance on a patter of friefidly greeting evidencing his standing with the customers. A sure enough trouper this, with the genuine knack of. the entertainer. Character numbers that created their own atmosphere, an agreeable voice and a clean-cut way of delivering gags, even If the gags often are well-worn hoke. Then, in the middle of the bill the Le Gallienne sketch, which left everybody but the considerable gathering of the actress' friends cojd. . After intermission the piano concert soloiste, who did nothing to better the lassitude. Jack Pearl followed, with Aussie and Czech, South American _ whi p cracker and dancing girl, to close. Last named Is.a Hippodrome turn dressed up in Palace style and makes a good fin- ishing item. : Ruish. .second. Pleasing singer, with a change of voice, first doing well with several topical numbers, then switching to the high range. Went big. Cook and Vernon dl.shed up the first comedy; patter exchange with some funny cracks. Miss Vernon sang two pop songs. A mild little act at best and was more than rea- sonably .successful in such a big house. ■ Next Elsa. Erst and Nat Ayer who displayed the real class. Miss Erst's nice voice enhances her stage pres- ence. After Sunshine Sammy, iap- peared the Granlund bevy of gals from the night hurrahs along Broad- way.- .• ' Of the lot the outstander is Ethel Martin. She can dance, is skill- fully acrobatic arid exceedingly graceful. Girls display their gams at times 'and with a' sameness of routine the fern parade is all the more necessary when one figures that the spice of Broadway is its night club life. The repetition of "very clever girl" in the announce- ments as well as that crash of the cymBal becomes decidedly mon- otonous. Neither funny nor enter- taining. Despite the dearth of comedy the audience seemed to get a lot of en- tertainment. ' Mark. 81ST ST. (Vaudfilm) With Keith's Riverside closed an- ticipated results here far from promising; , Heat may have belted them Mohdaj^ night but this one es- pecially. Hardly a quarter house. •VaUde layout just a routiner sadly lacking in comedy save .for. May Usher, comedienne-songstress, next to shut. Opening.'were Bottomly and Irv- ing, comedy acrobats, who excited sortie chuckles but clicked mainly on their acrobatics. . William Royal, Colunibla record- ing tenor, followed and got over in a song repertoire (New Acts).. Leon Leonard and Co. in next niche did a pleaslrig musical com- edietta "Cam pus Days." Latter en>^ listed a sextet of youthful boys and girls, packing plenty of pep and some nifty dancing. A slim tex- ture of plot obtains concerning the campus hero who wins the co-ed through running the gamut, of hazing. Several musical numbers Space the dialog with a duet by the leads and a prancing ensemble by a mixed four the main wallops. Neat act that should go anywhere. .. Harry Kahane, -lightning calcu- lator, wlt^ some new. apparatus but adhering to his former routine of occupying his mind three to four ways with figures. Over as usual. Miss Usher mopped with songs. Her "Yiddish Paradi -e" anent the poker playing proclivities of vada- tionlSts at the CatsklUs usual com- edy panic. Hit Of hill. Villi .and Vance Dance Revue, en- listing .featured dancle team. Shay Vincent at piano and Campeau and Grobell, femme harmony d«o, closed with a pleasant dance divertisse- ment; "Dancing Around the World" which got over well. V'Something Always Happens'' (Paramount) screen feature/ Edha. 86TH ST. (Va|udfilm) This Proctor house has been do- ing great biz in the YorkvlUe sec- tion, depending on weather and the pictures. Monday, one of the few scorchers of a mild summer season thus far, the intake was rather fair considering the temperature and a hot too strong, flicker attraction in Esther Ralston's "Sometlilng Al- ways Happens." Vaude section uneventful mild se- (juence of five acts topped by a strong name froni the flickers, Viola Dana (New Acts) marking her stage debut. Miss Dana's mild sketch was passively received. . Mel Klee in the choice groove, folr. lowing, had a Set-up for his black- face comedy. Klee's humOr is as you like it. They seemed to like the free-an-easy sprinkling of "hells" and the "for Chrysler sake" In a pot poiirrl of automotive trade- marks. Nitza Vernille, closing, was the class and the flash of the bill with her terp production, with Charles Collins capable dancing partner and Arnoldo's Gypsy. String Quartet as the musical background. The Four Dales deuced with a rathskeller routine that requires editing on its song catalog and stag- ing on its hobfology if they would persist in an attenipt at that would- be wow dance finish. It's nothing but a hodge-podge of faked hoofing, artificially pitched through much self-inspired hand-clapping and surcharged enthusiasm at one an- other's allegedly difficult wings and splits. The pianist doubles to a uke specialty with ,Cllft Edwards vO-do-de-o delivery but gets little. They need a producer. Opening was Ernest Brenck and Bella .■ Donna with "Topsy," the bronzed equine, in a brief posing routine, A slow starter, although colorful and a flash for the family houses. Aheh STATE (Vaudfiim) Wiiere comedy laces 'erti at this theatre one week, another weelt and blir comes along heavy on the fems, and the comedy suffers. It was over- board with dancing. There appeared to be more play for the Broadway throng through two acts In'particular, one the K, T. Cr. "Night Club Girls" and, other the grinning colored boy, Sun.shine Sammy, of erstwhile Pathe "Our Gang" comedy fame. It has been so long since Sammy was with the ~flimsrtinit"-Kis-"WOTK:--w-^th(ff^iiicifcr sheet is almost forgotten. Sammy (New Acts) did exceptionally well with his dancing. Business pretty good. On the "screen was "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" . (Lon Chancy)." Wordcn Bros, opened the show. The barrel and ball juggling seems to retain novelty. Edith Bohlman AMERICAN (Vaudfilm) Two straight men, Wlnehlll and Briscoe, decided to do an act. "I've got a big nose," said Briscoe, "I'll do comedy. Besides talking about my nose we'll talk under our breath about our pals at the N. V. A. The public , will enjoy that. We'll bill ourselves 'Just for a Laugh' and that" will square everything.'' So they threw the act together and sure enough they wore next to closing and a good reason for closing at the American. They, stalli Bd, for 14; miriuteS, "sanff~^ i>Sllad" inferided to put the act across and looked surprised when it didn't. The comedy department was an all-around fioppo Monday night Clifton and. Brent, second, were hardly better than mildly and Inter mittently amusing. Freeman and Lynn, fourth, zlgirzag. downward In quality, rather than upward,, as the act unfolds. It Is characterized by a comic who wears a brown derby and electioneers for Al Smith. The hits of the evening were reg Istered by "Snoozer, Jr.,'' dog, and Harry Glrard's Ensemble. Snoozer Is an extraordinary, hound. He is almost articulate. Girard's act is unusual. He is a Pacific Coast singing teacher and the girls his pupils. In staging, lighting and costuming the act sug- g«?sts Chautauqua, home town Fol- lies, anything but vaudeville. But the choral stuff is great and the act a .sure clicker. I'roperly mounted and presented this turn could be a sensation and It is suggested that -GlTUrd'^lTOOlC^Tip'-Wltlv'^a^sliWm^^^ of practical experience. Girard works from thei pit and has an in- gratiating maniScr. Mildred Andrews, (New Acts) opening, showed .some promise on her first number . but wa.s a zero thereafter. Alex F.arto Trio closed. "Night of M.vstery" (Par) on .screen. Business lighL Land. 5TH AVE. . (Vaudfilm) The 5th Ave. looked summery and was cool. It needed to be, for most of the customers were wilted when they sat isirOugh six reels of "Vamp- ing Venus," a: First National alleged comedy, featuring Charley Murray. The vaudeville had to bear the burden the first half, due to the palooka sci'een fare. Opening with "Land of Clowns" (New Acts), lav- ishly produced flashy dance sextet, Stanton and Dolores followed. It's a male Impersonator and a husky girl foil. They open in "one" with a double song. The one In male attire then solos, exhlt>itlng an iin- usually sweet tenor voice of fair volume. Going to full stage, the other In gym togs ascends the ver- tical rope for an excellent routine of aerial acrobatics. Her partner does the balancing support at the foot of the rope, singing continu- ously. Corking turn , for any bill. Jerome and Ryan, two male sing- ers, pleased in pop and comedy double songs. Banjo and guitar ac- companiments were strummed by the pair, who ishowed considerable versatility. Good turn of kind. Tom and Ray Remain in "S. S. Honeymoon" (New Acts) followed in a novelty skit. The Remains are twins. Act capitalizes the resem- blance. Fields and Flrik, from burlesque, closed the vaudeville in a turn com- posed Of ancient and released junk The gags are elderly wheezes, but Fields got some laughs on delivery. They could have finished after 10 minutes, but came back uninvited to milk them for another five. • Business good on the lower fioor, but not capacity. Cjon, NEW ACTS neighl)6rhood vaude house catering to a Jewish clientele. MILDRED ANDREWS Singing, Dancing 8 Mins,; One American (V-P) ' young girl of personality but Im- mature development as an enter- tainer for solo assignment. She opens with a rather cute number in checkered boy's suit and cap. Thereafter, unimportant acrobatic dance routine followed by taps and finishes, weakly. . Young enough to be tutored, like- ly enough to be worth tutoring, but not, by any charitable Impulse, a vaudeville act, . Land. INA ALCARCJ and Co. (4) ^ Song and Dance Reviie 18 Mins.; One and Full American (V-P) V^Versatile solo stepper surrounded with little troup, nicely costumed and well routined, but. lacking much scenic fiasH. ; Prima dOnna - with a sort of whispering' female bari- tone leads nurnbers while Miss Alcaro and male partner dance. For changes kid sister/act dOes step routines and furnishes comedy bits. Features are a nicely handled adagio by Miss Alcaro and an ex- cellently dressed and staged black bottom finish. Between there is ood change of pace, with prima don- na-in quiet blues numbers between the dancingnumbers and the comedy of the two" girls, nice looking pain Prima donna strips to scanty dress with others for the dance finale, while man. dancer does well in sup - port, having a, good acrobatic tap solo as an item in the layout. Turn stands with .Jhe best avail- able for thi.s, grade of time. Mid- way of the show, here and scOred. . RusK "LAND OF CLOWNS" (6) Singing and Dancing Revue 14 Alins.; One and Full (Drapes and Cyc) 5th Ave, (V.-P.) Two iriale and four women, dancers in a straight dancing turn relieved by a- couple of songs. Dancing is average except toe spe- cialty by a griri and two acrobatic solos by a blond glrL The men wear clown white face and grotesque makeVup through- out and retain It, although making several changes. Tap dancing of the two girls who double Is average. A novelty finish and a nice pro- duction help matters. At the finish the sextet on a darkened stage dance while illuminated bulbs fiash from ankles and get Off. Good flash turn for the lighter bill. ' \ Con. LOEWS TALKING SHORTS (Continued frcw pag<. *3) Is saying a lot when one knows what Robinson can. do with his dogS;. ■ The opening Is quiet although it shows that both negro boys have a lot of personality. Brother Charlie Is there with the pan, doing some mugging that could be developed, for more laughs. Outstanding Is. Sammy and his stair: tapping bit a la Robinson. A mansized hit at the State. ; For the finish the boys dance tOr- gether and step along like clock- work; Little bit of comedy . byplay here by Charlie helps Immeasurably. Good act for vaude. Mark, IRVING GROSSMAN Songs 15 Min.; One Academy (V.-P.) Irving Grossman, recruit from the Yiddish musical comedy stage, of- fers a straight singing turn un- rnarkod by any singular talent, if the=claque-that-»greeted==>his=debut-^ls disregarded. Grossman might best stick to the field where he has evidently won a following. He sings pop numbers and ballads in a throaty tenor voice with a sob In the top notes. His neat appearance and Yiddish thea- tre reputation will get him by in KEITH EXECS (Continued from page 41) '■ ■ probably return to Chicago fa charge of the entire territory, aftm completing his work In the east. Frank Phelps, formerly manage* of Minneapolis and St. Louis house* will be In charge of policy of house* at Champagne, Rockford,m., an- other smaller cities. Hug Pittn, nery, another former house ntan. ^ger, will act similarly irt several minor cities. It is regarded as certain that th» new heads will bear down on th« midwest, regarded ag^ having suf, fored more from mis-maniEigement than any other territory. John Nash, manager of the. Palace) Chl- cag'o, w;lll be replaced. Many other Changes are scheduled. An innovation as regards the dis- trict managers such as Thompson, Royal, etc., is that hereafter they will work in:\conjuhctibn with the booker of their territory. Tlils the first time this has eveir been tried in the Kelth-Orpheum offices. Harry Singer's ,'^presence. on the. west coast will make it necessary for lilm. to conduct his conferencea on bookings, mostly via long dis- tance and telegraph,, but the oth- ers win confer with t}ie booker regularly. A board compo{5ed of J. J. Mur- dock, Pat Casey, Major Thompson, Tink Huniprey and John Roy^l. wlU handle all major problems, and de- termine the houses that will open next season with the ;\two-a-day policy; The policy will be from six to eight iacts and a feature picture at $1 top for reserved seats. Capacity will figure largely in picking the houses for • the revived bljg time route. (Continued froni page 5) equipped within . another eight months. These 2,000 subjects may replace 2,000 vaudeville acts of all grades. According to what is known of rental prices the cost of three Vltaphone subjects for a downtown theatre, each a headllner in vaude- ville, legit or musical comedy, aver- ages $750 on the week (or $250 apiece), where three acts of much inferior quality would cost the the- atre much more. To meet-- the rapidly" increasing demand for subjects Vltaphone's orders with the Victor Recording Company are now so heavy it is said -the -latter . Is . making more records for Vltaphone than for its own use. Four sets of records are supplied with every subject to eacii exhibitor, and 2,000. records are made for every reel of a feature film. The rapid wear of records, which cannot be used more than 12 times ai^d"about six times for heayy band numbers, makes this tremen- dous record supply necessary. Still LoeW's vaude chain is buying feature acts and Issuing. routes for the higher-priced turns tor next season without any question. Agents report the cheaper acts are not get- ting as much attention on routes as ordinarily the case at this time of the season. The opinion is that Locw's announced 60-odd Movietone Installations in their metropolitan houses will cut into the smaller acts With talkers Included oh the pro- grams, it win naturally curtail something, and the lesser turns sccmcd-=tD^be-^slnBled=irut""for--thir sacrifice. In the 50 New York Loew the- atres, each house using an average of three acts a week. It Is esti mated, that 10,000 records would be played in these houses in a year though each house will only use approximately 160 dlflEerent acts. NEW ACTS Ann Woods, formerly with Art Frank in vaude, is principal woman- with the Herman Tlmherg unit, iieaded by Bert Gordon, Bob Beach, comic, from pictures, will shortly make his vaude debut . with Jeanne Pierre. - Templeton . Bros, with a piano player and possibly girl dancer, Gladys Palmer Is now with Maude Ryan under the name of Gladys Reed. Miss Reed worked until, a . month ago with her uncle, Eddie Tanler, as Tanler and Palmer. Mr, Tanler died several weeks ago. Bennett and . Richards,: comedy two-act of five years ago, -have re- . united for next season. James J. Corbett - and Bobby Barry have dissolved, following completion of : tiieir Loew tour. Barry win frame a two-a,ct with another straight man. Corbett will confine himself to the /business end . of his health farm. DeHaven and Nice (6), flash., Gbnibel Bros., formerly with Vanesi'in vaude. Masters and Kraft are reuniting for vaude, with Dorothy Grayee and Elsie Lamonte. Masters and Kraft formerly did a two-act. Lew Brice and Mae Clarke, 2* act. Bertha Kallch resumes her Keith tour In "The Light of St. Agnes" this week, having recovered from laryngitis. "A la Carte," former legit revue, tablolded . for vaudeville, produced hy Rosalie Stewart. Seven princi- pals, chorus of 12 and; runs 70. minutes. ' Jimmy Burns and Rosemarie Bayarl have split as a vaude team. Burns will do an act with. Joy lA Vonne. JUDGMENTS Sam Ehrlich; Jack Mills, Inc.| costs, $132. Harbor Inn Restaurant, Inc.; Gotham Hotel Supply Co.; $435^ Jos. and Jacob Oppenheimep and Lyric Operating Co.; I. Weiss & Sons; $939. Esta W. Alston, as adm'x.; John Golden; costs, $112. Leverich Hotel Op. Co., Inc., and Av Hyde Leverich; Cosmopolitan Co., Inc.,; $853. / John Cort; Knickerbocker Col- lateral Corp.; $27,662. John Cert's Co., Inc.; same; same. 63d St. Theatres, Ltd.; same; same. Macfadden Newspaper Pub. Corp.J Chas. Fleisher; costs, $128. CommodOro Athletic Club, Inc.; Hotel Astor, Inc.; $4,286. Edwin, Bower Hesser; j;, II. Mc^ XTofmIcK; m5BS7 " "T"" ^ Keith Sells in Amsterdam Amsterdam,' N. Y., June 26. The three Keith houses here have been sold to the Shay and Shine Interests. William Hutchinson., manager of the RIalto, will be placed in another Keith house.