Variety (Sep 1928)

Wednesday, September 19, 1928 MUSIC-RADIO VARIETY 55 Radio Rambles By ABEL The Whittall An glo'-Persians, Bwitched again to Sunday early eve- nings, registered as ever with their distinctive melodies. ■ I^ouis Katz- man, at the helm, certainly knows his radiology in routining his stuff. Little wonder that this veteran or- ganization has so long maintained Its consistent standing after all the other "names" and flash revues have come and gone. "Vanities" Hit "Vanities" proUibly has a surprise hit in "Baquel," the waltz from the revue, which, despite the general handicap of the entire score, is step- ping out on its thanks to the radio inaestrps. That and "Blue Shad- ows" seerh to be their fayorites. It's a compliment to leader and 'publish- er perspicacity, after getting a load of the way ISarl Carroll buries his Bong hits, that anything can be dis- cerned for hit potentialities.- Lew White, appropriately enough, topped off his usual Sunday organ recital with "Kol Nidri," the secu- lar chant in keeping with the Jew- ish New Year. White's program, as ever, was consistently noteworthy. Fats Waller Sent Away ; Abandoned His Family . Thomas Fats Waller, Negi-o or- ganist and pianist, who won fame by making a pipe organ record of 'St.. Louis Blues" for the Victor rccords.Won't make any more rec- ords for awhile. Tlie reason is that Fats has been sentenced to serve from six months to three years in th© New York County jail. The charge,.. was ... nbe.ndphment of his wife, . Edith Waller, and their 4- year-old son, Thomas, Jr. When . Fats was haled before Judge Albert Cohn in the Bronx County Court he was very wistful and repentant. He told the judge that hie : had been in jail 31 days and/had learned his lesson. The judge told Fats thcit he-had had five lessons already. ■ Sometime ago Mrs. Waller was awarded $20 weekly alimony but Waller slipped up on the payments. The Wallers live at. 1006 Brook avenue, Bronx. Lucky. Strike's First Hour The initial broadcast of the Lucky Strike hour Saturday night on the most elaborate NBC network for a straight; commercial hour omitted mention of B. A. Rolfe as the con- ductor for some strange reason Whether or not Rolfq's name was etherized, it is a certainty thait the radio fans recognized the popular baton wieldcr's voice for. he is pos- sessed of one of radio's few true ether personalities. Rolfe is com- parable to Roxy or Lopez. Either has but to broadcasit salutory greet fngs and anybody \yho his ever been hear a. radio loiid-speaker would identify them. , The hour was altogether, a suc- cess, a happily conceived, well-'bal ancod program, of straight dance music. . Whether It was waltz or fox-trot, the rhythmic tang predom inatisd, that being the Idea—dance music. Curiously enough, of Rolfc'.s three current pop plug songs, all were composed by Hai'ry Warren, a coincidence which probably has . not as yet occurred to Rolfe. For the rest, Rolfe mixed in a goodly percentage of old familiar favorites, anBouhcing the entire program him- $elf in rare voice, cool, clear and convincingly, excepting when the Station announcer was doing his periodic stuff on the local call let fers, and when the ballyhoo spieler for Lucky Strike gave out those .testimonials from Douglas Fa.ir- . Banks and Amelia Earhart. The testimonial readings were a new de parture in ether ballyhoo and, truth <o tell, convincing and forceful, even if It did bring the Lucky Strike name just a bit too much to the iore and overly prominent. Village .Grovers On© of radio's most consistently Satisfying afternoon dance purvey ors are the Village Groverg, corking trio of pop Instrumentalists on the NBC stations. Larry Funic is the director and they are "the band of 1,000 melodies" as billed, balancing their stuff and changing pace ex cellently. The Village Grovers (not to be confused or connected with the Village Grove restaurant In Greenwich Village which does. Its stuff over the WMCA-WPCH sta tions) are probably wasted during the week excepting on Saturday Afternoons; " Tli^ ^ould-Thcrit an early evening period to Insure a wider audience reception. A CHOP HOUSE OF EXCEPTIONAL MERIT WEST 48TH STREET EMt vf Broadway . WALTER DONALDSON composer of Ziegfeld's "Wlioopee," has signed to write a serios of theme songs for Paramount Talk- ing IMctures. Both these and all other Donaldson cornpositions are published exclusively by Donaldson, Douglas &' Gumble, 1595 Broadway, N. Y. HERE AND THERE Now additions to the M. C. A. band lineup are ..the Johnny Johti- son. Sleepy Hall and Tracy-Brown orchestras. All three are record- ing, units. '• Harry O'Brien' has left Shapiro- Bernsfein to .sales manage for Gene Austin Music Co. Walter O'Kecfe will return to Barney's when the village place re-' opens in late September. Bee Wee Byers' orchestra will officiate for dancing. Actor's Radio Stock Co. Cleveland, Sept.. 18. Carlton Brickert, stock actor here, has formed a radio acting company to plug commercial organizations oyer the ether. He-has already se- cured contracts from Fisher Bros, and Marshall Drugs Co. He plans to broadcalst only well known or original skits and dra- rrtatic sketches via WTAM. Com- pany to include five. Brickert was leading man of Robert McLaughlin's stock company at the Ohio this summer. Jacob Conn's Troubles ' providence, Sept,. 18. Jacob Conn, whose radio station WCOT was recently silenced by the Federal Iladio Commission, Is run- ning for mayor. Conn, a theatre owner, has been boycotted by local labor UTiions because his houses, the Olympia, Liberty and Uptown, have non-union operators. KTAB Moving San Francisco, Sept. 18. Station K'TAB will move Its broadcasting plant from Oakland to this city Sept. 29, with studios lo- cated at Fifth and Mission streets. Ada Morgan O'Brien la program director. ROSEIANB'S ORCHESTRAS Roseland, oldest of the Broadway ballrooms now operating, has its fall opening tonight with Sam Lan- nin's orchestra and Jean Gold- kotte's Cotton Pickers featured. Other orchestras. booked Hor Roseland this season aire Katz and his. Kittens, Fletcher Henderson and Milt Sha.w's Detrolters. REVIVING "DARDANELIA" Mills Music is publishing a new edition of '•i>ardanella," having ta- ken over all rights from Fred Fish- er who has retired from the music publishing business to collaborate with Billy Rose on song themes for M-G-M pictures. The Oriental fox-trot is being re- corded by all the mechanicals. K! e in ert JuJ-lBian k^_^ E. H. Kleinert, district 'musical .advi.sor for Publlx in. the South, excluding de luxe houses, has been appointed district advisor for the Publlx-Blank circuits. Ed Cramfr, formerly assistant, will succeed Kleinert In the old job. ''Night Hostess'^hiude; Casino and Underworld The rave which St; John Krvine, the New Ybrk "Morning World" critic, put on about Phil Dunning and his play, dwells, in the main; on the main point which will make or break "Night Hostess." With ' the masses now quite . conscious of the nite club racket and its chun>p- catching, . nocturnal couyert play- grounds, a theme like "Broad^vay," even two years ago, was more hap- pily-fortified for mass appeal be- cause of general knowledge that .such things as an open-door nite life of this sort existed. The average auditor of "Night Hostes.s," however, is still xinin- formed of the. gambling casino ad- junct of the glorified speaks, anil niay figure tHat this is a figment of Dunning's fancy and imaginative writing. ■ Still, as Ervine, an Englishman who has never been in a Broadway nite club, concluded, such things- must be so, because the play pre- sents it on the half-shell with such complete conviction. Therein lies the chief appeal of "Night Life." The captious one.<4 may resort to obvious. comparisons that Rags Conway, the ivory-tickler of "Night Hostess," Is comparabio to Roy Lane,- the smallie hoofer of "Broadway,'- or that the .sympa- thetic dicks of both are not dissim- ilar, but this play has the added ad- vantage of taking the layman, still further behind the scenes of ai new racket which Is not as well known around New York (because of local stringency), but which Palm Beach, Atlantic City, Saratoga Springs, Lake George and Glens Falls, N. Y., and kindred resorts have made quite commdh In their respective locales. For the .Underworld I Every guerilla, gunman, nether- strata character and racketeer, and his moll, wiU go for "Night Hostess.". They will all be stnick with the same element of atmospheric faith- fulness and mayhap wrjthe uncom- fortably at th© "rolling a winner" racket. True enough, there are sundry games In the heart of New York, one notably escorting a winner home safely In the custody of a gunman whose explicit mission Is to see that the successful ganiester Is not intercepted for any nefariou.s -purpose until he and. his winnIngs are safely deposited home. Dun- ning doubtIes,sly knew about this, but the paradox of a guerilla being entrusted with such mission might have struck th«5 mass mind as a bit too skeptical, and Dunning, wisely, dealt with the better kno-wn racket of "rolling: a winner," Just like the petty larceny boys for so long ha,vc "rolled ia. lush" as the stooge stag- gered his- uncertialn path on the public highways. And likewise about the gamhiing pay-off slips, known Intimately by but a few. And Just as Mr. Ervine, a babe- in-the-Broadway-wbods, was struck with the conviction that Dunning has recreated the actual and mir- rored It on the stage, the graphic exposition of It all Is bound to gel the lay mind. Ahel "Life's" Weekly Guide "Life," till' humor weekly, is now rliniiijig a rogular Conli- dontlal Ouldo on slioot musli' and roL-ords oaoh work by Al)*.'l Green (Vurioty). Booau.so of tlie h«in(U"ous weekly's international oircu- latioB, its value for song and record exploitation -is . groat. Croon • rooonimoiuls i^\x hi'>Y song piiblioations and a half dOKon of the host nuH-hiinie.'il . releases which, in his opinicm, would have proatost goneral apiieal. ' Arthur Hand's New Spot in I'alni Beach One Nvay to eliminate a nui.sance evidently is to cro.'ito a bigger ihijt sanoo. .Stanley C. Warrick, Publix Theatres' partner in Palm l.^oarh, who olainiod again,'5t- the Venetian Gardens operated la.st v.wintor by John and Ohri.sto directly across the sti-oot fnVin his cotta.sjce, is now building a night club on hi.s prop- erty. Arthur Hand,, who gave up the California Kaniblors when he In- herited .a fortune several years ago, will operate the new Palm Bea^h nite life .spot. It is to be called the Colony Club and -will open In De- cember. Lynch Moving " WashlFglont'SepfrlSr^^ William S. Lynch, chief an- nouncer of WOR, New York, Is to come to WRC in a like capacity, succeeding John B. Daniel, now with WEAF. Lynch will not re- port, until after two week.s' training at K. B, C. headquarters. Whiteman's Dinner With Phelps Phelps as active' chairman of the Citizens' Dinner Committee that will help Paul ■Whlteman celebrate his 10th atini- versary, progress is; being made on the. big banquet to be held in the Hotel Astor, New, York, Oct. 2. On the committee besides Phelps are Dr; Herbert S. Bailey, 'Walter Damrosch, Itcv. Francis I'. Diiffy, Minna Gombel, Stanley H. Howe, T, Duncan Just, Davis W. Kemper, Harry L. Ijambert, Dudley Field Malone,. Nathaniel Phillips, "VVilliam H. Rankin, Rev. Randolph Fay, Os- .car F. Wintraub, Blanche Yurka. Brazil Buys in France Washington, Sept. 18. American made musical Instru- ments do not sell in Brazil and the other Latin American countries ac- cording to a. Department of Com- merce report. They cost too much with the South Americans satisfied with cheaper instruments imported from Europe, particularly France. Department representatives went out and tried to promote trade for the American manufacturers but could arouse no' Interest. No Opera Nick in St. L. St. Louis, Sept, 18. Those who subscribed to the $70,- 000 guarantee fund for the Muni- cipal Opera sea.«5on In Forest Park which just closed will not be called upon to make up the estimated defi- cit of $6,000 caused by the Incle- ment and rainy weather. The 1928 deficit will be paid .out of the sur- plus which has resulted from the first nine years of the, outdoor opera. Edidie Cantor's Music ■ "ChltllgorSept:.-18^^ Walter Donaldson is in Chicago collaborating with Gus Kahn on the mu.slc for Eddie Cantor's forth- coming production, "Whoopee." Cantor is playing the Marks Eros. Granada and M.arbro, picjture houses.- ' • • N, ROCHELLE A 3-DAYER The first show to play Loo.w's old hou.so In New Rochelle, N. Y., is "Jeal«u.«y," which opened Monday ■for three days. Fay Balntcr la the principal woman. It Is the plan of the house to play no attraclifm over three days, tho belief being none of the .shows can stand up for a full week in the suburban town. TJ. S. I. PADLOCK SUIT ^Pclix=^RGsHfM=and---theI-L-^S,.-^^!. restaurant, also known as the La Sportlva at 108 West 45th streer, New York, Is on the padlock list for alleged liquor violation. This is the r(;.«taurant formerly opf-rat.<--(l by A. Zani and best known as Zani'a. Geiger-Lopez Tying Up Roadhouse Group By ])uroha.so Monday of Broun- .stoins l'(^lh;nn Houh Inn aTul the oontoinplatod t.akiiig ovor shortly after of the tioldnian'?? Castillian, aoros.s the road, EugiMu>: (lOiger and Vincent lAtpez will have that sec- tion of the -Polhaiu Parkwa.v, Bronx, N'ow York, sowed up. , (ioigor and I.K)po5i now operate the Woo.dinan.ston Inn, but a short dis- t.'inoe away .from the other two. The phoiKinuMial popularity and bvi.siiU'His of WoodmaiistOn this sum- mer have .wrecked tlie entire Polliam and Bo.ston road hoiise stretch. Polham . lloath and;Ca.stiljian hrive been rejiorted ojVorating at; a loss througivout the. hot spoil. David Broun^^toirl reeovored the iVlhnm I-Ioath after having dis- posed of it some numths ago. He . owns the property, but does not consider hinisolf a -roadliouse con- dxictor. The GoUlmans (Jack and' Al.) lately-got the Bill Duffy bunch from downtown interested In Cas- tillian. as partners, but: the combi- nation failed to stimulate trade to a profitable de.gree. It is said the Goldmans will have to secure this consent of. their partners before making the Geiger deal. . They have anotiier road house on the Merrick road, Castillian, operated by Chick Goldman, without partners. Geiger believes he can handle-arid adjust the three near-by road re- .sorts more smoothly than they could be directed in opposition. The Lopez name may be attached, with Lopez In person . niaking regular calls at each. If Geiger ties up the other two, he may close one over the winter, other than for a New Year's Ev« opening, operating the other, proba- bly Pelham Heath, for special par-, ties and the customary Pelham road business possible in the winter time. Woodmansten remains open the year around.. Consideration in cash for either place is reported as slight. Pelham Heath's rental is $1,000. monthly and the Castillian about the same. Larry Fay Returns To Taxicab Biz Larry Fay, Broadwayite, whose El Fay nite club was the forerun- ner of the contemporary night life vogue of noctural whoopee, and at whoso El Fay Texas Gulnan re- ceived ; her start as the Sucker Queen, Is back In the taxicab busi- ness, "The El Fay Mfg. Corp., hiead- quartered at 1775 Broadway, haa taiion over the Brevvster.. body plant and will manufacture its cabs at Bridgeport, Conn. . Pay has the former general man- ager of the Checker fleet now asso- ciated with him. He plans to float his taxi string in competition to the Yellow and Checker cabs. Larry, when previously In the taxi business, was said to have sold It for over a million. That was before he went nito clubbing. Chi's Green Mill Set Chicago, Sept 18. • Andre Lansky of the Ernie Young oflfice -will book all the acts and attractions at the Green Mill, when the spot reopens next month. Leonard Leon and Lee Swcltzer will oi)erato the place. Cass Hagen in L. A.. Cass Hagen and his orchestra go to-Los Angeles Nov.-2 for 24 weeks, opening with Roscoe Arbiickle at his Plantation cafe. Lyons & Lyons booked. ROY SMEGK Wizard of the Strings Vitaphone and Recording Artist First Half (Week Sept. 16) 105th Street, Cleveland Last Half, Keith's, Erie, Pa. USES B & D SILVER BELL BANJOS 43-Pa ge^l 11 sr BaTrjtr eatalog- Free THE BACoTbANJO CO. INCOlU'OnATED GROTON, CONN.