GET FRONT ROW SEATS AT KEITH-ALBEE

A spark of stage wit, the faculty of knowing when and how to break away from the regular routine speech with an immediate answer for every question, is that which distinguishes a Houdini, a Thurston, from the magician Blackstone, the feature of this week's Keith-Albee bill. Mr. Blackstone exhibits a complete performance of the accepted sleight-of-hand tricks with the ease of Keller, but he lacks the vital touch of spontaneity.

If you have seen all the great feature tricks before, in more capable hands, go again and enjoy your neighbors. Get close to the front, and be discreet in your choice of companions for the next two hours, and without burdening your own mind other than opening the door of its receiving tube, you will learn the solution of every trick just before the gun is shot in front of you, or the paper broken on the stage. The blending of the "Behind his back"s, "False slide"s, "Easee, easee"s, "Get e idear"s, gives you a comfortable feeling of your own superiority.

Three other reasons for the advised seats are the Alexander Sisters, whose tap and Apache dancing is distinctly good. Personality walks onto the stage in Fred Lightner, and after a few moments exposure walks off again, when the magician's act begins.

"Big News", an all-talking picture of newspaper life, starring Robert Armstrong, Carol Lombard, and Sam Hardy, holds your interest to the end. The cynical, sarcastic atmosphere of the news room is there: the big scoop, the ceaseless waste of energy. Even a trite denouncements brought about through a dictaphone roll, does not blemish the effect of the whole.