Variety (Jun 1930)

122 VARIETY VAUDE HOUSE REVIEWS Wednesday, June 25,1930 I PALACE (St. Vaude.) First getting It on the record that It'a the best comedy spedaltv bill the Palace has had In months, let's get to the meat of the matter by go ing Into a discussion ot Will Ma honey as an exponent of knock about as a flne art. Mahoney closed the first half and did about 16 minutes, counting a curtain speech, and then he had to beg off. ° This Mahoney person must have an Instinct for. showmanship amounting to divination. He opens quietly with a Scotch dialect num- ber that any one of 60 comics could do nearly as v/ell. That's craft- manshlp, because It makes a start- ing point at scratch from which he can work up. Then he goes into a dance which accelerates the interest. Mahoney has, for instance, a top- pling wing step ending in a crash that >is dramatic suspense itself. Thence- into the Mahoneyphone dance which'is a blending of a side- show on a carnival lot, Fritsch- han- dling a hot liner at short and a touch of Roxy's precision girls. By then he was bathed in persplra:tion and icame ou^in ^'dne" for a curtain speech, the most exquisitely melan- choly acknowledgement Of a triumph you can ■imagine. Score major sized panic on Mahoney's 2d or hold- over-; week. Returning to the Palace from these altitudes of enthusiasm^ it should be recorded next in order that Georgle Price made a first class m. c. Ih his first appearand^ here in that capacity. He has the vigor the Job calU for but he needs two things.. One is- a knowledge of the power of understatement and a crisper hfindling'df talk. With those two he ought'to be up in the van with perhaps three other specialists ' in the in. c. field. He has resource, cbjpdmahds. the superlative vaxide- yUtfriBpecifU'ty knack, and the syl^ve manner :Should b^. easy, to .acquire. ^^oy was top'heavy, on comedy lit ;tlie 'first 'pierforrtiande, with an overtead in the'first hMi and llttIA tbWaird' the^fihlSlC Fot- that reason Jt'Wa9:i>rop6<led to move £ddte Con- sul anCMiarion Eddy 'to open inter- missfbb from No. ,4, where. they:de- ?»-.ltirered everything a top notch st#jrtda]?d -c6medy turn .can. Conrad la' thi last word In sinboth lew com- edy-and'-^iilssB^dy rivals. hlm^ for distinction, by - being probably the great^t-'foll for such a combination in vaudipvllle.' They did something like 26 minutes at this pbtformance, ' topping bCC with a..whale of a .gag Invo'lvfng )Pi:lce;« efforts -to .date up MlBa £ddy and . the., grlet it. all cii^iised. -Tliie tlilng Is-all ready as It stands to go Intb ila iiew.firoadway •aho^ 'da a blackout' or 'skit; '^ ''iBobl^ -ArnSt- Ifpllowed, opening ■with a 'lspioy lysi0 or two and. a bit )Of pop .song^ which didn't .particu- larly ; matter and-, wouldn't if she .weren't the m'osli piquant^' little trick ther^ is hereabouts in person and' style. She' goes then into her dance, wearing as Uttle. as possible -and still too much, ahd;finlshes with a duet with Price, trifling in. sub- stance, but a delightful performance as It is done here. Opening she seetned to be ragged with nerves, but eveh with that handicap she was a high Hfht for the Palace audience, which was pretty slim COr Saturday's fine afternoon, but with this bill will be better as the week wears on. Anyhow; counting backward from intermission, th'e. running was Ma- honey, Miss Brhst and Conrad and 'Eddy. That's a handful of enter- tainment for any bill no matter what it has around it, and this frame-up had plenty that was good vaudeville and class entertainment. There was Relnald Werrenrath starting after Intermls&ion in a smart booking, brought . abput through the NBC radio connection. It's really a concert item,' of course, but It gives this riotous bill ' b, dandy class touch, for the baritone is a commanding name and a- per- suasive personality on the concert platform, vaudeville stage or before the mike. He sang four songs here nicely chosen for hiii purpose:' Gypsy number, unfamiliar . to. this reviewer; ":Una," sentimental trifle; VDanny Deever," of. po^rse^ and "Road to Mandalay," also of course, 'and i\l enjoyable if you stop to con slder that all a concert singer like Werrenrath can do in . a smashing /vaudeville show like this , is to be as different from vaudeville, as possible. That goes two ways. It heightens the vaudeville and it gives point to the straight number. ' Arthur Petley and Co., trampolln, opened nicely. String bean flyer has genuine comedy In his style but he doesn't make use of grotesque make ^ up and dress -to emphasize his comic shape. Imported act that had been around three or four years. Rasrmond Baird, "Typical Ameri- can B03r" playing the saxophone straight, doesn't look like Palace . but in No. 2 he created a furore which shows what reviewers know about it It's the youngster's ap- pearance ' and audience approach that does the trick. No. 3 were the Skelly Sisters, Monica and Ann, in the skit, "What Price Society." Miss Ann Is mak- ing headway toward a nice command of rough comedy and both already are trim steppers. This /sketch doesn't do them justice. Vercelle Sisters In a dance flash with six boys (New Acts) closed the ^^ow at 5.12, and nicely. Rush. ALBEE, BROOKLYN (Vaudfilm) Cutting of prices at the near-by Fox (de luxer) ^as not appreolablir *done any damage to R-K-O's vaud film in downtown Brooklyn. Busl ness was near capacity at the flrst Saturday performance, that topping the ordinary matinee take on the flrst day of the -week. Torke and King, after a long stay abroad, are credited' with -providing most Of the attraction, at the. b. o* They head an all-around satisfying five-act bill that runs. ,9i minutes and is a trifie long. ^ . , picture is "Midnight, Mystery' (Radio), ' which o.u^ght to bring a few in on the strength of tbe title' and what it suggests. ■ But what- ever gross is done bti the hew show will be due mostly to the' entertain- ing stage program. Not a new act in. layout.,, -• The Lee Twins and Co. open In pleasing and different dance offer- ing. It Is a nice little flash, worthy of more 6^ a response than received here, where let down very lightly It seemed the specialties of the Lee girls, though nicely done and effec- tive, did not get over one-tenth, as good as they should. Dericksoii ,and Br6wn..score in their song and plano^ classic. 4i.n ideal No. 2 act, here or aii'jrwhero'fels*. '. Ill the .'ihiddle' of the bill Lbring Stnlth; heading the almost age-old Skit, "Waiting at the Chiirch," as- sisted' by-three others. The story, of a man and girl, unknown to each, being left^at the church oh wedding day/and the. dro:wnlpg of their. sor-> roWs through the'chance meeting. Is carried out Interestingly, with song relief. Over nicely. James Burke and Eleanor Durkln were spotted next to qloslng, with Torke and King and their large act thus farced to the end. Burke and Durkln, working with a smoothness that -counts, and each dispensing comedy^ found-the going encouraging all the way«. .To the material, the pair owes cff^sldeirable, and oil the strength .pf' Burke's char- acter'ntiinbers, Inciiidlhg Cheyalier: Ihip'er^ohation and 'Leha's tale of woe, in dialect, the act goes over the top- nicely. Theinew version> of Chick Torke and Rose King's "The Old Family Tintype," with a dash of English thrown in, gives this w. k. team a ,rea,l production. It runs 26 minutes, and, except for a couple of 3i..c-ts, Is fast entertalnmient with a punch. Organ recital by Gertrude Dowd (o. k.), Pathe Sound News and over- ture balance of show. Char. 86TH STREET (Vaudfilm) So-so show at the 86th St. topped by Bill Robinson who might have been suifflclent warning to any. booker that the dance department, would be well sustained, Instead of which the show went overboard on hoofing. Armand and DeVore led oft •with, "Dancie Diversions," an 18-minute terp revue, wherein Alma and Ro- land, featured In support, steal the act away. Both teams are dancing couples, the latter's. buckology get- ting to 'em better, than the stellar pair's, ballroom'stuff,. ^lundon Wills, Helen Durr and Myra Tracey, billed In instrumental support, but only two showing, the femme planiste and the'xylo playef. The femme' accordlonlste has been dropped and act can be re-pefsonneled still, further. Of the Alma-Roland team, Alma's toe clog was nifty, not' handicapped a bit by her shapely gams. Johnnie Mills and Tim Shea's knockabout dancing-tumbling In- troduced a needed measure of com- edy: Irvln O'Dunn, now soloing In the billing with "handicapped by Mary Daye" In support, tried hard along conventional lines to be funny. Succeeded only In a meas- ure. Is one of those comics who dofCs his chapeau, even if only kid- dtngly, with each gag. Strives too obviously to Impress and doesn't quite altogether. Billy Kelly-Paige Sisters (New Acts) and then Bill Robinson who, for all the verity of his encore speechlet, is probably not quite be lieved by all in his audience th&t he was 52 last month. Robinson cutely gives his own impression of Bill Robinson, announcing it is only fair to do since there has been a sudden epidemic of stair steppers. Also quite intelligently kids his color and flatters the audience and, at the same time himself^ feeling pardon ably proud that he can come be fore white audiences and click with 'em as he does. Opening day biz 60%. "Ladles Love Brutes" (Bancroft), feature. Ahct. STATE (Vaudfilm) Everything's' Marie HelUnger this week at the State, Special bally- hoo, special newspaper Invites, spe- cial section reserved for the scribes, special backstage grootlners and should also be special bi2. No ques tlon that the "Mirror" columnist oughta draw. Sciema ' recognized readily.enough and ballyhooable as a freak draw because of his fabloid: following. ■ ». ■ Helllnger (New Acts) -wa^ spotted in the trey. His opening show was also etherized over WHN, along with part of Ruth Ford's act (No. 2), and for the rest, of the bill from then on. Good show this week, Amaut Bros., among the top-notchers in their style ot musical-clowning, substantially sustaining the tempo. Blomberg's .^askans, dog (mala- mute) act, opens in usual manner. Ruth . Ford, Fannybriceish, ' okay deucer with a cycle of character stuff. Opens with ^'TiddlSha Flap- per,!' then does-Spanish wop, hokum ■prima and a. concluding) and cprklng high^Idcklng specialty. . Then Bellinger, followed by the Airnauts: :Their bird' stuff remains the big kl<;k€itJ, nOKjr nfbdly trimmed and hot as proloiiged =as heretbfote.. swan 'and Lewis'- Revlie,' dance flash, closed.: The .male team, pre- sumably Swan and J^w^B, are sturdy buck^andr^^wlngers.. .Giirls' .eiisemble work on /the rope.' tiEMtdec.' ^ la Ger- triide Hoffmatr-Allett' E;'FoSter acts, alnd the usual mlUtary stuff. Is sat- isfying background!' "Florodora Girl" (Davles), fea- ture. Opening da^^s initial-mat'biz fair. . . Abel. 81ST STREET (VaiidfiW , Feature picture... "Women -.liOve Briites," is the draw, over .the stage show for first halt here but. didn't draw ' much' Saiturdaky'.. afternoon; Scarcely: quarter of a bonse in. ' Stage - shbw of iOfXxe acta had plenty of diversity: but nothing .wal- lopy. Good- summer bill with all forgotten before reaching the sub- way. .- . . Arthur Prince^ ventrlloquilst, top- Uned and spotted next, to shut, got over with a wide margin on con- temporaries, on the bill with a yeii- trlloqulal nbveJLty. i -Prince has" a man-sized duminy and plants most of his act as a twosome with repar- tee, with .the dunjimy.- A-.fellow do- ing 'cop arid , gal doing goofy dame Mslait but inean 'little to the. turn, ghould ' Prince desire to chop, neither-'>would be missed; Prince and dummy do a ^ coiiple-of drunk swells' leaving a night club with repartee ^entering: around dame grabbing. . A novel, act,-^not over- burdened with comedy. Preceding were Angus and Searle, mixed foursome o£ twins,* clicking more on novelty thai^ laughs In a hpkum inistaken Identity ..skit. A Bible student and flau «ngag6 suite In hotel, later Invaded by finother couple, ex-chorine' and tippling hubby. Whatever comedy there Is, Is gleaned through shuffling of the couples with: both recognizing each other as sisters and- brothers at the tag. Act has .freshness bui needs plenty'of fuhitying up to amount. Furman, Sharkey, and Lorraine, male rathskeller trio, opened and practically copped hit hbnors of the show with some'good harmbnlz-> ing and clowning. "An Impromptu RevueV likable flash with Madge Whiteside, got over, closing. "Women Love Brutes" (Pax) on screen. Edha. evidently having a good time too. The bojra closed^ fotir-act line up led oft by a very digaified. and quiet dance turn,' TlnoVa ^and Baikoff,. assisted by Ralph Peters. Act makes splendid flash with some pip .sets and the daneera deliver some-oke stepping. Stalrted slowly but finished nicely. Spotting of next two acts should have been reversed. Adela Verne with her concert planp, but.'she spoiled her act by usinef a pit band to accompany her. Irene Cheslelgrh and Rush GIbbs next and.over nicely, with some fair chatter and a couple of songs. Lot of hoke talk, but satisfied. "He Knew Women," Radio talker. Business oke first show Saturday. PALACE (Vaudfilm) Chicago, June 21. New bill not conducive to smooth- ness with only two' wallops in two singles following each other: Venita Gould and George. JesaeU ... Don Lee and. MlleL. Xioulse, two men and four girls, dariciiig; slow opener but a click. witfr , Spanish number. Good sets, helped. In thfe deube ROy • Sedley, hokfe comic with high silk hat ahd sniall comic as foil, and girl, had mo- ments" of freshness. Smith girls' control kick dance was excellent, In center position Miss Gould caught with the Ted Lewis Imper- sonation and as big with her Chev- alier. Addition to act is a "Moanin' Low," done with bedroom set and Phil King. Nice skit but question- able for unsophisticated audiences and didn't go here. Jessel followed with his drawling Tiddish ways and two girls not here on previous appearance. One de- livered a:.FannIe Brlce Indian even to looks. Jessel a stopper. Duncan's dogs closed well. Feature, "Not Damaged" (Fox). Business off with weather very warm flrst Saturday show. Loop. STATE-LAKE (Vaudfilm) Chicago, June 21. Olsen and Johnson brought a gang here for a lot of roughhouse They rushed up and down the aisles, flred shots that were heard round the Loop and generally en Joyed themselves, with the audience HIPPODROME (Vaudfilm) Very good bill, without a displeas ing item,, current here - and being appreciated If the consistent appro'- batlon -'of a small nkattnee crowd Saturday Is regarded as'criterion. The Fox teature, "Women. Every where,'Ms worth tbe.prlce of admis sion In Itself. -j .. On the stage Jbe -E. Howard gave Joe' Marks and Co. and the debuting Tale University .Band'the closest Tale University Ba:nd' (NeW Acts) the .closest run < for entertiainment values,! which the .IctSiti t-wo equally copped, from point of,n)^lm,um.. |low.ar() .and. Mark^'^Id . their reg- ular abts. .The 'first \irlth his two girls, one at the piano and the other at the -harp, 'and. the'-kfecohd more agile. In.: his' Hebe' bbmlo' caperlngs than in.:many;a previous appear- ance. Encores were nunierous for both but, Marks got in a couple of extra ones, thereby scoring even over the. Taleites, by monkeoclng for hands. , ■ , . i ■-. '., The Tale University " musicians dldnt' miss a .bet,Meaylng .Ipeiny of the prof esslbhals'.'withbut the'circle of. gqmpi^rlson. Briino Welse Trio (NeV Acts) made, their lierch act-^versatile. by tejrnxlnatlng- It with a musical tbiich Th6y bpbiied. ' ' ' • : .Gold and-Raye. did - their regular tapping' special aiiid yet were balled out for iTiore. The burlesqued part Uked best: Abbot . and Blsland In their night club' slapstick aiid; slugging. to the mirth of the'Saturday fianis. Ovierture by Charles Stein's boys was' u)9.uai, as was . the" brgaii solos by F. Klngsley, -who is' getting ihpre popular every week' 'with a nbtice- able Improvement in his'in-between story tellings. . Plus the newsreel and trailers the entire show, also not forgetting the .bipcbres,. runs 216 ininii^es, Waly. 58TH ST. (Vaudfilm) Plenty of laughs on the first half show here with'foui: out of blx acts carded leaning to'wa^rd comedy and getting results. Biz away off like others Saturday night. Kasewell Sisters, trio, opened and got oyer in a neat routine of posing, acrobatics and bar work. The un- derstaiidei* for the balancing stunts in, early part gives additional good account In the horizontal bar stunts later. Nice act. Scott Sanders, Scotch character comedian, started the mirth pro- voking festival In follow up with monologue and characterization of a yesteryear, legit forced out by the talkers. Sa.nder's succession of chatter kept them happy. Sadie Burt, with. Jerry Green at the planp,, registered with, a song circle In next niche (New Acts) with Cunningham and Bennett'also roll- ing up a solid hit with their tab revue "Criticizing Critics." Cun- ningham does most of. his: stuff in the. auditorium ejxchanglng -repartee of wisecracks with Miss Bennett on stage and sort of 'm.c.'lng' 'ie6r the support specialty folk which in- cludes • O'Reilly --Sisters,''''dancers; Mildred Crewe, acrbbatlb' dancer; George Mpeser, d?Micer, and .Westley Thomas, pianist and hoofer. AH contribute good, specialties spacing the "Cunhin'thalh ahd" Behhett num- bers with *he 'fcombine 'faaklng for a 1 peppy-and dabsy- ofteri'hg that provoked plenty of palm: slamming. Val and Ernie Stanton ran off with comedy h'Onors of the snow In next to shut with a series of black- outs interspersed with nut comedy. "Talbot Kenny and girls, latter a foursome of specialty dancers, closed and satisfied with a fast dancing' revue. "Women Love Brutes" (Par) screen feature. Ed^a. "ACADEMY ~~ (Vaudfilm) Summer, lethargy aiflected the show here Saturday afternoon. None of the'acta could make much head-/ way agalnsli It In 1;he girl band closer, the specialty people, notably a toe dttncer doing taps, stretched their llgamehts In awesome manner but without audience response oC mention. Mir|ai^ Hoffman who directs the girl band and' megaphones' most ot the songs has a dynamic punch. Others programed outside but not Individually identified in the act are Loma Roth, Rita Howard, Joan Rlgett and Gloria LeS. Eveit Ben Blue's hokum failed te whack th'e bell although the jury consented to be moderately amused.' It may be again reported that Blue's girl' assistant. Flora Vestoff, is a nifty creature. Gilbert Bros., equilibrists, opened the show, with'Raynor Lehr and Co., fast comedy -song and dance turn, following,,and.-in turn deferring to Smith a.n4l Hart Each act htuj' been seen aroun^'.. ' ; Ruby. Norton kept the peasants engrossed. . A few punch line* would'be heaven-sent for Miss Nor- ton, who- is obliged 'to'irely too much' on' her* Sophie' 'Tticker imltatlii n i at preSent-i >6tlll,v -« neat perfomier with class Ideas. And a planoTplay.- ing assiSts^t .In -Clarence Seni^a, who - can -;, read, announcements lii rhyme and make, them sound InteU llgent ; ' " "Nut bamaged" '(Fox), on sici'eeHi. Light biz.. ' Ii'aTwi." Sam Kelly's Stock Burlesque stock goes in as sum- mer policy at the Park, Engelwood, N. J., next week with Sam Kelly operating house and stock. Company Includes Eddie Riley, Joseph Smith, Mae Cunningham, Bonnie Lord, Jack Kennelly, Mazie Ward, Elsie Lelnlnger, Ruth Hutch- inson, Larry Brooks, Mae Kennelly, Will Sullivan, Ruth Murphy and Lorraine Kelly. Harry Smith will stage the shows. wnilnm L. Mayer editing "Alr- •^torles," new air fiction monthly. FOX, BROOKLYN (Contjtnued/from page, 121) to make, up In'.draw what. the.plai>'\ ture, lacks..,,. ,, }. A fatp ^timate.for the down floor at 2 oclbck wduid place, the filds aa. representing, about biie-fourith . of ■ the audibi^d^e. House approximately four-fifths filled at -this hour; coil- sldered bbtte^' than usiial under the'. old scale land 'partlciilarly good for this time of the ygar \v;hen the . hot weather, beaches,. the country and Coney Island get,in thbir dirty work.- Osborne got the'first .craSk at the youth element. "The. 'king of the crooners," as. He bills hltriselt here, . remained, on only- nine minutes, ab« brevlatlng. hls usual routine, const^dr erably.. Singing to the mike, as. In . 'vatide, Osborne's voice reaches to the far corners bf the large house. A neat looking bunch of laids (10) . with the radio crobnader. Fox haa . dressed it up nicely hefie, with ef- fective lighting adding to Its . lm> presslveness., . . ; y ' New. : Idea - Is "liitematlonaler'!' with a flag vya'vltig: finish that -topip. anything, evei' conceived or tried, la thett finale' the girls of the en- semble ar^"'dressed In. fancy cbS- tumes of the fiag colors and de- . signs of various countries, with" many other fiags unfurled on the stage. A very colorful finish and the sort th.at tears loose that hand, no matter what has gone before. Unit Is "well staged tEtnd mounted but runs too' much to dancing and- too little tb comedy. If the danc- ing with few exceptions wasn't ex- cellent and ,the routining of num- bers original. It would be just too bad for' this Idea. Only comedy Is brief mbnolog work ot Jimiiiie Lyons, who acts as master of cere- monies, and the Incidental laughs worked Into Markell and Faun'a hoofing routine. Markell and Faun are known in vaude and picture houses. "They cop the gravy in the unit, their comedy dance fbr an encore standing out as most sure.' fire bit in unit. Frederico Flores jslngs Spanish and other numbers, vocaling fa- miliar tunes of various countries in line with the flag-fiourlshing finish. His.volc^ only,fq,ir, bOt the Spanish dance niipiber worked around one of his numbers Effective. For Japanese atmosphere, unit contains ' tHe- Osako Boys, RlsTey artiste 'add » foot Jugglers who,- through striving for . laughs, be* conie. a-'trifle too. theatrical And vaude-llke, for, best results. Their rlsley-,,routine ' outstanding when finally gbiiS into. Job R03e,''sp'eclfi.lty dancer, flolhg a fast atirobiilc number, joined the Idea with "this engagement replac- ing Jimmy Carr. Rose virtually files through I his. routine but what he does makefl little of an impres- sion. The girl ensemble with "Inter- nationale" includes dancers capable of doing specialties. A much bet- ter trained group of girls than usually with the F. & M. Ideas. • Al Lyons and the band In the pit remained there throughout, staying off the stage while Idea was on. Running time of unit, 26 min- utes. For the dcugh, 60c. Saturdays . and Sundays, all times, It's the full money's worth here. Char. Cargill's Bookings Silm Tlmblln opens for Publlx, July 7 via Jerry Cargill* Latter also booked Willie, West and McGlnty for a Paramount short. Evelyn Dyer III Evelyn Dyer, In vaude with tho Berkoffs, forced to quit the stage Indef because of ill health. / TURN TO PACE 75