Variety (Dec 1929)

Wednesday, December 25, 1929 VAUDE HOUSE REVIEWS VARIETY 39 white-tifflited symmetry. But she stepped up her rope to the hlsrh trapeze and did some swirline that had bbth sexes applauding vigor- ously a:t the finish. Lusita didn't leave, either, until the .last hand work was through. Miss Jjeers was preceded by Mr; "Wille iii a similar capacity. He fumbled prop boy passes pf the foot rope until it was apparent this hadn't been in the rehearsal. Mustered interest when he took a high dive to . within a. few feet of the; boards. The two Jahns :dld some excep- tionally fine head and hand bal- ancing which the audience was quick to appreciate. Balancing on two Indian clubs, wlih the lower pfirtner doing ladder work, was the highlight. . That burlesciue on the Tunney count never seems to age, . Deharo and Chesty got the liaughs with this crowd more frbnl facial whackings than the moral Involved. Nelson and Nelson, circus ex-, perts on ; stilts, did some long- legged tumbling, among other things, that had the fans question- ing the seriousnessl. of gravitation. ~ The shimmy act staged by Hills' Baby Elephants got more recognla tlon from the Saturday matineeites than piaiik walking and barrel roll- ing. Clowns did their part throughout, serving as fillers. They appeared in ban"d formation at one time and as somersault workers, with Aage Rasmussen ; as their . straight. . . To tiose who r had seen the Wallendas perform In the Garden their job In the" Hip' seemed lllce a miniature^ While the stage. limita- tions :<5ramp tfielr style, with the girl In the bicycle pyramid hidden by the proscenium, the act retains most of Its qualities as a thriller. Pathe Sound iNewsreel. Tuletide iBpirIt reflected In overture, Charles Stein conducting, and Fred Kins- ley's organ jsolo. Waly. JtiFFERSON .(Vauafilm) At current pop scale this program Is a real buy, but the amount of trailer stuff that goes along' with it Is ah annoyance. £<ately the Keith houses' have been adding to' their trailer matter, but never, has so aauch been^'seen. at one sitting as . here, .with, two talking trailers for .coming' features, stuff on special sho'W' New Year's, on chd,n&6 . in libllcy for that week and change . back again, and on R-K-O and its famous "leit's go." Seven acts, as usual, this being the only vaudfilm stand in the Keith string in. the ^st, showing this, number under a regular policy. tTsIng a. septet of acts both halves, Jeff Is becoming a new acts show spot. ^Current show Includes three new acts. Gold and Raye, dancers on No. .2; Sir Cecil Alexander, tramp comedian, fourth and Bronson and Gardner, mixed pair N0. .6 in asklt. - Show is opened by the weakest act on the bill, one that, plays as though ft heeded a few more break- Ins. Since the turn, Havania, has played- around for some time and r has had plenty of opportunity to •-brush, up, it Is, then, sorely In heed of polish. Havania Is a chair-bal- ancing, act done In, an attractive setting, with the supposed "Ha- vania" (question mark after the name) assisted by two unbilled girls. Although nothing Is divulged at the flnisli, .lt Is obvious It is a female impersonator. - George Shelton and Co.; on third, cid nicely In a comedy offering topped by musical and dahcing numbers. This Is a four-people act (three men, one woman) which lays as Its foundation for fun tlie en- listment of Shelton Into the army and his encounters with two sergeants, the drill sequence being especially surefire for l^.ughsi Shel- ton does .a Bobby Clark the first naif of the routine, even to the short cane, glasses and manipulated, cigar. Unbilled femrji? takes part in some of the talk but rjostly •arn6 her bread In dances and scores solidly. Lane, Osborne and Chlcco, with ■ iinbllled .pianist assisting were third from closing In a dancing v.nd ajusical. act, with harps carried to nil waits between dance specialties jy Lane and Qsborne. Dancing .?»«re is what brings home the bacon «d both . Ia,n6 . and Osborne are there In fine routines, outstanding for form and agility. Best are Miss Osborne's cartwheels to splits. The Hon. Mr. Wu's revue, now « ."^'^"<3i^en of China;" Instead M Chinese Show Boat,^' closed the ■how with 25 minutes <)f Orieatal musical comedy. This 14-people act, headed by Mr. Wu, who sings .»nd plays the violin, is notable for .^y|raatility^representedr-8cene3 =run-- ning from the Buddhistic to collegi- ate, with six couples In the center «oing a number from "Floradora." Tl'^^i^the show was running late hi* w revue used up nearly a "^'^ bour, there were no runaways at the second performance Saturday. „-*^}*<ie show in entirety consumed «7 minutes and best this house has ,.m'°^ some time. •B ,^^l&^Paint<^d Angel" (FN) and Pathe Sound News. Char. HAMILTON (Vaudfilm) Juc^ging a show'from the neigh- borhood angle on a Saturday after- noon, when S0% of the customers are kids is a drag around job. The show as presented on this change day looked average, with fair draw- ing possibilities, but not really pow- erful for a before-Christmas period. Maybe the management is show- ing wisdom In this respect. Biz naturally falling oft during the pre- holiday spirit run it might be a question whether the cost of a strong name act would be war- ranted here, where locals come out of habit. Besides, at least 75% of theatre draw is owned by the film, not so strong here this time. It's "The Painted Angel" (FN), with BiUie Dove. Film's biggest drag lies in title and male lead, Ed- mund liowe, who's a set-up for the kids and the mamas in this uptown trench. Biz was good but not capacity, which is usually expected. Falling off beirig in adult trade, which musf b.e laid ■ to Christmas shopping. Vaude comprised , five acts, which, in order- of appearance, were Adolphe, Gladys and Eddie; Han-y Puck; "The Cherry Tree"; Billy M. Greene and Blos.som; Odette, Charles and Mack.. Plenty comedy among this lot (No. 1 excepted). Adolphe, Gladys and Eddie are a dance trio, two .men and a girl, adagio and straight.' Ordinary stiiff •which, • taken separately on bits. Is okay, but tied together lacks rhythm, ^ind audience" here even sensed this. Get fair hand on opener. (New Acts.) Harry Puck, old face in vaude, returning after nearly two-year lapse In musical comedy, travels old line in turn ■with new songs and chatter, which was ignored by audi- ence until he danced, when he took encore.; "Offtime Rhythm" his big- gest bet. (New Acts.) "The Cherry Tree," comedy sketch of years' standing, but -with hew, faces this timie.. Sam Jaffe instead of Harry Green. Mild and spotting- ly pleasing, taking fair hand here. Billy Greene and Blossom, next to closing, fitted with guy's drunk dance and fall business,, that could be made big time when girl learns hew. to chime Into tempo with grace arid spedd. pot big hand. Similar fault in closing act, where there's plenty of lampoonery by Charles and Mack In burlesquie lift- ing and adagio, but timing is off, and girl trying to accentuate what Is supposed to be natural French accent going astray. Got good hand. Bin had a bit of diversion when pit band gave three-minute over- ture on toy instruments that offered distinct and pleasant novelty enter- tainment, especially In holiday period. Crowd sensed It quickly and hit off for g. b. h. - Vaude took 68 minutes, feature 70. Entire program going for about 165 With trailers. LINCOLN SQ. (Vaudfilm) Last Saturday's bill here was light in general' but managed to siend over some laughs, It got. a nice start with the well-routined acrobatic Joe Mandls Trio, two men and woman. Dresses the stage too; not so much of the yes- teryear circusy set tip, Eddie Nel- son, in blackface, doing his cus- tomary single. Monologs, some ancient and some more ancient and a few modern gags, hitting his best stride . with warbling. His ^ voice bounced Into the rtfcfters of this house, always good for applause. "Amateur Night In London fooled 'em. Gag of tryouts In a supposed London music haU with the "hook" working hit L. S. reg- ulars right between the optics.. Little talent other than one cork- ing male voice, but the amateur supposition proves a handy aliW. Dayton and Rancy are doing ^th& Dayton and Palmer turn almost to the flutter of eyelids in the ex- change of gags. Low comedy got them quickly. Dayton has some pretty fast ones and hot too. Jack and Kay Spangler (new acts) closed. On the screen was "Applause" (Par) and a sUent In- ternational niewsreel. JaarK. MET, BROOKLYN (Vaudfilm) With the Saturday performances cut to tlireoAnd the acts doing their, regular routines, if not longer than scheduled to stretch out running time, better show on the vaude end the result. Picture is M-G-M's "Un- tamed," which should prove some- thing of a draw In this isection. Four acts did 77 minutes on'Sat- urdaj^'s first show", with Jack Sid- ney's "Frolickers," band flash, to contribute an extra five minutes to -pad slater- Bh:o:ws^out^=.little^ver^ scheduled running time, 35 minutes. At first show did only 33, Other acts Aurora Trio, eight minutes; Zelda Santley, 15, and Bert Gordon, 14. Whil^ the regular policy of this Loew vaudfllmer Is four shows on Saturdays and Sundays, it was dev cided that for the holiday period It would be Wise, with nothing to lose, to cut the number of perfor- mances to three. That business is bad in tlie downtown Brooklyn sec- tion at this time as well as in New York Is reflected In the number of payees at 2 o'clock Saturday (prob- ably biggest shopping day of holi- day season), when Met had only about one-third of the seats taken up. Due to cutting of one vaude show and running of feature four times, the entire progi'am 17'8 minutes. Of this feature consumes «6 minutes, organ number, newsreel and trailers the balance, aside from acts. Aurora Trio, long in vaiide, opened in a neat bicycle, turn. Drew something from the scattiered au- dience. Zelda Santley, next, remained on longer than she probably usually does but held the spot nicely and came .nearer to stopping the show (such as it was) than Bert Gordon, following; Miss Santley does a slew of impersbnatibns. There Is a bad break between a, little number as herself and the Helen Morgan mimicry, the latter coming ais an encore, but outside of letting the act down a trifle at that point causes no gx'eat harm. I?6ing the same act Gordon over 0. ki next to. closing. Surefire ma- terial here, with 'Vera Kingston'pier- Cect foil for the comedian's hoke. Closing Sidney's "Frolickers" (New Acts) had a. few. weak spots and some obvious padding, but none the less lines up as very suitable vaude for theatres In this class and per- haps a little better. Considering everything, got across, well, many of the individual stieclaltles and num- bers collecting better than fair re- turns. Char. ALBEE, B'KLYN (Vaudfilm) Plenty 'of laughs , on current bill at this Brooklyn ace of . RKO with Rae Samuels In songs and Charles Ruggles In the skit, '^ivea, Etc.,-' responsible for most of the merry- making. Both, registered solid hits.. Biz good at middle shoXv Saturday. Tinova and Balkoff, adagio team, with Fred Martin assisting, opened and got over with, a dance routine of thie ballet type. Tabor, and Greene, colored comics, followed and pleased With their familiar <Jlne of clownology and songs. . Charles - Ruggles -uncorked plenty of laughter through the dllenima of a wealthy young man finding him- self married, but unaware to whom. An attempt- on hia part and thai of the butler to locate the 'fharrlage certificate from a trio of girls to find out who's the 'wife provides the comedy. Good acV with Ruggles getting plenty but. of the fiimsy material. Rae Samuels followed, and also brought home., the bacon with a song, repertoire. Jack Carroll at the piano. Miss Samuels handles a few pops, but most songs are special material. All of the songs got Qveir for tops with the real estiate isong putting Miss Samuiels over^for show stopper. The songstress, interi spersed her - nuiribers 'with" ■Wise- cracking repartee ' with Carroll, ^hlch helped the I^ugh division plenty and got over for'full 'wprttf. Maurice Colleaho .arid Co. closed with a diverting dance flash. CoIt leano Is supported by brother and' two sisters, with ithe general scheme a production built up tot Maurice's sensatlorial acrobatic dancing. ."Went over,l>.ig and. held, them In. "Tanned licgs" (Radio) on screen. Edba. . FORDHAM (Vaudfilm) This uptown R-K-O Bronx house, right off the cross- roads of the Bronx, had it all to Itself up to a few. riibnths ago when. Loew walked in and built a picture presentation house Just a few streets down. Still the house continues doing good buslriesB. Locale Is densely populated and also' frequented by. amusement seekers from other dis- tricts. Saturday mat here caught a house well filled with kids who. were more than amply amused by a good vaude bill. Just three acts running in full to 66 mlnuteia with Weaver Brothers and Blvlry taking up 47 minutes of the time. , Campus Colleagrues, short, snappy fraternity row entertainers consist- ing of three youths and a lass, came on first.. Boys go In for a little harmony but mainly rely on their ability - as stepologers. Girl did a fast solo eccentric and later worked* with the boys. Still doing his drunk Imltash, iised as the medium for dizzy acrobatic bends, Roy Rogers deuced and went. Patter handed out a few laughs though a bit slow. Closed to a good hand after a comedy acrobatic dance. "Weaver Brothers iand Elvlry Were enjoyed, throu ghput. , ,Boys', playing ot various home made instruments started off nicely. Miss Elvlry, sass- Ing both the audience and the "Wea- vers, thereafter held the spot. Trio then brought on the rest of the troupe. Arkansas gents and their lady folks, under billing of Home Folks. Men formed a hick band and gals trouped Arkansas Flora- dora song and dance. Whole turn scored excellently. F. N.'s "Painted Angel" feature, ACADEMY (Vaudfilm) Apadeniy's booker went dance goofy for the first half of this week. Six 9,cts on the bill and every one eithfer partly or' all-danciiig; .All sorts of leg work, most of it in taps, Toe, acrobatic, hisrh kick, eccentric, pi'attfallion—dancing. Not much room for anything else, such as com- edj'. Dancing- fthalists were the Pat Rooneys, dancing plenty iaiter five predecessors had hoofed their way on and off, Fox'tunately the Rooneys can follow anything but themselves on 14th sti'^et. In this neighbor- hood Pat and crew are a hit before the paint dries on the boards but- side.- -. ■ ■ ■ .Fox's policy of opening Academy shows with full stage terp flashes is upheld currehtly by Ina Alcova and Co, (5), class flash that bears a standard name in vaude . arid . rolls up a score wherever It plays.. Sec- ond dance offering on this Occasion arrived in the second act, namely Michel, youth who starts out like a straight single xylophoriist and re- mairis one until. toward the end when his hooflng accompaniment lifts a xylo turn out of mediocrity. Then Michel, who appears to be in his 'teens, asks the patrons if they would like to meet his siister, brings her on whether they would like to riieet: her or . not, and they .double into an eccentric stepping finish. Four Carlton.Bros. Are," of course, dancers (Ne'w Acts). As'f\rie the rtiajority of the six playei-s In "Ship Ahoy,", for the most part. This Is a turn that. has been aroimd in the smsflll time for quite a while. A net result of zero from attempted com- edy Is likely to keep it'there. With some talk to' keep It going, the thought In "Ship Ahoy" could gather some attention. Most of .the Interest now. gained is with a strip scene by the three jglrls and the performance of the stockier of the two brunets. She sings, dances and has a knowledge of laugh grabbing. The versatility of this girl should push her on. Bill's first portion of comedy was the knockabout dancing and acro- batics of the tall and short Barto arid.M;anri:.- Had no trouble next-to- closlng. The. Rooneys heard soriie large applause at start and finish arid everything they did was heart- ily appreciated. Warners' "Skin Deep," feature. Outside of the Rooneys, .no Incentive on this bill for more than normal pre-Xmas business. Bfge. GRAND O. H. (Vaudfilm) The old Grand was supposed to be a goner' a long tlriie ago as a pop-priced -shoWshop, yet it keeps on .'With the .mats .holding up .'W'ell a,nd the nights reporte'd jkm-up. Saturday afternoon biz was not capacity, yet good. ' Well^^balanced show'on- a split-week basis. rFea- tiirei 'Tourig Nowheres" (FN). One - thing'■ certain, they like •plenty of comedy,' and ;the. Grand .bboker is'giving them a generous portfori. Bill. Saturday had, rijore cbmedy. than j^nythlri^ else, arid the audience '; was. more • ai)precIatIVe thiari it has oeen' iri rinionths. The show ran as follows: Nathari Brothers, and Judy, Monte and Lyons, Herbert Denton, arid Co., Cbogan and Casey arid Clifford' Wayne and Co. ' Run on. eomedy started with: the opening tiirri. Mainly iacrbbatic,.the Nathans mixing hand balancing witTi ground tumhling,; They 'work- up some laughs' with their awkward- routine at the start, and -also, add some .more coriiedy with burlesque adagio acrobatics. In stralglit. rou-. tine the younger displays - . soriie nlffy grourid work.'. Judy, a girl, solos with . stepping, 'Monte arid. Lyons sang, riiuslcked their own ac- companiriient and exchanged wise- cracks a la wop. Did well. The Denton act Is a satire on the prohibition, gag. As presented in this section it caught the laughs early when the two traveling men sent the hotel bellboy out for some pre-war Scotch. . Main situation worked up for a farcical finale when the liquor Is tried out on the boy, and he pulls a collapse. After re- mainder of Scotch Is poured down the sink the travelers find It's only onfe of the boy's regular fits. Effi- ciently done by the Denton Co, (four). Coogan and Casey stopped /the sho^ cold.' This duo worked up a doctor phase , of the shy man who was afraid of women to sustained laughter. Coogan also scored In an encore bit with song clowning. • Closing jvas a "fiash" and novelty ror"tli^e--rieleTil?Ofhbod'"~Th6^SldtIX Indian turn of Clifford, Wayne and Co. mixed up songs and dancing to effect, Much that is offered Is of the< usual type seen around, but as presented by the Indians- gives It a front. The youngster, Wayne, has plenty of talent and is a skillful hoofer. Rest of the outfit part of the family. All these acts have been working around for some time. Mark. Poland (Continued from page 2) "Bronx Express," brought out un- der the. direction of Ivrasnowiecki* This theatre is conducted by Mrs. Marja Stronska, her first venturcw Judging from first nights, this ia now the most fashionable theatre In town. Teatr Ellzeum did "Mil-la Efros." by J. Gordin, and played by a the- atrical company from Lodz: Re- cently, one bf the chief parts has been taken by the Pblish actress, Sieniaszkowa. Surprlising that the Yiddish company could not succeed iri this theatre for the Polish com- pany, playing Jewish pieces, reg- isters successfully. Mostly Matinees There Is another theatre iri War- . sa'vf, or, to be more correct, a the- atrical company called "Jaskolka" (A Swallow), under the manng^e- ment of Mrs. Hallna Starska. At present ,they play at different the- atres, and mostlj' afternoons. They intend to preserit national fairy tales from Poland and the Orient. They stai'ted with "Golden Dusk,'^ a fairy tale from Kieleckle, (part of Pbland) but soon changed to an appropriate revue, "At the Autumn the World Will Change." • Revues "Qui Pro Quo" has started the season with the revue "Let Us Love Each Other." V«ry clever as Is usual with this theatre; ' Man-*; agement, Messrs. Majde and Boc- zkowskl, have started their 11th Season. They a:re nby playing it new reviie, "Something Hangs in the Air," good from every point. Morskle- Okd now playing a new revue, "Whole Warsa,w,!' .spectac- ular. Local revueia borrow consid- erably from the foreign music hall, ' a practice not without its disad- vantages. ' ' A new reyue theatre, Chochllk,' is In existence. This is not situated in the most fashionable part of the town, but has a. popular price draw. Other Showa Operetka Messal at first gave a. mixed showj including speclallijigw numbers, but is doing "The Golden Dreariis". by H. Hlrsch,; .wl«i the prima donna, Messal. Rather a pity that such a splendl^ artiste has to perform in such a small theatre. Operetka Reprezentacyjna, under Its pretentious name (Representa- tive Operetta) has started its first program with "Princess Chicago."' B^eautlful operetta, lavishly pro- duced, could not dra^ due to the.: absence of a j^ood- prluia donna,^'. Now playing operetta, "Only .One-'' Night," and It looks as If they wlll '^ have to close. . . • Too Many Theatres . There are.-alre^dy'too niariy the-V atres In town. There are tW6 cases as Instances. One where the backer, son of a rich jinliier, did not. p^ty off, and the- Qtheir case wherd a hattiiaker 'al^io left uripald ssllarles. In bbth eftses the JS. A. 'S. P. Cthc- atrlcal assoeiatlori), w&B biariied tot not demanding a bigjErer-'secUrity. ■Warsaw. Traveling Theatre^ new ■ company for'l>rdp'aganda'ln the out-- lying. ;dlstricts of Poland,-Is being- aided by the, Depiartment of Arts tn thb Ministry of Public Enlighten-- merit. . . ■ • In Lwbw the -muhidpal. theatres are directed Jointly by the Gomr .mlttee .'of -the ' Artlstis ; performing there as Ibst ye&r's. manageriient hias, .ceased to exist. -Municipality Is looking for some-* body to direct the theatres^ K^rol Szymanowskl has.: resigned as ■ general . manager bf Warsaw Cdnservatory of Music. He has. cohiposed' a very beautiful • ballet. "Hamaslei" dealing .-with the life of ;PolMh Highlanders. Judging from' the-. music, it Id going to be dlflScult'to produce. - Municipal theatre in Cracow has new. directors, Messrs. Trzcinski and Bujanski, and much 'better business. They have also arranged to have an: experimental theatre In the same building. In the sariie town is a'very suc- cessful theatre, "Gorig,'' under dl-. rector Jastrzebiec, In Wllno, Teatr WIelkl and Teatr Miejski, municipal institutions, are jointly -managed by ^Zelwerowlca and RychlowskI: ~ Bydgoszcz, a small town, has a>. r first class stock company whicl^/ also gives shows at the watering' place, Ciechocinek. Lodz is going to have a popular stock company in the People's House. An Innovation, for instead of regular actors, working men will take: part 1 ^ ^ — ■. . ^: Recently produced, "Journey's End,"' at Theatre Narodowy In War- saw, Is a great success. Press unanimously praises It. Show was under the direction of Richard Ordyhski, who saw it in New York. Summer theatre In LazienkI Park, known to everybody as the Grecian Amphitheatre, is being refurnished. Appears that ballet productions 'will be done there. *