Variety (September 1919)

w^^c!M^^. ; ■ U' * ■\i'^ , ?~''''''-^Zt?- r &"?i vabiet¥ ragy bulletin %8gB$3ffi~ :; ~?^'-' •:"•>■::-" • ; ;: ;/;>'p "|V ■;-".^-"'^>~;-"'-'*":'" ;i - m, ■A:, HAS FULL FEDERATION SUPPORT SAYS GSLMORE AT A. E. A. MEETING If &■■■ ';^-- e£ Washington Conference Guaranteed It, Announces Equity*' Secretary, Speaking at Lexington Yesterday. House Holds Packed Attendance.. Nothing Spec- tacular Develops. Wilton Lackaye Speaks. Teamsters'Union Offers Aid. -s, :;fe 3M 1 M .' m : -H There was a noticeable absence of the spectacular features marking pre- vious mass meetings of the Equity at jf : ;the A. E. A. session, held at the Lex- ?if iugton yesterday afternoon. The 'house was packed to capacity, with standees filling every open space available. The crowd was evidently attracted through the hope of hearing definite details of the joint confer- ence of the Equity, I. A. T. S. E and American Federation of Musicians .with the Executive Board of the A. F. of L. in Washington Thursday after- noon. ./Frank Gillmore, speaking with ref- erence to the Washington conference, stated he was not at Liberty to dis- close the details of what had'taken place, for reasons that he could not ''§*/' discuss. Mr. Gillmore did say he was in a position to announce the Execu- tive Board of the A. F. of L. had gone on record as guaranteeing all the sup- v;. port the American Federation of La- bor could give to the Equity, stage hands and musicians, to the end that they might win the strike. ■ The closing of the Shubert-Belasco, Washington, Mr. Gillmore stated, was one direct result of the Washington conference. Possibly the most important an- nouncement made by Mr. Gillmore was that Daniel Tobin, national presi- . dent, of the Teamsters' Union, had stated any time the Equity called for the teamsters would be to refuse to transport U i. :* . assistance called upon scenery of managerial concerns "un- fair" to organized labor. Whether the tfALA will take immediate advantage ^ygf ! the Teamster Union's offer, Mr. Gillmore failed to mention. %'A hint of the policy to be folk)wed by the allied forces of the A. E. A. was conveyed when Gillmore declared theatres would continue to be closed, "here, there and everywhere" when it was thought expedient to bring about m. : m such closings. An explanation of why the Gallo Opera Go. had been placed in the "ex- fempt" class concluded Mr. Gillmore's speech. The ■ Gallo exemption (as has ,'^been published) was ordered by the §|'A. E. A. because Gallo had already paid the Shuberts two weeks' rental for the Shubert Theatre, New York, and if not allowed to open Gallo would be the loser and not the Shuberts. s The first appearance of Wilton Lac- ||J|kaye. at an Equity meeting since the strike started was marked by one of the most brilliant speeches Mr. Lac- kaye has ever made. : cr He. placed himself unqualifiedly on the side of the Equity. Giving a com- plete history of the strike and its .causes, Lackaye was frequently inter- rupted by demonstrations of applause &$$»nd laughter. Some of his remarks §.i»Lwerc:. •.-..■■..." /Tt's come to a pretty pass when |f^,v graduates of the Bowery delegate |&g themselves as a committee to instruct fe| yOU ladies and gentlemen on the prin- "thi ciples of art. Your officers didn't tell ~#y©u what to do—you told them (the ^pgmanagers) what to do. ', .;' "Mr. Albee was present at a meeting ',■!;%)" of: the Managers' Association a few (Mfidays before the strike commenced. -'^fj$p«Ir. Albee gave them (managers) some sage advice. He told them that your organization (A. E A.) must, be de- stroyed. He told them to start another and rival organization. He told -them to attack your leaders—to make a fuss over certain actors—and to raise sal- aries temporarily to get your organi- zation out of the way. And remember all of this was done before a strike had even started. Had there been no strike these tactics would have been employed by the managers, anyway, and on Mr. Albee's advice. We are all working men and women. I think our affiliation with the Federation of Labor was a wonderful move on our part. The managers have pushed to the front young men, so that when the final Victory comes for the Equity, the big fellows can lay the blame on the little managers. The managers are. losing loads of money. They are not so accustomed to being without money as actors, and it hurts. The managers refused to arbitrate because they know they are absolutely wrong." The Actors' Fidelity League, Lackaye characterized as the "Fiddle Dee Dee Society." During his speech Lackaye told several stories and anecdotes to illustrate his points, all delivered in- imitably. John Drew preceded Mr. Lackaye and pledged himself unalterably on the side of Equity. Mr. Drew made use of the familiar quotation in effect: "My country, when she is. right, may she never be wrong. But my country right or wrong." The same applies, to Equity 1 , Mr. Drew concluded, S I am for Equity, all the time right or wrong, but,! know Equity is right" Frank Bacon told of going to the Actors' Fidelity League meeting on the invitation of some one who phoned him. Following the meeting Mr. Ba- con.said he was more convinced than ever that Equity was absolutely in the right, and he would stick to the A. E. A . to the final curtain. Francis Wilson informed the as- semblage that William Farnum had contributed $5,000 to the Equity strike fund, adding "that's the kind of a little guy Bill Farnum is." Later Mr. Farnum made a speech, in which he said he too was born on the Fourth of July. Both Wilson's and Farnum's sal- lies were immediately taken up by the crowd as having reference to Geo. M. Cohan, with consequent applause for Farnum and a mixture of- applause and hisses for Cohan. " John D; Cashin, president of the Sta- tionary Engineers' Union, announced that tne theatre engineers were with, the stage hands, musicians and Equity heart and soul, and would take any action, m the way of sympathetic sup* port, desired, any time the call came. W. B. Rubin, attorney for the Four A's, spoke of the recent court injunc- tions, the general import of his re- marks being that inasmuch as the in- junctions were in part void in his opin- THE STRIKE SITUATION The Roral YacabmO* (Comstook ft OMt), J Harris), Cohan and Hard* "Listen Leanes" (John Cort), Kniek erbocker. «Cnu Cain Olum" Geat), Century. "MidaiKht whirl- (Horrta Century Boot. "Ok. What ft GUV (Sbnberts). Shu- bert, "The Fly* HUlesy (Comstook ft Gleet), Lyrla "The Crlniaon AUU** (deo. Broad- huret), Broadhurst "A Vole* in the Daift* (A. H. Woods), Bepubllo. •"Nightie *Hghl» (Adolph Klaukir), Princess. "Li«bt«i»" (Smith ft Golden), Gai- ety. "She'» a Good Fellow** (CheS. Dil- lingham). GAobe. "M«nte Criito, Jr„ Winter Garden. "•eaednle ot wv (Geo. White), Lilberty. IN NEW YORK SHOWS CLOSED (Cohan ft 1UV »01e» (Lew Fields). (Shubert), 44th (Chas. Coburn), Croth- % "A Lemtetr Casino. "Qmletlem ef Street. "The Batter Booth. "3» East" (Shubert-Raohel •re), Maalne Blllott "Foiiiea" (Flo. Zlegfeld). Amstor- dam. •-A Be«ral«x Fellow" (C. B. Cook). Cort • *"A*ei» and Era" (Comstook ft Geat). Longracr*. •»■*• Weuld wad She Did" (W. A. Brady), Vanderbllt "•jf. O'OToek amd indBlait Berne (Zieg-feld), Amsterdam Boot. *Tk»« Wne Walk la Darknc**" (Shubert), 48th Street. •«Toe> Many .; Huabande" (A. H. Woods), Hudson. «I* I* LnelUe** (Alfred B. Aarona and Geo. D. Selts). Henry Miller. "Happy Days" Hippodrome. . Thurston, Globe. ' . . "She Would and She Did." To© huraton announced premieres since •«Ntsttle Night," «A n«nlir Fellow, Many Huebande," "Adam and Bra." strike started; could not'open. SHOWS OPEN «At 9AIV (W. A Brady), Playhouse. EXEMPT SHOWS 'John FfrgMM" (Theatre Guild), Benefit j Performance by -Gpea^ch TUUj« FelU^ <AL ftAjtZ" 1 *"'* *«*** Jones), Greenwich Village. REOPENED WITH PICTURES **!£, i A* rart i. " "Bvangelina" and Lyric. "Deliverance." "Kathleen Mavourneen." Central—"Checkers*' (picture). IN CHICAGO SHOWS CLOSED «Can»y HI eke" (Moroaco), Cort — "Prince There Was" (Cohan ft -Har- ris), Cohan's Grand. "Up la Mabel's Boom" (A H. Woods), Woods. "Aawel Face" (Geo. W. Lederer), Colonial. (J. I* Blaneh- "Honeyxaoon foywm" ard), LaSallo. "Scandal- (Walter Hast), Garriok. "Snnehla<v" (Johnstone & Shaw), Studebaker. "Pawing Show" (Shubert), Palace. IN WASHINGTON y SHOWS CLOSED. sr/p From Nowhere" (J. D. Williams). Shubert—-Belasoo. ion that the Equity had b perfe„ right.to picket and seek to gain mem'.f bers wherever they (the Equity mem:? bers) felt like soliciting them. Other speakers were Chas. C. Shay 1 Has sard Short. Ed. Wynn and Brucij McRae. All or the speakers were a©.j corded enthusiastic applause, lasting] for a minute and over, the enthusiasm ] shown at yesterday's meeting being] greater in every way than even the] unusual demonstrations marking the] previous sessions..-, DILLINGHAM QUITS HIP. . Charles Dillingham tendered his resignation to the U. S. Realty & Im- provement Co. yesterday .in a vain ef- fort to lift,the strike ban on the Hip, podrome. " | S. B. Newman, one of the executives of the LAI S. E., stated yesterday the strike was started when Marie Dressier called out the. Hip chorus as a protest against the formation of the. Actors-Fidelity League. It was also, stated the resignation of Mr, Dilling- ham as managing director of the house would not alter the status, of the Hippodrome until the house manage- ment arranged its differences with the members of the Chorus Union. What those differences are no one seems to know. A statement was issued at the Hip- podrome yesterday regarding Mr. Dil- lingham's resignation and attached' was the manager's letter to the com- pany operating the building. The statement reads :^ "When he (Dillingham) found the Labor Union did not believe the United States Realty & Improvement Com- pany was the owner and operator of the Hippodrome and had called out its men because he was a member of the Producing Managers'. Association, Mr. Dillingham immediately sent in his, resignation to the Realty Co. as fol- lows ■■'■:''• I "Rather than keep 1,100 good people out of work I will strike myself. I hereby tender my resignation as mana- ger'of the New York Hippodrome, to take effect immediately." It was also stated at the Hippodrome that those who did not go out on strike would receive aid from the Hip-; podrome Fund during the period the, house was closed. T Grant Stewart, of the A. E. A, made a statement hailing the closing of the Hip as a signal victory for the strik- ing actors. He said: '•'.'- "It is clear that the closing of the Hippodrome is a direct response of organized labor to George M. Cohan's threat to spend $500,000 to split the Equity Association. And if more un- willing chorus girls are forced to join the Actors' Fidelity League, more the- atres wH be closed, and if more jobless barkeepers are enrolled in the League^ still more." Yesterday Miss Dressier assumed full responsibility for the Hippodrome walkout. She stated: "This is'war. When our boys went overseas to fight the Germans they went over, to fight all the Germans, not just a' few. When I called the strike at the Hippodrome, I expected just a few of the girls to walk out, but 180 leaped forth." ' ; It was stated at. the Hippodrome yesterday an attempt to adjust matters would be made so that it might be possible for the house to ge underway again tonight. A. E. A. ADVERTISEMENTS. The Sunday advertisements for to- morrow's papers carry notices of the' A. E. A. special shows, and they are listed in "box" fashion, somewhat like the Sunday advertisements of the Shu- berts .and K. & E. strings. . Underlined at the bottom of the "ads" is the line, "No Broadway The- atres Yet But Broadway Casts." The shows and houses announced are at, the Lexington, Thomashefsky, Second Avenue, and the Academy of Music, Brooklyn. 26