Variety (Oct 1928)

Wednesday, October 17, 1928 FILM HOUSE REVIEWS VARIETY 39 ROXY (Wired) (NEW YORK) New York, Oct, 14. Roxy didn't have much room to swing a- production flash with the current line-up of 75 minutes for "The Air Circus" (Fox)',' another 16 minutes for a Chic Sale talking short and about 12 minutes for the Movietone newsreel. By borrowing a bit from the llinit for the whole show and running it slightly longer and by concentrating nis production, Roxy managed to get in a istnge en- semble picture that would have been impressive anywhere but at tJie Cathedral, but here was rather be- low par In magnitude. At such time as this the rep the house has built for itself for scope and expanslveness of its staging Is rather an embarrassment. Stage display is undoubtedly less than usual, but whole entertainment is trimly put together for ah even pace of comiedy,. all built around the mood and tense of, "Air Circus," a happy blending of laughs and ten- der sentiment. The Sal^ short was splendid value, being, outright clowning In the Sale manner iand rich in laughs that start at the dia- phragm and explode at the lips. Graceful light overture in Johann Strauss' "Tales from the' Vienna Woods," with its cheerful motifs. Then, for contrasting vein, the char- acter comedy of Chic Sale In an- other of his "rube" portraits (this Is the. fourth subject In the Sale Movietone series). Next into the expected Roxy pageant; When lights go up after the Sal6 screen episode Beatrice Belkin is alrea;dy posed on one box while the chorus quickly assembles in the mother, thus sayiijig' the time usually taken up with the. stairway parade. Chorus goes into excerpts from "Iris," while there is a proces- sion of Oilental worshippers across the stage. l<lghts grow behind a transparent drop forward, reveisiling a temple setting with sunrise effect and ensemble grouped in bizarre costume, in the center an. Idol In. posture of meditation, entire figure done in gold. Entire setting back- ground for singing of "Sunrise "Hymn" from "Cbq d'Or." From among the worshippers comes a solo dancer, Patricia Bow- man, for a sightly bit of ceremonial dance, suggesting in its costume of red and yellow a flre dance, vflth flame effects from the manipulation of light silk streamers. This Is in two parts separated by chorus ma- neuvers, and then the idol becomes animat^ed and in the . person of Ha- . soutra, executes a religious dance in the curious style made, familiar by Ruth St. Denis. Odd stiff-legged routine with just a . suggestion of body wriggling, more for sex kick thfin art interiji-etation, and serves this purpose admirably. Figure wears only a wisp of gold net and a coat of gold paint. Production bit ends with musical climax as idol goes back to its altar position and again becomes immobile. Movietone newsreel runs 11 mln- Tites with three clips, all interesting and no silent news included. Then an unusually apropos use of the Roxyettes as an Introductory to the screen feature. Stage Is draped all around In dark green, and at the rise of the curtain the 32 girls are posed in a line, all dressed in a sort of musical comedy Version of an aviator's uniform, of gold and very short skirted, with helmet also of gilt and all girls in bare legs. In this get-up and again.st the dark background their precision evolu tions are sh.arply etched and become more interesting than uau.il. Fini'^h has girls grouped to .suggest an air- plane, with one of the girls at its head doing swift back-overs to in dicate the spinning propeller. Upon this pose the main title of "Air Circus" is thrown by means of k scrim. Rush. LOEWS STATE Wired )^^_^^ (LOS ANGELES) T.OS Angeles, Oct. 12. I Texas Guinan has_broken into the .i>icture house field for one week. As a presentation for her, Fanchon and Marco have staged "Night Club," with 20 people. It is a big carnival oit frivolity and noise. Tex herself monopolizes the stiage. Her opening , spiel was about a; .new ermine wrap and herself and how notorious she is, how she treated the suckers, looking a lot of them right In the eye when she said it. Then she sang a song about tlie life of a night club hostess on Broadway, Jack Lait's favorite entertalnet" talked about the cops 6.nd: patrol wagons, this material being blended into a lyric and sung with the aid of Harry Vernon and the Pyramid Trio., After the opening, which was In "one" with a drop to outline "Texas Guinan's Night Club,"- the full stage showed the interior of a Broadway night resort, very fla.shy, and a pleasing set, with an prches tra" W ^'JlT^'pTece^^ "customers." A chorus of 12 Fanchon and Marco girls, after doing a tap number, distributed themselves about the stage and audience, throwing paper balls, con fettl and toys about the house. The girls and male principals ran up and down the aisles shouting, laughing and gagging with Tex Harry Vernon did most of the straight In the front of the house providing the nucleus for Miss Guinan's repartee. In the begin- ning applause was riot as spon- taneous as anticipated, and Tex, in good showmanlike fashion, went after her audience. She pulled the Hello, sucker," stuff and the reSt of her 48th street routine. Some of the customers got it, and others didn't. The entertainment on the stage was hodge-podge until the last ten minutes. With Tex arid the rest of the gang throwing snowballs at the audience and the audience return- ing them, few of the specialties got a chance, Al Lyons arid his Four Horsemen helped nicely. The Pyra- niid boys.are a corking good turn, but did riot get an opporturilty. If this un\t goes out without Miss Guinari, which 11. no doubt willr the individual specialties in it will have a chance. Gene Buck and Dorothy Crocker, dance combination, did a little spe- cialty stuff, as did Kader, another dancer. Show chaotic until the climax, when Miss Guinan announced George Raft in the audience. Geoi'ge came to the front and did his ec-. centric dance routine, which he climaxed With the hottest black bottom ever. He goaled the audi- ence, being the big punch of the show. For the conditions under, which Miss Guinan is working, salary arid percentage. West Coast got a great buy. On .the opening day capacity was attained for the first show with a holdout on . the following shows, and it is quite likely Miss Guinan will get aro\Ad ?6,000 or $7,000. for her part on the week. She is un- able to continue, as she says she must go to Havana, where she is to open in a night club withiri a month. The show opened with a Fox news weekly. J. Wesley Lord at the^organ. The screen feature was Buster Keaton's "The Cameraman," Vng. .■ s ■ STRAND (Wiredf (NEW VORK) New York, Oct. 14., Feature of the Stfand's Sunday 6:20 sboyir was a woman's piercing scream from the rear of the lower floor at 6:45. and the house staff's immediate answer to the emergency. That first screech which seemingly had plenty of anguish in it, was fol- lowed almost immediately by a series from the same sout"ce. Half the house lights came up and ushers dashed for the foot of the balcony, aisles, A comedy Vita short was on at the time so that ruined that alf though it kept going. It took the capacity* audience some 10 or 16 minutes to settle down a:gairi. Front of the house explained it as a femme slew remonstrated with by the management and finally ejected by a cop when the yelling started.. If that's so some one should have taken this gal to a studio, staked her to another drink and let her record that shriek for a talker. It was a pip After the restlessness passed off the show was.ascertairiefd to be laid out according to its adopted policy of a silent and sound newsreel. Vita shorts and a sound feature, "Worirten They Talk About" (WB), One too many shorts, the trip running 28 minutes, and the above mentioned interruption 6omlng during the best and first item, "Papa's Vacation." Albert Spalding's two violin selec- tions caught neither applause or in- terest. Blame it on the uneasiness which still filled this interior, but straight violin solos are slow spot.s, especially when two are coupled to- gether. Orie would have sufficed. Larry Cebiallos' "Undersea Revue" (Talking Shorts) also failed to Imi- press. . Fox movietone news clip went 13 miriutes and had a neat assortment of shots to amuse. Particularly worthy were the clips on Governor Smith and the Army-S.M.U. garhe PARAMOUNT (''Blue Grass"—unit) (NEW YORK) New York, Oct. 13, Publlx is currently putting Vita- phone to a new employment, viz,, using Eddie Peabody'fl talking short for Warners as an advertising trailer for the pint-sized youth from the co£t3t who Opens in person next week as m, c, at the Para^ mount. J- The customers oeemod to care for the advance uiste of Peabodyiana. It's an all-around'break for Edaie as the samt> Vitaphone release jusi finished a week's engagemtint at the Strand oh Broadway. This con- stitutes rither; a. unique angle through an: opposition house un- wittingly pluggmg a coming attrac- tion at another. The stage unit, "Blue Grass," has not been well blended and com- pares unfavorably with the recent average of PubliX shows. Thanks to some of the individual partici- pants it has moments but .the unit itself has a minimum of cohesion and unity impressing ais flrat a dance, than a song, and so on, "Blue Grass" the theme and title is, by deduction, a 6weet plug for the published nuriiber, Dixie motif is adhered to fairly conaisteritly, the big wallop of the. unit being . the finale with two horses doing a Ben- Hur on a treadriiill above the band shell. Animals on a picture hoUse stage. are distinctly novel and this punch igives "Blue Grass" a sock otherwise lacking, Coleman Goetz, long inactive, confves back strong as the comic o£ the unit, . He is wearing his first red nose, a Publlx idea, b"ut work- ing much as formerly with gags. His diction IS' clear and every point hit despite tlie size of stage and house. No question abojift. George Dewey Washington, the hegro tenor. He crippled the meeting twice and had to beg off. He balladizes with dra- matic fii'eworks as flag-waving as his patriotic monicker. After tenorlng a la Stephen Fos- ter, George Griffin surprised py go- ing into, adagio with Rosette, the unit's ballerina. As a tenor Griffin spins a neat waist, RoErette is an able performer on the boxed slip- per. Slate Brothers, tapping three- some, appeared twice, latterly In cork. . Their stepping is okay but not of a grade to arouse much clamor In this day of feverish terp- slchore. A group of 12 Foster Girls discharged their offices with easy competency, Irene Wolf sang the theme song at the curtain hoist. Ben Black, filling In between the "rajah of jazz" and the "banjo boy of syncopation," put the stage band through Its paces in a musical satire,, so-called, on "Uncle Tom's Cabin." This is a type of orches- tral hoke developed by Black at -the Coliseum, San Francisco, neighbor- hood, hoyse, and since introduced by and through him to many of the Publix stands. Preceding the unit Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Crawford played a highly ef- fective dramatized version of "Chloe," the swariip song. The pit orchestra hydrauliced up., for the final stanzas, the curtains parted and a hidden singer Joined while a moving background of jungle trav- elog passed ominously on the mag- nascope Screen, The blending of all these effects creates one of the strongest of the Crawford concerts. Paramount monopolized * the newsreel, • A special one-reeler from Grantland Rice occupied a spot and justified it with the audi- ence. This was an illustration of "The Defensive Line" in football, using Chick Meehan's "follovir the man In white" system of visualiza- tion. All they can get of this kind of stuff great nowadays, "Moran of Marines" (Par) »on screen. Land. to hrlng out the old Brooklyn Bridge backdrop, a couplo of I3ow- ery buildings and a. lamppost. No flash finale or start. Opening had Paul Sriiall, staff singer, and Illomay Builey in sop.ni. rate booths singing over the iihotu> to each other,. Light-up showod Ash in center leaning against tho post in a tlght-litting dudo suit and brown derby. Ash can be hard- boiled, and he went at it with a vengeance. Band also carried the Bowery theme by means of nonde- script clothes. Plenty of the boys looked quite natural. Al and Gxis- sie Blum, working a semi-Howtiry routine, were strong p;icc setters in opening spot. Miss Bailey followed with a ballad. Nice pipes, and her dress a knockout, InstM'tiori hero of a hot band num- ber . permitted Ash to wiggle and Steam, a high mom'ent for the cus- tomers. Jack La\'ere, comedy pereli worker, was next with his standard vaude turn and proved •'decidedly novel. Two ballet appearances in the unit and run together,! The 10 girls were on first, in Bowery out- fits with a fitting routine. Re- turned immediately in jazz shorts for a fast tap. Lytoll and Fant, blackface team from vaude, buried their earl^ moments of singing ami hoofing by a freak finish, the boys playing five instnnnents at on'"e by moans of contraptions a la Kubo Goldberg. Turn makes avtraffe comedy material for picture houses. unit climax had Ash and Small trying to make MLss Bailoy while she sang, Ash finally walking out with a goofy lookihg Bowery dame after losing out. Rathei- weak, "Beggars of Life" (Par.), sound feature, and Paratnount news com- pleted. Customers climbing for bal- cony seats Saturday afternoon. . Ding. 81st STREET (Continued from page 38) ting tliem particularly on his encor« number, "Ootta Get a Girl," in whioh he dei>arta from the dignity ot Straisrht • tenorlng to unveil a IH-rsohality three eplderma deep. Higgins should make musical com- ed.v. The .<;mooth, classy and silken DeMarciis glided snioothly through the headline re.sponsibility. Audi- ont>e started .to gi^'gle before the Three S.ailors .started,' The businesslike chap with the niustaelie who formerly was on the Palace service staff has been iransr ferred to the SLst Street where ho Is doing his stuff on, the door. The Slst. Street, with the rest . of the Keith temples, has sacked Us Ceriime ushers and. now is policed by natty cadets in blue; Land. NEW ACTS at West^dlrit. Silent faction' went 11 minutes ■with five shots from Pathe and three from-Fox. Business excellent.. Bid. MOSQUE » (Wired) (NEWARK) Newark* Oct. 14: This house has been using sound pictures for some time and has im- proved its b. o. It has the ad- vantage of being the first de luxe house permanently in the field here. G. Miller Smith, at the organ, plays while C. Henry Earle sings two songs from an elevated prome- nade. Earle is apparently a per- manent feature. He sings well, but stays in the dark and takes no bow. This is regular at the house. "Blacksmiths." a musical Vita number, follows. Vita here is kept toned down very low at all times. It's heard, however, all over, If not always clear, "Mother," Tiffahy- Stahl. colored short, pleased. An alleged-=comic=-A^ita,™A-.J£Elcnd=of, Father's," not so hot. Six minutes of news offers two from M-G-M, one Fox, Par and Klnograms. Followed by 11 min- utes of Fox Movietone of eight clips. No overture, but the orchestra plays through "Mother," Feature, "The Terror" (WB). Show runs 130 nilnutes. Austin. (pRIENTAL ("Bowery Blues" Unit (CHICAGO) Chicago, Oct. 13. Local flaps and Jellies, made an idol, of Paul Ash. because he ideal- ized something in their lives. His utter, lack of restraint,, his disre- gard of convention and the spirit of jazz that seemed Imbued In him w6re answers to a call that every one of them had heard. When your arteries start to harden you're apt to confuse vulgarity with modcrn- riess, Sortething vulgar Is simply beneath the bounds of current good manners, and many a guy past 35 would be Surprised at what passes for good manners among tho younger generation. To mamma a wiggle is a bugle call from , purga-. tory, but to daughter It's ju.st a cutely significant gesture. A.sh un- derstands • this, and the flap.s and Jellies understand him, ^ - "Bowery; Blues" ^Is^^a Paul j^.'ih show—the type that riia(l(rTTlm""a sensational drawing card here for three years. It's a throwback to the days when that hot stuff per- sonality made 'em weak all over In It Ash Is himself again, fijrg<:l- ting culture and reserve. This unit probably will be considered Inferior on tho road. Ix)U McDerniott, who produced, ransacked the warehoii.ne UPTOWN (Wired) (CHICAGO) Chicago, Oct. 13. Early indications today (Satur* day) portend that the Uptown will clean up on business this week. "Our Dancing Daughters" (M-G) is. on the screen and Verne Buck on the stage. An unusual occurrence was the concentrated applause when the title of the picture, was flashed. Main floor capacity at 2:30 and upper, tiers filled rapidly. Buck divides his activities ber tween this house and the Tlvoll, both B. & X. neighborhood stands. His popularity is more pronounced here. Reason is that Buck for- merly was a ruling favorite on the North Side while at the Sherldar). He's the kind the flappers flutter at. This week he's surrounded by the Publlx "Harem-Scarem" unit, Just off the boards of the Chicago. Some switches and pruning- has been done, but the Integral'talent is still there. Unit no'W' runs about 35 minutes and iSmooth. It includes the Foster Girls (16), Harry Savby and the Two Clowns. Hazel Ro- maine, singer, has been taken out and will probably be placed else- where. SavOy is a .strong factor with his coriiedy. The Two Clowns are excellent turiiblers and contor- tionists. Popular figure here appears to be Frank Wilson, vocalist, sitting with the band. He gets billing, has a sweet voice and delivers. Band Is a crack combo, dispensirig hot and cold chords. Eddie House, organist. Is another favorite. Quite a conversationalist at the console, arid sings, too. Fox Movietone newsreel on the short end, • Loop. (Contiriiied from page 37) their scenery, their costurities and their, sex; including In the latter th« Iteni of rnuchly-exposed leg.s. : Land. PRIMROSE SEMON and Co. (2) Songs 9nd Talk 19 Mins.; One Broadway (V-P) Primrose Semon does notably and rates big time when singing hpt songs, but falls to de'part froift In- termediate classlflcatlon when talk- ing with her partner (man). That talk is excusable in vaude and sh9uld stand Miss Semon In good ste.ad—In vaude. iBiit she, sings too well And looks too nice to remain away from presentations. SEATTLE ("Dream Song" unit) (SEATTLE) Seattle, Oct, 9, A very plain bnt effective setting for this Fanchon and Marco stage jshow,_ Goqd value, although minus a nameTieadllrier. • ' ' Snowfall effect opens, after which Sunshine Beauties pranced through a nifty dance routine with Bo Peofi Karlln slriging. A swagger dance with canes brought forth Bo Peep's companion solo dance.r, Marguerite Miller, graceful and lithe. Gene . Morgan, leading tho band, presented Jack Hurley, out of the orchestra, for a song. Efforts of all entertainers hard put to warm them iip. Morgan did a negro shuffle dance that didn't break the frigid audience. A jumping Jack routine by the girls had novelty In-flooding the house with , light and then hav- ing the girls variish, due to two- tone drcsKo.s. Vina ZoUo and Elmer Hcrllng brought more .song.s, well done, but the gang Ju.st wouldn't unloosen. Same wa,s true of Johnnie. Dunn anr] his uke. Morgan and his recruits again gagged to laughs. For wind- up girls were in attnactlvo attire, doing steps. On the screen' "Take M<; Hom^'" wa.s^lhe ^alure. P.aramfMint .N'ew.s "arid Txon^TIuggollr'oh"^" the"^ CTO rounded out. Trcpp. Suzanne Caubert, rereritly of "Ringside." left for the Con^t yes- ferday n'ue.«flay) to play In "Th' Squall," Show is due at the I}"l.'i.«- ro, I,,03 Antr,i-]f!*, Oct, 2!), wilh .Mi^.s Caubort hack In h(;r original role. ADEUNE BIENDON and Co. (9) Diance and Son^ 17 Mins»; Full Broadway (V-P) But for the name player's danc- ing, duplicate of the many turns wherein four hoofing boys sing nlc<> : things about the same girl. In, thlar^' one. as In the other, the girl falls to sing of or to any particular boy. Some day someone will produce a flash of 1,000 boys and one girl and have the girl finally select one of . the boys as her favorite. ^ Trouble has been that all the boys look so nice, making it tough for the girl to decide who Is the hett man and the audience,to find ottt who Is the worst dancer. Miss Bendon is the act, Boys are the scenery, Biffe. REYNOLDS and WHITE Violin and Comedy 12 Mins,; One Broadway (V-P) The woman of this established team formerly worked aa a woman. She now duplicates her partner's; tramp dress without revealing hef sex until the second or third bend after the finale, ' 'Doubling by the woman In the rn.in's makeup enhances the turn and provides a place for the pair .as a good musical noVclty for any deuce spot. In spite of the ultra-tramp attire, they fiddle legitimately. Practically all comedy attempted is derived from the dressing. Bige. PLOETZ BROS, and Sister (3) Gymnastic 7 Mins.; One and Two State (V-P) Woman's graduating series of back dives from a ladder claases this as an acrobatic act. For the rest two men In clown attire do a burlelique adagld^^^ a^^ CAnsplcuous satirical stuff. For the finish the three dance on their hands and th.at's about the whole act. But enough to rate the combination as a capable opener after the preceding build-up. The •woman should .attempt .to conceal her dancing belt when In tights, bige. KATHERINE BOYLE and BOYS Dances 11 Mins.; One and Three 5th Avenue (V-P) The style of tapping done by Miss ^ Boyle and the half-dozen steppers with her vividly recalls John Doyle,' who ha.s done con.<jIdcrabl€ dancing of thf.s type, as well as instructing In tiuch routines. It may be that Miss lifiyl*' Is a relative. She is a tall blonde, youthful In appf-ai-firi'-e, peppery, arid a skillful .I.ai2Tl«.i!l,^^I.VtiI!^x ^j3gyj^„5.ro good hoof'Ts, Ki-o rlancing act, aricmiM^ Boyle can. i'tep with the boys. Mark. The Palace, i5i'i-;,'f-nliel(l, N. J., is bookf-'J l.y A. A- p.. I>ow, and not l.y Fally M.-irK-Tm, If that means anything to anybody.