Variety (Oct 1928)

40 VARIETY VAUDEVILLE REVIEWS Wednesday, October 3, 1928 PALACE (St. Vaude) . It limy bo saill that Uu'n'o. is moro A'uriOty taU'iit aiul v'ainli'viili'.-^ vuiulovillo oil Mic. lairi'i'iit i'aiaci> bill than has bocn at tluv J'aiaf.- at any lUii! titiu! in si'V^ral yi.a>. Ot 'coui'ftO tiiat U!i-;'.)is iMiU-riam- J110)lt. . . .%lonilay hi>Aht iho 1u'1..-m'. iaiU;il to uii ill tin- .('iH'la'Mia ycait- luii. tiii^ shovv shoiilii be iU'a%\iiij;v vapaciiy by A\'f.iliii\-><Uiy aiul I'm- t>:iiiaiTi- d'or of the \viH l<; Ir'tt tlu- Sill t oi: a bill tlial uill or sl;n.ulcl b'.> a fcii'il. advo! lihor. 'J lui.'i> toi)i)oi-.s in I Joiuiy a.UivisS una his "(lanK" oC lf>, in^ x'iuilin^ siMHi' bana of .10, J:u:k: ri-arl ;ur(l vi.iniianyv of ihi-i o (--s't w -AclsV, iintl )''ran'kio iloaih. ... Whi'lo a jujJKUr; l'\-Iyvis, holil uv ..tho: v>'-i"f'^i''"''^"f-^'^'^ 3, Davis lUil -b). ihinutos, (.fusing tho first part. Miss Heath opened the soc-ond section solidly arid Toarl lau^'h^nI;■ly dosed the show, followed by the news ■ i-ecl. Pea.rl brousht the (legv.iierato Broadway style bt ine:ioi;t day staK- diaUiff to the I>'ah.ice; , He probably •puUfd a; gas' that is tin; rawosi thiriy a vaiide stage has, ever heard, at least in this covinfry. . Yet it wa> in for the Monday iiiKht pcvrorm- ance, which said that the manage.- ■ ixieiit apparently did not. dare to order it out through fear'of-losing the Pearl turn. . If Keith's -with its family attend- ance and matinee bid expects to stand for -a gag like Pear s, they can fold up or sell out; it's the best thing for thorn to do, for with that kind of stuff and the Texas Guinun :revuo blackouts, they arc -headed tor a split \veck picture policy whether they do or do not w:lre houses. It's the biggest laugh Pearl ever had, this gag, and nothing ap- proached It for a laugh Monday night in the show. But ifs strictly the nuts for vaUde. -No doui>t Pearl could sell it for plenty to a Broad- way mu.^ical.' It Was -pulled as Pearl's first gag and threatened. to swamp his turn for anything to follow but he did well'and closed the show very successfully at after cteyen. "*^Pearl Is talkingwith lils sti-aight, who informs the Dutch c.omedian a friend says hO'swore >at him the Sunday before when Pearl' passed him on the road In his car. The friend'.s car was on th^ side of the road, still, at the time. Pearl de- nied he swore at his friend; it must hav« been an error; all he said was: "I see you're sunk in the ditch." Benny Davis has a corking fa.st lively turn of sohg. music, dances and some cOmedy. He's,in the ceh ter Of a bright setting, with a band of 10 behind him, while eight per formers are seated about, four; at a table on either side of the stage All, including the bandsnien, con- tinually moving-in unison to the music and singing. Monday night's audience was pushover for the dancinp; in the • Davis act. In fact the earlier danc- ing turns had all the best of It with the house worn out by re peated applause as the act pro grossed. Benny sang two new songs of his own, "Who Wouldn't Be Blue?" and "That's How I Feel About Ybu," besides a snatch mod ley of his former song hits, all rec ognlzed; Among the specialists Benny throws forward the: girl of Bemis and Brown, primarily dancers and doing well enough at that, but with the girl tjivcn a little too mu(!h leeway here, especially in singing. She may hold pbs.sibilltics and if so, it will be With dancing and comedy only. As an eccentric comedienne the girl looks likely : with training and experience. AH of the dancing scored and lots of it. A trio oiE the band boys did nicely with two songs, up against the Fuzzy Knight style juSt ahead for cine of them which would -have gone over strongly, otherwise. These boys look good enough to go on as a Vaude act by themselves. They arte Jiinmy • McCarth.v, Ray Kule and Jimmy Noel. Benny has by far his best act. a most entertaining one and if • travelling -the vaude route :as . it should,' advance publicity might hear heavy, that it is entertaining. • It can stand up under that kind of pre-publicity. About the best .and most unnoticed section. is how Benny has routined, this turn to send everything over, through par tlclpia-tioh in building, up of each specialty by either the other pcr- ■ formers or the orchestra. That is hijjh-class yaude staging. Another duplication besides the ^'svododo singing was "Uomona" twire mentioned in differont turns and similarly. Not so nifty on a second performance. And "Strange Interlude." also mentioned twice. Miss Heath has. four songs by Harry Broen. Two oC them are per- ^rt'T-"ditndir!^r^lltlnight--Kose^ahd • "Maybe," With Breon writing lyrics like these, of the flip and fahcy Broadway sort now in de- mand, ho shouldn't be hiding away doing a vaude turn somowliore, but should be on the 3>.roadw.ay he so wisely wTitos of. Lyricists of his kind are needed there, ])lenty. His "Midnight Roso" has the best Times Square lyric ever written. Mla.s Heath does the numbers nici^ly. of eonr.so. She's acting them and that is helping, making vacli sons a characterijsailDU without changing costume for any one. Her linal song is the weakest. Miss Heath received flowers, over the fo.ot.s and was held for a -^ip'-'ooh but inoroly yaid '•ThaiUv Voii," another Ui.liv- erv 6vlii>rs .)ni;?ht well copy. j-'uzzy Kiiii;iit (N'ew AeLs) was inovrd frmn .\(). 4 to Is'o. !> at night lo iielp Uie early part, bui- l-'ii^i/.y eau'i . slaiul up by hiinselt' as a siiijilo uiru, in vaudeville, .J'lis lan.sAV too iiniited and lie- is al- w;iys i-.cpealing. in the >;o..4 spot were Jei'ouie and Gray, in a ctmi- edy turn w ith soino. niuslc. It's- a man and woman act with Jeroint talking nieely in a :gagtiing way Miid ea ■'iiy'gotlin.i;- laiigiis, v.ven it' he .did. have to use? a eocRroaeh bit for lii.s.best. One. of Jerome's .gags. .was. about ••Get Out and Get Under the Moon,"' mentidiu'il by x\iiss Gray. "He should get a Cadillac," said .Terome, arid as he exited, remarked sptto voice to Benny Itoberts, since the gag had died, -'arid I still think ifs a.good one." It is,' but who knows of the Moon? • . . Felovis. is alone in his class over here .'is a light article, juggler and Jap stick and' ball manipulator. Old timers will say of him, a. foveigner, he recalls Rastelli. Quite true, ivut llasteili reealled Cin^•quevaH^ afid wiio roiiiembers the latter? P'cw nbw remember llasteili, leaving Fe- lovis 'quite , okay, liven his mi.sses Monday night couldn't hurt his ap plaiuse. Soirie of the misses may have been business. His manipula tions of ~ the ball arid sticks is superb and the Japs themselves have not surpassed it.. Oiiening- the show were Milt Dill and Sister, on a return here after .a long wMiile. It's- a lariat circling turn, with the man doing usual stylo talk while i-oping. Seemed" too much talk for ah opening turn, but did well enough, and might do-bet- ter with better talk. "A Night-At the Club," No. 2, all male octet with Hollis Dcvany^ leading (New Acts) gbt through well enough. A rec- oriimendation for this turn is that all of the men of the chorus sing ing chorus look regular, some even more so. Sime. (Vaudfilm) •Wlioevcr the glorlliod guy Is who ucceeded .Joe. iOmmott as liouse manager at the State, he cloesn'l like to have.his house or his aels or his orchestra panned, lie ad- mitted as. mtieh. What's more, he can't understaiid why Mr. Ummett sued-a Kpoeial pass .to N'arlety with I ciinod to BROADWAY .(Vaudfilm) Nothing in either the vaude names or the picture to attract Kven with the weather more con ducive to theatre-going biz wasn' anything to throw raves about, Show was average. On the screen ■the River Pirate" (Fox), Harriet Hawrot and Boys (New I snappily, STATE an ax'gumcnt in favor o£ the return I RIVERSIDE of the sketch. ^ . , ,\, .c, v Helen Crosby, blonde and single (Vaud61m) outside of a piano .player, uncorked With Its vaude portion, lopped to three pops in the deuce. One, a f^^p ^^^^ f^d 70 minutes by tha ballad, wa.sn't any too strong with Uoverely long feature iilm, "King of its war interpolated strains but her KiiigH,- the Riverside this week is, high register hold that which sat s- igj-g a vaude theatre than ever lied in the closing selection. Mlsa before. Funny, too, to compare the Ci'osby could havo^sheaked another U„aicnce of Monday night , to those number but played smart and de-| the two-a-day pight-act $2 top press • the . invitation. times. And funnier when recalling the Riverside's heyday wasn't any longer than two years or so ago, with-that theatre one of the most perfect vaude dates in the <;ountry for so many years without w.ivering either, way. For those who prefer, variety tlierw is quality if not quantity here this week.. Limited number seemed to a courtesy inscription .th(;rcon to U^.- jg. p^jj^.^ ^Qi^jj-pfj qyf,,i.tet, didn't ] aoQoramodate the Variety reviewers start much while on the stage fol- n the logo seats where, coming in jy^^^j^. j^|i,,g Cro.sby. However, the It the drop of tho vaudeville bar- pj^im impact was more resonant at .ier .-IS they do. Joe appreciated the K.i,p finjgj^ xhkxi for any other do- convenience of a seat and. a,place to oiple on the bill. Kerr and Ensign smokei .were- next at the. post to ease Furthermore,' , says .'Mr. State's |.tiirough smoothly and well. Mixed louse manager; he would, cancel tho team's cross chatter amused with' alidity of Joe Kmniett'a special | the violin Arnaiit idea, holding up^ pa.s.s, and he did. Xoew's State is at Broadway arid 45th street. ■ li^VJ » ^« —— 1 , After' tliiis calling sp>cial atten- help ii! he were to unfurl a couple .getting was good. . ^ /xi tion to his orchestra, therefore, of genuine chords regardless of how ^ .Starting were -The Ue.ssems (New Ruby Zwerdllng. loyal Hibernian,, long he's.been doing the act. : , //"^T'^'''^^^^''*''^^^^^^^ ed ills Spaniards in a slow medley Joe Mendl, trained monk, closed that will stop any show It^ opens of Irish tunes of the type appro- working crisply and only fumble and come through as a spotter in priatc enough for St. Patrick's week and on. one as.signment,. a bit with ''■"y'"^I'^^v ., , but btherwise not. particularljf pat. his tie which he previously had y^p-'^'K Hooth, ■ baritone^tono . has - ' done minus the cue line. retained his pianlsto and style but Orchestra here n6eds plenty of changed his routine and numbers, attention. Sid. . The change is for the better and Booth seems more at ease now than A slow show is distinguished by Ai Herman who milked 'eni a,nd scored tiie applau.so and laugh hit. As effective as ever, the blackface comedian with the aid of an audi ence plUggcr-plant wais in from the start. Preceding him was Frank. Dob son with . four gals in a familiar Dobson sketch. Marion Sayers . i.s the new love vis-arvis' as the framce of a. proposal conspiracy Coming after three quiet acts. Dob son's opportunities, were ripe and Herman, immediately ensuing, top ped everything. when using rather mislit stuff a few years .back. He now closes with a musical version; of Klpllng'.<$ , "Boots." necessitating much iicting. West of Broadway turned put en jj^n^ solidly here on that. AMERICAN ROOF' (Vaudfilm) , masse to greet •' Hal Roach's kids of "Our Gang" comedy. Down- stairs and root went clean at 7 Monday night with firemen in the lobby checkinig standees. This reviewer unaware of the Jack McLallen and his Sarah libw classify as a straight comedy turn. Ad libbing, "Well, back to the bid sure-fire," when. the. finish proper brodied. Jack pushed out his pedes-? •tal and tied on the skates for a ^ 9,- , I okay to the roof where they were The Juvenile Steppers, an. evenly standing nine deep, divided dancing dozen, \vere a.flash -Gibson and Price opened with a in the closing- groove; Their leg- noveltv juggling specialty. The man mania, is rhythmic,, concerted andKi^andled' the Juggling while the excellently proisented. Their, forte U^yoi^.^Ln did some sketching during is tapology and they'd, fit in beaut;- interim. The combine got over well fully intb a Publix unit for ex- .as ah opener. ample or into a revue where tlie The enuriciator flashed Singer synchrbnoUs quality of their cn- and Llghtner next. A detailed fire rush anklcd.in at and^ got^the usual | oHnch encore. The preceding brodie X was a result of a song by an other- wise novel feminine stooge, usM to close.. The girl addition is 'way up :in the six feet class .ind freaky enough' for comedy. Also plays piano well. But. that song. Outl Day-Alleen and Co. and Marlta. dance fla.sh of seven people (New Acts), made the grade in the. closer. semble form^vtions and . routine. I man also discovered this scribe and See^^ with would stand up and out even, better, his ^ren makirig a 10th line aiid 1 P^Sv.^Lx°._Pv.. ^^^^L^^Hu^f -n than in vaudeville. One male team, ordered both out. Down the elevar the first duo to appear in a spo- I tor and up again, just to hear the cialty, are individual wows with getaway applause of the deucer on their buck-and-wing,. the tip oft th.at the same fireman Opening wore Van Horn and Ino'/, -was regulating tralfic downstairs, standard team on rollers, this time From applause they must hav6. doirig their stuff on an elevated liked them. rburid table platform. It is a novel Robbins and Jewett, male .two- manner for presentation and their some, trotted out with nifty hokc whirls and particularly the closing comedy, cro.ss-fire and ihstrumen- airplane effect—neck swing— tals that clicked heavy, giving way | closed tVieir zippy five minutes j.to the "Bet.ancourt Revue," like- able flash and John R. Walsh; Overture by the so-called "River- .•^Ide Salon Ensembl©:* (pit) with Charles Stein conducting, somewhat long. A sloppy Aesop Fable" and Pathe newsreei. . Attendance scarcely three-onar- ter's, ■ Bifte. . Acts) shoved the vaude section off. Joe and Jahie McKenna were sec- ond. Act remains much the same, although the boy and girl found the biggest laughs with their classi- cal travesty at the close. Talk was cided results on dancing. I State's new. midnight movie idea, Harry J. Conley Company dressed patterned after the other Bron<i\Vay FILM HOUSE BEVIEWS (Continued from page 39) ad as the tag line. Overture by The 3 Lido Boys (New Acts) and I The latter just started when the Alfred La Tell with Sylvan Dell'asr firieman came back and spotted the orchestra was semi-heavy. Then slstlng followed. La Tell is: doin-T again. The dame wouldn't be J. Wesley Lord had his shot at the his comedy canine as ever and Miss crowded Into the ninth line, so es- organ with^ a medley pf pops, Dell is good foil. Their eight min- corted for another dive down the "Our Dancing Daughters" (MG) the utes are enough and La Tell wisely elevator.. She doesn't like vaude-:: feature. Ung. ciicking in'spots, but the duo could I docs not overstay his welcome. ville anyway,. but was sold on the [ use a much more advantageous line "Four Walls" (John Gilbert) Is Amcrlcari Roof assignment through of chatter. Team got. its most de- the feature and- a good test for the being baited, on the picture. Her ~ " ■ " Cardboard L9ver." . \ (ROCHESTER) Another trip up got the tag of T>«^i,-»»f«»- m v «o;r.j- 97 Fern and Davis' act with nothing _ ■(^{■t.frF J^^ but applause to record for this one. I ^"h William A. Calihan at tno EASTMAN the stage, and Conley continues one houses now doing it. of vaude's best comics. Skit, a bit too long, should fill a long-felt want on many comedy shy vaude bills. Following came Alexander and Peggy. Act might have tared bet Abel. 5TH AVE. (Vaudfilm) ter" had it aoneared Prior to Con-I Five acts and "King o£ Kings") carr Jbrotners ana lietty. ciosing i -- --j,- ley.'^Duo^feK'witE thelr^^^^^^ th.e regular bill registered heavy gygjan Ballet^|-t^^^^^^^^^^ ^ 1^% It applause to recoia lor im.^ one. ^.^ctcm'ttinn nf T i»f f iiTirtlRtiirhed <5t}indlnir until M*®'™' following, the resignation oi Mm "colUns ^"roUed '^t^ wfth" h|^ ^ ^Dlarke js jenerul manager s"tXJed\r°s£ow 5ow^rrr"anSf;\'SrspIc:''T^^^^ ''Sf BV^'th'eVTaad Betty, closing peek's bill opens With Lulginl's faced talk and were trailed by 28th street Monday night except a -with acrobatics Sonnv Hines Co (New Acts). An- s'^ort show and a long picture. And just as the "Our Gang" kid other new one was Boyle and Delia Three quarters of a house couldn't Qies trotted out, the same fireman (New Acts) find anything to become frantic again copped and again the elcva 12no Troupe, Japs, closed, men and two women. Okay. Mark, 86TH ST. Two over with the result nobody had an excuse to do an encore and the vaiide portion was all wound up by 9:45. Layout was versatile enough biit didn't jell into, heavy applause. The inevitable flash opened and a monk closed. In between were a quartet, and a crossfiring mixed tor, but this time with company. The othei" mugs squawked for a re- bate, and got it. Nan hollered murder, but was eventually appeased upon promise doCks overture, with Guy Fraser Harrison directing. . Stage presentation is a. musical frolic . called "I Declare!" It will bring a reminlscejit chuckle from anyone who ever has faced the ordeal of the customs house. Gayne Ralph Bunker staged his scene at (Vaudfilm) New era vaude at the east side I sketch uptown Proctor stand brings out team. Mahon and Scott's Revue re several new faces in a layout con- niinds strongly of the slow spots in sisting of three dancing acts, a high any Broadway musical breaking in quality perch act and a fine comedy out-of-town. If the Palladium, skit that is excellently spotted In London, is having its troubles dig this type of neighborhood house, ging up headliners let it take wam- Taken all in all- the bill -might be ing to set up preventatives against classified as better than average; the flash act epidemic,-sometimes despite all three dancing turns find khowh as that indoor sport of toss- it necessary to drag in the. varsity ing the great American torso. Girls, stuff and build up the black bottom, thousands of 'em, have rolled. New era vaude In the neighbor- twisted and bent themselves dou- hoods just like" the era that preced- ble the past year, and the bookers ed it lack.s real comedy turns wlih I are evlderitly still: impressed. It's oriiginality. . . [ conie to that pass where it's physi Chris Ohl.sholm and Viola-Brceh, cal exhaustion to watch 'erin. Some in "A Frozen Romance," next to of the exponentis get . into such shut, have a comedy sketch that shape that they're off balance when holds a flock of poHte laughs. Idea I unraveling to accerittiatc the awk- centers around a honeymoon spent.[ wardness arid convince that it's ih a. 3Ui>posedly haunted. Canadian not dancing. IPlenty of effort and border cabin, with a gang- of rum no headwork; Mahon and Scott runners, pulling the ghost stuff to personally fling themselves through scare the couple back to the states, an energetic Apache for a finish. Act is suited for the split week It helped here. Otherwise they're houses, winning general approval assistedi by a, singing sister. team hore. ■ closer in their relationship than Foy Family, now five, dish up harmony, • a male piani.st and . a eoniedv. si)ngs and dances, the quin- femmc floor sweeper who posed in tot Rolting most with ah am.ateur a mid-stage entrance; before going moving pieluro camera bit. Charley Into her number; forgot something, Foy straights for his younger dashed off, dashed on.and po.sod all brother, Irving, tlio lalle.r showing over again as the pit crew vamped she'd be fixed for the picture an other night. She's going, but wants a bond . posted. Thinks the Whole thing was a gag and for that wouldn't take a lB-5 taxi, but de- manded a Packard with liveried As tho pa.ssengers disembark in the midst of a huge pile of baggage they are taken In charge by the cus-. toms ofllcers and forced to open the various trunks. One reveals a Ger- man mechanical toy piano and chauffer at $4 per hour to square. I pij^yg^ -which gives Benny Machan She got it, hut this chump won't opportunity to contribute a snappy again eat regularly until Saturday, piano solo.' "Her Cardboard Lover" was Out of another step six of the scheduled as screen feature. Didn't g^artest' Paris models, exhibiting see It, but the. manager swore. it powns, pajamais, sport clothes, lln would go on tb close the show.. : Edha evidences of a chip oft the old block alonjj^-GQim^dy^Iincs—The- Lwitv^gida... Mary and Madeline, dross up the act neatly with dancing and pop tunes, Blrdie'Denn in.a Hash d.'inc- Ing turn (New Acts) clo.scd, 'while the 3Va standnrd perch.'turn opened to good returns. Worthy and Thomp.=«on (New Acts) • dusky skinned, hoofers in the deuce spot, well received. "Just Married" (P.ar) was tho screen offering. Biz Monday night only fair down-stair.s, but good on the aliclves. until readyc ^ - Ruth. Rob!nsor i ..ls _oviden.tbi,dojng the same sketch she did in '2i." Anyway, she's still doing a widow for comedy in a script which placed jiort expressions on the. fao<"'R of tho great iinwashod but goivorjiUy failed to crank tho grime with either smiles or laughter. A lot of waste material in this 23 minutes and as long as Miss Robinson is going to wear black silk stockings she might as well stake herself to a sheer pair. Support oast -of three Isn't any too stron.g and flio net i« not ACADEMY (Wired) When laist rieported In this sheet Al B. White, the persevering ballad- tiirottler, was doing a single run- ning 22 minutes. Now he .Is sur- rounded with 18 assistants arid the act ticks off . 42. Nevertheless,- Al does not sing "Laugh, CloWn, Laugh." He i.s now .shattering the acoustics with a new super-ballad written, he announces, particularly for his own dramatic uses. It is called "The Spell of the Blues" and Al gives it his heart's blood. Act is called "Broadway Scandals (New Acts) with no ai)ologies. It should be cut in half. It has its moments and specialty performers of merit but the total impression is tinged with tedium. '^EVi6n""hna=Al="lKTr=n^e:asorrable"orr- rUnning time tho Academy show' '•^Monday night would have been slow. . JMavIe \''oro w^as a let down 'Xo. 2. Variety's arehlvo.s. reveal that this young lady was brought forward a few years ago as a find from P. S, No. 1 and tliiit after a period In the neighborhoods she achieved the Palace. At the Aradomy. nearly throe years lati;i Marie seemed a nioo girl proma Hii-oly lurnod. prcifossiimal. She gerle, etc. The models go into a double sextet with six stevedores. One of the girls, Ann Abbott, is a looker. Another trunk disgorges a Paris hat So huge three girls are required to wear it, and they have a nobby little song, "'Hats,". written,, by the versatile Benny Machan. A bottle of Scotch of heroic size gives Albert: Wheeler the comedy hit. Thelma Biracree as a French doll pantomimes a bit with Ivan Triesault as the hard-boiled cus- toms oflllcer, , Feature picture, "Four Walls." Gooding. could not fill the big auditorium and created restlessness in the audience. William and Joe MandoU, Owen McGivricy and, Frank JJevoc, con- stituting the last ahd best half of the bill, wore not well blended although all scored, MoGivney, by adding a tran.sparent .scrim and ox- =pOS i ng—1 vi a^-] 1 rotcan=--ingcn u LU y - ii w action, has extended the life, of his veneralde Oliver Twist skit. An- other twelve years prob.ably. Tho tail ond of "The River Pirate" (l-'ox). in the form of a spoken epilog, drew the open rasp- berry from the Academyites bo- cause of the prissy mannerisms of the actor who roads the lines. Tlie Kadex, standard novelty turn with trick apparatus, opened nicely. I'.iu- bi7.. LnniJ.