Show World (May 1909)

May 1909. THE SHOW WORLD 7 Additions to the Independent Circuit A Bring Made Every Day and All Eyes are Turned Upon New Factor. That William Morris has made himself a strong factor in the field of vaudeville, no well versed person could deny, for the proofs of the con¬ stant expansion of his circuit are so evident that they need no witness. Scarcely a day passes that he does not add a new houseor several houses to his chain. During the past week, Morris closed a deal, through J. C. Matthews, his Chicago representative, by which he will book the houses controlled by ,he Washington Amusement com¬ pany the operators, and builders of the American Music Hall, Seattle, Wash., of which Paul Sternberg is . director and manager. A deal was also closed for the bookings of Luna- | don Louisville, which was built by the’American Lunadon company, of which James L. Glass is general man- I ^As the Morris list of theaters and parks now stands it includes: American Music Hall, Chicago, Ill.; Dominion theater, Winnipeg, Man.; Miles theater, Minneapolis, Minn.; I Empire theater, Grand Forks, N.. D.; Auditorium theater, Crookston, Minn.; | Majestic theater, Rockford, Ill.; Vic¬ toria theater, LaFayette, Ind.; Julian I theater, Chicago, Ill.; Family theater, Clinton, la.; Family theater, Moline, Ill' Lyric theater, Des Moines, la.; Grand theater, St. Paul, Minn.; Bijou theater, Minneapolis, Minn.; Bijou theater, Milwaukee, Wis.; Rhode 1 Opera House, Kenosha, Wis.; Frank- i lyn theater, Chicago, Ill.; Krug thea¬ ter, Omaha, Neb.; American Music Hall, Seattle, Wash. Parks and Luna Domes—Electric Park, Kansas City, Mo.; Idle Hour, Chicopee, Kas.; White City, Dayton, O.; Chester, Cin¬ cinnati, 0.; Luna Dome, Louisville, Ky.; Luna Dome, Memphis, Tenn.; White City, New Orleans, La.; Luna Dome, Indianapolis, Ind.; Forest Park, Little Rock, Ark.; Lyceum theater, Hot Springs, Ark.; Vaudeville theater, Guthrie, Okla. Aborn’s Enormous Business. Newark, N. J., May 1. The Aborn Grand Opera Company opened a spring season of six weeks ■ at the Newark theater on April 26, producing Carmen the first half and Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci the latter half of the week to enor- r mous business. The company plays ,| here until the regular summer sea- I son opens at Olympic park, where ■/! both the Aborn Grand and Comic ; Opera companies alternate in the.giv¬ ing of first-class musical productions. The companies have been appearing at the park for the past four seasons ; and are contracted to appear there tor the next five. In the companies ; : are such artists as Bertha Shalek, ! ; Nedda[Morrison, Aileen Hodgson, !1 Alma Stetzler, Hattie Belle Ladd, 1 Adele Martin, Bertha Davis, Howard 1 Chambers, George Tallman, Charles Phillipps, George Shields, Frederick Chapman, Sol Solomon, Roland Paul, | Harry 'Luckstone, George Gordon 1 i White, Harry Davies, George Cramp- 1 ton and Homer Lind, assisted by a I chorus of 75 and an angmented or- ! chestra.—O’B. Majestic Theater Sold. I Lafayette, Ind., May 6. The Majestic theater, which was opened several years ago by the Co¬ lumbia Amusement Company at La¬ fayette, Ind., with vaudeville, and which later was turned into a mov¬ ing picture house, has been sold to W. F. Richardson, a wood and coal dealer of Lafayette. He will exhibit three films and feature the illustrated song daily. The Columbia Amuse¬ ment Company now controls the Family vaudeville theater and Mana¬ ger David Maurice will devote all his time to the Family bookings.— VANCE. EACH KNOCK A SAYS CARL BOOST LAEMMLE SHUBERT CIRCUIT IS NEARING COMPLETION. J. J. Shubert Reaches Chicago After Six Weeks’ Tour of the West.— General Announcement Forthcoming. Prominent Chicago Exchange Man Grateful for Attack of Eastern Film Paper. THE SHOW WORLD is in receipt of half a dozen requests from moving picture exhibitors, asking that an in¬ terview be se¬ cured with Carl' Laemmle, presi¬ dent of the" Laemmle Film Service, for the purpose of deny¬ ing an article which appeared recently in an Eastern film pa¬ per; a weekly publication de¬ voted to the in¬ terests of li¬ censed films and manufacturers thereof. “But, my dear boy,” said Mr. Laemmle when THE SHOW WORLD reporter stated the case to him, “don’t you know that I* would ever known in the history of moving pictures. It was the grandest ‘pass¬ ing’ that has ever happened to me. “Tell them that I am. guilty of the charge which that periodical makes when it says that I am the man who is responsible for conditions as they now exist in the moving picture busi¬ ness, in Chicago, for example. I am proud of the guilt. If I am the man who broke up the ring of renters in Chicago or anywhere else, thank the Lord that I am to get credit for it. Before I came into the moving pic¬ ture business, the exhibitors were paying absurdly high prices and get¬ ting rotten service. If I put an end to this, then my efforts have not been 111 “Tell them that the paper is simply sore because I don’t give it any of my advertising. True, I advertised in Producing Company I have passed into the greatest era. of prosperity “WHAT I THINK OF THAT MAN MURDOCK.” By Carl Laemmle. It’s a pleasure to talk on the moving picture subject with a man like J. J. Murdock, organizer of the independent film movement. It’s a rattling good thing for the. business as a whole that he has come into it. It’s great to know that he has the same optimistic view of the future of the business as I have. I’ve said a hundred times in my advertisements and in my letters that the moving picture business is still in its infancy; that it is destined for wonderful things. - . ' The other day, Mr. Murdock in the course of a conversation said: “Why, Mr. Laemmle, do you know that the moving picture business at present is absolutely nothing compared with what it will be in five years? That it hasn’t been developed as it will be? That it is enormously rich in possibilities?” That’s what he thinks of the business. And he knows every little detail of, it. Physically he is not a big man. He’s' about my size, and 1 never won any gold medals as an athlete. He never uses flowery language when he talks. He never soars into flights of oratory. No matter how seriously he may be driving home his point, the most exciting gesture he makes is a little flourish of the lead pencil which he always has in his hand This man Murdock who built up the Western Vaudeville Managers Association—this man Murdock who organized the present independent film movement—this man Murdock is a very plain sort of business man. He has none of the magnetism which magazine writers love to talk about in describing big people. He is not a hypnotist. He does not depend on effects. He doesn’t have to have an orchestra accompaniment to charm his hearer. , Then how on earth does he accomplish .the big things that he does? Why, bless your heart—it’s very simple. Murdock is honest. He is sincere. He is plain spoken. He loves his honor. He would rather lose every cent he has than break his word. But is that all? . I should say not. He is a born organizer, a man who has the brains to map out work for other people and then hire the right kind of people to do the work in the right way. ... , , So, I say, it’s good to know, that a man of that caliber has jumped into the moving picture business. He can’t do it-’all alone—this great uplift that must come sooner or later—no, he can’t do it all alone, but he’ll do a mighty lot of it. . He’ll fight for what he wants. But he’ll fight fairly and squarely. That’s what I think of this man Murdock. And if Mr. George Cohan will kindly loan me the American flag for a few moments, I will wave it back arid forth and exclaim as dra¬ matically as I know how: , , r “Murdock is a true type of the best kind of in'—the American!” NOW GOING AFTER. The Shuberts are going after public sentiment. They believe that the pub¬ lic has been in the dark as far as theatrical matters have been con¬ cerned and a press sheet is to be es¬ tablished in Chicago with the title, The Open Door, which will show the Shubert side of the controversy re¬ garding the status of theatrical affairs. Herbert C. Duce, who was made western representative of the Shu¬ berts on Wednesday of this week, will have general charge of the new press sheet, which will go to news¬ papers generally, and Will Reed Dun- roy will be associate editor. It is barely possible that The Open Door will attempt to show that Klaw & Lrlanger is not even a Syndicate— a title which most combinations avoid, but which Klaw & Erlanger gracefully accept. The paper will also show the real power of the Syndicate, if it is one, and will do all in its power to take away the mystery which has clothed theatrical affairs. New Airdome at Cedar Falls. Cedar Falls, Iowa, April 23. C. W. Champlin, of the Lawn City Bill Posting and Distributing Service, is building a new airdome here, which will seat about 800 persons. It will open, according to the present plans, about May 10 and will play dramatic and comic opera stock. This city has been without a the¬ ater for three years. The old Pack¬ ard opera house has been closed for good. It is said that Champlin is in the market for a good repertoire com¬ pany to open his airdome. New Park Theater. Cleveland, May 4. The new theater at Luna Park seats more than 1,000 people and is pro¬ vided with comfortable opera chairs. It has a stage adequate to production of spectacles or comic operas..— YOUNG. Keith House Closed. Cleveland, May 4. Keith’s Hippodrome closed after the performance Saturday night, and the vaudeville shows were transferred to the Prospect house, where they will continue until the Hippodrome opens in September.—YOUNG. Start Off Well. Minneapolis, May 3. Continuous vaudeville and pictures at the big houses for the summer opened up good Sunday. The Bijou showed to about 5,000 during the day, and the Dewey to about 3,000.— BARNES. Vaudeville Player Ill. Milwaukee, Wis., May 2. John Girard, who played here with Grayce Scott in a condensed version of Divorcons at the Majestic, was taken ill with pneumonia and was re¬ moved to a local hospital, where he is still confined. rather have that paper jump on me than praise me? Doesn’t everybody know that it is a trust publication, pure and simple, and that the harder it roasts me, the stronger it will make my standing with independent exhib¬ itors r “Nevertheless,” said the reporter, “we would like to have you make a statement for our readers.” Mr. Laemmle smiled and replied: “Very well; tell this to all my friends who read your paper. “Tell them that that paper unin¬ tentionally hit the nail on the head when it spoke of ‘The Passing of Laemmle,’ for since joining hands with the International Projecting and it for a while, but found that it was a losing game, so I quit. I won’t advertise in any paper that does not bring returns. I won’t be bluffed by any man or set of men on God’s green foot stool, for I have nothing to conceal, nothing to regret, nothing to excuse. “Tell them that my joining the In¬ ternational ranks has accomplished more good for the exhibitors at large than anything that has happened since the Independent'movement was organized; that it was a body blow to the trust and that no one but a man totally ignorant' of film affairs (such as the present editor of the Eastern sheet), could deny it. New Opera House. Kennett, Cal., April 30. Work has been begun upon a new opera house for this place, and it is expected that it will be ready for opening next fall. For Moving Pictures. Cleveland, May 4. The Cleveland closed its regular season Saturday night, and will open Sunday, May 9, with moving picture?. —YOUNG. J. M. Stout arrived in town this week, and will be here some time. John Cort is in the city, stopping at the Annex.