New York Clipper (Feb 1923)

February 14, 1923 THE NEW YORK CLIPPER 19 BURLESQUE TO LEAVE THE PARK NEW CORP. TO SHOW PICTURES The Park Music Hall, at Columbus Cir- cle, will at the end of this week abandon its policy of burlesque. The lease of the theatre has been purchased from William Minslcy by a new corporation known as the Columbus Circle Producing Company, and beginning next week will show motion pic- tures in the big theatre. iMinsky held a long lease on the house, and is said to have made a good sized profit on the sale. Burlesque installed in the house by Minsky last August has had a varied career, and the closing on Saturday night marks a continuous run of twenty-Hve weeks at the house. When the Minskys, best known as pro- ducers of burlesque on the lower east side, took over the house a number of altera- tions were made, the house refitted and dressed up considerably and a new type of entertainment announced. It was bur- lesque, however, and with a change of show weekly and a Thursday midnight performance ran along the Imes of stock burlesque. COOPER WILL FILED The will ofjames E. Cooper, who died on January 29, of pneumonia, was filed for probate in the Surrogate's Court last week, and directs his estate after all debts are paid, to be divided as follows. Leah De Bahlul, sister, $2S a month for life; Lucia Cooper, widow, of Riverside Drive, the remainder of his property, she, without bonds being named as executrix. Mr. Cooper was also known as Isaac E. Cooper, and generally to the burlesque people as "Blutch" Cooper, was 49 years 'Old when he died and had been in the theatrical business for thirty years. He made his entry at Coney Island and then went into vaudeville as a member of the team of Cooper & Stewart, later as Cooper and Reynolds. Subsequently he went into burlesque as a producing manager and owner of many shows on the Columbia wheel. BUXY WATSON ILL Kansas Cm, Mo., Feb. 9.—Billy "Beef Trust" Watson was taken ill during his engagement at the Gayety here, with an inflamed appendix. He was confined to his bed for an entire week, with a tempera- ture of 104 at one time. He lost twelve pounds. Jules Jacobs played Watson's part on a minute's notice and worked through until Saturday night. Prof. Manko attended Watson. MARIE HILBERT ILL Marie Hilbert, who retired from the burlesque stage several years ago, is con- valescing at Lakewood, N. J., after having gone through a siege of pneumonia. Her husband, Ben Hilbert, is assistant manager of B. F. Keith's Eighty-First Street Theatre. BECKER GIFT NIGHT AT MINER'S Ir\'ing Becker has announced an "Irving Becker Gift Night" for Feb. 14 at Miner's Brohx Theatre, during the engagement of the "Broadway Flappers," Many valuable presents will be distributed. HELEN GOULD WITH REED SHOW Helen Gould was engaged by Harry Rudder to appear with Jack Ried's "Record Breakers," as soubrette. She opened with the show at the Gayety Theatre, Washing- ton, last Monday. DISMISSAL MOTION DENIED Justice Leonard A. Gicgerich in the Supreme Court, last week denied the motion of attorneys for the Columbia Amusement Company to dismiss the com- plaint of the American Burlesque Asso- ciation which sought $500,000 damages, through the allegations, that the defend- ants had knowledge of booking contracts existing between the American Circuit and various producers and managers, brought about the establishment of the Burlesque Booking Oftice, and proceeded to provide for bookings which involved, violation of contract. The complaint further charged that the contracts between the American Associa- tion and various other parties were to run for thirty-two weeks from August and September. 1921 ; and that it had lost heavily through disruption of plans due to the activities of the alleged rival agency. The denial of the motion will compel Leon Laski, attome.v for the Columbia .Amusement Co.,. and the officers and directors of the organization, who are also named as defendants, to serve an answer to the complaint on Charles L. Hoffman, attorney for the plaintiff in twenty days. The .American Burlesque Association suspended operations at the end of last season, when I. H. Herk, its president, became head of the Affiliated Theatres Corp., which produced shows on the Shubert vaudeville circuit. Herk at pres- ent ha.s withdrawn all of his attractions from the circuit, with some of them filing petitions in bankruptcy after their closing. BOHEMIAN NIGHTS RESUMED The Bohemian Night held by the Bur- lesque Oub on Sunday. Feb. 11, was well attended and the entertainment provided by the committee at short notice was voted one of th^ .best up to date. It included Miss Ison. singer, assisted by Miss Glad- stone at the piano; Hal Sherman, dancer; Doris Leon, prima donna; Charles Wes- son, dancer; Misses Bernard and Dean in a sister act; Sid Gold, who sang "My Gal Sal": Lew Kelly and Chas. Wesson in Bedtime Follies; Miss Coover. character singer; and a one act drama, entitled "Fakes," with Meyer Harris, Alice Ed- wards. Frankie Hunter and Charles Wes- son in the cast. Another Bohemian Night is announced for Feb. 18 and the big Cir- cus Night is slated for Wednesday. Feb.. 21. MUTUAL SHOW CAST CHANGES Several changes were made in the casts of Mutual Circuit attractions this week. Louis Redelsheimer, of the Burlesque Booking Office, engaged Tom Anderson to replace Jack Carlson with "Smiled and Kisses"; Ruby Wallace to replace Mary Grenier with "The French Models." and Jack Carlson to take the place of Bert Goodman with "Jingle Bells." BIG GAME FILM A SENSATION "Hunting Big Game in Africa," which is the feature film at the Lyric Theatre, is said by motion picture people to be the biggest motion picture sensation and money getter on Broadway sinct "The Birth of a Nation." This picture has been at the Lyric Theatre since Jan. 8th and from that time has played to capacity. WILL ROEHM ILL Will Rochm, of- the booking firm of Roehm and Richards, was laid low with a severe attack of the grippe last week and has been confined to his home. Although there was slight improvement in his con- dition early this welek, he has not passed the danger point. ZOTTARELLI RETURNS Al Zottarelli, assistant treasurer of the Columbia, returned from his vacation Mon- day and is now assistant to Walter Geavcs, the treasurer. TWO THEATRES OFF MUTUAL CIRCUIT TWO SHOWS ALSO DROPPED With the elimination of two theatres last week and the dropping of two shows on Saturday night, the Mutual Burlesque Ciraiit will have been cut down to twenty- two weeks with a similar number of shows playing them and in that way eliminating any layoff qr "wildcatting" for the attractions. The theatres which closed last Saturday are the Park Theatre, Utica. and the Flaza Theatre. Springfield, Mass., which are operated by Goldstein Brothers. These houses of late have not been doing enough business to warrant the owners guarantee- ing the shows a specified amount for appearing in them, so the owners notified the circuit that they, would close them, as far as burlesque is concerned, for the season. At the same time the Goldstein Brothers informed the Mutual officials they were withdiawinir their houses, the heads of the circuit decided that Frank Damsel's "Pace Makers," and Mike Kelly's "Runaway Girls," were not up to the standard the organization desired them to be and no endeavor havin.e; been made to bring them up to the requirements decreed that these two shows would close their season on the circuit next Saturday night. The Damsel show will conclude its season at the Gaiety Theatre, Brboklyn, while the Kelly attrac- tion will conclude its. tour at the Garden Theatre, Buffak). Dave Kraus, president of the circuit, stated that every opportunity was afforded these producers to bring their show up to the standard required by the circuit, but that nothing was done to improve them. He declared that the producers would be given an opportunity to get their shows into proper condition and that if this were done they would be reinstated on the cir- cuit. He said it was hardly likely that they would do this as the season was almost completed and they might not consider it worth while to make radical changes at this time. CLARK IS CLUB PRESIDENT A special meeting was held by the Bur- lesque Qub Sunday afternoon, Feb. 11. Bobby Clark was appointed President for the meeting and it was subsequently voted that he act in that capacity for the re- mainder of the term, which will end next June. A resolution was passed, that a fitting memorial be prepared, to be pre- sented to the family of the late James E. Cooper and a committee was appointed for that purpose. The Committee on The Circus Night, as well as the Qub House Committee reported progress. Another special meeting will be held next Sunday afternoon. MALHERBE HAS A BOY San Francisco, Cal., Feb. 9.—A seven pound boy arrived at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ed P. Malherbe in this city. Mr. and Mrs. Malherbe but recently returned from Honolulu. Mrs. Mallherbe was for- merly May Alberta, a member of the Bon Ton Company on the Columbia Circuit a few years ago. Both mother and baby are doing fine. NEW NAMES FOR MUTUAL SHOWS The "Monte Carlo" Girls will change their title to The Rosy Posy Girls after this week. The Playmates show will be billed as the "Girls From the Follies." "BEAUTY REVUE," COOPER SHOW IS FAST AND CIJEIAN Jimmy Cooper mnd his ''Beauty Renw** not alone tonk Brvdwmy bj storm Monday ■ftCfiio&n» bat Dudc • packed house at the Cdambia laugh 'jBd applause contmuoualy. Cooper has staged a corking. good show, although it is carried out very mnch on the aame lines as the show he had oD the American Circuit the past two teasoosL Cooper, to onr my of thinking, is one of oar best stnight men» but that alone does nol cover it. Combined with ibta he is- a great showman. The manner in whioii be; works and lella hiv show is far away from anyone in burlcMiue today. He starts where Al Reeves left off years ago wha that show owner waa in bis bc>-d3y. Ccoper is there when the scenes are m, injecting npeed and Ukewiae wbcn the nunbert are on. In fact it is Cooper all the time. Not alcoe did he brin^ over his show Crooi the other cireutt. but he has almost the aame cast as last season, the exception being -Eddie Fox, cne woman and a dancing team. He also has a oolored jazz band. The comedy is in the hands of Eddie Fox and Fred Uaiper. Fox baa cleaned up eotisidaably - since we taw bim last Uc haa discarded the rubber tip on bis noac and the dirty make-np^ ueinr but a liitic red on the ooac and a light tnmp make-up. Uc is wearing better clothss and has gittai away from the old misfit soit. Fox is very funny in this show; in fact we like bim better than in the past few seasonL He is a dancer and a clever tumbler as welL IIzrpiT is a particularly ■ Tinting • ^"gl i^ tramp comedian, assisting considerably with the con^cdjr. His slou and odd style of working is very good. Harper is a great danco* and stopped tbe show with acrobatic duidng specialty early in the show.' Shapely and pretty Betty Borroughs sbines in the soubrette prole. Miss Burroughj is a very altracrive blonde with a most pleasing pcnonal* ity. This young lady has several fast numbers which she put over exceptionally wclL Sbe appeared in tigbts on numerous occasiona. dis- luying well formed limbs. Her costumes arc l:^utiluL Kutb Osbrmc in tfae prima ^^^wtwa role won favor. Miss Ocboree seems to go over better cm ibis circuit than when we saw her at the Star last year. Her voice is good and she tadeivd iua numbers very well. Her costumes arc strik- ing and aitrartive. Betty Delmonte in the ingenue role dnea very nicely. Uiss Delmonte U a pretty girl and tbe nressca she wears have been sele^ed with care. Sbe appears in a few scenes and does very cidy. UcT nambers axe well done. Lew Dutfaers and George Mnrphy covered chemaelvcs with glory with their dancing, and tbcy did plenty of ii. Cooper has his usual fast and good looking chorus and has tbcm cn their toes al] the time. They are a good looking lot and well formed and prettily costumed. Cooper has a tine prodtictioa and dandy. light effects. He has bis mme opoiing and it wot over i;Teat. His style of working is what pots this c jkening over. Why this fellow atcps oat on tbe suge and stops a number before it is half over an:I gets away with it, bawls the chonu cut fcr ool workiof risht and starts than all over again, lie is the 'only one who can or tries to get my with this kind of bnainess, and does it. He has bis "Fakir" hit and puts it over as- sisted by the comedians and the lady principals in great shape. Murray and Dutfaczs cleaned np in several dancing acts. These two boy* arc corking good hcofer*, and the auJioice appreciated iheir wor^ Harper, in bis acrobatic danc^ just about stopped tbe show; he sure showed tbea some> thing Monday. Lydia Harris in one put over a sin^ng spe- cialty in a most clever fashion. She opened with "Ho3ieaick.** her second number **My Buddy/' both going over great. She ^Igtfd with **\VbiIe I'm Crying for You," and won' a, big hand. The applause this little lady won she was entitled to, as her style of singing and pat- ting a numcrr over is very uncsual. The Gonzcll White and her **Jauers of Real Jazz," a big colored act of seven men sad three women, in their specialty entertained in full ^ge. They play a lot of jazx mosic, danoe^ sing, and one works comedy. The a£± was well IHced and went over (rig. Cooper hap a corking good bnrloqne show; it is fell nf pep and acb'on and a fine enter- tainment. It is one of the speediest ahffwa that has been at the Columbia this acasm. Sm.