The Billboard 1904-04-02: Vol 16 Iss 14 (1904-04-02)

THE BILLBOARD — oo Harry Danforth, mavager of Bijou Theatre. Oshkosh, Wis., is Increasing the seating capacity of his theatre and has decided to keep the house open during the summer months. The case against Theo. L. Hays, manager, and Thos. McCormick, assistant manager, of the Grand Opera House, St. Paul, Minn., fer overcrowding theatre was last week dismisse:l. Manager Colbeck, of the opera house at St. Johnsbury, Vt., has inforined ‘*The Billboard’’ correspondent that he will civsv fis opera house permanently. The principal cause is poor busi ness. The Vail Opera House at Eveleth, Minn., has been dark two weeks, owing to some needed" repairs. The Baker Repertoire Company will begin a two weeks’ engagement in the near future. The roster of the Grand Opera House st Colorado Springs, Col., reads: N. 8S. Nye, manager; W. Myers, stage manager; George Hendrickson, electrician, and A, Helmer, master of properties. A ‘ r. T. D. Edwards, T. B. Greer, W. W. Hetheock, J. KR. Spradlin, George Dahnke, T. M. Pierce und J. ©, Reynolds, of Union City. lll, have filed articles of incorporation for ihe Union City Opera House Company, with $5,000 capital. The attempt to build a new theatre to replace the one burned in Columbia, Mo., met with failure. The committee soliciting subscriptions met with no encouragement, and the plan was abandoned. The town has been devoid of a house new for three years. Manager Smith, at the Jefferson Theatre, Hamilton, O., hag been admitting free the wife of the city fireman stationed at his theatre, but he objected, on March 14, to the addition of two children, The <Aisagreement is likely to result in the abolishing of the assigument of firemen to the theatres. Wm. Eckart Co., of Chicago, had the decoratlon of the new theatre at Hot Springs i charge. The effect is in rich empire red, intermingled with gold and old ivory tints. The main feature is the treatment of the sounding board, which consists of a beautiful floral decoration arranged in an artistic manner. A half dozen different managements are after the lease of the Grand Opera House in Sioux City, Ia., and the matter of lease or purchase is to be decided within the next thirty davs. If Manager Beall, of the Grand. does not purchase the property. he will ~robably build 2 theatre in Sioux City, and the Grand will pass into other hands, as all's lease expire May 1. Henry W. Savage's lease of the Garden Theatre, Manhattan, N. Y.. for a term of years will give him one more production house for purely American works. As in the past, he will devote himself entirely to plays of native manufacture, probably establishing a lyric stock company for this purpose. This theatre is t be entirely remodeled and redecorated during the summer. The work of remodeling and improving the Academy of Music. the only theatre in Wilmington, N. C., which has just been re-leased by Messrs. Cowan Brothers for a term of five years, will commence on May 1. The remodeling will be made to the auditorium and the improvements will consist of a new heating plant, mew scenery, dressing room appoint ments, ete. Bids for doing the work have been ealled for. Chas. D. Lacour, manager of the Bluffton (Ind.) new $35,000 playhouse, announces that his theatre will open Wednesday, April 6, witb Denman Thompson and Geo. W. Ryer’s comedy drama, Our New Minister. The following attractions are booked for the month of April: Our New Minister, Gambler's Daughter, twin Sisters De Lacom, My Friend from Arkansas. Royer Bros. Next Door, Legally Dead, Montana Outlaw, Midnight Flyer, In Sunny Tennes+ee. Alone the Cumberland, Millionaire Tramp and "Liss The Port Gibson 8s.) Opera House will change hands on April 15. The new managers are Davidson and Fisher. The firm is composed of John G. Davidson, formerly manager in 1898 1902, and Joseph L. Fisher, of N. Hacket & Co., manager for the past two seasons, and consequently the house will be in the hands of experienced men during the coming season of 194-5. Stair & Havlin will do the booking chiefly. The new firm contemplate running Summer attractions at their house, which has been fitted for the purpose with electric fans, =. ead will be glad to hear from their many riends. MUSICAL. A May music festival is a certainty this year for Atlanta, Ga. The Parker Concert Company played Apalachicola, Fla.. on March 21. The chorus for the National Saengerfest this = in Milwaukee will begin organization April Mmes. Melba and Sembrich have signed with = Metropolitan Opera Company for next sea The May Musical Festival, which has been an annual feature at New Haven, Conn., for Many years, has been abandoned. Det Hunter, who was for many years director of the famous Second Brigade of Eldora. Ia., is critically i] at his home in that city and is thought can not recover. Miss Therese Abraham, of Cincinnat!, who has won fame abroad as a sweet singer, was tendered a five-years’ contract as a member of the Metropolitan Opera Company. Victor Herbert was presented with a loving cup by his many admirers on March 18 in Pittsburg. He received a great ovation at the concert of the Pittsburg Orchestra. Manager Henry W. Savage has been negotiating with George W. Thatcher to play the part originated by Willis P. Sweatman with the western The Yankee Consul Company. The French Opera Company c in New York on March 17, after four performances. Manager F. Charley is said to have gone to New Orleans to secure funds to pay off the members. The Soldiers’ Home Band at Marion, Ohio, occasionally plars in the orchestra at the An derson (Ind.) Opera House and the local mu Sicilians’ union has filed a protest with the government. J. E. Cole has sold his new musical comedy. The Girl from Kansas, to Garn & Baschus. Mr. Cole, who is with the Peoples’ Stock So.. Ohicago, will close in April to join John Robinson’s shows, Jerry Mills has taken Tom MelIntosh’s place in The Smart Set Company. a ls oore, the manager, hag resigned owing to ill-health, and Chas. White, who has been in advance has been appointed manager. The Leonard Company hag closed a contract with Onetta, the fire dancer, and opens at the St. Louls fair grounds May 1. The Shields Sisters have also been engaged. Hall Butler will take charge of the advance ends, It was decided to disband the New Orleans French Opera Company. The company began an engagement in New York City, the intention being to open in Paris after a short run there. The company numbered 280 people and bas been heard in many parts of the country. The Leonard Company's new musical comely, Midnight Under the Mistletoe, has canceled their October dates on account of Matt Barton's St. Louis contracts not expiring until Nov. 1. Mr. Barton will take personal charge of the opening. Hall Butler wili assist Mr. Burtou and act as press representative. The Sho Gun, the new comic opera by Geo. Ade and Gustave Lueders, will give its initial performance at the Davidson, Milwaukee, Wis.. March 31. The scenery was made in Chicago under the personal direction of Henry W. Savage, while the drilling of the chorus was in charge of Geo. Marion. The production of the company will be a magnificent one, and fa‘niliar faces are to be seen among the principals. The chorug was taken from the ones in The Prince of Pilsen, Peggy from Paris and The Sultan of Sulu. The orchestra will be under the direction of Mr. Lueders. Music composed by Russiung and played for Americans by Russians will have its finale for this season in New York, when Conductor Modest Altschuler will conduct the sixth and last concert of the Russian Symphony Society's Orchestra Mareh “31 at Cooper Union. The program carries a solo. ‘The soloist will be Mr. Leo Schulz, of high repute as a ‘cellist. At the fifth concert on March 17 the soloists, Miss Elise Stevens, soprano, and Mr. Alexander Saslavsky, concert master of the orchestra, added much to the program of the best concert, so far, of the series. An humble member of the Russian orchestra, on the occasion of the fifth conce:t was Mr. Walter Damrosch, who volunteered to play the drums. A mishap, the accidental dropping of a drumstick, caused a mementary diversion at the battery end of the orchestra, and the convulsed countenances of some of the musicians of the left wing of the Russian forces were out of harmony with the otherwise devotional spirit which prevailed. There has been no more appreciative auditor, at the Russian concerts his engagements would permit him to attend, than Mr. Walter Damrosch; with Mr. Frank Damrosch, at the first concert, he followed the musicians when they left the stage and was the first to offer the warmest congratulations to Conductor Altschuler and the Russians on the merits of their first public performance. The feature of the last Russian con cert will be Tschalkowsky’s Sixth Sympbo vy. B-minor, Pathetique. The work bas been tho-oughly rehearsed, and as the conductor was reared in Tschaikowsky'’s atmosphere, and ha: especial interest in his life-work, an interestin performance is expected. Next season the Rus sian Symphony Society's regular series of concerts will be given at Carnegie Hall. Plans «re forming for other concerts by the full, orchestra and for chamber music with programs noi entirely of Russian music. Concerts in Brooxlyn, Boston and Philadelphia are among the probabilities. The scope and membership an corresponding efficiency is to be enlarged. The subscription for the Russian Symphony concerts of the season of 1904-05 will begin on October 15 at Ditson’s. The most popular song, from a_ publisher's standpoint, composed within the last twenty years, was After the Ball. Six hundred thousand copies of the song were sold. Next in point of popularity was On the Banks of the Wabash, composed by Paul Dresser. It sold to the extent of 550,000 copies. Dresser alse wrote Just Tell Them That You Saw Me, and 500,000 coples were disposed of. Bedelia, a4 song which has been whistled and sung for three or four months, was recently valued by one music publishing company, which sold it to another, at $20,000. Already 400,000 copies of it have been sold. Still another com tion now popular in the West, ‘‘an intermezzo march two step," The Gondoller, was sold for $5,000 in cash. Hiawatha, the reigning success of last summer, and of which 400,000 copies were printed, was bought by one house from anothe: after it had been published but six months, for $10,000. Asleep in the Deep, a popular bass solo, bought its author and composer, W. H, Petrie, $5,000. It has sold to the extent of 200,¢ copies. In the Good Old Summer Time secured a sale of 250,000 copies. Hor witz and Bowers, Western young men, who had previous experience in this field, wrote Always and Because, large sellers in their day. Ford and Bratton, another song writing team, entered the lists, and scored successes with Only Me and Sue. After them came Braisted and Carter, authors of The Girl I loved in Tennessee and She Was Bred in Old Kentucky. Von Tilzer and Lamb, who wrote The Bird in a Gilded Cage and wn on the Farm; George Evans and Ben Shields. vaudeville artists, who scored with In the Good Ot Summer Time and The Sweetest Flower That Grows in Tennessee, and Heelan & Helf, whore How Would You Like to Be the Iceman? was a large source of profit. Compositions such as any one of those mentioned by the long list of song writing teams have realized from $5,ihh to $20,000. Songs are sold to jobbers and retallers by the publishers at seven cents to 15 cents each. Of this the author gets four cents to seven cents, according to his standing and the regard the publishers have for the future work he may do. An author drawing four cents on each of 200,000 copies would have $8,000 to spend. If he scored such a success as After the Ball or On the Banks of the Wabash, he would have $16,000 to $20,000. Paw! Barnes states tuat he composed Dolly Grey in three hours. Jerome and Schwartz own to hav ing composed Bedelia In one day.—N. Y. Herald MINSTRELS, Al. G. Field has already received over 1,800 letters in answer to his recent ads for people for next season’s company. This week letters -" coming in from Germany and other parts tr) Purope. While in Waterloo, Iowa, March 18, Al. G. Field was entertained by C. E. Pickett, Past Exalted Ruler of Supreme Lodge of Elks. Mr. Field’s monologue brought forth much applause and numerous. friends were out to welcome hin. Doc Waddell, general agent the Faust Minstrels, writes: Our business during Lent has been phenomenal. At Chanute, Kan., we played the Hetrick to S. R. O. The Shriners, Elks and Eagles attended in a body, and after the show banqnetted us. The Elks’ banquet at Parsons, Kan., was very swell, James Bararidi. Italian tenor, and FE. Young. of Gus Sun's Minstrels, were injured at Keokuk. Iowa, by a street car aceldent. It occurred while the band was parading the streets. Bither by accident of through carelessneas of the motorman, the car ran into the parade, badly inJuring two men and slightly injuring four others. Manager Jack W. Stokes, of Tommy Donnelly’s Metropolitan Minstrels, writes that the show will be fitted up with everything new this season. All special paper will be used. Comedian Donnelly will be surrounded by the best minstre] talent the season which opens the last of May. They will play all .the leading summer resorts. Eddie Leonard, better known in minstrelsxy as the “Only Eddie,."’ is now under tbe management of W. C. Nankeville and Lee Grove. He opens with Haverly’s Minstrels on Maren 28, at Newark, N. J., and will continue to play for week stands until the end of the season, after which he is to be featured as a topliner in the most important vaudeville houses In this country. Mr. Leonard has everybody's govod wishes, and will no doubt have hig art up to the top in every performance. VAUDEVILLE. The Rossow Midgets were visitors tu the Ohlo Penitentiary March 17. The Elinor Sisters have an amusing skefe entitled The Adventures of Bedelia. J. Aldrich Libby an Katherine Trayer are booked solid from May 22 to September. Roy Allen, character comedian, is on the sick list and is domiciled at Waycross, Ga. Ali, Hunter and Ali report big success with their novelty acrobatic comedy act through the HELENE MILLER, “Bardo” in Wizard of Oz. M. L. Barnes, of the Kibby Stock Co., and Walter Matthews, of Louisville, will form 4 vaudeville team for next season, Miss Lavada May of the sketch team of Hunt and May, will be married to ‘Parson’ Joe Hunt at Toledo, Ohio, May 12. The Franklin Sisters, now touring the Central West, are eminently successful with Cole & Johnson Bros. The Maid of Timbuctoo. Col, Whallen, of Louisville, Ky., will or ganize a Japanese troupe of about thirty-five performers and will make a tour of the country. Jack Bentham and Blanche Freeman (Mrs Jack Bentham) are resting at their home in San Antonio, Tex. They will open on the Crystal cireuit on the Coast April 24 and July 24. Zareil, gymnast, has bought a home in Fruitvale, Cal. He has returned to vaudeville, playing over the Crystal] circuit, and i{s° introa a sensational unicycle ride on the slack wire. Robert Kegerries. one of the coming young actors, lately of the Quincy Adams Sawyer Company, contributes largely to the success of A Wild Rose, a vaudeville sketch written and produced by Miss Edsall. “Chalk"’ Saunders inas finished engagements over Keith's and Percy Williams’ circuit, and is at Providence, R. 1., arranging for a summer theatre. He opens April 4 on the Proctor cireuit in New York City. W. Payne will tour the West and North west the coming season, opening about June 15 over the Walker Circuit with a strict), Oriental, up-to-date novelty, the mystic Marve! of the Twentieth Century. The Fay Sisters Sisters are booked on the Lubelski circuit. They show remarkable talent for ones so young, and thelr future looks bright. They played a return engagement at os Novelty Theatre, Wichita, Kan., week of Mrs. Annie Butler, better known as Annie Oakley, was awarded her damages in the sum of $900 In the libel case against an Eastern publication. The suit was brought to recover damages for an alleged libelous article which appeared in the paper. Annie Butler is the greatest female marksman in the world, and perhaps the greatest the world has ever seen. She has amazed millions, got only in this conn try, but in Burope, by her wonderful skill with the rifle and shotgun. She has even been known to perform what is considered the reatest of rifle tests, the test that Fenimore per’'s hero, Deerslayer, performed, that of perforating two potatoes with one rifle ball asx they passed each other In the air. For seven seasons she has been traveling with dramatic companies, giving exhibitions on the stage. FARCE COMEDY. Jeffers & Crawford will put the farce comedy, A Runaway Banker, out next season, open ing early in August. Miss Gussie Nelson, formerly connected with the team of Hanson and Nelson, now a member of the Hot Old Time Co., was hurt recently in an electric car collision in Grand Rapids, Mich. Manager Chenet thinks she will be able to resume her part at ap early date. BURLESQUE. Ruth Everett, the original mechanical doll, is receiving good and flattering commendation from both press and public for her clever portrayals in this line. Miss Everett is with The Jolly Grass Widows, and will join her husband, J. Martin Free, at the close of the burlesque season. . ODDS AND ENDS. “Happy Jack’? was a caller on ‘The Billboard’’ last week. The collapsible chair which folds flat on the floor 1s suggested for use in theatres. Local Loége, No. 424, B. P. O. B., of Waterloo, Iowa, is rehearsing Oliver Twist, to be produced April 5. Ai. G. Field denies the report put In cireulation by some unknown that be is a candidate a the position of Grand Exalted Ruler of the VikSs, Al Evans, Charles Teaff, James Leffler and Jack Lerey, members of the Harris-Parkinsou Company, were initiated into the F. O. E. at Portsmouth, Ohio, March 16, J. B, Dickson, manager of the Anderson (Ind.) Opera House, states that the present seasun has been the most successful in the history of the theatre in Anderson. Fire was discovered in one of the stores of Rand's Opera House Block, Troy, N. Y., Marcb Ss, and caused a loss of $10,000 to the playheuse, fully insured. Fortunately tue house was dark on that date. The management of the pavillion theatre at Augusta, Ga., has closed a contract with Mi. Jake Wells for attractions at the summer playhouse thig season. The season opens June 1%, luasune twelve weeks. A delegate from Harford County, Md., has Introduced a bill in the legislature prohibiting managers of theatres from selling more tickets than there are seats in the theatre. Baltimore iianagers will protest against the measure. The old Auditorium in Memphis, Tenn., is being altered and enjoys a new name, the Bijou Theatre. B. M. Stainback is the manager, and he hopes to have it ready for June. It will be added to the Stair & Havlin circuit. Messrs. Tyler and Hopkins assumed the management of Moore’s ‘Theatre, Nevada, Mo., March 14. E. H, Stettmund, the old manager, sold his interest to them. The Morey Stock Co, was the first offerlog of the new managers. Manager Ellsworth, of the Metropolitan, at Iowa City, lowa, beaded a delegation of Elks that went to Webster City, March 18, to assist in branding a bunch of fawns, three of which were from this city. George W. Chatterton, manager of the Chatterton Opera House, Springtield, Ill, has secured a lease on the Grand Opera House at Jacksonville, Ill, and the Broadway Theatre, Lincoln, ILll., and enters upou their MWata.ement at once. George Musgrove, the London theatrical manager, who has been in America purchasing various American pieces for preduction in Londen, speaks in high praise of the business-like rapidity of his American confreres. As an instance, he says, he secured the English rights of the Prince of Pilsen from Heury W. Savage in two hours. Paul Gilmore and his company enjoyed some strenuous railroad travellug on their récent tour through Montana. Heavy snows delayed trains and the company arrived in Great Falls and Boseman at 10:30 p. m., but found audiences awaiting in cach city and proceeded with the performances, which were concluded about 2a. m. Mr. Charles H. Yale, the proprietor, and members of The Way of the Transgressor Company at the end of the first act in the Camdeu Theatre, Camden, N. J., called Mr. W, C. Cunningham, the manager of the company, and presented bim with a beautifully engraved watch charm. Mr. Will E. Stephens ma the presentation. “Duffy,” the old blind mule which Miss Josephine Cohan bought during her visit to the mammoth Bellevue mines in Seramton, Pa., last October is dead. When Miss Coban visited the mines her attention was caled to the old, sick animal, which had never seen the light of day, having been born in the mines. His condition touched her tender heart and she bought him for twenty-five dollars and sent him to her farm in Connecticut where he spent his last days in comfort. An old miner’s shovel, with the simple words “Duffy,”’ is stuck in ground over his grave as qa monument. The Mabel Paige Comedy Company now touring the south engaged the Cordele, Ga., baseball team in a thrilling game of ball March 17. A large crowd witnessed the struggle, which was exciting from start to finish, and resulted 10 to 9 in favor of the Mabel Paige team. Mr. C. ©. Peavy, one of Wallace's bi posters, was the only outsider who played vp the ‘Mabel Paige nine. Mr. Peavy made some good hits and showed that he had played ball before. Mr. Willard has not only one of the best repertodre companies now on the road, but also a company of boys that can sling the bat. FOREIGN, George Edwards, at a cost of $75,000, produced a charming new comic opera on March 5 at Daly’s London Theatre. Its title is The Cingalee, or Sunny Ceylon. It was enthusiastieally received. be woman who adds a new song to the world’s stock, or invents a new and ple ink, is a benefactress to the race, and al people wiil rise and call her blessed.’" So spoke one of Broadway's sages the other day when he found in several drug stores a siga aad Try the Newest Refresher, the ‘Nancy wn. Tro a] **Miss Marie Cabill has done both, and fs entitled to be called benefactress,’” continued the sage. new drink has already achieved popularity along Broadway, and will be better appreciated during hot weather. It is made of a strong dash of vanilla, a little pineapple syrup, reinforced with strawberry, and tie whole p aoe the necessary acidity by addin a few drops of lime juice. When the require plain soda is added, the drink becomes a most tempting and pleasing nectar. Following is the chorus of Paul West's recipe for the New York girl entitled, Mademolselle New York:— o ae 3-4 ag English. chic that quite Paree. A touch of the Danish, a trace of the Spanisa. A little of Germany. A flash in the eye that’s Italian. A blush from Killarney or Cork. And a style of a pattern that is only Manhattan, She is Mademoiselle New York.