The New York Clipper (December 1914)

XXII THE NEW YORK CLIPPER. December la HASSAN BEN ALI ARABS CO. wo NEW YORK OFFICE H9W.43dSt.,N.Y.C Tel. 6933 Bryant and Luna Villa, Coney Island UNEXCELLED TROUPE8 OF ARAB ENTERTAINERS IN ANY NUMBER CAN BE SUPPLIED AT ANYTIME --ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD Hassan Ben Ali Arabs HAVE NO PARTICULAR BOOKING AGENTS ALL MANAGERS AND AGENTS HAVE A CHANCE TO BOOK SAME HASSAN BEN 119 W. 43d St., ■ ALI CO. (Inc.) New York City IHE PHILIPPINE CAMIVAL AND THE THEATRICAL SITUATION IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. Ill WALLACB W. T1IUE. Tlio Carnival, conducted annually nt Ma- cilia, was, 1 think, started about 1U0R since wlilrb time It has been ttic big yearly feature In the lives of tbe residents of tUe islands. It Is conducted under tbe auspices and management of tbe olllcers and Board of Directors of tbo Manila Carnival Associa- tion, a corporation composed of the business mid professional men of the Islands, and In- cluding many army and unvy otUcors. The Director Ucncral for tlic years 11U1, 10K and lPia, tbo years concerning which toe writer has knowledge, was the Director of the liurean of Posts, Mr. Cotterwan, and Mr. Stewart, the Director of 1'rlsous. The Carnival lias usually been financed by a governmental loan, niiide to the Carnival Association, and wblcli lina always been re- paid out of tbo first money taken In. Tbo Carnival bos never mode any great amount of money, duo to expense of construction being so high, this because of the fact that no tents aro used. In 11)12, In which year the most preten- tious carnival wus held, the Uovernuient ap- propriated the Bum of 250,000-p, or $125,000 for« tbo Philippine exposition .is It was called to bo held In conjunction with and under'the control of the Uovemraont and the Carnival Association. Tbo entire amount was spent on the construct Ion of buildings mid on the transportation to and from Manila of the exhibits of the various provinces. .Matli province had Its exhibit space allotted It along the lougtby Court of Honor and tbo expense of the collection and mulutalnance of tlic exhibit, except transportation, was borno by the province. In addition to each provincial exhibit each department of the Government had Us own building, In which wero displayed the manufactures for widen It was responsible or specimens of material or products over which It hnd control. The departments represented were, Education, 1'ubllc WorkB, Navigation, Interior and Po- lice, Post Ottlce, Customs nud Internal Uovr- tine. Still another building was devoted to tlio exhibits of the principal business firms of the islands and was n sort of couiblnatloa Machinery and Liberal Arts building. The buildings of the Imposition verb, solidly constructed for temporary structures, consisting of heavy wooden frames covered with suulc and roofed Willi nlpa. Uunle Is a uialtliig made by splitting Ibu leaf of the palm tree and braiding the 11 lire Into n coarse ir.nt. Nlpa is the uuinatted liber of the pulin split nnd tied Into bundles and laid In such a manner BB to be Impervious to water. The Exposition Itself adjoined the Car- nival grounds, for while the Exposition was free an admission was charged to the Car- nival grounds. The grounds themselves arc located on Wallace Field, Just opposite the celebrated l.uncta. nnd consist of approximately eleven acres. This space is fenced In with smile to a height of about twelve feet. In 1011! the Far Eastern Olympic games wero conducted In connection with the Car- nival, and a quarter mile cinder track an I grandstand were constructed on one side of the main entrance, and n baseball diamond and grandstand on the other. It might be of Interest bore to state that in the Olympic games, to which Chinese, Japanese nnd Filipinos nlonc were eligible, •ho Japanese athletes hnd Utile difficulty In demonstrating their superiority In every event In which they entered men, their bas-.*- ball i on in winning tbe Olympic champion- ship, nnd defeating every team in the open meet whlcb followed, Including the best Fili- pino and American teams In tbe Islands, meeting only one defeat, and at tbe bands of n picked team of Americans. The main midway began Just beyond these two stadiums, and in 191. consisted of a big three-sbreast Jumping horse carry-us-all, Samar TwlnB. Phsroah's Daughter, a Span- ish dancing girl show, petrified giant, mirror- maze, two dance halls, a plant show, a crazy bouse, another small gfrl show and Col. Klills' Circus. The concessions consists! of several hoop- las, a knife rack, two shooting galleries, a photo gallery, juice Joints, end grease In abundance, a big restaurant, and a still bigger beer garden. It Is useless, however, for an American concessionaire to expect to get by there, as the Jump Is too big for tbe money to be obtained, and again there Is the difficulty of speaking the language. In spite of the boasted school system of the Islands (some say because of It)' a man must be able to talk at least three languages, nnd 1n some parts of tbe lslanls four In order to be sure that be is understood by his entire audience. Most of the shows were owned and con- trolled by the Carnival Association, and were under tbe management of Fred Glass, who will be remembered by many In tbe States as a very fine artist who went to Japan a number of years ago and built the celebrated Windy City at Toklo, which was such au awful failure. Mr. Glass has been in Manila since 1011, nnd has built tbe amusement street for all carnivals since that time. The free attractions engaged for the Car- nival are, of course, all dumb acts, the more spectacular tbo better. Tbe natives go wild over high wire acts and acts of similar char- acter. The past three or four years Captain Baldwin bas been furnishing aviators for the Carnival, out I believe that the aeroplane as a sight feature and free attraction Is about done in Manila, due to the fact that the Army has an aviation centre Just outBlde the city at Port McKlnley, and it Is not at all an uncommon occurrence to see the men from the fort In tbe air at nil hours of the day and evening. The admission to tlio Carnival Is twenty cents, Philippine currency, or ten cents sol I, except to members of the Carnival Associa- tion, who are admitted free to all attractions of the Carnival. Membership in the Associa- tion can be purchased by anyone for the sum of J10, which Is the price of one share of stock This membership admits tbe bearer and one other person to tbo grounds and attractions, including the four big balls wMch ore the feature of the Carnival. These balls nrc held In a large temporary amphitheatre. The first Is held on Saturday night, openlug the Carnival, and Is called the Coronal Ion Ilnll, at which the Queen Is crowned. Then ou Tuesday night comes the l-'lliplno Hall, at which tbe native Queen Is crowned, then the All-Nations Ball, on Fri- day night, and the big American Ball, which brings tlie Carnival to a close on Saturday night. Admission to these balls vary In price from fifty cents gold on Filipino nlgat, to $2,150 for the Queen's Ball and the Ameri- can llnl*. Dancers are required to mask, nnd ninny beautiful and costly presents ore awarded for the various classes of costume*. All concessions, Including tbe sale of con- fetti and liquor and of Midway space, ore sold to the highest bidders about three weeks before construction Is started on the grounds. A certified check for a certain proportion of the amount bid must accompany each bid. This Is fcrfeltcd If bid Is accepted and con- tractor docs not fulfill bis contract. An Idea ninv be obtained of the magnitude of the ialo of malt liquors during the week or ten days of the Carnival when I tell von that the ex- clusive liquor privilege In 1012 brought 0,005 pesos, or ♦4,007.60. Confetti has the next largest sale, this concession being usually retained by the Association, tbe contractor In 1012 being re- quired to furnish nine thousand kilos of tbe stuff, which was retailed to tbe revelers at llfty cents, gold, per kilo. No person was al- lowed to bring more than a kilo on the grounds, whlcb, of course, stimulated tbe inside sale. Tbe best patronized attractions were tbe carry-us-all, the Samar Twins and the dance halls, one of whlcb was for natives and one for whites, tbe dancing girls In both being Filipinos, who receive a percentage of tbe money received for each dance. Dance tickets cost ten cents, gold. I noticed in The Clippeu some time ago an advertisement for free acts for the 1015 carnival. 1 have only one word to say In regard to this, and that is this, unless you speak Spanish and one or more of tbe native dialects In addition to English, I would ad- vise any one with other than a dumb act to stay away from the Islands. Remember there Is almost six thousand miles of deep and briny sea between tbe Philippines and the United States, all of which makes a long walk, and a mighty wet swim. The Carnival Is similar in many respecis lo the Mardl Gras of New Orleans and Mo- bile in regard to parades and other sight fea- tures. 1 lie Carnival Is opened with a big parade of floats, all business bouses and clubs, to- gether with the government departments, being represented. Another feature Is the flower parade lor autos and the big military parade, whlcb Is usually held about the middle of the week, and serves to stimulate sllgiitly Jaded Interest as It Is usually fol- lowed by a military tournament. Most of tbe money spent on shows and concessions comes from tbe American and foreign born population, which at Carnival time numbers, with the Army and N'avv, about fifteen or twenty thousand, as by the time Mr, Average Filipino bas purchased hU codtnno. pale*, his admission, bought his kilo (approximately two pounds) of confetti, and had a dance and a ride on the swing, he Is rondv to go- home, broke but happy. Mis stipend is usually about $15 to (25 per mouth, so you can see he has had all the fun he can afford. The Philippines and the adjacent territory in China and Japan offer an excellent field for American showmen at all times, and Manila Is particularly good at Carnival time, (nit you must have an attraction that can deliver the goods, and you must he able to change program at least tbree times per week. The Bnnacrman Companies, owned and controlled by Maurice Bannorman, play through that country yearly, giving standard comic operas nnd musical comedies, such as "The Merry Widow," "The rink Ladv," "Adele," "The Belle of New York," "The Spring Maid," etc., and are making money at all times. Mr. Banncrman has never been afraid to spend money either In production, cast or advertising. Only one American company has ever mode any money to amount to anything out there, it was organized and conducted along the lines pursued by Bannerman and, al- though transportation was paid for twenty- two people across the Pacific and back at about (275 a head, still tbo company de- clared a nice dividend on the venture Magicians are very popular and can pack the house with natives at any tlma. Ray- mond, Nicola! and others consider Manila one of the best spots on tbelr seemingly cndliss round the world Itineraries. Grand opera Is a failure, as is also vaude- ville, unless of the very highest stamp. Circuses have bad some vogue, but lately several have struck the financial rocks, and It Is a good spot to steer clear of just at this time with that class of entertainment unless one has ample funds to stand long lierlods of Idleness, due to quarantines of stock and delays Incident thereto. All year round parks, one of which was constructed and operated for a short time several years ago, arc not a success, for tbe reason that I have previously mentioned. Mr. Average Filipino hasn't the coin to spend on It Vaudeville artists playing this territory should be sure of Ironclad "play or pay" con- tracts, and it Is well to have a stipulation requiring transportation to be deposited in escrow or secured in some other way. Ite- member, you're going a long ways from home and "East of Suez," where laws and cus- toms are different from what you are used to at home. PLAYING VAUDEVILLE IIRCCTION F> AT O ASE V AGENCY COMPLIMENTS OF THE SEASON FROM FLORENZ KOLB W ADELAIDE HARLAND ORPHEUM CIRCUIT DIRECTION GENE HUGHES LAURA and BILLY DREYER IN VAUDEVILLE PRESENTING PANTOMIME and DANCING NOVELTY HOLIDAY GREETINGS TO ALL, OUR FRIENDS JACK STROUSE Character Singing Comedian Direction TOURING W. V. M. A. LEW GOLDBERG Chicago. IB- (In tmswering adt. pleate mention Clipfer.)