New York Clipper (Mar 1923)

8 THE NEW YORK CLIPPER March 14, 1923 AMATEURS IN OPERAS FOR LOEWTIME TtNAFORE" TO BE SEEN IN BOSTON A new angle in amateur attractions to draw business, will be used by the Loew Grcoit which will play Gilbert and Sul- Sran operas with local casts in its out-of- town uieatres. The first Loew house to try diis experiment will be Loew's State, in Boston, which is now advertising for one fanodred young men and g^rls from the locality to appear in a production of Tinaioie." wt ich will be presented at the theatre in four weeks. The entire cast is to consist entirely of amateors, principals, dioms and alL The stage settings and costumes for the produc- tko will be furnished by the Loew Circuit. The Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas will be given in conjunction^ with the regular vaudeville bill and motion jMCtnre featnre. Doe to the length of time which win be OGOsmned in the presentation of the opera, this vaudeville portion of the Mis on which it will be played, will in. all prohflfcility be cut from five to tiiree acts. Tlie open will be presented for a fnll wedc Victor Hyde, who staged the amateur reviews and ToUies" in me various Loew booses, will also pot on the Gilbert and Sullivan mwras. The amateurs who ap- peared in u>e casts of the various "Follies" •were foid a nominal sum for their services in these reviies. The local talent which it to appear m the comic operas will also be given some sort of remuneration it is understood. The Loenv bouses in New York will not see any amateur productions of Gilbert and Sullivan operas, as it is Uioudit that there is not a sufficient amoimt of people who wooM care to attend these performances. In cities ISce Boston, Washington, Cleve- land, and the like, where a great mnsic- loving public resides, the operas wit] also be produced with local casts. BROCHCUm CABARET FOR RIVERA The Rivera Theatre^ at St. John's Place and Kinston avenne, Brooklyn, will pre- sent a "BrooIcTyn Cabaret^' for the entire week of March 19tfa. The revue, which is to consist of amateurs from the locality, will be headed by a professional act, Shar- key, Roth and Hewitt, who come from that nogliboriiood and who have been booked into the Rivera for a full week in order to appear with the revne. ACT jPARTNERS MARRY Chicago, Har. 10.—Harry Pat Kerwin and Jacqueline Tallman, vaudeville i>art- ners, were united in marriage at Michigan City, Ind, dtiring an engagement at the New TbxX Theatre. Miss Tallman had recently secnred a divorce from Eddie Tallman, wiio is stage carenter with Bessie Barriscale and Company. The couple are to faoneymoon on the Ackerman & Harris tour. 23rd ST. IS 34 YEARS OLD Proctor's Twenty-third Street Theatre celebrated its thirty-fourth anniversary last week. Manager Duify provided ade- auate decorations both inside and outside le theatre and arranged a combination picture and vaudeville bill for both halves that well satisfied even the most exacting Chelseaite. The Proctor house is situated on the north side of twenty-tiiird street between Sixth and Seventh avenues. It threw open its doors to the public for the first tmie on March 5, 1889, and has remained open ever since. Neil Burgess in "The County Fair" was the opening attraction and from the first the house established itself as the west side stand for some of our best stars. It continued to play legitimate at- tractions for a number of years and was the scene of the stage debut of Maude Ad- ams and others who subsequently rose to stellar heights. The drama later gave way to musical extravaganza and finally vaude- ville became a fixed poUcy at the house. In its heyday the theatre drew a large patronage from shoppers, the immediate neighborhood then being the shopping cen- ter of the metropolis. When the stores shifted further uptown the effect cut deep into the receipts of the house. Several years ago whoi the motion pictures were enjoying their first vogue. F. F. Proctor established the theatre as the first straij^fat motion picture theatre in New York Cny. Seven years ago^ it reverted to its pres- ent policy of motion pictures and vaude- ville. TEN ACTS PUY FULL WEEK ATH.O.H. LOUISE LeBLANC DIVORCED A divorce was granted to Mrs. Ray Reilley, by Judge Isaac Wolfe, of the Su- perior Court in New Havoi, Conn., on statutory ground, on February 9. Mrs. .Rdll^ was fonnerl^r Louise LeBlanc, and is a sister of Eugenie LeBlanc of "Flash- lights of 1923" company. To Mrs. Reilley was also awarded the custody of their 13- year-old child, Ray Sherman Reilley. Mr. Reilley <was formerly the orchestra leader at the Palace Theatre, New Haven.. They were married in Watei4>ury, Conn., in 1907. Gnu. ATHLETE BREAKS ARM Oaslamo. Cat, March 12.—Oeo Rufty, a member of the Ciystal Bennett Troupe of Athletic Girls, broke her right arm dur- ing the matinee performance at the Or- phetm last Sunday. During the act the girl is thrown over the head of Miss Bennett and ali^ts on her hands on the stage. In some mannrr she alighted with her elbow stiff, breaking the bone. The act continued during the week without her. BARCLAY AND CHAIN SPLIT The vaudeville team of Barclay and Chain' have diss<rfved their partnership. Don Barclay has joined the cast of John Cort's "Go-Go," and Dell Chain will be seen in vaudeville with Dave Chosen as his partner. BELLrrr revue routb> Henry Bcllht's taUoid revue, "So This Is Broadway," has been routed over the Patttagta time. It is a seven-people offer- ing with an original libi«tto by Sydney T «»am. opposition to KEITH AND LOEW Under its new policy of ten vaudeville acts for a full week stand, booked by Fally Markus, which went into effect this wedc, the Harlem Opera House assumes a posi- tion of "opposition," which will probably be even worse for actors than the Astoria used to be before it was added to the Loew Circuit. The theatre quit as a Sbubert vaudeville house on Sunday, and opened under the management of John H. McGar- ron on Monday, representmg the owner of the theatre, Louis Brecha. The Harlem Opera House has been de- clared opposition by the Loew Circuit as it is directly next door to Loe\v's Victoria, which, even though it operates under a split week policy of five acts and a feature picture, will undoubtedly feel the competi- tion of the Opera House in its box office. The policy of the H. O. H., being ten acts each week, for a full week stand, is also in direct competition with that of Keith's Alhambra, which is situated around the comer. The H. O. H. will give three per- . fonnances daily, instead of two, making twenty-one shows a week for acts playing that house. The admission scale will be topped at 75 cents for the evening per- formance. NEW THEATRE FOR CONEY ISLAND A fireproof theatre is being planned for the north side of Surf avenue; Coney Island, near West Eifdbth street, by architects, for the Allwell Development Co., Inc., of which Jolm S. Landres is president - The building will be erected upon a plot of 185 feet frontage on Siu-f avenue and 250 feet in depth, with a seating capacity of 3,000. It is estimated that the structure which will include offices, etc will cost about $800,000. THORNTON IN BELLEVUE James Thornton was taken to Bellevue on Sunday night for the third time in the last two weeks. His wife said that he came to their home at 207 West Forty- eighth Street singing and acting so queerly that ihe decided to have him sent to the hospital. James amused the patients in the ob- servation ward by singing "When She ■ Was Sweet Sixteen" and telling stories. HARRIGAN AND HART NIGHT Harrigan and Hart Night will be cele- brated in the rooms of the New York Lodge of Elks on March 17 at 8 p. v. under the auspices of the Glee Club. KLEIN BROS. COMPLAINT SETTLED The complaint of the Klein Brothers against Seed and Austin, alleging that the latter team are infringing on their material in the use of the "Greek" bit, consisting of using the alphabet to call out vegetables and fruits, has been amicably settled at a meeting held in tiie office of Henry Ches- terfield, secretary of the National Vaude- ville Artists' Club, to whom the complaint was made. Al Friend, formerly of Friead and Downing, was present at the meeting and proved uiat the bit was of his origina- tion. The teams of Seed and Austin and the Klein Brothers, with the consent of Al Friend, therefore _ decided that bodi would have the exclusive rights to the bit, and that in lieu of royalties both acts would donate a certain amount of money to the sick fund of the N. V. A. FOUR HOUSES FOR SHOWINGS Four houses are now being used by the Keith booking office for the purpose of giv> ing new acts who are anxious to secure quick action a chance to show their offer- ings, the latest addition being B. S. Moss' Franklin in the Bronx. The other three are Proctor's Twenty-third and 125th Street, where professional tiyouts are held every Monday, and the Palace, where acts can show every Wednesday morning. At the Franklin, the acts are placed into the regular bill, as done in the Proctor houses, given billing, and played for both' matinee and night performances on Thursday. Jeff Davis books the tryouts at the Moss house, while Mark Murphy takes cart of the showings at the Twenty-third and 125th Street theatres. In addition to helping new acts to get showings, this system has been found very useful in boosting business at the three houses where the tryouts arc placed into the regular bills. Mondays and Thursdays are known to be "off days," but the Frank- lin, Twenty-third and 125th Street theatres have been doing capacity and near capacity on those days since the trj-outs were placed into the shows. NEWBURGH BACK ON BOOKS Cohen's Opera House, in Newburgh, N. Y_ will return to a policy of vaude- ville for the last three days of the week, beginning Thursday, March 15, when Fally Markus will book five acts into the theatre, which will be played in addition to a mo- tion picture theatre. The house played vaudeville under the same policy during last year, but went into a stock policy this season. It will play motion pictures or road attractions during the first half of the week. BAND GETS ORPHEUM TIME Max Fisher's Band, a well-known or- ganization on the Pacific Coast, have been booked for three weeks on the Orphcum Circuit, with further time to be booked at the close of these engagements. They will open in Los Angeles on March 26, and will then appear in Oakland and San Francisco. GRADUATE LEADER AT FRANKLIN The first graduate leader from the B. F. Keith College of Music to be installed in a Keith house, b Louis Earle, who took over the direction of the Franklin Theatre orchestra last week, succeeding Harry Olsen, who had resigned. Earle is the first of a number of students at the Keith Col- lege of Music, of which Stanley W. Law- ton, general musical director for the Kei^ Moss and Proctor houses is dean, who are to be installed as leader. Every musician employed in Greater New York theatres affiliated with the Keith Circuit is a student in the college. VAUDEVILLE FOR MAJESTIC General Manager O. H. Stacey of the O. H. Stacey Amusement Company wishes to correct the statement made recently, that the Majestic Theatre, Albany, N. Y., could not play vaudeville under a lease with the Proctor interest The Majestic has never been under Proctor management and the Majestic Theatre will continue to play the Mutual Wheel Attractions until the regular season of that circuit closes, and will then return to its previous policy of vaudeville and pictures for the summer season. NANCE O'NEILL OPENS THURSDAY Nance O'Neill, who was last seen in New York in "The Passion Flower," will open a tour of vaudeville at Proctor's Mount Vernon Theatre on Thursday, March 15. She will be seen in a playlet produced at the Grand Guigol, Paris, which has been adapted from the French of John Emerson by Edgar Allan Woolf, and which is called "The Closed Door." Three peo- ple will support her in the vehicle. Harry Weber is directing her tour. HEIMAN AND GOTTLIEB INSPECTING Marcus Heiman, president of the Orpheum Circuit, and George Gottlieb, booking manager of the circuit, left New York last week for the Middle West, where they will begin a tour of inspection of the Orpheum houses this week. Gott- lieb will return to New York in two weeks and Heiman will remain in Chicago for a while, coming back to New York during the latter part of April. MUST FILE TAX RETURNS Filing of United States tax returns for the fiscal year of 1922 must be made with the Internal Revenue Collector of your respective district by midnight Thursday, imlpcg an extension of time has been grant- ed. Persons who fail to file these returns will be subject to a heavy penalty. SINGER COLLAPSES ON STAGE San Francisco, Mar. 12.—On the final day of his engagement at the Loew-War- field Theatre, Ciccolini, the grand opera tenor, who has been singing at this the- ater, collapsed on the stage and had to be carried to his dressing room. Ciccolini had been worrying greatly on account of the illness of his child