Show World (October 1908)

8 THE SHOW WORLD October 17,1905 BETTER CLASS SMALL TOWN SHOWS SUFFER Many Complaints From Managers Who Count on $300 Upward Per Night, While Those Depending Upon $150 Report Success—Other Notes. The hard times coupled with the inevitable slump in the show business which precedes the election has made it hard sledding for the better class of one night stand productions. Re¬ ports from the different sections of the United States are to the effect that business has been disappointing to those shows which should do from $300 up to show a profit on the end of the week. Strange as it may seem the attraction which can prosper with $150 gross is not feelinig either the hard times or the election and while these attractions are not so numerous as in former years there are quite a number of them in the central and western states and with few exceptions they are prosperous. The smaller one night stand attrac¬ tion is of a great deal more import¬ ance to the amusement world than some people care to admit. Were it not for this class of attractions the towns of ten thousand and less would be forced to depend upon moving pic¬ tures and an occasional repertoire company for their amusement and thousands of actors and actresses who now make Chicago their permanent address would be forced to engage in other lines of work or seek positions with larger companies for which many of them are unfitted. Manager Knows His Public. The manager of half a dozen small one night stand attractions keeps his hand continually on the pulses of the people. He knows that the coast is good for certain attractions and bad for others, that the cotton crop is big in Texas, that the drought hurt Missouri and other states, that the taste of the people has turned at last from the “rube” show to high classed melodramas, western plays and farce or musical comedies. The fact that the taste of the people in the small towns has turned from the “rube” show is astonishing to those who have seen Dave Levis, H. H. Frazee and a dozen others get rich from Uncle Josh Spruceby. Some peo¬ ple claim that it is only a temporary set back for the corn tassel shows and that managers will be glad to book them again next season and the people will turn out for the rube par¬ ade the same as in the past. How¬ ever that may be there is no denying the fact that the public does not want the rube show in the fall of 1908. At this time last year twenty of thirty Uncle JOsh shows and their close rel¬ atives were prospering while now H. H. Frazee has out a single Uncle Josh Perkins and there is not an Un¬ cle Josh Spruceby en tour. Frazee’s Uncle Josh Perkins is on the coast where it is said to be doing a remark¬ able business which might be taken to prove that the local managers were in the wrong in refusing to book “Uncle Josh” shows. The coast show is man¬ aged by Joe Rith and Harry Le Mack is in advance, both of whom seem to know just how to get the money with that class of show. It is said that Dave Levis has been trying to lease the Uncle Josh Spruce¬ by rights all fall but so far without success. Two different parties have decided to take hold, but both got cold feet for some reason. Rowland and Clifford Attractions. Rowland and Clifford, who for sev¬ eral years have been one of the fore¬ most of Chicago producing firms, have two Jane Eyre shows and two com¬ panies presenting Thorns and Orange Blossoms, which will come under the head of one night stand attractions and have a city Jane Eyre and a com¬ pany presenting The Phantom Detec¬ tive which are far more pretentious. William Gaskill is managing the city Jane Eyre and Harry Mack is in ad¬ vance. Fred Walton is managing one of the other companies with Carl Me Vitty in advance while George Gordon manages the other “Jane” with Denny Dougherty in advance. Mr. Clifford says that business is very good with his attractions. Thomas Roe, who has met with suc¬ cess in handling companies for various managers, will put out his own show this season. It will be known as “On the Frontier” and is probably the best thing that Harry Sheldon White has yet turned out. The company is now rehearsing and will open Oct. 22. Mr. Roe will have a comboy band and as an extra attraction Yuma Bill will do lariat throwing on the streets of the cities and towns fortunate enough to be on the route. Benton Opens Office. Pearce R. Benton, who has opened Chicago offices for the first time this fall, has three attractions on the road and has a fourth almost ready for the big Stair and Havlin time. He has two A Cowboy’s Girl companies and one company presenting a dramatiza¬ tion of Marion Hughes’ book “Three Years in Arkansaw.” Benton does not dare send the “Three Years” into Ar¬ kansas, but he plays the neighboring states with splendid financial returns. He believes his new piece will be by far the most pretentious undertaking of his career. San Antonio is the title he has selected for a musical piece which he expects will create a sensa- Fred Raymond, who lives at Syca¬ more, Ill., but hangs out at Chicago much of the time, is on the road him¬ self with the eastern Missouri Girl and Sadie Raymond is playing the title role with the western company which is controlled by Merle H. Nor¬ ton. George Bedee, who has been connected with Raymond for so many years that the count has been lost, is ahead of the eastern Missouri Girl, and Young Fred Raymond is the business manager. Old Arkansaw, which has made money in the past, is leased to Lem Edwards again this C. Jay Smith, who manages Charles B. Marvin’s College theater, always has two or three shows in the prov¬ inces for pastime. This year he has A Pair of Country Kids, which is now in its fourth season and a new show, Sis Perkins, which is doing well. An¬ other play on the same order is Zeke, the Country Boy. Edwin Morris has the eastern company presenting this bill and Park B. Prentiss, leader of the Sells-Floto circus band, will have the western company. The eastern company opened at Elgin, Ill., Sept. 25, and the western company will open Oct. 29 at Dalhart, Texas, where the circus closes Oct. 20. Macauley-Patton Companies. Macauley and Patton have but two shows this season, but they are both big successes and are making good money. Mr. W. B. Patton is appearing in his new play, The Block Head, which is conceded to be by far the best play he has ever written. William Macauley is featured in When We Werd Friends which is a departure. Holland and Filkins have but one minstrel company this season and John J. Holland is personally looking after the advance. The show is styled the "Famous Georgia Minstrels,” and is admitted to be not only a good show but a remarkable money getter. Fred G. Conrad, who is fast becom¬ ing a power in the world of smaller shows, has a big office in the National and has five shows on the road. They are Eugene Moore in My Boy Jack, Monte Christo, The Hidden Hand, A Dangerous Friend and The Two Orphans. E. H. Jones, one of the best known agents in the west, is in Conrad’s office and has charge of the Co-Operative Booking exchange, a new enterprise which claims to have gathered in 350 houses in small towns in the last ten days. It will be work¬ ing by next season. Elmer Walters has one company presenting A Millionaire Tramp and another presenting A Thoroughbred Tramp. Mr. Walters is personally managing the former. Kibble Has Two Shows. William Kibble put out one com¬ pany presenting Stetson’s Uncle Tom, and it did such big business that he opened another company at Hobart, Ind., Oct. 3. It is stated authorita¬ tively that both shows are doing fine. The second company is managed by C. F. Ackerman. James A. Feltz has a western Uncle Tom by some ar¬ rangement with Leon W. Washburn and is also said to be doing well. Feltz has been with John F. Stowe’s tent “Tom” for two summers past and ought to have gotten on to the tricks of handling that kind of a show. Grant Luce, a well known Stetson agent, has leased A1 W. Martin’s Uncle Tom this season and it is reported to be doing uniformly good business. Gus Cohan was so elated with the birth of a daughter about a month ago, that he had a mind to lay off this winter. A second thought deter¬ mined him to follow the lead of the show business in general and “go to the Devil.” Consequently he opened four The Devil companies in less time than it takes to tell it and each one of them is said to be doing a won¬ derful business. G. Harris Eldon, who has been featuring his wife, Bessie Clifton, in The Belle of Japan, is managing one of the companies for Mr. Cohan. He concluded not to go our for himself this season as he de¬ sired to make some changes in the play and Miss Clifton wanted to go to New York and take a course in dancing. In The Belle Miss Clifton was forced to make eleven changes and Eldon wants to change the play so as to keep up the interest and make the work less arduous for Miss Clif- Devils Galore. Speaking of The Devil, Henry W. Savage has four companies, Harrison Grey Fiske has one, Aaron and Whit¬ ney have four, James D. Barton has four, Gus Cohan has four, George D. Barton has one and nearly every “rep” in the country is playing it. Grace Gibney put on a version of it at Kankakee Thursday night which is considered splendid. George Paul is managing her company and this is only one of a dozen instances of his enterprise. W. F. Mann and Will Kilroy have almost graduated from the one night stand class. Mr. Mann had out The Fighting Parson, but it did not do well on the circuit so he has put out a short cast version of the same play to play the one nights. In the mean¬ time he is having the play rewritten for the circuit and it will go out un¬ der the title of Pinky, the Little Pink¬ erton Girl. Kilroy has The Cowboy Girl, The Candy Kid, and Sure Shot Sam, and is said to have had so many remarkably good weeks lately that other managers are inclined to be jealous. Matt Sheely has out the National Opera Company, which is now in Iowa. F. V. Peterson is in advance. The repertoire shows are doing only fairly well. The fair weeks were only “fair” in most instances, and this is discouraging to the manager who ex¬ pects to get a season’s profit out of seven or eight fair dates. Van Dyke and Eaton have been in Southern In¬ diana and Illinois and have given fine satisfaction to good business. Miss Ollie Eaton is managing her own stage this season and the handiwork of an artist is everywhere in evidence. De- pew-Burdette and The Wood Sisters (management of Otto H. Krause) have been in the same section and are do¬ ing well. Hutton Bailey is in Indiana and the Harris-Parkinson in West Virginia to nice returns. S. Burton Keyes has out a shown known as the Keyes Sisters Comedy Company, which is also doing fine in West Vir¬ ginia. The George W. McDonald Stock company is now in Arkansas and busi¬ ness has been alright so far. John B. Rodnour opened a number two Flora Devoss company at Richmond, Ill., Friday night which is conclusive evi¬ dence that he finds the business good in the smaller places.—E. E. MERE¬ DITH. Playing “City” Time. A one-night stand manager writes that he is playing “city time” this season and encloses his route to prove it: Atlantic City, N. J., Mahanoy City, Pa., Oil City, Pa., Monongahela City, Pa., Union City, Ind., Hartford City, Ind., Bay City, Mich., Traverse City, Mich., Reed City, Mich., Michigan City, Ind., Mason City, la., Iowa City, la., Sioux City, la., Ne¬ braska City, Neb., Baker City, Neb., Carson City, Nev., Virginia City, Nev., Silver City, N. M„ Central City, Colo., Junction City, Kan., Kansas City, Mo., Webb City, Mo., Pierce City, Mo., John¬ son City, Tenn., Jefferson City, Mo., Bedford City, Va. Mr. Cheese: How does it come that the magnates who hand out lemons all the year around sojourn on the sun- swept shores of the Southland prior to the opening of the orange season? It is well to keep your expense ac¬ count as low as your friends desire. THOMPSON PREPARES BIG PRODUCTION. Via Wireless. By Paul Armstrong Winchell Smith and the Producer. New York, Oct. 12 _ Frederic Thompson is getting ready 1 “ is getting ready 1 - — - r and sensational melodrama, Via Wireless. The Luna Park Scenic Studios, where all the Thompson productions are made, has been working on the scenery and ef¬ fects for several weeks. The play was written by Paul Armstrong, Winchell Smith and Mr. Thompson in collabora¬ tion, and will be first staged at the National theater, Washington, D. C October 19, coming to the Liberty theater. New York, on Nov. 2. The company selected to present Via Wireless consists of Walter Thomas Maude Granger, Robert McQuade’ Georgia Drew Mendum, Louis Morrell’ Vera McCord, Miss Crosby Little’ Francis McGinn, William Stone, Jo¬ seph Kaufman, J. E. Miltern, Wm. B Mack, Frank Monroe and H. c. Mo¬ lina. Mr. Thompson is enthusiastic over this piece and has practically been living at the Luna Park Studios since the work on its big scenes was com¬ menced. When THE SHOW WORLD representative caught him at his of¬ fice he launched right into the sub¬ ject. Typically American. “Via Wireless is a typical American play that has to do with typical Amer¬ ican people,” said he. “It is a drama of working people of high and low degree who achieve big ends by over¬ coming big obstacles.” Those two sentences fairly express Thompsonian drama. Have you no¬ ticed that there are no delicate social problems in the Thompson conception of the drama; no hot-house society complications; no French risqueness; no Ibsonian horrors? All his ideas tend to illustrate the strenuous Amer¬ ican life; the lives of clean-hearted, clear-headed, strong-bodied men and women. But to the story: “In the personnel of Via Wireless 1 have the millionaire arsenal proprietor who has amassed millions from the construction of great naval guns; his general manager, unscrupulous, but of unquestioned ability, who is willing to stoop to little things in order to fill his own pocket and to gratify his own ambitions. A naval lieutenant, equip¬ ped with an inventive brain, absolute integrity and all the qualifications which make the strong lover and great man; then the good man whose only weakness is his inability to distin¬ guish, at the proper time, between right and wrong. A mother, whose better instincts are overshadowed by an overwhelming social ambition, and a straightforward American girl, who is the embodiment of all that is best in American womanhood. That listens good for the principal characters of the story. “The action of the play involves in a triangular love affair the Naval Lieutenant, the General Manager and the Girl, who is the daughter of the proprietor of the arsenal. I have worked into the play two great scenes, utterly unlike anything I have ever attempted or heard of on the Amer¬ ican stage. The first is a night scene in the arsenal, with blast furnaces, trip hammers and white-hot metal be¬ ing worked by brawny men stripped to the waist and perspiring in the in¬ tense heat. It is a scene lurid with flame and intense with activity. His Masterpiece, Thompson Says. "While I have been credited with doing big things in a scenic way,” con¬ tinued Mr. Thompson, “I feel that this is the biggest thing I ever attempted; at least, I am willing to have it con¬ sidered as the biggest thing I ever tried to put on a stage. I am anxious to learn what the judgment of the public will be. “Another big scene is the final one of the play and represents a Pacific liner rescuing the crew of a steam yacht that has been wrecked on * reef. As a marine scene this has tne vacht scene in Brewster’s Millions beat a block. By a special device we are able to cause the big liner to ton and pitch just as a ship would in “ heavy sea. Then we show the wireies room in the ship and there it is tn» the climax of the play occurs. TW last scene was written by Irving w. Edwards and Edwin Balmer as a one- act play, and has been incorpor^BF® part of Via Wireless.”—HOFF.