The New York Clipper (February 1919)

Copyrighted, 1919, and published weekly by the Clipper Corporation, 1604 Broadway, New York. Entered at the Port-office at New York, June 24,1879, aa second-class mall matter under Act of March 3, 1879. i Founded by FRANK QUEEN, 1853 NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 26, 1919 . VOLUME LXVn-No. J Price, Ten Ccnti, HO a Year PANTAGES BEGINS INVASION OF THE EAST f * * _^____ r »- MILES, ALLY, GETS 10 HOUSES Acting-in conjunction with C. H. Miles, of Detroit and Cleveland, Alexander Pantages, who has, heretofore, confined his activities to territory west of Chicago, last week began an invasion of the East that is looked, upon .by many as - a retaliatory measure directly, chiefly, against the- Loew Circuit,' Miles Arrived in New York Friday and, after registering at the Hotel Astor, announced that he .had completed a deal whereby, .he had gained control of ten the- atres in Canada, situated between Detroit and Montreal With the two houses he al- ready operates in both Detroit and Cleve- land, he now. baa fourteen.houses. Shortly afterward it was reported that Pantages will soon announce the acquisi- tion of a. house in New York and another one in- Brooklyn. . Efforts to learn their whereabouts, were unavailing, bat rumors that the Capitol Theatre, at Broadway and Fiftieth Street, might be one, and the new Strand • Thaatre,,now being erected, in Brooklyn by Mas.Spiegel,.the other, were heard the early part of this week. It was also reported that. Miles, acting for Pan- tages, had formed' an affiliation with the Amalgamated Booking Agency, controlled by B. S. Moss, the details to be arranged at a conference between Miles and Moss representatives the latter part of the week. The. string of Canadian houses taken over by Miles, were formerly known as the A. J. Small circuit. All of the theatres have, heretofore, played legitimate attrac- tions, running all the way from those of the popular priced variety to. shows of the two dollar sort,- with a preponderance of the latter. The theatres, for the better part, are first class houses in every par- ticular. It will be some little time, how- ever, before Vaudeville can be played in these houses, inasmuch as it will be neces- sary to alter each one considerably both back and in front of the curtain. In some instances the "capacity will.' be slightly in- creased, while in others the seating arrange- ments will be enlarged to a considerable extent. ■ - ■■• ' ■■ The Small theatres are located in the fol- lowing cities: Montreal, Hamilton,'' Tor- onto, Ottawa, St. Thomas, Kingston, Lon- don, Peterboro' and St. Catherine. These, when ready for vaudeville bookings, which is estimated to be anywhere from three to six weeks, will receive bills from the Pan- tages New York office. Miles' two houses in Cleveland and the one' in Detroit, that have until recently been getting their at- tractions from the Loew office, will also swing over.to Pantages in a week or so. Mr. Miles also" announced that he would build new theatres in Montreal and Tor- onto, plans already having been completed whereby he . win break ground in Toronto for a 3,200 seat house. Immediately. This will occupy the site, of the "present Grand Theatre, the small • house in "Toronto. The; Montreal house will be erected on a plot adjacent to the Princess, the loca- •-.- I Continued on pOfe &) TYLER AFTER DALY'S George Tyler Is trying to lease Daly's Theatre ' at Broadway, near Thirtieth street. If he is successful, it probably means that Klaw and Erlanger will be associated with him in running the house. ' The plots on which the theatre and the dressing rooms in the rear stand are owned by separate estates. These are the ScMeffelin and Jones estates. Both premises' were formerly leased by the Jones estate. The lease expired two years ago. . To be successful Tyler will have to negotiate separate leases for both prem- ises. Thus far, this has proved an ob- stacle to others who have negotiated for the premises during the last two years. These include Margaret Anglin, John Pike and Max Spiegel. A scenic studio occu- pies part of the premises in the rear used for dressing rooms. Before the Jones lease expired two two years ago various individuals tried to run the house successfully but failed. These include Walter Saoford, Ben Le- vine, Ben Kahn and Jerome Rosenberg. Tyler is reported to be willing to spend $50,000 or $60,000 in fixing up the house if he can obtain a lease which would in- clude the premises in the rear formerly used for dressing room purposes." LONDON UKES WOODS* SHOW London, EJng., Feb. 2L—"Uncle Sam,'' the A. H. Woods American play produced at the Haymarket Theatre on February 12, is the biggest kind of a success. An London is talking about the play and it bids fair to continue'here, as long as it has in New York under the title of "Friendly Enemies." 'Frederick Harrison and J. L. Sacks, Ltd., are the producers here and the company number some prominent actors, chief among whom is Dick Bernard, whose brother, Sam, is in the original New York company. The cast in full: Walter Stu- art, Charles Hampden, Marie Pfeiffer, Louise Closser Hale, June Block, Miss Pam Browning, Karl Pfeiffer, Howard Lang, Henry Block, Dick Bernard, William Pfeiffer, O. Holland and Nora Vivien Vivien. BUSINESS IN THE SOUTH TURNS POOR MANAGERS CLOSING SHOWS IRWIN SHOW SETS OPENING May Irwin is scheduled to open in Poughkeepsie March 17 in the new musical play, entitled "Raising the Aunty," which has been written for her by Glen Mc- Donough, Joe Young, Sammy Lewis and Ted Snyder. The following principals wilt support Miss Irwin: Ed. Warren and Dill Temple- ton, Val and Ernie Stanton, Lois Jose- phine, George Bancroft, Helen Eley, Har- riet Ross, Arline Hackett,. Stanley Jesaup, Leo Hennings. The latter left the cast of "Good Mora- in, Judge** when thai' show played in Washington previous, to opening here. Kurt Eisfeld t w01 manage the show, and George Barnum is staging it. POSTPONE SAN ANTONIO CARNIVAL Sax Airroirro, Texas, Feb. 24.—The carnival which was to have been held here .in the Spring, starting April 19th, has been postponed until 1920 because of after war conditions and lack of time to prepare a satisfactory program. The C. A. Wortham Shows had made arrangements with the San Antonio, Fiesta Association to aid in the carnival, bat the engagement had. to be cancelled. Reports from the South indicate that shows playing one-night stand houses throughout that region of the country are doing bad business. This was evidenced last week when Gus Hill sent closing notices to two of his shows now playing in various parts of the South. Two of the Hill shows scheduled to dose are "The Captain and the Kid," which will stop February 28 at Anderson, Ind_, and a company of "Odds and Ends,*' which will close March 8 at "MiwnpMa, Term. The Southern tour of these shows has caused Hill to suffer a loss of many thousands of dollars despite the good business they did earlier in the season. The'bad conditions are due to the large number of shows playing the one-night stand houses. Towns that formerly used to get one show a week are now getting a different one almost every night, with the result that the patrons have become tired of going to the theatre. • Another element that seems to be mili- tating against show conditions in the South is the half-time working period that prevails in the industrial plants since the signing of the armistice. Thousands of workers throughout the South are not earning as much money now aa they did at the beginning of the theatrical season, with the result that they hare curtailed their visits to the theatre. Coutts and Tennis, who, besides having their own shows book a number of shows of other producers, have been avoiding the South, especially F lorid a, for the last month. - They took "When Dreams Com* True*' from Its Southern route last weak and are now arranging a Northern book-, ing route for. the snow. Levy and Plohn are closing their South-, era "Watch Your Step" company next Saturday night. And other managers who have the roads rights to successful shows are being forced to dose by reason of bad business throughout the South. KLAWS NAME OMITTED Atlanta , Ga., Feb. 24.—The 1918 Edition of "Hitchy Kbo," which appeared here at die Atlanta Theatre, was hilled as being presented by Erlanger, Dilling- ham and Ziegfield. The billing is conspicu- ous at this time by reason of the absence of the name of Klaw fit front of Erlanger, following the rumors In New York that the old theatrical firm of Klaw and Erlanger has split and the respective mem- bers are about-to go their separate ways. VAUDE INQUIRY RESUMES MAR. 11 The Federal Trade Commission's in- niry into the vaudeville situation wiled be resumed in this dry on March 1L It Is possible, however, that a new place to hold the hearings will be selected and be an- nounced later. RUMSEY GETS BIG JUDGMENT ■ John W. Rumsey, as assignee of the Biltmore Theatre Corporation, obtained a judgment last week for 96,284 against the .Gerstan-Cramer Amusement Company, Inc. . The Biltmore Theatre Corporation leased the Lexington Theatre from the Gersteh-Oramer Company in January, 1916, for a term of four and one-half years at a rental of $24,000 a year. The rental was to be paid in weekly Installments and the lessee deposited S12£00 in cash to se- cure the payments. A clause in the lease provided that, should the tenant fall to pay one week's rent, the amount waa to be deducted from the security and the bal- ance was to be retained by the landlord as a penalty. At the trial of the suit before Justice Erlanger and a jury in the Supreme Court last week, it was testified that the Bilt- more Company failed to pay its rant shortly after it took possession of the Lex- ircton. The Gersten-Cramer Company cancelled the lease and refused to return tiie amount deposited aa security minus the unpaid rent. Judge Erlanger directed the jury to bring in a verdict for the plain- tiff. Ernst, Fox and Cane were the plain- tiff's attorneys. Kelly and Hewitt ap- peared for the defendant. HILL TO HAVE MILITARY SHOW ■Gus W| n fa organising a big military ■how for next season. It is his intention to have only actors who have been- on the fighting line. It will be a reviaw of vaudeville specialties, minstrel and musical acta. There win be no women in the ■how. He win cany musicians, have a street parade and will also have a band wagon with the show. Hill claims that this show will be one of the biggest undertakings, and win be one of the largest shows on the road next SUES FOR LOSS OF BAGGAGE Washhtoton, Feb. 21.—A suit for $2,500 for alleged loss of baggage on April 80, 1917, waa started by Hope L. Bragg. an actress, against the Southern Railway Company this week in the District Su- preme Court. • She claims that several of her trunks, containing costumes and other article* of great value, and checked from Rock Hffl, S. O, to New York, were lost and that the railway company has ignored ■her demands-that they pay for the loss. The attorneys for the plaintiff are George W. Offutt and Charles W. Imlay. "RIDDLE: WOMAN** TO LEAVE "The Riddle Woman 1 ' is leaving the Fulton Theatre March IS and is sched- uled to open at the Woods Theatre, Chi- cago, March IT. "Please Get Married*' will leave the lit- tle Theatre,-where it is now playing, and move into the Fulton, opening at the latter on St- Patrick's Day. LAUDER HAS #3,769 DAY . Wazruxs, W. Vs., Feb. 24—Harry Lauder broke all records in point of re- ceipts Thursday when he played to 23,789 matinee and night. Many were ' turned away at. 'each performance. The Etta minstrels followed for three performance* to -three turn away audience*. It was the biggest week in.the history of the Court Theatre.