The Moving Picture World (1907)

THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD. 703 SUNDAY TEST CASE PUT OVER; FORTY ARRESTED. David Robinson, manager of the Colonial Theater, who was one of forty theatrical men arrested for alleged violations of the new Sunday lav/, was arraigned in the West Side Court on Monday, 23d inst, but this case, practically a test of the new ordinance, was adjourned until Thursday morning, because of the absence of the Corporation Counsel. The Robinson case is being watched by all the other theatrical managers of the city, for upon its disposition depends a decision as to the exact character of the shows they may give on Sunday and stay within the provisions of the Doull ordinance. Robinson was served with a summons by Captain Farrel, of the West Sixty-eighth street station, because of a Sunday lecture, with moving pictures, given at the Colonial Theater. Magistrate Wahle was disinclined to hear the case until a representative of the Corporation Counsel's office was present He notified the Corporation Counsel to have one of his assistants present Thursday to give the city's view, of the meaning of the . new law. ■ Manager Robinson was served with a new summons, and other summonses were issued for John Floyd Humes, the lecturer, who gave a talk on "Panama" at the theater; Edward J. O'Neill, the ticket seller, and Joseph Michaels, the door man at the theater. , After the adjournment of the hearing William Grossman, counsel for Robinson and for most of the other theatrical men of the city, declared that there had been no violation of the new law. "This lecture on 'Panama,'" said Mr. Grossman, "was "cer- tainly an educational feature in the performance, as required by the Doull ordinance. We will fight this case to the end and we feel sure that we are going to win." Among those arrested in Manhattan were Bernard Supple, ticket taker; Frank Gray, electrician, and Edward Cullinan and John Glass, ticket sellers, at a moving picture show in No. 1498 Third avenue; Abe Newman and George Gaa, managers at No. 155 East Broadway; Joseph M. Goldstein and Harry Hosin, managers at No. 43s East Broadway. Samuel Truman, at No. 8 Bowery, had obtained an injunc- tion, but when the police saw the moving pictures they disre- garded it and arrested him. An injunction was disregarded also in Brooklyn, when Morris Reisman, manager of a moving pic- ture show at No. 1155 Broadway, was arrested. Other arrests in Brooklyn were: Thomas E. Finn, John Callahan and Thomas O'Hara, at the Majestic Theater; George Candl and Edward Senbert, at No. 837 Broadway; Charles Spriemer, No. 388 Court street; Abraham Halprin, No. 604 Broadway; John Fitzgerald, at Blaney's Theater. At all these places moving pictures were being shown. The police also stopped a public ball at No. 91 Grand street and arrested the manager, John Travis. At both the Majestic and Blaney's the police made two visits, afternoon and evening. All the prisoners secured bail. The regular .concerts- were given at the 'Metropolitan and Manhattan Opera houses, and the Symphony concert at Carnegie Hall. Dance halls and skating rinks were not interfered with, although many "of the larger ones did not try to open. Scores of moving picture shows were kept closed. The great trouble of the day was the scarcity of "educational" performers. So few were the acts that could be put on under the new Sunday Amusement law that Oscar Hammerstein, Keith & Proctor and Percy Williams started an exchange plan and hurried the performers from theater to theater in autos. The^ transfer of performers among the downtown theaters caused many amusing incidents. When the managers came to look over the acts they had to draw from, they discovered that from twenty-five to fifty per cent, could not be used. Therefore Hammerstein's Victoria, Percy Williams's Colonial and Keith & Proctors Twenty-third Street theaters combined. Corinne, who is a "head-liner" at the Victoria, was put on second, and then hurried to the Twenty-third street house. Fields and Ward rushed from the Victoria to the Colonial, and ; Howard and Howard to the Twenty-third Street The_ illness of Marie Lloyd, who 'was billed at the Twenty-third Street, I added to the troubles of that house. At Keith & Proctor's Fifth avenue house "The Passion Play" in pictures had been advertised, and was given, protected by an injunction. Bob Webb, a former detective sergeant, and now tenor in the Big City Quartette, sang five hymns as the pictures were shown. Justice Greenbaum to-day renewed Keith & Proctor's injunc- "tion restraining Commissioner Bingham from interfering next Sunday with the performance at the Fifth Avenue Theater. Performers were brought in from nearby cities where there are no Sunday shows. They came to town, worked afternoon and evening for double prices, and returned late at night, with fares paid both ways. Among the places in the Tenderloin that were protected by injunctions were Tammany Hall, Teutonia Hall, Shepard's Mov- ing Picture Show in the Manhattan Theater, which did a big business; JEden Musee, Lyric Hall and Fiss, Doerr & Carroll's skating rink, in Twenty fourth street. On the East Side injunctions had been secured by the Murray Hill Lyceum, Maennerchor Hall, Terrace Garden, the Palm - Garden, in Fifty-eighth street, New Plaza Assembly Rooms, Tuxedo Hall and the Yorkville Casino. Some of the smaller places were open, and when the police tried to buy tickets they were informed that it was an "invitation affair." So it was, but the invitations were delivera ■ by the managers to their friends, who sold them to their friends. The Imperial Lyceum at Fifty-fifth street and Third avenue was closed twice and the crowd driven into the street. Some of the small dance halls ran with shades down and were not dis-f i turbed. - : A "sacred" concert was given at the Dewey Theater, in Fourr teenth street, at Conrad's German Theater, in Irving place, and at the Murray Hill Theater. At the Yorkville Theater a show was put on, but most of the audience left before it was over. ■ Most of the star performers were able to appear in some kind of an act. At the Colonial May Irwin did her regular "turn," and Robert Hilliard gave a recitation. The Empire City Quar- tette and the Romany Opera Company also appeared. At the New York Theater Louis Mann, Fred Niblo and Josephine Cohan appeared. At the Victoria, besides Corinne, and Fields and Ward, the audience heard Billy Gould, Frank Bush and others. Percy Williams summed it all up, saying: "If the people of this city don't want Sunday shows, then I don't know anything about it. This is the. worst show night in the year—the Sunday before Christmas—and yet, with the shows we are allowed to give, we are drawing very good, houses." * * * THE SUNDAY TROUBLE. ..«•■' New York. The Harlem Comedy Theater in West 125th street endeavored to brave the policemen, and Captain Walsh, of the East 126th street precinct and his men made several arrests there. Three arrests had been made there the previous Sunday. _ Supreme Court Justice Marean in Brooklyn issued an injunction on .the application of Solomon Brill and William Fox, of the Greater New York Film Rental Company, proprietors of the place. Cap- tain Walsh received a "copy of the injunction, but he asserted it covered only a place run by the men in Brooklyn. Their lawyers advised them, however, it also was broad enough to cover their Harlem place. Walsh investigated the license for the Harlem place and found it was in the name of Louis Rosen- bluth and that the names of Brill and Fox did not appear. "Make arrests .there if they attempt to open," Inspector Thompson said when Captain Walsh reported the situation to him. - Papers in contempt proceedings which had been issued against Captain Walsh by Justice Marean were served on. the policeman on Saturday. Despite that, when the theater opened Patrolman Hession arrested Edward Harris, 17 years old, of No. 233 Di- vision street, the cashier. That arrest did not serve to close the place, and ten minutes afterward it was in full blast again. Detectives arrested John Beskind, another cashier; Eugene Hun- nenden, who was taking tickets, and Joseph Patti, who was working a moving picture machine. Warning was served there would be further arrests if necessary. The owners of the place were defiant, and half an hour afterward Henrietta Kelly, cash- ier ; John Burns, ticket taker, and Otto Getti, moving picture machine operator, were taken to the police station. Two uni- formed policemen then were stationed in front of the place. They warned the pleasure-seekers not to enter. * * * Canon William Sheafe Chase, of Christ P. E. Church, who has been one of the most persistent fighters against Sunday theat- ricals, made this statement this morning: . "Alderman Doull's ordinance will give legal opportunity for the vaudeville theatres and the moving picture shows to open on the Sunday before Christmas. The ordirance will rot «tand