Show World (December 1909)

December 11, 1909. THE SHOW WORLD 9 VAUDEVILLE MUSICAL DRAMA HAS PREMIER I St. Louis Tenor Presents Novel Act With Some Success—News and Notes of the Missouri Metropolis BY BASIL WEBB. ST. LOUIS, Dec. 7.—Alfred Ber¬ trand, the St. Louis tenor, presented last Monday at the Columbia a minia¬ ture musical drama entitled “The Broken Urn,” for the first time on any stage. The book is the work of Alfred Bertrand, while the music was written by A. I. Epstein, of the Beethoven Con¬ servatory in this city. The story which takes place in the Ro¬ man period, deals with love George Dufour, who was 'formerly owner of the largest moving picture theater in Newark, N. J., is now in the city and is at present associated with Frank Talbot. Dufour came to this locality with expectation of buy¬ ing a picture theater in East St. Louis, but the deal fell through and he is now looking around for a suit¬ able location in the city. Eleanor Robson is packing the Gar¬ rick with her new production, “The Dawn of a Tomorrow.” This play has been reviewed more favorably by the local critics than any other new production this season. Manager Fishell says the box office receipts go a long way to proving that the news¬ paper criticisms are read by the play¬ goers. of two sculptors, Petronius and Ur¬ ban, for Celia, a patrician’s daughter, i! Urban, through jealousy, destroys the masterpiece of Petronius, and around | this act the plot is woven. Bertrand plays the role of Petronius and sings finely. Gertrude Richter, W. E. Hal- lett and Virginia Stewart give Ber- j trand excellent support. Manager Frank Tate has given Bertrand every possible opportunity for the success¬ ful presentation of his piece, which on the whole is original and very pleas¬ ing. It is replete with fine music, which at times soars a little bit above the heads of the usual vaudeville pa¬ tron. If Bertrand will only make an effort to popularize his sketch a lit¬ tle he will make an undoubted hit with it. Frank L. Talbot left last Sunday for New York, where he is going to look over the film situation. He ex¬ pects to close a deal with the Euro¬ pean makers whom he will njeet there before he returns to St. Louis. He is also going to hire a stock company to pose for moving picture films man¬ ufactured by the Gem Film Company. He was accompanied by W. H. Mc- Laran. John D. Tippett left for Birming¬ ham, Ala., where he is going to look over the territory with a view to opening a branch office of his Park Film Company. While in this city he will confer with President Hoblit- zel of the Interstate circuit. Before returning to St. Louis Tippett will visit New Orleans. Tony Lubelski was in town the other day. He is traveling east look- i mg for special attractions for his new venture in San Francisco. He is ‘i opening a rathskellar and music hall, which he is calling the Portela. He j stopped off in St. Louis to visit Os¬ car Dane to see if he could not ar¬ range with him for some vaudeville l! novelties. He is going to New York, but hopes to be back on the coast by the first of the year. Mike Shannon, the theatrical mag- nate of Plainsfield, N. J., dropped into town the other day to say how-dy to all his theatrical friends in the city. Mike is taking a little pleasure trip j ?nd states that business is very good J >n his part of the world. Charles (Kid) Lovell is expected to leave the City hospital the latter part of this week. He sustained injuries at the Union depot in this city when running to catch a train. He fell down the steep steps and was severely cut t t}? out the head. This happened on Nov. 21, and Lovell has been at the hospital ever since. Some of the dra¬ matic papers had an erroneous ac¬ count stating that he broke his collar bone, which he did not do. Owing s t! j, f L? everity of the cut on his head - ? he Kid” temporarily lost the sight if VJ ms tight eye and it was only last . Monday that he regained vision in this eye. The doctors at the hospital • f e P°rt that he is doing favorably. He has been associated with Barnum & i Bailey s circus for a good many years. Frank R. Tate is wearing nothing but new clothes nowadays. The other day, feeling that winter was coming . °, n tapidly, he had all his winter clothes sent to a cleaner’s to be . pressed, to be ready for wear. That f night the cleaner’s was broken into, and among others all of Tate’s t clothes were stolen. Manager Dave Russell of the Im¬ perial theater has at last proved the fallacy of the assertion that St. Louis is unable to supnort a stock com¬ pany. Russell has got a very compe¬ tent stock company at his theater and has built up a first-class patronage. And now that he has been success¬ ful all sorts of stock theaters are threatened. Russell will undoubtedly have some dramatic stock company this summer, but he has not made any definite plans at present. Silent Murphy is the new name ap¬ plied to Sam nowadays. He has for¬ saken all his old methods of publicity and is fast sinking into respectable obscurity. The truth of the matter is that since he moved out into the West End that he has altered consid¬ erably and is afraid to do anything original for fear that the neighbors should hear of it and bar him from their pink teas. It is a dreadful truth, but he is having his face “smashaged” and his fingernails “manufactured” every day. He can talk about cami- sols, entresoles, frills and furbelows in quite a society manner. George Auger, the tallest living act¬ or, is making a great hit at the Grand Opera house with his own sketch, en¬ titled “Jack the Giant Killer.” He is assisted by two midgets, who are re¬ markably clever. Dave Muir, the king of snipers, is in the city again. As usual he is as¬ sociated with George Hedges at the Garrick. Dave mav be little, but he makes an awful lot of noise on a Sun¬ day morning after he has finished “burning up the center.” No Sunday Shows. MATTOON, Ill.. Dec. 5.—There were no shows at the Majestic either last Sunday nor this, nor is there likely to be until the legal status of the matter is settled. LIBEL SUIT MAY BE FILED AGAINST REVIEW Shubert Organ May be Called to Account for Publishing Article Concerning Viennese Opera Company There is a threatened libel suit in the air. If it is filed it will be leveled against the New York Review, and the Viennese Opera company will be the plaintiffs. It appears that the Review pub¬ lished an article recently in which it was stated that the Viennese Opera company, now appearing at the new Ziegfeld theater in Chicago in Lehar’s comic opera, “The Mqusetrap Ped¬ dler,” had played the same thing in nickel beer gardens in New York. The article went on to son^e length reciting how the Ziegfelds were offer¬ ing the piece in this city at $1.50 per seat, whereas it has been presented in New York at a nickel for beer and the opera thrown in. John T. Prince, personal represent¬ ative of William K. Ziegfeld, called upon Herbert C. Duce, western rep¬ resentative of the New York Review, and lodged a complaint. Mr. Duce is said to have replied that he had had nothing to do with the article, and suggested that it had been written in New York. Mr. Prince is now taking the matter up with the New York office, and it may be that a libel suit will result. Mr. Prince Denies. Mr. Prince denies that any member of the Viennese Opera company ever appeared in “The Mousetrap Peddler” in any nickel beer garden. “The opera was offered in but two other theaters before it was brought to Chicago,” says Mr. Prince. “These theaters were reputable. The article published in the Review was injurious. I waited upon Mr. Duce and he said he did not write the article in question. I sup¬ pose it was written in New York, and, if it was, I believe I know who did it.” DAN FISHELL CONFERS WITH CHICAGO PARTNER. Comes to Town to Discuss Contracts and Plans for the New Princess Theater Building in St. Louis. Dan Fishell, one of the owners of the new Princess theater in St. Louis, was in the city this week to confer with E. J. Carpenter, the other owner, concerning contracts and plans for the new venture. Mr. Carpenter says the theater will be ready about February 15. The attraction for the opening has not yet been selected. The new house will be one of the handsomest in the Missouri metropolis. BURLESQUE DOES CAPACITY Racine, Wis., Dec. 6.—That Racine, is “Burlesque crazy” was evidenced by the fact that the “Monte Carlo Girls” played here to less than twenty vacant seats. Everything went the limit, in¬ cluding the dance pulled by Mile. Le- Belle, and best of all everybody was satisfied. There has been any num¬ ber of burlesque shows billed here as rich and racy and all have failed to make good, with the exception of the above mentioned. It is now the intention of Manager Nye to put on burlesque at least once a month.— Pramer. Mace Opens Next Week. Fred Mace and a large supporting company, including Hattie DeVon, James Fulton, Clarence Backus, Grace Farnsworth, Anna Bernell, George Tibbitts, and others, will open at Mus¬ kegon, Mich., on Friday night, Dec. 17 in “A Winning Miss.” Hans Flath will be musical director of the show and George White will exploit its in¬ terests as general manager. Al. Nathan will go in advance and Roy Emery will act as president for the or¬ ganization that will be responsible for its road trip. The play has been rewritten by Boyle Woolfolk and Harold Etridge. After playing a series of dates in the central states, Mace and company will work their way to the Pacific coast. Excellent progress is being made in the re¬ hearsals. New Theater Is Opened. ROCHESTER, N. Y„ Dec. 7.—The Temple theater. Rochester’s new vaudeville house, was opened last night. A big crowd attended the opening and a banquet followed the first performance. Among the speak¬ ers were: E. F. Albee, general man¬ ager of the United Booking Offices of America; R. C. Herz, Lula Gla¬ ser s husband, one of tHe profession¬ als. Mr. Moore, the mayor, James M. E. O’Grady, and others were heard.—BECKER. Orpheum in Winnipeg. WINNIPEG, Dec. 7.—The feature of the theatrical sphere this week is the entrance to the city after a long absence of the Orpheum syndicate which has been presenting a big vaudeville bill in the Walker theater all week, the largest bill ever pre¬ sented in this city. The headliner is Mile. Fregolia, who has been a big local success. Nine other acts com¬ plete the bill.—E. F. S. MATHER. Phillips Is Succeeding. Will L. Phillips, the character comedian, reports that his new act is a big hit, and everywhere he has worked since he has used it, he says, it has been one big laugh. Mr. Phil¬ lips opened on the Goudron time Monday, with fourteen weeks to fol¬ low. New Theater for Tacoma. TACOMA, Wash., Dec. 4.—Peter Sandberg, proprietor of the St. Re¬ gis Hotel building, states that he has leased the two lower floors of the building he proposes to erect at 1128 Pacific avenue to an eastern vaude¬ ville firm. It is rumored that the “eastern firm” is William Morris, Inc. Savage Home from Europe. NEW YORK, Dec. 6.—Henry W. Savage has returned from Europe aft¬ er spending two months abroad. While across the pond Mr. Savage en¬ gaged three new offerings, which he will offer in America. Glass Stops Dance. BOSTON, Dec. 6.—An unesthetic stage hand the other evening sprin¬ kled powdered glass on the stage where Isadora Duncan was about to dance with unclad feet. The conse¬ quences were painful but not serious, though the performance was inter- Cress Has a Circuit. Thomas Cress, well known in Chi¬ cago, who recently went to Cadillac, Mich., to take over the theater in that town, has been branching out and has added the Grand at Traverse City and the Ramsdel at Manistee to his little circuit and is playing combinations to good business. Mr. Cress will make his home in Manistee. Caille and Kunsky’s New House. DETROIT, Mich., Dec. 3.—Caille & Kunsky will erect a new theater between Monroe avenue and Cadillac Square, on the site now occupied by a livery stable. It is said the house will be devoted to vaudeville.