Gangster
On four accounts the name of Samuel Lionel ("Roxy") Rothafel was featured in last week's news: He resigned as manager of the Roxy cinemansion in Manhattan "to enter a much wider field of activity." He was mentioned as probable general director of Radio City, big midtown amusement centre being developed by John Davison Rockefeller Jr. and Radio Corp. of America. He was awarded the first biennial medal of the Music Division of the New York City Federation of Women's Clubs as "the person who has done most to advance the cause of music in the City of New York." With a company of 70, his "Gang," he prepared to set forth on a two-month tour.*
Roxy was chosen to receive the New York Federation's award for his service to masses rather than classes. The Roxy orchestra plays symphonic music 365 days out of the year to people who would never hear any otherwise. During the Depression most orchestras have been cutting down on personnel. Roxy increased his to 125. He recently launched a series of 20 Sunday-morning $1 concerts for the benefit of unemployed musicians.
The masses have been meat & drink to Roxy since 1907 when in Forest City, Pa. he gave his first moving-picture show, using a vacant storeroom and seats borrowed from an undertaker. His career before that was varied. His parents moved to Manhattan from Stillwater, Minn, when he was 12, set him to work as cash boy in a 14th Street department store. He peddled books for a while, served seven years with the Marines. The movie experiment in Forest City settled his ambition. He ran theatres in Minneapolis and Milwaukee before he returned to Manhattan, started elaborating his programs, including semi-serious divertissements. Roxy's Gang and its radio fame date from the days when he managed the Capitol Theatre. Its success is based on the familiar, back-slapping way in which Roxy masters ceremonies. In his tense, high-pitched New-Yorkese he makes every skit seem a bargain. Typical Roxy introduction: "Hello Everybody! Now you're going to hear the greatest little girl. . . ." The "greatest little girl" in Roxy's present gang is Contralto Ernestine Schumann-Heink, 69, who will perform twice daily throughout the tour.
February Records
Some phonograph records are musical events. Each month TIME notes the note-worthy.*
Sibelius' First Symphony by Conductor Robert Kajanus and Symphony Orchestra (Columbia, $7.50)--Great, gaunt music played by the fellow Finn who is Sibelius' chosen interpreter. The Finnish Government is proudly helping to finance the recording of the seven Sibelius symphonies.
Beethoven's First Symphony by the New York Philharmonic-Symphony under Willem Mengelberg (Victor, $8)--A capable performance by the Dutchman who last year left the U. S. because he could not play a capable second fiddle to Conductor Arturo Toscanini. The recording is excellent.
Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet by Conductor Willem Mengelberg and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra (Columbia, $4)--Toscanini would scorn playing this popular love music inspired by Tchaikovsky's unrequited passion for a French singing actress. Mengelberg and his home orchestra give it a glowing performance.
Ravel's Ma Mere I'Oye by the Boston Symphony under Sergei Koussevitzky (Victor, $4)--Mother Goose music which appeals more to sophisticated grown-ups than to children. Koussevitzky's Ravel is unsurpassed, this recording one of the clearest ever made.
Rimsky-Korsakov's Cog d'Or, Introduction and Bridal Cortege by the Lamoureux Orchestra of Paris under Albert Wolff (Brunswick, $1.50)--Cunningly spun colors faithfully reproduced.
Opera: Lucia di Lammermoor, The Mad Scene by Soprano Lily Pons (Victor, $2)--The Metropolitan's diminutive dark horse sings the aria which last month made her famous in an afternoon.
Chamber Music: Mozart's Quintet in G Minor by the Lener String Quartet and Violinist L. D'Oliviera (Columbia, $6)--The Budapest stringmen contribute their 3Oth notable album.
Piano: Chopin's Sonata in B Flat Minor by Sergei Rachmaninoff (Victor, $6.50)--An expert plays the famed Funeral March Sonata. Forte passages cry for the invention of some device to perfect piano recording.
Songs & Ballads: Reaching for the Moon and Overnight (Columbia)--Aided by unusual accompaniments, Ruth Etting outdoes herself.
Those Gambler's Blues and Pistol Packin' Papa (Victor)--Jimmie Rodgers drones and yodels and strums his guitar.
Dance Records: Reaching for the Moon and Lonesome Lover (Columbia)--For those who have been waiting for a good waltz record. The first, by Irving Berlin, has the languorous flavor of gypsy music.
Mood Indigo and When a Black Man's Blue (Victor)--Black Duke Ellington improvises in a minor mood. Victor names it Popular Record-of-the-Month.
Come a Little Closer and You're the One I Care For (Brunswick)--Tom Gerun combines mellow horns and a smooth, steady piano.
Blue Pacific Moonlight and You Didn't Have to Tell Me (Columbia)--The first is slow sleek motion done in Guy Lombardo's best style.
To Whom It May Concern and Blue Again (Victor)--Bert Lown's saxophones (Manhattan's Hotel Biltmore) honey the first. Ellington trumpets hot-step the second.
* Cities where Roxy & Gang will appear in February: Brooklyn, Washington, Baltimore, Reading, Manhattan, White Plains, Providence, Newburgh, Springfield, Hartford, Buffalo, Rochester, Toronto, Toledo, Detroit, Cincinnati, Dayton, Louisville, Nashville, Knoxville. March bookings are pending in Jacksonville, Montgomery, Atlanta, New Orleans, Houston, Beaumont, Dallas, Fort Worth, Kansas City, Sioux City, Milwaukee, Chicago, Cleveland.
* Prices listed are for entire albums which include several records. Where the price is not given, it is 75-c-, standard rate for popular 10-inch records.
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