Variety (September 1919)

VARIETY DAILY BULLETIN !»'.- BLACKSTONE TO BE REOPENED; %. AUDITORIUM BENEFIT IN CHI. DEMAND STRIKE INVESTIGATION. Syracuse, N. Y., Aug. 28. Investigation of the conditions back of the strike of the Actors' Equity Association by the State Industrial Commission is demanded by (a reso- lution adopted today by they- State Federation of Labor convention here.' ® : ^■\ rge Tyler Centre Ju»t Now of Chicago's Strike Situation. The ^solution was embodied in t TJ?U°fJ>e str , ike ,un f £-£ EQUITY'S BALL The social event of the theatrical strike was staged in the grand ball room of the Hotel Astor last night by the Actors' Equity Association. Up- wards of 2,000 members and friends of the organization attended, netting something between $15,000 and $20,000. Sa&i Says He Will Open "On Hiring Line." Big BUI Laid Out for Benefit Week. Actors Receiving New Equity Contracts Calling for $1 Weekly Salary. Stage Hands and Musicians Receiv- ing Union Scale. Chicago, Aug. 28. Friday night at the Blackstone a dress and light rehearsal of "On the Hiring Line will be held with non- union crew? handling scenery and • T.-Jt Preparatory to opening Sat'- liilrday, Geo. C Tyler, beating down the opposition of his own associates, has undertaken the job of testtpg the union opposition. ' gg| -Friday morning the newspapers will carry advertising announcing the open- ing: next day, and the box office will open its advance sale. The theatre is guarded by private watchmen deputized as sheriffs and tonight the house is protected against anybody entering like a subtreasury. Rehearsals with non-union hands are going on. Electric plants are installed on an auto truck in the alley to cut in power in case the union electrician at teh Blackstone Hotel which supplies jthe theatre's current should cut off §p* lights. I- ^ There will be no orchestra or other .music. ipCvGontrary to predictions that the pub- lic would not risk patronizing a guarded house, the advance interest already nifested through the mere leaking out of the news by private channels, public announcement having yet made, indicates a brisk demand for its, actuated by curiosity as to what ,y happen. . ^Ticket purchasers will not be scrutin- ized. Nobody is to be barred, but there Wm' be 50 picked boys scattered through'the house. pf The expense to the house and show jil; said to-be about $1,000 a day extra. '■Mr. Tyler is the center of attraction. ,e -has pledged "On the Hiring Line" JS-open at the Blackstone Saturday. It is said that.armed guards are present" it rehearsals- $jgll is silly to say that the public |i^ With the actors in this strike." Tyler ^|Wd.«resterday. "I have received hun- »4fcds of letters from persons who Mptnt .as far as to volunteer their sP^lervices as stage hands without pav l^ip^brder that the show be produced." fe; With the town closed tight as far f|pj£l shows are concerned, the strike here IPpti taking on the aspect of propaganda Irlfstaled at the general public. M'i'i-J. J. Rosenthal, manager of the W^Woods, started it with his three-sheet W;f»c-simi1e of. Al Woods' telegram f^ placed in the lobby of the theatre. jfeThis pledged Woods' allegiance to the Producing Managers' Association and stated his determination to stick to |;i the finish. It attracted much atten- tion from the public as well as the .profession. &*!; Today the strikers have made en- larged fac-similes of numerous tele- grams and slogans, and they have been passing all afternoon in front of the \t^- : thea , tre. -.:;: Strike leaders have made no state- ment as to how they regard the bjg benefit for the A. E. A. to be held at the Auditorium, Labor Day. Morgan ^Wallace, who helped to put on the ,j ^~A. E. A. benefit in New York, has ar- rived in Chicago to aid in this one. I)'■■:''■ . It is announced that the following ..Kwill be on the bill: Blanche Ring, p ; Charles Winninger, W. C. Fields. Chic 4: Sale, Ada^Meade, Pearl White, Frank y?> : Fay, Walter Jones, Van and Schenk, ,!f\ Duncan Sisters, Joe Santley and Ivy Iftf m I t; 22 A.E. A. COMMITTEES. The Actors' Equity now has 22 com- mittees in active working operation, with headquarters in six different buildings. The committees include strike, en- tertainment, finance, help and relief, membership, headquarters, intelligence,, speakers, British, picketing, ladies' ap- plication, executive, engagement, ways and means, legal, and advisory. $3,900 AT SARATOGA. The gross receipts of the Equity benefit show given at Convention Hall, Saratoga, Springs, Wednesday night, was officially announced at $3,900. The expenses were said to be $300. mittee of the convention named Tues- day, and of which Chas. C. Shay is chairman. Mr. Shay, in presenting the report, declared it may not be necessary to call out every theatrical'union man in the country to win the fight for improved conditions but that if neces- sary that step will be taken, p. m. ticket holders began to gather in the foyer of the hotel and at 11.20 when the orchestra played the opening dance the floor was well occupied. , Among the box holders announced by the chairman, of the ball committee were Mrs. Felix Morris, Fred. Stone, Mollie King, William Farnum, Elsie Ferguson, Dianthe Patterson, Blanch Sawyer. Tom Wise, William Courtney, Grant Mitchell, Zoe Barnett. Berton Churchill, in charge, has hired a stage crew and an orchestra of 25. paying them the regular scale of union wages. Each member of the show is being given a new Equity contract, with a specified salary of one dollar a week. T^he benefit is de- signed to provide funds to send the 80 members of the Equity who are on strike back to New York, and to pay other expenses of the local cam- paign. That the Equity show may observe the Equity gospel to the last letter, the contracts issued for the Audi- torium show, Churchill announces, are drawn on the basis of eight perform- ances a week. There may be nine performances in the six days. The striking players may not limit their benefit season to one week. They have an option on the auditorium for a second week. Sam Hardy said they will hang on. until the beginning of-, the opera season if the show prospers. ~ Benefit prices will be 50 .cents to $2. TYLER MOVES SCENERY. Chicago. Aug. 28. The scenery of "On the Firing Line" is in the Blackstone theatre. It was moved in there yesterday, when George Tyler engaged deputies to guard its transportation from the freight depot to the theatre. Pickets attempted to interfere with its de- livery but they were routed. Deputy sheriffs also protected the scenery of "Tillie" when that was moved out of the Blackstone yesterday to make room for the incoming show. Tyler has issued a statement saying nothing will stop "The Hiring Line" from opening next Monday night. The show carries but one set and the com- pany is claimed to be 100 per cent, loyal. ROAD AGENTS INDIGNANT. The usual starting point for the road season now having arrived the posi- tion of the advance agents and com- pany managers on the road has been called to attention. One of the producers engaged over a score of« road men and this week sent wires recalling them. For the most part agents and managers have not been yet sent out and groups hold little indignation meetings l along. Broadway and on 42nd street almost. daily. The report adopted by the convener R' n S» John Emerson and Anita Loos, tion follows: | Ernest Glendinning, Marie Dressier, "Your committee has given intensive Norma Talmadge, Walker Whiteside, and exhaustive consideration to the matter referred to it. The committee finds -that the contest between the Actors' Equity Association and the Producing Managers' Association em- braces conditions that exist behind the stage curtain that are almost un- believable. "In brief, actors on the stage are kings and princes, tragedians and com- edians, but under the conditions of employment imposed on them by the producing managers the actors are puppets and the playthings of the man- agers, strutting their brief time on the stage in order that their employes may wax fat. "Your committee therefore recom.- mends that this convention request the State Industrial Commission to insti- tute public hearings in order to de- termine the cause of the difficulty and promulgate its findings and recom- mendations." PRINCIPALS ISSUE STATEMENT. The following statement was issued bv Billy Meehan, George McKav and Mabel Withee, princioals of "What's the Odds?" being produced by Messrs. Shannon and'Bennett. ^Ve were instructed by what ^we considered representative officials of the Actor's Equity Association to con- tinue rehearsals until the opening date but not to open unless we were siven permission by our organization. These instructions were delivered to us at rehearsal hall Friday night. On-these, instructions we pledged ourselves to' our managers to continue rehearsals until opening date. But we advised our managers that we would not open unless we were given written permis- sion from our organization. The fol- lowing day three men came to our rehearsal-hall and instructed us to promptly walk out of rehearsal.' In view of the fact that we had what we considered, official permission to continue rehearsals, we refused. "We have not resigned from the Actor's Equity organization and jm> have not joined the Actors' Fidelity League, but we propose to ; M.ep our word to our manager because we were instructed to keep that word by men who we considered had .official author- ity from the Actors' Equity Associa- tion to give that word. 'We propose to rehearse until open- ing day and then if the Actors' Equity Association instruct us not to open, we will not r ojpen. "We have been misquoted and dis- cussed at variance by individuals on both sides, but we have given our word b; permission of our organiza- tion ana notwithstanding the change in mind of our organization we pro- pose to keep our word, but we wish to register the fact that we are Equity members .and we propose to keep our ob! gat ion to our organization first and our obligation to ourselves also first. .."We believe we are speaking for the entire company, for we under- stand we are right and believing we are right we propose to continue to be right:" Arthur Vishman, Ida Muello and Doug- las Fairbanks, the latter while on the Pacific coast notified the Equity he wished to contribute and be registered asaibox holder. Marie Dressier entered the ball room early in the evening and announced to /the newspapermen she had answered I George M. Cohan by closing the Hippo- ) drome. Miss Dressier said the chorus j girls' union had given their answer to the managers by obeying her call, 100 ! per cent. She also stated she marched i the entire chorus, male and female to the Lexington to show the general pub- lic how the chorus stood in this fight. Miss Dressier, stated that because of her activity in the strike she was forced to close the chorus girls' head- quarters on West 48th street as she could not give her entire time to it She aso said the question of the vice- presidency of the chorus union was not as yet settled and would be held in abeyance 'because several of the girls had been claiming the honor, but as yet no definite decision as to the office had been arrived at. The grand march was set for mid- night with John Drew and Ethel Barry- more leading one section and Mr. and Mrs. Francis Wilson the other. It was directed by Major Reginald Barlowe. Following the leaders came the mem- bers of the Council who were in town and behind the Council came Miss Dressier and a number of her union. After the march a vaudeville show of several acts was staged on the ball room floor. A. E. A. strikers and members of the producing Managers' got together un- expectedly while the dance was going on. The overflow having filled the two main dining rooms, drifted into the gentlemen's grill where seated at a table were J. J. Shubert, Sam Harris, Archie Selwyn and several other mana- gers, also included in the party was William Klein, the Shubert attorney. The affair was colored by. a fortune in gowns. The ball committe was headed by HagftQrd" Short, Rapph Morgan, Gil- bert Douglas and Edward Douglas. The proceeds of the affair will go direct to the Relief Fund of the Equity Association. . • HOPPER'S OPINION. De Wolf Hopper, during the course of a speech yesterday afternoon at Equity strike headquarters, made the following reference to Louis Mann and "the managers": "Of all the corrosive sublimates of a damned fool, give me Louis Mann. The managers have referred to us as hams. I don't know why they should do that, except that ham appeals so little to so many managers. And yet some of them are hogs themselves." SIGNS IN LOBBY. Yesterday signs of three sheet size, .lettered in white on a background of black, were- placed in front of many of the closed theatres. The signs read: "This theatre is closed because of the action of the Actors' Equity Association in forcing its members to violate their individual contracts with the management" -I ***r°*%»iA- ' - • ■ \ •■•,.....',