Variety (Dec 1928)

i Wedne sday, December 5, 19i VAUDEVILLE REVIEWS VARIETY 9S PALACE (St. Vaude) 1* u has not been said before, let ^1 now: Tea Lewis is a peer ,t be said now. x **l*jriSlld panic and stampede ^S?pn5e comes under the head S ffln?s" tla? just can't be taken for granted, ceased to be new. ^.^l Iven 5o?el to. Carnegie Hall. Se art twirling th? dials '^^"^tJ W when they go into a '•IflJniraDh shop they listen long *^5"r.Ht1cally before : buying. The Sfliouri attitude especially no- man's broad comedy being jTiood and framed to order for this-- clicn tele. Her comedy sons number, en- titled "Peanuts" and arraiiged by a. strawberry street vendor,, paniekvd 'em. Tliey don't come too vigorous for the mob here, and Marie made it as wide as. it was long for the ooca sion. Comedy jolt in exactly the right place. Jack Kneeland and hi Meirry Makers, band ehseiwble of 10 with -two'cute black-headed dancins kids of captivating stepping style and Tiianrier; Outfit . lookecV good on first appearance hereabouts;. class in torrid syncopation and nearly laid out routine. Now act has been jasszed up still further, with a new play fo , .laughs throughout instead of .arty J"*tively few of the latter remam K^ysj^,^! effects. Turn is doing that f« vaudeville. , « bit wliere the: members are intro All of which builds up to the .^^^.g^j specialty, then led. off and ;v«,ic-ht that Lewis has. been knot- shot, climaxing wlien Kneeland does for seasons and ; witn | g^iQ ^nd is ambushed by sftx playpv RIVERSIDE (Vaudfilm) Riverside having slipped S frmen'ih his orchestra f"'UdinTover this week, at ^^Whfie doing a rave about Lewis^ organization. those two spiffy He the ?'£t^:ircurrently adding youth, per- , - Thev have those. ■^^'Tr to middling Palace^show in toto. with a.weak^spotjn Mary Bo- Fair iT;7i''b sketch, concentrated version S "Meet the Wife." A i^vetty con- **' ii«r bore buzz and babble of S iut mtle sense and slight hu waiter Connolly and Pierre Xtkin aSfst Miss Boland. She we a stunning scarlet gown. May ^sher. opening intermission, cami W a stranger to most of the .PaTace guards. The first number. cSv^ntlonal "what a guy,^l e?V fdea pretty flat, but thereafter, go- lJ?'into Yiddish dialect, pushover. She sang about the swell people fhat go to the Catskill Mountains ta the summer. Following, she^ 11- Sstrated her text with comedy talk ibout Mrs. Lefkowitz wrho^was to Far Rockaway what Mrs. Vander- ■bilt is to Newport. ^ . Four Camerdns and the matrimo- nial annex, Sargeant and Lewis Ilout as usual, which means they rough house around for laughs This outfit has never been conspicuous ?or new material, with the earlier parts of their stuff particularly prone to dragginess. However., they have a knack for, wringing, giggles tout "of everything and nothing. Twelve Manhattan Steppers. Even- ly divided as to gender, seemed misplaced in the Palace, although on production values okay as vaud- fllm flash. Honey Troupe, Austra- lian circus act, opened with assort- ed acrobatics. ' Suggested those in background desist from Present practice of doing things while in- dividuals are performing. Man m tuxedo especially ill-timed m mak- ing appearance. It's a strong open- ing turn, but need.s to watch fells. ^ . - ^ Capacity Sunday night, solo and is ambushed by sftx pi with huge musketis. Fast, vivacious act and measures up with the. best of the kind. Kramer and Boyle struck a h^ippy spot next to closing for more than one reason. They were- only th-^ second.lalidng .turn .on the bill, and in a different vein from everythincr before. In addition they worked right on through the N. T. G.^vevue. which followed and closed, ad libbinc and hoking up the prooeedings for nearly 40 niinutesv Gave the bill a gi-eat fini.sh^ 5TH AVE. (Vaudfilm) Average intermediate bill with no walldpy standouts for first halt. Business away off Sundriy arter- Balmy w'eather or laclc oi a bill may have been re- noon, name, on ^'^iSs^ChVlenOS, five-people . Spanish revue, opened and provided an ac- ceptable pacemaker, also Pei'^'^Pf drawing Latin patronage for the houfee. (New Acts.) . Bobby May followed and fcored with harmonica playing, juggling and dancihcr. May has several good juggling stunts. They make the latter the main part of the .apTv^ ^ "Thank You, Doctor," tabloid crook coriiedy by Gilbert Emery, also landed; for laughs. It's a yarn about a slick femme crook w ho picks out the home of an fhem-st to have a necklace delivered. Before the jeweler's . clerk arrives she plants bim as a goofy subject w-ith the alienist, cops the necklace ^nd .,.,;ti, thP clerk's ramblings for from week stand to a. split. looks on its way to the next lower rung. The way they book shows and run Sun- day mats ar© a coupla Steps in that direction. Lew Brlce ■ and . Mae Clarke set three from close.as a new combina- tion making their first appearance in Manhattan, a gifted bill arranger ea-sed th© only other sbng-dancc- talk mixed team Jii right ahead of them making it sweet of course for Brice and Clarke <New Acts). On top of that the house staff smeared their opening, so that Brice liad to walk oh cold, address certain di' rections to the booth operator and an apology to the audience. Th^.n they began all >ver. . Exceipt for that brutal bit o; ar- ranging, the bill had posslbiliiies No conflagration, but good even spe- cialty entertainment. However, one week of Just pass - able show doesn't go far to com- pensate for weeks and weeks of mediocre vaudeville. _Siinday aftev- hoon seatis were : available in Hyw J after the show was'on, rneaiiing Jess than half a house. (Jdod weather out of doors and upp*m' Broadway packed with idle stroll- ers. ■. That's what is happening to a neigliborhood vaudeville house ^vnh a repuUtion for just so-so .'^lu)\^ Feattire for first half is. 'The ^^'oman Fi-om Moscow" (Pola Nrgri-Far). The lobby billinjK spl;iphed the star in thC: absence of any name in its valid© Bectiori. . , . , Dick Henderson, fast talking and ballad singing comedian,, was the outstanding feature, in the soeohd week of his return tour. Count another score for the sea.soned trouper. Henderson walked on and went to work without any special s6t, foiling partner in brief cOstume or jazz orchestra background, and held 'em for 17 ntiinutes to a speerli. Fast patter, well - delivered talk and a fresh twist to hoke material, together with the" gift of knowing how and what to deliver, are thjs funmaker's stock. Don't let them tell you an audience can't get quick important, although not billed. No show-stopper, but good laugh matc- ^^^Honorable Wu. classy Chinese re- vue enlisting company of 14. closoci. Coiiventlonal revue except,with tne native atmosphere and the mob do- ing American songs and fiances, t o main click that puts It over. If the Mongol babes are on the up and -up the Broadway chowmelnerles and noarbv laundries had better ^watcn their help. Wu attempts a trio .fit imitations-Cantor Jolson and > rls- co-^doing bei^t with the latter^^Busl- i*ess to the brim. HIPPODROME . ' (Vaudfilm) . lf< Irish week at the HiP- Lest the fact should .escape notice they rub it in. The-first in.timy;V?"v^>;', o^^rtUl^e, Irish inedley . .T^us ^sJ^oU lowed bv a lO-minutc Irish traycloB, in turn fallowed by a 10-minute ••Miisio Masters". short telling to the ucooinpuniment of Gaelic melo- dies a wisp of story about a colleen who was tliinking a.bont getting nKU-ri<Hl. _ AittT. that a harp solo in "om-"' and winding; up with James Hughes. .' not-so-robust tenor, who sang once, tAviro, tbree times. . ^. ■ Tire, bill ran as ; follows:. Red Donahue and ral. ...lack Majov, , O'Doiinell ;i:ii-V lUair, Foy ]<an>U.Y, I ^V:lV.s(>n ;inil ■ .i'liUaii iind . the . Kal- stons,. , Hokum in Donahue turn and in O'DonnelV and Ulalr, alV-.sight. stuff and .cure lire. Foy .Family; of t ..re- ,-vi(.\v<'d, wovkint^ about as.usual en- tirely iu: -Diie."' They did nleely jack Major .\New Acts), songs, .bird Avhistlinp and. chatter, okay for deuce; The Kalstons. (New Arts), one of the best acts of their, kind. Wat.son and Cohan got 'em and iield 'eriv Vvith their assassinated Engli.'^h cross-fire, ."Craig's Wife" (F'atheV on scr<^en. . . / " Next week is Sunny Italy' Week. Laud. . BROADWAY de- Lahd. ACADEMY (Vaudfilm) (Wired) New York. Dec. 3. Ab it happens, the same reviewer caught the two neighboring opposi- tion houses on 14th street—R-K-Qs JeflCerson and Fox s Academy—the «ame half week. Comparisons were unavoidable. And what a difference' Jefferson has so-so vaudeville show, eileht feature. "Woman from. Mos- cow" (Par), and one lone and pretlj weak talking short. . Look what the Academy offers for ■ practically the same nick at the window: "Red Dancer" (recently on Broadway at $2, then in hold- over week at Roxy), Movietone Bound hews an^ a short com- edy; six acts of vaude w.lthout a ' touch of smallie. and a symphony 'orchestra, p-igure out for yourseil the neighborhood drift. Ac.ademj with an hour's wait in the orchestra at 7.30 Monday night and capacity through the second show. ^ Making the comparison still more lnvidiou.s, go into the vaudeville sec- - tion of the Academy; A-count of the " personnel of the six acts brought tlie total to 54 p.or^ons. matching touring musical in size. And on to») of that flash, the feature is a world beating splasjh for 14th street and a whale of an idea for the interior towns. This is a collection of night ■club .. girls, assembled by . Nils .T;. Granlurid on the pretext that the night clubs have ;tll been padlocked and the girlies are starving to death. vSo they are working these dates for bread and butter. jPieture that bal- lyhoo in the inland towns. "Where they talk in hu.shed tones of Broad-- . wav night life and dream of the day they can look it over, ('all the.outhi N. T. G.'s Girls (.N'ew Acts). Plenty of smoothly managed- undrefs and a load of talent. . . \ Bill opens with another flash girl act, conflict of booking that was un- fortunate and didn't help the show. Kiirly one is called Champaign and Hellerd Sisters, harmonizing pan- end solo acrobatic dancing girl backed by six chori.sters. Good flash and ,fast running;-,dance_ tu ry^ < o±y Acts). No. 2 is a vaudeville nov- elty, railed J. Humbard Duffy an.l .ringing Assembly (New Acts), the group numbering 14 trained male voieo.<^. .tjimple and agreeable voxai interlude doosn't belong to vaude- ville, but for a straight l2-minuts .'ong cvcle. pood. A 15-person claf^H ♦urh in No- 2 J-i>ot if a noveltj ^^urely. -. / •rh*-n into . i.medy splurge with Bibbarf^ and Hartman. Marie Hart- offs with the , , . ^ about the lost jewel making plenty of fun. The dame is inter- cepted later by a gumshoe playing goof merely to trail the danie. Act is lively, has laughs and is w ell played by a cast of .five, headed by Eleanor Hicks as the crook and Chester .Lute as the messenger. Good returns here, ■ . ■: ^.^.^^^ Violet- McKee, with Sydney Franklin at piano, in a song cycle, topped olt by dance that, set her pretty with the mob. The cycle di- vides between pops and specials with the latter getting Miss McKee her best, although all five numbers were handled for top value, "The Hill Billies." male quin- tet, nearest to show stopper as any on this layout. Since last around they have acquired an Ozark moun- tain set, which helps, atmospheric- ally at least. They retain the usual mountain songs and lean heavy on instrumentation, all in entertaining St vie. A spiritual, peppt-d up with topical lyrics and for closer, .put th^ boys over in a big way. . Renard and West practically car- ried the comedy burden next to shut. Renard's hebe comedy of sup- pressed variety -got them from ^he take off and held them. As-Col Goldberg, aviator..with Imgo hing- ing on his supposed flislrV<o .Spain, Ronard has a character that can t m'i.sR developing as funny, as his 'Jester' of several seasons back Misc; West is an eye-fulmg blond and good feeder. Nifty c.medy act and the big shot Pf this frame. Ossie and Likno. male acrobat closed with hand and head bal- ancing. ■ packing an upside down baseb.all bit that is clever. '•■woman From Mos.cow screen feature. stuff. Henderson's rapid Are reg istered complete; "My Inspiration." ballad supplied good change of pace about midway and a burlc-^que dance Including grotesque black bottom served for the finish. Schepp's Comedy Circus opened. Nice dbg and monkey turn \vith a treastire in a comedy. monk . .that cracks nuts with two bricks for the comedy side. Trainer keeps up smooth line of patter that covers occasional lapse of the animals Good opener. Ada Brown, colored syncopator on the Aunt Jemima order, filled In a cheerful 12 minutes with reiAl blue numbers, done in the genuine Mason-Dixon style Ryan and Noblette . (New Acts) first comedy number and. also first of the two mixed comedy pairs con- centrated in this sector set in a per- fect spot for them, but not so good for th© similar teani that followed, and a headache arrangement for two new turns. Then Dick Hender- son, followlnier 36 ihlnutes of talking and singing comedy and showing what an audience can be made to do under right treatment. Felovis,. astonishingly deft jug- gler, partlctilarly with those sticks that looli like big editions of the golf , tees Jo© Leblang gives away by the cartload. Also Felovis does some remarkable th Ings wi th a Wool - worth rubber ball. Foreign act. Cjlosed show neatly and was espe- cially welcome because he held an adagio dance team out of that spot. (Vaudfilm) Productionul band turn of Larry Rich and Cherie irUns 49 minute? without otitside help. It leaves room for only three additional acts to fill the .hour and ia half running time allotted vaude .It this liouse. In one of its final gaB)is as a tlieatre, the Broadwaly is screening an entertain- ing film of program class, "Aval- anche" (Par): In all. pretty nice show currently From a obnicdy two-act, the ro- tund Rich and his shapely partner have become maestro and prima donna. A good two-act and now they're just as good in front of 12 people and some Scenery, Though how: many lessons Rich took to learn to' direct a stage band and become the life of the party is prop- ably inside stuff on Lari-y. Not too certain that he studied at all, either, but looks all right with the baton and the band sounds all right, whether following Larry, olr spme- bbdy else, Rich is a double for Paul White- man. To such an extent does he resemble the master of jazz that the two could do a looking mirror number. The resemblancie is close enough to perceive without Rich s. mention of the fact. So simple a proposition for anyone to see the corresponding features Xhiit when Rich asks the audience to notice the re.^emblance it sounds very much like Larry is apologizing for look- ing likie "Whiteman and that after all, he is only Larry Rich, so don't set him wrong; He should know- that Whiteman can't claim heft and a mustache, an exclusive Whiteman job. And that almost every stout man of the proper height and with JEFFERSON (Vaudfilm) (Wired) Bill has pretty good material ha all departments except comedy, th« one commodity vaudeville can t g«t along witliout, Mi^ybe the expert* . who frame the shows think if they have enough daneing -audit-noeWon't notice it isn't laxnihing; Hit of this framcup t)!.e lK'Miu:cOB, closing the show with a straight ballroom dance flash act, forced into that spot: because the booker hiid . •placed-another flash danec turn l«i earlier, a t\irn that lias its own: hver- its but .couldn't well follow t he D©: Marcos for a variety -"^ Polite ance turn, be excelieni. making slidW'is the tip. off. Joe Young jind Co. liad a monopoly of the comedy and got.ri-iurns on ts strong arm funmaking, using such devices as straight singing of Mv Man" and following it with )>.r6wn doing the daine in travegty,; Another coinedy timv-ln Fred St tt -- (Now Acts), next to clo.sing. btitt has the poi.se of, an experienced trouper but it is taking a pt for granted to put him next to sljut. House now: .sound in se.'ond or third wi-vk and plasters, the front oL - the eUilVce with hip hip hurrah for tlio auiViblc feature. On the screen the sound stuff meagre, represented only by one Vitixphone talking short, Joe" Brown in the skit,"Don t B© Jealous." and . one of the least .of the Warner filler suhjools, despite Brown's usually good low roniedy,. What's the answer to this Keith sound policy?. In two instances so far noted (Proctor's l25th St., th© other) the surface evidence is that the sound billing is just a bait .to get'em in. But at the Jefferson its another matter. This Keith house bills the sound like a circus and comes through With a 10-rninut© second class short and nothing else. Right up the street is its opposition at the Fox Academy with modest. Of reasons. ; it however the hit Of the. billing, full sound program. Includ - (Par) Edba. AMERICAN . (Vaudfilm) Average . vaudfilm .shuw. -with "Showl^ople-':(M-G)ontm^|-ree,^ Palmeros Canines ... evidently pleased, judging by ai'.T)|av,se at fin- i.sh. Act itself muff<-.0. l''"^'^"";, and Oliver, straight -f;/; eight minutes to fair, return.'-. LHtle color or variety to the act The oft repeated Billy Beard ha. ev-n thin under control. He tried out pag about Hoover, found thr- J.'"lK-nve iinrespon.sive, .and- announced to ho leader he would leave it d;e a natu- ral death. As well: - w ,X-*.'V .Sonny Hirie.« and Gul.'^ 'N*^>^ Acts), revue built about a loose- limbed youth of pr07i0uncr-d gr..ee- fulneps, rather good. <rn'\s >ount, and vivacifnis and tempo speedy. < Ne w and , . Tom - and Jerry, male Us in.-- A^cts=)--oftored-indi.^iinJuaaLt^<*iiL^^ nu -cracking plus imitations of .mi r itary music. Good smull-timc .stuff. Burns and Wilson were f-arong. until they dropped their '^V'o^m-/," favor of songs. Ditties, had li.d but volupie. carl an easy winner with his .'••t..nd.ara stuff. Two monologists .c-n on* r.ni knd five acts in "one." Regular Monday night i'>/^^ STATE (Vaudfilm) (Wired) Whale of 8. show tor the money at this New York ace of the Loew Cir- cuit this week. Plenty of every- thing, Includlriig. plotureB, silent or sound. / ; Flicker division Is a ehow in it.seif and worth beyond the price of the State's top, 75 cents for loges. 11 comprises "His Private Life" (Par), reissue of the Gans-Nelson ehamr pionship bout; Charlie Case eomedy, M-G newsreei muted and Fox Movietone news in .sound; Vaude section holds six reprew.nt- dtlve acts, all standards and .ho break-Ins. Some.clicked better: than others, but ail rang the bell on en- tertainment. Bonhair Troupe, six. men. openied with a fast balaneing and tumbling act that's far above average. ' Pyramid catches hy the understanders were corkers.anO cop proof from competitor.s. .dot and (le.served a good deal moiv- than usual for an opener. Trado Twins fitted the No. 2 spot neatly with some chatter, singing and hooling. Vox and Walters, mixed duo, ae- complLshed their usual score with the ventrlloquial routine, to .wh)r>b 1 a small patch of hair on hl.'j tipper hip is physicially a second Whiteman. Even Binyon! ^ „. \- Aside from that, the tum of Rich and Cherie Is one of the best around.. Final number, hea.vy dramatization of "Memories of France," plays on the ^motions of a small time audience with sufflclent force, perhaps, to wring tears from the gold s;tar mothers, Bisters and brothers. It's the only smallie touch in the act, yet the smallles wlli love it. / Balance, is all : intelligent enterlainrhent, so, when playing big time, the soldier boy and little French kxal stuff. 10 year.s after the war (inn bo set aside. W'lthout it the aet can play anywhere. Sine*; the many and various light- ing effr^rts neres.sitated by this turn were badly handled at the. Broad- way s fir.st show Sunday, with the errors almost ruining the perform- ance .several times,. it's suggested that J'Jeh carry his own electrician ■while in vaude. Picture and vaude houses differ; in more ways than one. Cherry and Adams. mixed straight dance team, opening, and MefJrath and Travers. the form.f'i* formerly of McGrath and Deeds, third. Roth under New, ACt.s. Niimber 2 was Hap Hazzard. Hap held the same .spot at the Palace ing the Movietone news reel, and vastly better vaudeville. The Jef- ferson, gets a full turnout bund?^ night now. but the 14th street, pea^- -' - an try can't always be as simple aa that. . Screen feature is synchron- ized "Woman from Mb.scpw' (Par- Negri), a bust in Times Square,^but serviceable material in this neigh- borhood. Except for the vaude items named show held good oven small time ma- terial. Large and Morgner, dandy opener here or anywhere el.se. Nov- elty acrobatic turn has two one- legged men with a pip of an open- ing when they both amble on, en- veloped In one opera coat and sUK hats. Do pantomime of clubmen taking a srnoke and then going oft for a drink. Into full stage where they deliver a routine in hand-to- , hand stuff, ftcme pf^ fine acrobatic style. Clincher finish is leap of one mbnopede over four chairs «nto^* hand-to-hand balance by partner lying on the floor. Roxy LaBocca, harp soloist, ilrst rate for this clientele, with his harp solos of standards and old time pops getting audience Into song test for finish. . . ; (Miss) Billy TIchenor and Co. with a dance flash Is a novelty in framing, the work of Nev 111(5 Plee- son. whose class Is everywhere ap- parent. Better In Idea and staging than in work of the people engaged, three men and two girls. Scheme Is a jazzed up "Cinderella" them© done almost entirely in special, song and with Interpolated dancing. Good looking costuming and colorful settings, but th© people are not up to the material. ^ Fourth turn brought comedy into the bill with Jo© Young. TougH start but the hca;vy-handcd clown- ing got them at length. Then Fred Stitt "nut" single working with « girl plant, and Anally the excellent dance display of the I>e Marcos. Al Siegel now presides over th© ivorlCB, splitting the . assignment with Hlldegarde SH. blonde girl, at second grand. " . , 1.^^ The tniich touted talking short was between the vaude section and tho feature for the Sunday night show, Stitt stalling before the olio drop to give them:tlme to get set. . ■ Jtuan. the mob.responded. Mlss^ Wali(-r;f-- j n^'^' weeitn'a'go. wtricir(ioAh't'speak baby's «T bit ^remains so well for the Palace. Or for Ilap, ^(jrtlie-fleid^ana-wallop-of-th^e- Cardo and Noll, also mixed, pie,,.', -.i with vocalizing, spotting ^ double for an opener, baeh- took .1 crack at solon^ and rc joinr-rt for an j K'-t ' oneratic flnish. Over ^•'•"v ' when hf can't get out oTTh'e tTeuce- after the Palace. If he'd cut that .•.rnTierfiiiou." opening in "one," he'd ,n 1 get out of the deuce and heeornr; .one he bef-:t opening acts in vaude. now' used by Ilazzard o- ILL AND INJURED Jack Gardner, formerly of Chi- cago, is III At his home nt .Muske- gon,. Mleh. Wil.-on and Shaw canix-llcd the nrst half at new 125lh .street. New York. Miss Shaw, had grippe. Hoey and May bridged the g.-iP- Ellda Webb ("Show T'.oaf) con- xiilesfing from a r<:rut IVtx-^f. . Mjs. Jo.^eph Donahue, wife of the g.-neral agent of Hagenberk-^A, al- laep circus, recovering from major or.eratlon at Presbyetrian Hospital, Fred Cruppa. drummer with th© Norman Thomas Quintet (vaude) at SI. Angeles hospital. An- g,.l».s with a broken ankl<' j-'istained in a fall on the irtage at the Or- pV,f urn, Oakland. V^ritc to the ill and injured.