Variety (Apr 1930)

52 VARIETY FILM HOUSE REVIEWS Wednesdajr, April 2, 1930 FAIRFAX (New) Hollywood, March 26- Add a new film emporium within Its own cltadelv - Openlng-of ii pic- ture house In Hollywood is always an event. No matter how. big' ol" small, it commands and lisually get attention. All that's needed are t few arc lights out front, linnounce- ment that stars will make personal appearances and the p. a. will do the- rest, Fairfax opening followed the regular routine and got away to a fast start; though few of the heralded stars were present. But. for 30c there were enough, and that's the stiandard pat admish Gus Metzger and Harry Srery intend to carry through at all times. Policy is similar to that of the recently opened Warners' Forum: Two shows a night, mats only Saturday and Sunday and a dime for the kids. House shouldn't miss. Of course there's always the moot question of getting pictures in the indie operated houses. Metzger, an experienced showman who sold the Forum to Warners after making a go of It himself,' believes it makes little difference about where and when he gets the pictures; Metzger claims he Is selling the house, primarily, and therein has some- thing to sell. Fairfax Is unique because it's one of only two. known modernistic the- atres in the country. Other is In a small Illinois town. The futuris- tic touch should mean something in this resident neighborhood, spotted between Hollywood and Beverly Hills and with the closest theatre a mile or so away. Seal- ing, around 1,800 On the main floor, and with no balcony or mezz, it is. niftily spread out and ' has almost perfect accoustics. Western Elec- tric equipment Despite Metzger's optimistic out- look about pictures, he played safe with a first run crack at "Troopers Three," Tiffany's special, which ran for $2 in New Tork. Also on the premiere program were an old... Disney Cartoon, Educational <?oKledy, "Good Medicine," and Hearst Metrotone newsreel. Normal running time program was getting a good swing on turnover. ' Attractions the house has lined up include "General Crack," "Sally," "Disraeli," "Party Girl," "Show of Shows," and "Son of the Gods." On a twice weekly change. Opera- tors are ready to take it on the chin the first few months, perhaps, un- til the house Is established. But what's a. couple of months, asks Metzger, compared to a 20-year lease? Span. occasions and to paint the proper picture, uses a megaphone; Ash hasn't very much to do but does it with his accustomed grace and showmanship. He is talking less about th©^ wonderful virtues of all the entertainment around him, lending more dignity to the show, but introduces nearly everyone as ne of his friends. Mixture of "Volga Boatmen" and Overture of 1812," with effect of burning of Moscow to build up num- ber, goes for the finale and is some- thing of a departure with Publlx. Reason probably b'""use there is no dancing ensemble with this unit. This unusuaL Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Crawford this week feature "The Moonlight Re- minds Me of Tou," composed by the Missus. Par^News only other screfen ma- terial besides feature, and no or- chestra overture, Rubinoff having departed. Char. PENN ("Gym-Jams"—Unit) Pittsburgh, March 29. With Trlxle Friganza at two bits before 1 p. m., 35 centimos from 1 to 6, and a dime over four bits after that, nobody has any kick coming. Tfix's last appearance here was at the Davis whea that house tried to revive two-a-day vaude a year ago. At the low tariff here, the mob got a greater kick out of her than the $1.50 crowd did at the Davis, and anybody who thinks this burg misses the big-time vaude is nerts. They see the same stuff for one- fourth the price, get a picture into the bargain and a comfortable seat. Bland Trlx, of course, is the whole show. Working in the middle of the unit, she's doing her old vaude spe- cialty from beginning to end and crocking 'em: It's new. to the movie fans and the way they eat it up is nobody's business. Without her, you could take "Gym-Jams," tie it up, lose it and nobody'd care. She gets away with some stuff that would get ..the management's blue, pencil after the first show if another did it, but this Is Trlxie Friganza. This is th^ unit that started out at the Capitol with Nat Nazarro, Jr., as m. c. Nazarro, who was around here for several months, left the Penn to take on this show, but he's not with it now for some reason or other. Davey White's doing t\ie honors, and they're very meager honors except for an eccentric dance that's oko without standing out. Prosper and Moret get over in some nice hand-to-hand acrobatic work, and whether it's easy or tough tbe^' make It look like a breakneck job,' 80 the applause is correspond- ingly that much more emphatic. Bobby Walthour, the marathon bike champ, meant nothing except to carry out the gymnasium idea. His -NT^.™. -«r„-i- ■»;r I, no I r4ce With a horse on a treadmill, ■R»fto. „r,u^o^ h.^o Jf^ 28. however, was responsible for a rous .l®"^'^^ tha" average, alongl.__ ' pio" j?avo's aerial bl€ oi FOX ("Baby Songs"—Unit) Washington, March 30. . Fanchon and Marco units getting considerable changes prior to ad- vent here, and trip through " south Into Los Angeles for closing. Pres- ent "Baby Songs" has Buddy Walker, blackface, as principal, and though working along familiar lines, h© does well. Show in toto is good entertainment with usual Fanqhon and Marco originality shown In the girl numbers and In scenic flashes opening and closing. Rose Valyda with double voice got nice reception, as did Alene and Evans, hand balancers, Carolyn and Ruth In a, toe tap dance and then the revised Frank Fay act. with Brandies in Fay's former spot and the Kelly girl replaced by Helen Caroll (sister of Nancy of the films) and Lou Mann. This turn has plenty of laughs with routine only changed on the Fay. materiaL Brandies makes no attempt to im- itate Fay. Show proper opens with Leon BrusilofE and the symphony going popular for the week with a medley of new tunes that clicked. Alex- ander Callam, house permanent m. c, was out of the show, appear- ing only for a vocal number with the organist, Mofton Floodas. This broke the usual and caused interest. Feature; "South Sea Rose." Meakin. PARAMOUNT (Unit—"Magical Melodies") with light pleasing musical farce of potential drawing power stands as fair assurance that this de luxer •will make out nicely this week. Paul Ash is with the stage show as Its jn. c. Stage show Is a pretentious and colorful production staged by Jack Partington and labeled "Magic Mel- odies." As a result one of its enter tainers is M. Duval, magician, who opens the 47-mlnute show with some rather clever and dumbfounding sleight-of-hand tricks, Also to c^rry out the magical motif, Helen Lewis' girl band is dis closed in an effective manner, props going to the flies that had covered the girls. Duval helps work out this piece of prestidigitation Presence of the Lewis band of 12 on the large Paramount stage alone makes a sparse picture, with the girls stretched out to cover the large space for them. Later the regular house's stage band Is brought on, Lewis girls backing in a line. Then the stage Is effectively filled and dressed. Highlights of "Magic Melodies" are Darlean Walder and George Dewey Washington, both about sharing applause honors at Friday /fught's first de luxe show. Miss "Vyalder Is a very clever acrobatic dancer with a routine all her own and a grace and facility for her type of work that immediately impresses. Washington, colored baritone here on several previous occasions, does two numbers, each scoring equally well. One is "Black and Blue," which laments color of negroes and as a result couldn't be done by pale |*oes. Williams and Delaney, mixed team from vaude and with some new ma terlal, fail to click strongly. Early in their act the material seems to mi.qs, possibly because .sorne of it is lost to all except those away up front. Ventriloquism bit at close partially saves the duy. Chances are tfeam would do better If work ing a little more slowly, . Besides Miss Lewis' band, a dig nlfled. ■n-omen's combination that features in several numbers and ef- fectively, with Paul Ash and the stage band for added measure, there is Paul Small, pop songster working with, a meg.' Just fair. A novelty in the Lewis band Is on© of her girts Imitating Rudy Vallee and very well, also. Tries ing close. Flo Mayo's aerial bit on trapeze and Jean Spence's to©, work while Jumping rope rounded out show. .. .... You can always rest assured of one bright spot in every Loew unit, and that's Chester Hale's line girls These kids always look as though they're actually enjoyiner their work and it's contagious for the cus tomers. Breeskin's overture a stralghtren dition of Schubert's "Rosamunde" and Just average, Dick Leibert at the organlogue dispensed with com- munity singing and fiashed a flock of parodies on life in the stone age that proved a knockout There are few organists anywhere as consist ently entertaining as this one. Picture "Sarah and Son," and biz excellent. Cohen. ORIENTAL (Presentation) Chicago, March 28. Label of this stage show is "Kid- din'.Kap'n Kid." Plenty of pirate ship flash, makinig the show a good eyeful, even though slightly under average In vaude material. Show uses only two turns, hoofing- pair and low hoke team. Rest is musical spectacle and a relief after weeks of boop boop-a-doop. New m. c, Billy Chandler, who clicked. Chandler has been a name in the B. & K. houses for some time and has worked emergency m. c. assignments. Chorus Is working hard in some new and flashy routines. Ace num- ber was the radium sequence, with their feet flashing sparks from "phosphorated" boards. Also in that number were Arkln and Dean, hoof- ers, who were on and oft during the show. Other act was McDonald and Dean, with their roughhouse com- edy that grabbed oft big returns here. They went for the shirt- tearing, face-slapping and prattfalls. Seven male vocalists moved over from the Chicago this week to de- liver some excellent choral work, led by Arch Cannon, who sings those pirate tunes Ilk© they do in grand opera. "Honey" (Par) feature, good first show Friday. Business Loop. MARBRO tlon la "la Holland." a pato blue symphony of woodea sandal*, 'vol-r umlnous pantaloons, windmill and tulips. Patricia Bowman and Leonid© Massine dance whll© Dor- othy Miller, soprano of ©xqulsit© tone and smoothness,- slngSr- TuUp effect created by Inverting th© ballet skirts end th© divertissement with a pretty applause-winning ©yo pic- ture. Erna Rubinstien (New Acts), young vloUnlste, performed "Hejr© KatI" before th© drapes, earning thereby three bows, sensational at the Roxy, where bows are not cus- tomarily allowed. Roxyettes, who seem always to have new routines, do one of their stage-filling maneuvers under the title' of "Whirligig." As usual, fine. Usual half dozen Fox Newsreel clips. Overture Conducted by Jo- seph Littau of the waltz from "Die Fledermaus." ' Warmly received. In connection with Universal's "Captain of the Guard" John Boles and Laura LaPIante made a brief personal appearance after th© main screening, about 9.30, Friday. Boles paid graceful tribute to Roxy as one of the country's great showmen. Land. PLAZA New York, March 28. Architecturally, a nugget of Tu- dorlsm. Geographically, in th© bosom of Park and Madison ave's social bible belt. Economically, a terrific nut for 624 seats, even though a handful of them do sell at Roxy's $1.60 evening prices as leathered loges. There are rltz doorman, manager and two as- sistants plus seven ushers, and all those expensive people in th© talker booth. From the show angle. Just like any other theatre. Up and down. Plaza is Leo Brecher's venture. Leo a few years ago used to spend all his time at Theatre Owners Chamber of Commerce meetings and what-nots. Tlien he led a delegation on one of those Indl© skirmishes in Washington. After that Leo re- mained quiet. Now he's gone as highbrow as his highest nose-tilted contributor. Leo's-got a nice personnel, partic- ularly one affable younff man in a Tuxedo. Cigarette consuming debs who used to bane Leo's theatrical ex istence in the other house are com- ing up to the Plaza, A squint over the audience, particularly back near th© eaves where It's dark and comfy enough to pinch the boy friend, revealed a few of them puf flng away In the old manner. But they're not as loud as they used to be. They seem to be taking their dialog cam© in. (Presentation) Chicago, March 27. All th© acts this Veek have played other spots in town, and perhaps this house. Mixed together and dished out under the label of "Xylo- phonia." Chief chef was Jack "Pea- cock" (as he Insists) Kelly.' Besides announcing, Kelly delivered an ex cellent xylophone bit and, as has been said, is a better xylophonist than m. c. Allan Reno, flrst of the presenta^ tlon acts, was there with his co called English song and dance rou tin© and big. Ho dropped his com edy French violinist business, be cause, so h© said, of the extreme length of the show. Another single, A. Robins, followed, with this walk- ing musical store routine. Well liked. Two-girl piano act, Bernard and ttenrle, with three songs, on© i ballad, the other two special mat© rial comedy numbers, were oke. Chorus on and off with a couple of weak routines. However, 12 girls were on for th© spectacle close, playing marimbas, staged and de ,livered nicely. "Hit the. Deck" (Radio), feature. Three Fox sound clips and organlog completed show. Business good suppertim© Thurs- day. Loop, _ _ pictures, sine© dialog cam© in, a ^lis Vallee crooning on two different' little more seriously. Wqhj. STANLEY ("River Blues"—Unit) Pittsburgh, March 28. This is Dick Powell's last week as m. c. at Warners' downtown d© luxe stand. He's been her© for six months, moving down after seven months at Enright and, after a short vacation, hie returns to the East Liberty house. Out at the neighborhood stand he's a sort of deity, so his return should do mu<ih for that site, especially since it'9 also going to play pictures day and date with the Stanley. Powell forced to cut his singing to a minimum, due to presence on stage of Eddie. Dowling, who's here with his picture, "Blaze o' Glory." Dowling showed up with a cold, and he's doing only one song, depending for the most part on chatter and gags and going over like a house afire.- It's a good thing he's here; It helps his picture, which certainly needs plenty of support. Dowling missed flrst two shows here today, unable to make jump from St. Louis In time, but was on hand for first evening performance. A natural for this mob, h© socked all th© way through, working about 16 minutes. Unit Itself not so fort©, tableaux Idea forcing stage band Into pit and slowing down things in general. M. c.'s announcements all made In one" and each of the scenes repre- sent a river, with acts fitting ac- cordingly. Thus, there's a whirlwind Russian dancer with th© chorus for th© Volga; Ben Dova in his lamp- post drunk bit for th© Allegheny here; Allen and Canfield doing their conaedy dialog In front of a painted drop supposed to be th© Ohio, and Worthy and Thompson, colored tap dancers, doing their stuff In before a Mississippi levee. Virginia Bacon, toe artist, worked in a couple of bits and stood head and shoulders above her colleagues in point of genuine ability. Powell's solo a parody on popular song in which he shigs his apprecia- tion to downtown audiences. Got a big hand on it. Addition of Dowling lengthened running time and overture and or- ganlog were cut. Biz good. Cohen. ROXY New York, March 28. Time Intensifies rather than les- sens what may be described as the infinite variety of Roxy stage shows. Public appreciation of th© produc- tion department naturally is ex- pressed for the completed job with only a dim perception, if any, for the work, dogging drudgery of sup- plying new each week not only one, but several, features. Operating completely within its own four walls with no out-of-town break-in dates, no trial and error hideaways, each successive show going from th© rehearsal halls backstage-direct to the rostrum, the Roxy production department, -viewed from a knowledge of the trade dif- ficulties. Is a never-falling source of amazement Other film houses have good shows, funny shows, often highly novel ones, but seldom except at Roxy's Is th© element of sheer amazement aroused. Currently the principal presenta- BRANFORD ("Tin Type Revue"—Unit") Newark, N. J., March 28. Loudly heralded as a gigantic spring-time revue, this show turns out to be the "Tin Type Re-vUe" (Publix) with four added acts, mak- ing 55 minutes of good entertain- ment House not using a regular m.c. any more; Charlie Hill of the unit m.c.'s, as a comic—a type of m.c. not fancied much here. Two of the extra acts are run off, one ahead of th© unit, Gordon and King and Bobby Folsom, both of whom do their regular stuff, and get nice receptions. Third is Ray Bolger, also in one, but later in. the show. He scores desei-vedly. 8 Dorothy De Merle Girls are added to the unit, although their routines are s^arate from the Publlx Girls', who appear as background for the DeMerle Girls' first number, jpretty bouquet effect. The latter appear again In striking blue shorts with hoops and dance with vivacity. As the unit has more comedy than usual. It. goes over so much better than usual, although presumably cut. The barroom bit Is out, as is the Lassltfers' bike. The crowd likes most the Lassiters. with the 3 Flashes registering. AlsoLloraHoffman's (?) stuff with Charlie Hill in his piano act clicks. Gariel HInes and his orchestra numbers still hold up. It's now medley of opera gems don© with much showmanship as well as mu- sical skill. Classy is the rendition of the "Madame Butterfly" air, while a brass quartet standing In the lights holds them with the "Barcarole." No organ this show, and besides th© weak feature, "Burning Up," is only a news reel, partly sound and partly orchestra. Needlessly long trailer of coming attractions has curious mistake of billing the last instead of present show at the RIalto. Au^ttn Chatter in London London, March '22. Dame* diacardinjt henna ©ye. brows. British ballet on th« up grade. Dancing in prisons these days. MarJorle Bowen'a taken t« vaud©. Talker production on Drury Lane stage. Lewis Casson's gpinr talker at ' last Arnold ' Bennett penning his reminiscences. Madge Kendal giving birthday tea parties. — Maria Corda telling the. boys all about compaiiionat© marriage. More nit© divea round Richmond —river haunt—^lately than formerly in Soho. Trilby. Clark and Dinah Shurey gush all over each other in pub- lic. Lydia Lopokova hoias tnis town's non-stop talk record. Right through two features and three shorts, all arty. Lady Oxford knd Asqulth parades Anthony around at tea parties just to show she's wise. This town's so chaste you can't : even pinch another guy's auto for . a joy ride. MT>nlca Ewer, "Herald" theatre i critic, has authored "Insecurity." Chorines now so classy they'll only take orchids. Patrick MacGlll doesn't like folks reminding him he used to be called the Na-wy Poet. Frank Vosper says n© just can't find a leading lady. " Best people nowadays can't be bothered to drink -cocktails. Basil Dean starting on a talker which is to show the world what the Great British Empire can do. Celia Johnson claims to be an ac- tress with a future, sure tough. Past seems to count so much more. Deslree !E!llinger has crashed into Elstree talker studios. Engineers' Club, peopled by num- . ber of film men, may go. All clubs her© are pretty hungry theis© days. Betty Balfour's passion Is her- self as company promoter. Easier than being an actress. Jane MiUIcan's on the recovery Ust Tallulah's gone crackers on bal- loons. Rather subtle on second thought. George Clarke regretted th© radio robbed him of his one bright gag when broadcasting. • The best American bar yams cleaned up for revue numbers these days. Binnie Hale aiid Jack Raines health-touring it to South Africa. Youth named John Morel gets more space making stag© debut than Gladys Cooper gets when her beauty parlor takes a flop. . Boxing columnists all looked, over . th© Sharkey-Scott fight fllms and swore blind it was full of fouls. Now Maurice Elvey's joined a multi-lingual talker unit papers remember he's a hot director. Prices at cabaret joints, gener- ally, seem to be ducking. At many of the near-West End restaurants, supper,.; dancing, and good cabaret ranks around three dollars a time, all in. London us.ually belongs to the English this time of th© year—^no one else would stay. But th© Na- val Conference is keeping the Savoy Grill cosmopolitan. Frank Scully, of "Variety's" Euro- pean staff, is making a gradual re- covery from.a very sever© opera- tion. Fleet street fllm editors are hav- ing a general post. Mary Clare's breaking into vaude. Talbot O'Farrell's operations. Jimmy Nervo in the red. Vac- cinated. Gordon Selfrldge may make hl3 store go talker. Critics already saying Jack Powell is a Cochran find. Dress changes in view of the audience latest cabaret gaig. Craze for second hand autos so great roads littered with spares. Kathie Lyn, touring lead, final l.v got space through her taxi hitting something. Emlyn Williams boasts he's one of those multilingual actors. Hilda Russell says she likes the air. .» Frank Harvey says he only wrote plays out of pique. Violet Loralne's latest actress to try and brighten the radio. Hope- less Job. Return of spaghetti to first class menus reawakens the question as< to whether it should be twisted round th© fork or just swallowed. Monty Banks and Gladys Frazin light each other's cigarets in public Ivy St Heller has recovered from th© strain of playing Noel Cowaril and Is back on th© Job in "BilLfi' Sweet"