Variety (November 1918)

VARIETY 11 m. Itad* Ibik SdliUna PubUahed Weekly by VARHTY, Inc. ma SILTBUAN. PtMld«nt TtaiM fl«aiir« New Tark SUBSCRIPTION AnntuI $6 Foreifa 90 Single Copies, 15 cents V«LLn. Now 10 Tlitt following editorial, on the clos- ing of the theatres in Boston, ap- peared in the Boston Evening Record, Oct. 21: Frequently Mr. ^ Theatretnan- ager bids you to his home with such alluring promises. Very sel- dom his invitations, however, are reported on the editorial page of a newspaper, for tradition says ° that the editorial page shall be sacred to politics, economics, this weighty matter and that weighty matter. But today "we have changed all that," as the master ' comedy maker, Moliere, would say. Our theatres have been closed for ' a few days. How they have been missed! The blessing of the theatre is • direct and indirect. Its direct blessing is that.it provides diver-. sion for many lives that other- wise would have no diversion. Dwellers in big cities are deprived of the social life that comes from living in smaller communities. To thousands and thousands of city dwellers in every great city there is the theatre, the motion picture house, the concert hall, or the flat or room. Neighborhood parties, all the hundred and onS little so- cial affairs that the small town citi- zen has are denied the Londoner, the Roman, the New Yorker, the Bostonian. Mr. Bigcitizen must have the joy of entertainment of- fered to the general public or go hungry. The indirect blessing of the the- atre is that it keeps the public, even that portion which does not frequent theatres, happy and, to a certain extent, prosperous." Bos- ton has been grey of late._ He who has not observed this is indeed dull of sensibilities. Happiness is the most contagious thing in the world, thousands of times more contagious than the influenza. The theatre does so much for the happiness of thou- sands that their general content- ment of mind is as a leaven to the whole mass of municipal so- ciety. In material ways, too, the the- atre adds to the livableness of urban life. Hotel keepers, shop keepers, restaurant keepers—what doleful persons they are when the theatre closes and, the fun taken out of their lives, thousands decide not to frequent hotel, shop or cafe. How they brighten up when they hear Pater Familias is going to a musical show and is in a happy "spendable" mood; how they beam when Mrs. Pater Fa- milias, chortling with glee at the opening of the symphony or re- cital, decides to have some pretty new frocks and lunches in town I We, the great public, are very dependent on you, Mr. Impres- arios, and you, of course, are en- tirely dependent on us. We arc very glad you are to be "at home" to us once more and we hope that The epidemic closing of the theatres will have virtually passed away with ihe-openingof next week. -Haw long it will take for theatricals, to resume their- nor<dal stride again is another que:i- tion. The show business, however, works with rapidity as a rule and in this instance as in others, although nothing to compare with the epidemic has ever hit the profession before, the old and regular trend may be depend- ed upon to quickly attend. The money loss has been incalcul- able. It runs far into the thousands weekly with individual managements. The bright gleam after the darkness is that'reports from those cities open- ing to date have been of huge attend- ance and not as so feared by manag- ers, resulting in. a condition of half emptiness, even for the good shows. With the ban removed the public ap- pears to accept all danger is past-Hk the theatres. • While the money loss has been ter- rific in earnings of players, fixed chai;ges of managers, "dead" money invested and "paper profits," yet the- atricals has erected an everlasting name for itself thi'ough self-support. While managers have called for as- sistan.ce, financially, that was expect- ed, but the calls, in any division of the show business, have not reached the degree anticipated from a long siege of idleness. And the siege has been long though figured in weeks. It came at a bad time for everyone. With the players the morose condi- tion appears to have been most hap- pily met. Those who had provided against the unexpected seem to have been many and they may have helped to an unknown extent those who had not. Managements have willingly loaned when requested, and these loans were advances upon future salary. Ap- peals, as were expected, were made to the theatrical associations, and looked after as best they could be. But the dire privation that would not have been surprising if occurring ap- parently did not happen. No appeal was made to the public, although it could easily be deduced from the tone of editorials in some of the dailies that the newspapers stood ready to aid upon request. The dailies may have expected some such appeal. A couple of Variety's correspondents outside of New York, connected with local papers, wired us stating if the inten- tion of the profession was to invite public subscription during this theatri- cal crisis, their papers and themselves would gladly assume charge of the publicity for it in their respective dis- tricts. Happily, however, and to the credit of the profession, this was not deemed necessary. Such appeals as may have been made to the public through per- sonal solicitation in any one city or more were made without an organized effort. Whether these appeals so made were ill advised may have depended upon the current conditions surround- ing, but they could hardly have been as urgent, since the profession itself as a whole has not been solicited for an emergency fund, something that naturally would have been done be- fore donations were asked of the pub- lic. Those players who accepted em- ployment outside the show ranks, to earn money in their idleness, need never be backward in mentioning it. It was worthy of the moment and set forth a spirit of industriousness that should be made known to the world at large, whose opinion of the people person, now hale and hearty and re- turning to the footlights, £fler noting -the- casualties of the -epidemic-in-4he- profesfiicn,- who -iviU have aBjy - real-. regrets over his or herself or present condition after congratulating, them- selves upon their health. The Y. M. C. A. incident of last week was regrettable since it found its way into the dailies, after representatives of the Y. had attempted to suppress itritt was regrettable mostly for the Y. M. C. A., not the show business. The show business can stand upon its record in this war. The 'Dope Sheet" that contained the "Rules for Actresses" was repudi- ated by the Y, acting under instruc- tions from its head. Dr. Mott. The re- pudiation stated the writer of the ar- ticle in the "Dope Sheet" had left the Y employ after a temporary engage- ment. That was true. The "Dope Sheet, No. 2," was issued through the Y press department last August. The article was as follows: Actresses going from the Cham- pagne district of Broadway to the Champagne district of France need not expect to imbibe th« golden grape with handsome officers, be- cause they must agree before going not to drink or smoke in the pres- ence of officers, or enlisted men; nor to be with them after "Taps." They must obey, for they cannot "walk the ties" back from "over there." As to questionable jokes, the actor is reminded that the front seats are often occupied by the most respected women in France, the Red Cross nurses and the canteen and Y. M. C A. workers. In the statement sent out by the Y anent this "Dope Sheet" item, it was said that the^. M. C. A. has lost no opportunity to praise "the unselfish and devoted service which actors and actresses have rendered," among other things, all urged in the statement to force the conviction that the Y is in sympathy with the members of the profession who are doing so much in France to aid the reputation of the Y as a war worker. But the Y does not state if any specific instructions were ever sent out to its "secretaries" or its workers in France or over here regarding consideration of the pro- fessional. The players don't care so much for Y statements. They under- stand publicity. They are entitled to a little attention when volunteering for free entertainment over there, and if the Y believes it is in sympathy with the players of the profession, let the Y convince the players it is from the heart and not from the typewriter only. Some accounts from abroad would say that up to the last reports, which were recent, the typewriter had it on the heart by several miles. The Over There Theatre League is an auxiliary of the Y. M. C. A., and through that, the profession, did it wish to voice any complaint, would not care to at this time. It wants to do nothing to retard the promotion of volunteer entertainment for our sol- dier boys in France, which might hap- pen, if players, volunteering in the best of spirit and at great personal sacrifice, were of the opinion credit were taken amidst contempt for the cause in- the Y ranks. So the show business will call the scurrilous article a standoff for- the present and a^vait the future, with the after-the-war time the date for a general balancing of accounts. While we are on the subject though atrical engagements that would bring ♦ hem from $200 to $1,500 weekly, to take up-this -war -■\vorkt--jFec<!iving -for- •it-^bat tSi. $2 3aiU'" matfi^ehancieltns*^^^ ance from-the Y. So far we haven't heard of any secretary of the Y. M. C. A. who received less than $2,000 a year. If the Y. M. C. A. is in earnest regarding professionals and esteem them as they should for the great work they have done, abroad and at home, then let the Y inform all its workers that the majority of the women entertaincris who have gone to France were .wives and mothers, the mothers leaving their children at home over here. A word to the Over There Theatre League might drop in handily just now. The operators or directors of. the league appear to believe that it is a private mstitution, without any rights to.be accorded to the players excepting the opportunity to enlist as volunteer entertainers. We might sug- gest to the League and those most im- portant in conducting it that they change their attitude, as the Y changed its attitude toward the show peopte when they saw the cloud. If the the-" atrical people want information from: the league it should be furnished, free- ly, and as requested. There should be no secrecy about the Theatre League, and if there has been, it has been without good reason. Althoiigh—and' the statement is made after it has been forced into show people's minds, of ten—it may be said for the League and also the Y, that both attempted to handle a proposition concerning show people and show oeople themselves without possibly having those in charge who properly understood, either. /_ ■.,.•'.■ .'y:';.:.i.i Some watchful sneak thief is col- lecting overcoats in the Putnam build- ing. Noting the mild weather he has waited until the stenographer visited with other typists and then appro- priated the "Bennies." The victims last week were Meyer North and; Lott Shurr, of the Mandell & Rose office. ■ •■■*. ■:'!:.<; n ■Vv:'- ^^ M m ■UfCf ■■-.;» I M m ■.;i=! During the week Arthur Voegtlin ;i;i informed the management and the au< i #^ thors of "Freedom" at the Centiirj ii| he held a copyright to an allegorical :if;i spectacle entitled "Freedom" under :';r^ the date of June 21, 1917. Mr. Voegt-"*^ lin said that as the performances are 0..< given for charity, he waived his rights.'^^^^i Al Jolson has counted up on the ^s^ racing season, but doesn't state with v^rl exactness just how far the bookmakers y® are behind him. But they are behind. '.// Some say $100,000 back. Al admits to>^.3 a^ California home for his mother and V^ a bunch of Liberty bonds, purchased. ^J for cash. Early in the racing season >;•' Jolson got a streak that nothing..::^, seemed able to stop. He stopped' it ';^ himself when closing at the Winter : ; Garden by going to California for a.. ■ vacation and got so far in the mbun- ;■ i tains a wire couldn't reach him. When • he returned, his "info" came right '.' again, but he ran into a bad break. .'.; If there should bfe a nag left af the post, bumped on the back stretch or -.■ in 9. jam, it was the horse Jolson had..:;.; been steered onto. It was just an-. ■ ; other break, but a pretty bad one. • Though not bad enough to set Jolson far enough rearward to cause his bank •.-; balance to lop over on the wrong side. :; "Runes" wound up the season, run- '. ning as Al's horse, but under another .v. owner's name, after having been given.o:.' Al as a present by Henry Waterson. ■ The Times Square mob went with .. "Runes," who came in third last Fri- day, the closing day of the Metropol- :<;.« .-.xilnn "toin'iLenn 'Th» mnk Irlif.ur":'"*