Variety (Jul 1930)

46 VARIETY NEW ACTS Wednesday, July 16, 1930 EDDIE DOWLING and Co. (6) Novelty 30 Mins.; Full and Ono Albee, Brooklyn (V-P) Eddie Dowlingr has a real novelty In the turn he is using for one of his periodical returns to the va- rieties. Turn carries "teaser" blll- Iflsr, promising a surprise. The surprise comes with the Juvenile comedian's introduction of a group of old time specialty stars, who do not figure In the billing of program. Act opens with Dowling doing a brief bit of monolog and dialog song stuff, a specialty of which he holds real trouper command. His song bit with a verse In Irish, one In Yid- dish and one in Italian is a neat Item. Thence he calls for request numbers, singing several of the numbers from his recent pictures, notably "Sleepy Valley" from "The Rainbow Man." Then he goes Into an announce- ment calling attention to the group of old time stars who are with him, the number including Dave Genaro, called the creator of the cake walk craze; Lizzie Wilson, who was flrst to use the "Schoenes Gartenhaus" lyric; Tom Harris, dancing come- , dian who, Dowling declares, once entertained Lincoln and is now 86; Corinne, whom he describes as once second only to Lillian Russell as the toast of Broadway; Josephine Sabel, who was in the Incandescents in the 90's, and finally Sam Morton, head of the Four "Mortons family, ojnce among the leaders of famous stage families. Each one does his or her bit to the accompaniment of smooth run- ning chatter from Dowling, who m". c.'s his followers to a fare-ye- well, working on the sentimental strain that builds the old timers up to a continuous applause riot. Genaro does an elaborate version of the cake walk steps he did with 'Ray Bailey; Tom Harris, despite his 86, does an astonishingly nimble bit of buck and wing; Corlnnfr crashes in full white tights and a mandolin to sing one of her famous song numbers in a surprisingly, strong and fresh voice, and for the flnjdh all six go Into a cake walk contest, dressed In appropriate minstrel clothes of wild color and eye-com- '■^'^elllng materials, climaxing with Genaro and Miss Sabel doing the complete old time Genaro and Bailey strut finish. Dowling presiding over this sen- timental revel and making its fine old associations count in a gracious and charming way, gives the turn a splendid atmosphere. Feature is bound to count at the bok office, particularly along Broadway and in other towns where the Dowling name means billing value. Stunt is capable of elaborate exploitation, both by word of mouth and in the usual publicity channels. Question of billing these old timers should be considered for ex ploitation as well as In advance publicity. All names In their re- spective days, and might bring out the old time patrons, while to the younger people they are samples of the old vaudeville. Rush. SAXON, REED and KENNY "Just Kidding" (Skit) 15 Mine.; One R-K-O 86th St. (V-P) Polly Saxon heads a bright little act credited to Eugene Conrad wherein she, as the bootlegger's daughter, interrupts Miss Reed and Mr. Kenny, who's at the ivories throughout In their vaude act. Kenny rides Miss Saxon for not waiting for him In the wings, in- stead of busting in on the stage that way, but the bootlegger's daughter continues doing biz Just the same with the musicians, off- stage, etc. The nonsense is developed from this in a consistently bright man- ner, dovetailing into a comedy number. "You Should Hear Me Sing When I'm in the Bathtub," by the first- named of the trio. Act is being groomed for an R-K-O unit show, and as such, or on its own, it's an okay early spot- ter. Ahel. MILLER and MARX Revue (13) Band and Specialties 27 Mine.; Full (Special) 68th St. (V-P) Miller and Marx, eccentric tap dancers, formerly did a three-act with a girl. They're now In front of an eight-piece stage bartd, with an m. c. and a sister team assisting. Act, through the Miller and Marx dancing and snappy arrangement of the various specialties, classifies as reliable vaude, with youthfulness among its assets. M. c. can sing and does, twice. One number Is "OV Man River," well done. Sister team has two solo chances before the finale, making three changes in all, and doing the same kick routine In their second number as in the first, but for a few changed tricks .and ; the new cos- tumes. Although the m. c. an- nounces the second kick number as a "soft shoe dance" it's okay. Miller and Mara hold a dance ' competition toward the finish and get some comedy out of it, the act's only co medy , besides the results on their hooBiig;: Band~ls-tssTc: Good looking draped set. Bige. Anatole Friedland's 20TH CENTURY REVUE (12) 35 Mine.; One, Full and Screen Palace (St.) Anatole Friedland's "20th Cen- tury Revue," sans Friedland In the act excepting for his movietone m, c.'ing from off the sound-screen, starts off better than it winds up. Introducing itself with a bright idea, the revue still has the makin's, for there is ample room for improvement. At the baby grand one sees and hear the songwriter- m.c. on the screen discoursing on the Movietone-Vitaphone's short- comings as against the personal ap- pearance on the stage. The girls are seen coming from the miniature stage on the screen onto Fried- land's grand piano, which Is on a level with the stage floor, and they burst through the paper screen in synchronization with the film ac- tion, thus making their stage en- trance. It was an applause-getting novelty starter.. Irving Edwards Is the act's m. c. Edwards has been around and re- calls himself as having been in a "Vxinlties" last season. He Is re- mindful of Lou Holtz in action If not dialect and paces the act well. Tourloff, fast whirling Russian tap stepster, and Loretta Dennlson in a xylophone-dance (not Will. Mahoney's idea) are the two feature specialists. Miss Dennlson dances while she plays the xylo. Una Cooper, Eddie Ray, tapster, and Bobby Bernard, in a military song number, also with cinematic back- ground, are the other programed soloists. In between the novelty opener and an attempt at a "Chauve Sourls" Russian finale, the se quence is disjointed and in spots quite ordinary. Act procedure as a result is altogether too Irregular and lacking In the essential sub- stance. It's not a flash in the sense of numbers or imposing production and the Individual specialties are not big enough to quite put it over. The tenor's "Tramp, Tramp" song is kind of cornfed and the kid could be better presented in some other manner of balladeering. Miss Dennlson's'clarlhet, xylo and dance work is also susceptible to bettei^ bringing out. Act has the timber which will ulr timately be carpentered into a more finished job. Abel. "Memories of Great Composers" (7) Vocal and Musical 15 Mins.t Two and Full (Special) 58th St. (V-P) Four men and three women sing- ing, dancing and playing the violin to music classics. Victorian attire for dignity. Scenery rich looking, the "two" set particularly novel. Everything in the class manner, but with thlq class remaining within the ken of the average vaude audi- ence. Slow but feood in its refined way. The men all are vocalists, the four Joining as a quartet and the tenor stepping out for duets with the act's soprano. Another woman toe dancer and the third is a vlo- Ilnlste. Names are Seoma Jupraner. Mary Spoor, Mile. Rosamond, Miriam Chester and Bachelor Three. Biae. Cals Soft Job Rates No. 3 EASTON and HOWELL Comedy and Instrumental 13 Mins.; One 58th St. (V-P) IE the comedian of this colored two-man act will go out and dig himself some niateria^l Easton and Howell will hop to the front rank of colored comedy turns. This fel- low has an idea in his makeup and steals a laugh or two with psntc- mime, but his tallc is wealc and merely wastes time as is. Ho has everything but the material to niaU.: a good low comic. The straight man, with a. rlc appearance, a pleasant singhig voice and an uncanny way of stunliirr on various instruments, Is the strength at present. He wiiackH the devil out of a uke, jazzes wunn- ly on the fiddle and gives a good all around performance. Tliey double on one of tliose nildi^et pumii organs that the Salvation Anr.y folic play on the streets. It's a novelty lor the stage. Not bad the way it stauclP, but with better talk wotjid imvc- nioio sUiidinff. Bige. CASA and LEHN (6) "Hollywood Scandals" (Skit) 17 Mins.; One and Three (Specials) Palace (St.) Casa and Lehn are standard ada- gioists, but here they have extended themselves into quite a pretentious novelty and comedy act, good as at the Palace for the deuce grade. Be- sides themselves, there are four nice looking girls in support. Each of the supporting quartet has a yearn for individually dis- playing personation prowess as Texas Guinan, Helen Rane, Char- lotte Greenwood and Fannie Brice. The man, as a picture director, casts them in a hokum dramalet an<k each plays her role a la Tex, Fan- nie?-Ghp.rlott^afld-Helen-for-brlgM returns. From that the stellar team goes into their hokum tert work. It's a servicable novelty act, okc for anywheres, and too strong for as early a groove as No. 2. Al»el. DARb and COSTA (4) Dance Flash 15 Mine.; Full 8l8t St. (V-P) About 10 of this turn's 15 minutes of running time are hardly better than build-up moments for Gina Daro and Ray Costa's closing dance, an adagio involving some danger- ous swings, striking catches and a few diflloult falls by the girl. That number slides the turn over. Rest of time spent in a waltz and tango by the principals, of wlilcK the tango Is best; two tap dances by a boy and a piano solo by the man accompanist. Latter could and should be dropped. Daro and Costa are good looking couple, the man somewhat remind- ful of Tony DeMarco in looks ard style. Bige. Sandwichery's Premiere (Continued from page 1) usual amount of studio lights plus a three-station broadcast hook-up. Affair was relayed from the sand- wich shop by remote. control, with Leo Forbstein's Vltaphone orchestra of 40 pieces and the Hollywood Legion Band of 40. Besides were a flock of radio and picture names, including Vernon Richard,, Rythm Boys, the Girl Friends, Jean Howard and others.' Broadcast ran for two hours,' with the talent figures running close to $6,000. Fighting for Corners The new drlve-ln eateries are getting to be the nerts out here, springing up on every corner over- looked by the gasoline companies and midget golf operators. It's logic that the motorists would rather eat in their cars than get out, particularly where the parking problem enters. In the drlve-ln spots the Swiss on rye is carried out to the car, with the occupants sitting out the dance. While this opening was not the biggest local air bally for a non- theatrical opening, it ranks high among ether blurbs for small con- cerns. Gasolind companies are among the biggest radio users on the Coast and frequently give two- hour 'broadcasts over the Coast net- work. Standard oil is about the only one that has topped the Saun- ders broadcast, using the Philhar- monic orchestra ta do it. Local radio stations frown on giving a one-time account more than ian hour's broadcast, on the grounds that it cuts Into the regular time alloted the steady customers. Fighting for the choice hours here, as all over the country, is the big problem with the advertiser. With th« hours between 6 and 7 p. m. the big money getters, the stations think twice before making a switch-which will leave the steadies out in the cold. JEAN FLORIAN Juggler 12 Mins.; one Empire, Paris Florian uses various sets of rub- ber balls which lie throws about and catches either on various parts of his body or on sticks he holds in his mouth. He stopped the show cold. "White satin costume and neat appearance make the act vf>ry ef- fect ive. Maxi. GINESTRA (2) Acrobats 9 Mins.; three Empire, Paris Clo.sed the bill and worth a much better spot, stopping the general walkout during the closing net that is customary at the Empire. Man find girl do some coii.'iplcu- ously dllTicult calisthenics on the lloor. M(ix\. TALKERS'JFFECTS (Continued from page 1) too, some of the legit actresses feel that Hollywood girls often seem cut from the same pattern to a monotonous extent. "Almost everyone is tempted to become a blonde once they get to Hollywood," said Miss Claire, "but after they have been there awhile they think that perhaps brunet col- oring would be a bit of a change." Quite often stage people who have not devoted themselves exclusively to pictures are likely to return to Kroadway more untheatrical than when they left. Miss Claire hardly expected to find Broadway existing when she got back. The dire reports heard about legit show business on the coast led her to believe that there would hardly be a stage play run- ning. Miss Claire is a bit peeved about being back. She wanted to con- tinue in picture work but was called by a Schwab & Mandel contract which she signed two years ago. (Continued from page 1) Hearst as a real estate partner and is credited with having picked the sites for the present Ritz Tower^, the Warwick and other buildings controlled by the Hearst Interests around 69th street. When Brisbane was on the N. Y. "Journal," he ran his saliary up to 1100,000 annually, but recently with his wide syndica- tion which extends beyond the Hearst papers, Arthur has been do- ing better for himself. ' Next to Brisbane In point of rev- enue from dally thoughts Is Will Rogers. His stuff is also widely syndicated and bought In New York by "The Times," which has featured it for several years on the first page of its second section. It is figured that Rogers makes about $3,000 weekly on his daily utter- ances. Now comes Cal. His life has been a steady rise. He used to be In the Massachusetts legislature, which didn't pay , Im- portant money, and as Governor of Mass. he was also outside the Big Money. Even as Vice-President of the United States he wasn't in> the Upper Dough, since the Job, when he had it, was worth $12,500 a year. When Coolldge became President, his salary was $75,000 a year and keep, the latter quite a nice allow- ance for loolting after the house and entertaining. In Life insurance After leaving the Presidency, Cal accepted a post on the board of directors of the New York Life In- surance Comliany, which, having a nice new building down on 4th ave- nue, wanted a nice new director. It is said that when he attends the meetings of the Board he gets a goldplece, as do other directors, but he has also done some missionary work at a price unrevealed. Last year he went to New Orleans and California, but when his picture was taken by the sound cameramen, he didn't say anything about his com- pany. Thought the air was nice though, or at least gave the im- pression that he though that. Wasn't very definite. Neither did the papers mention the N. Y. Life. Coolldge was acquired by the New York Life in a peculiar man- ner. A public relations counsel (ritz for p. a.) went to a meeting of the directors and asked what it should be worth If he would get the name 6f the company on all front pages the same day. They toldJulm $100,- 000. He told them to get Coolldge on the Board, a smart thought since the former president, up to that time, hadn't been busy. Since that time Mr. Cooldige has been very active. He wrote a series of articles for Hearst's "Cosmopoli- tan" magazine. He wrote his Auto- biography, which has been pub- lished. Mrs. Coolldge's poems have been printed, both by "Cosmopoli- tan" and "Good Housekeeping." And most recently, Cal has taken to do- ing a dally message on conditions, tils general thesis seems to be that conditions may be bad, but that we shouldn't yell so much about it. Because of its position as the foremost Republican organ of the country ."The Herald Tribune" in New York, has the Coolldge stuff sewed up for all local territory. It pays the McClure syndicate $150 daily and doesn't use the line credit- ing the Syndicate with the stuff's ownership. This by arrangement: After the first appearance of the Coolldge stuff, which the "H-Trib" ha,d ballyhooe4_widely, It was said that the paper's circulation had gone up over 17,000 daily, a, neat warm-weather increase. Odd's Gross After Cal rates Odd Mclntyre, whose column is widely used all over the country. Odd's income is now rated at more than $1,500 weekly, from syndication alone. His circulation has been Increasing with the years despite the whacks th.it some of his New York competitors give him, for they can't seem to get it through their heads that Odd Is an artist, knowing his con- stituency pretty well and writing what he thinks they'll like best. Winchell on the "Dally Mirror' draws $500 weekly and a cut on his syndication, which has been grow- ing and now goes about 45 papers. For a broadcasting period of 1 minutes weekly—and he gets guest star who takes up 10—he draws $300. For magazine stories he now demands $500 and gets It sometimes. All in all, figuring his share of the syndicate sales. Win chell runs -to about $1,200 weekly income. With his wife and kids in California he's living In a $3 a day room in a Times Square hostelry. Broun Number six, Is Heywood (Broun HeywQod's Income has recently been augmented nicely by his en- gagement to broadcast nightly over the Columbia Broadcasting System. He writes a dally column for the N. Y. "Telegram," which la syn- dicated to other Scrlpps-Howard papers, some of which use It and some of which don't. As a syndicated Item, Broun Is no leader. ' For "The National" he writes a weekly page, which prob- ably doesn't mean a great deal financially since "The Nation" isn't one of the heavy paying Journals. Broun, according to guessers, should be rated about $1,000 weekly, with a good share of this coming from the broadcasting. He also drew down either a little money or a new hat recently by endorsing some $1.96 brand sold In the Ham- merstein theatre building. Picture of Heywood, all colored up to look pretty, in the window, with his new hat on. The endorsement says it's a good hat and that he likes it. Hellinger's Wife Heliinger, who draws $500 weekly from, the "Mirror," has been, for the past month, getting $1,600 a week for acting on the Loew circuit. Hellinger's wife, Gladys Glad, Is also a columnist on the "Mirror," doing a beauty piece dally. It is a burnup to both Winchell and Heliinger that her fan mail trumps their combined total. Mrs. Hellin- ger's salary Is set at $200 as a guar- antee against her share of the syn- dicate sales. This Is rated as an asset to Heliinger, whose liability Is a sport runabout of uncertain years. In Chicago R. H. L. (Dick. Lit- tle), on "The Tribune," Is rated at about $360 a week, and very popu- lar In his territory. He has held his post for more than 10 years, and was one of those put on to fill the big shoes left by B. L. T. (Bert Leston Taylor) who Invented the title "A Llno'type or Two." Several were put In Taylor's place; Little Is the one who has made good. Sobol's Progress Getting back to New York, Louis Sobol, on "The Graphic" here, has come along beautifully since he took over the Job that was Wlnchell's. Sobol started at a fairly modest figure, and is now getting $300. He was ordered at first to follow the Winchell style and had to do it. But more recently Sobol has been using his own ideas more widely and aa a reporter he ranks better and bet- ter, since he has, within the past few weeks, turned up several tips which have developed into big news story, the Sherry wedding, for one. Then F. P. A., oldest of the local columnists save Brisbane, In years and point of service. His contract with "The World" is said to be for $13,600 annually, with a year or so to go. Young Skolsky Sidney Skolsky, now the "N. Y. Daily News" columnist,* Is a $250 payroller around his office. Six years ago he was running a mimeo- graph machine in the Sam Harris press department and writing stories on the side. His stories were being printed, but he got fired when his boss insisted that he take his name off of them. Sid went with another press agent who also want- ed to take credit for the kid's work, but then he got a Job of his own, p. a. for Earl Carroll. It was while he was In this post -that -lie- began - a. serle3- X)f Times Square Tintypes for "The Sun," which made him well known about the theatrical area. When Heliin- ger left "The News" to go on "The Afirror" Skolsky was sent for and took the Job, but was scared stiff. He asked Carroll to hold his old Job open for him. But he got over be- ing scared and is now settled, liked by his office because he has passed 'the test—of how much mail does he attract. Although not a general column- ist Grantland Rice is rated for an annual income of over $50,000 for his SportUght Column, in addition to a good income through his sport- ing short subjects for the screen. As this complllatlon of the sala- ries columnists draw down goes on the idea percolates that the reason Cal didn't choose to run again w:a9 that he knew there was more to be made on the outside. As President he got $75,000. As columnist it's over $120,000 and shorter hour.«, with less worry, and he can do a w.eck's work in one day, taking tin- rest of the week, Including Sunday, for something else.