New York Clipper (Jul 1923)

CopTTight, 1923, ud pobluhcd iRcklr by the Oippcr CoiporatuD, IiS3 Brad nr. New York. Ealered at llie Pom Office >t Ni second cUei nail matter noder act of March i, 1879 ew York. Jose M, 1(79, aa Founded hj FRANK QUEEN, 18U NEW YORK. JULY 11. 1923 VOLUME LXXI. No. 33 Price Fifteen Cents. $5.00 • Ycu BDWY. MUSICAL SHOWS GETTING BIG SHA RE OF THEA TRE MONEY Nine Musical Productions to Ten Dramatic Shows Is Per Centage Never Before Seen in Broadway Theatres—"Follies," "Scandals" and "Helen of Troy" AU Playing to Capacity —"Rain" Leads the Non-Musicals For the first time in the history of the Broadway theatres musical attractions are almost on an even balance with dramatic attractions in number, there being nine of the former and ten of the latter. At the same time the season had hit low ebb with respect to the number of attractions that are listed on the White Way. With the opening next Monday of "Fashions of 1924" at the Lyceum theatre, and the clos- ing this Saturday of one musical and one dramatic attraction the average struck be- tween musical and dramatic attractions will be 50-SO. This, however, does not mean that the business between both types of attractions is divided, for despite the fact that Broadway has an abundance of musical comedy attractions all of them are doing business with most of them doing very good. The Ziegfeld "Follies" of course are the leaders in intake in the musical field aa with the aid of the weather on July 4 and good consistent business during ti\e bal- ance of the week this attraction ap- proached the $37,000 mark. George White's "Scandals" at the Globe playing to a seated audience of 301 persons less than the FqIHcs at each performance, however, managed to draw capacity audiences and standing room at all performances and drew around $26,000 on the week. A most satisfactory showing in receipts was made by "Helen of Troy" at the Selwyn theatre. This ofltcring which is a typical musical comedy scorns to be listed as a consistent hit and gives promise of outlasting other musical shows on the Rialto. Though it did not play to capacity audiences on the week and its Saturday matinee was a bit off it managed to draw around $17,000. "The Passing Show of 1923" at the Winter Garden which has found unusual strong opposition through the opening of new musical revues has been greatly aided by' the agency boys and last week man- aged to hit over the $23,000 mark. Had not competition been so strong in this field this show would probably have gathered another $5,000 on the week. . Earl Carroll's "Vanities of 1923" which opened at the Carroll theatre after nu- merous postponements on Thursday night, though it got off to a lukewarm reception on the part of the dailies gave signs of activities during the balance of the week. The show opened to a $10 top getting $6,500 on the opening night then totalling better than- $2,800 on- Friday night and landing more than $5,000 for the two Sat- urday performances. Due to the abund- ance of other musical attractions the agen- cies did not make a very heavy buy for this show, with indications being that less than 100 seats per performance were taken over outright for the first four weeks by the agencies. Despite this fact, Carroll has a show "hooked-up" that is bound to attract patronage from the curious as far as Peggy Hopkins Joyce and the Carroll Beauty chorus are concerned. Carroll has a mob of young broilers who can be matched from a beauty standpoint with any of the "Follies" or White aggrega- tion and come out on top. Though pro- duction cost is said to have been heavy, the show gives evidence of having been framed from the salary standpoint so that it can play to a gross of $13,000 a week and show a fair margin of profit to both attraction and house, both of which are controlled by CarrolL "Adrienne" which has been well settled at the Cohan theatre manages to stand up well as far as competition is concerned with the new comers. This show seems to have established itself through a "word of mouth" source with the result that around $15,000 was registered on the week. "Wildflower" which has been holding forth at the Casino since last February seems to be bearing up remarkably well despite its heavy competition. This attrac- tion which only recently was getting around $19,000 a week and which was ex- pected when the inrush of other musical attractions came along to show marked decreases in revenue managed to hit well over $14,000 on the week. The Music Box Revue at the Music Box however seems to feel competition very strongly as the intake at this house seems to be steadily declining with the show getting less than $14,000 on the week, which places the attraction on the losing side of the ledger. George M. Cohan's attraction, "Little Nellie Kelly" which has held forth at the Liberty theatre for some time completed its last week on Saturday night playing to around $10,000 on the week. "Go-Go" which was recently brought from Daly's 63rd Street theatre to the Apollo was scheduled to have closed last Saturday night. But after the show own- ers scanned the receipts of July 4 they thought another week's stay at this house might aid them in recuperating some of their losses. This attraction drew in around $6,000 on the week which was about $2,000 better than it managed to do the preceding week. Of the twelve dramatic attractions which operated last week two—"So This Is Lon- don" at the Hudson and "Icebound" at the Sam H. Harris withdrew last Saturday night. "Rain" at the Maxine Elliott managed to remain the leader in this group playing to practical capacity at all pcrfomunce. Next to attract business were "Seventh Heaven" at the Booth theatre and "Aren't We All" at the Gaiety theatre. "Merton (Continued on page 27) "OLD HOMESTEAD" AGAIN -Augustus Pitou will start "The Old Homestead" on its 37th annual tour on August 28th at Poughkeepsic, N. Y. Mr. Pitou it presenting the same show that was originally presented in Boston in Aug., 1886, and is not eliminating any of the features of the original production. In the cast of the attraction this season will be: Walter Ayers, Oscar Sidney, Harry Barker, Fred Coulter. David Morris, Johnstone Flytm, Rene lyArcy, Maude Nolan, Alan Wallace. Larry Leahy, Mar- garet Farrell, Robert Ellsworth and Elwyn Williams. TOM GIBBONS IN VAUDEVILLE Tom Gibbons, who carried the world's champion. Jack Dempsey fifteen fast rounds in Shelby, Mont., on the Fourth of July, is going into vaudeville and has been bookol for a tour of the Pantages Circuit. He will open in Minneapolis next wedc. MARLBOROUGH COMING DOWN Aiiother landmark familiar for the past decade to theatrical people will become ex- tinct next November when wreckers will begin to demolish the Hotel Marlborough at Broadway and 36th street to make room for a $7,000,000 factory building. Prior to the erection of the Hotel Astor and the Knickerbocker hotel, the Marl- borough was the favorite hostelry of actors and managers. Its restaurant and grill were the raecca for the managers where they held business conferences and met the people of the profession. During the summer months in years gone by seventy- five per cent of the guests of this hotel were members of the theatrical profession. EASTERN PLAY HITS FOR COAST San Francisco, July 9.—The bookings for the Columbia theatre for next season include "The First Year" with Frank Craven, "Sally" with Marilyn Miller, Ed Wynn in "The Perfect Fool," "The Last Warning," "Lightning," David Warfield in "The Merchant of Venice," "Molly Darl- ing," Peggy Wood in "The Clinging Vine," Robert Mantell in repertoire and the photo play "The Covered Wagon." GETS SOUTHERN RIGH13 OF SHOW B. EL Forester and Jules Muny, goieral booking manager for the Shubert Circuit of theatres have procured the southern production rights from Schwab and Kus- sel for "The Gingham Girl" and will send a one night stand company over that terri- tory late in AugusL PLAYS FOR FRISCO CAPfFOL San Franosco. July 9.—Through an affiliation formed between Louis R. Lurie and Thomas Wilkes, the Capitol theatre here will re-open July ISth with Marjorie Rambcau and her company in "The Gold- fish." In taking the Capitol out of the picture class and transferring it to the legitimate, the Wilkes-Lurie plan is to bring as many stars to the coast as possible and present many Broadway successes. J. A. Brehany will be director of the house with William McStay as press agent. INSURING THE CRITICS Will A. Page, who twirls and twists ad- jectives and similes in the interests of iFlorenz Ziegfeld, Jr., and the "Ziegfeld FolKes," supplies the following informa- tion: Having had himself insured for $1,000,- 000 in favor of the Ziegfeld FolUes, Int, to protect his associates Florenz Ziegfeld went a step further in the insurance game and has made arrangements to take out life insurance policies in the sum of $50,000 on each of fifteen dramatic critics in the city of New York. The idea of insuring these critics in favor of the Ziegfeld Follies, Int. is that during his lon^ career of produaog stage offerings, Mr. Ziegfeld has developed^ he hopes and believes, a strong frieodship on the part of each of these critics. He values their friendship and appreciation for his productions as a distinct asset and in case any of the dramatic critics of New York should be imtimely stricken with ap- pendicitis, or some other fatal ailment, the loss of such a friendly critic will be a dis- tinct financial loss to the Ziegfeld Follies. In other words, if some critic who is es- pecially appreciative of the beauties of the ZiegfeM Follies should meet with an acci- dent and a new critic should be sent to re- view the Follies, Mr. Ziegfeld feels the danger of one single adverse notice might damage his productk>n at least $50,000 worth. Therefore he is arranging now to apply for policies for each of fifteen critics in New York Gty and unless the critics object, he will go ahead with hi* novel and imusual plan of insuring the Follies against adverse criticism. STOCK TRYOUT FOR PLAY "After the Rain," a new comedy by Leroy Clemens and Lynn Overman, will shortly be given a trial showing by the George Marshall Players at the Bdasco Theatre. Washington, and if it lives up to expectations will be immediately set for a Broadway showing. Jules Hurtig, pro- ducer of "Just Married" in which Lyrim Overrnan was co-starred with Vivian Martin, will probably make the production. "BATTLING BUTIXR" FOR CHICAGO Chicago, July 7.—'Battling Butler," the English musical comedy, will open the regular season at the Apollo on Labor Day and will have Gertrude Vanderbilt, Helen Ely, Mildred Keats, Marie Saxtoo. Howard Langford and Teddy McNamara in the cast. This play -was originally talked of for the Adclphi but it has been definitely set now for the Apollo. NEW PLAY FOR KAUCH Mme. Bertha Kalich is to appear in a new play in September, when she returns from England, under the direction of Lee Shubert. The play, as yet unnamed, is be- ing adapted by Louis K. Anspacher. who is now in London, where he will confer with Mme. Kalich. "YOU AND I" FOR CHICAGO "You and I," the Harvard Prize Play at the Belmont theatre, will open at the Playhouse, Chicago, on Labor Day. Rich- ard G. Hemdon, who presents the i^y, plans to keep it at the Belmont all sum- mer. COSTUMES x.SS'.r^Sr.X^S.TK.'^rL^ BROOKS-MAHIEU .^v. N. Y. typsgJBS