Variety (Sep 1928)

52 VARIETY LEG I TIM A T E Wednesday, September 19, 1928 Plays on Broadway NIGHT HOSTESS M( .uilrania by I'hillp DutiiiiiiK. T'>'"'^'''»t'''' dt Martin Hock S.'pr. I'J hy .liOiii tioKlep; RjiKs C'liiiwiiy , Hud.lv .Mi;cs.., Chris Mill.T..., J'uIiH............ Bph l''irfolii'r. -. Tciin iljiyoa.... Tl.sh........... Henna II Ileniii'M.'iy; ... .'; Frank .WarOeU. VfB?y. :: . ...... Joe..., ;... x:)ot.. Rita. First cliurnp. .. .Secoiiil '"Uump. Cyi'il 'J\Hv>ne.... Mu.sii'i.in.s. .Other llo.sloades..... Orou}iior!(. ■Otber Atlcndanta-.- • Wlnroi?! iind I^oaera. ,.V'M'iiian FoslL'r .liullv Ijyun.s ,..., Avrri'li , llarrlii O.Ill TJflJurt ;M:iuiii-e J"r(>onian .. . . ..Charleys Ijir.in . . ..... I'orliT ilall . ..Inhii 1j. Kcanipy . .FniiK.'ia O'Jtolley ,.;;. .Harold WoiiU ;. ,l.,o"l.-:c Kirllahil ..] leni-y Lnwronre . . .. .I<lilun Jvyndon '..,. ■..Jane Allyn .. . J. ii. lloat.sman .CheKlor DfiWliirat . .Cral-.ani VolHey ! Nick. Nardullo J L'urJ Alps I.arry Itolhnd Norman Lovi'ne Xed X'Tton- l'i-f;c;y VilURhn r:i-.i:-a ^\■.ll'..son D.irls I'ortniori; ' }h'".cn lloaderaon. Tlnlen.Mi-'lvuj' Ka.thonne Burns Janet ypltzcr s ank ox f John 'Hum|)lu'ey lUcD-ne W'l ;.c;lU, Jr. 'Michael Mack James ({. Moilon Ujorn I^t. Koefoed '■turleigh Morton ■ Jacob Frank Ceorge' Nolan Jane DIx Harry Jj. Beck May. Rico U(tl> CJear . .- Bl.sle ilyde . anet tipuzcr r.Taff OaltiC! , .fl'hllipFrai I William Co The theatre named Beck Is be- fiagged >yith pennants, cari'ying;. the. namrs of earlier' John Golden .suc- cesses, such as "L.ightnin'>","Turn to the Right," "Pigs.", it is a .group which Golden listed as "comiclean plays," a sprt of; slogan he ha.s been toting around for some time. Golden appears to have stowed it away with his straw hat, for Philip Dunning's new "Night Hostess" isn't that kind of play at all.. Not that It is raw. It Is a racy melodrama of New York night life, with plenty of action. The Rev, Dr. Cadman ifnay not be inter, iested, as he was with other Golden attra<;tions, but most of Broadway figures to .be- lured. The wise mob at the premiere had no hesitancy in rating "Night Hostess" a money play. Phil Dunning jumped into fame two years ago with "Broadway." To some it needed "Night Hostess" to prove that Dunning was the. author of "Ui-oadway," though George Ab bott was credited with collaborating Recently Dunning stepped in to, help a fellow author who had a flop, "Get Me in the Movies." When the show was produced a critic or two mis takingly but . cruelly commented "After looking at this hunk of cheesei now we know who . wrote 'Broadway'." Th,cy never were more wrong. The producer of the latter success readily declared that Dunning wrot& every line in "Bi-oad- way." Abbott's contribution was that of direction and the dove-tail- ing of scenes. Dunning himself never said anything about the mat- ter. ' "Night Hostess" has not as much of the sharp contrast of drama and comedy that made "Broadway" the smash of the season. Perhaps that is direction or the new play has not equal opportunity. However, there are sudden laughs In "Night Hos tess," which pai-allels the earlier hit in melodramatic power. There were doubters at the pre- miere, but on others the reaction was definite, and In the case of St John Ervirie, the Knglish critic who ■ recently joined the New York Morn Ing World, it waa amazingly electric Mr.-Jilrvine never saw a night club nor anything like the Little Casino gambling establishment In "Night Hostess," he said. Yet hei sensed the autliontK'Ity of plu.v and the chiinK-u.'rs. Ho wi'oto ono of thu. longt'.st. reviews over primed in a nu'tropolltan daijy, the critlaue run- ning- alino.st two full coluniny. >le ratiHl Phil Uunhing ainon.t; the greatx'Mt of playwright.^, and he pi't>- ciioted the play w.ciu'ld bo a sensation in Ixinrton, aiul with the ca.st as is, "Night Hostess" is a .most - vivid story, supplied with the atino.<5pherc of tlie night places that attract the cluimp who gambles in sunh e.stab-' lishnienis.. There is. one set and it's a peach.. There is a little ..bar., hid- den at times by sliding dnoi-s. There is the barred main .door, private elc- viitorand off stage the gam ing. room with . its bright light.s. ' T'iie songs and music of the enterlaiiiers in the l)oo5se section arc right, The.roltof tlie little ivory b.aU over the roulette wheel . mingles with Uio click of chip.s. There is a toy piano such as used in the clubs, and. there are. many iittle correct details. Little Casino is run . by "Ben i'iseher, middle aged; Jewish gam-, bier, vyho insists on running "this crcJoked btisiness straight" Xle is being, trimnied by Chris Miller, to whom he had giyen a piece of the joint. .. Chris is an ail-ai-ound c-Vo.'^.ser. His g.h*l is Julia, .one of the hostesses who are cmployied to con- voy and lure the, mug'gs. to the Casino. Julia is split away frbm lier {detective husband, Tom Hayes., Clirls-is tiring of Julia and makes the big play for Buddy Alile,^,'. a singing' hostess,. She is nice but dumb, refusing to listen to her for- mer sweetie,. Hags Conway, just- back from . 40 •. weeks of . western yaUdeviilei She is about to leave for Chicago' to join- a show, the job being promised by Chris, ■who is to go there too. Julia threatens Chris and he strangles hc.r, putting the body into an empty booze trunk and having it checked to Chicago on the tickets. But the trunk is recovered and Chris is caught with his gunr man pals. The first act seemed a bit slow but .the play-;gathered speed>.and In the third act delivered the kick that shbuld put It across. There arc ome crack bits of business. Averell Harris as Chris seemed a. real vil lain. Being handcuffed, he tries a etaway, flees to the elevator, the door of which had been left open, and the car sent down. He drops into the shaft to his death. It is a great fall and Harris does actually jump about eight feet. Gall DeHart made Julia very real> too. She was a spot girl and had lured a roulette; winner to a chop suey joint where he was bumped off. That brought her husband-de tectiye into the . action. Charles Lalte Is H.ayes, the dick, a quiet chap along the lines of the plain clothes man In "Broadway;" He cracks out one of the best laughs of the play. Norman Foster does very well as Conway, the pianist- actor who started to wbrk in the joint to help his old friend Fischer find out who did the trimming. He Is fresh, nervy, likeable. Ruth Lyons played Rag's stubborn sweetie but she was sweet. Maurice Freeman was excellent as the square-shooting proprietor of the joint, making Ben Fischer a char acter that New York audiences will rea^lily take to. Porter Hall as "Tish, the laconic comic doorman, readily won recognition too; so did John L. Kearney as, Herrnan, the tough bartender. Francis O'Reilly, back on the boards after 12 years; was the floorman of th^ gambling •room. There were many extras, the company's complement totaling 50 persons* Wlnchell Smith, author and part ner of John Golden In the comiclean play days which made fortunes for both, directed "Night Hostess.", ripeod in the earlier part of the play might be desirable but . there Is no doubt thatHill Smith inserted some mighty effective bits. He knows his theatre; so does Dunning, and on Lho whole did a neat job of staging. A little giiess on how lliU Smith and John Golden took the action just before the final curtain. Peggy, (Louise Kirtland and good) a host- ess, is keen about Ben Fischer who tliinks she is a swcet kid but never .irets too friendly with the girls be- cause It'.s business. When tht' mur- der of Julia is discovei'od Ben de-. "lares ho is through .with the game.' i>opgy gets a bright .idea, chirping: "Well then, I'm not working for you any iongei:" and follows Ben into the private plllco, on the make. My goodness, John and ,Bill must have blushed.. There is a bet of a ca.Se of Scotch that "Night Hostess" will run on ITroadway until Easter. The o'zdba ho made the bet will lay the twelve on the line, If his bptiml.'<m tm-ns out correct prediction. The show- does figure to. be moderately suc- cessful at least. And In any Cv<^nt nn thf Ptrerifth of that Ervine no- tice. Dunning can,, repair, to his (luail .farm in' Westport : with the satisfaction of knowing ho did'' not labor in vain. Ibee. WHITE LILACS Sbubert operetta production, co-starrlnB. Oiiy Rohert.-son, Odette Myrtll and DeW.blf ^fopper In Chopin romance musical play In three acts from Sigurd Johanhaen's orlcrinal In the German; adapted ,by Harry B, Smith (hook and, lyrlcf), -n-lth'score by'Kalrl Hajcm ha.spd on ■Frederic Chopin's me.lodle.f. PtrtKCd bv Georjfe Marlon and 'Vauphn Godfrey, nettlnps by Bollo "VVayne. ^vIth. ricrre Dc rtecder .eonducllnpr the DePaokh Sxmi>hony Ensemble.. Opened Sept. 10 at the Shubert, Xew York. :$5.no top. ..Charlotte Woodruff .Frank Horn ......Grace Brinkley .....Maurice Holland .Erneat I^awford .eharlcs ("rokfr-KlnK .... .DCWolf Hopiief .•.'. Odette Myrtll Guy Robertson ....... .Allan ;Ro.c;er3 ..Franklin "Van Horn Eva Ma.scoBnp ..... i Melba Alter .... .Vernon Rudolph ......LoulHC Bcaudet .....PhylUs^ Newkirk Juanita .Paco Charlotte "Woodruff, Melba Alter and Phyllis Ne^>rklrk LADIEIS OF THE ENSEMBLE Helen Page, Louise Kandolphi "Vivian Lynn, Dora Zommerowna, Edna Stark, Por othy Forsythe, Diana DoerUig, Helen Blshojj, Mae Goldln^, Ellz Ferguson, Cath- erine Allen and Madeline Clancy. . GENTLEMEN OF THE ENSEMBLE Phil Reep, Douglas "Vincent, John Camp bell. Prank Welner, Wallace Maglll, Steven MoNulty, Wllllaan Hall„ Edwin Drake. Wil- liam Dcihorest, Frank , Horn- and Vernon Rudolph. Countess P'Atjoiilt.. Prince. Obolenskl.... Dclphihe Potocka.... Gaston Do Flaylgny, Heinrlch Heine...... Glscomo Meyerbeer'.. Dubus."3on;............ Mme. Geort^c Pnnd., Frederic' Choplii..,». Lunelle .' ;, Balzac . .........,... MUe. TnglI6nI....... Loulson..: Franz Liszt......... Catherine. Marquise. De Moura. Juanita Paco . Trio... ""White Lilacs," another In the series of the Shubert Music Master operetta productions, bids fair to par the Franz Schubert ("Blossom Time") and Massenet ("The Love Song") predecessors which estab- lished the contemporary Shuberts vogue In past master .composers musical romances. With a wealth of material to pick from; even after the Tin Pan Alley pilferers had generously. "adapted' Chopin, the score is a naturaL It's a pity, of course, that Chopin's pret tiest nocturne as well ais his Im-. mortal Fantasle Impromptu in P had been used already in production, as witness Harry Carroll's very pop ular "Always Chasing Rainbows' from the Fantasle, or Harry Tier ney's "There's a Castle in Our Dreams," which was part of the "Irene" score. Still, Karl Hajos had much to select from, and the adapt ing composer made much of his op portunitles. A veritable embarrassment of riches presents itself In picking the song, hits, since reprise opportunities are few, whllei every other number at least bespeaks of popular poten- tialities with a little plugging. What will happen ultimately will be that the radio and the dance orchestras will pick up each one In turn and, through voluntary plugging, exploit one or another into some fame. The captious auditors of "White Lilacs" can and will find fault with much of the faithfulness, or lack of t, as reg.'u'ds the master's romance with the miasculine authoress, George Sand, whose perverted sex urges pronipted her to. wear male attire, smoke ugly blaclc cigars, etc. For tage purposes, all of that has been softened up. Odette Myrtil aS the ovelist coihpromjses in her c-har^- acterization, as doies the librettist. The historians will scoff at the Broadway soft-soap in the anguished parting of the lovers whereas Mad- ime Sand lived with her lover until he died of the i>ernlcious malady which curtailed his inspireti gfrnius. Even discounting much of this historical detail, there niay also be, nispircd tliC'thougiit that the legiti- mate dramatic ending with thc.cur- ain falling on the sad note would have heightened its effect, but the Shubertian compromise in bringing on the iensenible..for the- gi-and fiiiaietto, "With it.s floral wreaths of the symbolic white lilacs, is a sane nough gesture for tho hokuni flash, splash and dash so essential to atiate the ''happy ending" morons. True enough, it would have been a beautifur curtain with Sand ex- tlng alter her violin interpretation of the immortal Chopin theme, but to the iniiagists who would appre- ciate it; the supplementary hokum is non-rexi.stent arid still serves box office purpcses for ma.ss edlflcation. The Shui)erts doubtlessly were equally struck with the thought that good old-fashioned, rough-and^ tumble low cpniedian could have done much for the general tempo of White Lilacs." but It is somewhat to their credit that the romantic aura was not disturbed any. further than It was by the stlited efforts of the reincarnated Heirtrich Heine and Giacomo . Meyerbeer, played, by Ernest Lawford and Charles Crpker- Kin.g in a sort of Miitt and Jeif re- relationship,' or DeWolf Hopper's blustering bomba.st as the Macfad- den of his day. , ^ . ■ Harry, B. Smith's libretto wpuld have us believe that Madame Sand's publisher, in a mercenary moment, gave to .the world a novel she would have denied them, and which, be- cause of its Innuendo reflection on her lover-composer, was the cause of their breach. It was inevitable, of cpursCj that such witticisms as "man to man, spoken by the masculine authoress, should, creep in along with the sally —after she had spoken of retire ment to a convent—that a morias tery would be more to her liking. But satisfactorily enough, as soon as that, phase was established in the first act, the second and third stanzas confined themselves to more romantic sequences. Guy Robertson as Ghopin and Miss Myrtil as the novelist were Im pressively effective throughout. Rob ertson's histrionism, as well as that of Miss .Myrtil's, stood them In good steo.d, although Allan Rogers, tenor ing a frankly egoistic role, threat- ened to, walk off with the singing honors. Grace Brinkley as Chopin's other amour was a, pleasant, sur prise having developed In great style from the "Comer" class into a sure-'nough "arrived" ingenue The blonde cutle will get far ere lori.g. For the rest, Charlotte Woodruff Melba Alter and Phyllis Newkirk as a vocal trio,- stood out In that department In support of the fem- inine co-star, while Maurice Hoi land, Eva Mascagno and" Louise Beaudet registered in minor oppor- tunities. The three sets are substantial af- fairs, two Interiors and 6ne exterior. the latter boln^r the second act gar- dens of George Sand's villa. Show hasn't any particularly huge nut and can make money at mod- erate takings, csi)eciaJly consider- ing the house and atLr.'vction hook- up. Besides which, "White Lilacs" is a good entertainment and as far as the $5.50 trade Is concerned, it's oC a type that will build. For the • est of the location.s, there's always Leblnng. It should enjoy a slze- xblorun at the Shubert. Alel. CROSS MY HEART Musical comedy In two acts presented by ?afnm'y Lee at. the Knickerbocker Sept, iT- lyrics by Joseph McCarthy;-score by Harry Tk'j-ney; book' by Daniel Kuasell; staged ■ by ■ John Harwood >vlth dances by Lee; settings by P. Dodd Ackcrman; ?4.,'10 t()i>. Charles Graham..Bobby "Watson Mrs, T. Montgomery Gobblef.Lulii McConnell Ol.sle Gobble. .. . .Jjorls. li^uton S:ll1y Bluke.-,.... .Mary L;iwlor The .Maharajah of Mah-Ha,. .Kddy ■ Conr.ad Maxle^ Sciucozo. .]4«rry ISvun.s Richard Todd. Clarence Nordstrom Irene 1 Elvira k ....... Hae J .Tommy FltzgeriiUl....... Marie.'.. ,......... . 'Beatrice Vun Ness....,, Cigarette Girl... A Guest' Artiste....... IScnhclt.,. 4'"'innle. >.... Specialty Dancers.Bub Gilbert, Arvll Aycry .The Three,Giersdort Sisters .Franklyn Ardell .....Arvll Avery . ..A,niy .'Atkinson ....Edith >lartln ; .Charles I'etcrs . I .Martin I.,eRoy .Dorothy Bow Samrriy Lee, who graduated froni the yaudevHle stage not .so long ago to, stage dances in Broadway musi- cals, came fast in the new field. He contributed the dances to "Show, Boat." But no such pretension is made for' "Cross My Heart," With which Lee m.ajces his det)ut. as a producer. The shdiw was out. four weeks be- fore it opened at the Knickerbocker Monday but it didn't ring down un- til 11:40. It,was one of several new musicals highly touted oyt of town failing to impress favorably on its Broadway opening. "Cross My Heart", seemed old-fashione'd. The cast holds quite a comple- ment of vaudevillains but they were not at their best here. 'The action often got entangled in the book. There was so much book that plenty can go out., Tho score is fair. Dances are good and there is enough color and production for a $4:40 show. But story isn^t intriguing by any means and the laughs are not plentiful. "Cross My Heart" has to ;do about the ambitions of a Mrs. Gobble, widow of a lollypop-king. She has title ambitions, for her daughter El^le, who happens to be stuck oh the social secretary. The latter frames with a phoney to iact as a rriaharajah. Idea seems based on the actual marrla;ge of an American girl last year to an Indian prince. It places so good a comedian as Eddy Conrad In the position of a titled East Indian. It coiildn't be else but a burlesque character, partly played straight for the story. Lulu McConnell is. the rioh widow, with plenty to do but without the comedy results expected. Franklyn Ardell Is the proprietor of a night club who gets tired of being paid oflt In rubber checks and goes after the widow, a former flame. As with the others Ardell did not seem to get much of a chance. Bobby Wat- son as the secretary and fixer was amusing. . Mary Lawlor, a sweet and grace- ful singing and dancing Ingenue, did much for "Cross My Heart." She plays, the niece of Mrs. Gobble. A park bench flirtation leads to her winning the scion of the Van Ness family, the Juvenile lead played by Clarence Nordstrom. They duet "Right Out of Heaven," easily the hit number of the show. Miss Law- lor's dancing Is always a delight. Doris Eaton also scored on to9 dance specialties. The Three Giersdorf Sisters were used for a reprise of the "Heaven" (Continued on page 63) We are the sole and exclusive owners of the public performing rights of the play entitled "THE NEW MOON" now being produced at the IMPERIAL THEATRE, New York The singing in public of any of the songs or the performance (instrumental or otherwise) upon any stage of any of the musical numbers of the said play will constitute an infringement of our rights. Please-take-notice-that-we-shall^immediately^ institute actioi^ damages_to_prevent^ any violation of our rights. SCHWAB & MANDEL Producers.