Putnam patriot., 1930-02-13

for an hour to sing at a private party at high price, goes back to his club and then, in the very small hours or the morning goes to some other night club Co relax by dancing for an hour | or so.
 Our interest was aroused, and so we herewith went to Villa Vallee. l the night club which Rudy himself conducts in East Sixtieth Street. In smoky hall, completely jammed with perspiring humanity unusually well supplied with hip fasks for even these prohibition times. we found q short young man with q tired face, rather puffy eyes and somewhat sentimental expression, singing in- cessantly into a silver mierophone For his patrons there was very little Nallee. They were permitted to see the genius at his work but very little of his erooning was for their benefit His piaintive voice was lost inside the microphone Just the same, the crowd applauded when each number was completed Finally, having paid Mir. Nallee's price of admission, one of our party politely asked if he was to sing for the audience at any time during the evening Thereupon with a somewhat bored air. Mir. Vallee picked up his megaphone and crooned a bit, a verse or two We scarcely heard any of it. Mir. Vallee didn't seem to care whether We had or not. He turned his back to the rapturous applause and picked up the micro phone again and gave his talents over once more Co the ladies and gentle men of the radio audience.
 Up 10 Harlem
 We are not of those who yearn for the over-advertised antics of darky Harlem and when some friends of ours insisted the other night that we let sleep go to the devil and we go to Harlem We fiatly refused but we were wheedled into it and finally. about f230 q. m.. we en-eabbed for the great Savoy Ballroom away up in the very heart of the Black Belt We were surprised, amused and interested at what We saw. 4 great dancing floor, one of the largest we have ever seen, completely peopled with darkies from the lightest shades of yellow to the blackest of the black. They were dane ing with a rhythm. a joy. an instinct and an abandon which no similar white crowd could even pretend to initiate Their steps were of the most difficult and intricate but never were they without grace Moreover. We saw no drunken people. no disorder of any kind. What We did see was the race at it's best, healthily enjoying itself. An amusing feature of the evening occurred when one of the most fa- nous of the white dancers of the stage stepped on the floor with an equally famous white woman dancer and essayed to initiate the now cur rent popular negro step Do what he could he could not compete with the negroes dancing In the argot of the theatre he was. for once. a complete flop Then. after we had watched the dancers for an hour or more. our guide took us to q tiny darkv restaur- ant where we had the most delicious fried chicken We have ever tasted After all t was not the Harlem of Carl van Veehton that we had seen, perhaps but it was q Harlem where decent type of negro was enjoying himself in a most decent fashion.
 The New Plays
 In the last fortnight in the theatre the most important hit has been the new George Gerwin affair. Strike Up the Band. which came into the Sel- wyn Theatre and has been ''sell- out" at every performance. The fea- ture comedians are Clark < McCul- tough the former vaudeville team Of which the irrcpressible Bobby Clark Is the really sereamingly funny mem ber Strike Up the Band" has a great deal Co oifer-a book which is an ex- cellent satire on war splendid Gersh- win music with excel ent lyrics by Ira Gershwin and besides that. any show that possesses the irrepressible Clark has a gold mine of laughs. Next to Ed Wynne, he is our chosen comedian. After Strike Up the Band" the next important opening was that of Miss Katherine Corhell in a most melo- dramatic affair entitled "Dishonored Lady" The play is the work of the same Mrs Barnes and Edward Shel- don who wrote Miss Cornell's other vehicle, the dramatization of Mrs. Wharton's Age of Innocence We haven't seen the Cornell play and probably we shan't. Miss Cornell and her London accent which is frequent ly, too frequently. broken into by aH undeniable Buffalo (N. Y.) burr, has never been one of our favorites. But the critics say it is good and per haps 1t is. Another one of the ladies of the theatre whom we really don't care whether we see or not is Miss Grace George and We went the other night. willy nilly, to see her perform St. John Ervine's excellent, fl fa- miliar. comedy. "The Second Mrs. Fraser" which for the past few months has been serving as a tremen- dously successful hit in London for the truly ineomparable Marie Temp est. We liked the play, especially an almost brilliant third act, but instead of the blonde and sonorous Miss George we'd have given a crossing Co have seen Marie Tempest herself. In every scene you could see how she must have turned every phrase.
 J. ]. W.