The Billboard 1901-04-20: Vol 13 Iss 16 (1901-04-20)

New York Theatricals. New York, April 14... (Special) non is in the theater going mood he is velther caleutating nor is he querulous. He wants to enjoy himself The purveyor of cutertainment Knows this. It is the man whe walks up to the box offiee, and, puss ing In good United States money, with oth ers like him, keeps the “show” going. The public is beginning to discriminate. It does net faney paying for a first-class evening's entertainment and being served with drivel passed out by mistaken truck drivers and seullery maids, There are tiaany alert man agers and they, appreciating the trend of things, are readjusting their affairs so as to please the public, hold down the salary list aud have something left for a rainy lary Two propositions confront them. Those who have solved these get away from the star’ problema serious one — and run in tiew of such a luxury a well-balanced stock company. Pent in New York is a tre mendous item. They get around this by having #8 many performances as possible. Itemark the steady stream of “legitimates’ wending their way to the stages of the popular price houses. These houses are paying. The theater-goers in one and two night stands have it In their power to so effect ively discipline the local manager of the home house giving bad shows that after two or three admonitions, all tending te lessen the box offiee receipts, there wonld be something akin to heart disease in sey eral of the big booking offices in New York The local manager has not as much to say about the list of attractions that are being arranged for your town as he is in your When a power There are what ire stvled “clr eults The manager of an attraction is at this time of the year casting abeut as te his next season's “‘hooking.”’ rhe more inferior the show, the bigger percentage he can offer to these who control the cir eult as an inducement to let him inte a rep resentative hose Then you are vietim inet Get your loeal paper to assoclate with other papers and pass along the word from town to town that this or that com ing attraction (%) is the merest inanity or mayhap te the contrary Spend a dollar a night on telegraph tells, and inside of two weeks vou will have better shows Manager Jacol Litt, whe had the nerve amd the aeomen to hazard the So re quisite te oradnee “The Prince of Peace” at the Browdway Theater, appears to have something up his sleeve for the trust Ile has theaters In Milwaukee, St. Paul, Minne apolis and other points (me of his first moves here was te reduce prices at the Browdway Crowded houses at every per formance Straggling in come indientions of the pub lies attitude toward high priced shows Kernuhardt and Coauelin and their big Pa risian company started away from here on “ tour at a fixed) admission rate ef $5 and down. And tt turned out to be a case of down, At Washington it was 4 and down at St. Louis it was Sf and dewn. At Louis ville. where this figure obtained, there was net more than 31.000 in the house Man ager Grau is understood to guarantee Bern hardt S100 end to Coquelin S300 a per formance Corse Payten at his popular priced the ater over in Brookivn sings a different song. He is giving the public excellent plays at hitherte unheard of low prices, and at both performances daily the theater ts jammed He does not emulate the prac tices of a New York manager either. There are ne seecnlators “standing in with the house."’ In snite of often reiterated statements by press agents, it is a fact that very few of the theaters have made any money this season, amd the end is at hand It is ex pensive to maintain a theater along Broad way Take any of the lesser sumptnous houses, and the manager's books will show on expense of between 35.000 and Sé.o000 weekly The oegers of one hand micht erumerate the sets af books with a com Placent balance on the profit: side The suecesses of Henry V Donnelly at the Murray Hill Theater and of Manager Greenwall at the American, with their splendid stock companies presenting ster ling plays at low prices, have started the other theater managers guessing Ne hero ever returned from war with captives and conquests te enthrall the fan ev and inflame ardor got mere adulation Thon the vouth, amd many of riper age, gave Colonel William F Cody. affeetionately known as “Roffalo Bi” when he marched Inte Madison Souare Garden, and his pres enee there continues a magnet, filling this Vast Hmvhitheater nightly Increasing Years de net dim the eves or wrinkle the cheeks of this famous seout Six hundred horsemen appear in the ring. and their re Hlistle representation of the “Relief of Te king’ is stirring enough to make the most apethetic enleken te enthusiasm There is variety enough te satisfy any one. German cavalrymen, decked in’ the Katser's approved uniform of white, with shining he'mets and shoulder armor n sid of Baden Powell's men. fresh from the battle flelds of South Afriea: men of the Strathcona horse, and a doven Roers, meke go blending of eoler and contrast Which receives tremendous rounds of ap Phinse The Boer delegation are sure of an ovation nightly OM Tron Tall, the Stienx clief who fought Custer, is still with the WikL West, Restdes these, there are the otal sevmds oof Redenins, Wextean triek riders, Cossacks and United States eavalry \ dramatic version of “Ohne Vadis” has bleh Prodnveod in the Theatre de la Porte Soint Martin, in Paris, Sardon, when asked to lend a hand at shaping the book for the “lige, Is reperted to have sald that it) was THE BILLBOARD an undertaking too vast, being a fit subject only for a superb opera Iie added that there was not a stage in all aris large enough to do the thd spectacular scenes their meed of justice. The box offiee at) the Criterion ter, Where Julia Marlowe has been Ippear ing in When Knighthood Was in Flower’ to the fullest Capacity of the house since January 14, shows that S145 persons have seen her as Mary ‘Tudor up to closing time lust Saturday a Florodora’’ at the Casino is approaching its seventh month of prosperity there, and Will stay there until the hot weather gain says. W Ferguson has quit the e: account of Llness, and James A. replaces hin Thea t on Riernan laughing crowds at Wal lack’s Theater, filling the big house to the dloors and = ge tting immense enjoyment out of every performance of “Are You a Ma son?” attest the faet that the new farce produced there last Monday night is a jolly and roaring triumoh The funny play . probably the funniest that has ever hit the town Is apparently in fer a long. merry run at this theater It pleases not only the men, but alse the women, the latter seem ing to appreciate the jokes about Masonry fully as much as their male escorts do All the lines are bright and the situations live ly. and there is not a moment's lagging or dullness in any part of the farce as it is presented by the excellent company that has it in hand Leo Dietrichstein is seen in the rele of a female impersonator. Here is the cast: George Fisher, Leo Dietrichstein: Frank Perry, John ©. Rice: Amos Blood Thomas A Wiss John Halton, George Riehards: Hamilton Travers, Arnold good, Daly: Ernest Morrison, Ceeil de Mille: Po lieeman Charles 1. Mav (ireene Mrs Caroline Rebson: Eva oMrs Per rv). Esther Tittell: Annie. Nellie Butler: Lulu, Jeannette Northern: Mrs Halton, Char'otte Lambert MORE ABOUT STAGE FOLK James K. Hackett. whe collapsed during the second aet of fhe Pride of Jennies” In Cincinnati, is in sad need of rest and re enperation Ilis nhvsicians recomnend “laying off until next season Ile has not been a well man since his illness three years age in this city, when his wife. Mary Mannering, helped him back from the doors of death It was all very romantic. as will be recalled, as only a few then kuew that they were man and wife They always did say that George menthal had an Alladin’s lamp pipe” when he would map out in theatric direetions While piloting Way Down East” te big receipts he has had time to fashion a bi it to a suecessful consummation He will have six light overs eirervit termini of New Er < venture and carry wupainies to play a faking In reerentive points at the » lamd trolley lines Archibald Clavering Gunther's Pangled ings is the latest book to eall for dram atization Wagenhals & Kemper will pr it on the road Manager Frank W. Sar made money out of Gunther's “Mr. B of New York” and “Mr. Potter of Texas. Henry Miller is the latest acquisition to the ranks of actor-managers. He will next season be his own boss and picking out his own routes and theaters. He joins a robust effort, embracing as it does Hackett, Nat Croodwin, Manstield and Ek. Hk. Sothern. It is understood along the Rialto that Miller Will produce a new play bere about May 1. The Eden Musee is nothing if net up te date. General Funston had hardly landed Aguinaldo in prison at Manila when they had reproductions in wax of both of them at the Twenty-third street playhouse. kk. H. Sothern and Virginia Harned have an entirely new onttt of scenery, costumes and properties, to take the place of the destroyed effects at the fire at the Cincinnati Grand Opera House in January last. Many improvements have been made over the former models Sothern’s success should held out encouragement to ambitious and aspiring actors Ten years age as matinee idel his salary was increased to something like S100 a week. Then he was doing farce comedy. Now his “Hamlet and repertoire promise to yield him something like $35,000 fer his years werk. Splendid houses are sreeting them at the Harlem Opera Louse. Rh. PPOyley Carte, the London theatrical iainager and impressario who brought out Gilbert and Sullivan, has passed away since my fast writing. He had been ill a long time Iie never recovered from the shock of Sir Arthur Sullivan's death. He it was whe orodnuced the “Pirates of Penzance,” “Pinafore.” “Patience.” “lolanthe,”” ‘The Mikado.” “The Yeoman of the Guard,” ‘Ltepia.” “The Gondoliers’’ and “Princess Ida” Tle paid the authors for Great Britain royalties Ilere he vroduced at the Man hattan Theater “Billee Taylor.” “Claude Duval” and other operas. His wife, Helen Lenoir, an exeellent business woman, was for vears his principal agent. William <A trady has at this writing about closed for the lease of the Park The ater at Boston, owned by Lotta Crabtree. Extensive alterations are contemptated. Frank Perley, who has Alice Neilson abroad with a strong company, playing in London, promises his clientele “The Chap erones”’ at one of the Broadway houses this fall. The cast will inelude Eva Tan quay and Marie Cahill. Bettina Girard is again a bride, this be ing her fifth venture. Her last consort is Francis ©. Whitter, a vaudeville actor, They were married in Chieage, March 21. The faet has just come out. tettina gave her age as 2 asce’s dainty sketch. “Madame Ruttertty.” is now flitting easily towards the 100th performance at) Proetors Fifth Avenne—a plavheuse, by the way. which ix net on Fifth avenue and can hardly be unless they deviate the lines of that thor oughfare so as to make the house's title to the nate consistent. The departure of capable Jessie Miliward from the Emeyire Theater Stock Company permits Margaret Anglin’s promotion to the vacant olace of leading woman. Faversham is advanced from leading man to stardom. VAUDEVILLE THEATERS Sixty-seven of them in the United States requiring Seven Hundred Acts. # # #4 4 bet y SMILEY WALKER. SOME INTERESTING....... VAUDEVILLE HISTORY. Fashionable vaudeville as it is presented it the Columbia under the management of M. (©. Anderson has taken such a strong held upon local theater-goers that a shert resume of its histery is apromes at this titne The amusement title “vaudeville” is a misleading one te very theater-geers of America. Originally a French word meaning “singers of come sengs, it has become anglicized in = the amusetent world. To compare vaudeville as it is Knewn today with the vaudeville of fifteen vears ago would be to invite a compariven between all that is great, artis tie and mest werthy in the form of amusement with all that is small, deveid of merit and talent, gaudy and cheap. The uplifting of vaudeville in talent and morality, and the broadening of its scone of amusement fea tures, is primarily and mainty traceable to the Association of Vandeville Managers of the Lnited States rhis new great pur veyor of vaudeville, perceiving something really new, meritorious and great in the then undiscovered realm of theatrical effer ings, started in a moderate way to win from the various legitimate ranks artists of mare than ordinary ability in their respect Noting that their efferts won a more than moderate appreciation from their patrons they persevered in their poliey, end, aiming higher and higher, gradually but surely, by great financial inducements, Inred from the dramatic, musient and op eratic flelds the best of those three creat professions. Combining this talent with the greatest in the line of gymnastic, equilibris tie ond trained animal seis, together with ether special features which have for their base eleetric light effeets, vandeville be enme the entertainment par excellence of the «ay In the United States there are ahont sixty-seven theaters devoted to vau deville. There are two in Canada, and two ore in freeess of being in Loudon the exception of a few parks, where per formances are given only in summer, almost ell these theaters are open the vear ronned, Of such theaters, 2 are in Greater New York: 7 are in Chieage: in’ the Eastern States there are S34: in the Middle, West and Seuth 24, and on the Pacific coast there many of the } are 2. There is none between Omaha and San Franeciseo. In order to Keep these heuses supplied with performers, from G0 to JOO acts are required. An act may be a sweet girl singing tearful ballads of leve und parting: it may be a pair ef knock ntbhout comedians: it may be a well-Known legitimate actor and his company of three er four: or it may be a man with trained elephants. In answer to this demand there is a sapnly of 1500 acts. Half of this number is made up of people that get along ind.fferentiy or net at all. You may be sure that the latter consider the vaudeville busi« in a very bad way. As a fact, nilliens stand invested in vaudeof the managers, at least sev are millionaires. have m: zh money to of the utter fallacy of the ine ramming here ef a few ecelebriti been induced to forsake their chosen field of work to enter the new profession of vau leville will substantiate the claim that no star is too great or salary toe high fer their consideration Jessie Bartlettt Davis, the famous contralte, formerly the star of the Rostonians, whe appeared here lately, re ceives the munifticent smm of $1,000 weekly. Camille dArville, whe is an early attrac tion, receives the same amount for her ser vices from the various vaudeville managers in whose houses she sings. Other artists whe have plaved er wili play here and in the various other theaters devoted to highvandeville may lee mentioned: Camilla Ursoe: Felix Morris, who has joined the silent majority, and who was a great drawing pewer in vaudeville: Ovide Musin, A. |. Guille, the famous tenor, who appears here seon: Rose Coghlan, Minnie Se licman, Marie Wainwright. Robert Hilliard, whe reeently closed an engagement tin this city: Maurice Barrymere, Patti Rosa. the davuahter of the famous and clever little comedienne, Patti Rosa: Fanny Rice, Cora Tanner, Louis Massen, Pauline Hall, Hilda Themes, Doerethy Merton, Carre!!! Johnsen, the Nine Nelsen Family, Phyllis Allen, Laura Rurt, Julin Kingsley. George Thatch er. Robbie Gavler, Anna Boyd, Lizzie and Vinnie Daly, Digby Bell and Della Fox. + mately 9 Ida Conquest is sent over to strengthen the : John Drew forces. This leaves few of the : faces of the favorites of five years ago, when the Empire had that strong three Ilenry Miller, Viola Allen and Faversham. There is much of promise, however, in the new offering material, and tive years from how we will be assisting many of them into stardom. All plans have now been perfected for the spring tour of Otis Skinner, Sarah Coweli Lemoine and Eleanor Robson in Robert Browning's “In a Baleony.”” Liebler & Co. will send out the attraction. It is planned to give ho more than two performances in any one city, and only one ordinarily, and that a matinee, so as not to interfere with running attractions, and at the same time avoid the incidental competition. The Browning cult must hasten to the freshening up of their mysticisms, for “In a Balcony’ is fragmentary to a degree, allowing the application of almost any interpreta tion. it is about settled that June 15 will see the departure from the Garden Theater of “Under Two Flags,”’ bound for the Pacitie slope. After an extended stay in San Franciseo other large cities will be visited, and this contemplates dates up to June, loz, A special train will be required to haul the j large company and the great mass of ' scenery and .properties. DVaul M. Potter, whe adapted the book for the stage, is in this city, at the Holland House, on a visit from London He says there is no available house t ‘to permit of it being presented. Ger iy is represented here by several managers figuring for the rights for their country. Charles Frohman has taken his periodical spring flight to London to look the offerings over that the market there affords. He will present to the English these, as already tuld in a previous letter: “The Girl From Up There,” “Sweet and Twenty by Basil Hood. at the Vaudeville Theater: “On the Quiet.” William Gillette in “Sherlock Hlolmes,”” and a new play by George W. Broadhurst. % PLAYS AND PLAYERS. Augustus Thomas’ delightful faree, “On the «guiet,”” at the Madison Square Theater, with William Collier in the leading part, has every assurance of big business con tinuing until hot weather sets in. Miss Amelia Bingham decided some time ago that she would not take “The Climb ers’ to London this spring because of the existing depression in) amusement circles caused by the death of Queen Victoria. She will begin her first annual tour at Boston early in September. B. F. Keith has put on the stage of his Union Square Theater a spectacular production called “Pageant of Nations.’ It is a decided success and will be continued part of the vaudeville show for some ; Allen, who is in the fourteenth week of her run in the Republic, will continue to present “In the » of the hing” in this house for a month longer. The New York's bill is the same as las week. It consists of “After Office Hours,” “The Giddy Throng,” “The Devil's Dream’ ballet.” “The March of Old Glory” and a vaudeville ollie. “Lovers” Lane’ remains in the Manhattan, playing to a good business. The seventy-tifth performance on last Monday was celebrated by the distribution of souvenirs. Ethel Barrymore and “Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines” are still filling the rick Theater. They will stay the out and open the house next fall. Meanwhile the play may be done in London with Marie Tempest in Miss Barrymore's part. The long-propesed actors’ home is new a reality. ne time ago Beechlawn, property of the late Colonel Richard Penn Smith, at Stapleton, Staten Island, was selected by the umnittee of the Actors’ Fund as the most suitable place for the heme, and the work of remodeling the house and putting it in shape for oecupaney wil! be begun immediately. Charles Hawtrey will include a dramatization of Kipting’s “The Light That Failed” in his repertoire during his forthcoming American tour. Manager Dingwall, of the Broadway Theater, who was shot by Robert H. Moulton while in the company of Miss May Buekley, is improving as rapidly as the phystclans at Roosevelt Hospital expected. A committee from the new theatrical managers and advance agents’ club has started on a stil! hunt for a club honse, which will likely be located between Thirty-seventh and Forty-second streets. close to Broadway. Henry Greenwall, president of the Greenwall Theatrical Cirenit Company, has arrapged te erect a new theater in Tiarlem. He is the latest manager to threaten the theatrieal trust with a New York theater. : “Brother Officers’’ is proving to be as atij tractive a bill as the Empire Theater has ever offered. This beautiful story of love and sacrifice. whieh is charmingly inter preted by the Empire company. seems to have a strong hold upen theater-goers, and the play drew as large audiences all last week as if it were a pew production. { M. A. NOBLE. 2 Extract from a New York Tribune criti cism: “He has dazzled us by his brilliant and perfect technique: he has excited us by { his fiery spirit: he has awed us by an undes cribable serene sense of force, and he has seized, by this sympathies: and so he has won, by this series of victories over the Intelleet and affections, a most absolute mastery of his audience.” “FP. S.—‘He’ played on a violin.