Variety (March 1909)

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VARIETY ORGANIZATIONS' MASS MEETING. Notice has been sent out to members of all the theatrical societies calling upon members to attend a mass .meeting to- morrow (Sunday) afternoon at the Ly- ceum Theatre, New York. The purpose of the gathering is to promote discus-" sion of the new agency law, an amend* ment to which is now before the Assem- bly of this State. The meeting brought together through the efforts of the White Rats Political League will pass upon a resolution to be presented to have the name changed to the Actors' Political League of America. , Fred Niblo, President of the White Rats, will be the chairman of the gather- ing, and also speak.' Harry Mountford will act as secretary. He will be among the speakers also, as will Assemblyman Voss, Daniel Harris, J. P. Buchanan, John Mitchell, Harry De Veau, Oscar Keane, Geo. Seyboldt and Rev. F. Clay Moran. WALKER NEEDS BEST. New York acquaintances of Geo. W. Walker, the colored comedian, claim the reports as to his present state of health have been exaggerated. Walker is at his home in Lawrence, Kans., and will not again take to the road before next season, when Williams and Walker will have a new piece. TTiey have an offer for a California season of ten weeks this summer. PASSES NEW HOUSE PLANS. Chicago, March 4. Before William Morris left for New York with James J. Jeffries, he passed upon the plans for the new Morris theatre in St. Louis. It will be modeled after the American Music Hall in this city. TALK OF NEW THEATRE. St. Louis, March 4. A deal is pending whereby a new the- atre will be built on Olive Street, just east of Grand Avenue. The ground was transferred this week to G. H. Dudley as trustee. The building will be partly oc- cupied with business offices. JOHNNIE HOEY and JEANNETTE MOZAR. The above la from a photo of JEANNETTE tiOZAB tod JOHNNIE HOBY. The latter has been featured and at aired for the past four years In the popular-priced theatrea under the direction of CIIARLRS E. BLANKY. Mian Moaar, who baa been Mr. Hoey'a principal aupport, will continue with him In bla new vaudeville venture. The act will be known aa JOHNNIE HOEY and JEANNETTE MOEAR. It la under the direction of Belch ft Plunkett. "SQUARE" WITH "xor^o" It was talked about during the week that within a month, the Keith-Proctor Union Square Theatre might again eon- vert itself and policy; this time to ten and twenty cent vaudeville. The Square has been playing moving 'pictures for a * year. It was said that if the cheaper, vaude- ville entertainment should prove profitable, the other local K.-P. picture houses might follow its lead.' One well informed person ventured to remark that by next season, all the K.-P. former vaudeville theatres in and around New York would be offering the 10-20 or 10-20-30 brand, and perhaps continuous, going back to the first principle? of B. F. Keith and F F. Proctor. 5-10 AT G. 0. H. Philadelphia, March 4. It is pretty certain Miller & Kaufman have the Grand Opera House and will place a 5-10 show there in about a month. It is around the corner from Nixon ft Zimmerman's Liberty, at present playing pictures. "ANGEL" JAILED. Paterson, N. J., March 4. One Peter J. Grotty, who was happy as a prosperous cafe keeper can be before he got the theatrical promotion fever, is in custody. Crotty has been manager of the "Hip, Hip, Hurrah" Co. for nine days, and in that short time has been jailed twice for unpaid debts. When the show bug first got to buzzing about in Crotty's bonnet he sold his cafe, and with P. F. DeAngelis put the pro- ceeds into the "Hip, Hip, Hurrah" enter- prise. When the show opened at Scran- ton last week Crotty and DeAngelis be- came involved in an argument. The latter, who is said to be backed by a New York tailor, withdrew and left the exchequer rather strained. Immediately a Scranton hotel keeper descended on the organiza- tion and Crotty went to the cooler. He was released soon after on his representa- tion that he would make good later. The show is said to have done good business since then and everything looked rosey until the same Scntttton bonifacc descended upon Crotty here yesterday and caused his arrest again. THREE NEW SHOWS. The three new shows of Cohan A Harris, written by Geo. M. Cohan, will be produced this month. "The Fortune Hunter," featuring Tom W. Ross, opens March 15 at Atlantic City. "The Majesty of Birth" is also to be shown, and "The Chorus Man," the Ray- mond Hitchcock show, which may have its title changed, makes its start before All Fools' Day. Carter De Haven replaced Mr. Cohan in "The Yankee Prince" commencing Tuesday evening, the playwright-comedian leaving the cast for a brief rest. ERLANGER GOING TO EUROPE. Passage has been booked on the Luai- tonia, sailing March 10, by A. L. Erlanger, who will leave for a stay of about four weeks in the European capitals. Flo Zicgfcld, Jr.. will travel with him. The trip t jroad of Mr. Erlanger is for the |turi>080 of looking over foreign productions and resting. HAS A TRAINED FISH. "Lida and her Gold Fish" will be a sum- mer park attraction the coming .season. John S. Egan, of the Atlas Booking Cir- cuit, located Lida and the fish. The lat- ter measures nineteen inches in length. While under water, Mr. Egan says Lida races with the fish around the tank; har- nesses it up, driving the glittering mem- ber of the finny tribe about, and also feeds it from her hand. Mr. Egan further advances as a reason for the tractability of the gold fish that while Lida was sporting in the waters of a nearby lake one day, her beauty at- tracted the fish to her. While the fish stared, Lida, unabashed at the open ad- miration, flirted outrageously with Mr. Fish, and its watery heart irrevocably cap- itulated. JEFFRIES ATTRACTS A MOB. The station master at the Grand Central Depot remarked on Wednesday morning when the 20th Century delivered James J. Jeffries to the waiting throngs that the undefeated champion of the world attract- ed a larger crowd than had ever assembled at the depot to meet even a President. From the Grand Central Jeffries was conveyed to William Morris' booking of- fice, where the sporting writers of the New York papers greeted him. An im- mense crowd blocked traffic on Broadway, and ten policemen were detailed to open up a passageway. Starting Monday Jeffries will remain two weeks at the Lincoln Square. He will be billed in his act as "The Modern Her- cules," and also have his title as "The Undefeated," etc., tacked on. The big fellow looks fit and seems as though little hard training would be re- quired to place him in condition to wrest the championship title away from Jack Johnson, the colored holder of it now. Jeffries does not seem twenty pounds heavier than when he left New York. PHILHARMONIC LEADER LEAVING. With twenty-five thousand American dollars passed over to him for leading the Philharmonic Orchestra this season, Was- sily Safanoff, the foreign conductor, with but one more concert before him, is mak- ing arrangements to leave New York for home. An offer for vaudeville tendered by John S. Egan, of the Atlas Booking Cir- cuit, was necessarily declined by Safanoff, his contract forbidding him appearing in public elsewhere over here within three months after quitting the Philarmonic stand. Next season Gustav Mahler, conducting at the Metropolitan Opera House now, will combine that duty again with the leader- ship of the orchestra Mr. Safanoff has been so successfully connected with dur- ing this winter. COHAN SHOW IN PROVIDENCE. Although Geo. M. Cohan nearly regis- tered an oath once upon a time that neither he nor any production the Cohan family might be interested in should ever play Providence, R. I., the Cohan & Har- ris' Minstrels are routed to stop over there for the last three nights of next week. Only an opening in Hartford will pre- vent it. TAKES LIFE ADVERTISEMENT. A contract has been entered into be- tween Ed F. Reynard,.the ventriloquist, and Variety lor Mr. Reynard's advertis- ing card to remain in the-paper for the remainder of the ventriloquist's natural life. On March 10, 1906, three months after Variety first issued, Mr. Reynard con- tracted fof. one year to have this adver- tisement appear: The Teatrlletmftst With a Production REYNARD And HU Famous Mechanical Fijurei. Each year since then Mr. Reynard has directed that the card remain, paying for its annual insertion. On Wednesday he came into Variety's office, remarking that his year's advertising would soon ex- pire, and that, as he intended to have the advertisement in the paper as long as he lived, why could not a lump sum be fixed for that period, avoiding the yearly re- mittances. Mr. Reynard was asked how long he anticipated remaining in the show busi- ness. "From fifteen to twenty years," an- swered the voice thrower. Paper and pencil were produced, and when the cal- culation was made, the result was a charge of $600 for the above advertise- ment for life. This price was set by Variety after Mr. Reynard had agreed to pay $760. Three reasons affected the figures. The most important was that on the original year's contract made by Mr. Reynard (March 10, '06), he settled his bill in full for that year within three months without waiting to "see Variety 'go broke,'" as many of its creditors were doing at that time. Another reason was that he entered into the life agreement without making any conditions as to the possible suspension of Variety before his death might occur; and the third is that there is no instance upon record where a similar advertisement has been placed in this way. Mr. Reynard is undoubtedly the first to place an advertisement for life, either in a theatrical journal or other circulating medium. OFFERING ALICE FISCHER. Alice Fischer in a miniature version of 'Mrs. Jack," the piece she appeared in at a Broadway Theatre, was offered the managers-this week by Lester Rosenthal for the Atlas Booking Circuit. 5 TH AVENUE'S MLLE. VALERY. Bob Irwin, the Fifth Avenue manager, has secured Odette Valery for his theatre, bringing her from Oscar Hammerstein's Manhattan Opera House to open April 12. Mile. Valery's vaudeville stay at the Fifth Avenue is indefinite. She will give her dance in the death of Cleopatra scene using a live snake, and Mr. Irwin hopes the public will demand her appearance for many weeks. Perhaps William Hammerstein would have engaged Valery for the vaudeville house of the family had not the prospects of Rajah running on forever at the Vic toria stood between.