The New York Clipper (March 1919)

THE NEW. YOill CilPPIR 31 March5,-1M9 ■■■i /•«->■ ESTATE LEFT BY FROHMAN Final Appraisement of Property Owned by Dead Manager Leaves Total of $452 to His Credit. Always Paid More Attention to Producing Than Business Contrary to the belief of his friends, business associates and the public, that he was a millionaire, papers Sled in the Sur- rogate's Office last week showed that the net estate left by Charles Frohman, after payment' of his debts, waa only $452. And this in spite of the fact that the gross amount of bis holdings were valued at 5919,383. Frohman died intestate and it was not until the Sling of the administrator's ac- counting that any idea of the value of his estate was reached. In fact, it is doubtful if Frohman himself had any idea, of his finances. He devoted himself to the art of the theatre—the production.' end—and left the business part to others. He seemed to have only the knack of spending money, not keeping track of it. A few years ago, in speaking of the money made in the theatrical business, Frohman remarked that if he ever accu- mulated $100,000 from it he would con- sider he had made a fortune. This was characteristic of . the man, who could not see the commercial side of the business be made his life work. His very dealings with those who worked for. him was different from those usually followed, for, with one exception, be never had a contract with any actor or manager. Even his stars appeared under his management season after season with not a scrap of paper between them. Tl ip one exception was Billie Burke and that occurred after she had broken away from him without notice. When she wanted to come back, he said she could, but that, as punishment, she would have to sign a contract that she would con- tinue with bun. Frohman's contracts with all of hia players, except the one noted above, were verbal, and were sometimes- made over the long distance telephone. The inventory of the dead manager's es- tate shows he was possessed of the fol- lowing : Cash, $126,455; personal prop- erty, $431,164 (including $215,000 insur- ance on the contents of storehouses con- taining theatrical properties, and a note of the New Lyceum Theatre Company .for $128,726). Stocks and bonds valued at $274,484, which included 1,214 shares of the New York Theatre Company, $123,- 342; 500 shares of the Amusement Com- pany of Illinois, $50,000, and 1,250 shares of the Famous Players-Charles Frohman, $40,000; interest in leases, $62,450; which included one third of the lease of the Hol- lis Street Theatre, Boston, $5,000; one third in the' Colonial Theatre, Boston, $5,000, and one third in construction cost of the Metropolitan Theatre, Seattle, Wash., $52,450. * The total of these sums was within about $80,000 of his estimated .fortune. • To offset these was an indebtedness amounting of $918,931, divided as follows: AI Hayman, $354,140, and a demand note for $25,000; Senile Bros.. $100,000, and a demand ' note* for $25,000; Klaw and ErlangiT, $118,751, and a demand note for $58,044; William Gillette, $13,754: Maude Adams, $64248; Billie Burke, $3,030, and David Belosco, $3,618. Frohman brothers, Daniel and Gustave, and sisters, CerlyL Emma and Etta Froh- man, and Rachel -Davison, as his heirs, will each receive $75.33. MAY PROBE ACTRESS' DEATH YouNiiMTOWN, O., March 3.—The death of Bernice Golden, the actress, which oc- curred here last week, warrants investiga- tion by the authorities, according to atones circulated among theatre attaches and others with whom she talked before being stricken with the disease which ended her life, in the hospital last week. Miss Golden, a daughter of the late Richard Golden, was appearing at the Hip- podrome with Henry Keane in a sketch called "The Unexpected." It was noticed • that she had her arm in a sling, and it waa stated that it had been broken in an accident.' Later, Miss Golden told some friends that she had been assaulted by an actor. •***■.. It is believed here that the experience , so weakened her that she became prey ■ to an* attack of pneumonia and this caused 3 her death, .- . Miss Golden waa on the stage nearly her entire lifetime, and had appeared in scores of plays. Her mother was also a professional, known on the stage aa Dora. Wiley, The Sweet Singer of Maine." Her mother is now the wife of C O. Tennis, of New York. MACGOWAN MUST PAY Justice Bijur, in the Supreme Court last week, granted the application for alimony and counsel fee in the separation suit started by Mary Elisabeth Macgowan against her husband, Claude H. Macgowan, manager here of the Universal Film Cor- poration. The court allowed the plaintiff $25 a week and the additional sum of $250 to her attorneys, Winkler and Rogers. "BURGOMASTER OF BELGIUM" Sfkinofhxd, Mass. March 3.—Maurice Maeterlinck's "The Burgomaster of Bel- gium," was given its first American per- formance to-night and its story served to . prove that Belgium baa caught some of the ' greeted significances of the war.' ■ From a conventional first act, in which a common place of German occupation was established, the drama proceeds through a second act of sustained suspense to a real powerful and relentless third. The author has abandoned allegory, in which his former works have; been couched and .has told this story in the terms of realism, such symbolism as exists being surface symbolism. . The Burgomaster, quite clearly, is the figure of Belgium, and a German officer, as detestable as" Maeterlinck can- make him is quite as clearly the symbol of Prussian militarism. The problem the Burgomaster meets and solves by bis own death is the problem that Belgium met and solved in the same wsy, tragedy is the keynote from the first, and, although the succumbing of the protagonist ia inevitable, he rises above defeat by hia manner of succumbing.''' W. R. MacdonaM has given the play a fitting environment and a cast in which E. Lyall Swete is predominate, not only through the author's great lines, but in hia own right. Others in the cast are Master Allan Willey. Claude Cooper, Henry Herbert, Walter Kingsford, Charles Cheltenham, Frank Royde, Leonard Willey, Stuart King, Robert Whitehouse, John Kensington, Eda Farmer, and Raymond Sovet. PRODUCING NEW ACT Helen Stanley is preparing a new sing- ing and dancing revue which win carry a company of five—three girla end two boys. The scenic accessories are being c on s tru cted by P. Dodd Ackennan. All. Wnton ia attending to booking details. N. V. A. CLUB HOUSE READY The National Vaudeville Artists'. new clubhouse on Forty-sixth street is all ready for occupancy and the organization will take possession very- shortly now, possibly within a week or two. The open- ing will be marked with appropriate cere- monies, which will include, among other things, an all-star vaudeville show. -; - "COME ALONG" WELL LIKED . Atlantic .. Crrr, N. J„ March '00%*;. "Come Along!', the new musical-play of-the Marne Amusement 'Company, under the direction of Frank Jackson, fairly pleased a large audience at the Apollo Theatre to-night with its unusual and unexpected events. ' .'.'. It had all the raciness of a soldier play and all of the bright, wit and cleverness.of a real musical comedy. However, it did many things,, outside of convention, all of which pleased immensely the audience, which had several Broadway producers among it The story deals with love between sold- iers of the American Army, about' to occupy Germany, and Salvation Army Lassies. For the most part the costumes of these ranks take the place of the usual chorus costumes. The bright wit of Bide Dudley's book and the songs of the first big real male chorus of the year, deal largely with the routine of their life among the French villages. The music is not. above the average, John Loew Nelson claims its composition. It is the novelty of the action "and the crude, almost amateurish construction with its professional production, that really catches the enthusiasm. •Harry Tigbe is the chief fun maker, with Ileen Van Beine as the heroine, a Salva- ' tion Army Major. They, are assisted by Paul Frawley, Chas. Stanton, Allen Kcarna, Maeterlinck's "The Burgomaster of Bel- forest, Harry Fern and a large number of others. "STATEROOM B" DISAPPOINTS ATLArrrio Crrr, March 3.—"The Girl in Stateroom B," presented here last week for the first time, proved very disappointing to the local audience: It was produced by Sam Blair. ' To begin with,' the company, especially the principals, lacked talent, there being - nobody in the cast who could sing and be heard in the rear of the house. The book ia modeled on an. old farce played'by Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew deal- ing with a man who' lost hia false teeth which fell overboard from the deck of a. steamship. •.- ;. ' There is very little humor in the book and the situations are even less humorous. And such humor as there is, is almost en- tirely nullified by the cast chosen to speak and' sing the lines. The tunes are, for the most part drab and of little account, but had they been sung by clearer voices, their melodic drabness might have appeared more colorful. The one set used throughout the per- formance waa quite effective and suggested 'a bit of good stagemansbip. Bat that didn't help any. This show will probably soon end rather than wend its weary way. ACTORS LOSE "COPPERHEAD" CASE When John D. Williams placed ''The Copperhead" in rehearsal, prior to its pro- duction laa£ season, the members of the cast rehearsed for six,'Instead of four weeks, according to claims for payment filed with the Actors' Equity Association. The six or seven members'of the company filing claims, however, held no contracts with Williams, all arrangements having been made in verbal form. After considering the matter for some time, the Actors' Equity has finally ar- rived at a decision adverse to the actors, and, aa a result, Williams will not be called'upon to pay the two half week's salaries demanded in each instance. The Williams case is almost exactly similar to that of George Tyler, the salary claims being based 1 on the same conten- tion as regards extra rehearsals. In the Tyler ease, however, the actors had con- tracts to prove their claims. - Had the members of "The Copperhead"' company been provided with contracts, it is more than likely that the A. E. A would have decided the matter in their favor. " BOARDING HOUSE PLAY OPENS ' :": Bju .n Mora, -Md., March 3.—It isn't an easy task these days to extract real en- tertainment and fun from such stage- worn ..characters aa the hoarding house mistress, the'boarding house grouch and the boarding, house swains. But.. H. S. Sheldon's comedy, "It Happens to Every- body," presented at the -Academy of-Music this week while taking-the oM situations, gives to them a new twist, brightens them with'such witty dialogue and bases them on such a plot that an evening of unquali- fied enjoyment can be spent in seeing the performance. The title of the show indicates little, for it is hard to figure when the curtain finally drops whether the author meant that it -was opportunity, love or forgetful- ness that "Happens to Everybody." But, all of these three elements come together in the well-unwound play of three -acts, in all of which the action is rapid and satisfying, with the possible exception of the hut. In that, the author could prob- ably have written "curtain" a minute or two before he did with much better effect. George Probert, as Donald Brown, the young boarder, always seeking opportuni- ties out seldom finding them," frequently yields to the temptation to overdo his part. But, on the whole, he makes out very well. .George B. Miller, as Mr, Mole, the board- ing house grouch, gives a very excellent representation of character acting that drew the greatest applause from last night's audience,. - A little more originality might be put into the boarding house maid by Dorothy Allen, but'she was much better than the average, although not- equal to her lines. Nils Mac, as the boarding house siren, and Alfred Dayton, aa. her movie-loving suitor, do very wclL, But Florence Martin,, aa Donald's fair charmer, is quite lifeless in her representa- tions The other characters, while negli- gible in comparative .interest, are good. The plot is based' on the contemplated suicide of a man who holds an important chemical secret,, which he wills to Donald to use after the suicide is completed. - The father of the p-rl, to whom Donald- is secretly engaged.' wants that chemical secret. Just how he tries for it and how the contemplated suicide is. prevented, are stories the telling of which form the en- tertainment of Mr. Sheldon's play, MISS SITGREAVES WINS VERDICT Beverly Sitgreaves was awarded a ver- dict for $50Q, against Harrison Grey Fiske, hi the Municipal Court, last week, as the result of a legal action which grew' out of ' Mies Sitgreaves being replaced by Mrs. Fiake in the cast of "Service," when the play opened'in. New York.some months ago. Edward Marks, of the legal depart- ment of the A. E. A,.acted as Miss Sit- greaves! attorney. It waa Mr. Flake's action, in turning over Miss Sitgreaves' role ir/< "Service" to his wife, thajt occa- sioned '-Miss Sitgreaves to remark, when sailing for England shortly after the In- cident, that sue would never return to America. - .»...■ . WOODS GETS ENGLISH PIECES London, Eng., Feb. 24.—A. H. Woods, who is in London arranging for the pro- duction of numerous of his. plays, has se- cured, several English pieces which he will take back to New York. The first of .these is "As You Were," Cochran's successful revue now running at the London Pavilion. Another-,is "L' Illusion istc," also belonging to.Cochran. The latter work, written by Sacha Guitry; is to be' renamed "Presto! Change!" : . ~ ..--;.. *• ■ .. ..-.'.' GALLAGHER & GODFREY TEAM UP "Sheets" Gallagher and Dorothy Godfrey have formed a vaudeville partnership, and are now breaking, in a new act. entitled "Sweaters." It is a musical skit, and was written by Lewis Parmiter. Billy Grady produced the act. MANAGERS ELECT NEW OFFICERS Detroit, Feb. 27.—The Detroit The- atre Managers' Association held their .an- nual meeting today, and the following officers were elected. George W. Trendle, president; Richard H. Lawrence, vice-pres- ident and secretary, and Charles Williams, treasurer. The association has a member- ship of twenty-eight managers repre- senting as many different houses in this city-'and including dramatic, vaudeville, burlesque houses and the leading theatres which show motion pictures.