With a carefully selected cast of very Gallic variety artists, the "Continental Varieties of 1936" opened at the Shubert Tuesday for a week's run thus allowing its star, Lucienne Boyer, to take up her Boston activities where she left off last season. Although the show is constructed mainly as a buildup for Miss Boyer's dramatic renditions of striking French ballads, it has its merits of its own, which the reviewer found as diverting as the talents of la belle diseuse. The performers are few in number and diverse in talent, but they all possess a great deal of that je ne sais quoi which makes variety entertaining. Charm is the word, though an inadequate one. The acts are arranged cleverly enough to allow not a single let-down, and the pace of the show accelerates to a last act which roused the opening night audience to resounding applause.

Georges Andre Martin acts as master of ceremonies with considerable suaveness and a nice sort of Chevalier accent. He justifies himself in the second act with a most unusual and amusing novelty. With the spotlight focused on a black table top, he causes two fingers of each hand to move so that they give an exact imitation of the more popular dance styles. Raphael, the well known concertina player, has, under his French plumber's exterior, the soul and talent of the lighter and more dazzling classics which stop the show for numerous encores. The Rocky brothers dance lightly and spiritedly with their comely partner, Helen Gray, and Pils and Tabet sing several very funny songs with delightful zest. The musical backround is provided by Iza Volpin's very capable continental quartet.

La Boyer is her vibrant charming self. She still has that intimate night-club manner which endears her to a large slice of the public and she sings in her dramatic way several noteworthy new songs. She has something which seems to make everybody forget that her voice is not among the best. Yes, she sings "Parlez-moi d'Amour."