Inside facts of stage and screen (August 23, 1930)

SATURDAY, AUGUST 23, 1930 INSIDE FACTS OF STAGE AND SCREEN PAGE SEVEN TRIO INJURED STORMY MEET NOW LOOMING IN UNION ROW SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 21.— What previously looked like a peaceable renewal of contracts be- tween theatres and unions may develop into a stormy session be- fore both sides have put their signatures on the dotted lines. Operators were given a two-year extension of their present contracts this week, but musicians and stage hands have yet to come to an amicable agreement with theatres on the September 1 renewal. Musicians face the most serious fight of all. Theatre heads are reluctant to sign a contract for any certain length of time, stat- ing that they don’t want to be held down for a year or more under a hidebound agreement. Neither do the theatre heads go for the minimum number of men clause. While they state that they will, for the most part, continue the present music personnel, and in some cases augment the cur- rent lineup of musicians, still they don’t want to be held to a stipu- lated minimum of men on stage or in the pit. Topping all this, the Greenfield and Golden State chains, among others, want to do away with their organists entirely. Members of the local Musicians’ Union are meeting this week to discuss the question among them- selves before engaging in another verbal 'fray with theatre heads. NEW ‘FLEXOS’ COMING SOON SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 21.— Goldner Productions are preparing production of 36 new issues of their flexible, non-breakable “Flexo” records which they are distributing to theatres through- out the country. New series will be released in about four weeks. The Goldner company reports a number of orders from theatres and radio stations for the Flexo records, which are made with Jack Coakley’s orchestra, and Henry Warner, voice, at the Flexo plant, 1440 Geary. AGAIN AT KEYS SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 14.— Buss McClelland is back at the console of the Orpheum after a two weeks’ vacation spent in his home town, Seattle. His wife ac- companied him on his trip. SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 14.— Jack Russell, Roy Reid and Majel Garland were injured when Rus- sell’s auto overturned near Santa Maria last week. After several days in a Santa Maria hospital the trio returned to Los Angeles. Rus- sell is a coast musical tab pro- ducer and Reid is manager of the Strand Theatre, Long Beach, where Russell recently closed. KIMMIS RETURNS SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 14.— John Kimmis, service chief at the Fox, has returned from a two- week vacation on the Russian River. NEW STRAIGHT MAN SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 14.— A pair of changes in personel at the Warren Irons operated Capitol, burle house, has George Grafe succeeding Casey Jones as straight man and Bee Cunningham added as a featured dancer. PETALUMA BOOKING SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 14.— California Theatre, Petaluma, mem- ber of the T. and D. Jr. chain, is booking five acts of Sunday vaude from the San Francisco office of Fanchon and Marco. George Leach manages the house. ON VACATION SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 21.— Ethel Seavers, secretary in the Fox West Coast offices, leaves for Los Angeles this week to be gone for a fortnight’s vacation. BREAKS NOSE AGAIN Dorothy Harrigan, actress, had her nose rebroken in an accident between her auto and a Los An- geles Railway Company truck right after she had it plasticated by a nose specialist. She has filed a $26,038 damage suit against the company. MAY BOLEY AT U. A. May Boley, comedienne, who has transferred her activities from the stage to the screen, has been signed for a role in Sol Lesser’s first production for United Artists. The picture, as yet untitled, co- stars Dolores Del Rio and Walter Huston under the direction of Thornton Freeland. TITLE CHANGED “The Santa Fe Trail” will be the title for Paramount’s produc- tion of Hal G. Evarts’ novel of the early West, “Spanish Acres,” starring Richard Arlen. This film has been in production under the temporary title of “The Law Rides West.” Fox, Vallejo Cops Stories SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 21.— While all picture houses have been copping a maximum of ex- cellent publicity on Greater Talkie Season, Jack Ryan, manager of the Fox Virginia, Vallejo, came to the fore this week with an out- standing three-day spread in the Vallejo Evening News. On the day before his new show opened, Ryan was given a banner line on the front page. On the initial day, the News gave him a two-line, eight-column, front page banner line, a two-column front page editorial, a front page two- column news story on the season, a banner line on every inside page, an inside editorial, and three sepa- rate pix displays. Following day, there was a front page story of “The Big House” opening, an editorial commendation of Ryan’s good work on the sea- son and more art work. PRODUCERS REST SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 21.— Ruth and Malloy, producers at the State, Seattle, are here on a vacation. Night Clubs SILVER SLIPPER San Francisco After a few weeks of below the belt business as a result of city- wide ginger ale set-up raids, the Slipper is again back in the money class and with a pip of a floor show to attract the customers. Cafe is putting out more and bet- ter entertainment that includes Joe Wright’s orchestra, Jimmie Barr, Cotton Bond, Nita Mitchell and Ann and Elinor. Wright’s musical combination has a lot of snap and verve in its favor, putting over its dance num- bers with a rhythmic ease that draws approval from the paying steppers. In addition Wright’s gang can play a show and play it well. Boys all look nice and work together in great style. Jimmie Barr, who is entering his thirty-eighth week as master of ceremonies, is a big favorite among the Slipperites. He shouts those blues like nobody’s business and everybody in the place can hear him, which is more than can be said for a flock of cafe enter- tainers. Nita Mitchell is another of the old-timers on the Slipper payroll. She has been here for around twenty weeks, doing her modern- istic vocal rhythm stuff in snappy shape. Cotton Bond, presiding at the undernourished piano, plays a lot of hot stuff on the ivories and croons the blues. Barr, Mitchell, and Bond form a nifty trio that puts over a lot of high-class vocal material. Ann and Elinor, in a return en- gagement, cop a lot of the honors with their clever foot work that includes a variety of terpsichorean accomplishments. HAL. Geo. T. Hood THEATRICAL MANAGER Address: Inside Facts, Suite 504, 935 Market St., San Francisco “A LITTLE SMILE” Words and Music by GEO. B. L. BRAUN (A Fox Trot Sensation) CONCORD PUBLISHING CO. 1179 Market St. San Francisco GAMBa Since 1905 Theatrical Footwear and Accessories 150 Powell St. San Francisco Phone DOuglas 8268 MARSHALL STRICKEN SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 14.— Richard Marshall was removed to the isolation ward of the San Fran- cisco hospital last week when he was stricken with infantile paraly- sis. He is a partner with Leo Carrillo and Emil Bondeson in operation of the Dufwin in Oak- land and was formerly manager of the Henry Duffy Players. * SAX MARRIES SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 21.— Earl Eastman, sax in the KFRC orchestra, was married last week to Georgia Prather, former cashier at the Warfield. BOWDEN QUITS SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 21.— Louis Bowden will leave the Or- pheum as assistant manager this week. He will be succeeded by George Garriety of the New York RKO office. Theatres Plan Big Golf War SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 21.— Theatre men are girding them- selves for a political battle royal with pee wee golf courses and this week begin a strenuous effort to put the damper on the present half hundred courses that are sprinkled over the city and others that are in the course of erection. A number of citizens are due to appear before the Board of Supervisors this week to protest that pony golf is a nuisance and an eyesore to the city, and to rec- ommend that they be restricted as much as possible, if not entirely. Only last week the city building inspector ordered no more licenses issued for the miniature links in the residential districts. There are between fifty and seventy backyard lots in the city, only about ten of which are in the healthy money. Others are mak- ing an uphill fight with the cold San Francisco night their chief competition. BLOTTERS TO BOOST RUTH Nevin Davidson of the publicity staff of the Paramount Theatre is putting over a nifty stunt in ex- ploiting Ruth Chatterton in “Everybody’s Woman,” next week’s bill. He is sending out thousands of blotters on .Which the pictures of the star and cast appear with the text in shorthand. Jane Cowle’s system of super- speed writing is being employed. The popularity of this method of rapid writing has become a vogue among theatrical folks for whom the Jane Cowle system is particu- larly adapted as it is easily and rapidly acquired. She is offering a free lesson to members of the profession inter- ested in learing a short, short shorthand, at her studio, 73S South Grand avenue. SOCIETY HAS HOME _ The California Television So- ciety, a small group of men large- ly connected with pictures, organ- ized to study the past and cur- rent development of television and kindred subjects, has established a permanent location at the Warner- Kelton Hotel in Hollywood. An experimental laboratory will be built and the television field cov- ered with practical as well as the- oretical study. Dr. D. Morandini of the University of California conducts an extension class for the club. Lee Jason, film direc- tor, is president of the society. FLEET IN TOWN GIVES BAY CITY BUSINESS BOOM SAN FRANCISCO, Aug, 21.— The town was full of visitors this week, including some twenty thou- sand sailors and about the same number of Eagles meeting in con- vention. And with the city plas- tered with Greater Talkie Season publicity, San Franciscans and vis- itors came down town, unloosened the purse strings and brought to the picture palaces the best uni- form business in weeks. Outstanding among the show- houses were the Warfield with “Our Blushing Brides,” the Em- bassy with “Oh, Sailor, Behave” and the Fox with “Common Clay.” On the other side of the fence was the Paramount with “Grumpy.” Metro’s “Our Blushing Brides” opened healthily at Loew’s War- field, grossing only a few thou- sand under “The Big House,” which, next to “Cockeyed World” was a record beater for this ace Fox Theatre. The figure was $34,000. Picture has been drawing capacity matinee attendance from the femmes, a fact that probably explains a lower intake for “Brides” than for “Big House” inasmuch as matinee prices are 15 cents lower than night. Looks good for about two weeks more and then John McCormack in “Song o’ My Heart” comes in. Bill Wagnon brought Olsen and Johnson in “Nancy From Naples” (W. B.) into the Embassy, and taking cognizance of the fleet’s presence, dubbed the flicker “Oh, Sailor, Behave,” plugging the pic- ture _ heavily around the harbor district. Result was a pleasing $9500. Fox opened Talkie Season with Fox’s “Common Clay” and drew hearty support that totaled around $50,000 for the house. Fanchon and Marco’s “Victor Herbert Idea” and Walit Roesner’s concert aided. Present screening is Ramon No- varro in “Call of the Flesh.” Paramount had an uphill fight with Par’s “Grumpy,” starring Cyril Maude. Film failed to draw despite its excellence and the gross was around the $13,000 mark. A stage show helped a bit. Ruth Chatterton in “Anybody’s Woman” and George Dewey Washington in person are current. Second and final week of Claudette Colbert in Par’s “Manslaughter” at Publix’s California did a good enough $14,- 000, and is followed by the Marx Brothers in “Animal Crackers.” Publix’s St. Francis bowed out Tiffany’s “Journey’s End” after two weeks with $8000 to its credit for the second stanza. “Way of All Men” holds the screen now. Orpheum hobbled along at a low $7000 on the deuce week of the Columbia picture “Rain or Shine.” “Little Accident” opens tomorrow. Wagnon’s Davies with the hold- over week of U’s “Western Front” did an okay $5500 and now has “High Treason.” OFFICIALS INSPECT NEW SHOWHOUSES SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 21.— Harold B. Franklin and Howard Sheehan were up from Los Ange- les this week to inspect the new Fox Theatres soon to open in Stockton and Berkeley. While here Franklin attended the State Chamber of Commerce meeting at Del Monte and conferred with A. M. Bowles, divisional head of F. W. C. CHAS. and DAWN STAGE AND CLUB PRODUCTIONS — GIRL REVUES 1141 Market San Francisco Phone UNderhill 2608 TAP DANCING OXFORDS Soft Patent Kid Genuine Hand Turned Soles MEN’S, $6.50 BOY’S, $6.00 “GOOD Dancers Need GOOD Shoes” “WE” HAVE THEM! DANCE ART SHOE COMPANY Theatrical Footwear Headquarters Warfield Theatre Bldg. San Francisco HIRSCH * ARNOLD BALLET MISTRESSES created and costumed all dance numbers now en tour Fox Circuit with F. & M.’s “Brunettes” Idea STUDIO—545 SUTTEE ST. SAN FEANCISCO HOTEL GOVERNOR TURK AT JONES SAN FRANCISCO THE HOME OF ALL THEATRICAL PEOPLE PLAYING SAN FRANCISCO SPECIAL RATES TO PROFESSIONALS JACK WOLFENDEN, Prop. BERT HENDREN, A»*t. Mgr.