Show World (May 1909)

8 THE SHOW WORLD ACTOR’S WIG AFIRE; ANTOINETTE LE BRUN PANIC IS AVERTED HAS NARROW ESCAPE Austin Gillam, Leading Juvenile With Yankee Doodle Boy Causes Heavy Prop Falls to Stage During Act of Operatic Trio, But Soloist ^ Excitement at Kansas City Theater. Calmly Continues Song. Kansas City, Mo., May 14. Austin Gillam, leading juvenile of the Yankee Doodle Boy Co., which played at the Gilliss theater here this week, had an unusual experience which he is not likely to forget in a hurry, and which came near being the means of creating a fire panic in the Gillam’s hands had just been tied behind him by the villain and he was left alone on the stage. A candle was burning upon a table and as Gillam, supposed to be exhausted, fell across this table his wig caught fire from the candle. Yells 'of horror from the audience were the first warnings that Gillam had that anything had gone wrong; then he smelled smoke and a stage hand called that his wig was afire. He immediately tried to free his hands, but failing in this, rushed into the wings where a pail of water quickly put the fire out. Meanwhile the audience had be¬ come stirred; men and women got up from their seats and the scene needed but the cry of fire to turn the audi¬ torium into a genuine panic. The house ushers and special policemen rushed quickly down the aisles and soon had the patrons quieted. Much praise is due the attaches for their coolness. The show proceeded to the end and Gillam seemed none the worse for his odd experience, excepting, of course, the cost of a wig. Norfolk, Va., May 14. Antoinette Le Brun, a member of the Le Brun Operatic Trio, displayed rare presence of mind during a trying moment of her engagement at the Colonial theater, when, during the course of her act a heavy metallic moon box used by Texas Guinan in her Harvest Moon song, fell from the flies, and, striking Miss Le B run’s shoulder, glanced off and fell in pieces at her feet. Had it not been that she stepped forward during the course of her solo, just before the box fell, she would undoubtedly have been killed. The orchestra had ceased! its ac¬ companiment for the moment, and [ this made the accident more exciting Miss Le Brun, however, did not cease her song, but continued to the end. When the audience realized what had occurred, it burst into tumultuous ap- plause and Miss Le Brun was re- warded for her coolness by repeated encores. Miss Le Brun afterwards remarked that it was the nearest point to death i that she had ever experience and f many of the audience agreed that it | was sufficiently dramatic to' satisfy ; them.—S, R. H. WILLIAM MORRIS GETS PHILADELPHIA HOUSE Vaudeville to Be Seen at Eleventh Street Theater Where Minstrels Ruled for Years. enlarged so as to give a seating ca- CASE IS DISMISSED AGAINST BAND LEADER. Winnipeg, Man., May 17. Hon. T. Mayne Daly, police magis¬ trate, gave the closed Sunday agita¬ tors a severe blow in a court case, in which S. L. Barrowclough, leader of the Winnipeg City Band, was charged with having violated the Lord’s day observance act by giving Sunday evening concerts in the Walker the¬ ater. The action of the court was looked forward to by a great number of people with extreme interest and the public sympathy is in favor of the concerts. The magistrate dismissed the case and in doing so, said: “I consider these concerts the most bene¬ ficial thing of the kind in the city, and will dismiss this action.” It was pointed out that about $1,000 had been taken in through the collec¬ tion at the door of the theater.— MATHER. Shuberts Include Omaha. Omaha, Neb., May 14. The Shuberts have extended their chain of theaters to Omaha, having signed up with Manager Johnson of the Burwood yesterday to play inde¬ pendent attractions at this theater next year. Johnson has a three year lease on the Burwood. His contract with the Shuberts runs for one year. Omaha has not seen many of the independent stars for the reason that no theater, outside of the Burwood, was open to them, and the Burwood only on few occasions as a stock company has held the boards here for the past four or five years. This will leave Omaha without a stock company, except for the summer rnonths when the Woodward stock from Kansas City comes here at the Boyd.—SMYTH. Shuberts Get Auditorium. Webster City, Iowa, May 19. The Shuberts have rented the Audi¬ torium in Des Moines, paying $4,000 or $800 more than was paid by Man¬ ager Foster of the Grand and Fos¬ ter’s who formerly also had the Audi¬ torium. All three theaters formerly played only Klaw & Erlanger attrac¬ tions. Herbert Duce, who signed the lease for the Shuberts, states that sixty attractions will be dated in the Auditorium the coming season and Des Moines is looking for some merry competition in things theatri¬ cal.—TUCKER. Manager Kirby Transferred. Norfolk, Va., May 15. William T. Kirby, who has managed the Colonial for the past two years has been temporarily transferred to Savannah, Ga., where he opened the new Wilmer and Vincent Orpheum. Frank D. Hill, formerly employed by Wilmer and Vincent at Reading house has been put in Kirby’s place for the time being 1 .—S. R. H. Philadelphia, Pa., May 18. William Morris will have a Phila¬ delphia house. That is the talk in amusement circles now. The house was secured through Felix Isman and is the Eleventh street opera house where Dumont’s Minstrels held forth for so many years. According to reports no change will be made in the theater at present, but before the opening of the fall season the place will be rebuilt and pacity of at least 1,600. Morris has been trying to get into this city for some time. He made an attempt to do so months ago by put¬ ting vaudeville into Forepaugh’s, but the venture failed. The abandonment of the Eleventh Street opera house by the minstrels gave Morris the opportunity he de¬ sired and Isman closed the deal whereby the house passes into his control. Morris will open the house before the first of June. REINA BELASCO TO WED MORRIS GEST ON JUNE 1. New York, May 19. Mr. and Mrs. David Belasco have announced the approaching marriage 1 of their eldest daughter, Reina, to j Morris Gest, who for the ’last six [ years has been foreign representative of Oscar and William Hammerstein. The wedding will take place at ' Sherry’s on June 1? Following the ceremony the bridal 1 pair will remain a few days in this i city and then go to Paris to visit Mr. j Gest’s family. They will return to New York in the autumn. ■ In addition to his connection with the Hammersteins, Mr. Gest is a member of the firm- of Comstock & Gest, theatrical managers. He met Miss Belasco for the first'time in September two years ago. The en¬ gagement was made last autumn while Mr. Gest was visiting the Belascos in San Francisco. Ushers Go On Strike. Winnipeg, Man., May 15. A new labor trouble was put on record here the other night when two dozen ushers in the Walker the¬ ater quit their jobs because they couldn’t get more money, j At the time it was the cause of an upset in the house and the patrons had to do their best to find their own seats, but the strike didn’t last long enough to ! seriously inconvenience the house. All the boys have applied for rein- i statement with the exception of three—MATHER. Young Girl Runs Away. Hazel Jacobson, an Ottawa, 111-, girl, ran awav from home one day last week and the first news her parents J had of her was that she had joined a i theatrical company then playing at | Sandusky. Her letter was very brief and informed her folks that the com¬ pany would go direct to New York. The young lady first caught the stage fever when she recently appeared in a series of posings at a moving picture I Improvements at Omaha. Omaha, Neb., May 15. Improvements have commenced on the Orpheum theater which will g>« the house an additional 300 or 400 seats. The main floor will be extended back about ten feet and four rows ot seats placed. Complete re-decorating will be done all over the house.. Many needed modern conveniences and improvements will greet the pat" | nms next year.—SMYTH. Minnie Milne “Home.” Oswego, N. Y., May 1" Minnie Milne, who played the part of Hazy, in Mrs. Wiggs of the Cab¬ bage Patch the past season, is home to spend the summer at her residence here. Miss Milne’s plans for the com¬ ing season have not as yet been ar¬ ranged.—DODGE. THIS WEEK’S NEWS THIS WEEK! THE SHOW WORLD is the only amusement weekly, covering the entire field of entertainment, which presents the news of the week in which it is published. 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