Inside facts of stage and screen (February 8, 1930)

PAGE TEN INSIDE FACTS OF STAGE AND SCREEN SATURDAY, FEB. 8, 1930 VANCOUVER, B. C. A. K. MacMartin REPRESENTATIVE 901 Bekins Bldg. ^NORTHWEST') JEAN ARMAND DISTRICT MANAGER WASHINGTON OREGON IDAHO MONTANA SEATTLE Joseph D. Roberts REPRESENTATIVE 1118 Northern Life Tower p. a/s now getting p. a.ed IN TALKING TRAILER STUNT SEATTLE, Feb. 6.—It’s begin-4-publicity director of the Fox West ning to look like the press agents in town, besides staging a private and personal war in taxicabs, windows, contests and a hundred and one other rackets at their command, will have to photo- graph like Valentino and have a voice that mikes like Barrymore’s to hold down the old desk. At any rate, Eddie Fitzgerald, TED HOWLAND II SEATTLE, Feb. 6—Ted How- land, whose musical tab show re- cently took a brodie after only a few weeks in Spokane, was in town last week busily lining up talent for his latest venture, sched- uled to open in Vancouver, B. *C., on Monday of next week. Among those reported signed by Howland for the Vancouver stand include Elsie Jewell, prima donna; Rose Smith, character woman, and lo- cal chorines for the line work. Lee Jaxon, Billie Reams, Joe Dempsey and Dorothy Raymond, included in those who were with Howland’s bust in Spokane, are still around town, and rumor says they ^refused to further align them- selves with Howland, who had been behind other bloomers in these parts previously. ALERT NEWSIE SELLS ON STRENGTH OF COLUMN SEATTLE, Feb. 6.—Capitaliz- ing on the popularity of a little column, titled “Pick-Ups, Front and Back Stage,” appearing daily in the Scripps sheet, The Star, an enterprising newsie who holds forth in front of the postoffice is using the names contained therein as a means of peddling his papers. When the first edition of the Star reaches the streets, the boy scans the column and, having previous- ly ascertained which of them la- bors in proximity to his corner, hies himself to the offices of these people mentioned and immediate- ly sells them from one to five copies of the editions. "Pick-Ups, Front and Back Stage” is the brain child of Harry B. Mills, dramatic editor of the Star. Harry incepted the column when he took over the Star’s drama desk nearly three years ago. It started small, but grad- ually grew until it now consumes nearly a complete column daily. REPORT BIG BUSINESS SEATTLE, Feb. 6.—The Amer- ican Music Company, San Fran- cisco publishers, who recently opened Northwest offices here with Sammy Siegel, former press agent and showman, in charge, report unusual activity in this territory. “I Miss You When Day Is Done,” a ballad foxtrot, and “On the Trail of My Memories,” a waltz, the firm’s two plug numbers, are being generally featured by the major dance bands and radio entertain- ers, it is reported. Siegel’s terri- tory embraces Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, B. C., Spokane, Ta- coma and intermediate points. GIVEN FAREWELL SEATTLE, Feb. 6.—Ron and Don, organists at the Seattle The- atre for the past two years, were the recipients of a surprise fare- well party given them by Arthur Clausen and his Seattle Serenad- es this week. The musicians put on a big spread for the duo, who are scheduled to open tomorrow at the Portland Theatre, Portland, for. an indefinite run. SIGN GERMAN ACTOR Lothar Mayring, German stage actor sponsored in this country by Morris Gest, has been signed by Warner Brothers to play a part in “Viennese Nights.” NEW SCENARIST Lenore Coffey, scenarist, is the mother of a son. Coast Theatres here, has passed the crucical test with colors fly- ing high, wide and handsome. In years gone by, Eddie was some- what of a “ham,” and so last week, when the Olympic Film studios came through with a proposition on a personal talking trailer for the various West Coast Theatres here, they picked on Eddie to face the klejgs and mike. Opinion is divided on Eddie’s photographic protendencies, but there is no doubt that he mikes like a million for the 250 or so feet that he made as a teaser for Greta Gahbo’s coming release at the Fox Theatre. Some say Eddie weakened at the close and called in Lou Golden for the fade-out, but, anyhow, he started something that threatens the morale of the various theatres. They all want to go “talkie.” Bob Blair and Bob Armstrong made one for the Seattle but wouldn’t face the lights. The former said he wouldn’t lose his budding press agent to the movie scouts, because the latter is some good looker, and after Bob show- ing his stuff on “Sally” and “Love Parade,” he wasn’t taking any chances. Since the first showing of these at a private preview this week, Shaw of the Olympic Film studios has been deluged with requests for estimates and figures on na- tionalizing the stunt. Eddie claims one record any- way, that of being the first press agent strutting his stuff in person before his audience. OWEN SWEETEN IS MADE PERMANENT FOX LEADER SEATTLE, Feb. 6. — Owen Sweeten, popular m. c., who was recently replaced at the Fox-Fifth Avenue Theatre here by Eddie Peabody, and who, in turn, took command of Vic Meyers’ band at the Fox Theatre during Meyers’ absence in the South, has been an- nounced by Earl Crabb, divisional chief for West Coast, as the new permanent band leader at the Fox. With Sweeten set to have full swing with the Fox band, this house now gets 'the highest priced (unless Sweeten took a beautiful cut _ in pay, which is doubtful) straight band leader these parts have ever seen. Owen is already busily engaged recruiting his men from the picjc of local horn tooters and bow pullers, and he is ex- pected to gather a pack of mu- sicians inferior to none local show- goers have fever listened to. T U. AGAIN TRYING TO OF THE RED SPOTS SEATTLE, Feb. 6. — What is generally conceded to be the sig- nal of another concentrated drive by Universal to unload the re- maining eight suburban houses owned here by Uncle Carl, Lewis Cohen, real estate operator for the Laemmle interests, is again spending much time in this ter- ritory. Since the purchase of these stands from the now Mayor Frank Edwards and his several associ- ates, these houses are known to have been consistently in the red. Cohen did, at one time, succeed in unloading two of the elephants, the Beacon and the Madrona Gar- den. But the gaff was evidently too strong for the purchaser, and these two are again back in the U. fold. Repeated attempts by Cohen to shove a pair or more of these houses off on some operator have proven futile. Two of the stands, the Beacon and Ridge- mont, are now padlocked. They, also, are the only two of the eight outlying stands that are not wired. Rumors linking John Danz, lo- cal downtown second run opera- tor, with the purchase of some of these Universal spots still re- main unconfirmed. Both parties refuse to comment on the situa- tion, Danz repeatedly denying all such gossip. It is generally be- lieved that Cohen would willingly turn the houses over to Danz, but the latter is evidently not par- ticularly keen about spots off the main drags. Maybe he feels that these houses are entirely too tough, and it is also thought doubtful if Danz would want to take on any more houses, now having seven, especially of the type Universal wants to unload. Many local showmen believe, however, that Danz could possibly make a go of the majority of these Universal suburbans, which he proved when he took over the Winter Garden and Columbia from Laemmle last spring. These lat- ter downtown houses were con- sistently in heavy red for Uni- versal, but Danz has turned ’em into money makers. RATHE SIGNS NOVELIST Pathe has placed under contract George O’Neil, who has arrived on the coast from New York. O’Neil novels are “That Bright Heat,” “God Beguiled” and “The White Rooster.” 'DOWNTOWN WEEK’ GOES BIG AS BOOSTER FOR BUSINESS SEATTLE,. Feb. 6.—Years ago*pleasing and profitable. Fox’s big Charley Kurtzman, while exploiteer for Publix in San Francisco, con- cocted a gag known as “Come Downtown Week,” which he sold to the various Bay City journals. The gag, if memory serves cor- rectly, clicked gloriously. Kurtz- man came to town last week and, still remembering the gag, pro- ceeded to plant it with all three of the local dailies. The weather was bad; snow and ice were still covering the pavements and the merchants, including the showmen, were in a quandry over the bum biz. The m. e.’s grabbed hold of the stunt in a hurry, resulting in front page editorials from all the boys. It was a great piece of showmanship and evidently had its effect on the natives, as biz im- mediately began to take a spurt, both in the showshops and in the dry goods joints. And now, with the snow all gone and forgotten about, show business is once more back to normal, as evidenced by the healthy grosses piled up dur- ing the past week. Eddie Peabody’s smiling per- sonality and banjo playing must be given credit for the Fox-Fifth Avenue’s $15,200 intake, which led the town. A weak stage show, F. & M.’s “Let’s Pretend Idea,” and the picture, “Bishop Murder Case,” didn’t mean a thing to the fans, although the Van Dine thriller was interesting to watch. The Orpheum, with Bebe Dan- iels’ second effort for RKO, and a sweet stage show drew $12,500. Bebe’s popularity is still at its Coliseum, with “Hunting Tigers in India,” is still hunting for dough on this one. Primitive did great if it eked out $2500 at 25- 35 tariff. Return of Chevalier’s “The Love Parade’’ pulled a sneaker on those showmen holding contracts for subsequent runs by going into Publix’s Metropolitan for five days, seven days after closing its week, and weak, run at the Publix-Se- attle. It was a great piece of work on the part of Publix of- ficials, but has the holders of 67- day protection classes still squawk- ing. “Parade” nearly picked up the five grand additional it would have garnered with a weather break while at the Seattle. Dance hall biz still finds Mc- Elroy’s Spanish Ballroom gather- ing the most consistent biz of the racetracks. “Pop’s” stand packs ’em every night, while John Sav- age’s Trianon does the biggest Monday (bargain night) and Sat- urday gross. Of the night clubs, Tiny Burnett’s band at the Ven- etian Gardens in the Olympic Hotel continues to get the bulk of the night club clientele. Vic Mey- ers’ new Club Victor doing big Friday and Saturday biz, but starvation conditions during the week makes it look plenty doubt- ful as to whether the band leader will be able to pull this new joint out of the red. It is rumored that certain commercial and theatrical luminaries are serving as impres- sarios for the Club Victor, and with conditions there admittedly height in this town, due to her very dark, these lights, it is said, “T?;^ citn ” are pi ann i n g some concerted ac- tion to popularize the spot to a stellar work in “Rio Rita.’ Publix’s Seattle, too, suffered from the rain and receding snows, and reports $12,000 for the seven- day session of Norma Talmadge’s first talker, “New York Nights.” Ron and Don at the organ and Clausen’s orchestra in the pit help bring ’em in here. Eight thousand five hundred dol- lars for Marion Davies’ “Not So Dumb” at the new Fox called for a holdover. Big splurges in the P.-I., Hearst daily, didn’t seem to mean a thing, but Owen Sweeten, at the helm of the jazz band with a great novelty offering, and Henri Le Bel at the organ, must be given credit for much of the biz. John Hamrick’s two playhouses, the Music Box and Blue Mouse, held up well under the strain. The former, with John Barrjr- more’s first all-talker, “General Crack,” in its second week, was great with $7400. Opus now in its third and final stanza. The Blue Mouse, with Eddie Horton in “The Aviator,” gathered $6750, point where it will become profit- able. NEW CITY MANAGER SEATTLE, Feb. 6.—George Ap- pleby, well-known showman of the Northwest and recently local ex- change manager for Tiffany Pro- ductions, Inc., has been named by John Hamrick as city manager for the latter’s Portland two houses, the Blue Mouse and Music Box. Appleby succeeds Andrew Seso, resigned. BUSHELL AT R. P. Anthony Bushell, who was in “Disraeli,” has been engaged by Radio Pictures for a role in Rich- ard Dix’s current starring vehicle, adapted from “I Love You.” BRYAN FOY BACK Byran Foy has returned to Hol- lywood from New York. DPE55 YOUR THEATRE OR YOUR ACT WITH THE FINEST AND MOST ARTISTIC jp* E NE RY“» DRAPE DIES DESIGNED MADE UP AND PAINTED BY THE LARGEST AND MOST mr EFFICIENT STAFF OF SCENIC ARTISTS, DESIGNERS AND DRAPERY EXPERTS IN AMERICAS LARGEST AND MOST BEAVTIFl/L STUDIOS Los Angeles Scenic Stvdios Inc 431 ) 3)1 ^AFFILIATED WITH OlA 5 .f THOMPSON SCENIC Co. 1215 BATES Aye. -- -| AT FOUNTAIN AVE. NEAR SUNSET BLVCt, IIJ HOLLYWOOD ' "\one OLympiacSS^M 1 dk. r rr IT DROP CURTAINS PICTURE SCREENS PROLOGUES CINEMAS STAGE CYC LORA MAS ASBESTOS CURTAINS Vnic^ue Effects'settinss «» the modern stage UNUSUAL FABRICS I DRAPERIES TAPESTRIES -WALL HANGINGS MURAL DECORATIONS! NOISELESS CURTAIN TRAVELERS OPERATED by REMOTE CONTROL ¥