Variety (Dec 1905)

VARIETY. ti IN 8LEEPYVILLE. PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 20. — The vaudeville situation here is more pi- quant and interesting than ever before in the city's theatrical history. There are. in all, six houses devoted to the form ot entertainment—Keith's, palace-like and now in fashionable vogue, with its •continuous" policy; the Bon-Ton, house of many vicissitudes, whose bills are of the weekly change, two-a-day "house- show" order, and are given mainly by performers who are trying to break into the "continuous," and the Casino, Tro- cadero, Bijou and Lyceum, all playing the traveling companies of the EasUvn and Western burlesque "wheels." Keith's, alone in its field and without prospect of early opposition of any for- midable kind, may be dismissed from further consideration, after it is said that it is, all things considered, the best- paying venture in which B. F. Keith has yet engaged. The Bon-Ton, in all likelihood, will scon be eliminated from the list. George F. Fish has been making trips here from Cincinnati with a view of putting nib Pike Theatre stock company in there. The house is only a few doors from hla old Eighth Street stand, Forepaugh's, where the weekly change "stock" is the oldest in the United States, having been the pioneer in its field. It is now more than twenty years since Forepaugh's took up the idea of a weekly change of olay by a resident company. Fish was manager there for years, in time became part proprietor, sold out to W. W. Miller, and now wants to get back into the neighborhood with a company of the old Forepaugh fav- ojitocj, in order to give the house a bat- tle. There is no doubt that he will get the Bon-Ton if he wants to pay Frank V. Dunn's idea of rent. The house has had a varied career. It was opened as a rival to the Bijou, a few doors away, when that house was the Keith stronghold here. It began with his policy of vaudeville mixed with cap- sule versions of the old-time comic operas. Raymond Hitchcock, now a star in Broadway, began there as the ch<ef funmaker in these condensed opera*. The late Sam T. Jack made a fizzle of it with burlesque. Then the house was turned into a nondescript resort, with a merry-go-round as the chief attraction and a choice Tenderloin clientele foi support. Vaudeville was resumed on a Eo-as-you-please plan; then Carrie Rad- cliffe put a stock company in to give Forepaugh's a fight; then there wis "house" burlesque, followed by a sea- son in the big "wheel." This did not Pay, and its place in the "wheel" was restored to the Trocadero. Then Stair & Havlin booked the house with popular melodramas for a season. Last year John Jermon ran it as a side issue to his Lyceum, with straight vaudeville of a fair kind, and made a little money. One of F. F. Proctor's lieutenants took hold of it at the beginning of the present sea- son, called it the Majestic, and tried to make it a go for straight vaudeville, but failed. It was understood that his experiment was with a view of making the house, if successful, a Philadelphia Hnk in the Proctor chain. The trouble with the house seems to oo with the neighborhood. The stretch o' Eighth Street in which it lies was until a few years ago the popular shop- Ping thoroughfare of the city. It is in the block with Forepaugh's and thb Bijou, both of which made a mint, and just around the corner from the Lyceum, another money-maker ever since bur- lesque was placed on a business basis. But all the big stores, one by one, closed up and took away the very class of trade to which these popular-price theatres appealed.. Even Keith was unable to draw paying business to the Bijou with either a good stock company or first- class vaudeville after he opened his new house in Chestnut Street, Forepaugh's business, also, is not what it was a few years back. That the fault is with the neighbor- hood would seem to be proved by the experience of the Bijou this season, as a member of the Empire Circuit. It Is a pretty house—indeed it is doubtful if any other burlesque theatre in the coun- try boasts the the Bijou's comforts and beauties—and, geographically, in the heart of the Tenderloin, not two minutes' walk from the Lyceum nor five from the Trocadero; yet, it has been doing an in- different night business, while the mat- inees, at panic prices, have been given to empty benches. It is well managed, too, by the experienced Colonel Sam Dawson. The Casino's fate has not been dis- similar. It has been playing the Co- lumbian shows on a sharing basis. Like the Bijou, it is a beautiful house. It had been successful for two years as a Stair & Havlin family theatre, with popular price musical shows and melo- dramas, and last season under its mange cf name from the Auditorium, as a pro- ducing house for extravaganza, with George W. Lederer as the director. It was the general expectation that as a burlesque house it would be a whole success from the start. Yet it has been hard pulling, with an occasional very big week to add to the puzzlement of the false prophets. KINKS. (To be Continued.) TALL TROUBLE OVER MIDGET8. Emil Ritter, the original manager of the Piccolo Midgets, has served his son with papers in a suit to determine his rghts to the troupe. Some five years ago the troupe was brought over by the elder Ritter. who was presently recalled to Europe by the death of his wife. The act was left with his son, George Ritter, who ap- pears to have regarded the matter as a gift rather than a loan. There was some promise of payments when the elder returned to this country to find his son in possession of the act, but ac- cording to his statements these pay- ments have not been made and he brings suit for an accounting. "Lonny" Curtin, a nephew of James H. Curtin, of the London Theatre, and advance man of the Broadway Belles Burlesque Company, was injured at Du- luth, Minn., a couple of weeks ago through the accidental discharge of a gun he was loading. The shot entered his right hand and inflicted serious wounds. "The World's Greatest Soprano" is the way they talk about Sabel Johnson in the announcement on the program of next week's bill at Keith's. The man wno gets up copy for the Keith program can never hope to go to heaven when he dies unless he quits his kidding. THE NEW FIRM. Edward S. Keller, who was popularly supposed to be glued to a seat in Will- iam Morris' office, has resigned his po- sition and will form a partnership witIT B. A. Myers commencing Christmas. His resignation was sent in Wednesday evening and came as a surprise to every- one with the exception of Keller and his new partner. Mr. Keller has been with the Morris agency ever since that prosperous busi- ness was formed from the wreckage of the agency of the late George Liman and he was also an employee of Liman before that. Since the illness of William Morris he has taken principal charge of the office and did the booking for the William's houses and more lately for F. F. Proctor. He arranged some time ago to handle the vaudeville tour of Cissy Loftus and has been interested in the illusion of Dida since the sale of the rights to William Morris. He has a wide acquaintance with man- agers and will doubtless contribute con- siderable strength to the new firm, pos- sibly carrying some of the New Eng- land houses with him to the new office. "Barney" Myers started in the agency business with Tom Maguire and was a partner of Maguire's when they ran the famous "benefit" at the terminus of the Sixth Avenue Elevated, taking in some- thing less than three dollars on the week. He has improved since then and in a quiet way has built up a big busi- ness. The two men should work well together. Myers has already started a chain of theatres in New England and there is a whisper that important de- velopments will follow the new year in. 8TOP THIEF! The Program, the organ of the Inter- national Artisten Loge, carries in a re- cent issue a full page advertisement of Price and Revost, who announce them- selves as Americans in their act, "Bump- ity Bumps." The ad. is a clear steal from Rice and Prevost of name and billing and in all probability act as well. It is odd that the I. A. L. should countenance this bare faced piracy in what is practically their own paper. NOTES FROM LAFAYETTE. ^YOUNGSTOWN, O., Dec. 21.—As retrospective seems to be in order, a few lines concerning the present season of the Great I^afayette show may prove in- teresting. The regular season opened July 31 at Norfolk, Va., with forty-three people in the cast and two cars of scenery and effects with little or no changes up to the present. Twelve States and fifty cities have been visited, and with the exception of a week in a small section of Illinois, all have turned out in the usual enthusias- tic manner. Mr. Lafayette enjoys the pleasure of having his four beautiful horses with him—carrying a private stable car for their accommodation—and as the weather so far has been particularly ideal for outdoor enjoyment, he has gain- ed a vast knowledge of the territory through which we have passed, as he has indulged in daily drives, visiting every point of interest in the vicinity of the cities played, gaining material for his book of travels that has been claiming considerable of his attention during the past two years. The show is now* headed East, and after filling a few weeks of New York and Pennsylvania time a tour of the South will follow. LILLIAN DIDN'T "MAKE GOOD." Lillian Russell, the former favorite prima donna, "has went" to Europe. Lillian didn't want to go especially, but the disappointment of "falling down" in vaudeville was too much for the fair one to endure. On the other side, amid balmy lands, a little thing like that may be forgotten. Miss Russell was engaged for ten weeks by F. F. Proctor, and played that engagement out. About ten weeks fur- ther had been arranged for, mostly in this city in the Hammerstein's and Williams' houses, but these managers after receiving reports of her reception, decided on a better investment of their moneys. Upon hearing the returns, Lillian en- gaged passage. Cora Beach Turner, late of The Sam- bo Girl, is going into vaudeville, mak- ing a start out West. Ching Ling Soo, the Chinese con- jurer, is to play through the holidays at the London Coliseum. Ching is an American performer named Robinson. J. W. Winton, the ventriloquist, who will be remembered here as having featured an Australian "larrikin" in his act, is touring Australia at the head of his own company. Mile. Nuola, assisted by Signor P. So- tori and Signor Stephenonl, presented her one-act operetta, "Carmela," at the Murray Hill Lyceum last Tuesday after- noon, for the purpose of perfecting the copyright. Jake Rosenthal, who is running the Bijou Theatre at Dubuque, Iowa, gave two concerts at his house last Sunday in aid of the Jewish relief fund. Rosen- thal generally manages to keep things stirred up wherever he may be. The New Theatre of the Crystal cir- cuit at Trinidad, Col., was opened De- cember 10 with a good bill. The new house is a ground floor theatre with a capacity of 800. W. R. Orrendorf is the manager. "Mike" Whallen, who is making too big a hit in England to be able to waste time over here, came home for the holi- days with his wife (Frances McNulty) for Christmas. He returns to England in February. Paul Conchas will give his perform- ance at the New York Theatre to-mor- row night. This is his second attempt, and Conchas hopes that he will be successful. When Jame* T. Powers finished his engagement at one of the Proctor's houses in this city lately, he handed the doorkeeper one dollar upon passing out for the last time, saying "Split it up among the boys."