The New York Clipper (February 1919)

Copyrighted, 1919, and published weekly bj the Clipper Corporation, 1604 Broadway, Mew York. Entered at the Poct-oBWat New York, Jose 34,1879, aa fSJSSSldeaawi mail matter under Act o( Hatch J, U7& founded or FRANK QUEEN, US NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 12, 1919 VOLUME IJCVn-No. 1 Fries, tea Casta, ROD • Year STRIKES BLOW AT BILLBOARDS WANTS THEM ABOLISHED Boston, Mass., Feb. 10.—Bills aimed at the absolute abolition of billboards throughout the State - of Massachusetts have been introduced into the Legialatnre and if they go through practically jsj methods of amusement advertising, save through the newspapers and inagasinee, will be pro hibited. The bills an drastic in the extreme. Of coarse, numerous articles now adver- tised br business concerns would' also be affected br the enactment of the proposed law,, but, as the theatres do by far the most of the billboard advertising the Ms. which have been filed more vitally affect theatricals than any other line of business. The opponents of billboards, not satisfied with the recently adopted amendment to the constitution reading "advertising on public ways, in pn bli c 'places and on private property within public view may be regu- lated and restricted by law" would go con- siderably further and would absolutely bar all billboards from public ways, for the restrictions are so broad in scope that Caere would be scarcely a spot in any city in the State where a theatre would be per- mitted to place a billboard other than on the front of the theatre itself. And not even then if the theatre happened to be located within any of the 'many restricted areas; No less than four different bills have al- ready been filed and hearings on them' are now in progress. The most drastic of these' reads: . ..,:.'.' "Section 1. No advertising sign or de- vice of any kind for advertising purposes shall hereafter be erected or placed, within 900 feet of a public building; ■ public memorial, public park, playground or other public property, except as provided in this act .-.-■!.• •: ' • "Section 2. No sign shall be erected or painted upon or attached:to any building, anywhere, except such sign as shall refer to a business conducted within such building, - and no such sign shall' extend: above the cornice of a building or be placed upon the -roof of any: building, or project over a street, sidewalk and public way to a dis- tance of more than two -feet ' "Section 3. No sign shall anywhere be painted upon or attached to any mountain, cliff, bonlder, tree or other natural object and no existing sign of any kind, 'any- where, shall be repainted, repaired or re- newed except in conformity with this act "Section 4. Signs to advertise land for sale may be placed not nearer than two times their height to any traveled' way, and they may be placed only'upon such land as is for sale, and no such sign shall con- tain a superficial area of more than 20 square feet, "Section 6. .AH grfatfag signs not in conformity with this act shall be removed - by the person or persons upon whose prop- tty they are erected within two,years of e date of the passage of this act- RTVOU MAY CHANGE POLICY ... 'It is barely possible that the Bivoli will .change its established policy shortly, and instead of limiting a picture to a run of a single week will put on a big feature for an extended engagement, with a min- imum run of four weeks. If negotiations now pending come to a head, "The 'Fall of Babylon," a new Griffith production, made np in part of scenes taken from "Intolerance," will; be the first big fea- ture to go into, the Bivoli, under too ex- tended run policy. In addition to the "Intolerance" spectacular scenes, "The Fall of Babylon" is said to contain many newly produced,; scenes of similar charac- ter that surpass . anything that Griffith has heretofore turned out "The Mother and the Law," also formerly a part of "Intolerance,* has been made into an eight-reeler, and will be shown in a Broad- way theatre in a few .weeks. '. .LOFT AFTER FITZGERALD'S CAFE Loft, the candy man, is reported to be after the premises now occupied by Fitz- gerald's Cafe, in the Fitzgerald Building, with the view to establishing one of his confectionery emporiums in the quarters that the cafe is expected to vacate after July 1, whan national prohibition' be- comes effective.' Loft, who has sought for years to secure a likely location in the Longacre section, is understood, through a representative,, to have made the Fitz- gerald heirs an offer recently' to' take over the lease immediately. .The.:matter is pending,at present, it is understood, and ■it is quite likely-that in a few-weeks the actors'. favorite' .'thirst parlor-will be sell- ing -nothing'more, intoxicating than choco- late bon-bons and Btrawborry soda. VERA MAXWELL LEAVES Vera Maxwell' is no longer holding forth -as' hostess in the Paradise Room at Rei- senwebcr'a. She left because, it was re- ported, her expensively attired presence 'failed to attract the large;number;of her wealthy friends, whom the management counted upon to bring shekels into its coffers. . ': 'The Russian Quartette /and the .Bala- laika Orchestra, appearing at present in "Redemption," have been engaged to play in the Paradise Room, every evening after eleven o'clock. They began their engage- ment last Saturday night . '.. AJEA. DECIDES AGAINST TYLER . The Arbitration Board of the Actors' Equity Association decided last week that the claims of some ten members of George ; Tyler's "Somewhere in the House'' com- pany for two half week's salary were valid, and accordingly informed Mr. Tyler that the salaries in question must be paid. The actors based their claims on the A. E. A. contract According to reports received at the Equity offices, Mr. Tyler has already paid most of the claims and will pay the rest sa soon' as they are pre- sented in accordance with, the Arbitration Board's decision. CHAMPION FAT WOMAN DIES laW Amaxa, CaL, Feb. 10.—Two graves, side by side, a special reinforced casket and eight powerful pallbearers were aB necessary at the funeral of Mrs. M. J. Gowdy, known in the theatrical world as ■ Jollie Josie Jolly, the largest woman In the world. The deceased, who died*from pneu- monia following •'influenza, weighed 618 ■ pounds: A■:. .: ■ :-'r ..- ■. v) VAUDEVILLE PROBE ADJOURNS AFTER FIVE DAY INQUIRY Pat Casey, Henry ChesterfielcL Sam K. Hodgdon, Edward W. Fay, ; W. Sotkin, Charles T. AWricfa and Other. Are Que*- boned—Resumption Depend* Upon CorjunitiiOD After fire days of .Examination and cross-examination, . during which Fat .Casey, Henry Chesterfield, Edward M. Fay./ of Providence, Chaales T. Aldrich, a performer; Sam K. Hodgdon of the Keith Vaudeville ' Exchange, and Barney ■ Meyers were among those questioned," the Federal Trades' Commission hist Friday adjourned the. investigation' which it b making into the affairs of-the-National . Vaudeville Artists, the Vaudeville Man- agers' Protective Association aid other vaudeville interests. When the hearings will be resumed!depends uopn the com- mission, the adjournment being'taken sub- ject to the call of that body. It is be- lieved, however, that they, will be again taken up within the next'week... The adjournment caused considerable curiosity among those who are keeping in .close touch with the proceedings, some . even .venturing the opinion that they would not be resumed. Others, though, took an opposite view and gave the rea- . son -for -bo thinking. According to ..them, while the present .proceedings... were .probably originally started,by.Harry Mountford, it was Sam Gompera who: actually induced the Fed- eral .Trade Commission to start the in*. veatigation. As they point out, the White . Rats still hold a. charter in the American . Federation of Labor and when Mountford first went to Washington he laid his case before Gompers who, after considering the 'matter, mm - what possibly, Mountford could not Have done, spoke the word that prompted the Federal Trade Commission to set an investigator to work. With Gompers behind the inquiry, they state it'will surely go on to the end. Before leaving for Washington on Fri- day, John Walsh, chief counsel for the commission, stated that there were sev- eral things which required his attention in Washington, but that, if he found that they would take too long to clear np, he might turn the examination over to an assistant, in order that no undue delay may be suff ere d . The first two and one-half days of the hearing were taken np by an examina- tion of Pat Casey, general manager of the V. M. P. A., who was succeeded on the stand by M. Slotldn, manager of the Lyric and Olympic Theatres, Buffalo. Among other things, Slotkin was asked numerous pointed questions regarding the failure of Cora Yonngblood Corson to play Ms house following the White Rats* strike. It appears that Miss Corson jour- neyed all the way from New York with eight people and, after reaching Buffalo, was cancelled by Slotkin.' ' .. Walsh, daring the course of SlotUn's examination, also sought to find out just what part Gus Sun's office had played in the Corson cancellation. Slotkin ■ en- trance into the membership ranks of the V. M. P. A. and his reasons for Joining the organization were also thoroughly gooe-lcto by the Commistion's sttorney. Slotldn, mrfdentally, raised a big laugh when asked why he didn't pay the bal- ance of some «400 an Ms V. BT. P. A. strike assessment of $000, stating, smil- ingly, that, ne was "a stingy feller. 1 ' - A . reference to a meeting of Gus Sun's man- agers, held in Springfield, Ohio, and at- tended by Slotkin and at which he de- clared he was "given a good time*' also produced laughter. Slotkin said there was no compulsion in the matter of joining the V. 1L P. A, and that Casey, who spoke, at the must lug • at Sprin gfi eld, simply outlined the ad- vantages of joining the organization. A letter from Gus Sun to Slotkin, read a -few' moments later, speaking with refer- ence to the Corson act, stated that Slot- kin knew what to expect if he booked the act in question. Asked whether he i knew what -tMs statement meant, Slotldn testified that' "he presumed that he aid." The recent cancellation of an act in which Victor Vass appeared -was ex- plained by Slotldn, as due to the fact that the turn was not good' enough for his audience. The fact that Vass was at one time active in the Rats, Slotkin intimated, had nothing whatever to do with the mat- ter. A transaction whereby Vass and his partner borrowed 135.00 from the N. V. A, to play the date, was explained at length. The act had received no money from him, Slotkin stated, but the V. M. P. A. and N. V. A. Complaint Board is considering the matter at the present time, with the idea of securing a settlement. Casey was than recalled to the stand and Walsh again took up the subject of the alleged Week list At this point in the proce e dings ex- Judge E. E. McCall entered the ease as an associate of Mr. Goodman, and launched forth on a dignified and scholarly plea for a dismissal of the charges on the ground of lack, of jurisdiction and other te chnica l legal points. Mr. Moore, the Federal Trade. Examiner, listened at- tentively, but refused to allow Judge Mc- Call's contention, pointing out that a similar-motion had already been made and denied .earlier in the case. Casey then again reiterated that the so-called black list wss not a black list at all, wot a list of unreliable*, who could not be depended upon, to fill contracts. Ha added that practically all of those .on the list in question had played houses eon- trolled by managers holding membership in the V. "M. P. A. since the atria, troubles. In a discussion of tils) closed shop, Casey declared that ha didn't believe a was practical at aB, inasmuch aa artists like Sarah Bernhardt, for exmple, would have to belong to a labor naton in order that they might appear in vaudeville the- atres. The vBudevffle bnainees, Quay added, at the pr es ent time, is is a better state than at any time in ita hfcrtory. In reply to a qsestlen he then asdd that there was no, Jasrrlnilnifihn against aa (Oontimmd on pee** 90-81-S2,)