New York Clipper (Feb 1923)

30 FebTOary 14, 1923 DEATHS FRANCIS' lOCHAEI. BYRNE, actor, died bit wtdt at the - PlaTcn' Oab. d a bnia bcmorrfaase orcrtakinff him witliin two honn after hi* Uoodaj evenins peiformanee in "Jita'a Auoement'* at the C^edy Theatre, in which he waa leading man. Fnndt IC Byme wai bom at Ncwjort, R. I, wbidl place he left to attend a dramatic school in apite of his pamta* wishn to send him to Boston Tech. He fint appeared on the stage with Hodieaka twentr-dght Tcacs ago and later played the part of I^vid the fatmei's boy in ""Way Down East." He joined the Fnwier stock company" in San Francisco and later played in slock in Montreal for two yeata. In New York he gained fame as the leading man in Kose Stahl's ron of "The Cliama Lady" and hia impersonation of the Ficnchman in "Aims and the Girl" with Fay Bainter delighted many theatre-goers for. months. Aa leading man in "NInety. night and later playi he otlUithcd himself in recent years as a light comedian of nnoioal ment. Three years ago he wanted to celebrate his qoaiter of a centniy on the stage but was prcTcnted by an opeiatioo he had to have for Uie remoral of gaU stones.' Some of his fnends think he nerer fully recovered from the effeeta. At the Players' Oub. 16 Cramcicy Park, of which he had beeti a member for many years. Byrne was discovered nnconicious lying on a coach near a fireplace. A pbytScian waa nHed but no medical aiil could help the actor, who died the following morning. The body was shipped to Newport to the home ol his bfother where the foheial wiH lake place. BE»IE llOONEY HOWAW. ol the Uany M. Strouse -T^kni the Town" companr, Cdom- bU w^ show, died on lannary 30tt, at the South Side Hospital. Pitbbuigh, Pa., after an attack of pncnmonia. e ^i. lira. Hnwaid was wardrobe mistress of the Sltouse show and had been connected with the Stnose atmctiona foi- three years, ller hnslnnd waa property man of the show "fo ''SS"" panicd the body to her home at Sotix Cty, CCSTwhere she was boned oq F*. 2. FSm»I ISSie. were held « ^k°"h?^^^ In addition to her hnsband Mr. Howaid is urvived hy a sen and a daogfater. MAY NAUDAIN, for the last twenty years a singer in light opeia and mnjic^ «eae<^. ana Wif? of Chitei a: George, New York byiker. died hi Jacksonvinc. FJa.. on Thursday ol last week altei a brief Ulness. Mrs. Gcoreo was the danghter of .in Omaha stage dftot in 1904 in "It Happened m Nord. land" and btrr. immediately before her marriage In -The Girls of Cotienberg." She waa macned to Ceoige in WW and left the stage; retoTning six years later to sing the leading lOle tn "Kalinka," later aopcaring in tight opeim at the Park Theatre. She had been regarded as a great beauty and had been edocate d tor grana opeta. having a soprano voice of great range and swcctnes:!. HENRY R06FNBCRC veteian showman, K'oneer thMlre builder associated with war ammerstein in the development of the eaAest Hariem and Bronx Theatres, and his wife Anna Riwnberg. who were inseparable dniing the lort?- stK years of iheir mgmed hie; died . witain twenty.foor hours of each other and both were buried Tuesday with a joiat fuuenl aemce. Kenry Rosenberg waa ® yeaia oC age and his wife. Anna, water of Oscar Hammenteui MS a ye«F» old. They both contrat^ pnen- monia recently and the former died Sunday evening, just twenty-four honra after his lile s companion who passed awv on ^'■I?*','!?!',: ing, at their home in the Esplanade Hotel. 74th Street and West End Avenim. , ^ . Mr. Rosenbetg bnilt the first theatre in the Branx. the Metropolis Theatre, and with Oscar Hammerstein he was interested m the manage- ment of the Colombas. atleiward called Oie 12jlh Street Theatre. Harlem; the Olympic, afterward the New York -Theatre, and the old Victoria. Seveial years ago Mr. Rosenbenc retiied from active boainess and he and Mrs. Rosenberg had spent a great deal of time in recent years in travel and sightseeing together. Three tens survive them. They are Walter, widely known in theatrical dreles as Walter Rcade. who controls a cirenit of theatres: Jerome and Leo Rosenberg. ■ ., , _ . „. The donble funeral was held from rampbell « Funeral Churdh at ten r'clock Tuesday mnimng. WtLUAM HANLON. acrobat, fnrmeily nf Ranlon Brothen, died last Wednesday at the Artrrs' Fnml Home, on Stateo Island, aged 17. He was bon hi Manchester, England in JAM nnil Liter formed an acrobatic troupe in which «ix ner-beta of the family finally took part. When the offering came to thia eountiy it had .woe spectacniar features to it. Thii was per- fnrmeil .without nets of any kind a'^d <me_ol the btolhrn fell gnd was Hied while playing Ffka's Open House in Caocmnab. ^Sn.bse- qnently a safety net was mvented by William. Althmeh all ol the btothera took a hand m prepaiing the illnsions and devices, Willam was the inrmtor of most ot them. Alfred and Fred- erick Il ni'n died seme time agu, and William has been a CTClt at the Actors' Fond Home since 193). Edward Uanlon hves at 244 West 99lb street, and George lives at 1060 Amster- '**'Se*ReveTend Ndaan MoOer read the Inneia] service at the FVattmal Church. £6th street and Btoadwav. Buiiat bofc place at Cohaaaet. where William lived Ibr many yean. HOUGH IN SECOND DIVCHtCE SUIT Will M. Hough, who, with Howard and Adams, was the author of several mosieal comedy successes, the most notable bang "The Time, the Place and the Girl" and "The Stubborn CindereHa" and most of whose plays were marked hits in Chicago but were not so fortunate in New York, was last week re-sued for divorce b^ his wife, Mrs. Florence Lord Hough, m an action brought in the Special Term, Fart I, of the Supreme Court before Justice Gtqr. Hoti'gh^ married his wife, then Florence Lord, dztiieiiter of Daniel M. Lord, of the Lord and Thomas advertising agency, of Chicago, on September 12, 1910. Accord- ing to her complaint he traveled with her a good deal after their marriage but did not coniine his expenditures to her and she was granted a divorce nineteen months after their wedding. In 1915 they were married again and started housekeeping in Evanston, IIL, but according to Bfrs. Hough, four years later Hough again started to buy her railroad tickets in order to have her out of the way. In her complaint the wife states- she gathered evidence of her husband's alleged misconduct in New York, Illinois and Pennsylvania, the women being unknown to. her with the exception of one. Mrs. .\rlinc Oe Campi Brcnnaii, known on the stage as Boling, of the vaudeville team of Boling and Kelscr, whose husband was killed in the subway, at 72nd street, last year. Mrs. Hough is suing for $250 a week alimony and $2,500 coimscl fees. She states that she is without means of in- come and says that ber husband has $106,- 400 in bonds besides his royalties, and gives his income as $18,000 a year. She also asks the custody of their four-year;Old boy and permission to resume her maiden name. In another action, brought in Special Term. Part II, Hough, through his at- torneys, Blandy, Mooney & Shipman, re- quests permission to sec his boy. "WHY NOT' FOR NATIONAL "Why Not," the Jesse Lynch Williams comedy which is being presented by the Equity Players at the Equity-Forty-Eighth Street Theatre, is scheduled to move to the National Theatre on Monday. Febru- ary 26, under a non-Equity management, replacing Winthrop Ames' "Will Shake- speare," the current attraction there, which ends its run on February 24. Much secrecy is being maintained aliout the arrangements that were made with the Equity Players for the appearance of Jane Gray and the other members of the cast under the auspices of an outside manage- ment. This management is composed of Charles Miller, manager of the Equity- Forty-cighth Street Theatre, and Jules Murry, general booking manager for the Shubcrts, who is said to represent Lcc Shubert in the project. It is said that the Equity members who have been hacking the Equity Players in their own theatre and who have been meet- ing their assessments for the project, have been insisting on a certain portion of the gross nr profits of the play when it leaves their theatre. The e.-cact terms and con- ditions were not agreed upon early this week, and when inquiries were made iboul the matter, from some of those concerned in it, they were indignant that word had Rotten out that the change of management Iiad been contemplated. "Why not" is the third of the Equity productions produced at the Equity thea- tre'and is the only one which was able to show any sort of financial return to re- lieve the stress on the purposes of the backers of the project. So. therefore, the members feel that any profit made by the play should be shared. MME. KATZ GOING ABROAD Mme. Freda Katz. the- theatrical cos- tumer. will sail for Europe about the mid- dle of March. She will visit London and Paris, with the idea of searching for novel designs and ideas for next season. She will also buy merchandise, which will be shipped to this country. Mme. Katz will be away about eight weeks. DICKEY APPUCATION DENIED Supreme Court Justice Charles C. Giiy last week denied an ap^Ucation for an in- jtmctioD, made by Patil Dickey, that would restiain Mindlin, Goldreyer & Mingold, Inc- from presenting "The Last Warning" at the Klaw Theatre. Bickeiton, Wittenberg and Fleisher rep- resented Dickey, and Mr. Wittenberg, who argued the motion for the permaneot in- junction, stated that Dickey was called in to doctor the play after it had been shown out of town and could not attract an audi- ence, and that only after Dickey had made certain suggestions for changes and altera- tions was the play a success. He claimed that the producers refused to agree to Dickejr's terms, but that they utilized his material, and tor that reason Dickey was entitled to have the play stopped. David L. Podell, who appeared on behalf of the producers, ofifered in evidence clip- pings from newspapers in Waterbury, Hartford and other New England cities, which said that the play was a "pronounced and sensational success" before Dickey had even seen the play. He contended, there- fore, that it was not Dickey's genius that made the play. , . At this point Justice Guy interrupted by saying, "New England criticism in literao' matters have always been highly regarded and that the criticisms from Waterbury and Hartford were nothing to be sneezed at" Podell then continued by saying that Dickey attended the dress rehearsal and opening performance of the play at the Klaw Theatre and congratulated both the producers and the authors of the play on . Its success, and that at that time he made no claim to authorship or genius, but that he waited until the play had been a pro- nounced success and then thought he might be entitled to huge royalties for his al- leged ideas. _ In rendering his decision, Justice Guy said: "A man who cuts a window in my house does not thereby become the owner of the house, and the doctor who heals a broken leg does not become the owner of the pa- tient, and so repainting the scenery or put- ting back a tarantula does not entitle a man to claim authorship of a dramatic pro- duction where the producers are under con- tract with the_ author of a book or play." He then inquired of the attorneys whether all great authors and dramatists gained their reputation by repainting scenery and cutting windows. "If so." he said, "it looks like an easy business." Upon this point Mr. Wittenberg differed \vith the Court and argued that the doctor who heals a broken leg is entitled to com- iwnsation. The Court then continued and said, "He is not entitled to stop the patient from breathing or living, and so you are not en- titled to stop this production. You may sue at law for such compensation as you may have earned, but there can be no in- junction granted here to stop this play." Mr. Wittenberg then argued that the de- fendants be required to furnish a bond. The Court refused the application on the ground that Dickey did not claim to have any contract and that his part in the pro- duction, even according to his own claims, was of such minor character that he saw no justification for exacting a bond. LETTER LIST STROLLING PLAYERS TO DO THREE The Strolling Player will produce three one-act plays for th'e benefit of the Heck- scher Foundation for Children at the Children's Theatre, Fifth avenue, between 104th and lOSth streets, on the evenings of Tuesday and Wednesday, Februar>- 20 and 21. Professional players who are lending their services include Mabel DeVries, Ger- trude Alexander, Frances Mellor, Edward Van Vechten and others. The scenery has been designed by Oiristopher Rule. LEE SHUBERT IN PALM BEACH Lee Shubert, accompanied by his secre- tary. Jack Morris. left last week for a short sqjonm at Palm Beach, Fla. J. J. Shubert took over the duties of hb brother in the New York offices imtil Tuesday night, when he was stricken with an at- tack of the grippe and ordered by his physician to go to bed. uoia Atboton, Yale (His. Msdnr) BtOa. Ha. K. BnnoDii, BtUe Bobbaiil. Lola Cooraf, Patir Buit, JulU Foil. Ons QUDCr. BDthlA HBilte. Batffc Harper, C1«« Kno, Lft Batm, Elflc BcaMod, Ifn. Bmolda. BUUe Wuvml, EHCD4 > fiEflUEBEl Btkcr, Biv BeaiB Am Pm- dncUoo Co, Benr. Kr. cisit. mar Ono. miUp K. Ucaly, Ma Bsipir. Wm. KtltoD, Amn Msishsu. a a Hstao. Wm. F. mo anxru. Od c , Clias. TsodiT, 8i4aej "SMARTER SET' MANAGER SUES Eustace C Brown, Salem Tut Whitney, J. Homer Tut and the production, "The Smarter Set," are named as co-defendants in a suit filed in the Third District Muni- cipal Court by Henry D. Collins, who is seeking to recover the sum of $85326 which he alleges is due him for salary and expenditures when he was manager of "The Smarter Set" In the complaint, Collins sets forth that he was engaged as company manager of "The Smarter Set," from March 12th to July 2, 1920, at a salary of $75 per week and was authorized to make certain ex- penditures. A total of $1,898 was due him, he alleges, of which $1,275 was salary- and the balance money which he expended. He viras paid $1,044, he claims, and the balance is what he is suing for. KINGSTON TRIP CANCELLED The receipt of a message from Florenz Ziegfeld in Palm Beach, Fla., as he was about to depart for the steamer prevented Samuel F. Kingston, general manager of the Ziegfeld enterprises, sailing for Eng- land last Saturday. Kingston was to have gone abroad for a four-week stay to attend to some of Ziegfeld's business ^road and arrange for the appearance of Billie Burke in "Jlose Briar" at the St. James Theatre, London, in May. The message from Ziegfeld asked Kings- ton to defer his trip for two weeks until he returned to New York from the South and had completed the cast for "Laughing^ Lena," the new musical comedy in which Fanny Brice is to be starred. PASSION PLAY GIVEN The ninth season of the Passion Play ("Veronica's Veil") was begun this week in Hoboken, under the auspices of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in West Hoboken, N. J., under the directicm of the Rev. Conrad Elvin, C. P. Many well known people were present at the opening night, including Senator Edward I. Ed- wards and Mayor W.. G. Weller of Hoboken, who introduced the former Gov- ernor. The play. Will be given twice on Sun- days and on every Tuesday and Thursday evening during Lent, making forty-five performances in all. IMOGENE TAYLOR WED Washin-cto.v, Feb. 12.—Cards are out announcing the marriage of H. Sonnour ^yalcott, prominent business man of thi» city, tc Miss Imogene Taylor, actress and daughter of L. Stoddard Taylor, manager of the Shuberl-Garrick Tlieatre here. The bride has had a wide career on the Stage, having played whh Grace George,. Madam Fiske and at one time had a prom- inoit role in "The Man Who Came BacJc" Last summer she played in stock at the Shubert-Gan-ick here. "SHUFFLE ALONG" LEAVING Chicago, Feb. 10.—"Shuffle Along" will end its long nm at the Olympic. The show will close two weeks from next Sat- urday, going to Milwaukee, after which it will go_ east by easy stages, reaching New York in May. The London engagement will, as per arranc^ement stated some time ago, be made during the Summer. The attraction to foltow at the Olympic will be: Herbert Cbrthell in "The Blimp."