Variety (Jan 1929)

VARIETY MUSIC—RADIO Wednesday, January 9» 1929 Night Club Re wvs ZIEGFELD ROOF Flo. ZlPgfi'lirB iflour show. ^L-atiirlne EJ(|lt^ ^iintor. llclon Morgan «u,<l I^^^^'-^jJ^^lJ^'j;; Cantor. Helen Morgau man's • band, .. Projiriima lo bo «o-m:-: or weeUl>. IJuoointious by. Jos^.Ph urban, with Seymour Folix stOb';n« nunihor.x. Pau! (5ri'i,'v'ry nmonp Gills .liK'luiio OnoJiuin.aJ: - , ,, Mabel uuuao. Mao; "-.^^i;!"^.. . CiV.en c .Ayers,. Marlon Kobia 13;_ Flood,, othy DWl!" li!i7>rFoi^bcs';' jVan'AckftV.iiwn; -Myr'w liy urHl Gbulys Glud. Ke>.ii..-nr:il .l)pc -^l). fiia;-. i-tvQP chargo. C.loH.-d a!^. <lul.oe ll-or :sincc';10t!i. , ■tiie "h'oloiiis. i)cUreiis, Di>r.)il» PiUlerBon. .Bob.be. "Wei kn . and I'll"-in^ ,m: Show glrU-Muron iOlnlRy. Claua'a ; Anotlifer. of the Zie.b'fe.ld fruatlc opertmes. As frantic inside as tlu- niob clamoring on the outside to ge.. in All at $16.50 a smash, .with moct of' the tirSt night tables a giycawa> .Saturday.: . Just what that fionzy amounied to was- one taule; senni,; for $350 and an' agency revuriing otVera Of'. $1/000. arid: $500, bonuao.- from Fifth avenue to procure £pui or six, chairs. It couldn't be done. And after a .laps© of nine years the Frolic is bacK.. But not as .it used to be.. The stage, rear eye ana moving platform are gone, a prop but prettily decoratca ^ceiling_ cuts oif the balcony, find, the Pi^i-f'^rr^: ers are on the floor, aa in £vny othti night club. No more la the ban. up in that off corner side p.ox--?"'-! for the first two weeks Paul Wh'tc- 5nan'a 1:7; men . will. spill.' out. ontp the da.nce floor, There aro plenty who will go for that $6:60. snuu'.lc. The. P.«i-chologV of - this has bt-on and is that thR usual purchasc . of a ta.blc a day or two ahead miikes tlie roof table check lG<il: much smaller, niinu.s.the- half-forgottc-n initial, tap. . _ The current bunch which is.^run- nlne around don't, as.'a majority, rc- inenibor the old Koof. but have as- .surcdly. heard about it. Those who. iocall will have a desire to SO back again; and if the modern Yvcmne |..SheItons,. JCath«rinp . I't^'-';y«' liCGds. and iC tiiore's ahoihor-Lillian 1 orraine. are'irt presented dulto^ the way they used to be. it .stlirremain^^- the room without a membership.list which holds just a. little more clas.s than tilt- present Joy seekers are accustomed to. • • • And if anyone te.llsi.you thiit you. haven't heard "Annabelle Lcc until Jim Rarton sinss it. doh't ar^ruc- As to dance music there are a few who maintain that. AVhiternan has lost that 2-4-rhythm ;band K^-'iders love to touch .since he graduated to Carne!?lf.^ Hall. That goes for nweency, the rest of the.g.ate^orash^ era and those who have tasted^ the fruit and been unable to .whistle thereafter. If this sylph-Hke^knee cap exerciser can't grease hi? Z men into n rollicking fox trOt, then Mi.scha R'mtin only came out of Russia with a couple of new steps.^ Not being able to dance to-White man is ju.st a matter pf exchanging for hob nalls^and go T patent leather .— .— . Besides which the show Lsh't nearly your logs. It's tough enough to as imposing as before prohioiLiuii, around the modern iiight ciup Voi.stead uuaoubtedly explaining.tne -jiooj. without trying to keep.clear^o. reduced production-anrd seating ar- .j^j g anti-Whlteman ,emissaries foi • -■ ■"^•M Rftvmniir Felix couldn't.even rangemehLs. Estimates.. rate the 1 now capacity-at snort of. three ana 400, the lesser llgure secming^-the most accurate: Christc and John are in charge of the, visitors, anu the former scheme of sellins taOi» tickets at either the box ouice or agencies lij retained. ■ . . Time appears ripe £ot the return of the Frolic. Oh its foi'mer scale Radio Fans in Church . San. Franclseo, Jan. 8. ^ After having established themselves aa. local radio favorites, and following, a re- cent single week's incursion Into picture house presenta- tion (L.ocw.'a Warfield) Hugh IJan-ett Dobbs (DojibSle). and William H. (Wee Willie) Han- cock, of Radio,^ KPQ, made their, initial pulpit appearance Sunday night when the former ; spoke in Fir-^t 'Congregational Gluiroh (downtown) with-Han- cock appearing as organist and singer. Dobbs spoke on "Ideals and Purposes of Broadcast- ing:" \. RADIO RAMBLES Katzman Surprised whom Seymour. Felix ^puldn map the . route , to Buffalo. And i Whlteman dance floor has. neyp. been consistently known to. De« abundant .in apace thf^t there, ■. , been room for public rehearsals. It s difficult to - find a ^contemporary maestro who claims Jimmy Gllles-. pie's main problem In life can t make i„« X- - ,'em dance. This proving nothing there wouldn't be any doubt as, to except- that most.of the boys- In th:». its acceptfince,, fbr ,N,ew Yor.ic- has' • Vare--smart -enouBh- to . know ^^)Own nothing nice the old Frouc k,^^^ i^^y off the -rap. However, .th^- before or since. . , ... poison propaganda very .often Ziv-i^y will have to parade, his six U,g traced to their friend«« and to di.sDlay girls more often or have ^yhiQ^ the baton wield ers at, large more of 'em, and the show, need.- ^lay like to listen, even though thev augmenting as it ran opening nlgai..L|ion't believe it. But it all goes for As a matter of .fact, if lOddie Can- the petty book, like picking on Ar tor hadn't started to call on peoplv | tj^^,,. caesov from the tables the show .would have been short and quiiik. Including tlic unprogramcd spe- cialties of Fanny Brice. Jim Barton. Morari arid Mack and Odette ->iyi'- til thiB lloor end only, ran ol min- utes. These Impromptu bits evi- dently had their genesis^ln a pre- show phone call, for Miss Brlce seemed to have hcr.„piano music tor They've danced to T.'hiteman for'a long time, an^ they're still dancin? to him in tails and gowna, uP-fi; Ri-ht and spend plenty. Pour Paul. All he's eot to look forward-to is more $13,000 weeks in doubling.^ VERSAILLES Kadio should take its cue ane\v from the futility of any type of performer, no matter how" impos- ing his prestige may be, aspiring to click etherially as well as he does on the rostrum before an audience. A personality performer becomes, a blank through the microphone, where it is only his voice and what- ever audible material he emits that registers. . ■ ^ ' . The case of Eddie Cantor, one- of our. foremost comedia.ns, illuistraled this once again Sunday night. The Majestic Iladio Cotnpatiy was the sponsoring fcorporation which, after a half season of subsidizing The Two Black Crows, decided to go Jn for stage • stars as change of pace TroTTi Mn-o>- ■•■n' ' --,..-rling-^ xaouldusly. .oiig witii RUth Etting, another Whoopeo"-ite. . When it. was all said and done it Was blah. Cantor via ''mike" did not even lead one to suspect the persona,lity Cantor Is before the footlights. With. Miss Etting it was a. little better, since,. after all, with her recording' experience, she' has a mi- crophonic voice and hei: songs can ahvaj'S register in the iabstract whether or not attended by a physi- cal presence. . Cantor, a grcit comedian for anybody's $6.i>0. learned about things from this radlo\experience, no doubt. It was his maiden ether debut. "Rose of Washington Square certainly wasn't any c'oubt ajjout the kazoo Moran pulled out of his pocket, and . Barton slipped into a wall table from a chorus exit, to later do his Irishman-mad dot drunk and sing a song. Cantor, acting as master of cere- monies, was^ all oy^r ge "oo^. .gel- . ^^,^^6"spot,'operated on forrnal lines I —— shoW^'eiTtertalnment^ and ting in his top "i^\oa^. .y '^^'t," l^,^ and drawing the youftger smart set. ^ ^ rounded it out. S;oung'Sy w^^^^ ^eV S-l ••Versailles, varieties," current, is hung on to see how moua sketch. "•Fannie on the Pia..-- ii,„„„„ v.,i*i, virtnr.ine'. There isn i a. Kew York. Dec. 27; Probably the most lavishly out flitted room in Now York and pro]^ ably anywhere else, this comoina 1 tion theatre-night dub aims for class trade. C. Morton Bellak. oper ating, previously had the Villa Ven ice, 14 East 60th sti'eet,. dine an Ushered into a new post as gen^ cral manager of the Brunswick Re^ cording Laboratories, Louis Katz- man was tendered a surprise party Jan, 2 in the executive offices un- der the hostship of Frank S. Horn- ing. The latter^ high-geared ex- ecutive who succeeded William A. l;irophy in- charge of Brunswick, will devote liis talents to the mer- chandistng channel.s and also go a.ft<n- sound- fllni recordings. Katzmari's appointment as head of ths» Brunswick labs is a dc- parturp In- phorip(*raph recording circles, since he is a. pioneer, re- cording artist and one of Bruns- wick's main atellars with his Anglo- .Persians and other recording com- binations. Katzman Is also the licad of the radio-famed Whlttall Anglo- I'erslans. Michelin Hour,- FOrlian's and others. . Jimmy O'Keefe continues, ds first; assistant to Katzman and will not switch over to DieSylva, Brpwn & Henderson, as rumored. Raymond Foster, William P. Wlrges, Jack Kapp and Louis Sobok continue as laboratory executives. Bob Haring joined tliis week on the arranging end. The impromptu surprise party to : Katzinan was for the prlriiary pur- pose of Introducing hlni to the. trade, music publishers, press, etc., since Katzman has been one of those retiring personalities, letting his work speak for himself. Frank Si Horning, as an enierg- ency measure^ ■ took control of the laboratory end this past year al- though primarily he is a merchan dizing expert. Horning, now back In an executive sales post, is creat Ing contacts; with the picture pro- ducers for the new synchronizing department of Brunswick. CastiDian, Road Hchse,' Closefr-$70,000 Loser HNED $6,500 Jack Goldman pulled down the blinds Saturday night on Castilllan Gardens on thi Pelham road, Bronx, tossed off a sigh as he. thought ot the $70,000 to the bad the road house meant, iand resolved not to reopen before March. It's the first time Castilllan has been closed since opened by the three Goldman brothers, Jack, Al and Chick, about four yeiirs ago. ^Fdlibwing the road house raids New Year's Eve by federal men. business dropped off up the road as though shot to pieces. .Saturday night at 11. when that evening Is the winter's life saver for the; all- year -roimd road houses, the . Cas- tillian had seven tables occupied, its competitors near-by held less. Peeling it useless to go against current conditions. Goldman decided to call it a season. His place was not touched in the federal raids nor was the Pelham Heath Inn opposite (Geiger). . Both were searched ?-J^ booze, with none found, Rough on Wbodnnansten flunter Island Inn got a liquor pinch the festive night, and Arthur McLean, Its • owner, was among • those booked.. At Wopdmansten Inn/ another Geiger place, the rap was t«rriflc.' About 800 reservations had been sold at $12.50 each. The revenue men arrived In a large bus around nine. Stationing themselves In and outside, the people, already ;in were ordered out and new arrivals in- formed not to go -in. . Geiger attempted to salvage some ot the guests by shunting them over to Pelham Heath,, but only landed around 200, The Woodmansten . pinch seemed, to be a tip off. The agents went directly to the bath l)arroom adjoin- ing the Inn; locating the cache im- mediately. They also invaded Frank Llbuse's living apartment upstairs Superlatives If that m. c. downtown oh the lower east Side in the Moonlight Grill ever had "the adjectiye "won- derful" taken away froiri him he'd be speechless. Someone should make a recording of his ballyhoo spiel on behalf of the, ghetto nitc club and he'll be astonished at the many times he" plugs the Eldrldge Chicago. Jan; 8 Frankie Masters, m.c. at the B. & K. TiVoll, was fined $6,500 by the Chicago Federj^tibn of Musicians for in the Inn, making a liquor selzAire, playing a Christmas Fund perform- but later deciding that Libusc's iance at White City ballroom gratis apartment was his home, returned without permission or knowledge of | the booze to Jilm the union. Affair was sponsored by the Chicago Herald-Examlncr. This is the biggest known fine placed against a single miisiclan here. ' Castlllian Royal was petitioned into involuntary bankruptcy this week. Liabilities gross $59,597;. no. as.sets. Joe Lewis Back Chicago, Jan. 8. Joe Lewis opens at the Green sTrTet addressr the'superlativeness I mHI tomorrow (Wednesday) night, of the "wonderful" everything about ^iig first professional appearance in the place. And talk about rav^'| ^^^^ ulnco he was slugged by gang plugging, zoWie! He even gave out the minimum check charge, the $1.50. table d'hote scale, etc. Some men over a year ago it was when Joe left the old Green Brunswick's Sound Record Brunswick is going in for sound film recording, Friank S. Horning has that in charge Ih addition to his general sales supervision of Brunswick. Columbia ie now"c.an- ning" for M-G-M and Victor, is Mill for the Rendezvous that the doing the bulk of the Western Elec- on him. The Mill I trie's licensees' recordings. This , - . ^P"''^ Pinno^'' a hastily booked vaude^^^^^ mous sketch. "Fannie on tl\e f ano, ^J^^J^.f^j dancing. There isn't , Miss Morga^i began th*? si ocialtle^, ^.^^Y^^^tbe bill of six acts that is a, doing two songs, preceded by a fe\^ - - - ---- words from (the Mayor, who statort 'I left here nine years ago with a rain check." Others .whom Cantor called upon to take a bow from their tables were George Gershwin and I'eggy Joyce. - ' Show started with the bringing back of the Roof's famed balloon number, the front table bpys and gii-lrf touching off the explosions via cigarels and cigars, -vvith the heavy numl>er given to Paul Gregory to lead and called ".Reminiscing, ahis sei-vea to Introduce, eldvrly w.ar.U- be 'women supposedly from the rus of former -operettas as the melody from ' each past musicAi splayed. Woriicn paraded acrosn 'fu! lloor once and then came back in rcprosont-alive costume Hanked by the modern ; show girls . dre^;.sotl to represent past and present iiie.g- ifeld hits. • Gbbd-looUing ..coritrnst number heavily costunied, interest- ing and-well sung by Gregory. Dance number, other thiin the balloon in- direct from. the down- stance; is BtairS" Whoopee Cantor limited himself , to the title song from this show and 12 boys paraded out to hand the medlupis their sombreros for the, climax rou- • tine Women representing the oUi extravciganza favorites are KnuD.i Ferdinandus. Nora Toomey. Mary Qrnham, Mary Kennc , , P^^^f/;^ "keller and Margaret MeKolvy. ^v^th dne of the nicest sldc'm'hts of the niirht boihg the younger girls pat- Sng their elders on the back as the latter exited through the side en- -tranceS=efter-thcJr^fliaJ»Jipnfijaia^ an estabrished night club draw. Most were booked in for from, two to lour weeks at salaries that will bring th.3 cost -over $5,000. . . . . Opening night held capacity, but consensus of opinion of those pres- ent, who think they know something about the class supper club racket, can't see how the Versailles can continue to function unless there is some radical change in policy. A 1 vaude bill that would be considered only a rather weak layout In any of the vaudfilm houses, around New Yoiic is -not going" to draw the so phisticates oast Of Fifth avenue, to a couvert of $1.40 very long. The premiere held Carl. Randall and Virginia Watson, dance team doubling from "Hello Yourself." HandlcappcHl by lack ot co-opera tion backsta.ge and in the orchestra pit. this neat-aT)pfcarlng .team regis- tered (he apj)lalise hit . Frances Hhelley strummed, her iriandoUn both- on the floor and oh tho stage, scoring' mildly, wltlt her pop tunes. Rtussell .Tobns, .ringing pianist, .said to have been in England, opened the bill with pup and production num-' ber.s thiit meant little, despite an obviously friendly audiipnee. Johns' act needs conslderrible building up to Impress on this side, Balanee of bill held lOn.sillsh acta: Thomson Twins, hoofers; Keatin Twins, hoofers, and Rose Marie prima donna. Eddie Davis' orches tra plays the show and for danclnff. providing unusual pleasing Jazza patlon One only hung on to see goshawful a spiel can be. It's by no means an a.tset vvhen they put it on that thick. That goes to a measure for th^* Rainbow Inn on Second avenue and •1th street, another downtown hoof- ery, Which also waxed needlessly superlative about things. "finger" was put is now under new management, with Leo Nelson in charge. 3-Floor Club Pinched Filman's Past Work With the hockey season in vogue. Jack Filman a.nrain is demonstrat- ing how a puck match should be broadcast. One of the fastest sports, it calls for verbal agility, picturesque command of language and graphic word _ leporilgg to. falthi!ully transriilt an ether account of a hockey game. Fllnian is a past ma.stor of this, and for three seasons has enjoyed the affection of the hockey fans, who follow the Madison. Square Garden tilts through the radio. , Chicago, Jan. 8. Elsie Cole, former singer-pro- prletrefKJ of the Elsie Cole Night Club, Gold Coast rendezvous, was arrested by federal agents for | disposal on a cost-plus basis does not include Vltaphone, which records Indcpendentlyy and Fox- Movietone, which employs the film sound track principle. Gennett records Ls the only in- dependent sound film serviving or- ganization under the Hanaphone recording system. . Gennett places its facilities at the indie producers' Carl liquor violations following a raid on the place. The agents reported get- ling highballs for a buck a throw. The club occupies three floors. Fenton is In recordings. charge for Gennett's Ziegfeld is permitting the girls tc mix after the show, Y^ll'^lV keep anvbody away, and If the per- formance is spread a little there Isn't any reason why the Roof shouldn't get over agahi if on j smaller scale than it formerly knew. It doesn't figure oa a hangout, along the back and sides, for the strictly theatre mob which early formed a habit of dropping In al- most nightly In the old days. But it's not impossible that this will re- cur. The Roof was and should again IM th« class night place of the town. Perry Charles on ,Fights In the sanie category of sports announcw's such as Filman and Ted Huslng on football comes Perry. Charles on tho WPAP-WHN bi'oadcasts Of the St; Nicholas fisti- cuffs. Charles, is of the Loew pub- licity squad, but is developing into a .=;pleler .-so well that he'll be able to throw his typewriter and ad jectives away any moment now. N. B. C.'S BIZ FQR '28 Duiing 1928 the National Board casting Co. did $7,000,000 gross in tho presentation of its radio pro [ g-rams. - Of Xh\a, $5,000,000 went for "time" . _B^B.-B. ON EIGHTS Los Angeles, Jan. iB; B, B. B., who is m, c. and main entertainer at Coffee Dan's, has been appointed the ofTlclal radio an-, noune.er for the fisllc encounters at tho Olympic .club held every Tues day evening; : . The young man Hends over the ether 48 rounds of fightirig,.which Is the weekly program. ;l"Tholnew^EOO.m,.^desnlte^ refinements, need not cause other | for the lease of land wire privileges class night club operators, with bet- ter locations, any scries worries with this grade of .-^how The Ver- sailles needs names to get over, and the. supply of that commodity these days is extremely limited. 1,000 at Pavilion Royale Pavilion Royale, John and Chrls- to's road house on Long Island, held its record New Year's Evo crowd this year's start. Over 1,000 were In the place. for the chain hook-ups. HERE AND THERE Charles H. Oakley, formerly or- ganist at the Bardavon, Pough keepsie, now at the Capitol, Dan bury, Conn. Jack Stanley Is now m. c. and stage band leader at tho Century. Baltimore* succeeding Ted Claire, ARl^HUE HAND'S SPOT Ernie Hoist and his orchestra, last at the ilirador. New York, go to the Colony Club, Palm Beach, Jan. 10. The new class night spot opens under the management of Arthur C. Hand, former orchestra leader. Murray ;SmUh. singing-pianist, now at the Embassy .Club. New York, also shifts to the Colony for the winter season. Whalen's Raids Despite the spectacular style of NeHv "STork'tr ilCTv I lice Commissioner, Grover Wha- len's. raids on the fTpcak-ea.sies, none of the Important spots were touched. Tho cops picked on the. hideaway oa.ses in the Bronx, east .side and otiier sectors, keeping clear of the . midtown liquid dis- pensaries. One. of the enforcement squad's . victims had one of- the most in- genious cache.«« for the wet goods which smacked of the Salvlna' old system oi: piping it through the sink tap}i, and the clever piping .system used by the old El Fey on 45th before that. This particular spot had it come through a chimney iflue and contirollable only by an electric circuit switch, operated from the main switchboard, and known only to one or two of the most trusted employes. Jack Kennedy's, on 45th street, was twice visited. Or. Maurb-Qottone Broke' Dr. MclchlQio Mauro-Cottone, Itoxy'theatre organist, 121 Madl.son avenue, states ho Is broke In a vol- untary bankruptcy petition. He does not specify the amount of his assets or liabilities. A.S.C.A.P. SUES SUSSKIND Hiirry J. ffiisiskind's Club Mirador I.s ulle.god to be playing copyrighted music for profit without paying a Royalty to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Lou Gold at Castilltan I Suit has been started for mlnl- Lou Gold and his orchestra ore mum damages of $250 against Susa- now the music fixture at tiie Cas- kind's club, tho specific song In- tllllan Gardens on the Pelham road fringement being that of "Falling in the Bronx. "In Love," Harms, Inc., copyright.