The Billboard 1905-05-06: Vol 17 Iss 18 (1905-05-06)

The Billboard Eugene West writes that he is meetng “with big success playing juvenile leads with The Power of The Cross Co. Baron A. M. Von Kamp left San rranciseo, Cal., last week to go in advance of a colored minstrel and concert company. Mr. Marion, of the Cutter & Williams Stock Co., bas gone into Chicago for the purpose of having a surgical operation performed. Mr. J. N. Vedder, formerly manager of the James Kennedy Co., has been offered the management of a new summer theatre at Sterling, Il. Geo. Ralph Moore, last season stage manager for the Bush Temple Theatre, Chicago, UL, and recently with the Woodward Stock Co., is at liberty. Miss McKee, leading lady with the Ferris Stock Co, at Sioux City, Ia., will star next season under the direction of a well known eastern manager. J. Martin Free, the past season in advance of A Chicago Tramp Co., is in advance of John F. Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin Co, for the summer season. Roy Lee, singing and dancing comedian, writes that he will be with Eckhardt & Hawkins’ Ideals all summer. The company is meeting with great success. The effort of the theatrical managers of Chicago to have passed by the legisiature of that state a bill in effect annuliing the child labor law has been defeated... Miss Louise Ripley, who has scored such a success as Lady Maucbeth in John Griffith’s company this season, will play Lady Anne in Mr. Griffith's Richard Ill. next season. Geo. C. Dent will put out an Everyman Co. next season with an entirely new scenic equipment. The tour will emlirace the middle west and southwest and will begin in September. Mr. W. R. Cutter, of the Cutter & Williams Steck Co., has reorganized a new company at Marion, Ill, known as the Cutter Stock Co. The company opened at Marion last week, Morgan Gibney, a well known western actor who had the misfortune to lose his wife, Nellie Gibney, recently by death, has re tired from the stage and gone to his home in Oak Park, Ill. James O. Feltz, business manager of the Power of The Cross Co., reports the season's business as being very good. The company is now booked up to July 18 and may play in Canada the entire summer. Don Stuart, booking agent for the Crawford Cireult, will take the Odeon Stock Co. of St. Louis en a road tour for two weeks beginning May 1. It is not positively known whether the company will return to the Odeon or not. The Cinectnnati Stock Co., under the the management of Clifford & Stevens, is composed of the following members: George Gordon, Eugene Bonner, Robt. Bennett, Robt. Hazlett, Arthur Godkins, Mae Dudley, Lois Meredith, Marie Lazay, Nellie Godkins, Catherine Godkins and Rubie Ogle. Morgan Hewitt, under the management of G. Stuart Brodock, opened Easter Monday at the head of the Morgan Hewitt Stock Co. The company, which is booked solid during the summer in northern Pennsylvania and Canada, begin their regular season Sept. 11 on the Verbeck Circait. Miss Carol Pollard, who has been Walker Whiteside’s leading lady the past season, has returned to her home in Sioux City, la. This was Miss Pollard’s first season on the professional stage and her success has been so marked that she will continue the work al — her plans for next season are not maured. The Huntley Entertainers broke all records at the Phillips (Wis.) Opera House recently, In spite of a heavy rainstorm and the Lenten season. Our correspondent writes that this is one of the very best companies in that State, and that it is up-to-date and refined in every particular. An elaborate celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the death of John Schiller, the great German poet and dramatist, will be held in Buffalo, N. Y., next month. One of the big features will be an impressive production of ‘William Tell” in the Park Theatre, May 7, by the stock company of the German Theatre of Cincinnati. At the close: of his engagement to play in She Stops to Conquer, Louls James will “ppear for a number of weeks in vaudeville, presenting an act or scene from one or another of the plays in his repertoire. He denies the report that he is to be co-star with Alexander Salvint next season, and said that he contemplates the revival of Virginius and The Fool's Revenge Billy Walsh's Own Co. will open the ‘summer season at Hudson, N. ¥., May 8 Mr. Walsh bas surrounded himself with good people, will put on good plays and is deserving of kood patronage. His object is to play summer *neagements and open his 1906 season with one ~ the largest repertoire companies on the road. “peelal features will be added each week. Mr. W “lsh has been the funmaker with the Aubrey Stock Co. this season, rhe Morris Amusement Co. has just been formed in Norristown, Pa., for the }irpose of putting on theatrical productions a ouehout the United States. Arrangements e © been made with Mr. Howard P. Taylor whieh York for the Break For Liberty show, peta will have its fourth annual tour. Under on present management the show will be haw ger than ever; all new scenery and paper ‘8 been ordered. Our correspondent informs ws the show will tour th Oblo, Indiana and Miinots, — Tom North, manager of James Kyrie MacOurdy in The Old Clothes Man, writes that he had a close call with death at Princeton, Ill, April 18, owing to the extreme carelessnes of a train baggageman on the Burlington. Mr. North was waiting on the platform for his train, and before the train stopped the baggageman shoved a heavy trunk out of the car directly upon Mr. North. With the superhuman strength induced by fright the manager warded off the heavy object, but was thrown to the ground escaping with only a few bruises. With a little ‘first ald’’ and a good brushing up Mr. North soon became all right, but he says it was a miraculously close call. Mrs. Charles Calvert, of the Haymarket Theatre, London, the Mrs. Gilbert of England, as American managers are wont to proclaim her, has arrived in this country to play Mrs. Hardcastle in the forthcoming Liebler production of Goldsmith's comedy, She Stoops to Conquer. Mrs. Calvert is probably the most distinguished woman in her line of roles in England, boasting of a career beyond the ordinary. She has been on the stage since her childhood, and when she was but 15, was brought to America by her father, where she played for several seasons. After her marriage she returned with her husband to England. When Edwin Booth made his great production of Henry V, at Booth’s Theatre, he brought Charles Calvert over to produce it for him and Mrs. Calvert accompanied him, appearing in the cast. After her husbands death, she came over again at Booth’s solicitation and played with him for a single season. She was also in the American companies of Mary Anderson and Mrs. Langtry, but for the past eight years has been playing only in London. She is said to be the greatest living Mrs. Hardcastle. Willis M. Goodhue, of Dayton, O., will open with a stock company at Macauley’s Theatre, Louisville, Ky., May 15, with O. W. Blackmore and Miss Carolina McLean in the leading roles. Mr. Blackmore, for the past three years, has teen at the head of the Boudoin Stock Co. in Boston, and enjoys a fine reputation as a versatile stock actor. In The Palace of The King will be the opening bill. It will be followed by The Christian, Soldiers of Fortune, The Eternal City. Nathan Hale, When Knighthood Was In Flower, Lost Paradise, Northern Lights, The Girl I Left Behind Me, David Garrick, Old Heidelberg, On The Quiet, Captain Swift and Lord and Lady Algy. Oscar Eagle will direct the productions. PLAYHOUSES. A new playhouse is being talked of in Connersville, Ind. Mitchell, S. D., is soon to have a new $25,000 opera house. The Opera House at Cairo, Il. is-to be provided with new scenery. Mr. J. B. Miller opened a new vaudeville theatre in South Omaha, Neb., May 1. Ludeke Brothers will build a new $18,000 theatre in Minneapolis, Minn., before fall. Work on the new theatre, Marinette, Mich., bas begun. It will be known as the Bijou. A new brick and stone opera house, to cost $20,000, will soon be commenced in Decatur, Ala. Chas. H. McKinney has resumed his former position as press agent of the Lyceum Theatre at Wilmington, Del. Frank Boudrie, ticket taker at the Valentine Theatre, Toledo, Ohio, is on the door at the Toledo baseball grounds. Arthur C. White, assistant treasurer at the Empire Theatre, Toledo, Ohio, is acting in a similar capacity at the Lyceum. Poli’s Theatre, Hartford, Conn., has been improved by the addition of a brick wall between the dressing room and the stage. Improvements are being made at the Lyceum Theatre, San Francisco, Cal., which will give the house an entrance on Market street. Mr. F. L. Brown of the Columbia (S. C.) Theatre has been engaged to manage the Casino Theatre at the park this summer. There is now under construction at Ocean Park, Cal., a large auditorium and opera house. Summer opera and drama will be put on. Mr. M. M. Kickells, stage manager of the Metropolitan Theatre at Iowa Falls, Ia.. has been re-engaged by Manager Ellsworth for next season. Tulsa, I. T., is going to have a new and up-to-date opera house, the plans of which have already been drawn up and accepted by the promoters. Crazy Well Theatre at Mineral Wells, Tex.. opened under the management of M. A. Weslow, April 17, with the Chase-Lister Co. as the attraction. The aldermen of Sioux City, Ia., required only two minutes in which to knock out a proposed ordinance prohibiting Sunday performances in that city. Mr. E. S. Ellsworth, who built the Metropolitan Opera House at Iowa Falls, Ia., has returned from a trip to Florida whither he had gone in search of health. James E. English has sold his lease on the Kentucky Theatre, Paducah, Ky., to the owners of the house, The Paducah Hotel Co. Mr. English will remain in Paducah. The management of Greene’s Opera House in Cedar Rapids, Ia., ts endeavoring to stop ticket speculating. They have decided to sell not more than four tickets to one person In the future. The Sherry Casino Co. of Narragansett Bay has filed papers of incorporation in Providence, R. I. The company will conduct a casino and dance hall at the Narragansett Pier. Messrs. Richard Lightner, Jas. Streeper and Richard Richey, of the Olympic Theatre staff, St. Louls, Mo., will be given their annual benefit, April 17, when John w will be the attraction. James Hennesty, late of the Century Theatre in St. Louis, Mo., is meeting with much assistance in his new theatre venture. It will be known as The Pontiac, and is to be the most palatial in St. Louis. The city councl of Des Moines, Ia., proposes to license the theatres of that city and an ordinance is pending that places the license from $75 to $150 per year for houses with a seating capacity of 1,000 or over. J. D. Ramsey is building and has almost completed a new opera house at Lawton, Okla. The theatre will be provided with a large stage, ten dressing rooms, opera chairs, and will accommodate an audience of 1,000 people. John Ammons, proprietor of the Crystal Theatre, Marion, ind., has leased a building in Anderson and is converting it into a vaudeville house. The Anderson house will open May 15, and will be known as the Crystal. Fire destroyed the Putnam Opera House, Orange, Mass., April 5, entailing a loss of $75,000. Mr. and Mrs. Chas Putnam, who occupied rooms on the second floor, were overcome with smoke and only after much difficulty were rescued. Geo. R. Bassett, whose opera house at Sterling, Kan., was closed two months ago, writes that he has formed partnership with Mr. Findlay, that they have converted the skating rink into an Auditorium and are ready for business. The Lough Opera House at Estherville, Ia., which has not been operated for several years owing to needed repairs, has been leased by James S. Cox for three years. Mr. Cox will remodel the house and put it in firstclass shape. F. F. Proctor has secured a plot of ground in Troy, N. Y., for the purpose of building a theatre in that city. The theatre will be a first-class vaudeville house during the winter months, and during the summer will be devoted to stock. The Camden, (W. Va.,) Opera House has been leased to Messrs. Osborne & Whelan for a term of five years. Both are experienced men and will make every effort to run a strictly up-to-date house. The house will be repaired and refinished. Some of the improvements to be made in the Academy of Music at Hagerstown, Md., will be a new gallery, three tier of boxes on each side, new chairs for the auditorium and balcony, thereby increasing the seating capacity from 750 to 1,200 The new Hinton Opera House, at Muskogee, I. T., which was announced by the management would open April 19 with A Trip To Egypt, will not be opened until next season, the management having decided to wait until fall for the premier performance. Lewis & Lake have sold their interests in the Crystal and Lyric Theatres at Wichita, Kan., to A. E. Hutchinson. Mr. Hutchinson has been the silent partner in the ownership of the two houses until recently. when he purchased the entire interests. It is said that Charles B. Dillingham has given up all his interests in the new Lyric Theatre, Philadelphia. Work has been stopped on this theatre for four months and it is in a half complete condition. No one knows whether the work will be finished or not. Mr. H. A. Felix, who successfully managed the Temple Opera House at Lewistown, Pa., the past five seasons, has resigned his position. He will be succeeded by Mr. IJ. L. MeKinney who managed this theatre severa] years prior to Mr. Felix’s management. Mr. E. S. Brigham’s enterprise consist of the following theatres: Atchison (Kan.) Theatre: New Gillis Theatre. Kansas City, Mo.;: New Blake Theatre, Webb City, Mo.; New Anditorium and the Grand Opera House at Hot Springs, Ark., and the Carthage, (Mo.) Opera House. Mr. A. Sigfried, who is interested in the Bijuo Theatre at Dubuque, Ia., will open a new theatre in Kalamazoo. Mich., August 15. The new house will seat 1,400 and will feature vaudeville. Mr. Sigfried is also contracting for a theatre in Danville, Ill., which he will open by Sept. 1. Rumors are current that Mr. E. D. Stair will acquire possession of the Empire Theatre, Cleveland. Ohio, in the neat future. His lease of the Cleveland expires this season and he will not renew it. If he takes over the Empire for his melodramic productions the house will be enlarged. A bill has been introduced in the Massachusetts legislature giving the final settlement of the licensing of theatres in Boston to the mayor. This measure will prevent the holding up of Heenses on the part of the aldermen and was urged by seme of the principal managers of the city. John Milan, formerly at the Baker Theatre, Rochester, N. Y.. and up to the time of his recent fllness employed in the box office of the National Theatre, was given a benefit performance at the National April 7. Talent was secured from all of Rochester's playhouses. Mr. Milan its suffering from lung trouble. The Barhydt Theatre Co. of Terre Haute, Ind., owners of the Grand Opera House at that place, have started to build a new vandeville house, next to the Terre Haute Hotel, to be known as the Lyric. The new house will be opened Sept. 1, will be on the ground floor and seat S800 people. Popular prices will prevail. The Columbia Theatre at Portland, Ore., has been closed by Manager A. H. RBallard, who has been conducting the Columbia Stock Co. for the last fifteen weeks. In a public statement Manager Ballard claims to have sunk $30,000 In the venture, claiming that the theatre-loving people of his city would not patronize a high-class stock company. Tt is said that there will be a revolution fn the Philadelphia playhouses next season. More will change managers than have heretofore in twenty years. The Bijou Theatre, run the past year by a German stock HARRY RICHARDS Well known among New York as having been the successful leading man in The Man From China, that played the Majestic Theatre in the metropolis last year. Mr. Richards was connected with many of the. Weber & Fields’ successes previous to the separation theatregoers of these two comedians, and this playing the part of General Steele in Hoity Toity. The work of Mr. Richards is compared as very much on the order of that of Raymond B. Hitcheock, of Yankee Consul fame season is company, wil! be operated as an English house next, season. One of the burlesque houses will change management and many more scheduled. Although George H. Hartford left the employ of Anderson & Ziegler, Cincinnati, May 1, 1904, and his connection with the Cincinnati Gunning System has been repeatedly announced, he is still receiving mail, baggage checks, etc., from agents who are under the impression that he is yet with the theatre. He requests us to announce once more that he is not. F. X. Kormann, for the past two seasons manager of the Grand Opera House, London, Can., with supervision over the Grand and Duncombe Opera House at St. Thomas, will soon be transferred to the new Auditorium Theatre, Quebec, Can. Mr. John E. Turton, who has been manager of the Quebec Theatre since its opening, will sueceed Mr. Kormann at London. E. E. Meredith, agent of Missouri Girl Co., writes that two small circuits which are good for the one-nighters, are the Tom Boyle's Circuit, including Granville and Salem, N. Y., and Rutland and Poultney, Vt.: and Harry T. Eaton's Circuit, including Barre, Woodstock and Springfield, Vt., and Claremont and Newport, N. H. A number of changes are scheduled to occur in the local box offices of Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Herbert Hentchell, who has been a capable and courteous assistant to Mr. Brandt at Keith's, will succeed Mr. Foss as treasurer at the Colonial Theatre. Mr. W. Meyer Gerson at the Lyric, and one of the most popular young theatrical men in town, wil go over to Keith’s in Mr. Hentchell’s place. D. Otto Hinton, the popular young treasurer of the Grand Opera House, Norristown, Pa., is about to close his third successful season with this house. Mr. Hinton is one of, if not the youngest, treasurers in the state, being but 18 years old. The capable way ip which he has handled the business of the house is a credit to him. A bright future is before him. The Capital Avenue Theatre, Cheyenne, Wyo., has been leased by Messrs. Edward F. Stahle and Robert P. Fuller for a period of three years with an annual rental of $5,500. Arrangements have been made for equipping the theatre in a first-class up-to-date manner, including two fine drop curtains and extensive improvements in the gallery and balcony. E. A. Rea, of Corydon, Ia., has bought the Lyceum Theatre in East Des Moines, Ia., the price being $40,000. The house has been leased to Manager Fred. Buchanan for a term of years, will be remodeled for vandeville purposes and under the new management will be known as the Orpheum, td be operated in conjunction with the Bijou in West Des Moines and Ingersoll Park, lowa’s leading outdoor attraction. Thos. O. Kelley writes from Marion, Kan., that one of the neatest and best equipped little opera houses in the state is now nearing completion in his city The house will open next season, and the seating capacity will be between six and seven hundred. The house will be steam heated and lighted by electricity. Marien has 2 population of 2,500, with good country to draw from An offer of $100,000 has been made to Mesers. Lehman & Davies, proprietors and managers of the Lyric Theatre, New Orleans, La., for that playhouse. The offer has been refused, writes Mr. Davies, because of its insufficiency. It is probable that the house will be run as a vaudeville resort with three or four performances a day, as Mr. Davies has spoken enthusiastically of that course. The contract for the erection of the new theatre at Goshen, Ind., has been let to Col. J. M. Wood, who will have the house Se eet aT. : |