Variety (Sep 1928)

60 VARIETY Wednesday, September 5, 1928 VARIEH'S CHICAGO OFnCE HAL HALPERIN in Charge Woods Bldg., Suite 604 Phones: Central 0644-4401 CHICAGO Professionals hav* tha fr#e us* of Variety's Chicago Office for information. Mail may be addressed care Variety, Woods BIdg., Chicago. It will be held subject to call, forwarded or advertised in Variety's Letter List. State Lake The ballyiioo style of exploitation employod by local picture house? might be a sood tonic for this vaude house. I'laying seven standard Keith acts with a feature a,t iJicture house prices, and the only theatre of its kind in the Loop, the State Xake nevertheless is not eretting grosses. Current bill is a real bargain, and ■would satisfy anyone. From open to shut was a succession of hits, with cbm&dy attempts by two boys In Ann Garrison's turn the only shallow spot. Van Cello, opening, Is a novelty as a rlsley artist, and makes himself more novel by hoof- ing. the barrels in full dress. He has a:n assistant named Mary, who gets billing and smiles. Deuce act. Mack and Stanton, can take next- tp-shut In any family house with their comedy abput a bum. applying for his regular winter reservation in the county jail. Mack has achieved familiarly effective make-up, includ- ing the galloping stogie, and cinches gags by whistling all. "s's." Stanton Is straight as the jailkeeper. Charles T. Aldflch, third, was an- other forceful early entrant, bring- ing constant applause with his quick character changes and later getting : unusual humor with several false Ibeards that Jumped on and oft his pan at command. A recognized- class turn. Ann Garrison's miniature re- vue, in which she Is assisted by two •boys,. short and tall, was pushed over by several eccentric dance rou- tines. The boys try for laughs with gags that should work* but flop on that angle because of poor delivery. Correcting', handling will put the present material over. Al Mack and Gall Rossiter, using nutty but Svise comment on the fu- . tllity of being a pessimist, held the fifth hole without losing the pace. Miss Rossiter makes three changes, better looking each time, and knows how to ask a question. Mack works In street clothes and uses only skilled delivery to draw his laughs. Another gent who knows where to place his words. Eddie Borden, drew a curtain speech out of next to clos- ing. After scoring as a single "In one," Eddie went to full for a skit using three people, about a hen- pecked matrimonial martyr who gets a hypnotist to inake his wife Btdp talking and then shoots the hyp. Not much In the lines, and only Borden's wot-k saved It. Florence Myers and Ben Johns girls; closing; is an 11-piece sym phonic all-femme orchestra, featur Ing overture: arrangements of pop numbers, as Is the vogue In picture houses. A flash In costume and appearance, this outfit also has real musical talent and has been a stand- ard feature In vaudeville. Feature, "Love Overnight" (Pathe). First show Sunday fln- l^ed with half the orchestra filled Loop Palace Palace didn't seem natural this week—without Jack Benny. But. despite his absence, the house, had three-quarter capacity. Mulroy, McNeece and Ridge, fast skating trio, opened to perfection. Snappy stepping on the rollers, with roll- ing thrown In. In the deuce were the Collegiates Four nifty gals tickling the floor, and an adagio dance team (Tommy and Eleanor) that needs little Improvement. The ensemble is gala jamboree embodying novelties. Flash scenery and costumes. Joe Wilton and Rex Weber, pre- senting "Mr. America/' clicked with average effect, or perhaps better. Mr. America, with a dead pan, and singing minus lip movement, was the sensation. Paul Whiteman's Rhythm Boys, utilizing a unique opening, have, a hugo effigy of Whiteman at center stage, to do the announcing and Introductions. One chap, a veritable Barrymore for looks, the standout. Story songs, to hythmicai music, arid vocal Impro- vlslons, are their best bet. They have no weakness. Teck Murdock. has brought, his 'Tom, Dick and Harry" company in from the road, nicely polished and well broken in. Teck is quite the Bin Haines, with three girls who live In four quaint cottages, de- pleted on the special drop. Girls, fair enough to look upon, have met Teck at different times, and he's given them conflicting stories as to his name. There is the usual complication, with Its. attendant laughs. Herman Tlnfiberg's "Varieties" are dependable entertainment, and an endorsement of the practicability of unit showe for vaude. Costumesf and equipment, arriving late, left the troupe to their own devices, and they had to get along as best they could. They did. A jazz band open- ing. Then, TImberg casting a show, and difficulties in hiring talent. Laughs. As a matter of fact, the Timberg" Varieties" are w^eil named. Songs, dances, music, pulchritude, MINNEAPOLIS (Bain- '.sonally handle the Hudson Uieatre here. Oliver H. Stacy, manager Majes- tic (Ind.),'who broke his leg in an "VoiiriA-'"rh» iToreien I airplane last month, ia now able vauae j-ure bu i ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^ ^^^^ Shubert —. "Broadway' bridge stock). Hennepin-Orpheum—Vaude, "The, Cop." Pantages Legion." ' , ,. Palace—"The Cradle Sritchers" {McCall-Brldge tab). Gayety—"Burlesque Revue" (Mu- tual), . Minnesota—"The Sawdust Para- dise"-"Kat Kabaret" (Publlx unit). State — "The Patriot" - "New Broadway Hits" (stage). Lypic — "Three Ring Marriage" (1st half); "The Wright Idea" (2d half). week as a guild similar in purpose to Le Gallienne's GlVic Repertory Theatre. Plays of a high-brow na- ture are to be presented by a rep^ ortory company headed by Mabel Bunyea. A new theatre will be built in Del- mar, suburb, by S. P. Jarvls and Felix H. Wright. The Lyra, lower loop 10c grind house, uriwlred, used a Panatrope In connection with the showing of "The Jazz Singer" this week, run- ning the Jolson song records where the picture called for his slnffinff i Maii" and vaud* BROOKLYN By JO ABRAMSON Werba's Brooklyn-^"The Before." Werba's Jamaica—^"The Year." Boulevard—"The 19th Hole." Majestic^—"Paris Bound." Fox-^"Street Angel" and stage show. E. F. Albee—"Butter and Egg Night First 'The New Moon," the ijew Schwab and Mandel operetta which had its premiere at the Hanna l«ist week and Is being held over a sec^ ond,. has been doing sell-out busi- ness. Show ran Into midnight the first week and.Is still being cut and whipped into shape... The Ohio, which has been playing^ stock, will start its winter, legiti- mate season next week with "'The Guardsman," by a New York The- atre Guild company with Alfretl Lunt and Lynn Fontanne,. on the Vitaphone. "Rose Marie," here! twice before. Is the next booking for the Metro- politan, week Sept. SO. ■The Minnesota this week is run- ning its first Fox Movietone short. The State now is using the Fox Movietone news reel every week, and CORRESPONDENCE All matter in CORRESPONDENCE refers to current weisk unless otherwise indicated. . The cities under Correspondence in this issue of variety lire as follows and on oaaesi . ALBANY .... BALTIMORE BROOKLYN . BUFFALO ... CHICAGO ... CLEVELAND DALLAS .... DETROIT INDIANAPOLIS »••■«•••••< • • • • I l' • » • t • • Strand—"State Street Sadie. Tivoli—"Parlor, Bedroom Bath" (stock). Fulton—"My Woman" (stock). Orpheum—^"Green Grass Widow" and vaude. Rivera—"Lulu Belle" (stock). May fair^^—"Cradle Snatchers" (stock). Casino—"Roseland Girls" (bur.). Momart—"Scarlet Lady." Loew's Met—^'Ramona" and vaude. St. George—"The Actress." Next, week Richard Bennett comes into thie . Majestic with "Jarnegan" and a cast of 50. Werba's Brooklyn indefinite as to the show for next week. "Keep ShufTlin". due at the Boulevard and "Irene" at the Ja- maica. George Robinson closed his New Brighton all vaude house last Sun day night. Business during the sea- son not iso good. When in Chicago Vi9it Theae Hits SELWYN Mats. Thura. and Bat.. 8CHWAB and MANDE3L, Bring Ton THE NEW COIXEGIATB MUSICAL COaiEUX "GOOD NEWS" . with fm 1I/X.-AMEBICAN TEAM OF PLAYEBS FORTY FtArPER FRESl^nES ABE LiTMAN . (HlmSelf) & HIS ORCn. CRf ANHFR WEDNESDAY AND ILnL./\l'^VJlE.I\ SATURDAY MATS. GEORGE M. COHAN Offero a Now Comedy BY REQUEST Br J. C. Nuffont and Elliott Nn?ont with ELLIOIIT J«K;ENX__ skits and plenty of et cetera. VarU ous specialties, excellent. Including Tlmberg's violin, and his clowning with brother Sammy. Also a class- ic vs. Jazz contest that hit. Busi- ness, noticeably increased. Tower This large south side house was a notably weak sister on the old Orpheum chain. Grosses became so puny the house was closed, by the Orpheum circuit and a musical comedy stock brought in. Vaude- ville has been restored by the new Keith management. In competition is the Tivoli, op- erated by Balabah & Katz and play- ing Publlx units. The theatres are a mile apart, with the Tivoli spotted better and getting all the breaks,^ Entertainment values have been better there, but a two-bit toll at the Tower until 6.30 and four bits from then on should swing a per- centage of customers to the Tower if vaude bookings are of the right sort. Last^half bill entertaining without being inducive to repeats. Keene and Green with Little MItzI were featured and supplied more than half the quality of the five-act bill. A father, mother and daughter act, playing full stage with a mixture of hoke comedy and dancing. The daughter is brought on for encore to imitate Charlie Mack in a Mofan and Mack dialog worked with her dad. This as well as all previous material is substantial laugh stuff. Next-to-closing act, Spcnce and True, is one of those comedy affairs a person of the house ^ doesn't go Tfbr, The comic falls 3bwh after each gag, mea^iwhile tearing up a straw hixt, while the pal sings and laughs at the comic. There are sev eral good spots of dialog, and the whole thing would have been re cclved better if delivered more audi- bly. Lauren and La Dare,, opening, are a mixed Instrumental duo, with the man trying ortmedy modestly through instrumental effect- and pantomime. _[is partner sticks to accordion, but he uses sax, clarinet trumpet, guitar and something like an aboe. Good for an early spot In intermediate houses. A local radio name, Flavla PlasI anca. held the deuce with Sparish numbers and folk ballads, scoring well. Plav wore a blanket over his shouUlor, in keeping with his name, and showed a real voice. Revue Casino de Paris, clo.sing, Is stand- ard girl vaude flash with eight cho rlnes and two principals for song and dance; Well .staged routines and attractive appearnce. "Steamboat Bill, Jr." (U. A.) fea- ture; "'Two-thix'dsr'hD'USK"^^^^-"'^" A. n. WOODS' ADELPHI MATS. "WED. and SAT. A. H. WOODS' «The TRIAI OF MABY DUGAN" By- Bayard Velller with ANN HApDINO and Orltrinal New fork Ca«4 Elaine Building Corp. built th New Ulaine, a 000-3oat<^r movi house on Southport avenue, between Waveland and Oracel Will Pohlman, formerly p. a- for the Karzaa Trianon and Aragon ballrooms, Is doing publicity for the Zenith Radio Corp. starting last week, following the deal whereby Publlx-P. & R, took over the entire 1928-29 Fox product for their whole circuit. Ads appearing in the local dailies show that the Boro Park Universal has changed hands and that begfln- ning with Sept. 10 the house Is to be called Loew's 46th Street. With Vitaphone and Movietone at the Grand (F. & R. second run loop ho^use) Sept. 8, admission Will be raised 5c. The Grand will take the "talkies" after they have been shown at the State, where the ad- DALLAS Palace —"The Tempegf-Eddle Stanley and Band-"Hula Blues' (Publix)-Vita-Movietone. Old Mill—"Oh Kay." Capitol—"Uncle Tom's Cabin." Melba ^ "Excess Baggage"-Vita- Movietone. ■ Majestic — "Gang War"-vaude- mission is 60c. The Embassy, now being completed, will be the first Movietone , F. & R. uptown theatre to have I Pantages—"The Love Mart Vitaphone and Movietone. i -r-. , w i i. w v j * i. ■ . Earl Pilcher haa been made tech- NoW that Publlx-F; & R. has h^ical director of Vitaphone sound taken: the Fox . product away from I effects at the Melba. the Pantages, that house will have to look to Universal and the iride pendent market for pictures Edward Cramer, former director I of the Palace orchestra, has been 'X',rr<J ^^' f^t-^'h-iTofthA appointed supervisor of music for Pan .ha^ siped up for half of the 1 „ p^^jj^ theatres In Texas except new Universal output. :\^^^^ ^^^^ j^^^ theatres. He sue ,ceeds L. H. Kleinert, transferred .to Des Moines. The Park (P. & R.), Austin, Minn., was completely wrecked by a cyclone. The State (P. & R.), there, has Its; roof demolished. The Metropolitan Amusement Co., booking agency was opened by Messrs. S. W. Slddall, S. A, Morgan Edna Kirby, the Paramount Girl, Und E.-G Felton is here, living In the window of a ' department store, for a week. She i Ruth Clem, organist Old Mill the- has done this in other cities. | atre three years, haa been assigned .m,.^. > m> ft w^^m mrm 1*0 the PalaCC INDIANAPOLIS By EDWIN V. O'NEEL Circle—"Heart to Heart" anniversary jubilee). Indiana—"Beggars of Life." Loew's Palace—"Tempest," Apollo—"Street Angel." Henry Lange and orchestra re- place "The Seven Aces'' at the (12th I Baker Hotel this week. Paul Whiteman and orchestra are booked at the Fair Park Auditorium Nov. 3. Indiana.. State .Fair . opened Sat- urday. Circle will abandon stage band | policy next Weekj following the twelfth anniversary jubilee. Dick I Powell," master of ceremonies. Is | ending his engagement, with a spe- cial "Farewell WeeK" feature. Ed Relsner; Circle conductor, will aug- ment the Indiana pit orchestra. Fourth Avenue Amusement Co. of Louisville has taken over the Indi- ana theatre at Marion, and will build a new $165,000 house to seat 1,200. ALBANY, N. Y. By HENRY RETONOA Capitol—"Wings." Strand—"The Patriot"-^Vita, Ritz—"Out of Ruins." Leiand—"Laugh, Clo-wti, Laugh." Clinton. Square—"The Devil's Sklppcr"-"Three Ring Marriages. Grand—Vaudefllm. _iHall—-Vaudefllm. _^ Majestic—Ginger ijlris" "(Slutual). The Capitol, Albany's only legit, opened Monday with "Wings" for a week. . An orchestra of 20 Is with the picture. George Wintz's "The Vagabond Kinj?," has been booked for the'Fair Park; Auditorium Nov. 4-5, CLEVELAND Little-r"Man Who Married a Dumb Wife" (Stock). Hanna (Shubert), — "The New Moon" (2d week). Ohio—(Stock) "Lulu Belle!* (4th week), Palace (Keith)^"Sawdust Para dise" (vaud). Stillman. (Loew)—"Lilac Time (4th week); next, closes. Allen (Loew)—"Excess Baggage;' "West Point Days" unit, State (Loew) — "The Camera Man"—vaud. Cameo (Loew)—"State Street Sadie"—Vita (1st week). Keith's 106th—"Just Married"— vaud. The Little theatre reopened this Roblnson-Smlth players engaged by the Gordon Square theatre and' start a seaison of stock attractions Sept. 9. Kenneth Reld, manager of thft Doan, has been transferred to tha Liberty in th? same capacity. Frank Hardy, former manager at the Lib- erty, lij shifted to the Doan, TORONTO Al Pliinket, whose all-male revuea have been annual Canadian suc- cesses for eight years, has at last deserted the all-male cast and grabbed* 15 fema,le3 for hoofing and atmosphere. The new. show, "Why Worry," opened Labor Day at Royal Alexandria to start a tran3-C!anada trip. ;■ . Matane, Quebec, is to have a iZO.~ 000 house where none ever bloomed before. Home town syndicate. St. John, Quebec, is also slated for a new house. Supposed to seat 2,600 and cost |1,000,000. Officials here say the town cannot stand this pace. Independent neighborhood house Is being erected at Qiieen and Pape, costing $80*000. W. J. Tiscombe, owner. Rt. Hon. William Lyon Macken- zie. King, prime minister of Can- ada, may attend the ninth annual convention of the M. P. T. O. A. here in October. Will Ha/s will also be here. Denial that FaniQus Players Ca- nadian. Corporation is to build a million dollar house in St. Johns, Quebec—or any house at all in that city—is made by N. L. Nathanson. Quebec papers all carried the story. Plenty of Toronto dough going to Quebec these days to flight the no- children and no-Sunday pictures laws introduced there by Prime Minister Taschereau in his post .as attorney general. Feeling here Is that the picture men are fighting a losing battle and should lay oCt. Nothing similar likely to happen in Ontario. No agitation for one thing and the governor of the prov- ince is on the. board of Famous Players Canadian Corporation. Arnold Tubman, manager. United Artists in Calgary, Alberta, has been transferred to the Cianadian head office at Toronto as assistant general manager tmder Haskell Masters. Tubman's brother haS charge of the Regent and Impcriah FP houses In Ottawa. J, M, Franklin, manager Keith's, Ottawa, iarranged a national public- ity hook up through a group, of 100 English school children, touring Canada ds guests of some English political outfit. The Britishers will be guests of all Keith and Orpheum houses across Canada. One of those "royal command" performances was staged at the Re- gent in Ottawa this weelc when the. king's personal representative here, Governor General Lord WilUngdoa, decided to take her ladyship to the movies. g Pi-c^entdhon Costumes C I 14 WeST lAKC ST CMICAOO ILL Q '. □EXCLUSIVE CREATIONS; ] 5.■.A/^E1CMAN01SC • CURTAINS .|.i-J-> ■ t=RINClPAl_S ■ C FORSALC ■ MADE TO OOOER FORnCNT Frederick M. Hannay (Freddie Hanna), former burlesque actor, Is] now assistant directing manager of the Ij. Benton theatres; will per- cbe Claridae 1244 N. DEARBORN, CHICAGO. SUPERIOR 4980 Swimming Pool—Gymnasium—Rehearsal Hall RatAe WAAlrlmf ^single—$9.00 to $15.00 naieSI WWeeniy l Double—^10.50 to $21.00 We pay yonr transportatloB by taxi from any stntlon in the «Ity