Variety (July 1925)

^ Wednesday, July 82, IMf LEGITIMATE VARIETY 81 OUT OF TOWN THE JAZZ SINGER Asbury Park. N. J., July 18. r«wU ft Ourdon preaaat a oonedy drama te thTM M^* ^l' SamiMa fUplMelaaa. bxard SI hla Kverybody'j Macaslna atory, "Thp Oao. Jeiaet featured. f>ar of Atonement. Jified h» Albert liawte. Ooeaaa tealsncd I, Nicitolaa V«He»U. At ▲Mnirr fMrk ^Stor R«MBOW«t« Bdwia Maxwell gy 'aabliM>wlU BUndie Friderlcl ^f^}mam Sam JafTc CMtor R fr-iai failaati. alaan CU*«aM Kakn Jack Bobln ■ Oaaa jBiUiaCartar Banr Lee... ]fary l>ala ^. Warren Etarllac ....«•«.« QaarKa JaaaW William E. Morila ...Baarr B. Tooaiar RaJph i. Lrfkcke PtNaba Foster SZAo>t*"oMinKm Flaal McMllater tUm Olynn Mll<tied L.eaf rrwiklyn Forbaa CUIT Worman A Coatawer -0»l« Bretton ■A gtaaa [>oaraaa..««>a»««<'>wntoa Athey >^^ .....Harry Ijevlnson viiat bharua Olrl WtaKred Barry ■eoand Chorua Girl Ardaa Beiiliaa Dr O'Sbaughneaay Patrick O'Brlnn Heyvr Poanar'a Tanivla Chair A lure-flr* hit. 0«orer« jeH9«l earriea th« part of Ih* Jazz sinprer, son of a cantor on B«st«r street, to a stunninK climax. Th« pLiy lias drama, power and Imaiflnatlon back of It. Thouph, on analysis, it is all hokum, yet It never ■esms 80. Jakey Rabinowitx's father, the old cantor. Is training: him to take his pitee. Jaltey loves Jacs. runs away aiMl sets his chanoe when Mary Dale "finds" him singlnK in a cheap movie bouse in Chlca«o. She is a mnsieai comedy atar of good family. Jakey; now Jack Robin, returns for hla big chance as a blackface wgtar In a musical show, opening on Torn Kippur (tho Jowlsh Day of Atonement). The old cantor, on hearing his son Is a Jara sinxer. siclrons and is ^ying. In a tenoe aoene Jakey's mether comes to the theatre at drsss rehearsal and pleads with htm to take his father's plaoo at the laltar. Jakey finally returns to the Ghetto, led by his Inheritsd love for bis parents, though his heart is on Broadway. Just before the serrlces In the synagogiie, the nmnagrer and the Kiri who had gotten the Jaxs singer his opportunity corns to plead with him. They show his mother that his heart is in the theatre. There lies his religion now. She consents, hs goes back, and as he warers he leariu his father is dead. Taking this as a punishment. Jack Robin i ahandons his hopes and becomes again Jakey Rablnowltx. fifth in a Use of great cantors. The ctirtaln falls as the plaintive >ral1 of the "Kol Nidre." the age-oM Vewish chant, grips the heartstrings f 9t tlie audience. A full house enthusiastically ap> iplauded the play, Jew and Qentlle tiBlthtg in their praises. Bamson Raphaelson has well Atepted his story. The cast is •pleadid and the dialog; needs but little change. SCHOOL MISTRESS Atiantic City. July 18. Oas of the finest pUtys Atlantic X!lty has seen this year is here this Week for a try-out. "The School lOstress" Is a love story from the Italian of Dario Nlocodeiut trans- fated by aiadys Unger, with Justice to both' of them. Henry ^....vage •taged the production together with Ai Woods. "The School Mistress" rings tnie from be^nning to end. It should ftpeat its E>iropean success in New Tork. The acting is splendid. Ann Hard lUK and McKay Morris do such Qne work It lifts the piece above its own tnsrlts. Some of the smaller bits, »nodeW of good acting, are done by Oizabeth Patterson. Hortenae Alden «tad Lloyd NeaL A School mistress in a small town Mcomes the butt of gossip because ■he keeps to herself, takes long walks and is good-lookin»;. It Is *hen the mayor becomes Interested In her that things begin to happen. After hearing her sad story of havtag b«en taken advantage of by • man and having lost a child, the •a*yor fallf In love with her. It is a simple story, but its charm Um in the way it is told. Eiteinan. THE PINK ELEPHANT ^t Aabnry Park and 1>ns Braach, weak U. Praaaatod by Mart Byraa. Ibc; by William Padmora. American ^*ls play in Its present form Is •Ukely to ses Broadway. It is wubtful whether any amount of •octoring can whip it Into a pre- •••table comedy. ^ks lines are dull, taislpid and ■••k. and the Incident which paasefc »r a plot is entirely Inadequate to •■«>***■' »«»y Interest in wliat is to 2|fall the family of James Henry ™«n. a supposedly typical Brook- 2" householder In moderate clr- ""•wtances. The first act rsroals the 'th 2«Uy about the dinner Uble— •*ainatInK wife and mother, peaoo- ying husband, sweet and beautiful ■aughter. and visiting young Bng- JW* cousin, radlo-mad. They dis- "^ plans for vacation, and aft*- Mch has stated a pc«f«r«iio% th« INSIDE STUFF ON LBGrx Variety erred last week in lisUng O. O. (Odd) Mclntyre among the Broadway columnists. Mr. Mclntyre more properly should be called a syndicated commentator. His matter Is u.sed l**- around 200 papers who receive It thougrh the McKaught Syndicate. Odd Mclntyre is perhaps the most widely read paragrapher in the world. He deals In generalities but knowH his Broadway thoroughly and often touches upon the Big Alley. The Mclntyre strength may be sensed from the fact that the Hearst papers, with a couple of feature syndicates of their own, use his column. Variety's Inside Legit paragraph last week anent the Broadway col- umnists spread rapidly among the newspapers, until It seemed as though it is thought by the dailies that Broadway has been just di.<»cov«?.red by the New York papers> The so-called "human interest stulT* is now being developed by some of the crack writers of the metropolitan gazettes. The flash and tinsel, the sordid and bizarre are being dished up column-wide or double. Kaufman, of the "Telegram"; Winchell, of the "Graphic"; Kitchen, of the'Evehlng World," and Helllnger, of "The Newa" are doing the sidelights dally, while but recently the New York "American" added on the Mclntyre column after the other Hearst papers had been using it for years. The "Broadway" pioneer of Journalism is James Murray Allison, known in theatricals also as a »ucces.")rul producer. Jim Allison began IS years ago to contribute a daily letter of New Tork life to the Cin- cinnati "Times-Star." He is still doing it, and solely for that paper. Odd Mclntyre started his syndication about 12 years ago. Mclntyre is said to be the highest salaried of all of the columnists, at a figure reported around $1,000 weekly, aside from income on his frequent maga- slne writings. Walter Howey, editor of the "Mirror" (New York), slipped another of his fast ones over on the Park Row crowd last week when one of his reporters cornered an exclusive confession from Mrs. Gelsel-Volk. whose baby hospital case ban attracted widespread notice recently. The story came in and was slated for the afternoon editions. Mr. Howey knew that if it struck the street in the late afternoon, the first editions of the other papers in the morning would carry it. »o he had a small run shot through the press (and as the first papers are grabbed up by messengers for the other newspaper offices, these ware taken and disposed of in that way), which did not carry the Gelsen-Volk story. Immediately after tliat run was off, a replate was made and the main edition shot ahead with ths scoop, any more. It's ma old stunt, seldom worksd "The Post-Standard" of Syracuse, N. T.. told the manager of a local stock that Its readers were not interested in ths theatre. Whereupon the stock company withdrew its advertising upon the Justifiable grounds that If the paper had stated a fact, it was wasting money to advertise a theatre attraction In the sheet. The stock manager had suggested to the publisher of the paper, Jerome L. Baruum, that the "Post-Standard" (the only morning daily In the city) treat the theatre seriously. Barnum couldn't b«s it "The Po*t" has been "reviewing" attractions in Syracuse through sending over for a program^ writing an introduction to the "review" and concluding by "among the cast are." "The Post* is not a Hearst paper. Probably the only time the Shuberts were ever right in a i>aper fight was when they pulled out their ads in the Syracuse "Post-Standard." "The Post" sent representatives to New York to see th^ Shuberts and made promises of co-operation which never materialized after the ads were restored. Unless "The Post" gets down to cases on the theatre, the Shuberts will probably pass it up next season. The paper has no dra« matic editor or critic The motion by A. I*. Jones and Morris Green on behalf of the "Qnen- wich Village Kollles" to restrain Rufus LeMaire from using the title. "Greenwich Village Scandals." which was returnable yesterday (Tuesday) before Justice McOoldrick in Supreme Court may lioomerang against Jones ft Green. Ths latter some years a4^ were sued by Ziegfeld for the use of the "Follies" title, Zieggy finding he ha^i no legal redress. Jones & Green similarly figure on little technical success other Uian ths possible publicity. Coming into court as coraplsinant on the same ground for which they had been sued is deemed by some as a possibility for changing soms individual Judge's legal opinion. The theorists go further and wonder what Jones ft Green would do with their "Greenwich Village Follies'* should they win ths "G. V. Scandals" causs and thus establish a precedent. - , - Frank Sullivan will probably be given a column on the New York "World" when deywood Broun returns to his desk alter his vacation. Sullivan doubled ifor F. P. A, (Adams) while the laUer was abroad and Is now conducting "It Seems to Me, Too," for Broun, and repeated his brilliant impression scored while "Subbing in the Conning Tower." Some state that Sullivan has done better by both cola than their owa conductors on some days, although the contrlbs' snobbery asserted itssU at times during the Conning Tower substitution through a dearth et contributions from ths "nam^ poets who elected to stick to F. P. A. exclusively. At any rate. Sullivan has been doing so well It is vsry likely he will be given a double measure section for his own ass. MONROE LATHROP . Dramatic Editor and Critic, Los Angeles Express' Called the "Billy Sunday" of the newspaper business, lAthrop, a native of Washington, D. C, has been recognized throughout the country as one of the Lo^Angeles critics who knows his "oats." He has been con- nected with CT» liOe Angeles "EJxpress" since 1»17, coming from a news- paper family. Mr. Liathrop Is a graduate of Columbia University, he has been editor of the Carbondale (Pa.) "Leader," news and city editor of the Paterson (N. J.) "Press," news editor of the WilUamsport (Pa.) "Grit." edit4(>r w.nd part owner of the Waterbury (CI.) "Republican." editorial writer on the Los Aageles "Herald." and also editorial writer on the Los Angeles "Tribune," which later consolidated with the "Express." Though Monroe won't admit it he started out in life as a lawyar, but the newspaper instinct being hereditary he quickly drifted into the field of the fourth estate. During the la.-jt eight years at various times he drifted out of the newspaper field to become a motion picture publicity man, bat always returned to his old calling, as he preferred to comment on the talents and ability of stage and screen personaBes rather than edify them as a propagandist. Mr. Lathrop is a rather modest chap, married and has a family, but does not seem to h« inclined to Ull the date that he was brought onto this earth. LAUirop is well known to those of the old school of the theatre, and there U hardly a theatrical star, manager or agent on their arrival In Los Angeles who does not call upon him. (Thi* i» the 4ind of the aertet of tkelcket and phctottrcph* of the dra- matic editora of the covntry.) Mrs. announces aho has rented a bungalow on Sleepy Island. Second act at the island. The house is found to be a shack and a headquarters for bootleggers, though ths vacationists do not know of It Ths nasas of the comedy arises when Mrs. Smith surprisss the boot- leggers at night and is frightened by their green lamps into l^elicving she has seen a pink elephant with green tyeM. Arrested by Secre' Service men, the Smith family U taken back to New York In bathing suits, where their guest, a society man in love with ths daughter, gets them off. Mary Virginia Phelan, pbons chleftess in the law ofllces of O'Briea. Malevinsky ft DrlscoU. Is engaged to wed Thomas Harmon, Jr., gold medalist professional golfer. The wedding date has been net for Novem- ber. It Is a ronoancs vt the links, Miss Phelan mssting her fiance when she took up golf. Florida Isp't ths only spot tor realty deals of magnitude. After a recent deal was clooM for the Astor Theatre property Walter Read imme- diately advised the Hilton store on the comer tu rent would be 190,000 a year instead of $70,000 at the expiration of the clothier'a present lease. Read then leased the theatre to Marcus Loew for $135,000 annually, and It is said Read is getting $1M,000 in rents from ths building over that secured by the Shuberts when they had possession until lately. Loew will use the Astor for special feature pictures at $2 top. The films are I.«ew-Metro specials with "Ths Meiry Widow" probably the first. Jack McMahon, dramatio editor of ths New York "Mirror," returned from Paris last week. He Is showing a souvenir purporting to prove his French blood. It Is a little folder descriptive of the Mac-Mabon Palace,Altuated on the Avenue Mac-Mahon. McMahon aaya it is one of the smartest hotels In Paris, and Is spotted on one of the smartsat streets. But he didn't stop there. It's not believed among the Broadway managers that Lee Shubert put up on or In a dollar to Induce William Gaunt, of England, to nominally turn over the direction of the six West End (London) theatres to ths Shuberts. When previously and some years ago trying to float a propo- sition in Ilngland, Lee tried the stock selling plan, but couldn't sell a share of stock to the British. , This time he may have a l>etter pros- pect through the English connection. If the ShuberU can sell English stock they have an opportimlty to market some of their New York Shubert consolidated holdings. These latter are said to be very flexlbia, dependent upon the capacity of the printing presses. AccoQipanying Lee abroad was a Mr. Phillips, representing the bank- ers behind the recent Shubert capitalization in New York. According to report. Lee and Phillips laid out their flotation plan to the English- men so plausibly they encountered no difElctilty in convincing the British- ers that the American way of doing business Is ths best—and fastest. Daisy Rudd, formerly with "Ths Gold Diggers," has returned to ths stage. Soon aftsr the Belasco show closed Miss Hudd was forced to temporarily retire because of the faUl Illness of her mother, whom she nursed for 1« months. Following, Miss Rudd rested ^ six months on advlos of physicians. •• * After wovking out their plan for several months, ths MacGregor- Kilborn Corporatioa in New .York sent out Its announcement of the fornuition of The Playgoers. All of the papers gave prominence to ths story. sUtlng society would be Included and that 6,000 subscribers would be accepted at $100 annual dues. Membership gives the first night ticket privilege tor ths 10 new plays announced for the pro- duction, and ths inside friends to buy tickets at the box office thereafter. "The World" yesterday (Tuesday) figured out that 6,000 members at $100 each equals $600.00«, calling that a fair bankroll to sUrt oft a the- atrical producing business with. "Ths World," however, did not rap the plan, but went Into some detail, mostly concerning Mra R. Lavlnia Hanton, chairman of the membership committee of The Playgoers. Edgar J. MacGregor and Orson Kilborn are the promoters of Tba Playgoers. Together they worked out the preliminaries and are in charge. A list of subscribers, prominent In business and socially, was included in the announcement. Mr. MacGregor is well and favorably kn(bwn lb the show businesa His partner, Mr. Kilborn, has some the- atrical knowledge, but has not hitherto been continuously active ths- atrically. ils is the son of ths late Horace M. Kilborn, a vice-president of the National City Bank. "WhIU Cargo" may again be involved leorally; A. E. Anson of the original cast has a claim for rewriting some pages of the original script. He may sue for a royalty equity in the writer's earninga although ths opposing contention is that Anson did no more than the average player who whips certain lines about for better individual Interpretation. A comedienne who has a stagehand-huKband has been attracting atten- tion iu picture theatres, booked by Funnhon and Marco, who are her managers. Recently Charles Dillingham offered her $300 weekly for one of his musical attractions. One stipuliition will go with her contract—* that the husband travel with the show bl» a grip.