New York Clipper (Jul 1923)

6 THE NEW YORK CLIPPER July 11. 1923 BIG CANADIAN THEATRE CIRCUIT PLA NS TO END OPERATIONS Trans-Canada Theatres, Ltd., wluch Controls a String of Theatres Stretching Across Dominion Propose to Liquidate—^Brought English Attractions Over for the Dominion. MosTT»E,\L, Can., July 9.—The directors of the Trans-Canada Theatres, Ltd., which for a number of years has controlled a big string of theatres across the Dominion of Canada have decided to put the affairs of the company into liquidation owing to con- stantly mcrca^ing losses. A letter to this effect has been sent to all shareholders calling for a special meeting on July 16th to autnorize the liquidation of the company. This marks the end of a big and .ambi- tious project for better theatrical enter- prise in Canada with the introduction of all the leading British stage attractions and English stars that could be prevailed upon to come to Canada. The plan was put into operation in I9I9 and from the first started out remarkably well. Unfortunately the slump in theatricals whidi spread all over the world followed shortly afterward and the proposition soon became a big loser. The directors have finally come to the con- clusion that the company has lost enough and that they had better wind up tlie busi- ness before greater losses are suffered. They hope to be able to pay the ordinaiy liabilities of the company, but little hope is held out that the shareholders will get any- thmg back on their original investment. Tne capitalization of Trans-Canada The- atres, Ltd., as organized in 1919 was: Seven per cent first preferred stock, cu- mulative; preferred as to assets and earn- ings, anthorized, $1,500,000, issued, $1,250,- OOO; second preferred stock, no interest, tawen by Ambrose J. Small as part pay- ment for his assets, to be retired at the rate of $37,500 per annum, $750,000, issued $750,000 com m on stock, authorized. $1,500,- 000. issaed. $1,500,000. The officers of the company are: Presi- 'dent, H. W. Beauclerk; vice-president, George Driscoll; secretary, S. W. Hicks. The following statement was made by a leadine official of Tians-Canada Theatres, Ltd.,.bst evening in confirming the liqui- dation of the concern: "The facts are set forth very precisely in the letter to the shareholders with the notice calling the special general meeting. The reasons for this course are not hard to gness. They have carried on at a loss al- most since they started, while for the last year or two theatrical business everywhere has been very bad. ''In spite of these discouraging conditions they carried on for a year or more past at a practical minimum of expense, cutting every possible salary to rock bottom, al- though this could not, of coarse, be done with their booking contracts. "Even with these drastic economies they still had to face deficits. . Now the direc- tors and principal shareholders have come to the conclusion that everything under heaven has been done to carry on, but it has simply resulted in an increase in liabili- ties, with no immediate ptospcct of a change for the better in the'theatrical busi- ness, so that there is nothing, left but the course that has been taken. "But they are still .in a position where the equity in their properties and franchises is ROBBQ> ON WAY TO TEA Frances Benson, t\vcnty-one years old. was held in $5,000 bail for examination in the West Side Court charged with aiding two men who robbed and beat up 'Max LanA, an actor, at his home at 147 West Forty-a'riilh Street. Land> stated that he asked Miss Benson to come home and have tea with t't", when he met her on Broad- way and iwhen tiiey arrived at the door, she told him to 'wait a few minutes. He alleges she returned with two men. who set upon him, and robbed him of $200 and a watch and chain worth $210. The men escaped as detectives from the West Fortr-Seventh Street poUce station came to the rescue bat the girl was caught and arrested. She denied ^ the diarges. sufficient to pay off the ordinary liabilities. I doubt if the shaieholders will get much out of their investment, although they will probably be able to clean up their liabili- ties, which arc not very heavy, the theatri- cal business, as is well known, being to a considerable extent conducted on a cash basis. "By winding up now it was considered that they would get out clean as regards their liabilities, while if they had tried to carry on in the hope of better things, unless the theatrical situation changed very re- markably for the better, which did not seem promising, thejr would probably have incurred much heavier losses." ' Trans-Uanada Theatres, Limited, was or- ganized late in the fall of 1919, its plans embracing securing the ownership or con- trol of a chain of theatres across Canada, and the bringing over of important English attractions for all-Canadian tours. In pur- suance of the former portion of the plan, the new syndicate purchased the entire the- atrical holdingst ot Ambrose Small of To- ronto at a pnce of about $2,000,000, and it was on the day following the handing over ot a marked check for $1,000,000 to Small, December 1, 1919, that the latter made the mysterious disappearance that has never been cleared up. The Small prc^rties taken over included the Grand Opera House ill Toronto, and theatres in Hamilton, Lon- don, Kingston and other Ontario cities and towns. In Montreal His Majesty's was leased from the Sparrow estate, while lead- mg theatres in Winnipeg, Vancouver and the other principal western cities were con- trolled through booking rights, as were numerous houses in smaller centers of pop- ulation from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast. Trans-Canada Theatres also owns outright a splendid new theatre which it erected in Edmonton at a cost of between $300,000 and $400,000, and this should prove a substantial asset, as should also the Giand Opera House in Toronto, as it occupies a valuable site in the heart of the city's business district. Under prevailing theatrical conditions, it may be difficult to realize immediately on the other theatres taken over by the s>-ndicate as owner. An auspicious start was also made in the- importation of British stars or companies, the first being "Maid of the Mountains," while Sir John Martin-Harvey also had a highly successful tour under the direction of Trans-Canada Theatres, but more or less ill-luck seemed to dog the ventures of the syndicate, largely from causes beyond its control. Both Sir John Martin-Harvey and the late H. V. Elsmond had critical ill- nesses in the course of their Canadian visits, and the tours of Miss Marie Lohr and the de Courville revue, "Hullo Can- ada," were financial failures, as the theat- rical business suffered in common with a general depression of conditions. In recent months the operations of the .syndicate have been considerably curtailed in an effort to avoid losses and concentrate on a more workable and less unwieldy or- ganization, but without success. JAMES LISTED IN EQUITY .\lbert James, an independent producer, has been added to the list of "unreliable managers" by the Actors' Equity Asso- ciation. James was recently identified with the production of a comedy-drama, "Come Clean," which attempted a summer run in Boston and closed several weeks ago, owing salaries to several members of the cast. The claims ha\-e been placed in the hands of the legal department of Equity and until James liquidates them, no members of the A. E. A. will be per- mitted to sign contracts for any of his future productions. ' Roy Shields has been signed for the juvenile role in "Daisy." NO "nCHT' IN nCHT PICTURES The Pathe news reel pictures of the Dempsejr-Gibbons' fight, which were shown at Keith's Palace, on Saturday and Sunday, after being rushed to New York via aero- plane, proved to be devoid of any "fight" scene whatsoever. An announcement in the Palace lobby advertised, "Exclusive Pathe pictures by aeroplane from Shelby, of the Derapsey-Gibbons' battle for heavj'- weight championship. Exciting scenes in a:id around the ring. Most mteresting crowd ever assembled at a fight See the Blackfcct Indians and the cowboys. Shown at the Palace only." The reel was shown after intermission on Saturday afternoon for the first time. It showed scenes of Shelby, incoming crowds on trains, Shelby several months ago, and an aeroplane view of the fight arena, about one-eighth of the seats occupied. Dcmpsey and Gibbons were shown in poses, before and after the fight, but as far as actual fighting was concerned, a caption to the effect that "No pictures of the actual combat can be released, in accordance with the Federal Law prohibiting transportation of fight pictures from State to State," was flashed in the midst of the reel. The other set of fight pictures, owned by the World Wide Pictures, showing the actual fight, are being shown at Moss' Broadway Theatre this week. EXCrrEMENT AT RICE SHOWS ScatrvKiix Haven, Pa., July 9.—Not only was there considerable excitement in the big tent when the Rice Bros. Grcus played this town last week but all through the place, in and out of the canvas, was all kind of excitement when a fight started in one of the side shows. The state police finally succeeded in quieting the town, but not before some casualties occurred. The fuss started when a customer and the manager of one of the side shows got into an argument which resulted in a free- for-all fight, the customer and the con- stable who made the arrest being injured, due to the handy way in which the side show manager used his hands. Just a few minutes later one of the negro employees of the circus, apparently crazed, ran through the town with a hatchet and started through a crowd as well, widding the weapon right and left Several people were injured before the man was over- powered, only to escape again. Before the show pulled out of town another free-for- all fight started on the lot and the sute police were called to take a hand in the trouble. FLORENCE WALTON A HIT IN PARIS According to cable reports from Paris, Florence Walton, the dancer and erstwhile member of the dancing team of Maurice and Walton, has taken the French capital by storm. Miss Walton and her dancing partner, Leon Lcitrim, went abroad to ap- pear in the new revue at the Marigny. In addition to appearing in the theatrical pro- duction they are also dancing at the Oui- stiti, which is the first roof garden in Paris, and now exceedingly popular with the smart set. Princess Viora, also an .'\mcri- can, presented to Miss Walton a pet mon- key after one of the numerous parties at which the princess had presided as hostess. Madame Alma Clayburg of New York and also Grace Field are among the pa- trons of this roof garden. Madame Clay- burg went abroad to study the immigrant situation. PLAY OF SONGWRITER Stephen C. Foster, famous composer, has at last been dramatized, Edward Locke having written a play called "Swanee River," which opened Monday night at Asbury Park, N. J. "The play is written around a romantic episode in the life of the composer of America's first popular song writer. The cast is headed by Charles Purcell, who plays Foster. Others are:' Florence Ritten- house, Bjrron Beasley. Laward Meeker, Martha Mayo, Frederica Going. Edward Fielding, Jules Bennett, ttichard Carlyle. Harry D. Blakemore and H. Conway Wingfield. WANT SITE SOLD TO TEX RICKARD As a move to further the sale of the car bams at 50th Street and Seventh Avenue to Tex Rickard and his associates the minority stockholders of the Broadway and Seventh Avenue Railroad Company filed a petition Monday through their coun- sel before Judge Mayer in the Southern District Court asking that this property be segregated from the New York Rail- ways group and a separate receiver ap- pointed. The majority stockholders are opposed to the sale of tlie site at this time but the minoritjr interests, seeking to realize on their investment wish to sell this property to ;he Rickard interests at a price which will keep them from losing money. G. L. (Tex) Rickard, sports promotor, John Ringling, circus magnate, and a group of Wall street and amusement men plan to purchase this property and erect upon it a modem amusement center to cost in the neighborhood of $18,000,000, the plans calling for a monster arena with a seating capacity of 26,215 people, a theatre with a seating capacity of 4,500 and a twenty-six story office building. As told in the Clipper last week Riclard and his associates have formed a new Madison Square Garden Corporation to further this enterprise and others that arc on the books for future development. The first step to- wards erecting the new arena was the pur- chase of_ a site and negotiations were opened with the company owning the car bams when the difficulties developed. Job E. Hedges who is the receiver for the New York Railways Company is also the receiver for the Broadway and Seventh Avenue Railroad Company and the minor- ity stockholders maintain that this dual re- ceivership works to their dis^vanta^e as there is too great a dissimilarity of mter- csts between lessor and lessee. In their petition they point out that the bonded indebtedness of the Broadway and Seventh Avenue Railroad Company, in- cluding two subsidiary companies amounts to $11,500,000 and they believe that if the property were sold by a special master this indebtedness could be reduced to about $7,000,000. They also state upon informa- tion and belief that the property with the exception of a plot 100 x 100 on the comer of Fiftieth Street and Sixth Avenue, on which is located a sub-station, is unneces- sary for the operation of the street sur- face railroads of the Broadway and Sev- Avenue Railroad Company and produces no revenue or saving of expense. The capi- tal stock of the Broadway and Seventh Avenue Railroad Company is $2,100,000, of which the New York Railways Company owns $1,400,200 the remaining being held by the public and showing the interest of the minority. The unpaid dividend rentals total 45 per cent of the capital stock. Rickard's offer is said to be between $5,000,000 and $6,000,000. depending upon whether or not the sub-station property is included in the deal. It is up to Judge Mayer to decide whether the minorit.v in- terests shall be allowed to dispose of the property, but pending his dcdsion it was learned that steps were being taken to- wards reorganization so that the property could be disposed of but this is liable to be a long-drawn-out process. THE CASINO REOPENING S.\N Franctsco, July 9.—The Casino Theatre has been leased by the Plymouth Theatrical Enterprises and will reopen in a few weeks with a policy that will.cm- brac2 vaudeville, pictures and melodrama all in the one show. The vaudeville sec- tion will be represented by a unit number- ing thirty-five players who will offer tabloid revues and specialties, while a dramatic stock company will present the melodramas. The additional unit will consist of Jack Joy's Syncopators. Under (he new policy the house will operate under a fifty cent too scale. Dick Wilbur will manage the theatre. FROHMAN LEAVES FOR COAST Daniel Frohman started last week for California where he will take charge of the Actors' Fund at the Monroe Doctrine Exposition in Los Angeles. Two benefits will be given, one in a local theatre and the other in Hollywood Bowl where "As You Like It" will be given.