Variety (Feb 1930)

VARIETY VAUDE HOUSE REVIEWS Wednesday> February 12, 1030 PALACE (St Vaude) Fannie Brlce, PhU Baker and Adelaide Hall are the name tri- umvirate and foundation for a .Pal- ace bill that turned out eood—with or without the visitors who came upon the stage Saturday afternoon. Phil Baker was the best baiter of free talent. He coaxed Roslta ^oreno, Miss Moreno's father and Jimmy Savo to step-on the rostruift and kick in, and asked Llta Grey Ghaplin to bow from her orchestra seat, which she did. Adelaide Hall called upon her good friend and probably al.so her dancing instruc- tor. Bill Robinson. The Morenos' stunt with Baker and Robinson's with Miss Hall were accomplished with 'so much ease they suggested previous rehearsing. Yet to the Palace audience every- thing was as accidental as a mis- placed tap would be in Bojangles' routine. Jimmy. Savo's entrance into the show was for the usual reason; to save- a slow moment. Whenever Savo Is laying off and If happens to be Saturday, he attends the Pal- ace. And whenever he.attends the Palace he's spotted by .sohieone on the bill and wafted to the sta&e. Reason is that he's alwiys a 10-to-l allot to stop the show. Fannie Brice is the bill toppei; and in for $6,000, close to half the total. Expensive show around her shoves the Palace above $12,000 again, with most of the jack in two spots: Miss Brice's and Baker's. Miss Brlce did 43 minutes next to closing with songs, her beach bit,, a Romeo and. Juliet In dialect with Baker as Romeo, and a closing com- edy, classic in form of a dying swap daiice with appropriate lyrics and proper ballet costume. Song rep credited to Billy Rose. Pianist is Eddie Weber. ^mld the comedy numbers, de- livered" as Fannfe Brice knows how, • was, of course, "My Man." Fol- lowing Romeo and Juliet the heavy money and hard hitting comedienne went serious again, In another way, to sing "Raisins and Almonds" (not announced) with accordion accom paniment by Baker. The Shakes 4[MHrean take-oft, leaning on mis- pronunciation, was said to have kept the participants up all of the night before rehearsing it. Miss Brice did It three nights previously on a radio commercial hour with anQther .pAjcjiner..^ _ This Is Haker'js second week here" andTnost of the cross-fire with the unbilled boy in the upper box was changed. Baker looks like the most logical contender for a Palace run to show up In months. It would de- ' pend on his ability to switch ma terlal as radically as he did for the second week. Plenty of old gags brushed up, and they landed. Adelaide Hall (New Acts) sang and danced herself across in 23 minutes with assistance of, a hot twd'-man piano team, Dandrldge and Tate. Reported that before the show Lew Leslie restrained the col ored crooner from using, the num bers she sang In "Blackbirds." Cecil Mack billed exclusively as her song writer. Miss Hall did well ■ enough on her own. ■ When Robin son entered the. picture for some stepping, applause was not curbed until Phil Bakw's name appeared on the slides. Baker closed the first part. Opener, Joe Mendl, champ of all vaudeville monks. In the bag from start to finish with very ' human antics. Jack and Kay Spangler, In a pro ductlon dance turn, "The Lobby Ists," hit hard enough In the deuce to Intimate they could do as well In a later spot. That the hotel desk chatter has the blood of "The Night Watchman" coursing through Its veins makes little dllference, for the SpangleW dancing ties up th works. Miss Spangler Is fast ap . preaching the first flight of feminine steppers and now appears to be the best control kicker In vaudeville Her brother Is equally proficient In his own way. In addition Miss Spangler possesses a singing voice Red Colman, also dancing, and Jules and Clifton, comedy acrobats, blend nicely In this well staged dance .turn. Pat Henning verified his billing, "Versatility," In the three spot, slamming over his chatter, dancing, acrobatics and Instrumental work In hit manner. KIkuta Japs were a departure from the rules as sec- ond part openers, but no .bad ef- fects. Its speed, thrills and beauti- ful dressing can't be overlooked anywhere. Not much attention for Adolph, Gladys and Eddie In the closing I^Dt. Only terp entry In the last half, but on too late. Trio worked . at top speed to get 'em while they remained and appeared to do a pleasing dance turn under the un- fair conditions. . Business good Saturday matinee. Bige. STATE (Vaudfilm) Good lineup for current week at this New York Loew acer, with Watson Sisters copping the show and Jack Wilson doing a foliowup for show stopping honors. Four Korrfeys, three men and girl, opened with a fast routine of gym- nastic stunts and balancing that got over: in a big way. Clark and Sblth, male duo, followed with a' ithskeller act that also clicked. The rotund warbler handled most of the songs, with the other chap doing piano accompaniment and occasionally duetlng; Good act of its kind. Jack Wilson and company fol- lowed, tlie support comprising mixed team and midget. Wilson dress heavy laughs as usual through isecracks anent preceders on the show. Midget member sewed up at the tag with an Al Jolson Impresh. Then the Watson Sisters, and what they did to the mob was no- body's tusiness. Their comedy gab had them in .stitches throughout, and the warbling topofC made a pierfect g;etaway. Amerique and Neville,. niixed dance team, fianked by a trio of musicians, closed and satisfied .with a diversifying dance routine. "The Virginian". (Par), feature. Edha. ACADEMY (Vaudfilm) Three acts and a two-hour fea- ture, "Sunny Side Up" (Fox), with only 33 minutes for the acts. Turns are good and work snappy. In order of presentation they were Spartan Revue (New Acts), Johnny Burke, and Senny Davis and Girls. Capacity biz. House has taken on a midnight show Saturday night, and for run of the current feature opens at 10 m. Vaude goes on at regular afternoon hour. Spartan Revue has three boys and two girls singing and dancing. Did 9 minutes for a good hand. Johnny Burke In his war draft monolog rated heavy laughs. B6nny Davis and Girls closed with 14 min- utes. Davis takes a "three" stage with two grand pianos manned by two boys. Opens In song, talks a while, and then brings on the two girls. Ruby Shore and Margie Green. Davis doesn't forget his usu^l plug'"."for a Broadway- Tiightr club and winds up with a song., med- ley of his old hits. Received well. Trailer stuff was cut to one min- ute; Movietone newsreel, and or- chestra overture under direction of Jack Roth, filled 13 minutes. where It now starta, finish would be stronger. Only letdown is In the pcresent encore. Eve Essman and Pat Grant fol- lowed with their comedy clowning. Best features are Grant's dancing and a few good gags, which, both In content and sale, are reminiscent of stuff long used by another act. Miss Essman works as a comedienne, but much of her routine is small time, with the piano clowning too pro* longer foe the best effect. •Third spot held by Wally Sharpies In his six-people offering of black- outs and bits captioned "Clippings." Idea* Introduced as conception of stuff from newspapers. An "Honor System" skit similar to that done by Clark iand McCuUough and a black- out about the husband who came home too soon are offered. Both are of burlesque fiavor and pack laughs. Closing, Sharpies and group do a special medley arrangement con- trasting music master with lowdown jazz stuff, this giving all a chance to try out the pipes In earnest. Be- tween scenes Sharpies hagi a har- mofty sister team, who are there plenty on the harmony. Hit was made by Frankel and Dunlevy. ' Very fine harmony work at la6t part of routine puts them across with a punch. Material pre- ceding Is not original, but clicks moderately. Frank Masters and Co. (New Acts) has strong and weak points. Long running time (24 minutes) partly responsible for the general slow pace, but good dance finish sent offering across for an out- standing hand. Bert Walton did his well-known monolog and subsequent crossfire with man and woman plants. Part of the appeal of Walton's act Is con- tained In the song solos by Bobby Lewis, who's been heard over the air. Over nicely. Murand and Glrton filled five min- utes oh the tail-end of the show. The girl did most of the heavy acro- batic work and all the trick bike riding. Including a novel somersault finish. Ooutstanding virue of act Is its speed. Not a fraction of a min- ute goes to waste. Fans stayed, and liked it Besides screen feature there's Pathe Sound News and usual trailer stuff. Char. PALACE (St Vaude) • Chicago, Feb. 8. Pair crowd Saturday afternoon to see Ted Healy and the vaude unit which held down the entire second half. With Healy are a couple of girl hoofers and a lineup of 12 Al- bertlna Rasch girls. Healy and his roughhouse hoke were Jaughs for the majority of the matinee crowd., 3111 weaker than usual.' - Kanazawa Troupe, six Jap risley workers, opened and got going fairly well after a weak start. Ward and Van next were funny to some people with their off-key mbs.lc, but n. s. g. with straight stuff. Mildred Hunt, radio warbler, followed, singing Jher songs through a mike. Got across nicely with the mechanical aid. When she left the mike to entertain from "one" she missed, since her voice hasn't the power to fill a house. Assisted by Hum and Strum, two radio collegiate singers, and Dorothy Samson at the piano. Burns and Allen followed with chatter and gags plus a few dance steps. Dizzy gal meant laughs with this mob. Ted Healy preceded this act to clown a bit and promised he'd be around after the Intermis- sion. He followed In the second half with his four hokey assistants and the bear and the gals. Hoke was over easily, also the blue blackouts. Rasch girls looked pretty with their chorus routines. Loop. . ALBEE (Vaudfilm) Despite absence of names, the Albee had a good bill and capacity attendance Saturday afternoon. Enos Frazere pacemade and clicked with a neat routine of aerial gymnastics. Stan Stanley and Co grabbed laughs in follow-up with their audience act. Stanley, orig- inator of the audience stuff, still has the best act in the business and is a surefire comedy crash in any man's opera. N- White and Manning, mixed team fianked by a male trio of dancers, were clickers In the terpsichorean division. The hoys planted a couple of precisions, buck and tap, that evoked plenty of hand slamming .Featured duo knocked off a travesty adagio cleverly. Norman Thomas Quintette also smashed over for hit honors. Good act all the way, with the eccentric drummer grabbing laughs. Harry Carroll andplMaxine Lewis followed in a song /double as prelude to Harry Carroll's Revuette. In the double Carroll planted a reprise of pas*, song hits warbled by Miss Lewis, and giving away to the revuette that followed. The latter enlisted six girls and a brace of comics Cunbilled) that kept things humming. "Seven Keys to Baldpate" (Radio) feature. Edba. Ben Hendricks, Jr., In "At Bay" (F. N.). Tommy Jackson In "Good News" (M-Q). Tom Howard and Dave Chasen In "Rain or Shine" (Col). Arthur Stone and Solldad Jlmlnez In "Arizona Kid" (Fox). Milton S. Howe "replaces James JRlchardson as unit p. a. for U. Don Douglas, Pathe Western. JEFFERSON (Vaudfilm) With "Glorifying the American Girl" (Par) on the screen and the usual bill of seven acts on the stage, Bert Walton acting as m. c, throughout, there should be some- thing within the Jeff portals to at- tract the neighborhood. Strong show was needed, with nearest op- pbslsh, Academy, playing "Sunny side Up" (Fox) for the great round up. That house also places seven acts In the vaude column. Walton, spotted next to closing In his regular act, appears at the beginning of the vaude show to an nounee lie's the m; c. Spends three minutes In this spot and reappears ahead of all acts, including his own For vaudfilm grinds of this type his chatter sandwiching the various turns Is o. ic Unquestionably this sort of thing bpilds up the show. Maxlne and Bobby opened. Clev erly presented dog act, the fox terrier (Bobby) performing with a mini mum of cljlng. Maxlne has a good turn of its kind. If encore bit could be worked into preceding portion of act and the turned closed at point LOEWS MET. (Vaudfilm) ;;TEyerrthe" return 'at the <sld "BroTJk lyn favs, Gus VaW and Joe Schenck, wasn't sufficient to pack 'em In here for the second show Saturday, Bringing this pair into the Met ap- parently shaved the remainder of the - bill. Picture, "The Woman Racket," seemed an economical gesture.. Songsters were billed outside as having Just arrived from Holly wood. They have been doing shorts on the Metro lot Duo strutted out as though they had just stepped off the pickle boat. There Is tt dash of the ballady stuff, but the standouts are their songs with a humorous twist, whether it's about Lena and ^lelny, the witty MicV^ or the pash Italians. Manning and Klass gave the show ^ quiet start. Grace Smith and Buddies, colored act, got Its best results on the dancing. It should tone down a little on" shouting. Claude and Marlon registered strongly here showing what type of comedy hits a bullseye In the neighbs. Laughs the woman got at this house were heavy. Mark. RIVERSIDE (Vaudfilm) With a handful of customers sit- ting in stoical silence, acts found It tough getting any response Satur- day afternoon. Vaude was not ex- ceptional, though much better than its reception Indicated. Entire show ran about two liours, with the five acts taking up ha'f the time. Talking shorts, Pathe Sound News and trailers took up the remainder. Quite an oke combo of shorts, consisting of "Wednesday at the Ritz" (Pathe), Grantland Rice Sportllght and "Skeleton Dance." Bob and Lucy Gillette shoved off the vaude. Girl does the work, juggling and balancing various props. Man assists with comedy and a bit of juggling. Danny Small aind Co., classlly arranged colored boy supported by Creole girl, sup- plied the singing and dancing. Small warbles pops and a couple In for- eign tonguei. Dresses It with leg work. Gal sings and dances. When Willie, West and McGInty trouped on next the house came out of its apathy. Boys are laborers working on a bungalow. Numerous mishaps which occur are bound to create mirth. Audience returned to its languor during performance of Walte Hoyt and J. Fred' •Coots, bn next. Coots is composer-songster, using his own compositions. Hoyt of baseball tcok a solo with warbling and then dueted with Coots. Boys are given great support by Mae Questelle, who won the RKO Helen Kane contest and was formerly doing a single. All girl band, Florence Meyers and Co., filled the closing spot. Girls double considerably and space hand STATE LAKE (Vaudfilm) Chicago, Feb. 8. Poorly arranged, jerky, slow and cold. There must be 87 Rln Tin Tins. The police dog doing the Rln act as the headliner has four stunts, all very ordinary. Act Is barely of opening calibre, and yet was given the No. 8 spot Carrie and Eddy, adagio act of four men and a girl, opened and clicked with two numbers, both well staged, but time was wasted In five minutes of soloing by a tenor who was nearly applauded off the stage toward the end of a senti- mental medley. Bozo Snyder, with four men and two girls, spent the first five min- utes in "one" with Sam Green and a prop copper, and gave the best part of .their routine. Bozo's latest .artistic effort with tiie tromijone Is a "Long, Long Trail" solo done straight. After 20 weak minutes of Rln Tin Tin, Flo Lewis chattered her kid stuff and fought her way through the cold show to some real returns toward the end of her pushmoblle skit. Lew Pollock and Henry Dunn closed, two girls assisting, with & review of Pollock's theme song ef- forts. After coasting weakly 10 minutes they pushed into a good exit On the screen "The Grand Pa rade" (Pathe), a "Mickey Mouse' short and Pathe sound clips. Busi- ness excellent Loop. .58TH STREET (Vaudfilm) Good bill here the first half, mix- ing substantial comedy turns with one of serious nature. Latter w%is Rlcardo Cortez (New Acts), film player, making his vaude debut here. His name was a draw for this house. Par's "Glorifying the American Girl" was the feature. Also Pathe Sound News. Paul Nolan, deft manipulator of silk toppers, got away -nicely. Other objects also are Juggled, but high hats are the routine's forte. Fair comedy turn, Goss and Barrows, sprinkled a few laughs. Open with filrtatlon bit and other straight hu mor. Girl closed the turn with solo hoofing. Rlcardo Cortez (New Acts) next and did very well. : Barry and Whltledge drew laughs, though much of their stuff whizzed over the BSth St. heads Acrobatic and balancing Jap duo, the KItayams (New Acts), classy closer. RKO (Vaudfilm) Los Angeles, Feb. .7, Five well assorted vaude acts running 64 minutes as caught last night balance a 70-mlnute feature "The Vagbond Lover". (Vallee) (Radio). From 15 to 40 rnlnutes of short subjects according to show caught j Tlils performance Is a blg- money's-'WoVth. To6 n&.ny stage waits, frequently a minute between vaude acts, keep the bill from snapping along the way It should. The wow of the stage half this week is Naomi Ray and Eddie Har- rison's adagio burlesque. The girl is super-hefty and good for laughs on sight In her pink danseuse out- fit and her piartner being a dapper gigolo type neiarly a head shorter. They show restraint on falls, Ray's cute poses giving 'em the sleigh ride. When the man actually holds her In his arms, it rates as Samson stuff. • This cream Is four minutes deep, the previous 10 minutes straight and spread over kidding on the dis- parity in the couple's sizes, a song by the girl and some slick tangle- footing by the man. Ruby Norton's Impersonations of 'Famous Blondes," holding the mid- dle spot, has a slow introduction, with the material going too strong on Ruby Norton. Picks up when she does Lillian Russell and Jerltza, and clicks 100% on Sophie Tucker, ^hls Impersonation alone could be th€uwhole act. Certainly the seven- mimite opening should be cut to the bone. Clarence Senna at the piano semi-ta!lks Jingles between changes. Material n. s. g. Hal Nclman, red-nose tram.p in deuce, okay In his pop n\edley comedy. Opener Is "Dance Fables," atmos- pheric adagio, richly dressed as to set and thoroughly undressed as to costumes of the three men and the girl they handle. Four breech-clouts and one bras- siere as total costume for four peo- ple Is probably as close to the ulti- mate In nudity as this town has ever stood for. Act "carries a cute prolog girl, Idea possible being a spare In case of accident. Closer has Frederick Sullivan handling three midgets In h.and-to- hand stunts, many drawing "ohs." Midge trio does a song nicely. Act clicks, but would be placed better at the front of the bill. 86TH ST. (Vaudfilm) Hardly a draw bill for the first half this week, with "Glorifying the American Girl" (Par) feature and the vaude talcing an RKO road unit of four acts. Biz very good at the late show, but .that's the usual Saturday night thing here. Unit opens with Jeari Rankin and Blue Belles, girl band. Rather noisy, and but for the help given them by Raynor Lehr, who trots in and around the unit and Marjorle Selzer, singer and dancer, the band wouldn' rate. Girl band Is followed by a couple of hat tossers who drew a few laughs here. They're slow and the chatter is uninteresting, Raynor Lehr and Shirley Dahl take the next spot and click. Next was Chas. "Slim" Tlmblln and Co., two black- face boys and a blackface girl In comic chatter that sailed across. Finale was impersonation of Bert Williams by Lehr, and round robin turn by the four acts. Feature took 89 minutes, trailer one minute numbers with agreeable vocal work. Vaude ran 73. HAMILTON (Vaudfilm) Close to capacity Satarday night. Vaude section fiashed no b. o. puller, but "Glorifying the American Girl" (Par) had been depended upon to turn the trick. Five-act bill was pretty good entertainment, -with suf- ficient comedy to make it ride easy. Alex Melford Trio opened with an effective flash of gymnastic work. No stalling, and the men do tricks expertly without any faking. Leslie Strange, English Impersonator, fol- lowed. Since his debut at the 58th St., Strange has strengthened his routine with an Impression of George Arllss. Bee and Ray Gowati CNew Acts) pleased. Fid Gordon Jjddled and clowned In hla famlllSf^iway, and scored nicely. In the closing spot was Manny King and Co. King has changed his act considerably for th© better. It'runs faster and has the comedy worked up to a more legiti- mate climax. King sticks to nanci- fied twitting and does it effectively. Mark. COLISEUM (Vaudfilm) Neighborhood turned out appar- ently en masse Monday night to witness the buffoonery of the Sohnozzle boys, Clayton, Jackson and Durante. Barely an empty seat tn the house. Good all around vaude bin, with the flicker attraction Par's "Glorifying the American Girl." How those three boys goaled this house! They couldn't get enough of 'em. Twice they darkened the house at the end of their turn and started running a couple of trailers, but each time they were forced to stop and light up again. Many of the customers were quite familiar with what the boys could do and kept shouting for their favs. Jimmy Durante's feud with the boys in the pit was a constant laugh. Pinochle devotees were forced to duck for cover constantly to avoid being socked by those flying hats and Durante's overcoat. Because the proboscis of Phil Fabello, pit leader, ran a close second to Du- rante's schnozzle, he was Invited to come up on the stage and join the mob. Harriman, Lucille and Swan on first. Lucille and Swan are a danc- ing team going In for adagio, ball- room and acrobatic dancing. Har- riman is "a. corking ;hoofer, espe- 'cially on eccentric'routincs. Harri- son and Dakln, mixed comedy couple, went nice. Harrison is the mainstay, gagging at the piano and delivering a few punch line comedy poems. Miss Dakln foils and war- bles a bit. Close with duo hoke in- strumentation. In next-to-shut was Frankl.vn D'Amore, with Jack Lane. D'Auioi-'-' (Continued on page 45)