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Who really performed live on stage at the
Fox Oakland Theater?
Over the years, many names have been mentioned
including such greats as Ginger Rogers, Bing Crosby, Duke
Ellington, Frank Sinatra, Gene Kupra, Ann Miller, and the
Jimmy Dorsey Band. But we don't know when they played the
Fox Oakland or for how long. We can't even confirm if they
performed live on stage or larger than life on the silver
screen!
So we need your help. Do you have a program,
a newspaper clipping, a ticket stub, or some other way to
help us determine who really performed live at the Fox Oakland
and, equally important, when they performed there? If so,
please
email FOOF.
You can also help by doing research in
the library. Look through newspapers and other sources from
the 1920s, 30s, 40s, and even 50s to see what was playing
at the Fox Oakland Theater. Make notes and/or copies of ads.
Identify major movies and important performers. Look for reviews
and copy them. If you are willing to do this kind of research,
please
email FOOF.
Among the less well-known names that played the Fox Oakland
is Hermie King, who opened the theater as its band leader
and master of ceremonies in 1928 and continued in that role
for at least three years. Hermie King Week was announced on
banners over Telegraph Avenue in the early 1930s. In 1974
he reminisced for the Oakland Tribune:
Oakland Tribune, February 3, 1974,
Pages 8EN & 9EN
By ALAN WARD
Tribune Staff Writer
Forty years ago he was Oakland’s matinee
idol, Beau Brummel, music maker. He stood well over six feet,
weighed 170 pounds and was an accomplished pianist.
Time has made a few normal changes in his
physical being, but he still stands tall, is an impeccable
dresser, has a full head of hair and a mouthful of gleaming
teeth. He still plays a great piano.
He is Hermie King, 77. He lives in San
Francisco, but he speaks of Oakland and his theater experiences
here with affection. After a humble but enjoyable musical
start at the old Columbia Theater about the time of San Francisco’s
spectacular fair he graduated to what locally can be called
‘the big time." He directed 20-piece bands at the
then newly constructed Fox Oakland Theater and later the Paramount
Theater.
In his comfortable home, situated on a
quiet tree-lined street. Hermie recalled the era when Oakland
was recognized as a top theater city when the Fox-Oakland
and Paramount and other play houses, featuring both movie
and vaudeville, flourished. His memory for the most part is
clear and concise, although he confessed the onrush of time
may have confused some dates, personalities, locations.
"Let’s start at the beginning,"
suggested Hermie. He did, telling how in his teens he was
imported by his brother, Will King, to Oakland from the family
home in Brooklyn. Hermie played piano with a four-piece combo
at the Columbia Theatre where the comedy team of Dillon and
King held forth and enjoyed a substantial reputation and patronage.
"Guess you could call our shows burlesque,"
Hermie went on, "but it was clean fast burlesque, complete
with a girl chorus, each member of which had ability and charm."
"My brother played a Jewish character.
His long-time partner, Ben Dillon, was the Irish comic with
a thick brogue. We could seat 300 people in the little theater.
A night the best seat in the house was 30 cents. Matinees
were a dime. Hucksters sold candy and other tidbits during
the show. We made money and had a happy, rewarding existence."
Hermie remembers a young candy salesman
who peddled his wares with vigor and success. The kid also
sang and with a piano-playing partner was good enough occasionally
to be featured at performances. "He sang only Irish songs
and he wasn’t Irish," said Hermie.
The lad’s name was Mervyn LeRoy. Later
in life he acquired an international reputation as a movie
director and producer.
"One of our popular chorus girls,"
reminisced Hermie "was Millie Pedro. She lived in Oakland
and had an enthusiastic following. Understand she still lives
in Oakland. I’d like to see her again. She was a real
pro."
Clair Starr was the soubrette for the Dillon
and King productions. She could dance, sing and act. She was
Will King’s wife and the sister of Hermie’s mate
of more than a half century, Hazel.
Clair Starr, still lovely and gracious,
lives with Hermie and Hazel. Will King died years ago.
San Francisco beckoned to the brothers King, and Hermie’s
reputation as a band leader, pianist, composer and master-of-ceremonies
soared. The tiny Columbia Theater on Tenth Street near Broadway
faded into obscurity, but good fortune attended the Kings.
Will continued acting solo. The production
team of Fanchon and Marco, operating for the Fox West Coast
Theaters on the Pacific Coast, reached out for Hermie who
by this time had become a polished performer, with an appearance
which made women sigh and men envious.
For more than three years, off and on,
Hermie and his big band performed at the then new Fox-Oakland,
a gorgeous edifice on Telegraph Avenue. The structure is still
there, but faded, worn and unoccupied.
Stage spectacles in the grand manner were
the forte of Fanchon and Marco. Handsome, talented Hermie
King was the musical star, particularly when performing piano
solos, fastidiously attired in white tie and tails.
The lavish stage productions were augmented
with movies. "We did a big business for a long, long
time," said Hermie. "Those were good days, although
it was evident movies were on the way up, vaudeville on the
decline."
The Paramount opened in December of 1931,
closed for economic reasons, and reopened a couple of years
later. "The Fox-Oakland," said Hermie, "was
a gorgeous theater, one of the nation’s best, but the
Paramount surpassed it in elegance. I took my band into the
Paramount under the Fanchon and Marco banner for a happy stay
– I’m not sure of the dates and they’re really
not important – but it was being realized stage shows
of this dimension were running out of time.
"I recall playing band accompaniment
both at the Fox-Oakland and Paramount, and I’m not sure
in which exact order, for the likes of Al Jolson, Ginger Rogers
and Bing Crosby. They were superior performers, those days.
"Jolson was an absolute perfectionist.
Once he was onstage he had the audience in the palm of his
hand. He had a practice of strolling through the audience,
shaking hands or exchanging pleasantries with patrons.
"Ginger Rogers was a living doll.
Bing was plugging one of his early movies, singing before
appreciative live audiences the songs he made popular in his
recording. He was great.
"Oh, yes, and I remember well the
incomparable Ted Lewis appearing in Oakland, both at the Fox-Oakland
and Paramount. There was no one quite like Lewis. His "Is
Everybody Happy?" became a catchword in the theatrical
world and you can still hear it today, although Ted has gone
and his era has long since passed."
By the mid-thirties the lush stage shows
of the Fanchon and Marco type were through. Hermie, after
appearance in Portland and Seattle, played for several months
at the San Diego Fair. Finally he and brother Will, the latter
ready to abandon the stage, opened a restaurant, The Coffee
Cup on San Francisco’s Geary Street.
"I’ll take credit," said
Hermie, "for having introduced and encouraged a young
performer. His name is Rusty Draper. He sang and played a
guitar and the public loved him. Rusty has made it big and
no one is happier than I for his success."
The handsome maestro, on whom the years
have bestowed a contentment beyond price, recalled an experience
while he and his band were playing Portland, a city which,
even as Seattle, had virtually adopted him.
"A musical comedy was being performed
on the stage. The Marx Brothers were the stars. It was "A
Night at the Opera." It was hilarious. The brothers were
wonderful men with whom to work. Later a movie was made to
become a smash hit. It gives me satisfaction to know I was
in on the creation of a classic."
It would be expected that by now he'd have
put aside his music and retired to an easy chair and carpet
slippers. Ah, but Hermie hasn’t retired though currently
he has reduced his work to two nights weekly.
For many years he played piano at Bimbo’s
late and lamented 385 Club in San Francisco. He also played,
usually six nights a week, at lounges in the theatrical district
across the Bay. One was the old Paddock Club on Powell Street,
and at the moment he is performing at the new Paddock on Geary
Street, across from the Curran Theater, on Sunday and Monday
nights.
He said, "I still enjoy my work and
the people who come in. So long as I am able to fashion a
tune, and I’m wanted, I’ll work."
"Lot’s of young people come to
hear me play. They sing. Often I sing. I’m no Crosby
but I can carry a tune. Elderly folks who have been customers
for decades drop in to say hello, tip a friendly glass and
ask me to play old favorites.
"You know, the younger folks like
the old songs. I can play hundreds of the old melodies from
memory, yet I keep up with the modern stuff. I still practice
a couple of hours daily. In my younger days I’d practice
three, four times that amount. Fingers can become stiff through
disuse."
Hermie King, still with the face, form
and tailoring which go with Rolls Royces, Cadillacs and Continentals,
has the unusual distinction of never having driven an automobile.
"Never wanted to learn to drive,"
he explained with a white-toothed smile. "Anyway, my
wife Hazel was the driver in our family. Recently she decided
not to drive anymore. Who could blame her considering the
state of traffic? We take cabs."
The Kings walk a lot, as much as two hours
a day. They find extreme pleasure walking through San Francisco,
a city they consider the world’s best. "Could I
fix you a drink?" he asked. "A Scotch and soda,
perhaps?" Guest and host sipped their drinks for a few
minutes. It was time to call it a day.
On departure this tall, personable man,
still the Beau Brummel, the matinee idol, stood on the porch,
Hazel by his side, and said goodbye extending an invitation
for a repeat visit.
"By the way," the departing guest
asked, "what is your first name? Is Hermie the diminutive
of --?"
"Herman, of course," was the
response. "But I’ve always like Hermie best."
Everybody likes Hermie.
If you have personal memories, photographs,
or memorabilia of the Fox Oakland Theater, we'd love to hear
your story. Please
email FOOF.
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