Variety (Jul 1930)

» ^ VARiEtr iEC t ril^/4T E VANITIES ' (1430) Revu^ In two parts presented at (he Mew Amsterdam, July 1, by Earl Carroll; ejjghth edition; acore by Jay Qorney, E. 3. Harburg, ' Hairold ' Arlen, Ted Kohler; dlAlos py Bddl9 Weloht and BUB$ne Cao- rad; dances staged by Le Roy Prrne; dialog staged by Priestly Morrison. Cast: Herb Williams, Jimmy 9avo, Jack Benny, Thelma White, CoUette Sisters, Piitby Kelly, Betty Veronica, Naomi Ray, Murray Bemle, Claiborne Bryson, John Hale,..Ronald .Fiedler. Faith Bacon, Harry Stockwell. Mildred and; Maurice, Billy Rolls, Edward Harrison, Vivian Fay, Loula Barrlson, Condos Brothers, Dorothy Brit- ton, Irene Ablberg, Constance Trevor, Kay Carroll, Eileen Wenzel, Frances Joyce, Marlon Carewe. With one o£ those Hollywood- lighted entrances 'the 8th edition of Earl' Carroll's "Vanttles" started at the New Amsterdam. Carroll kent to his style of s^oHV—Aplenty of girls with very little on 'em. If he had in mind that Zlegfeld's "Follies" ' usually occupied the house, he for- ; got It, for nQne of Zieggy's revues ; ' displayed as mi^ch nudity nor raw- ness. Carroll knew exactly what he was doing, billing "Vanities" promi- nently'as "meeting America's de- mand for sophisticated entertain- ment." That hardly teUs it. Notl^- ' ing this side of Paris or Port Said Is,, comparable, but everybody E^emed to agree that at least the "Folles Bergere" server its, dirt ' with more humor. "Vanities" is spectacular In. the Carroll way, and > this edition is much more so.' It has much of the : beautiful, much that is daring— ' almost the sta^re limit or over it. at \ times—a flock of girl beauty cham* plons—and as one character was nathed "Verisii(itlitty"-fa whole eve- nlrtg of It. There are 63 seines.' incliislve of /, . mitily very brief black-outs, all raw, . i and many which could and should ^ have eone out during the show's • Atlantic City try-out or before re- V hearsals. Overture started at 8:jl3 >Wltli the final curtain down very . ctos0' to midnts;ht aiid half the : lower floor in retreat; Shoiild be .: no trick to lop off 16 or 20 minutes. The. cast is more populous^^thtMijainy- eSpfoftHCJarroirs^^ It: !. dontaina!more. Qf the' fastest' diEincing specialists ever grouped[ .within one revue; ■' ' v'Most of the skits provoked smirks rather than laughs. Best laugh o£< line ..performance. came . from Herb "^llliams, but not in the flesh ai -the moment. • Skit' 18 • called " •"■VSThi&r^ '.There's a Will";'t3Ugfefi3ted by Ray ,, ittfayer). Papa, has' kicked oflt. ■ Pat: ' .niama and flock of . kl^s come - to Ekwyer's office to bear ^Ul readt tiiiwyer ■ says bequests ' will''madje: . ^a talk({ig picture' a:nd the old bp,y's . d;tugg appears on the- §creeii.., Qft^ . .4^^e9 through ^ nilcrophbhe th^ * V&rious people are mentioned and fi© coin they are • to receive, very ell synchronized to the pictured ^ids, brother and'so forth' are men^ '. tibhed and the residue, a hundred' . grand, left to Dimtiles O'Shaugh- niessy (his Saturday night) and "the only dame tliat ever gave me a : break." Nagging widow is alarmed. She squawks. Then pop provides for her—something he always wanted to do, "from the first night Of their honeymooiV—a loud rasp- berry: blackout. ■ Jack Benny good in this bit as in all others. Also Naomi Ray, sure one chunky femme. In costume she was okay, but her bare gams not so funny. Several of her bits should go, for her sake and the show's. AVilliams is using most of his vaudeville routines with "Hark, Hark," and the piano bit. Rather kOnfortunate that the latter was {spotted just before the close be ' cause When he drew the beer the front rows arose. They knew the , ^hqw - was over, and it was very ; latei Jimmy Savo aiid Benny were In the latter routine, and with Patsy Kejly; the full comedy playing strength was working on what was supposed: to be a program going on the air. ; "Vanities" has ideas both in its i^pec scenes, ensembles and skits ^'411 Quiet," a skit with th^ comics and six main beauts wprl^rtgr should iiave been funnier; anyway, it was (oo long. A skit with Miss Kelly And Savo doing a bride and grroom ^thing in a hotel lobby and bedroom, inly fair and too long, too, also very ''liie. There was a dirt snapper on a phlnese bride and groom skit, this ^'iim« Williams and Miss Kelly be- ,/,«-lng the pair. "Brown Pastures," with i/>< the pretty Dorothy Brltton, Benny j-^ brtd R live cow, seemed more comic. V i I j"Hittln' the Bottle" is the.stand- 'mt of the ensemble dance numbers. : \lt' is an extended affair comparable /bn\y to the torso and hip throwing ?-'',• of a Harlem colored floor show. Up " In the black belt it looks hot. On the Amsterdam stage it is hotter ^nd dirtier, with ever so many more ' !)ielrl8 shaking it up. Later. Carroll '/{iossed out "La, Rumba," .scened In illjthe Havana Casino. The number 'i/KCas supposed" to. be hotter thiin, "Bottles," but the girls had too much covering. Native music helped the ^ujmber rate highly, however. Carroll had some of his beauts .^afei^.on.a narrow incline, spoke neou&h a mike at the ooenine with th^ ]^)rls ansvil'ering Questions,. most of 'which were' the , rtairies 'of the credfts. Tali-, He spoke late'r^and iiitroduced In superlative tertris of Vivian Pay, his. toe7dancing "And." Miss Fay was ^o^geously built tlp> appearing for i time befbre an elab- orately adorned .curtain of' gauze that moved continuously across the stage, with groups of girls side stepping with it. When "the cur tain of splendor" Anally finished, the six leading beauts appeared from a platform of filigree and then Miss Fay again. Her spinning time after time around the stage was an aston- ishing feat. That sweet tap dancer, Thelma White, appeared in solo several times and never failed to score. Once she was on with Murray Ber- nie, whom she left alone. What that boy.showed was an eye-opener. He copped the (irst individual hit. Ber- nie is an agile buck and winger, with amazing speed and stamina. An acrobatic hoofer, Billy Rolls, scored, too, as did Edward Harrison. The Condos brothers (King and King in vaude) were near the finale with their machipe-gun buck and wing- ing. Are there, any faster steppers than they? "The Sunken Submarine" is the high light of the novelty effects. Through the glass sides of what might seem a submerged aquarium Is a ballet at the bottom of the .sea. The sirens at first seem nude, but there Is a covering of a sort. On a middle revolving disc are Mildred and Maurice, lovers. Their attitudes and coveringi-especially the man's, was alarmingly sensational (this later modified). Of the other nude numbers "Knee- deep in June" started very prettily with Miss White and the clever Col- lette Sisters, developing In the "fan dance" with Faith Bacon, the prin- cipal attraction. If she had any- thing on. It could not be detected. She sidlfully shielded her body with feathered fans, back and front, with a tiny flash of everything in the quarter light. An idea was modes within a shop window. Present again were those Carroll's beauts, Irene Ahlberg (Miss America), - Eileen Wenzell (Misis St. 'Louis),'. Prances^ Toyce (Miss San Francisco), (Constance Trevor and Kay Carroll. They arc supposed to be dummies, but Savo as the costumier finds out differently. rWhen one .of .the girls' undies drops and Savo peeked underneath the «kirt,'there'was a gaispl Finale o£ the first; part was.an ex- tended red, white and blue number, a protest against prohibition; Jblih Hale, Harry Stockwell and Calib6he ,Bryson sang the lyric "The Blues Are on Parade," with various lines :of choristers entrancing after , the several tableaux, eiuch' as Independ- :ehce Hall, ' 1776, Gettysburg with Lincoln speaking In 18ft3, over there, 1917, and' the House of Representa- tives, 1935, when "America must undo this gigantic folly." Quite a flash and a st&^e full of colored cos tumes and feathered headdresses. "Vanities" has numbers, with Hittin' the Bottle" probably the stand-out tune and raggy. "La Rumba" and "I Come to Life" aimed for the dance orchestras. Savp amused with his specialty. Benny seemed of much general aid in the humorous bits, also as m. c. and Patsy Kelly a good teammate for Herb Williams, whose comedy is a life-saver. It is Carroll's biggest revue. Maybe nothing quite as attractive as the "garden of girls" In "Sketch Book," but then this "Vanities" has so much to see and hear. Maybe Carroll will have to tone it down, but it is a show that should do a great business. Ibee. says he Is aiming toward a Holly- wood Theatre Guild, ."aecpnd to none In the 'country." Club plan of operation started a month ago With membership At W5 a year or $1,50 a month. Dues entitles mem- bers to a ticket to each show, to the monthly dances, 'muslcales and drama discourses, plus the tea and a chance to- hobnbh with the' play- ers. Stage revue goes with the dances, all with professional talent, who, as in the case of the dramatic productions, give their services free. Outsiders can get-in for $1 per. , Casts are recruited from the army of talent hoping to crash the Studios, of which there is no dearth. Urge lis that perhaps someone in the audience with • a sayso at the studios might get interested. Oc- casionally a picture player is spot- ted. Sheldon Lewis heads the next attraction, Gorky's "Lower Depths,-" and Myrna Loy Is slated for. the. lead in "Loving Wife," following. Capacity of the erstwhile stable Is 200. Run for each piece Is 10 days, with an average' attendance of around 76. Take-in- just about clears expenses. Club members do their own set- building and. to date no show has yet put th^qCt back-more than $20 for sets. Current show, with three acts In the same set, ran to (8.50 —and this is high, it is explained, because a second hand clock and extra wall pictUi^s had to be bought. Nothing palpably highbrow about the little theatre and its audience excepting the colored benches and weak tea. Brand of work before the footltghts seemed expert enough. compared with much of the No. 2 and No. 3 company efforts often encountered downtown. Sincerity of performance and il- lusion was there despite the close quarters and the home-made scen- ery. Performances better than Lu- cille La Pointe's or Frank Ball's in the mother and parson navts re- ispectively, aren't often found in regular houses —certainly not in Los Ange1e<s. TICKET PLAN Out-of-Town Review: PLAY SHOP (Little Theatre) Hollywood, July 8. Home of Hollywood's newest lit tl© theatre movement, the Play Shop is a one-story building which originally was a stable, later a worksiiop for a sculptor, but more recently, until the prohis got wise, a Bohemian-tinged restaurant which earned fame for its good home brew. On a side street and within a stone's throw of Radio studios in one direction and Columbia the other, the theatre looks just like another Hollywood bungalow. The only outward evidence of its pro fossionalism Is a sign, painted by a not too expert hand, calling at tention to the current bill. Beverage of its former existence has given way to tea. This and the gaily painted benches, alter nating in pink, green, blue and red, are the only arty affectations if the standard of the current bill, Ibsen's "Ghosts," can' be taken as a cri-t tcrloh. Play shop is In its second transi- tion, starting four years ago as the Cordova Play Shop, With a stage 15' by 16'. Stage now . used is at least 30 feet wide. The organizer, Ralph Herman, (Continued from page 53) Up the acicredited agencies and dis- covered in some cases that 50% of the allotments were- unsold.- - The box office then requested early re- turns so that sales could be made and a ."dump" avoided at 7:30. Most of the unsold agency tickets were sent back as requested. "Vanities" received excellent box office notices, but failed to actually sell out on either Friday or Saturday night, al-" though well over capacity on the latter day's matinee. Those Diggers Plenty oj^ckets werej UtttfTned by the agerfSies. not-recognized by sthe Leagnie, by the obvious means of digging. Diggers appeared to have no trouble getting good tickets from the accredited agencies eveVi. A complaint of payment of |26 for two ^Vanities" tickets traced them to a hotel agency, which In turn merely said the tickets had come to it through two or three other hands If that happens with one show, it Is hard to see how tickets can be kept from the independent agencies when a dozen or more shows are ^n high demand when the season starls. Re ports of tickets being sol^ to the smaller agencies at $11 each ($6.60 at box office) were rather frequent, although no abnormal demand was evidenced. One feature of the League plan Is patent. Brokers In making buys have used their judgment, going to out of town showings and advising the management as to how many tickets they would buy nightly, with the usual 10% return privilege the rule. Under the League the broker need not and cannot use any judg- ment. He gets a set percentage of tickets for each house, granted the show is good enough for agencies to sell. The advantage, therefore, goes to those agencies getting the biggest allotments, they taking no, chance of being stuck because they can re turn all unsold tickets. Dumps into cut rates will, therefore, not be made by brokers. Lower floor tick ets must be allotted the cut rates by the theatres if they are to be sold at bargain rates. Extra Tickets The accredited agencies can buy additional tickets on telephone order within 2 hours of any performance It was first believed such extra tickets could not be obtained until .after 7:30 for any night perform ance. High prices for agency tick ets usually come via patrons who make up th^ir minds suddenly to at tend a show and don't cnre what the cost is. However, If the regular agencies fill any such orders, they win be on a 75-cent premium basis. The League opened offices on the 17th floor of the Paramount build Ing Tuesday, with Col. Harlow D. Savage, the former vice-president of International Combustion, in charge Equity C(Kist Meinber$- (Contln-aed f,rpm po|ge 5?) en step^e^ forWord;an(^ (|4M/ "WeUl take ft!" Repedteloiiy waiiMied against these sort of things, with knowledge of how and with what, most of the. loctil- shpws ai-e'put, pn,; acto.rq stiq keep ponilng and wind.' up by taking it on the chin. Picture Oil Not only standard stage people, but picture actors as well and even more so are easy prey for the ang- ling promoter who hands out a: bril- liant line of piffle as to how the producers and. dlrebtors w}ll see 'em on the stage and walk back to the dressing rooms .with . contracts In their hands. That the picture actor falls and falls hard for this sort of chatter is proven by the fact that in almost every show produced out here at least half of the cast are former screen satellites. When .the talkers first usurped the silent screen at least therp was some rea- sonable excuse for the silent picture player either learning or trying to prove that he could talk, and the stage provided that eiitl^t. But now, with the picture business more' or less stabilized as far as the talkers go, the actor or actress trying to prove anything by'.' tpi^arlng In somie mekntnjsless play^i's Just Wast- ing time. Equity, while cognizant of the facts, remains In a neutral position. A promoter walking Into the Equity office and planking down , a bond for two weelfs salary,, regardless of his status and reputation, seems ble to go ahead with .a show. And for everyone of these promoters who have the dough to put tip for the first two weeks, there are many others who start out strictly on the cuff. There are many Equity contracts now being held by actors for shows which didn't open. and for which no bond was posted. Equity members who waive the bond usually stage a wind-up at the labor commissioner's office. In the—Eq'uIty__6Ace.. Jvere_. a... sign.. Is. posted announcing that Equity do^s not recommend or encourage actors going Into shows that are not Equity bonded. But Equity shrugs its shoulders and admits It Is power- less to cope with the situation when actors persist on Ignoring that sign and taking their own ohilnces. Public Gets the idea Result of this condition must in- 'evitably show itself upon the legit business as a whole out here. Where fly- by-n lght shows .keep going In ■and out7'TKe effect must reach oiit to the public, to the exetent that when a good show on the up and up, does come in sometimes nobody will believe It. In the past few months there have been a number ol|*eastern plays brought out here which under normal conditions and circumstances should have gotten some money. Included In this group were several established New York hits, but not a single one of these plays proportionately got over. And the majority flopped terribly. Th.e recent debacle of the Duffy houses was the last Indication that legit is on edge of the cliff out here The Duffy shows at $1.25 top didn't help the legit situation any either For any other show at $2 and $2.50 had to be plenty good and outstand ing before the public would shell out that kind of money. Even Duffy himself had' to get fiurt In the boomerang that followed. Legit may yet be revived out here, but not until the shoestringers and promoters aie cleaned out, real showmen take hold of the situation and actors get wise to themselves. Weber Haceil %rlesqiie,* Walters Didn't fkj Hnn A verdict for $2,666 has been filed in the City Court In favot of Isaao N. Weber against George. W. Wat- tors'* as author of tfie play "Bur- lesque." The complaint alleged that Watters tried for a long time to get a production of the play, ai>d, unsuc- cessful, agreed to pay Weber 16%' of any royalties received If he got the play produced. Weber alleged that he persuaded Lawrence Weber and Arthur Hop- kins to put on the play, whidi was a success, and that they have since paid Watters $10,000. Paris Sound Parley Cast Changies Marion Allen and Marie Wood Powers replaced Mary Thayer and Jessie Royce Landis in "Solid South" (Harris), Chicago. (Continued from page 7) prepared -to meet the financial terms of the Germans, but only on an in- flexible condition that there should be no German legislation—particu- larly in the direction of quota rules —that would nullify, the value of what the Americans felt they had bought. The German delegation promised' to see to this condition, but has been unable to deliver anything when brought down to brass tacks, since the' Berlin government refuses to be bound by any pledge oh legis- lative program for the futilre. As a. consequence the conference Is seeking merely an adjustment of sound patent difficulties, all under- standings on this point being sub- :e-t to nulllflcatlon by adverse leg- islation. This would leave the onus of an eventual disaster upon the German government if It supported quota legislation of a restrictive naturo following the conference. Big Quarantees Asked Muchenmelstei: o£-the..T.obIs..D.utch. group Is Insisting upon big money guarantees, while the German elec- trics are more easily dealt with, since tliey are risking more If the conference fails. The result Is that It Is difficult to get one German group to agrea to terms that are acceptable to an- other group, necessitating constant revisions of tentative agreements and an elaboration of many differ- ent negotiations. Aai . .n ^example of the Intricate nature of dealings, the case of Fox presents special features since Fox alone uses the flashing lamp prin- ciple Involved in the TrI-Ergon patents. . This angle- calls for sep- arate negotiations conducted by Dr. Paul Koretz, assisted by Bavetta, the latter traveling several times to Vienna on special points that have arisen. Again the Warners' position Is pe- culiar as an all-around agreement on patents might jeopardize the $1,000,000 Warners already have paid Tobis for a share In profits. All talk of moving the conference to Berlin Is cold. Both sides are. trying hard to agree and prefer a long siege, here, leading to even- tual success to the dreaded failure ot the. whole objective.. The Germans' well known effi- ciency to give themselves a break on any diplomatic or similar parleys is causing Will Hays to approach Maurice Devles, the banker-head of the Gaumont-Aubert-Franco merger, io use his influence on the Crermans. G-A-F has an intej'national ar- rangement as to production and dlstribi^tlon with TobIs and UFA and Is actually now producing with K French crfew at Tobls and UFA'S, studios at Tempelhof and Neuba- belsberg, hence Devles' Influence ia counted as quite, impressive. Harry M. Warner Is refraining from any Interference, despite the Warner- Tobls affiliations. Helen Lind, formerly with the "Little Show," makes her first talk Ing short for Paramount next week at the New York Studios. Clarence Jacobson was appointed as his aide in the handling and check- ing up of ticket allotments. Jacob son is a theatre treasurer, recently at the Cohan theatre. He is a prac- tical ticket man, necessary to check and change allotments when ordered. While "Vanities" is working under League rules, the system does not officially start until week after next (July 21). Only one show this week and none dUe next, and a real test of the League dotiblful until Labor Day or later. Berlin,. July 8. The new German film quota bill, known as the Ermaechtigungs Gesctz (enabling law?), was passed by the Reichstag. Earlier Berlin (iables outlined the proposed legislation as in elfect a. continuation of the former quota law which leaves only half the Ger- man market open to foreign product. Curt Sobernheim, banker and chief of the Tobls group, sought to obtain government relaxation of the quota regulations, journeying from the Paris sound conferences to Berlin for the purpose. It becomes apparent that his mission was In vain.