PUPPETS AND REVUE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 August 1939, Page 2

PUPPETS AND REVUE

AN ALL-AMERICAN SHOW. Box plans are now open at Nimmo’s for the all-American variety show being brought to Masterton on August 28 by Sir Benjamin Fuller —"Funz-a-Poppin,’ ” headed by Salici’s famous Parisian Puppets—an amazing company of marionettes complete with dancers, singers, pianists, jazz band; marionettes who live, clown, and do remarkable acts on the stage. Salici’s Puppets are a tradition in Europe, England and America, and now it is Masterton’s turn to see the celebrated company of versatile “people." Alex. Gerber, producer for -Funz-a-Poppin,’ ” is the man who wrote plays and composed songs for Eddie Cantor, Al Jolson, and Fanny Brice. Mr Gerber's song, “Funz-a-Poppin,’ ” was specially written for the coming show. In the Salici Puppet entertainment is a Neapolitan scene, with moon and realistic effects, and this forms the background for a remarkable performance by swing dancers, butterfly dancers, clowns, acrobats, and singers, while the marionette that smokes is sheer magic. Headliners in the revue include Tommy “Bozo” Synder, noted Broadway pantomimic comedian; Harry Boss and Eddie Edwards; top-notch American comedians; Murray Greene and Elsa Lang, musical comedy artists; Jack Bickle, youthful dance star; Loretta Grey, Pepper-pot comedienne; June and Trudell Van, Hollywood twins; Dorothy Holbrook, leading dancer with the Twelve Dancing Debutantes, celebrated dance team from the New York Radio City Music Hall; and an old friend in Bobby Morris, recently here with the Hollywood Hotel Revue. An orchestra under Joseph Clauser is another feature of a startling show, produced- on spectacular lines.