Variety (September 1918)

BUY BONDS 21 WITH THE MUSIC MEN. Billy Tracy 1b back with the Douglas-New- man Mualo Company. Sid Mitchell Joined the Leo Feist staff. He's a. lyricist. . Jack Mills, professional manager ot Mc- Carthy & Fisher, has an attack of tonsllltla. William Caeser has rejoined the Wltmark ft Sons staff. > . Jesse Felber Is now on the professional staff of McCarthy and Fisher. Walter Douglas Is the new general man- ager of the Douglas-Newman Muslo Company. Ted Snyder has gone away for a short trip to visit some of the branches In the east of the Waterson, Berlin ft Snyder. '/'. Wilt J. Lewis, former manager of the Jos. W. Stern offices, Is now connected with the Wltmark ft Sons' offices. Charles McCarron and Carey Morgan, the song writers, are writing the word* and music for Bessie Clayton's new act Harry Tlerney and Joe McCarthy hay* framed a vaudeville turn. Alf T. Wilton will secure bookings for It. Moe Klee, now on the Loew time, Is going to make Kemlok's "Your Boy and My Boy a Liberty Loan propaganda song In his turn during the Drive. ■ Jack Christmas, singing at the Casino and other places In Asbury Park, has returned to New York and Joined the Wltmark ft Sons' forces. J. Fred Coots Is general manager of the McKlnley Music Co., succeeding Vincent M. Sherwood, who has joined the Navy. Coots is said to be a member of the arm. Bobby Jones Is the new professional man- ager of the A. J. Stasny Muslo Company. He was professlonsl manager of the Boston office of Remlck for the past five years. The latest song writers to go on the stage are Egbert Van Alstyne, Harry Tenny, Lew Brown? J. Kelrn Brennan, Irving Bochner, Con Conrad. __^ Bill Lavar (Howard ft Lavar, musio pub- lishers), is in town after a long tour. Lavar has written a number of hits hlmBelf. and at one time was famed as a great soft-shoe, dancer In vaudeville. In three weeks McCarthy ft Fisher have accumulated on their song writing staff Alfred Bryan, Harry Carroll, Jeff Branen. Jimmie Monaco, Harry Tlerney, Leo Edwards, Billy Baakette and Bobb y Heath . Halsey K. Mohr has not Joined the staff of the Joe Morris Company, although Mr. Morris informed a Variety representative he expected Mr. Mohr to Join. Hohr to date remains with Shapiro, Bernstein ft Co. The departure of Al. Maase, professional manager ot the McKlnley Music Co.. to Camp Jackson, Ga.. has raised two McKlnley men up a niche. Jack Holler Is now professional manager and Frank Paper assistant profes- sional manager, te mporar ily. Bob Roden, the lyricist, formerly the song- wrltlne partner of Theodore Morse, Is now writing for Havlland. His first number for Havlland Is a Red Cross song, with muslo by Peter de Rose. The controversy between George Falrman and Remlck threatens to become a lively affair. Falrman claims the new Remlck Lib- erty Bond song, "For Your Boy and My Boy is an Infringement upon his own number, To Your Boy and My Boy." Leo Feist has entered the musical comedy publishing field by obtaining the publishing rights to the new English musical comedy, "The Maid of the Mountains," now at the Casino. The show has a hit, with muslo by Lieut. GItz-RIce and Fraser-Slmpson. Harry Graham wrote the lyrics. Next week Is "George M. Cohan week" throughout the United States, made so by Wltmark & Sons. He has promised to donate alt the royalty obtained from "When You Come Back" to the boys In the Service. Hun- dreds of theatres have beon supplied with slides and orchestrations of tbe song to ex- ploit It for the week. Salabert, the French music publisher, has purchasod the French right for "When Yankee Doodle Learns to Parlez Voub FranoalB," from A. J. Stasny, the publisher, and will Subllsh a French version of Eddie Nelson's ong"hltv-intraducln« it In Perlsshortly, This is not the first time the French translation of an American song has been Introduced to tbe French public. "Over There", and "Pack Up Your Troubles" were sung in France with great success. Regarding the announcement In last week's paperB by the McCarthy and FlBher manage- ment, saying they had acquired the exclusive services of Horry Carroll, the song writer, Louts Fordan, professional manager of Sha- - plro, Bernstein A Oo„ with whom Carroll has been connected for a number of years, says be knows nothing of such a ohange. While Mr. Carroll never had a written agree- ment with 8. B. & Co., he was looked upon as connected with that firm. Carroll is now doing a single in vaudeville. One of the striking features of the song Industry this season Is the sudden return of the illustrated slide, so popular in-all the film houses five or six years ago. Every large publisher in the city has revived this method ot song publicity. Great numbers ot illus- trated slides have been ordered. Countless new singers have been taken on by the vari- ous houses to "plug" the moving picture houses. In connection with this an entire new industry .has sprung up again, that ot making Illustrated elides. Although in the past few years slides have been made there was no boom In the Held such as the present one. THE AMERICAN ON LEAVE. (Continued from page 9.) a quiet evening, and it can be such if you desire, for there are free movies which do not date back to the time Pathe and Edison were marveling at the pretentiousness of the 500-foot features. >• Then there is the theatre, which has a program of various natures every evening. Certain nights have opera and comedy in French and two nights a week there is vaudeville, also very much French, although a good pqrtion of the turns utter a few words of English. Nevertheless the soldiers flock to the vaudeville shows, which bring forth more uniforms than the other brands of entertainment. The elite of France still cling to Aix as a summer resort, and largely help to support the theatre owing to its greater appeal to the Frenchman than to the American soldier. It must be said here that this is the place where the Over There Theatre League can get in' its best work.' It is known that the men in camp must be entertained, but it is self-evident they want Ameri- can vaudeville when on leave. It is to be hoped. that within the near future it will be possible to have an American unit of the O. T. T. L. in Aix every week. We hear the "Yankee Doodle Five," with Billy Gould, Louise Carlyle, Gilly Gregory and Wright and Dietrich, as well as the Margaret Mayo unit, are already in France. That speaks for itself. The project is started and the boys have heard of their coming, and now it is just a case of wait until they get around to where you are. Some didn't see Elsie Janis. They were unfortunate and missed a lot. They may have better luck this time with the new vaudevillians, who are giving their services and doing work that has a far-reaching effect. These newcomers have been seen by few as yet, but their presence will be welcome where ere they go and their efforts appreciated greater than ever before. The American soldier has been wait- ing a long while for entertainment while in training over here, and after the first taste of it, furnished by Miss Janis, there was a big lapse, but they think that from now on it will come regularly and often. The American artist who is willing to come to France at this season of the year and sacrifice a'route to help entertain the men of the A. E. F. will not be forgotten, and popularity firmly established at a time like this will live forever. The soldier's greatest bene- factor is the person who helps enter- tain him and help take away that feel- ing of lonesomeness, which can only be done by the right kind of diversion. Although "Watchful Waiting" has long passed by the boards in the con- nection , with -which, it- was-first ..,used ■ it typifies the A. E. F. of today as far as entertainment is concerned. Come and visit Aix and entertain the boys who are fortunate enough to be away on leave, also take a swing around the Y. M. C A. circuit. It will be some- thing you won't forget, and the finan- cial sacrifice is trivial compared, to the good it will do. U. B. 0. CAMP BILL. W. J. Sullivan, head of the Canton- ment Department of the U. B. O., has booked a six-act vaudeville bill for a tour of the army camps. Lester and Vincent, Little Jerry, The Parshleys, Corinne Tilton, Miller and Bradford, and Belgium Trio make up the- bill. The show plays Camp Greene, N. C, Sept. 27-29; Camp Sevier, S. C, and Camp Gordon, Ga., will be three-day stand each, . after which Camp Wheeler, Ga., will be played Oct. 6-9. Three-day stands at Camp Hancock, 'Ga., and, Wadsworth, S. C, will con- clude a three weeks' engagement AN M. P. IN FRANCE. ~~ (Continued from page 9.) regulations and also being over here and knowing that the Heinies spy sys- tem is very efficient, I do not intend to lengthen my visit by disclosing in- formation that might be useful to the colleagues and gum shoe men of the self-appointed partner of the Al- mighty. . Nevertheless I guess I can tell you that where I am sitting is a donkey engine, pulling down an observation balloon which has been up nearly all day. The Heinies have . fired at it several times but did not hit it I sleep outs are great things. Every time a in a dugout v u \ my "Buddy." Dug- big gun sends a souvenir over to "Jerry," the aforesaid dugout acclaims its approval by shaking its sides and depositing no small part of its rough sides upon us. I might also tell you that I discovered and disposed of a family of parasites which are called "cooties." They are very friendly, I might say "affectionate" at night, and they stick to you like a friend who is b th hungry and broke. I received fifteen letters in this mail, which is not so bad. All of the other fellows are jealous of me. It is a shame how some of the folks at home neglect their boys at the front. We have a lot of fellows who do not receive any mail at all and believe me I sympathize with them. If the folks back home only realized how much a letter means to a fellow in the fighting front, they would write every day. N Can you imagine some of our fel- lows who have been here nearly a year * have not received one letetr from home or from their friends. I did three hours guard duty last night and drew a prize—from nine to twelve. It started to rain at nine and stopped at twelve. It looked as though the weather man, whoever he is, made up his mind to make it as miserable as possible for me. Last week while doing M. P. duty, my career came very near being ended. I saw something that looked suspicious to me and walked over to investigate and I did not move more* than about twenty yards when a shell exploded just where I had previously been standing. There- fore, if you see my name under "Killed in Action," you will know what "killed in action" means. It will mean that I was running like H . I may be a little stupid, but it doesn't take long to dope out that when a shell bursts, and with a pair of legs that I can depend upon, I can easily get under cover before the second shell bursts, that is provided the second shell docs not burst before I get under coyer. The M. P.'s over here are becoming known as the "Shell dodgers." The M. P. to a certain extent is exposed to fire and consequently he has to be on the jump all the time. There is a ; joke., going, around. Jiece that _.!,..think., I will tell you. "A newspaper correspondent went into the General's office and the M. P. on guard saluted him, the correspond- ent returning the salute. As the corre- spondent left the General's office, the M. P., noticing that he was a newspa- per man and not an officer, spoke thus- ly: "M. P.—'Why did you return my sa- lute?' ^Correspondent—"Why did you sa- lute me?' "M. P.—'Because I thought you were an officer.' "Correspondent—Well I thought you were a soldier.'" Just as I am finishing this letter the Heinies are beginning to shell us. I am writing this in a dugout and oat- side a hundred shells are bursting right now, but very few of them do any great amount of damage. Some day I may "join the Army." Yours as ever, Lewis Mosley. • Company A, 102nd M. P., A. E, F, France. . LETTERS FROM ENTERTAINERS. (Continued from page 9.) tainers can be of tremendous assist- ance to the physicians and nurses in the hospitals, because after her ap- pearance in a hospital all the boys wanted to get right out of bed and go back after the Boche. "I am hard at work," she writes, "singing every night, and love every minute of it. The boys appear to enjoy me as much as I enjoy them, and always say 'Oh, please don't go yet. Have a heart 1 Sing just one more.' And of course I sing until there isn't a note left in my voice. I am going to be down in this section quite a while. Next week I am -to give a recital in the Municipal theatre at and the officers and soldiers of the allied armies. It is the second of a series of Franco-American concerts here. Quite an honor, I am assured. "The people have been so wonderful - and cannot do enough. I sing every- thing for the soldiers; incidentally we get up very lively conversations and they love it. They are so enthusiastic and so human. It is so big and mar- velous that I feel awed, and wish I could stay until the drop of the hat. "I have sung in motor camps, huts. bakeries, hospitals and even at the bedsides of the boys, one at a time, everything from grand opera to 'Tickle Toe.' I even dance a little. Such a spirit. They want to get right out of bed and go back at the Boche, 'We won't go back 'till it's oyer, over here/ is the entire sentiment "Try to persuade a lot more people to come over, especially girls. The day we arrived in -some Amer- icans ran out of a shop crying, 'American girls! Geet those Ameri- can girls look good to us!'" Margaret Mayo says:—"We are in action now for fair, and up where it is worth while being. Our show goes splendidly and it is so good to be really working. Do urge upon the profession the necessity of this work, and tell them of the great joy it brings to the people who are doing it. It is worth all the struggle to get here and see how the boys relax as the show goes on, and how much happier and freer they seem when we leave them. The conditions under which we play vary so much that there's no danger of monotony. For instance, we jumped from a 2,500 audience in the Tuileries Gardens, Paris, to a handful of tired men many miles away working on a barge canal and finishing a temporary platform for us when we arrived.'Our next move was right into the heart of military things, good stage and even footlights, and last night we were in a gas school camp and had refreshments nfterwafds"in v;h*t -looked -lik*.-fu^ iron-clad hogshead." In making public the foregoing let- ters, James Forbes, Chairman of the Program Committee of the Theatre League, repeated his appeal for vol- unteers to go overseas in the uniform pf the Y. M. C. A.