New York Clipper (Feb 1923)

,8 THE NEW YQRK CLIPPER Ftbnacy 2U IfOi KEITH - STANLEY MERGER IS FORMED SABLOSKEY AND McGURK IN DEAL E. F. Albee, actrng for the B. F. Keith drcnit of theatres, and Jules presideiit of the Stajiley Compaoy of Amer- ica, formed an agreement last week, where- by an the popolar priced vaadeviUe thea- tres in Philadelphia controlled by these organizations, were brongbt into «ne cor- poiatioii. wUcb is called the Greater Phila- delphia Arnnsement Corporation, with £. P. Albee as president. The oiUy vaude- ville theatre not involved in the deal is the big time theatre in Chestnut street which will be conducted by Keith firm as heretofore. The deal brings the Cross Keys, Alle- gany, Broadway, Globe; and Alhambra Theatres, of Philadelphia, and the Towles Theatre of Camden, from the Stanley group, and the Grand Opera House from ue Keith group, into the control of the new holding corporation. A big feature of the deal is the building of a new mam- moth Keith Theatre in Philadelphia, at a cost of $3,000,000 on the site of the Bing- ham Hotel, at Market and Eleventh streets. The plot has been purchased at a cost of' $2,000,000 and when completed the theatre vrill have a seating capacity of 4,000. Sabloskey and McGurIc, who have di- rected the vaudeville end of the Stanley Theatres, and Harry Jordan, of Keith's present Philadelphia theatre will be the executives and goieral managers of the new new organization. The Sabloskey and Mc- Gnrk tune has been known as the. Amal- gamated booking offices, with which the B. S. Moss circuit was affiliated before Moss and the Keith drcuit came together three years ago. Jules Mastbaum is president of one of the largest motion picture circuits in the country, which is associated with the Zukor-Famous Players-Lasky. His picture theatres are not included in the merger. NORWORTH IN DIVORCE SUIT ^Jack Norworth, defendant in a suit for <livorce brought by Mrs. Mary Norworth of Franklin Township, New Jersey, third wife of the performer, failed to put in an appearance before Vice Chancellor John Batley in Chancery Chambers at Jersey Oty last week to defend the action against lltlTl Norworth, whose first wife was Louise Dresser and whose second was Nora Bayes, married the present Mrs. Norworth at Oakland, CaL, in February, 1913. When the actor was named as co-respondent in a divorce case in England about five years ago the coople separated but a reconcilia- tion followed. Mis. Norworth started her prcsoit action for divorce early last Sum- mer. In court last week she testified that ber hosbond bad an income of $1,000 a week and that he gave her $200. She asked that the Cbnrt order him to continue to give her that amount. ALEX HYDE HERE MARCH 26 Alex Hyde and his orchestra will come into New York on March 26, opening at Loew's Victoria, and will be seen at the State Theatre the following week. The organization will play a full week in all the Loew New York houses, as they have been , doing in all the houses out-of-town. FoIIowmtf their appearance! in Ae New York hoDoes, they will probably be brought tack to'ilie State Theatre- for aH.indefinite "ACT-GRABBING'' FORNDDEN Artists' representatives, booking with the B. F. Keith Vaudeville Exchange, hav» been requested to supply a list of all acts which they represent, to the Keith office, in order to do away entirely with the prac- tice of "act-grabbing" by one agent from another, intentionally or unintentionally. Every agent has beei notified that in the fnture before communicating with an act in regard to representation, they will find out from the office whether that particular act is represented or not. The agreement not to solicit an act already represented was made between the agents themselves. The bulletin notifying acts to supply a list of their acts was posted by W. Dayton Wegefarth, general booking manager of the Keith Vaudeville Exchange, and reads as follows: "It is rale that a representa- tive will not solicit one act belonging to another representative. To avoid this, it was agreed that you were to inquire of the office whether the act you were about to communicate with had a representative or not. If this is to be completely protective, every representative must register with us, every act he has and every new one as it comes to him for representation; otherwise if you lose acts through not doing so, it is your own fault." FAIRBANKS TWINS IN ACT Ned Waybum now has in rehearsal a new act in which the Fairbanks Twins will be featured, assisted by Katherine Haye and Richard Keenc, that will open on the Keith time in about two weeks. The title of the act is "A Musical Fan- tasy," with book by Edgar Allen Woolf and music by Irving Berlin. The act will be billed as a Wayburh presentation. Way- bum also staging the vehicle. This is the first time that Irving Berlin has written special music for any vaudeville act, and the collection of names used in connection with the billing is looked upon to add to the salary of the act and make it a sure- fire box office attraction. This marks the initial appearance of the Fairbanks Twins in vaudeville, as they have hitherto confined their efforts to the Ziegfeld "Follies." "Two Little Girls in Blue" and "The Music Box Revue." MOSS PUBUCITY OFHCES MOVBD The advertising and publicity depart- ments of the Greater New York Theatres Corp. have been moved from the fourth floor of the Palace Building to the tenth, where the department has larger quarters, having been given half the floor. It is planned to centralize many of the Moss de- partments on that floor. Harry Mandel, publicity purveyor and advertising manager for the Moss houses, is in Bermuda, recovering from a recent illness, and will return ne3ct week. Mean- while, John Hickey is in charge of the de- partment KEITH GETS FALL RIVER HOUSE The B. F. Keith Circuit has taken over the Empire Theatre in Fall River, Mass., which has been operating under a policy of "pop" vaudeville and motion pictures, and will begin booking that house on April 1. Jormny Collins will book the house, on a basis of six acts each half of the week, and a feature motion picture. J. J. De Wald, who is now managing Keith's Colonial Theatre in New York, has been appointed to manage the house. MAYHEW IN VAUDEVILLE Stella Mayhew retnmed to vaudeville on Monday at Keith's' Orpbeum theatre in Brookl>n, having closed with "Peaches," the musical comedy, in Philadelphia on Sat- m-day.' She 'will' play several weeks and is booked by Harry Weberl BLUMENTHAL DEAL WITH LOEW OFF LOEW RETIIRNING JERSEY HOUSES The Blumenthal-Haring string of thea- tres in New Jersey, which were recently taken overy by the Loew circuit, will be returned to the Blumenthal organization within the next week. The deal, which, it is learned, was not definitely closed, brought the State Theatre, Union Hill, the Central and Roosevelt Theatres in Jersey City, to the Loew vaudeville route, in addition to two motion picture houses, the Tivoli and Monticello. These bouses will be returned by the Loew organization. The Loew booking office has been booking the State, Central and Roosevelt houses during the past few weeks, awaiting the result of the negotia- tions between the Loew people and the Blumenthal-Haring firm. Evidently, it has been found that business in these houses didn't warrant the Loew circuit's retaining them, and the negotiations have been called off. Fally Markus formerly booked these ' houses, and will probably again get the booking privileges after the houses have been returned to their original owners. MURDOCK'S FATHER-IN-LAW DIES J. J. Murdock, general manager of the B.> F. Keith Vaudeville Exchange, returned from Florida last week, after a brief stay, owing to the death of his father-in-law, Mr. Akass, who died on Wednesday, Feb. 14th. Mr. Akass was seventy-four years old. ■Mr. Murdock and his wife and Pat Casey left for Florida on Monday of last week, intending to stay for several weeks. The death of Mrs. Murdock's father compelled a change in their plans. HARRY RICHMAN HAS SINGLE Harry Richman, formerly with Mae West m vaudeville, tand also seen in "Queen o' Hearts" with Norah Bayes, will open with a new single this week in Keith vaudeville, under the direction of the Marinelli office. Richman will do a pianologue, opening and closing his offer- ing without using &e piano, which he calls "One Hundred Per Cent" ED MILNE ILL Ed Milne, Eastern representative for the Pantages circuit, was absent from that circuit's offices in the Fitzgerald Building all last week, owing to a cold which kept him confined to his home. He was still ill at the beginning of the week. CORSE PAYTON IN ACT Corse Payton, stock actor is now in vaudeville and at the Alhambra Theatre, Stamford, is breaking in a new act which will be seen in New York within the next week or two. MONTGOMERY ON LOEW TIME t Maishall-Montgomery will be seen on the Lbew Circuit for the first time when he will open in New York, on March 5. for a tour of the Loew houses. Joe Cooper booked him. HAYES MANAGING MAJESTIC Chicago, Feb. 19.—J. M. Williams has resigned as manager of the Majestic thea- tre here, and is being succeeded by Everett Hayes. Hayes takes charge of die faonse this week. NEW LOEW HOUSE FOR BROOKLYN Marcus Loew will add to his Brooklyn theatre holdings with the erection of a new theatre at Myrtle and Knickerbocker avenues, that Borough. The theatre, which is to be a 2,500 seater, will be ready next fall and will be operated under the regu- lar Loew poli^ of pictures and vaude- ville. The location is adjacent to Schwaben Hall, in the heart of the Ridgewood sec- tion of Brooklyn, and will figure as strong opposition to William Fox s Ridgewood Theatre, which is located further otit on Myrtle avenue. "The new theatre will give the Loew in- terests their fifth theatre in Kings operat- ing under the combination policy. It will also provide a stronghold in a section where they heretofore have not been rep- resented. In addition to these combination houses the Loew Circuit also controls the Bijou and Broadway theatres, which are devoted to a straight picture policy, and the Alhambra Theatre, which they re- cently took over from Ward and Glynne, and which is operating under a stock policy. "ONLY THREE" SAYS JOE ROLEY According to Joseph Roley, blackface comedian, and former vaudeville partner of Edward Gallagher, there are "only three unique and extraordinary players" in the United States. This statement was made during his testimony given in con- nection with the trail of the Shubert against Ed Gallagher and Al Shean who are being sued for breach of contract, and was given before Frank C. Titus, of 34 Nassau street, who filed it last week in the County Clerk's office. Roley said that he and Ed Gallgher were in a vaudeville act for four years, 1917-1921 and that when Gallagher sold him the act for $4,000 he had no trouble replacing Gallagher. In answer to the question if both Gallagher and Shean could easily be replaced without vaude- ville audienoe knowing the difference, he replied "Absolutely." Rodolph Valentino, he believes, or Babe Ruth, would be missed if the public did not find them on the bill. That's how good they are in his opinion. Later he in- cluded Hairy Lauder and Sarah Bern- hardt, in his classification. David War- field was admitted to the "unique and ex- traordinary" class also. TRAVERS IS 125th STREET MGR. James Travers, formerly assistant man- ager of Proctor's Fifth Avenue, has been appointed manager , of Proctor's 125th Street Theatre, replacing Dave Robinson. Sol Levoy, who had been managing the Harlem "Theatre since Robinson's de- parture, has returned to hb former, post in J. J. Murdock's' office. MOLLY McINTYRE IN ACT Molly Mclntyre, the legit actress who scored the hit of her career several years ago in the Scotch comedy, "Bunty Pulls the Strings," is planning to invade vaude- ville in a new playlet by Patil Gerard Smith. SURRATT RETURNING TO VAUDE. Valeska Surratt will open in vaudeville shortly in a new act, as yet unnamed, written by Edgar Allen Woolf. During the past season Miss Surratt has been with the Kalii piece "Spice of 1S22." FRIED LAND HAS NEW REVIEW Anatole Friedland's new revue, of whidi Viola Weller is the featured perfonner, is being staged by Ned Waybum, and will open on the Keith time in aboul' three weeks.