Variety (September 1908)

10 VARIETY LONDON NOTES VARIETY'S LONDON OFFICE. 411 STRAVD. W. C. (Mall for Americans and Europeans In Euro|K If mliln kwmI rare VARIETY, an above, will be promptly forwarded.) London, (Sept. 16. Conway and Leland will return to the States in November, after an absence of many yean. Hugo Morris booked the act for the Morris Circuit. The Stars and Stripes are waving in the breeze over the Hackney Empire this week. Three American acts occupy the prominent places. They are W. C. Fields, Callahan and St. George and Terry and Lambert. A curious example (to Americans) of the fussiness of English artists comes in the case of an act that refused to go on at a London hall this week, basing the complaint on the ground that the au- thor's name had been omitted from the program, billing. The sketch was not seen by the audience, so the question of who profited by the omission is open to ques- tion. Daly and O'Brien open Sept. 21 at the Bedford for their initial appearance on the Gibbons tour. Bert Levy, the American cartoonist, quietly gave a "trial" show at the Palace last Monday, and opens at the house on Sept. 28. Levy was neither billed nor pro- grammed, but the applause, almost con- tinuous throughout his novelty sketching act, was enough. The expected visit to America of Joe O'Gorman, chairman of the V. A. F., and a prominent Water Rat, has aroused a good deal of speculation over here. Mr. O'Gorman has booked no vaudeville time on the other side and the purpose of his trip is a deep, dark mystery. While you Americans are going wild over the baseball struggle, the Americans on this side are sadly lacking in diversion. Max Bitter, of Bitter and Foster, has a scheme to make American visitors happy. Next year, he says, he will -establish a baseball league on the British Isles. If necessary, he proclaims that he is game to hire eighteen huskies and pay them out of his own pocket in order that he may salve his homesickness with a diamond contest made to order. R. A. Roberts, who visits you again in 1009, is topping at the Cambcrwcll Palace. He is showing a comedy protean sketch called "Ringing the Changes." The arrangement has eight changes, all scream- ingly funny, and the introduction of a dummy made up to represent Roberts is good for innumerable laughs. Sears, the illusionist, has been held over indefinitely at the London Hippodrome. Albert Whelan wishes to thank Presi- dent Roosevelt and the people of the United States for returning his visit by sending the fleet to Australia, where Whelan hails from. He will return to the United States if the money question can be settled upon. The London "Daily Mirror" prints a pic- ture of Alice Lloyd, saying "The girl who goes to America for $2,500 weekly." When Miss Lloyd and Tom McNaughton left Euston for Liverpool, they received a send- off that was right. A big crowd wished the couple bon voyage, and a conservatory could have been stocked from the flowers. It was said here the demonstration of good fellowship was the largest of its kind ever offered to an artist leaving for foreign shores. The managers are watching the Water Rats very closely just now. The recently announced intention of the artists' asso- ciation to invest money in music' hall properties has caught their attention and they are rather puzzled. If. jthe truth were known, they are a bit disturbed at the move. Lawson and Ayman sail for Australia Sept. 19. They return to England next year, playing in South Africa also first. Hayes and Wynn have eight weeks more on the Moss-Qtoll Tour. Then they go with either Barassford or Payne. Mrs. Harry Bawn ("My Fancy") laid the corner stone for the Empire, Edmon- ton, today. "My Fancy" is a dancer of note over here. Marie Lloyd shifted from the Tivoli to the Oxford this week. Harry Lauder still tops at the Tivoli. Frank Melville is in town. Melville says his visit here is to locate sites for scenic railways and such summer park amusement devices. He will go about the seaside and summer resorts. "The Divine Amylla" was held over for another week at the Hoi born .Empire. PAPER "SOAKING" ACTS. Cincinnati, Sept. 24. Two of the best acts on the Columbia's program this week were mentioned by the Timet-Star in its review of the show as unworthy of even adverse criticism. This has been caused by that paper's fight against the theatres of Cincinnati, which do not advertise in it. The Timet- Star increased its rate 20 per cent. The local Managers' Association decided to withdraw all advertising from the pub- lication. Since then the paper has at- tacked the houses. It is influential, and with the warm weather, has caused a shrinkage in the attendance. A couple of the theatres placed inserts in the programs informing the audience it did not advertise in the sheet. Now the Times-Star says the attack will be continued by it whether the the- ntres advertise or no, and until such time as an improvement in Cincinnati's amuse- ments is noted. Juno Salmo opens at the Tivoli, Bremen, Oct. 16. Martin Beck returned to New York on Thursday. for many years manager of the Standard Theatre, Houston, Tex., died Sept. 11 in Bridgeport, Del. Bert H. Von Klein has returned to "The Mimic World." Isabelle D'Armond left the programme at the Hudson, Union Hill, after Monday. The Morris office is booking four acts weekly into the Bijou, Easton, Pa. It is a new house, opposing Wilmer & Vin- cent's Orphcum. James Brockman will "break in" a pianologue at the Bijou, Orange, next week. Mildred Gilmore left the "City Sports" in Chicago last week. Controversy over billing. Miriam B. Sauford of "The English Terrors" is the soubrette of Phil Sheridan's "City Sports." Herman Desco and Lila Best will present "The Girl From Haverstraw" at the Fifth Avenue to-morrow (Sunday). It is a com- edy sketch in "one." Charles Drew and Company did not play the Bronx Theatre last week, although pro- grammed there. Thirty-two applications for membership were received by the White Rats at the last meeting. The increased dues go into effect April 1, 1909. Taki and Ines, at present on the Or- pheum Circuit, open at the Hippodrome, London, next season, when they will pre- sent an entirely new act. The mother of Fred E. West (late of Seeley and West) died at her home in Brighton, Mass., Sept. 12. Grace Wilson, the singer, is again in vaudeville. Miss Wilson was featured with "The Show Girl" last season. M. A. Shea and O. J. Fitspatrick re- moved their offices this week from the Gaiety Theatre building to the Feiber-Shea suite in the St. James building. Beth Stone will play vaudeville, offering a dancing specialty, having left the Lulu Glaser show last Saturday night. The Camille Trio leave for the other side on the Rotterdam Oct. 20. The act opens in Amsterdam, and has eight months booked abroad through H. B. Marinelli. Fatima Miris, the Italian girl booked for the Morris Circuit, is due to arrive in New York to-day on the Roma. Nat Jerome has been dispatched to join M. M. Thiese's "The Rollickere" in Chi- cago, replacing Lem Welch, who with Will H. Cohan, had the principal comedy roles. Tim McMahon's "Sunflower Girls," his latest act, was given a "trial" at the Lin- coln Square one morning this week. Bart Breen, who has been at Saranac Lake, N. Y., for some months, will return to the Morris office in a couple of weeks. Belle Travers is no longer with the "Rentz-Santley" show, having withdrawn from the organization just before the Mil- waukee week. She will join another show. Mrs. May Alvido, wife of Myron Alvido, "The Follies of 1908" close at the New York next Saturday night (Oct. 3), play- ing Philadelphia until the show returns to the city at the Grand Opera House, Nov. 3. IX)NDON OFFICE OF WILLIAM MORRIS, INC. (418 Strand, W. C.) The onlj American Theatrical Ageucj with a foreign branch.