The Billboard 1901-09-14: Vol 13 Iss 37 (1901-09-14)

THE BILLBOARD Mauager Chas. Frohman has succeeded in enjoining the Greenwall Theatrical Circuit from producing extracts from ‘‘Under Two Flags” at the American Theater, New York. 2. H. Sothern has determined to secure the Iunglish rights for the production of “Richard Lovelace,” which was presented by him for the first time at the Garden The ater, New York, Sept. 9. The “Little Miss Nobody’? Company, which organized at Joplin, Mo., opened their season in that city Aug. 30, a large crowd being in attendance. The company will teur Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. Among the players who have been engaged are the Zeilkes, O. L. Marks, Irene Louis and Mr. Leon and wife. Gus |’. Thomas, comedian of the Garden Theater Stock Company at Cleveland, O., has been arrested and charged with procuring an illegal operation upon Miss Marion Lyle Hawkins, 2 member of the company. Miss Hawkins died from the operation, and Thomas and Dr. E. J. Wunderlick are held for her death. There was a smail riot on the stage of the Berkeley Lyceum Theater in New York during a rehearsal of Vernona Jarbeau’s revival of ‘‘Mazeppa.’’ The ladies of the ballet objected to the presence of two Egyptian women in the cast and attacked them. Miss Jarbeau and Miss Witt, the ballet mistress, “split them out’? and Mr. Lederer fired the pugnacious girls. The Al. W. Martin “‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (Western), under the management of W. C. Cunningham, played at the Grand Opera House, Canton, O., Monday, Sept. 2 (Labor Yay) to the largest business in the history of the theater. lorty-six hundred and twenty paid admissions, breaking all reeords, notwithstanding it rained both afternoon and night. Aubrey Mittenthal, one of the proprietors of the “Dangers of Paris,’’ is a dead “ringer’ for Julius Fielschmann, the popular young millionaire mayor of Cincinnati, and when Mittenthal was suddenly pressed into a part at the opening Sunday matinee at Heuck’s the patrons of that house believed that their popular young mayor had joined the ranks of the profession. The resemblance is startling. The Bonnair-Price Company, formed at Emporia, Kan., Aug. 31 for rehearsal, and opened the Whitley Opera House witn a week in repertoire, beginning Sept. 2. The company is a strong one for a popular price troupe, and is. supporting Miss Bonnair Price, the leading lady, in good casts. Beaumont Claxton, C. D. Hesse, H. 8. Ellis, Chas. Bramon, Perey R. Deighton, Miss Hazel Chesterfield, and Ruth Chandler are among the members of the company, and Collins and Collins are to join next week. All are clever, hard-working people, always anxious to get ‘The Billboard,” please their andiences and make friends, and are succeeding. W. N. Smith, manager, is a hustler, and is glad to recognize ‘‘The Billhoard’ credentials. ~ ee OT — MINSTRELS. Dan Fishell has resigned from the Garden Minstrels, and has joined Lewis & Austin’s Minstrels. Lawrence Diamond, of the Al. G. Field Minstrels, who has been ill at the St. Francis Hospital, Columbus, O., has improved enough to rejoin the company. The Cleveland Minstrels, who opened at Findlay, O., in August under the management of S. A. Grubbs, closed at Bay City, Mich., Sept. 3, on account of bad business. Chas. Cartmell, of the Al. G. Field Minstrels, received a telegram while on the stage at Louisville, Ky., stating that his mother was dying. He left for home on the first train. The sympathy of the entire compuny goes with him. The Pan-American feature of the Al. G. Field Minstrels or some other subtle power is proving a powerful magnet to this minstrel company. Reports come from Lima, Dayton, Columbus, Indianapolis, Louisville, Lexington, Asheville and other points, of their phenomenal success. “Boy,” a large St. Bernard dog, has been used in several burlesques of the Field Minstrels. He made his first appearance three years ago in the skit, “On to Cuba.”’ This season he is playing a part on the Midway. At Asheville, while the company was playing a matinee, Boy seems to have gotten sore over the fact that he was compelled to work on Labor Day, as he left the imprint of his tusks upon the good right hand of Al. G. Field, to such an extent that the services of a physician were required, since which time Mr. Field bas carried his hand in a sling. Boy is still playing his part, and the whole company give bim the center of the stage. No scene is cut on him. There were numbers of people in the audience at Macauley’s Theater, Louisville, Ky., Thursday night, Aug. 31, who did not understand the interruption in the performance and why the burlesque entitled “On the Midway’? was done without the principal character. Zach Phelps, the leading lawyer at the Louisville bar, and one of the most popular Elks in America, passed away at 9 p.m. on that date. Mr. Phelps and Al. G. Field have been warm personal friends for twenty years, The news of Mr. Phelps’ death was brought to the theater as Mr. Field was about to go on the stage. He was overcome to such an extent that he could rot go on with his part, and immediately left the theater. In the death of Zach Phelps many theatrical people lose a warm friend. His services were always at their command, whether he was rewarded financially or not. Zach Phelps always stood a friend to anyone in the profession who ealled upon him for his services. His death is an irreparable one to the order of Elks, of which he was a leading member. He was well known all over the United States, and whereyer known was loved and respected. BURLESQUE. Gus Hill will have twelve shows on the road this season. “Chuck”? Conners, of Broadway fame, will head his own burlesque company this season. The Golden Gate Quartette and Butter cup and Fannie Winfred will be seen with Id. Rush's City Club Company. Lew Carroll, the well known burlesquer, has written a burlesque, called “A Trip to Buffalo,” or ‘Pan I Merry I Can,” which is being played by Clark's Burlesquers. Thomas L. Finn’s Novelty Show includes among its performers the Murry Brothers, Frank and Marshall, the noted buck and Wing dancers, comedians and musical performers. The auction sale of boxes for the first performance of Weber & Fields’ new burlesque was a huge success. The first choice of boxes brought $300, and they ranged from that price down to $15. Tom Sharkey paid $140 for four seats in the first row. Among the people with Clark's ‘‘Royal Burlesquers” this season are Lew H. Carroll, Maud Elliston, the TroHey Car Trio, Lilly English, Leslie Rinehart, Fields and Wooley, Coulter and Starr and Bendini and Arthur. The Miner & Evans Burlesquers inaugurated their tour at Reading, Pa., recently. The roster of the show includes, among others, Bixley and Hughes, Barr and Evans, Maddox and Wayne, Riley and Hughes, St. John and Nocalai, Edna Buckley, Annie Travis and Della Clayton. Miss Mildred Stern, of the Broadway Burlesquers, while on the train en route to Cincinnati, made an example of a fresh Johnnie, who sought to become familiar with the burlesquers. Miss Stern used her slipper over the Johnnie’s head and put several dents in it. Then men on the train applauded her for her courage. In the melee Miss Stern’s slipper fell out of the window and was lost somewhere ‘Mid the Green Fields of Virginia.” fhe MERRY WAR To Be Waged for Control of the Burlesque Field in Cincinnati. Unless all signs fail, Cincinnati will witness this season one of the most bitter wars ever waged in the history of burlesque. Col. James EF. Fennessy, of the People’s, and Robt. Fulgora, who is quite as well and favorably known in the profession, have “tied up’’ over Fulgora’s effort to enter the burlesque field in the Queen City with a burlesque stock company. Since the halcyon days of Col. Snellbaker, Virgie Jackson and “‘Gabe,”’ the old Vine Street Opera House has been ‘‘dark’’ almost continuously, save for the time it was used as a barracks for the local Salvation Army. Late last season John A. Avery, who is well known as a museum manager, took a flyer at the old house and secured a lease thereon from Peter Rudolph Neff, who is at the head of Cincinnati's College of Music. Ayery’s venture proved a failure after a two weeks’ struggle, and again the old Vine Street became dark. Col. Fulgora thought he saw an opening and accordingly he secured a lease on the house and announced that he would infuse new life into the once popular house by means of continuous burlesque. Meanwhile, Manager Avery located in Hamilton, but the week before the People’s Theater opened he was around shaking hands on Vine street with the welcome announcement to his friends that he would enter the harness again as press agent for Heuck & Fennessy, who now control and operate the People’s, Heuck’s and the Lyceum, which latter is probably better remembered as Havlin’s Theater, on Central avenue. Mr. Avery’s connection with the Heuck & Fennessy forces was a welcome piece of news to the friends of all parties concerned, and was not given any significance until Col. Fulgora’s diamonds showed up on Vine street once more, which they did early last week. The Colonel announced the object of his presence in Cincinnati to be his intention of preparing the Vine Street Opera House for his season of continuous burlesque. He had searcely reached Vine street before Attorneys Follett and Kelly, on behalf of Mr. Avery, took steps to prevent the consummation of the lease of the theater to Fulgora. Avery’s attorneys aver that Avery was unlawfully dispossessed of his lease on the theater by the Neff Estate, and that for nionths after Avery ceased to operate it as a theater the rent was tendered to Mr. Neff, who refused to accept it. Avery thus claims that his lease on the house still holds good, while that held by Fulgora is invalid and fraudulent. Avery declares that he will fight for his rights, and an appeal to the courts seems inevitable. Meanwhile, Col. Fennessy has announced that, beginning Sept. 16, the People’s will give a matinee daily, instead of on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, as heretofore. He adds that the People’s will also become a continuous burlesque house, and as evidence of his good faith in the matter he exhibits display ads. clipped from Fastern dramatic papers, wherein he seeks firstclass burlesque people for continuous performances. Col. Fennessy does not admit that his continuous performance idea is a builet aimed at Fulgora in case he should open the Vine Street Opera House. He simply savs that it is his idea that a burlesque built upon local topics and presented by capable people will be not only a novelty, but an appreciated departure tn burlesque. It is not intended, he says, to can cel any of the bookings for the People’s but to sandwich in the local burlesque as presented by two stock companies, between the time of the final matinee curtain and the first curtain of the evening performances, und so give a continuous burlesque. The experiment will be tried first at the People’s Theater, and if successful will be followed by Col. John Whalen at the Buck ingham in Louisville, which is a part of the Empire Circuit. If successful there, Col. Fennessy says the entire cireuit of his theaters will fall in line. Fennessy denies that his continuous bur lesque experiment is a bullet intended to spike Fulgora’s gun, and that he is backing Avery in his suit, but people who have heard both sides of the story say of Fennessy’s denial: “Well, that'll help some.’ It has been hinted that, pruned to the quick, the whole tri-cornered row is a revival of the open war that once waged between Col. Fennessy and M. C. Anderson, of the Columbia, when the latter first entered the Cincinnati amusement tield. The war waged openly for quite a while, and it even reached that stage where each covered the other's paper. Peace, however, was ap parently brought about through the managers’ association. Those who would like to stir up trouble point to the fact that Fulgora has booked his “Stars”? at Anderson's house for years and aver that Damon and Pythias in their best days were never closer to each other than Anderson and Fulgora. It is only fair to Mr. Anderson to say that he joins Fulgora in denying in the most positive terms that there is any collusion in an effort to even up old scores with Fennessy. Whatever the cause may be, there is a war on in the Queen City between two clever, courteous and astute managers, who know how to fight and who will fight for what each believes to be his rights. The courts will decide which is wrong. ROBINSON DEAL Has Been Closed and a Second Stock Company for Cincinnati is -Abondoned. Though the lease of Robinson's Opera House in Cincinnati has been signed by Havlin & Rainforth and John Robinson, the date of the opening of the big syndicate attractions in Cincinnati is still problematical. The lease is now in active operation, but interior improvements, amounting to $20,000, are under way, and will not be completed until late this month. The first show booked by Managers Havlin & Rain ferth is that of Sadie Martineau (Mrs. Louis Nethersole), in Clyde Fitch's new play, “A Marriage Game.’ This is booked for Oct. 14, but the house will be ready for occu pancy some time previous to this date, and Managers Havlin & Rainforth are doing some tall skirmishing, in an effort to book a strong attraction for the opening, which they would like to have a week earlier than Oct. 14, if possible. One thing is sure, that when Robinson's Opera House is finished it will be one of the handsomest theaters in Amerfeca. The in terior furnishings are on the Moorish design, and will be rich in colors and detail. It is not generally known, but had Havlin & Rainforth’s deal fallen through the Pike Theater Stock Company would have had opposition this season. Ever since Rosen thal failed at Kabinson'’s, John Davis, who represents the Robinson estate, has been casting about for something to occupy the house. He had all but arranged with Hor ace Vinton and Edna Clayton. to head a first-class stock company to occupy Robinsons when the Rainforth & Havlin deal was consummated, and the second stock com pany for Cincinnati was hit in the head with an ax. There is little chance for the Grand to be rebuilt in time for occupancy this season. The steel strike has greatly delayed the delivery of steel beams, and it is more than probable that all the Grand's bookings will be presented at Robinson's. THE STOCKS. Sam Miller has joined the forces of “The Village Parson.” Iengel Sumner has joined Stock Company. Albert Froom will play Lord Hightitles in ‘*‘Miss Bob White.” La Adelia is with the Ella Tucker Stock Company this season. Edmund Breese has resigned Castle Square Stock Company. Hugh Norton and ‘Pink’? Russell signed with the Allan Stock Company. Mr. and Mrs. J. V. Brock have joined J. T. McAlpin’s “Hans Hanson” company. Gubby & Shugy, musical comedians, are making a hit with the Fenberg Stock Company. Miss Marie Boland will be a new addition to the Pike Stock Company when it returns to Cincinnati. John Steppling will have a place in the cast of the Dearborn Theater Stock Company, Chicago. Kd. L. Belden is a east of the Columbia pany, Brooklyn. “Human Hearts,’ Hal Reid's old play, was successfully revived at the Gillis Theater, Kansas City. Estella Wills, formerly one of the Broad way Trio, has signed with the Frankie Carpenter Stock Company. Walter Stetson, of the Bijou (Washington, D. C.) Company, has been engaged to play a part in “The Vermont Girl.” the Proctor from the have new addition to the Theater Stock Com VAUDEVILLE. The three Deltorellis, musical artists, ar booked over the Hopkins Cireuit, A. J. Hieks will assist Hallen and Pulle: } in their sketch called “The Sleep Walkers. It is said that the Rays will abandon “A Hlot Old Time” after this season. Giordon, Vidog and Perry, the Three Sham rocks, have signed with linkins’ 1 toplanus Killy Jennings, of Jennings and Renfrow, is ill, and Renfrow is working alone. Ibrigham L. Royce will succeed the lat Arthur Sidman in “York State Polks.”’ Kdwin De Coursey has accepted a posi tion ahead of Royer & Arthur's “Nex: Door.”’ Jack Sydell anticipates a tour of Main: ond Nova Scotia with “Hogan's Alley” nex sp ling. The engagement of Ameta at the Chutes in San Francisco has been extended threweeks, Harry Bell, a well-known comedian, is in the Cincinnati Hospital, suffering from de lirlum tremens. George and Mrs. Ober are presenting a sketch of “Rip Van Winkle” in vaudeville, and it is pronounced a hit. The Streets of Cairo and Turkish Theater joined Col. Harry W. Wright's Carnival Company in Bedford, Ind. Performers at the new Coliseum at Provi dence, KR. 1., are driven on the stage in a stylish coach and four-in-hand. Royal Miller and Cressy Russell will be seen in high-class sketches, In which Miss Russell's shooting will be featured. John and William Cutly, of the Hackett Bros., will be seen with their two sisters in a novel musical act this season. Will. H. Fox (Paddywhiski) was presented with a silver loving cup by admiring friends in London. Mrs. Fox is very ill in that city. Mrs. Viola Bryant, of the Four Bryants, who recently submitted to a delicate sur gical operation, has just left the Buffalo (N. Y.) General Hospital. Mr. Chas. W. Flory, who was to have been with the “Maid or Wife’’ Company this season, on account of business at home, will be unable to join the company in its tour. May Duryea will go into vaudeville with a new sketch, entitled “The Red Dog.” Miss Duryea will be supported by Mr Irving Chauncey, a well known Kentucky society man, who will make his debut with Wm. De Onza, the noted acrobat and bar rel jumper, has recently returned from a tour of Europe, where he made a remark able suecess. He is now at his home at Hamilton, O., resting before starting on his winter season. The White Rats are preparing to sue Mil ton Aborn, the former booking agent, to recover possession of books and papers belonging to the White Rats. Aborn deserted the order, and Inds opened an independent book ing agency in New York. Hobart Chatfield Taylor, a Chicago millionaire and clubman, is to break into vaudeville at the Hull House Theater in Chi cago this season. Mr. Taylor is an able linguist, and will play for the edification of Chicago's Poles, Italians, Swedes, etc. Manager Kenett, of the electric fountain with Wright's Carnival Company, has been investing in diamonds, and all the concessionaires are wearing big smiles of prosperity, especially Mr. Fenn, of Smith-Books, of Ferris wheel, the electric theater and merry-go-round proper. At the close of the season of Wright's Carnival Co., Col. H. W. Wright, the general manager, coutemplates putting out a big vaudeville company, playing week stands In the largest cities; but he will not close his carnival season till late, as he has fine bookings in the South the coming win NEW CIRCUIT Of Vaudeville Houses from Cincinnati to Frisco is Now in Operation. The mucn advertised, though long delayed new vaudeville circuit is a fact at last, and is now In actual operation. The last signature to the necessary agreements was made last week, and there is now 4 string of first-class vaudeville houses from Cincinnati to San Francisco, under practically one management. Under the new arrangement, vaudeville artists are assured at least twenty weeks on the one circuit. The houses Involved In the new agreement are the Columbia, Cincinnati; the Grand, Indianapolis; the Chicago Opera House, Olympic and Haymarket, Chicago; the Columbia, St. Louls; the Orpheum, New Orleans, the Orpheum, Omaha; the Orpheum, Kansas City; the Orpheum, Los Angeles, and the Orpheum, San Francisco. The officers of the new cireult are: M. C. Anderson, Cincinnatl, president; FE. C. Kohl, Chicago, vice president; Henry M Ziegler, Cincinnatl, secretary and treasurer. The executive or booking committee con sists of M. C. Anderson, BE. C. Kohl, and Martin Beck of San Francisco. Mr. Anderson ridicules the story of a con templated attack on salaries. Sald he: “tinder the old system it was difficult to hook first-class attractions in the West: first, because of the uncertainty of the length of engagement, and, second, because of the Immense outlay of railroad fare in volved. The Western managers sought to find some way to Induce vaudeville stars to play thelr houses, and so the managers entered Into the present agreement, which insures all vaudeville stars an engagement sufficiently long and well paid to warrant them In playing the Western houses. ‘There is no trust about It, and there Is nothing In the agreement between the Western vande ville managers that Is not of mutual benefit to manager and performer alike.” ~