The New York Clipper (November 1919)

rooyrlKhted, 1919, and published weekly by the Clipper Corporation, 1604 Broadway. New York. Entered at the Post-Offlce at Mew York, June U, 1879, as second-claw . ■■■■■ ! ■ "»*U matter under Act of March ». 1S79 Founded by FRANK QUEEN. 1853 NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 5. 1919 VOLUME LXVII—No. » Price, Fifteen Cents, 15.00 a Year TO HAVE ACTORS STEP nfro_pyiPiT WILL READ THE SCRIPTURES Believing that actors woo have gained renown as Shakespearian inter- preters would be equally successful In the pulpit as.interpreters of the Bible, the directors of the St. George Episco- pal Church, ', at the corner of 'East Sixteenth Street audi Stuy vesant Square, have formulated plans whereby members of the theatrical professlon will be enlisted to step into the pulpit at tbe regular Sunday services of the parish. Tbe church, according to a represen- tative of the. St George Corporation, has long entertained tbe idea or having members of the legitimate stage take part in the services. Bat, it was not until last Sunday that, definite steps were decided upon, following the ser- vice at which David Blspham aa ah experiment, was asked to read from the scriptures. Such a decided im- pression was made upon the congrega- tion that plans were at once set in or- der to secure tb-i services of other mem- bers of the theatrical profession for future services. Tbe inability of tbe regular clergy to appreciate and interpret in a proper and telling manner, the wealth of dra- matic incidents contained, in both the old and new testaments, gave rise to the idea of enlisting the aid of those who are tbrqnghly familiar with dramatic incident ' And it is because of the close relation of the Shakespearian drama, which correspondents with the Bible in that it is tbe highest and most spiritual form of. expression on 'the stage, that the church's directors have set upon having former Hamlets in the pulpit as interpreters of the scripture. Asked, early this week if any mem- bers of the. profession had; yet been selected to -enter upon this work, the representative of the church corpora- tion replied they had not, bat that such men as Forbes -Bobertson, E. H. Sothern; and: :Roberfr Mantell, were being considered among others, because it was thought that their reading of the scriptural passages, would aifl greatly in bringing the effect intended home to the members of the congrega- tion. . ■ .""".; '. ' ., . • . • "NUNKIE" IS WEAK Atlantic City, N. J., Oct. 81.—The- atricallsm and vacuity of line marked tbe opening last night at the Apollo Theatre, of Ntiukie, a new comedy by Jack Hazzard, and presented by- Alfred B. Aarona. The play is untrue in psy- chology and puts forth the brand of humor that is manufactured with a purpose. It was labored and calculated, but, worst of all, this labor and calcula- tion was evident to the audience. Through tbe three acta, one felt the straggle the author.was having in try- ing to put an idea before across. - That Idea ; was never clear at any moment.In the play, save, perhaps, in the last act, which was set in the studio of Nunkie. Here, for a brief, fascinat- ing instant, the theme of tbe play made itself felt, bat served only to emphasise the groping of the two acts which had preceded. For the most part, the cha- racters of the fable are vapid men and women, impossibly given-to rushing on and off stage upon the veriest pretext The real story of the piece lies in the tragedy of-the drinking, ambltloaless old artist, whose fire of genius baa been quenched with the water of un- requited love, whose wine of life has been staled by the bitterness of his me- mories, and not in the silly scruples of a very young painter who refuses to marry a girl who is rich. ' Briefly, the story. Is of. an old artist who finds again the daughter of the woman whose parents forced her to wed a rich man in preference to him. Because of the young painter's scruples in marrying money, old Nunkle ruins his own masterpiece that the young Quixote may win the Academy price. Thanks to this' nefarious piece of busi- ness, he does, and, of course, marries the girl, who, strangely enough, still has all the pots' of money she started out with. At the end, one is moved to murmur querelously, •qu'importe?' Forrest Robinson has the lead, sup- ported by a rather mediocre cast BOSTON SHOWS CLOSING Boston, Mass., Nov. 3.—To-day marks the beginning of the advertisements of five shows which have announced their erasing dates. These include Leo Ditrichstein, in The Marquis De Priola in it's last week, I*w Fields in A Lone- ly Romeo also in it's last week, Flo- rence Moore in Parlor, Bedroom and Bath, entering !tfs last two weeks. Mrs. Fiske in Mis' Nelly of N'Orleans has announced her' last Week and Holbroofc Blinn, in The' Challenge enters the final two weeks of bis stay. "FAIR HELEN" CLOSES Richard Ordynskl's. ■version of Fair Helen, following three weeks of stormy running, closed in Boston at the Shu- bert Majestic Saturday night The play, which was a revised edition of the old Offenbach operetta La Belle Helene, presented here some thirty years ago, owes its failure itis said, to "get over," to its poorly written book and staging. Appearing in the principal roles were Marcia van Dresser and George S. Trimble. The" book is to be entirely re-wrttten, it Is said, after which- an- other attempt will be made to put it- over. ROAD MANAGER MARRIES ' Osweoo, -ijr., Y,, Nov. 2,—Charles K. Eagle, manager of the ''Fair and War- mer" company playing through, New England and Swannie Taylor, of the same company, were married In Battle-, boro, Vermont, when the company played there. The Rev. D.:B. Trent of the Universal Church, performed the ceremony.- Mrs;. EL G. -Tartington manager* of . the' Auditorium .Theatre here, was a witness.-. SIGN FOR HAMMERSTEiN SHOW Cocda and Amefai,. the.dancers .now at: Churchill's, have been, sighed by Arthur Hammerstein* for" a new pro? ductlon.. Equity Plans Club, Theatre Votes To Enter Polities' At Meeting: in Aator Members Outline Idea for and Giving Support to Sock Politicians a» Stand by Tbem Packing the ballroom of the Hotel Aster almost to capacity, the members of the Actors' Equity Association held a closed meeting on Monday afternoon to outline extensive plans for its future and to take up several other matters of importance. All plans laid, it was. ex- plained, are only tentative, and any member who might have any sugges- tion to offer was asked by (Founds Wil- son; president of the Equity, to put his thoughts into writing and forward them to the Equity Council, where they will be duly considered. ' The plans are as ambitious as they are numerous, ranging an the way from an Actors.' Equity clubhouse to a chain of community theatres, owned and controlled by the Equity. .all of the plans, at present, seem to be only In tbe process of crystalizaOon and, in fact, Francis Wilson and John Erotr- oon, who did the brant of the. tasking, did not seem to folly agree in all par- ticulars, although, at the bottom, their ideas as outlined are much the same. ' Practically all of. the suggestions of Wilson and . Emerson were received with applause and cheers and it was not until the tail-end of the meeting, when Justus Sheffield, one of the Equi- ty strike attorneys, advised members how to cast their votes' in the city elec- tion, that there' was any hitch in the meeting. His remarks met with a storm of protest on the part of some of . the members, and, for a few moments; the meeting seemed more like a dis- turbed political convention than a meeting of actors."" ' - After calling the meeting to order, Wilson Immediately took ■up the busi- ness on handy claiming that it laid with the Equity, having won tbe theatrical war, to now do something extraordin- ary. What the Equity would do with its victory remained entirely with the Equity Itself, he declared. Pointing out the fact that the strike had broad- ened the actors by showing them that: they had 'versatility of which they had not been aware before, Wilson asked if ' they were now going to permit these new powers to die. "We must either stand or go for- ward," be declared. "Standing still means stagnation and death; so we roust go forward then." 'Before any steps to go.forward could be considered, however, sufficient room to work was necessary; he stated, and to that end, the Council bad taken it upon themselves to lease quarters at 115 West Forty-Seventh Street until each a time as the Equity could build. a clubhouse of its own. The latter re- mark -was met with cheers. Wilson also hinted that tbe Equity officials had talked over tbe ad visibil- ity of establishing a theatrical agency, bat warned the Equity to advance cau- tiously In this regard, as a similar course, had spelt ruin to a previous ae-; tors' organisation.: Wilson had confided to tbe meeting that be has long dreamed of a com- muntty theatre and suggestedd that, hi Its future program, the Equity should foster such a venture. He said that it would serve three purposes: It would give'the actor a local habitation and. help him to establish his name; it would give the public a better class show; and it would in time become a national institution. . His plan, he said, would be to oper- ate the theatre at an admission figure hot greater and perhaps less than the present-day high class moving picture houaee. Inasmuch as the community theatre would be created by actors, it la Wilson's idea that it should also be governed by actors. The board of di- rectors, he thought*, should be composed of "actors and other interested some- bodies". Individual contributions of $200 or $300, totalling In all about $800,000, would te needed yearly, in bis estimation, to cover the deficit "until such time as. the local authorities would see- tbe advantages of the theatre and assume responsibility." Wilson would have tbe theatre simple in character and would establish sim- ilar bouses throughout the country. . John 'Emerson went over the same. ground as Francis Wilson except that be suggested an Equity Theatre In cos-1 Junction with the clubhouse Idea and, on tbe other hand, seemed less positive about tbe Community Theatre plan, al-. lading to it only in a vague way. Emer- • eon was careful to tack, on the words, "if you want it," to every plan be put before the meeting and emphasised again and again that they were only tentative. • In pointing out the advisability of establishing an employment agency, he- pointed out that it would be the death" of the agent who poses as a personal representative and thereby collect* more than bis legal per cent. He ad- mitted; though, that the Equity- would* have to. be extremely caretul hi tbe- conduct of -its agency, but thought that it could be satisfactorily worked out "because, after all, most of the man- agers are honorable men—not a 11."" Before tbe agency could be' started.. Emerson thinks, a scheme should be- evolved to insure the fact that its mt- rhlnery would "work right." . Emerson also suggested that the Equity have a business representative to save individual actors the embarass- ment of demanding contracts of their managers. "An Equity Building most be got- ten," he asserted} "and the building most have a. theatre. Tbe bunding should contain the Equit ybusln ess of- fices and also offices for the musicians, stagehands, the playwright's associa- tion, an employment agency, writing rooms,, library, gymnasium, and rest-' aurant." ' "'•; -••-': "' ' .1 -Emerson further stated that" the' theatre sbonkl be built along the linear (Continued on, page 37) ' '" --•- - .