Variety (Dec 1939)

42 VARIETY VAUDE—NIGHT CLUBS Wedncsdaj, December 6, 1939 WB's Vaude Exit in Philly Precipitates Tooters Union Threat to Picket Houses Philadelphia, Dec. S. Warner theatres here, which pre- dominate, may be picketed by the musicians union as a result of the circuit dropping vaudeville after fail- ing to come to terms with the tooters on a new contract. WB shuttered the £arle, its ace and vaudfilmer here, on Friday (I) and took stage show out of two nabcs, the Alle- gheny and Oxford, A meeting was scheduled this aft- ernoon (Tuesday) by the general membership of the musicians' local. It is believed that picket lines will be thrown around all Warner houses and resolutions passed asking the members of the International Alli- ance of Theatrical Stage Employes to back them up in what the union termed 'a lockout by Warners.' There are reports that Warners would invoke Attorney General Thurman Arnold's ruling against the union, on' the grounds that it was engaging in monopolistic practices in its demand that Warners hire musi- cians in all theatres in which they were engaged prior to the expira- tion of the contract. Warners seeks to contract for musicians only at the Earle. Ted Schlanger, zone head for the chain, said he hadn't heard about the Arnold angle. He said the circuit was still willing to employ musi- cians in theatres pursuing a vaude policy, 'The union says it doesn't matter whether we need musicians or not,' he said.. 'We were told we'll have to take the extra musicians, or the Earle won't get any. So we had to close.' Schlanger said that for the last few weeks musicians were paid at the Fox and several of the nabes without working. The Earle was closed Friday after getting, last week, one of its biggest grosses with a show headed by Lou- ella Parsons' "Stars of 1940' troupe. Carmen Miranda, at 2G, To Double Into Chi Nitery Chicago, Dec. 5. When 'Streets of Paris' opens here. Carmen Miranda is all set to double into the Colony Club for four weeks. Expected to be around Feb. 15, or thereabouts. She'll receive $2,000 a week at the nitery. Al Borde, of the local CBS Art- ists Bureau, in association with Jack Bertcll, of CBS in N. Y., set the deal. NITERY NOISE NO TONIC TO DRAMA Pittsburgh, Dec. S. Threatened battle between man- agement of Nixon theatre and owner of Nixon Cafe downstairs was.avcrt- ed last week when Tony Conforti, operator of the nitery, agreed to sound-proof his walls and ceiling with cork compound. Harry Brown, manager of legit house, claimed band music from cafe was seeping up into theatre during quiet shows and ruin- ing them for customers. Said he had a flock of complaints and. promised to take action with building owners to stop cafe from having any dance music at all dur- ing progress of regular plays. Conforti then agreed to sound- proof the place, but not until Nir- dingler estate, which controls theatre building, had given him a new five- year lease on the cafe. His present one runs out next May. Conforti has operated steadily at same spot since 1922. Mack Gordon defied 'Who's the Beau of the Belle of New York' for the 20th-Fox picture, 'Little Old New York,' in five hours. 15 YEARS AGO* ffrom Varietv; Rudolph Valentino's only b.o. competition on Broadway was the new dog star, Peter the Great, play- ing at the Cap in 'The Silent Ac- cuser.' Valentino was at the Strand in 'The Sainted Devil.' Henry Miller severed connection with 'The Magnolia Lady,' starring Ruth Chatterton, which he produced at the Shubert, N. Y. Ownership passed to Miss Chatterton and Lee Shubert. Just a case of constant disagreement. With the decline of the vaude boom in Britain, players were in- creasingly turning to picture work. Theatre managers were in bad straits in Berlin, with bankruptcies and salary cuts on the hike. How- ever, Maria Jcrltza refused to ac- cept an opera cut, and so returned to America. After a week at $11 top. Max Reinhardl's now repertory theatre, the Comedle, Paris, -dropped . its scale to $0.50. The prices were still too high for the small-cast farces presented. AFL convention in F.l Paso adopted resolution favoring every form of amusement on Sundays, ex- cepting legit, inclusive of musicals. Increasing number of dance halls in Greenwich Village operating as tea rooms or cabarets were giving New York cops somewhat of a prob- lem. The Mutual burlesque wheel was entering its second leg of the season with 34 shows and 33 weeks of book- ing. The circuit reported to have averaged $4,500 weekly in gross. George Pierce Baker, founder of the '47 workshop at Harvard, sev- ered his connection with the John- nies for Yale, where he was to head the new department of dramatic lit- erature. He had been at Harvard 36 years. MUIinder, Buck-Bubbles Unit for Brandt Houses An all-colored unit, topped by Lucky Milllnder'j, orch and Buck and Bubbles, has been set for two weeks in tha Brandt New York houses. Show opens Dec. 14 at the Flatbush,' Brooklyn, with the Wind- sor, Bronx, immediately following. Deal arranged by Jack Klotz of Nat Nazarro's ollice. Other acts will be Berry Bros., Tramp Band (8) and tha Edwards Sisters. TA IN $1,000 PREZ BALL SEHLEMENT IN WASH. The Theatre Authority, through Alan Corelll, last week efTected a sittlement with the President's Birthday Ball Committee of Wash- ington on coin due from last Janu- ary's charity alTaIrs in the capitol. Amount agreed upon is $1,000, TA's original request of $5,000 proving overestimated. Corelli met with the committee in Washington early last week. Sitting in were Carter Barron, of Loew's; Hardie Meakin, of RKOrNelson Bell, of the Washington Post, and James Hagen, Commissioner of the District of Columbia. A check on the books resulted in the $1,000 settlement. '•V order to facilitate payments to the TA, Corelli is now trying to af- fect a deal whereby the national csmmittee of the President's Birth- day Ball celebrations, rather than the local groups separately, will kick across. He admits, however, that taere appears little chance of such w. maneuver going through. Tony Pastor on Own Tony Pastor, vocalist and saxo- phonist, who recently withdrew from what had been the Artie Shaw unit, Is slated to head up his own band with Si Shribman doing the financing. The members of the ex-Shaw group, which has gone cooperative, couldn't agree with Pastor on what his share of the income should be. ONLY 1 WINNER WHEN BURLEY GODIVAS MEET Detroit, Dec. 5. When Lady Godiva did her strip act and rode a white charger through tl- streets of Coventry centuries ago, she had long hair. This historic fact was noted in court here when two modern strippers came to legal blows over who was entitled to the billing o "The Golden Godiva.' Trouble started when Marlcnc Sloan, 21, who has 44-inch, red tresses, came in to the Gayety and found that Mary Jane Reynolds, 21, who has shoul- der-length hair, was at rival burley. National, imder the same blurb, 'The Golden Godiva.' To add to the con- fusion, Marlene found her rival bilied as 'Marlane.' Yelling 'copy-cat,' Marlene rushed before Circuit Judge Theodore J. Richter, who, being a guy who is up on his legends, recalled that the an- cient lady was cloaked by her long tl esses on an historic ride. He didn't c\ -in bother to let Miss Sloan take down her long locks to bolster her case, but handed her the decision. Mary Jane, of the more modern bob, said she didn't even know who Lady Godiva was until she came to Detroit and found her »lf billed un- der that name. Anyway, sle said, she usually was billed as 'The Texas Glamour Girl' and liked that better. While 'The Golden Godiva' stuff is out for Mary Jane, court said it was oke to call herself 'Marlane' If ^he wanted to. Kemp Sets More Units Charlotte, N. C, Dec. 5. T. D, Kemp, Jr., has set several more units for tours of southern houses, chiefly one and two-day dates. Isham Jones' band will begin a 10-day theatre tour at the Plaza, in Asheville, N. , C, Dec, 10. Joe Clouer's 'Manhattan Revels' opened Sunday (3) at the National, Rich- mond, on a route of seven weeks. Ted and Art Miller will open 10- week tour Dec. 13 at the same house. Gerald Clark and his Calypsonians slated for a series of recordings for Eli Oberslein's U. S. Records. 1201 Broke '"^I^OfStRVKS House Records" ^^^^^,CH0 com « ^'^'^ DOUKHUE= ,EST 57 ST« «ist.«e ^ „E BteaesT H^S EVER SEEN ^^^^^^^^ ^, , , ^.^^^ H^RTFORD AL DONAHUE AND HIS ORCHESTRA GURHENTLY — STRAND, NEW YORK OPENING FRANK DAILEY'S MEADOWBROOK. CEDAR GROVE, NEW JERSEY, JAN. Isl, 1940 NBC Mutual .Network General Amusement Corp., New York VOCALION RECORDS