The billboard (Dec 1911)

December 16,1911. f The Billboard 17 FOREIGN AMUSEMENT NEWS LONDON NEWS LETTER Theatrical Season, Dull at Present Time, Promises to Be Un- usually Active Soon—More Talk of the Formation of a Variety Theatre Trust With do new productions due for another fortnight or so things are rather dull In theatrical London Just .now,, so much so that one of the newspapers has actually discovered a "theatrical slump" and points' gloomily to the number .of withdrawals coming within a few daya Sow I claim to be as closely In touch with the London stage as my gloomy colleague, and I will say at once that I have failed to dis- cover any such slump. It is true that several Dials have been withdrawn and that more withdrawals are pending, but there arc ex- cellent reasons in each.case. . Romeo and Juliet has. been withdrawn from the New Theatre because It has served Its turn and Fred Terry wants the theatre for his: next production—further.. one does not espeot a Shasespcrean revival to run for ever. > The Great Young -Man at the Klnsway has terminated rather abruptly It Is true, but that la because it was never a "great young play." Lady Win- dermere's Fan. which finishes at the St. James's next week was only a stop-gap and Sir George Alexander now wants his theatre for his pro- duction of Bells Donna, while The Chocolate Soldier, which flnishesat the Lyric December 9, has had a run of—well, I can't say how long, off band, but certainly well over a" year, so that it can hardly be described as a'failure Added to which the Lyric needs redecorating before Michael Faraday opens December 30, with Gladys Unser's new version of Strauss'». opera Die Flcdemrans. now called The Night Birds. So one can go through my gloomy colleague's list, and the alleged slump disappears altogether. There is a natural dullness for the time of the year, with everybody preparing Christmas pro- ductions, but the theatres and halls are doing Tery well. Speaking of the Lyric,. I must mention that Miss l?nger has dealt somewhat freely with Srrauss's original libretto and the lyrics have been adapted to modern requirements by Arthur Anderson. Miss Constance Drever and 'C. H. Workman will take the principal "parts and new additions to the Lyric caste will be A. S. Banco nh and Miss Muriel George. Miss George la at present one of the best members of the merry troupe of Follies, but now that London is to lose them—Peillssier'e tenancy of the Apol- lo ends just after Christmas—she will be all ths'tnore welcome at the Lyric. _ Ots : for Pellssler and Co.. they have a long provincial tour before • them.- and it is to be hoped that the departure of Miss George does not foreshadow the breaking up of the company, which $a*£already lost one of Its brightest stars by thetaaxriage of -Miss Gwennie Mars. A few years -ago' wben the Follies came Into the .lime- light, on the variety stage, the idea of such a small company taking a West -SftoV theatre seemed ridiculous, but Pellssler's Inspiration turned up trumps and London will hardly know what to do without them. "The Chief Folly" however has promised to return anon, so we must posses our souls In patience and chuckle over memories of "Pellssler's Potted Plays:" One bit of excitement we hare had thiB week, and that Is the reappearance of that terrible person—the Censor—and what is more.' the Censor In nls most objectionable form. inter, ferlng with productions that have long been established in the public favor. ; Mr. Bedford— I Presume that the Lord Chamberlain's Examiner of riays 4s personally responsible tor the edict— Has insisting on the battling scene being cut out of Oscar Asdic's Kismet at the Garrlck. ' - Anything so Indefensible can hardly be. Im- agined for Kismet has been running since the beginning of April—over 230 performances In all—and nobody ever suggested that there was ; anytblng objectionable in the scene. It is the swimming bath scene where a Young girl enters f» v fred by a cloak and Just before she dives m the cloak ls dropped and for a second, under the moonlight, there to an apparently nude little pgnre. The swimmer, who Is of course clothed In fleshings. Is a little unformed slip of a girl and it Is ridiculous to suggest that the incident isaaythlng but an artistic side effect to an ex- tremely artistic scene. King. George and Queen n r *I ■ wcre "«nnng the earliest visitors to the uarrlck, and they came again, bringing the of Wales with ttrem, and Incidentally all English society and foreign royalties. _ I_am not suggesting that royalties are better JnuKis of morality *h»n other less exalted folks. "" there 1s a certain .Court standard and "Jibing the least bit "outre" or suggestive is P*" -0 "- if only for form's sake. The official intimation that the scene was "objectionable" aid not any where the complaint came from, and the Lord Chamberlain, in a personal letter, adroit ted that he had seen the play and had nouceil nothing worthy of complaint, but the Scomplaint had hern m«de and he was com- «ed to request, an alteration.. Oscar A scire d. of course, no a 1 tentative but to censor the scene, and the eirl now wears more draperies. too alteration turns an artistic effect Into some- """tcschlng the ridiculous, for it Is likely that young ladles of the harem do their swimming fitHv clothed. One won- ders whether the- Rev. F. B. Meyer bad any- tnintr to do with it. As I mentioned last week ne nas started a purity crusade and there are a great many treonle •wito- have out it up to'him. once more there is talk of the . approaching formation of a huge varletr theatre trust, and l nm assured nr, knowldgnble - pehple that a r#n.-wnl or the Moss' anil Stol'- alliance Is alijiost wrtnln sooner- or later." When Oswald Stoll setered i,u connection with Sir Edward Moss, he »»<l only eight theatres, but he him launched out In so mnnv different'directions that tie has tion Wovma hl » former commanding post- ""cent combination with Walter Gibbons has olnced -him m- a position In which he has wcome „ ^.rjong rfral to ;hIs former partner. I?;'. V 10 "'ruci'le that is going on today In the jarierr tms'n-ss by expansion, renders an ex- tension of the Stoll-Glbbons alliance, which will Include the Moss theatres and perhaps the Syndicate Sails, run by Harry Tozer and Joseph Davis, extremely likely. - " Variety artists will not need telling how Im- portant such a combination would be, for It would mean the institution of a variety theatre trust with a capital of over (15,000.000. which would control not only most of the leading Lon- don and suburban halls, but also about seventy of the biggest houses In the provinces. There are four groups controlling the chief London and provincial variety theatres at present: the Moss group, the. Stoll-Glbbons group, the Syndi- AUSTR ALIAN L ETTER Several New Theatres Proposed for Sydney—Chain of Rinks Contemplated for Australia, the First of Which Will Be Built in Sydney Sydney, October 23, 1911 To the Editor of The Billboard: Things In the theatrical line are at high-water mark.here at the present time, and bid fair to remain so for some time to come. There are several new .theatres to be erected in this city, and there are many new amusement projects In the air. Some , of them will mean the expendi- ture of many thousands of dollars, and will be of great architectural beauty to this rapidly- growing city. • Madame Melba Is here producing grand op- MLLE. GENIAT, One of the Comedie Prancaise stars. cate Halls, mentioned above, and the Variety Theatres Controlling Co. run by Alfred Butt of the Palace and Walter do Frece. With, the increased competition and the growth of Star artistes' salaries, all these eon- cerna are "feeling the draught," to use a Cock- ney expression, and a combination of the first two groups would either draw in the Toxer- Davls or Butt-de Frece group, and Incidentally one Would almost Inevitably follow the other, ot else it wou<d drive the Syndicate Halls into the arms of Butt and de Frece. It Is significant that negotiations for a booking arrangement be- tween the Moss group and the Variety Theatres Controlling Co. are in a forward state, and It Is by no means unlikely that a reunion of the Moss and Stoll groups will draw in Butt and de Frece eventually. The interests Involved are to big that It may be some little time be- fore all the corners are rounded off. but I am assured that,not only Is the combine a certainty eventually, but that Oswald Stoll will be the presiding genius. The termination of the agreement, or truce, between the' theatrical managers and the variety people on the much discussed "sketch" ques- tion, had its sequel at this week's London County Council licensing sessions..when Oswald Stoll and others applied;for "stage play" licenses for sev- eral suburban theatres. Under the agreement variety theatre sketches were limited to twenty minutes and there were restrictions as to the (Continued on page S3.) era on a most elaborate scale, and she is now In the last five ntghts of her eight weeks' sea- son. She has received a perfect ovation at ev- ery performance that she has sung In. aud tak- ing the season as a whole. I think that she will have no cause to regret the time and the trou- ble that she has devoted to getting together- such an expensive company as she brought out with her. She has produced ten operas during her stay here, and It would be bard to say which has been received with the most favor. It Is much to be regretted that she did not pro- duce II Trovatore, and let some of the others slip, but what we hare lost will be Melbourne's gain, and as Melbourne seems to think that she .is the Boston of Australia, perhaps it was as well that she left it for them, for they are sure a music-loving people. Sydney will take a lot of beating In that respect as well. - Messrs. Clarke & Maynell have united forces with 3i C. Williamson, and the name of the firm remains the! same. J. C. Williamson, Lim- ited, with Mr. Hugh J. Ward the managing di- rector In this city; and Mr. George Tallls in Melbourne. I • understand that Sir Rupert Clarke. Bart.; Is the representative of his firm's Interests on the board. The Speckeled Band gave place, to The Silver King for a two weeks' season at the Royal, and what Is to follow that, so far I hare had no Information on that point. Business Is good at both theatres, and the same remark will apply to all the theatres in this city. Mr. Allen Hamilton is sow occupying the Palace Theatre with Messrs. l'limmer & Den- nlston's Co. in Nobody's Daughter. The season . has been A-l. and business has been of the best. I can speak from personal experience, taking the company all round, it Is one of the best that ever stepped before the footlights to amuse a Sydney audience. 'I' do not think that there will be any need to change the bill, and that the present production will see the season through. Miss Maggie Moore (Mrs. H. B. Roberts) opened at the Criterion on October 21 before a packed house. She has a part that she can just revel in. There -Is but one Maggie Moore, and while she. has gone into a decline (?) she keeps Just as full of life and vivacity as she did in the seventies, and she" is Still about as firm a favorite as she was then, although her avoirdupois Is about four times what it was when she need* to play Lizzie Stofel to Mr. J. C. Williamson's John Stofel in Struck Oil. To bare seen her playing golf on the stage would have made any old statue come down off Its pedestal and hare a real good laugh, and as Maggie fairly revels In Irish characters, she has one that she Just let herself go in. The play is an Australian one. written by Togo Taylor and the late T. E. Spencer, and the title is Mrs. MacSweeney, with Maggie In the title role. Miss Maggie Moore is an American and is well known and loved by many, many Americans, bnt she has been ont here many years, and she is simply looked upon by the Australians as their very own. Maggie wishes to pay her kindest re- gards to all old friends in the land of Old Glory, and to Pete Baker, Tommy Farrea and hosts of others she sends her best wishes, and says come over and see Mrs. MacSweeney's Twins. Good luck to dear old Maggie Moore. I lift my glass to you. and may yon live long and prosper. Miss Ethel Irving's season has been such, a round of successes that I am informed that she will return to the Criterion Theatre at Christmas The Crystal Palace is fast assuming shape and Bud Atkinson. ■ managing director, and Charles W. Williams, treasurer, are looking forward to the time when they can be getting things in line. As most of the people on this as well as the other side of the water, hare got the Idea Into their heads that this is one of the J. D. Williams enterprises. I wish to state that It Is not connected with that com- pany, only In so far that Mr. J. D. Williams '4.os-us some shares In the same, bnt he is not. even on the directorate. . -1 Mr. Bnd Atkinson Is the head 'nun. of this-!, company, with Mr. Williams ' 3Chaa.. w.) th« ' treasurer, and while right under the nose so' to speak, and in the same block, they are to- tally separate and distinct companies. This company has a pald-np capital of 3250.000 and will no doubt In a very short time Increase it. as they have' bought extra land In connection with this property, and they now have an opening onto another street. Mr. James C. Bendrodt sails by to-day's steamer tor the United States, and I have no - donbt bat what he will soon be back in time to see all of the details carried oat of the swell new rink' that they are opening on one of tbe side streets "in this city (Yurong Street. - Hyde Park). . This will be .the awe 11 eat rink in the Southern Hemisphere. The name of tbe rink will be The, Imperial. : The rink floor will be 245x100 feet end the building win be, all told. 425 feet in length, and the space not usrd for skating nnrposes will be used for ad- ministration purposes. Large cloak, and lounge rooms, large grill room, press room, snd all the most up-to-the-minute decorations. Mirrors and palms to be the principal line In this respect, sites having been obtained, in Melbourne, Bris- bane and Adelaide. This company with gold by the barrel, Is going "to build, line rinks In each of these cities, and when they do other rink pro- prietors had better get a more on them, if they want to get in any kind of line with this go- ahead firm and company. ' Mr.. Bendrodt. while only a young man, so to speak, has got his young head screwed on right, and will make bis pile before he has cut many more notches In the stick of time: and then I predict a very bril- liant career for him. as he Is one of tbe most popular men that has ever taken in band a rink on this side of the water. No donbt Mr. Bendrodt Is after extra flooring for the new extensions that the company are making to the Imperial Rink now In course or erection. The whole of this big rink system will be operated from Sydney, with Mr. Ben- drodt as tbe bead manager. Mr. Irving, his late partner, will have charge of the floor In the Imperial. West's P'ctures, Limited, have Just produced one of -the best photoplays that I have ever seen screened, and Mr. W. S. Percy won the prise of $125 offered for the heat scenario submitted for a abort film. The title Is All for Gold.' and should It be submitted to the public, of -the States, should have pot only a fine/reception for its . artistic work, but it will gtve the people a One idea of what the scenery in this part of tbe world ts like, as it shows not only street scenes in Sydney, but It also shows the. har- bor, one of. If not the, finest, harbor in the world. It also shows a race for mites, between an express train and a motor car. to beat :the villain of the play, and there Is not the Mast thing Imnrobable in the whole thread of tbe story. Its length <s about four thousand feet, and holds the spectators from start to finish. The company and all connected with them are to be congratulated on their first prodn tlnn. Messrs. Weal's New Olvmpla will now soon be opened to the public snd will be absolutely tbe finest theatre under southern skies. (Continued on page 53.)