Variety (February 1909)

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VARIETY ARTISTS' FORUM THE WOMAN IN VARIETY. row letters to 180 words and write m AanyBNi cMMiaakattoos win net be prlatod. be bald la strict eoafldeacs. If ■Ida of paper oaljr. Naaio of writer aut be elf aed aad wsl letters to V» published la this ooloaia mast be written tsolsalvely to VAJUXTY. Duplicated letter*, will aet be prlated. Tbe writer who duplicates a letter to the Forum, either before or eftor it appeen here, will aot be permitted tbe privilege of It a*ein. Atlanta, Ga., Feb. 6. Editor Vabpty: For soma months paat we have been repeatedly notified that the "manufactur- er" gag in Fred Ray's aot has been used by an aet thai played on the bill with us at the Shubert, Utica, early in September. This particular "gag" was so closely identified with the Ray act and the piracy so indisputable that fair-minded artists wrote us of the theft from various parts of the country. However, a written warning to the per- petrators constituted our only action, but this was not heeded. An accident made it possible for me to witness the perform- ance at the Orpheum here. Lancton-Lucier & Co. are the guilty ones. The copyright of the Ray act is in my possession. Lew Benton. (Fred Ray's Players.) Chicago, Feb. 6. Editor Variety: I notice the account in this week's Variety about ex-Mayor Becker, of Mil- waukee. The story is right about Mr. Becker in vaudeville, but when it says I came, in with frozen feet from my walk, it is mistaken, as I went the farthest of any one, so kindly give a big, fat fellow a little credit. Just say my ankles gave out, but at that they had to buy me off before I quit. I am the only one they settled with at the time. However, I read with much pleasure that my feet were frozen, even though it was a mistake. J. 'E. Bternad. Rutland, Vt., Feb. 8. Editor Variety: I thank you for inserting my letter in last week's Variety. Since then I have received a letter from Henry Olive, with full explanation, which satisfies me I was wrongly informed and that dive is not at the present time doing anything belonging to me. I fully believe him, and I will in the future, as in the past, remain his friend. A Joint, The Great. Boston, Mass., Feb. 9. Editor Variety: In Variety last week under the San Francisco notes was mentioned that Mr. Melvin Winstock, of the Pantagea Circuit, made his debut as a producer with a posing act called "The Artist's Dream," the special feature of which is the light- ing effects, which are so arranged that the poses are brought up from total dark- ness to a very bright light then fade nway to darkness. . I want to say that I have been doing an.act exactly like this, and called "The Artist's Dream," for the past fourteen months, and played San Francisco with it last May for two weeks. Mile. Rialto. THE ACTOR By ASHTON AND EARLE. ("The Whittling Ificks.") Who is it that always lives in hope, ** Arranging my time" is his daily Dope, An when election comes, they wont let him vote? THE ACTOR. Who is it takes contracts that are no good, Just a mere formality it is understood, And would do away with them if he could? THE ACTOR. Who is it works every holiday, And for it gets no extra pay, Works like a beaver, then oajls it playT _ TBE ACTOR. Who is H travels day and night, And puts up at hotels that are a fright T At the end of the season whose purse is light? THE ACTOR. "Are you well or not?" he is never asked, If he don't make good he is brought to task, And over his feelings wears a mask; THE ACTOR. Who is it that answers Sweet Charity's call, When a terrible calamity does befall, Asking nothing for his services at all? THE ACTOR, EH, WHAT? BY conkby. You talk about life's up* end downa. Gee, show business skins 'em ell; You never know where you are— (Sometimes up—sometimes we fall. (Believe me.) Perhaps one season we maj hare Everything that foes to suit, And then next season be darn lucky If we can start s route. (Y'see. It's like this): Sometimes we play e real one; The act Is one big go; We're ell swelled op; think we're great- Then get canned at Kokomo. (Can you beat It?) When we've coin we're often touched. And loosened from e few; But when broke end we try that gag— The others are aU broke, too. (Never again.) We often cut the beer sod say: "Tbe H. O. thing for mine." Well, off the reel e birthday— And sowy, back In line, (Gimme the aame.) Some marry; put her In tbe act, And teach her to be cute. When we get some swell time fixed— She does a skip—skldoo—e scoot. (Yep, doing e single.) But with all Us ups and downs, It's fascinating Just the same. Ferbsps that's what makes It great— Tbe very uncertainty of the game. (It's s grand life.) BY THE SKIRT. My friend in Buffalo wrote me the other day that while Grace La Rue and a Mr. Byron Chandler were leaving the train in her town, Mr. Chandler received some divorce papers which said his wife wanted a perpetual separation. My Buffalo friend says the reporters asked Mr. Chandler if he had married Miss La Rue, but re- ceived no answer. I remember my friend in Chicago speaking of this gentleman when he was stopping at the Auditorium in that never-daylight city. Miss La Rue was stopping there, too. She is with "Nearly a Hero." Mme. Belmont, the "American Milliner to Alice Lloyd," has delivered to Miss Lloyd a beautiful hat which the English girl is wearing at the Majestic, Chicago, this week. The frame is very large, and covered with a shirring of gold net, edged with a fancy braid. The crown is a tarn, with a gorgeous paradise resting upon it. That was a great old benefit at the New York Theatre last Sunday night, and whoever missed it missed something good. Still, the performance, like all "benefits," had its drawback, or a "mishap" it could be named. Of all the "benefits" I have sat through, I have never failed to notice that there are always a few who jump into the opportunity to "show all they know." I guess it is on the assumption there must be ''managers in front to-night." The New York caught the germ Sunday. Stella Mayhew and Emma Cams lasted for an awfully long while on the stage. If they go through in vaudeville all they did at the benefit, Misses Mayhew and Carus must be worth an awfully large salary in vaudeville. I had given up hopes of seeing anyone else long before either consented to stop. The stage manager with his "benefit" worries must be a happy man in a case like that. How different were some of the others, and how much more they were enjoyed for giving a bit of their repertoire and disappearing. The most handsomely gowned women to appear on the stage were Anna Held, Blanche Ring and Lucy Weston, who looked a dream in a mauve Quakerish costume. What a pretty little girl that young daughter of William Jerome and Maude Nugent is. She has a voice of rare qual- ity, and I do hope she is cultivating it. I just can't keep my feet still when Jean Schwartz is playing that bully "rag" he composed, "Whitewash Man." And it really made me feel so old when Jerome and Schwartz sang the medley of their own delightful compositions that I almost cried, because just before I went in the theatre a nice young man said to me, "Howdy, you're looking like a kid to- night." Of course we girls stand off that line of talk by saying "jollier" or some- thing else, but as a woman's secret, I can say that we do fall for it, and more quickly when we think the mirror has discovered some wrinkles. I don't mind "dipping my lid" to Messrs. Cohan & Harris, who managed the bene- fit. I think they are wonders. I shall teach my children to respect our four greatest Americans: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley and George M. Cohan. Looking over a press scrap book of a charming young comedienne recently I was moved to wonder how the name "Millicent Easter" had managed to escape from a Broadway musical comedy chorus to work as a special writer on a Cleve- land newspaper. The name calls up visions of an etherial creature in pale vio- let chiffon, but Millicent, my friend tells me, is none such. She is a Bohemian to the point of wrinkled frocks and disor- dered hair, but with a poetio soul. "She called at my dressing room when I was in Cleveland," my friend said, "and asked for a few burning thoughts on art. I was short on art brain throbs that day, but I told her an experience of mine that I thought would make bully 'copy* for a 'To-day's Best Story* column. What was my surprise when, in the next morning's edition, she fitted me out with a fine set of artistic aspirations and a soul that yearned and agonized for higher effort. Women reporters have no sense of humor, anyhow. I wish they'd send men around. Of course, men never have any note paper, and they usually write their notes with your eyebrow pencil, but they don't maunder about are or wail about their own troubles as the lady reporters do." The one and only woman I have seen in grand opera who appears human Is Mme. Cavalerri. Her interpretation of "Mimi" in "La Boheme" is radically away from any I have heard. Cavalerri im- pressed me as accepting the fat men who surrounded her on the stage as jokes. But her death scene is ideally realistic. I am given to understand that Cavalerri appeared in vaudeville about ten or twelve years ago when the music halls in London were favored by her presence. And I suppose everybody who knows has heard about Cavalerri's engagement at the Metropolitan, and how she is now one of Mr. Hammerstein's high-priced chirpers. BENTHAM OBJECTING. New Rochelle, N. Y., Feb. 4. A theatrical • agent living here, M. S. Bentham by name, is circulating a peti- tion around town asking the city officials to change the name of ftew Rochelle to Rochelle. For the past three Sundays, says Mr. Bentham, he has been tracing the early history of the village, and has discovered New Rochelle was first settled 83 years ago by the discoverer of Rochelle Salts. It is too old to be called "New" any more, according to the theatrical man, and Mr. Bentham's contention is being widely discussed. Mr. Bentham lias issued a statement through the local press that the first time a holiday and Sunday follow one another he is going to remain in his home and write the history of New Rochelle.