Variety (December 1911)

VARIETY SHOWS AT THE BOX OFFICE IN NEW YORK AND CHICAGO "Bunty," "Quaker QlrV and "Red Widow" Biggest New York Winners. "Qarden of Allah" Not Sensa- tional Success. "The Concert" and "Louisiana Lou" Doing the Business of Chicago. Klne- macolor Theatre Getting Along. Not only is business on the road very poor but the takings in the metropolis are gradually diminishing and will continue on the downward grade until after the holidays. The acknowledged successes are weaken- ing perceptibly and some of them are about to depart "owing to previous bookings which cannot be cancelled" and other equally truthful reasons. It is not an easy matter to get authentic statements of the business done by any but the big successes, the re- ceipts of which are invariably herald- ed broadcast. Naturally when there Is a falling off in business it is not good business policy to apprise the press and public. Herewith is Variety's monthly resume of the present condi- tion of business in the metropolis. The upper portions of the "$2 houses'' have been quite light, of late, seri- ously affecting the receipts. "A Single Man" (Empire) (John Drew). Completing annual engage- ment of twelve weeks. The final ones probably played at a loss. Next week Ethel Barrymore in "The Wit- ness for the Defence." The Hippodrome is doing excellent business at the matinees, which is at half the evening scale of admission. The night houses are little better than half capacity, with Saturday nights capacity. At this rate they are prob- ably still making a lot of money; but they are about to make some changes in the production to strengthen. These will be gradually accomplished. The Hip is now playing to between $40,- 000 and $50,000 a week. "Bought and Paid For" (Play- house). One of the biggest hits of the season. Has a few empty seats occasionally, and • will probably con- tinue at that speed until after the holiday shopping has been completed. Eventually It must be removed to permit Grace George to come to the Playhouse to appear in her repertoire. When the piece is transferred it will likely go to the Globe, succeeding "The Three Romeos," which does not appear to have caught on. But "The Romeos' " promoters have taken the Globe for five weeks' longer under a guarantee of minimum receipts, so the "Bought and Paid For" entry into the house cannot be made before the holidays. "Bunty Pull* the Strings** (Com- edy). Ninth week and selling out at every performance. The house has raised the prices of the gallery seats to one dollar each. No difficulty in disposing of them. Seats are now selling there eight weeks in advance. The weekly takings have been around $8,000 since the beginning of the run. The Irish Players (Maxine Elli- ott's). Fourth week. Have caught on sufficiently to warrant retention for a while. Probably breaking a little better than even. By holding on, will establish desirable reputation for themselves on the road. Monday night a small sized riot was caused in the audience by the Hibernians. This will either keep them in the city for a long time or drive them out of town Imme- diately. "Disraeli'' (Wallacks). Will short- ly leave Wallack's, although nothing has been announced to succeed it. Business has dropped off, but still substantial. "The Lady of Coventry'' (Daly's), (with Viola Allen). A failure. House but half full second night. Leaves Saturday night. Margaret Illlngton in "Kindling" next week. "Maggie Pepper" (Harris), (Rose Stahl). Fifteenth week. Keeping up to good average. Suffered last week with other Broadway houses through Horse Show in opposition. "The little Millionaire" (Cohan's), (Geo. M. Cohan). Has fallen off a trifle, undoubtedly due to the general conditon of things. Probably long time before engagement ceases to be profitable. "Quaker Girl" (Park). The theat- rical suprise of the season. Termed poor judgment by Broadway mana- gers for Park (formerly Majestic) to re-open at $2. Has been doing nearly capacity since opening, with big ad- vance and steady rush. Statement of $16,000 weekly finds few doubters. ••The Price" (Hudson), (Helen Ware). In 5th week. Had to over- come adverse criticisms. Now doing about $6,000 weekly, and showing good profit owing to comparatively cheap company through small cast. "The Garden of Allah" (Century). Not sensational success production, should be under normal conditions to make money for managers, Llebler & Co. House (formerly New Theatre) has money capacity of about $30,000 on the week. Show doing about $15,- 000. Arrangement under which Cen- tury was leased by the Lieblers may give them a profit on this expensive production, but if the weekly takings are no more than reported, the firm is just about breaking even. Klnemacolor Theatre. (Colored pictures). Generally unnoticed by showmen, the venture of the Klnema- color pictures in the converted Men- delsohnn Hall is doing business. Get- ting from $2,400 to $2,800 weekly at a dollar scale, big business under the circumstances. Matinees well patron- ized and continually growing. Seem to attract women mostly, those who do not care to patronize the "small time" vaudeville houses. Settling the much mooted question whether "pic- tures" can draw at over twenty-five cents. ♦♦The Red Widow" (Astor), (Ray- mond Hitchcock). Has caught on strongly apparently. Only question whether present business of around $13,000 weekly will hold up. Did around $10,000 last week, attributed to Horse show opposition. Wagenhals A Kemper will have a new melodramatic production by Paul Armstrong ready to go In in four weeks if necessary. ♦♦The Enchantress" (New York). Has taken a drop in business, but re- ceipts held up to a high figure still by Friday and Saturday's business. Did $5,500 at two shows one Satur- day. Expensive company to run. Costs over $5,700. May be playing to $16,000. Capacity of house almost a third as much more. ♦♦Vera Vloietta" (Winter Garden). Started off very big. and has held up in the main. Business took sudden drop middle of last week; recovered slowly. Good show for Broadway, though questionable at admission scale. Helped greatly by notices. Must do big business to cover expense. "The Runaway" (Lyceum), (Billie Burke). Best show Miss Burke has ever had. Good business. Has gone as high as $14,000. Drew society. Will leave Saturday to make room for Nazimova in "The Marion- ettes." "The Kiss Waits" (Casino), finds run this Saturday, after highly satis- factory stay of twelve weeks. First eight very big, followed by gradual diminution. "Peggy" follows. ••The Littlest Rebel" (Liberty). Not an instantaneous success, but business picking up steadily. Increased $100 a night last week. "The Million" (39th Street). Do- ing well enough to warrant its reten- tion until such time as it begins to wane. "The Never Homes" (Broadway). Playing to about half houses, show- ing some profit. Rumors of its suc- cessor about. "Passers By" (Criterion). Fallen away to an alarming extent, not doing over $5,000 weekly, and cannot last much longer unless at a loss. ♦♦The Pink Lady" (Amsterdam). Will depart in another week. It has been a big winner until recently. Re- mained thirteen months. Drawing in around $10,000 weekly now. "The Return of Peter Grimm" (Be- lasco). Practically capacity. Looks like the house's attraction for rest of season. "The Woman" (Republic). Not doing well, poor in fact. Reported to succeed "A Lovely Liar" at Olym- pic, Chicago, shortly. Belasco an- nounces a number 2 company for Chi- cago, but the wise ones say the New York show will move there. "The Siren" (Knickerbocker). Leaves December 16. Will be suc- ceeded by "Kismet" Dec. 18. "Kismet" promised to be one of the largest pro- ductions of the year. ♦♦The Wife Decides" (Weber's). Will remain as long as the backer pays the rent of the theatre. Noth- ing in the takings warrants its con- tinuance. ♦♦The Wife Hunters" (Herald Square). Doing some business, but not much. Fell away off after first week. This Is the last week. Reginald De Koven's "The Wadding Trip" suc- ceeds it. "Uncle Sam" (Gaiety), (Wise and Barrymore). Last week. Will bfe followed by Elsie Ferguson In "The First Lady in the Land." "Uncle Sam" never started. Chicago, Nov. 29.» The attractions and business at present are about as folows: Lew Fields 1 revue (American Mu- sic Hall). By cutting out the vaude- ville olio and substituting "The Big Littlest Rebel," a bright travesty on the recent Chicago Opera House suc- cess, there has been given a strong stimulant to business. Very expensive show. ••The Concert" (Blackstone). Re- ported to be averaging close to capac- ity. Will close a prosperous engage- ment Dec. 2 to make room for Fran- ces Starr in "The Case of Becky." ♦♦Alma, Where Do You Live" (Colonial). Quite too light for a house noted for numerically big shows. Consequently fell down here. Was succeeded Nov. 26 by Sallie Fish- er in a made over musical play en- titled "Modest Suzanne." Did not get a capacity opening—an unprece- dented thing for a Sunday night at the Colonial—due to the mistake of advertising it as a musical version of "The Girl in the Taxi." ♦The Wall Street Girl" (Garrick). Blanche Ring has "gone over" to the extent that the receipts of her engage- ment have exceeded those of her visit here two years ago by a comfortable margin. "Mutt and Jeff" (Globe). Effect- ive in restoring a much abused play- house to the money winning class. The cartoon-play takes leave Dec. 2, to comply with booking arrange- ments. House will be "dark" until succeeding attraction can be secured. "Everywoman" (Grand O. H.). Business has shown a material in- crease since attraction moved up from the Auditorium. Scheduled re- turn of Gertrude Elliott in "Rebel- lion" Dec. 4. ♦♦The Havoc" (Illinois). Doing n fairly good business but some distance from capacity. Booked for two weeks. Gives way to Frank Mclntyre. in "Snobs," Dec. 4. "Louisiana Lou" (LaSalle). One of the few successes out this way. ♦♦As a Man Thinks" (Lyric). Do- ing well for an attraction housed in a theatre only remotely on the play- house map. Is expected to continue here until close to the holidays. "A Butterfly on the Wheel" (Pow- ers' ). Manager Powers claims to be sat- isfied with Marie Doro's following, al- though business is ordinary. Engage- ment is Indefinite, and an Increase is possible. "Way Down East" (McVicker's). The seemingly perennial popularity of this piece is resulting in a prosper- ous business. "Baby Mine" comes in Dec. 3. Looks like another winner. "Over Night" (PrlnceBs). Golns so well the Shuberts have not an- nounced attention of making a change in the near future. (Continued on page 6.)