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ent000812-028
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N The BERNARD BROTHERS, direct- ly from London's Palladium, crack up audiences nightly at the Palm Island Latin Quarter where they share top billing with comedian Sue Carson, the Bob DeVoys Trio and other sensational acts in thejabulous Donn Arden revue. ous a Wrong Button Palm Island Latin Quarter showgirl Janie Thomas was selected to | be one of the two girls to pose prettily in the flower festooned cages that swing out over the customer's heads on a concealed track during JTljaiL^rdeji^ exciting West Indies Ima^sc^niPThe cages are marked forward and reverse. Much to Janie's horror the other night, after (being retracted backstage in the usual manner at the closing of the show, someb ody pushed the wrong lever and the- petite blonde found herself catapulting forth, front and center to | hang before a cheering crowd. The I "Bird of Paradise" had to take a JMiltown to calm her jangled I nerves. Wednesday, X&JfejJzFff Eye Cafe Circuit RYrMiamiLO's Aed Coast's Moulin Plans are in the works to form a nitery circuit out of the Latin Quarters in New York and Miami Beach plus the Moulin Rouge, Hollywood. Frank Sennes, operator of the Moulin Rouge, was in New York last week conferring with E. M. Loew and Eddie Ris- man, Latin Quarter operator and general manager, respectively, on the possibilities of booking all three spots as a circuit which could give some acts more than a full year of consecutive work. Sennes also books the Desert Inn, Las Vegas, and other niteries, but these wouldn't be included on the loop. Sennes previously agented Donn Arden, who produces the shows at the Moulin Rouge, to act in a similar capacity for the N.Y. L. Q His first full-fledged effort in the N.Y. spot will take place in January. Coincident with the Arden booking at the Latin Quarter had been a report that some alterations would be made in the N.Y. spot to permit the Moulin Rouge production- numbers to be utilized. However, it's not considered feasible to alter the LQ along the lines of the Moulin Rouge stage. Sennes said that, at this time, the only exchange would be in ideas and costumes. PftRIETY Latin Quarter, M. B'ch Miami Beach, Dec. 27. Donn Arden production of "Holiday/ For Love/' with Sue Carson, Bernard Bros., Queti Clavijo, Bob DeVoye Trio, Rudy Cardenas, Gina Gerardi, Martha Errolle, John Ju- liano, Gene Varrone, Tony Mack, Ray Kyle; staged by Arden; original music and lyrics, Pony Sherrill, Phil Moody; costumes, Freddie Wittop; musical direction, Walter Nye. With ex-partner Lou Walters gone to his own spot up-beach, E. M. Loew has brought in Donn Arden as producer for his refurbished Palm Island landmark, and obviously, he's handed him a handsome budget for initial staging m> der the new regime. Arden has come through in great style. His production is an opulent, glittering affair that sustains pace and imagination in group concepts throughout the 90-odd minutes it takes up the ceiling-mirrored new stage installed. The solo acts around which the whole is framed are all worked in smoothly, and on their own average out as show-stoppers to heighten overall impact on the audience. Impression is left that this is probably the best show seen in this room in several seasons. The Bob DeVoye Trio initiate the show-stops with their fast, modern-adagio routines; Sue Carson whams with special material tailored to her "wide-eyed innocent" approach to the sly lyric and the broad, incisive lampoons of top singers styles, notably Lena Home and Pearl Bailey; and the third of the topliner three; the Bernard Bros., are back after a couple of years to again big-hit with panto- biz to nutty recording mixups that befit their flair for burlesquing their platter subjects. The heavy mitting is on a continuous rise. Credit Arden's artful stagings for building the click aura via his colorful groupings and clever concepts in the basic book. It's an international grabbag to allow for addition of set-pieces' and backgrounds, integral parts of the production. Tiny Gina Gerardi provides the soubret role with verve and excitement; Martha Errolle is a handsome soprano who lends grace to her numbers, notably in the "La Scala Time" operatic insert with tenor Gene Varrone. Rudy Cardenas and his fast and furious ball-and-hat tricks end sock novelty; Queti Clavijo raises tabler cheers with her expert flanfenco stomps worked out on a tiny drum as stage. The line and showgals are all lookers who handle assignments in assured, effective manner. Arden's choreography is fluid and as noted, imaginative and original in the patterning. He makes excellent use of the male contingent, both in vocal and dance stuff, to stamp the revue as one of the best in town and a strong lure for attracting the patronage to the Island location from the hotel-row mainstem. Walter Nye rates a special nod for his batoning, a chore made the more difficult by use of a scrim to separate the orch from the production up front. The principals remain until mid-January, when Milton Berle and company arrive for a six-week stay. Lary. Beverly Mills, Newport "Newport, Ky., Dec. 27. Jack E. Leonard,-Trio Shmeed, Tippy & Cobina, Donn Arden Dancers (10) with Clay Mondey, Ronny Meren, Ellie StWtin; Gardner Benedict Orch (10), Jimmy Wilber Trio, Larry Vincent; $3 minimum, $4 Sat. A merry variety blend is concocted for Greater Cincinnati cafe society during the holiday fort- nighter by John Croft, impresario of northern Kentucky's ace casino. Jack E. Leonard, portly, needling punster, and the Tippy & Cobina monkeyshines whip up gales of laughter and the Swiss Shmeeds supply a delightful musical novelty. The highly talented Donn Arden ensemble, with Clay Mondey as new singing emcee, tops off two production routines with a candlelight number for Noel trim. This is Leonard's second visit with "New Thin Fat Man" billing and high-speed delivery. Barbs at patrons and management and blue- plate stag spicing wind through his half-hour yockcycle. Manuel & Marita Viera's monks, Tippy & Cobina, are up to their old tricks with toggery changes, bike riding, roller skating, piano pounding, organ playing and imitations of Durante, Liberace, et al. With them this trip is a chimp, Toto, who is heavy on name takeoffs. The Shmeeds, chic blonde Claire and her brothers Willie and Werner, win favor in an 18-minute session of Alps singing, yodeling and piano and clarinet capers with dixieland and cha-cha beats. Show opening Jan. 3 has Patti Moore & Ben Lessy, and Eddie Peabody. Koll.