New York Clipper (Feb 1923)

ill ■' 1 ■!' I Mil::; -■---^ a-- J • THE NEW YORK CLIPPER Febniary 7;-1923 HOOF AND. FOUR WALLS" SCORES LoMiON, Jan. 29.—"A Roof and Four WaUs" nas presented at the Apollo The- atre and received a hearty reception. It b a stoiy of ai struggling composer and his wife. They invited a mosic publisher to borne to bear some of the composer's numbers, but instead of liking the songs, he raves about the wife's voice. He sets ' about imlring her famous, and in two. years she is one of the greatest prima donnas in the land. ,The composer insists on main- taining-, his- economic independence. -A friendship, purely platonic, springs up be- tween' toe wife and a notorious peer, to which the gomposer objects, through jeal- loiisy^'' He- leatei-lbis nufe-tty live in the country. The peer begins .to pay obnoxi- . ous attentions to the i>riniii'donna, and' she ' becomes disgusted with him and returns to her husband.-and aU ends happily. Phyliss-Neilson Tory plays the wife ex- ceUentI}r,. bodi from a dramatic and vo^ : viewpoinL - Nicholas Hannen, O.^ B. Qar- ence and Allan Jeayes are fine. GIDEON IN-BAMKRUPTCY London; . Jan. 29. —Meville Joseph* Gideon, the American composti*, attended a meethig of his creditors held recently at the Ban^uptcy Building, and there attri- buted his failure to extravagance, losses in betting and -heavy interest on loans to mon^-lenders. His liaMities were given at £3,500, of which £900 is due to.money- lenders. The balance goes to private loans and book-makers. Gideon stated that be was engaged by the Co-Optimists at a salary of £50 per week, and that he was also under contract to Messrs. Fiands, Day and Hunter, the music publishers from wfaom he received £300 a year as an ad- vance on royalties! - These two are part of - his assets, which include jeweliy valued at £^5. and an interest in ''Tons of Moaey" said to 'bci of big value. The'meeting was adjourned toenable Gidecn. to submit a proposal for the pay- ment of his debts in full. COCHRANE TO DO U. S. PLAYS LonsoN, Feb. 5.—C B. Cochrane will present three American successes here in the course of the next few months,' name- ly, .Tartners Again," "So This Is Lon- don" and. "NeOy Kelly." The first will be the Montague Glass and Jules Eekert Goodman comedy, "Krtners A^ajn," whidi will open at'.the Garrick. on Febni- aiy 28th, with Bob Leonard and Phil 'White in the roles of Potash and Perl- mutter. George M. Oman's play, "So This Is London," will be presented in conjunction with Mr. Cohan on April 10th. Following the iwesentatioa of thu. "NeUy Kdly" will be prodnced here by Cohan. BOYCOTT ON GERMAN ACTORS Pabis^ Jan. 29.—^The boycott on German . actors: xa Paris theatres continues, one musi<; hall and; two circuses having been yisited by a representative of the French Artists' Union.- who obtained' the with- drawal oi the Gexman acts and the prom- ise of the managers to make no; more Ger- man coo&racts. /QCREISLCRriFOR LONDON LoiiooN, Feb. 5,-rLouis N. ' Parker's adaptation of "Johannes Kreisler" is to succeed "Decameron Nights" at the Drury Lane shortly, l^anrice Moscovitch will be seen in the title {role..'"Johannes Krdsler" has already beeii successfully pcpdttced in New York, wtfh Jacob Ben Ann in the leading role. •XOVE HABTT' OPENING LoHOON, Fd>. 5.—Dennis Eadie wOI pre- sent "Pour Avoir Adriemie," of which the En^iah adaptatioD will be known as "The Love ^ Habit.' at tiie Royalty Theatre mi LONDON MANAGERS AMAZED ' London, Jan. 29.—London managers are flabbergasted by. the sudden era of popu- larity of Shakespearian plays are enjoymg on New York stages. Some have gone so far as to venture an opinion that the American managers have injected risque ingredients in_ the- balcony and boudoir scenes, thus giving the plays a semblance of a "high brow' bedroom farce. Inas- much as Shakespearian productions have not benefitted London box ofiRces in years, they believe some trick-is being utilized to stimulate an interest in the Bard's plays. During .the year just dosed no West End ' Theatre devoted a night to Shakespeare, and in. 1921 there were only two attempts . to present him to fashionable London audi- "eiices, and neither could be classified as a commercial venture. ' Meanwhile, England's movement for a national Shakespearian memorial theatre is at a standstill. - . ' NEW ROSTAND PLAY SCORES Pakis, Fd>. 5.—Manrice Rostand's new- romantic drama, -"Le Phenix,'' was en- thnsiastically ^eted at the Porte St. Mar- tin. Rostaiid is a very 'gifted young poet. His lyrical inspiration is appealing and his beautifnl lines carry the audience off its feet The ideas, and tfadr poetic form, continually excite admiration. But whui one pauses to reflect in the cold light of reason, without the music of the verse, the action appears chaotic; the characters futile and unconvincing. The scene is laid in some imaginary court The story is all very romantic, unreal and rather naive. The last act a empty—an endless lamenta- tion. ' "MARY" IS NOVEL REVUE London, iFebi 4.—"^aiy of the •Movies," a new revue with forty people, staged in eight scenes, will be presented here shortly. The book is by Harry M. Vemon and the music by Roy Marsh. Most of the scenes are laid in America and two motion picture reels are used in the production. Eileen -Doran, formerly with Ziegfeld's "FolUes," 'win appear in the title rote. It irill open during the first week in March. "HAPPY ENDING" CLOSES London, Jan. 29.—^lan Hay's new play, "The Happy Ending," had a very abrupt ending at the St James Theatre, after a few performances. Robert Lorraine re- turned to the London stage in the play. The St. James has been dark since and will re-open on Jan. 31, with "If Wmter Comes," which has been doing good busi- ness in the provinces. "JEDERMANN" FOR 'WEST-END London, Jan. 29.—Sir John Martin Harvey will . produce a modem version ' of Hugo von Hofmannsthall, die Viennese dramatist's religious drama, called "Jeder- mann," in the West-End shortly. The Eng- lish adaptation, known as "Everyman," has been done by Dr. 'Wheder and the Hon. S]^il Amherst. "GREAT LOVER" ON TOUR London, Feb.. S:—"The Great Lover," whid) dosed recently at the Shaftesbury, opens a tour of the provinces at the Alex- andra Palace- Theatre, today. In the com- pany are Lewin Mannering,' Edith C^rt- wright Margaret Davey.' Eve More, Sid- ney Trevelyan. John Qyde, Wilfred White, Yves Renand, Edgar C>wen, W. Owen and Gerald Cross. "MERRY Wn>OW" REVIVAL OTQONG London.- Feb. 5.—^James White's revival of "The Merry 'Widow" will open a short ' tour al die Lycemn in Sheffield on Feb- maiy lOlb, prior to connng into London for a run. in the cast will be Evdyn J^ye; in the title role, Georjge Graves, Carl (Bmsoh and W. H. Rawlms. UNION OUT FOR "CLOKD SHOP" London, Feb. 5.—The Musicians' Union here is agitating for "dosed shop," and to that effect has issued a printed statement which it is sending out to all ofBdals and members of trade unions, impressing upon '!the officials and members of trade unions the necessity of engaging members of the Musicians' Union whenever they require the services of musicians." The statement declares that "Should we find any society or branch of a trade union engaging non-union musidans, we shall re- port them to the Trades'Council, and make their conduct ' public It considerably hampers our work when our members are not .recognized T>y their fellow trade- unionists. -There is-^ idea that a work- man who is ai inember of 'his trade union and happens-to play a-musical instruinent, may- be regarded as asuiiionist musidan, without being a member of the musicians' union. -We .joeed hardly point out that, membership 'df'^'our tmion would hot be accepted as 'snfEdent to enable our mem- bers-to w'brk at another;trade in a union shop; it would be necessary.for them to. become members of ' Ihe ' society attached to such trade. .We are.asking for the same recognition, and we-say ^ emphatically, that if anyone plays an instrument for remu- neration he shall be a member of the Musicians' Union." CRECHE AT THE HIPPODROME London, Feb. S.—A theatre crethe has beoi added to the Balham Hipi>odrome by Jack Buchanan, in order to aid mothers who cannot leave thnr children at home to come and see the performance. ^ The mothers now leave their youngsters in the creche, where there are cots, chairs and a trained nurse in attendance. PICTURE ACTRESS INJURQ> I.ONDPN, Jan. 29.—Violet Hopson, the motion picture actress, was injiired at Ep- som recently .while working in'a scene, in whidi she was thrown from a horse. Her fall was a violent one, and she became un- consdous, remaining in that condition for several hours. She is now recovering. PLAY BY TOUR WALLS' WRITER London, Jan. 29.—Edward Percy, the. author of "If Four Walls Told" has just completed a new play in collaboration with Wallace Nichols. It will be a _b;g pro- duction with a cast of about sixty and will be called "Coloman." The Repertory Players will produce it. "LAST WALTZ" BOOSTS BUSINESS London, Jan. 29.—^The annual report of the Gaiety Theatre shows that the theatre operated under a loss of £4,096, Is., 2d., during the post year. The production of "The Last Waltz" at the theatre, which is now running, has materially aided the financial position of theatre. "BULL-DOG DRUMMOND" CLOSING London, Feb. 5.—The revival of "Bull- dog Dnimmond," which has been doing well afthe W)rndham. will close there on Saturday, Fdiruary . 10th. . On February 17th. Sir Gerald- du Maurier will present JHnbert Parson's play, -VThe Dancers," at that house. "GIANT. KILLER" BIG DRAW London, Feb. S.-^"Jack the Giant Kfller" has proven to be a great drawing card on the road, and while playing in York re- cently drew as many as 20,000 people in. one week. Hie company was engaged to open the New Empire "Theatre in Dublin. Ld>ENT GOING TO UNITQ> STATES London, Jan. 29.—Frank Le Dent, the American juggler and his partner, who have been appearing in Europe for the last fifteen^ years, will return to New York early in August "PLUS FOURS" CLEVER PLAY London, Feb. 5.—It is due to tiie work of Peggy O'Neil mainly, and that of C. Aubrey Smith, that "Plus Fours," the new comedy by H. Vachell and Harold Simp- son, which is bdng presented at the Hay- market, owes its success. The openjng scene of the play is in a cheap lodging house in Bloomsbuiy. where we find 'Wil- bur Nuthall. and his sister, Josephine (Peg^ O'Ndl), broke, due to an acddent to Wilbur, who is an artist. He applies for a position as a private secretary and gets a letter from a well- known author offering him the job. - Wil- "bur's 'health'prevents him from,accq>t- ing, so his sister deddes to 'impersonate him and take the , position.. She .'arrives at the author's, home, in maile attire, and althou^gh Jier employer .'is supposed to be- an authority on women, he does not see through' her disguise. However, two '{Rople do, these being the author's pub- lisher aiid also his nephew. They are let into the secret of what conditions caused hed to disguise herself and do not betray 'her. There are several situations which arise, one bdng a part where she is told to share her room with the nephew, as it is the only spare room. She tries to get the maid to help her, but the maid also gives everything away. Finally everything is cleared up and the play ends cleverly and satisfactorily. - "OLD TIMERS" ACT A HIT London, Feb. 5.—Several, newcomers have been added to the cast of "The Veterans of Variety," who have been meet- ing with sensational success at the Pal- ladium, where they are appearing. The new "old-timers" are T. W. Barrett the Desmond Sisters, Lively Lilly Bumard, Qarke abd Glenney, Marie Collins, and Arthur Albert The original members of Ae act are Marguerite Cbmdlle,'Sable Fern, Jake Friedman, Florrie Robina, Charles. Bignell, Tom Costdio, Arthur Roberts, Charles Lee and Leo Dryden. "ARLEQUIN" CLOSES London, Feb. S.—"Arlequin" has been withdrawn from the Empire Theatre, ow- ing to the fact that it could not be ojterated under the heavy overhead expenses it had. The salary list was too heavy for the show, and business hasn't been any too mod with it Sir Alfred Butt and Albert De Cour- yille have lost a large sum of money in its production. The theatre is now play- ing motion pictures. "YOUNG IDEA" SEEN London. Feb. S.—Robert Courtnddge has presented a new comedy by Noel Bo'ward called "The Young Idea," at the Savoy Theatre, of which he has become lessee. The author of the play appears in the cast, and is supported by Kate Cut- ler, Muriel Pope, Ann Trevor, . Leslie Banks, Ambrose Manning and Herbert Marshall. AMERICAN ACT A HIT London,. 'Jan. 29.—Kafka and Stanley, the American aerial trapeze-act, made their first appearance here at the Palladium and scored a big. hit They are booked up in England for several months. ISOBEL ELSOM MARRIES London, Feb. S.-;—The marriage of Isobel Elsom, motion, picture and vaude- ville artiste, to Maurice Elvey, who has been associated with the Stoll Film Com- pany as producer, has been announced. CHEVALIER RECOVERING London, Feb. 5.—Albert Chevalier, the wdl-lmown star, has passed the crisis in his serious illness and ts now on the road , to recovery.