The New York Clipper (February 1919)

THE NEW YORK CLIPPER February 12,-1919 STRIKECLOSES ALL SEATTLE THEATRES MANY COMPANIES AFFECTED Skattlje, Wash., Feb. 8.—All of the theatres were forced to eloae here on Wednesday as the result of conditions brought about by the general strike that temporarily succeeded in badly crippling street railroad travel, as well as seriously Interfering with almost every phase of the city's business activities. .The fact of the stage employes' unions joining the strike wquld have been sufficient to.have caused the theatre operators a great deal of inconvenience in keeping the theatres open. Still it is probable that the attempt would have been mad: to keep, going, bat for the un surmountable difficulty presented by the stoppage of prac- tically all forma of transportation. While it Is not settled as yet, there la strong probability that the general strike will be declared off by Monday, and it is confidently expected that the theatres win be open as usual and ready for business at the latest by Monday night. Julian Eltinge and his vaudeville troupe, which William Morris is sponsoring tn a tour of the K. and E. legitimate houses, played three days at the Metropolitan Theatre before the .general strike forced him to quit. The Bltinge show was doing a wonderful business, the house being sold out on Monday for the entire week. The Bltinge troupe was sent into Onsda to fill In With a few one-nighters, opening at Vancouver on Thursday. Mr. Hood, K. and K'b resident booking man at Seattle, ar- ranged the fill-in dates which will keep the Bltinge show busy until it takes np Its regular route again at Butte on Monday. • Thi: Shuberts did .not have an attraction booked into Seattle this week and none are scheduled for the immediate future. Josef Hoffman, the concert pianist, heading a company of lyceum artists was the only other touring attraction besides Bltinge that was caught in the strike Jam. With the exception of The Moore, which plays the Orpheum Circuit shows, and the Pan- tares Theatre, also playing vaudeville, the rest of the theatres here follow a stock policy. At the Wilkes Theatre, the Wilkes Players, a dramatic repertoire organisation, was holding forth until forced to close, while the Oak has been housing the Monte Carter Musical Company, and Levy's Orpheum. a. stock buslesque company, headed by Henry Sherr. The following vaudeville acta playing at the Moore, the local Orpheum house until Wednesday laid off here until Saturday awaiting developments: Joe Howard, Ethlyn Clark and Twenty Songbirds, Johannes Joeefsaon's Company, presenting "Qlima," Claudius and Scarlet, Walter Fenner and Company, Kennedy and Booney, Yoahi and Tashi and Obis, and Madeline Dunbar. The current Pnntages bill consisting of Love and Wilbur, Murphy and Klein, Regal and Moore, Four Miacos, "Senator" Francis Murphy, the Maryland Singers and the Four Miacos, also waited here un- til Saturday in the hope that a settlement might be reached and the theatres open np ■ gain. Both the Moore Theatre and the Pan- tages bouse managers said that the artists comprising next week's bill will arrive here on schedule time on Sunday- Conditions look rather promising today (Saturday), as the "strike sentiment seems to be waning noticeably in all directions and it is the general Impression among theatrical men that next week will see a normal resump- tion of amusement activities. MANAGER'S WIDOW DDES Chicago, Feb. 10.—Mm. Louise Thomp- son Glover, widow of Lyman G. Glover, former- manager of the Majestic Theatre, and herself -a well-knows critic died In Chicago February 8, She la survived by three children. Funeral services were held Sunday. THIEVES RAID "FROLIC" The police have been baffled by' a mysterious series of robberies which have been perpetrated with regular ihtermittency on the roof of the New Am«<»Trf« m The- atre where the Ziegfeld "Midnight Frolic'' is held nightly. The robberies began last October when Dolores, one of the principals in. the "Frolic," lost $8,000 worth of jewelry from her dressing room while she was ap- pearing on the stage. She reported her loss to the police immediately, but no trace of the jewels have as yet been found. Since that time"there has not been a week but what something was stolen from some dressing room or' from the stage. Coats, wraps, silk stockings and other wearing apparel have disappeared from the girls' rooms weekly. And valuable tools from the stage are disappearing daily. •Lost week a carpet worth about $210 was stolen from the office of Victor Kirdy, manager of the "Frolic." A few days be- fore the theft of the carpet a rug worth 980 was stolen from the ladies' retiring room, and during the last three weeks more than 1,000 small baskets used nightly in the show have disappeared. These baskets, in wholesale lots of COO, cost the management 15 cents apiece. The robberies are not confined to the roof, however, for it was learned last week that during the run of "The Girl Behind the Gun" in the theatre below one of the principals in the company lost a watch from his dressing room worth $660. The watch has never been recovered, though its disappearance was reported to the police almost immediately. POUCE SEEK HYPNOTIST " It was learned last week that the police -are looking for a vaudeville hypnotist, said by the District Attorney to be Harry Sanderson, who is alleged to have hyp- notized Norma McLeod, of 244 West Fifty-eighth 'Street, causing her to com- mit a forgery. The District Attorney says that Sanderson has a criminal rec- ord, and following the release on a sus- pended sentence of Miss McLeod, upon the recommendation of a commission appoint- ed to determine her sanity, Judge Grain in General Sessions Issued a bench war- rant for his arrest. "When I passed the check I did not know what I waa doing," Miss McLeod told Judge Crain. "I had fallen in with a man who is a hypnotist and we were to double np in a vaudeville act. I be- lieve he made me commit many crimes while in a hypnotic state." The girl's story was investigated by Probation Officer Kimball, who reported to the court that it was true. The investi- gation also disclosed that the girl was married to Walpole Glnn in New Rochelle in October, 1913, and was divorced in No- vember, 1916. GET RIGHTS TO CORT PLAYS Wybert Stamford, the English and Colonial producer, who was brought here from London to stage "Good Morning, Judge" for the Shuberts, and Walter Jor- dan will sail for London next Saturday and take with him five American musical shows. These are "Flo Flo," "Gloriana," 'Tiddlers Three," "Listen Lester" and "Miss Blue Eyes." All of the musical shows will be de- livered by 8tamford to Grossmith and Laurfllard, the English producer, who ob- tained an option on the plays from John Cort through Walter Jordan, of ' Sanger and Jordan. Grossmith and Lanrillard may distrib- ute several of the plays for production among other London producers, but it waa said that within a month after his ar- rival in London Stamford will stage for them (Grossmith and Lanrillard) "Flo Flo," which win be the first of the five shows to be produced in London. KLEIN TO PRODUCE. IS REPORT Arthur Klein was reported, this week, to have made arrangements to produce a musical show for Klaw and Erlanger. When aaked to verify the report, he de- nied that he would produce a show/for Klaw and Erlanger or anybody else, stat- ing that he waa not interested in any other field than vaudeville. CABARETS WANT TO STAY OPEN AFTERJA.M. COMMITTEE TO SEE MAYOR A movement to push the closing hoar back beyond the 1 A. M. hour now in force, was started last week by the owners and; managers of the • principal cabarets and restaurants throughout the city. According, to John Wagner, secretary at Beisenweber's, one of the principals re- sponsible for the movement, the plan is for a committee of prominent restaurant men to visit Mayor Hylan at his office and ask him to extend, by special license, the dosing hour of the better class of restaurants. The committee will not ask that all- night licenses be issued, as in the past, but that they should be permitted to keep open until 3 A. M. until next July, at which time the recently passed prohibition amendment becomes effective. It will be pointed out to the Mayor that, after next July the profits of cab- arets and restaurants, which accrue for the most part from the sale of liquor, will be materially lessened and, in many cases, to such an extent that these places will have to go out of business.- There is a great deal of money invested in the cabaret and restaurant business, places like Beisenweber's alone entailing an in- vestment of over $160,000, and, if the places are permitted to ran a few hours longer each day, the total profits from the additional hours of business will tend to diminish the ultimate losses. Some idea of the difference the extra few hours would make to those places permitted to keep open after 1 o'clock may be gleaned from the statement of John Wagner: "If we are permitted to keep open just two hours a day longer until next July, Beisenweber's alone would take in from $S00 to $1,000 a day more," he said. The committee that will visit the Mayor will probably be headed by John J. Cav- anangh, president of the Restaurant Men's Association of New York, and owner of Cavanaugh's Restaurant on West 23d street. James Churchill, owner of Churchill's Restaurant and Cabaret, on Broadway and Forty-ninth street, is also slated to be a member of the committee. The matter would have been taken up with Mayor Hylan last week, it was stated, were it not for the fact that His Honor is taking a vacation at Palm Beach, at the present time. However, just as soon as the Mayor gets back to City Hall, which is expected within the next three weeks, the committee will go down to visit him. Previous to the outbreak of the war many of the restaurants and saloons" throughout the city had special licenses which permitted them to keep open all night. After the war's outbreak the licenses were amended so that the places holding them could only keep open one or two hours beyond the 1 A. M. period. After this country's entrance into the war the special licenses were all canceled and every place selling liquor had to stop doing so after 1A.M. "SPEC" ARGUMENT ADJOURNED Argument on the writ of habeas corpus which the ticket brokers have obtained through their attorney, Louis Marshall, in an- -effort -to have tile recently psimwi Williems-Kflroe ordinance declared Invalid was again postponed last week when It came up in Special Term, Part 1, of the Supreme Court. This is the second time it has been adjourned in the last three weeks. Twice it was adjourned at the request of Louis Marshall, and last Friday Assistant District Attorney Johnston, who win op- pose tile ticket brokers* attorney in the argument, requested the Court to adjourn . it until next Friday on the ground that he waa not quite prepared, at which time the writ win probably be disposed of. "A SLEEPLESS NIGHT" IS WEAK Washlnqton, D. C, Feb. 10.—Jack Larri: and Gustav Blum, authors of Irene Fen wick's new .vehicle, "A Sleepless Night," have dismally failed to qualify aa writers of farce, in the opinion of Wash- ington crit ics, who were unanimous in characterizing last night's Washington showing of the play as a fragile, banal bit of dramaturgy, lacking all in finished handling and distinctly inclined to bore as well as shock an audience by its dis-' tinct reliance on risque situation and dia- logue. J . Larre and Blum have chosen for their theme the complications which arise from the efforts of a rich man's son and the rich man's girl ward to escape from the rich man's mandate that they shall marry. This is complicated by the flnt act ap- pearance of a young man artist and his wife, a sculptress, who, in order to ob- tain a commission.tb paint and sculp for the rich man, pose as unmarried. The girl ward falls in love with the married artist and goes to his room at night, but she has been preceded by the artist's wife. The artist's wife, in turn, has been followed to her husband's room by the rich man's son, who loves her. Here is presented the complication of one woman being hid under the bed and another in it, when the rich man and his chauffeur enter. A third act revelation of the married state of the artist and the sculptress thereby is made necessary. The cast commends respectful attention, notwithstanding the handicap that has been heaped upon it by the authors. Irene Fenwick charmingly struggles with the role of the married sculptress who cannot reveal her matrimonial state. Ernest Glendinning reverts to the light touch of his "baby mine" days to portray the role of the married artist. Lucile Watson scores her usual success in a character role. Others who were fa- vorably mentioned were William Morris, Donald Gallagher, Carotta Monterey and Fred Peters. BETTY BREWSTER OUT OF TOMBS The District Attorney has fixed Feb- ruary 19 as the day on which Betty Brewster Inch, the vaudeville actress, win again be tried in the Criminal Branch of the Supreme Court on an indictment charging her with attempting to extort $260 from Eugene P. Herman, president of the Herman Motor Truck Company. Mrs. Inch, or Betty Brewster, aa she is known in vaudeville circles, was tried two weeks ago before Justice Weeks and a jury, and after a trial lasting four days the jury disagreed. - • After the trial Judge Weeks, on motion of the Assistant District Attorney, doubled the amount of the defendant's bail from $6,000 to $10,000, in default of which she was sent to the Tombs to await her second trial. About five days ago, however, bail was furnished by a surety company, where- upon Mrs. Inch was released. SETTLE SEPARATION SUIT The separation suit brought by 0*191* Dunn Smith, the actress, against her hus- band, Frederick James Smith, editor of a motion picture magazine, in the Su- preme Court last week, was settled last Monday and the action will be discon- tinued. Maurice B. and Daniel W. Blumenthal, representing the plaintiff, and Melvin H. Dalberg, attorney for the defendant, drew a separation agreement last Monday which was signed by their respective clients. It was said that, under the agreement, Mrs. Smith will receive a lump sum and, in addition, $26 each week from her hus- band. The Wmitha have been married four years and during that time had one child, which died. HYMAN NOW" FOX MANAGER E. L. Hymen, who has been In charge of motion picture bookings for the Lib- erty Theatres, for the last year, resigned hia post with the War Department's Com- mission on Training Camp Activities this week, to accept the position of manager of William Fox's Liberty Theatre, St. Louis.