The New York Clipper (February 1919)

February 19, 1919 THE NEW YORK CLIPPER 13 Founded in ISS3 by Frank ' Published far the CLIPPER CORPORATION Orland W. Vaughan President mad Secretary .Frederick C MuUcr Treasurer 1604 Broadw.y. New YorV Telepfaoae Bryant 6117-6118 ORLAND W. VAUGHAN, EDITOR Pan! C Sweinhaft. Maturing Editor NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 19, 1919 Entered June 24, 1879, at the Post Office at New York. N. Y., a* second class starter, oa- der the set of March 3. 1879. THE CLIPPER is issued every WEDNESDAY. Forms Close on Monday it S P. K. SUBSCRIPTION One year, in advance, $4; six —im* 1 ". *3; three month!, $1. Canada and foreign portage extra. Single copies will be sent, postpaid; on receipt of 10 cents. ADVERTISING RATES FURNISHED ON 'APPLICATION Chicago Office—Room 214, 35 S. Dearborn St Haaar F. Rosa Majfaea*. Address All Communications to THE NEW YORK CLIPPER 1IM Broadway, New York Registered Ctble Address. "Authoiitt." Tax Cufrat cam >e oituhzd whousau am axTAiL, st our agents. Doringe American News Agency, 17 Green Street, r^«ring Cross Road, London, W. C, England; Brentano's News De- pot, 37 Avenue de I Opera, Paris, France; Gor- don & Gotch, 123 Pitt Street, Sydney, N. S. W.. Australia. NEW TICKET ORDINANCE When is-a law not a law? Apparently, when it affects the business of the the- atre ticket brokers. For it is obvious that .the recently enacted Kilroe-Williams city [ordinance, designed to limit the excess price at which a theatre ticket may be sold, thus far, has failed to accomplish its object. The District Attorney has caused the arrest of several of the erring ticket brokers and, instead of charging the al- leged violators of the city ordinance with selling tickets above the limit set by law, has charged them with operating without a license. And, in the cases where a license has been applied for by a broker during the pendency of his case in the Magistrates' Court, the District Attorney has withdrawn his prosecution and permitted the Magistrate to rHamias the charge. Thus far there has. not been recorded a single conviction under the new ordi- nance. Instead, however, subpoenas are issued for the bad boys among the brokers to visit the District Attorney's office and explain their acts and, as in the case of Michael Jacobs and Charles Betts, who admitted they had been charging exorbi- tant prices for opera tickets, they are per- mitted by Assistant District Attorney Kilroe to go back to their respective stands, after promising to be good little brokers in the future. WANTS OLD MATERIAL Editor' New York Clipper: Dear Sir: Just a few lines to let my friends know that I am alive and still kicking, which I know you all win be glad to hear. Several of our boys axe getting together all the talent at hand so as to stage a variety show. Wo have the talent, but lack the material. So, as a favor, I ask my old pals to send some of their old or discarded material out my way. Black- face or comic'recitations are preferable. Same would certainly be appreciated very much. Trusting to have a speedy reply and to hear that you are all well and doing fine, I remain, You rs sincerely, ABTBTJR BURTON HENRY, 328 Inf. a 0., 8U Wr, Annex B. P. COMPLAINS OF CHORUS GIRLS Editor New York Cijffbb: Dear Sir.—I hereby submit a few sug- gestions on the chorus girl menace to the Burlesque producer: The chorus girl proposition this season has been a constant worry both to producer and manager of every show on the Ameri- can and Columbia circuits, and as a pro- ducer, I hereby submit a few ideas which may help to eradicate this evil. First. —Appoint three recognized agents who are familiar with burlesque, in the three following cities, namely, New York, Boston and Chicago; each respective agent to have the backing and authority from the American and Colombia directors to em- ploy and place a girl or girls as the occa- sion may require, with the shows playing the burlesque theatres. Second. —Assess the manager $5 per girl, or vice versa; this can be threshed out with the managers and the heads of oar re- spective circuits. Third. —The 85 taxation remunerates and encourages the agent and absolves the manager from cheating; that is, if a show is a girl short on an opening day, and the manager cannot fill the shortage by Wednesday of that week, it is both his and the house manager's duty to notify the nearest agent where the show is play- ing, and have the shortage filled. This procedure protects the producer and man- manager and obliterates him from the category of cheating. fourth.—Another reason why the agent is beneficial: There is and has been for the last two seasons what I would chris- ten The Fluey Chorus Girl"—that is, the ■ girl that travels from show to show with a suitcase containing a pair of tights and sufficient make-up for the prolonged run of "one consecutive week." This girl chooses either East or West. That all depends upon which territory she favors most. For instance, a girl leaving a show at the Gayety Theatre, Brooklyn, can, nine times out of ten, join a show at Hoboken, thereby covering the same terri- tory, which is seven weeks, through New England, and, by doing this five consecu- tive, times, gets a season's work, which is unfair to the girl that is loyal and con- scientious, and unfair to the show mana- ger whom she invariably cripples. This same condition applies to Chicago, which practically utilizes the same playing time. Fifth.— -Then there is the girl that ac- cumulates a debt with the show she is playing with, which she has no intention of paving. Suddenly she leaves the show without notice, changes her name and joins another. This evil should and can be remedied. The remedy I would suggest: After each respective company has opened its season, have each chorus girl set for an individual photo, then have three copies made from the original and furnish each agent with a copy; this allows him to keep a full complement, and also allows him to familiarize himself with the chorus girl family. Prohibit any manager from engaging a girl at the theatre unless she can prove beyond a shadow of doubt that she has a clean bill and has not left another show without the'required two weeks' notice. If a girl is engaged at a theatre, sub- mit her photo to the agent, and if she has jumped a show without notice, or has accumulated a debt, the agent can look over his reports which should be filed by every -manager that has a complaint, she should be dismissed from the said company immediately. I sincerely think that there should be some protection for the manager and pro- ducer; also some method to curb the con- stant jumping and crippling of our re- spective shows. Respectively, JAS. J. LAKE, Auto Girls Co. however is and haa been written for them by some newspaper mar early in the sea- But how many owners an this wheel will give up $76 or 9100 a week, for a regular $2 attraction press man and, if they do, how much more publicity will they derive, with the exception of a paper here and there is some city. Burlesque is burlesque and the conservative paper treats it as such. Even with the taking of extra advertising space, you will get the same short advance notice or story. And you get that, anyway. 1 will cite the "Star" in this city. I will wager that a $150 man couldn't get any more than the regular stuff in this paper. Your article also states that tack cards will be discontinued in order to give the agent more time to put out heralds and blotters. Well, show me a press agent that wiH put out this stuff. The whole trouble is that most agents have their hands tied when it comes to doing busi- ness. Some agents have to wire their employer in New York if they want to buy a pound of tacks. If there is a con- vention or some other attraction going on in the city, and the house manager wishes to do a little extra advertising or billing, the agent has to wire the owner, wherever he may be, and the latter, being in New York, doesn't know what is going on in St. Louis, Omaha or other far-off cities. We say it's up to the agent to use his own judgment and try to make every dol- lar spent bring in two. In the olden days with the melodramas, we were given free foot to use our own judgment, order our own printing, etc., and the owners for whom ' we worked never questioned one penny spent ahead of these attractions. We were told to act as though the show was ours. NAT BARON GOLDEN, Agent Dave Marion's "America's Best." Yours truly, CHAS. F. EDWARDS, Agent Harry Hastings' Big Show. Kansas City, Feb. 14, 1919. TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO J. M. Ward managed "A Merry Time," featuring Joe Goddard. Sam A. Scribner was tending the big door with the Scribner and Smith Circus. Katherine Clemmons was starred in "A Lady of Venice" at the Fifth Avenue The- atre, New York. The Rooster String Band, The Musical Masons, Mme. Cordelia, "Spider" Kelly and Joe Young, Choyinsky, Vernon Sisters, Harry Emerson, Frank Johnson, Clements - and Boyd, Gilbert and Goldie, The Levlnos ai.d Al. Leech played at -tile Wigwam, San Francisco. The burial of Harry Watkins in the Actors' Fund plot was attended by Mrs. John Hoey, J. L. Smart, Col. T. Allston Brown, Wm. Davidge, Mrs. John EUsler, Ettie Henderson, Marion Booth, Louise Eldridge, F. F. Mackay, Harry Jarrett, William Winter, J. H. Tooker and R. C. Stevens. Rialto Rattles Answers to Queries N. C. S.—Otis Skinner played the lead- ing role in "Kismet." VAUDEVILLE PROVERBS NO. x He who hesitates loses many a bow. NOTICE TO ACROBATS Bar performers at liberty after July L MORE TRUTH THAN POETRY Tib better to do four a day Than wear out shoes along Broadway, THEATRICAL MYSTERIES Ha 3a Whatever became of that country-wide circuit of Hippodromes that somebody started to promote a .couple of months agot ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT No, you're wrong. Charles Darnton and AL Jolson were never co-stars at the Wintergarden. Even if you are supersti- tious, you know you cant always believe in signs. H. J. D.—Sir Francis C. Bumaud died on April 28, 1917. E. H—Edwin Arden died in New York City several months ago. G. L. C—Jerome D. Kern, the com- poser, was born in Newark, N. J. CRITIC IS E NEW BURLESQUE RULE Editor New York Cufpcb: Dear Sir: Referring to your article relative to the Columbia Amusement Com- pany carrying only press agents next sea- son, we, the undersigned, wish to give our views regarding a press agent with this line of attractions. We will admit we have none now, although there are some who pose as press agents. Their material, A. K.—Bert Cushman and Geneva De Von played with the Crawford Players in 1917. - . A.—Helf and Haakins were the original publishers of the song "Mamma's Boy. It was taken over by Helf and Hager. L BL—Yes, "The Prisoner of Zenda" was presented as a motion picture at the Lyceum Theatre on Feb. 18, 1918. MABYE THERE'S A REASON AL Leichter, the vaudeville agent, wants a sergeant-at-arms appointed for the Put- nam building. Wonder if A), has received word that some more of his acts are coming up to discuss contracts? THE MEANEST MANAGER Looks as if the meanest manager world has been discovered at last. Doyle asked a certain Broadway to pass him in to see his show last week ana was informed that he might pan right in—and stand up behind the orchestra rail. the .jor WE'LL SAY SO Sam Goldfish—Goldwyn was in the glove business for several years before he became a movie magnate, they say. Whan it comes to handling temperamental picture stars, however, Sam haa apparently dis- covered that the feat can be performed ever so much better without gloves. BILLY SETS JACK RIGHT Billy Mahoney says he cant understand how Jack Dunham ever got the idea thai "Monte Cristo," the new Shubert Winter- garden show, was all about a famous European gambling resort, when every- body knows that "Monte Cristo" was a guy who went up into the OatakiU Moun- tains and slept for forty years. THEY'RE SAFE ALRIGHT A report from Cincinnati last weak stated that an actor had been knocked down in that town because his aatfdlant thought he was too funny." Judging by some of the performances seen in "current Broadway shows hereabouts this season, it looks as if most of our best litUTtwo- dollar comedians are perfectly safe from attack. THINGS WORTH HAVING AL Reeves' collection of home towns. Lewis Selznick'a new banking connec- tions. Jim Thornton's views on prohibition. Jack Dempsey's 825,000 contract with Barney Gerard. Adolph Zukors opinion of the Big Four combination. The Big Four combination's opinion of Adolph Zukor. The twenty thousand odd that Flo Ziegfeld is reported to have dropped on "Pigeon Post." • out there. VAUDEVILLE VETERANS "I'm not disturbing you am It" "Did your grandfather lose Us eye through an accident t No, through a key- hole." ^ ' "My boy, I'm surprised to see you stand out here in front of a large and intelligent audience and talk like that." "If you know so much about geography, tell me what street Brooklyn Is on." "I've lust come clean from Canarsie. That's the first time any one ever came clean from that place." "Young man, whiskey is your worst enemy. I know, hut doesn't the good book tell us to love our enemies f*