Variety (September 1919)

if} I P CHICAGO WAITS FOR TONIGHT; TYLER ADVERTISING OPENING m •'ft, ■', A"- •Blab;* Cast Announced For "On the Hiring Line," Due to Open at Blackstone, Chicago, With Non-Union Stage Group. Auditorium Benefit Show Next Week to Become Travelling Road Attraction. ■^. iijf:, ' u 'iiP ': '''.':' .. Chicago, Aug. 29. In the newspaper advertisements to- day George C Tyler made positive announcement that "On the Hiring Line" will open Saturday night at the Blackstone. In the 'cast will appear , Laura Hope Crews, Sidney Toler, ijtjMinna Gombell, McKay Morris, Jo- sephine Hall, Guy D'Enery, Barbara J Euard, Baker Moore, Frank Wilcox, l^'and Thomas Coffin Cooke. ^ It is announced sub rosa from the other side that there will be a terrific concentration of strike pickets to ask the public not to patronize the show. ^ All show business will fatch the premiere of this show, the first which <M has attempted to "break" the strike. ;': In the meantime, .Tom Wise, speak- ing for the Equity, said that the vaude- ville show to be presented at the Audi- torium Labor. Day, will be organized at the termination of its run there into j||>;a , ;,'road show. It will be an eight-act fe.yaudevllle, but with Hazel Dawn, Ada /.^ Meade.'Walter Jones, Three Gardiners, t:2'Alan Edwards, Jean Franklin, Georgie ^'Zwell, Evelyn Grieg and Jimmy Ver- mont. N j Wise says they will book/theatres Jin Vail the small time towns between Chicago and Joliet. All proceeds are ffo go to the Equity fund. t The striking players will hold a benefit dance tomorrow night at a -. West Side skating rink. Over $1,500 ' worth of tickets to the dance have ||fbeen sold already. PM^;<[ Edward Nockels made an announce- ffifv'.roent.today, as follows: pf^V'The managers cannot win until they deal with the actors as constituent E'arts of the American Federation of abor. They will not be able to open a theatre in the country, for the vari- ous branches' of the Federation of $iLabor will strike until the grievances r,■•'< of the actors and actresses are re- |$dressed." ■ * ■ Mj&ilw addition to the Blackstone, two t other houses will open tomorrow with .'/•'legitimate attractions, but these will be played by stock companies. The Victoria opens its .season with "Polly- anna", and the Imperial with "Alias "immy Valentine." Both are outlying tfdses, and the stock companies are der the management of the new. zzolo-Howard combination.. The ictoria and Imperial will operate-with ,ie-sanction of the Equity. I;;'* TH»e Auditorium A. E. A. benefit will ^have. as much "society" represented „^)>£-nn opera premiere. Among the-an- % nounced box holders are: Mr. and Mrs. Harry L. Street; Mr. and Mrs. Walter S. Brewster; Mr. and. Mrs. Arthur T. Aldis.; Mr. and Mrs. Thomas ,,, M. Hoyne; Mr. and Mrs. L. Sherman Aldrich; Mr. and Mrs. Howard Shaw: lr. and Mrs. James Keeley; Mr. and ,.jfor». Robt. Redfield; Mr. and Mrs. ^Carroll Shaffer; Mr. and Mrs. Albert M. Kates; Mr. and Mrs. Buckingham 'Chandler; Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Mc- , v Cutcheon Raleigh; Miss Rene Mans- '; field.".'' ' . Strike headquarters announced it had signed as an Equity member, Jack ''^Dempsey, whose show comes to the '^vColohlal, Aug. 31. It was hinted also ■;. that Dempsey would appear at the. ^benefit . \ . . i TRAVELING STOCKS FILLING IN. Syracuse, N. Y., Aug. 29. M&f Syracuse will not be permitted to go [, amusementless as a result of the ac- u|Btors' strike. Neither will Buffalo, Rochester and Utica. This eventuality is forestalled by plans announced to- day by Howard Rumsey, who for sev- eral years has had summer stock com- panies at theatres in the four cities named. Rumsey's plans call for the forma- tion of a traveling stock company which will open at the Empire here Labor Day. In its ranks will be many of the professionals who were in the Knickerbocker Players (which recent- ly closed its run at the Empire). Rum- sey has signed Harold Salter, Philip Sheffield, Margaret Cusack, Mabel Col- cord, Ralph Murphy and Robert Lowe of the Knicks. The company will first present Col- lier's "Nothing But Lies" for one week at the Empire, and will then move to the Lyceum at Rochester, where Rum- sey also runs stock in the summer. PHOTOING COHAN'S CHECK. That now famous Geo. M. Cohan $100,000 check made to trie order of the Actors' Fidelity League and turned oyer by the league to Daniel Frohman for the Actors' Fund, has provided considerable though mild ex- citement. Neither the officials of the A. F. L. nor Mr. Frohman thought of having the check photographed for press Usage. The Mutual Bank, upon which it was drawn, was beseiged yes- . terday for a picture before it passed through the clearing house. The re- production of the check will probably be used> by many of the New York dailies, though its appearance in them will be somewhat late. BAYES ABANDONS REHEARSALS. "Ladies First," the Nora Bayea at- traction rehearsing at the Bayea The- atre, has discontinued rehearsals for the time being. The same company will be assembled if possible when the local situation warrants. According to one of the members of the company. Miss Bayes decided to discontinue after the Actors' Fidel- ity League had tried to win the com- pany over to its organization. Several are Equity members and the company was considered neutral. Fol- lowing the visit of the Fidelity com- mittee some expressed dissatisfaction MEMBERSHIP OF THE P. M. There have been numerous queries as to the present membership of the Producing Managers' Association. The following is an official roster of the numbers to date. Sam H. Harris, President -. George H. Broadhurst, Vice-president L. Lawrence Weber, Secretary. Benjamin F. Roeder, Treasurer. M ? rr ". %*,. .WUner.Romberg John L. Golden Henry Savage Arthur Hammersteln Edgar Selwyn Sam H. Harris Alfred E. Aarons G. M. Anderson Winthrop Amm David Balasco William A. Brady George Boardhurit Charles Coburn George M. Cohan F. Ray Comstock Charles Emerson Cook John Cort C B. Dillingham William Elliott A. L. Erlanger Harrison Grey Fiike Harry Fraaee ' WiUiam Harris, Jr. Alf Hayman Richard Herndon Arthur Hopkins Adolph Klauber Marc Klaw Abraham Levy Edward MscGregor ' C. B. Maddock Henry Miller Moran and Andrews Oliver Moroaco Lee Shubert Richard Walton Tully George Tyler Walter F. Wange* L. Lawrence Weber George White (Not member, application in A. H. Woods J. Fred Zimmerman, Jr. Floren* Ziegfeld, Jr. . Sam Shannon Joe Weber I After the Rochester week, the com- pany will move to Buffalo for a week and then jump to Utica for another, and then to Syracuse, where a new plan will be offered and the circuit resumed. , Just what houses Rumsey will have in Utica and Buffalo are not an- nounced. The Star had the Knicks for a winter stock run in Buffalo, while last year Rumsey had a summer stock • company in the Lumberg at Utica. In the event that the plan proves successful, and Rumsey is confident that it will, he will place a permanent stock company in each of the four cities, later. ■" The Empire will have Augustus Pi- tou's revival of "The Old Homestead" week Sept. 8 (State Fair Week). The Wieting will have "The Lady in Red" week Sept. & This show was at first booked for the first half, with "Tumble In" to follow. The latter cancelled. i and the management announced the new policy. In the cast were Arthur Hull, Irving Fisher, Hatrison Greene, Katherine Parker and Mr. Ashley. All had Equity contracts. "LISTEN LESTER" KEEPS ON. Atlantic City, N. J. "Listen Lester" continues to play to excellent business at the Apollo in spite of the stage hands and musicians walking. A non-union group of musi- cians is playing the show, which is be- ing given with the house sets. The show will continue on tour and will carry the musicians recruited here. COULDN'T LOCATE COHAN. Washington, Aug. 29. The newspapermen in town received a tip last evening George M. Cohan had been here all of yesterday. They started on a search for Cohan, but was unsuccessful in locating him. .If Cohan were here, the object of his mission remains a mystery. NEXT WEEK'S LEX BILL. The corrected Equity bill listed- for opening at the Lexington, Labor Day, is as follows: Ernest Glendinning, Adele Rowland, Watson Sisters, Dor- othy Dixon and Carl Hyson, Lionel Barrymore in the last act of "The Copperhlad," Ray Raymond, Ada Lewis and Jack Hazard, and the Equity minstrels. The minstrels will include a circle of 80, with Jim Corbett, interloi and Eddie Cantor and Tom ends. UNION CARDS CALLED FOR. Syracuse, N. Y., Aug. 29. The curtain was held at the Empire last night until the cast of "Boys Will Be Boys" (which opened the dramatic season had produced union cards and satisfied the members of the stage hands' union they were affiliated with the Actors' Equity Association. Klaw & Erlanger are interested in the Em- pire^.. '. ': T ,:':i-: ■■. ■' ■" _■ ,'■ ,; To assure that the -stage hands will work with the, stock company which Howard Rumsey will place in the run- ning at the Empire next week, it was announced, today all members had se- cured A. E. A. cards. ' MISS BARRYMORE DECIDES. '" Ethel Barrymore stated in an inter- view yesterday she had definitely de- cided .not to attend any rehearsals of the new Zoe Atkins (Frohman) play until the strike was settled. Miss Barrymore said she had notified Alf. Hayman to this effect White Announce* League Members, j George White stated yesterday that three additional members of his com- pany in "Scandals of 1919" had joined the Actors' Fidelity League. They are- La Sylphe, Ann ePnnington and Lou Holtz. •■■■■.. V A day;or so ago Miss Pennington denied a rumor she had joined the League. - -' : ■. ■■;■ "')■''' '. % ■'":•'• WHETHER MGRS. WILL FIGHT. (Continued from page 1) cago nor was another theatre closed in Washington. The closing of the i Shubert-Belasco at the Capitol Thurs- day night seemed to end for the nonce the activities of the stage bands at that point. ■■•• The dispute as to who had closed the Hip and Washington theatre be- tween the three unions indicated some difference of opinion on internal mat- ters within the unions, since knowl- edge of the Hip move was disclaimed altogether by the actors' union. The outside impression has been that the three leading lights of their respective unions, Actors' Equity, stage hands and musicians, would meet to decide upon questions of policy. A majority vote of the three prevailed. This meant if the stage hands and the musicians held together the . actors' union would, be outvoted, though the A. E. A. was the instigator of the strike. • /';■'■':■:. • With the advent of Labor Day, mark- ing the official opening always of a new season, there is nothing billed to open then, excepting the "Up from Nowhere" show, closed in Washing- ton.' ■ .. ■•.■.•';,■;.■. All open theatres within the Times square area are doing a turnaway business. When, the Hip crowds : Thursday night was turned out they rushed to other theatres within easy distance, only to learn there were no seats to_be had. , V ' , One Broadway manager yesterday offered to wager there would be ten theatres on the main alley reopening by Sept. 5. How they would reopen, as non-union or through a settlement of the present strike, or what they would reopen with, he refused to state. Nor would he inform an inquirer where one or even any part of ten companies were rehearsing at present, if that number, or less, of shows to take another«start. ■ .r In a statement issued by the Man-* ager's Association yesterday, it was mentioned that Samuel Gompers was in conference Thursday with George M. Cohan and Arthur Hopkins. Yes- terday Gompers and Cohan were re- ported in Washington. Mr. Cohan re- turned to New York this morning. Mr. Hopkins is in general charge of the -publicity for the managers and . has been issuing many of the man- ifvityftajv'ft statements to date. The state- ment appears in this Bulletin. . ,-k-; .[.■.•■. . ■;..; :,; .,. :>,.:;•,. .•.: v ,6-;-..-v^: •/->.• .~'A~ ■<•■<■■■ ;k ffte^iji^i^