The Billboard 1907-12-21: Vol 19 Iss 51 (1907-12-21)

“The Billboard DECEMBER 21, 1907 AMUSEMENT EVENTS OF THE WEEK IN THE BIG TOWNS Otis Skinner Featured Big In Minneapolis, Minn. The Lion and The Mouse Pleases the Denizens of the Crescent City—The Grand Mogul Puts in the Week in Kansas City —Other Show Gossip. HE successful comedy drama, The Girl From Out Yonder, with Miss Adelaide Thurston in the title role, is the at traction for the first half of the week at the Metropolitan Theatre, and is winning the fullest approval of the patrons of this house. Miss Thurston is a sincere and womanly actress and her portrayal of Flotsam is worthy of the highest commendation. For the last half of the week Otis Skinner will be the person of interest at this playhouse in his new play entitled, The Honor of the Family, which is practically a dramatization of Balzac’s novel, Menage de Garcon. The scenes of this drama are all laid in an old mansion in Issoudun, a quaint town of France, immediately after the fall of Napoleon, and the plot is of high interest. Miss Percy Haswell appears as leading lady with Mr. Skinner. The Flower of the Ranch, a play of western life, is booked for the Metropolitan, commencing December 19, and is written in the shape of an opera starring Joseph Howard and Mabel Barrison. On December 22, The Squaw Man will be presented and during the first haif of New Year’s week W. H. Crane will be seen in the successful George Ade comedy— Father and the Boys. Other near bookings at this theatre are De Wolf Hopper, in Happyland, and Fritzi Scheff, in Mlle. Modiste. The Bijou Theatre is being well patronized this week, the offering being Lena Rivers, the dramatization of the widely read novel by Mary J. Holmes. Miss Beulah, who is a very talanted emotional actress, is cast in the leading role, and the story of the play runs smoothly with the great charm of simplicity and natural portrayal of both characters and scenes. Next week the attraction will be the dramatization of Laura Jean Libby’s novel, Miss Middleton’s Lovers, under the title of Parted on Her Wedding Tour, the production being under the Management of Charles E. Blaney, and another near offering of interest at this theatre is the featuring of the popular juvenile actor, Joseph Santley, in Billy the Kid. Texas, the sterling play of southern life, will be presented at the Bijou New Year’s week, and the A. H. Wood’s melodrama, Fallen by the Wayside, is also booked for an early appearance. Ralpb Stuart, who has a host of friends and admirers in this city, where he managed the Ralph Stuart Stock Company at the Lyceum Theatre, will be seen at the Bijou in the near future in the great college play, Strongheart. Other bookings are Fiske O’Hara, in Dion O’Dare, Harry Clay Blaney in The Boy Detective, and Lottie Williams in Josie, the Little Madcap. f The Lyceum Theatre is enjoying a run of the real melodrama this week, in the guise of Doris, which the Christine Hill Stock Company are presenting. The plot is what is known as a genuine thriller, and the hero and heroine pass through to safety at the fall of the final curtain. Edna Archer Crawford carries the title role of Doris very admirably, and Walker C. Graves is acceptable as Kenneth Ashleigh. Miss Christine Hill does excellent work in the role of Martha Crawley. and the production is well Staged and runs along without a hitch. On December 15, the Christine Hill Stock Company will produce for the first time in Minneapolis, a play by a resident here, Mrs. . A. ArmStrong. entitled, At the Foot of the Throne, which is a story of the life of Joseph from the Old Testament and deals with the infatuation of Potiphar’s wife for the Jewish slave. The theme is said to be simple and direct, yet very powerful and will undoubtedly enjoy a successful run. May Ward, with her light Dresden Doll Girls, is the headliner at the Orpheum Theatre this week and the singing and dancing in this act is worthy of much praise as are also the Scenery and costumes. The Six Glinserettis also come in for their share of the honors for their splendid acrobatic work. Canfield and Carleton are a pair of pleasing entertainers and Bartholdi’s Cockatoos offer a novelty in the bird line. Lucy and Lucier in A Fool’s Errand are exceedingly droll, and Joe La Fleur is an excellent athlete. Chinese Johnny WillHiams assisted by Miss Edith Williams offers a burlesque conjuring act and the Kinodrome closes the bill with moving pictures. Mr. and Mrs. Danny Mann present as the headliner at the Unique Theatre this week, 2 playlet entitled Mandy Hawkins, which is a home-spun plot of real interest and is elaborately movrnted. Brown Brothers and Doe. Kealey offer a musical act worthy of mention using a great variety of instruments, and Paul Stephens, who has but one foot, does excellent work both on the slack wire and in unsupported balancing J. Bernard Dyllyn gives a monologue entitled Just Like Teddy Did, which is well received and Buckley’s School of Trained Dogs do many remarkable stunts. The bill closes with the singing of the fllustrated song by Eugene White and the motion pictures. Toma Hanlon, the famous prima donna sonbrette who played the leading part in the successful musical comedy, The Maid and the Millionaire at the Madison Square Roof Garden, New York City, last summer, is the chief feature of The Strolling Players, who are holding down the boards at the Dewey Theatre this week. The company offers a burlesque entitled, The Belle of Avenue A, which is In the shape of a two-act musical operetta, and is interspersed with a number of high-class vaudeville acts. The scenery is massive and the costumes are unusually attractive. The chorus is a large one and contains pretty girls who sing and dance equally well and make seven changes of costume. Jack Johnson, the heavyweight pugilist, gives a sparring exhibition at every performance, and the company also includes Andy Rice, Tom Barry, Nat Wixon, Burt Eaton, Madge Hughes, Albert Davis, the Dolly Sisters and the Church City Quartet. Fougere, the French dancer, is the headliner at the Orpheum Theatre next week and promises to present an act commensurate with her foreign reputation. The Rose De Haven Sextet is also a number of the bill, and will offer something in a musical line. The Matweef Hugostan Troupe is a band of Russian singers and dancers, and George Wilson is on for a single turn. Watson, Hutchings and Edwards will give a laughable skit, entitled The Vaudeville Exchange, the Melani Trio are high-class Italian street singers, and Berry and Berry are scheduled for a singing act. Business at the Gem Family Theatre is good with moving pictures, illustrated songs and continuous vaudeville, and also at the Scenic Theatre, with moving pictures and illustrated songs. The skating rinks are also enjoying Victor Herbert’s tuneful opera, The Fortune Teller, was selected for the opening of The Winter Garden, which occurred December 7. The play was handsomely staged and well sung and acted. A large and enthusiastic audience was present for the opening. Among the principals in the company are Miss Ada Meade, prima donna; Jetro Warner, tenor; Miss Jessie Intropidi, character woman; Mr. Claude Ams den, comedian; Albert Busby, baritone; Maurice Darcy, light comedian, and Dan Young. E. Cavalli, the local representative of The Milan Grand Opera Co., announces that that company will open its engagement at the French Opera House December 26, and Verdi's Aida has been selected for the opening attraction. Impresario Lambardi announced that his company would present several new e@peras, among them being Amice Fritz, Chopin, Andrea Chenier, Ruy Blas, Othello, Ballo in Maschera, Iris, Forza del Destino, Germania, Fedora and others. Jean Gerardy, the celebrated cellist, and Charles W. Clark, the baritone, played a very successful engagement at the French Opera House December 2. The Baldwin-Melville Stock Co. presented The Wages of Sin at Blaney’s Lyric last week to packed houses. Uncle Tom's Cabin is the attraction this week and is doing a capacity business, Billy Kersand’s Minstrels, a colored organization, is holding the boards at the Elysium this week and packing them in to the doors. Scribner’s Big Show is the attraction at that popular burlesque house, the Greenwald. The show is a fine one and doing a big business. The Bijou, with continuous vaudeville, still continues to draw large crowds. WILLIAM A. KOEPKE. PATERSON, N. J. Shadowed by Three, Lem B. Parker's latest play, was the attraction at the Lyceum for the first three days of the week commencing Dec. 2. It is easily the best work Mr. Parker has for its chief asset is in its originality, which, together with a lavish scenic production and the parts in the care of capable actors and actresses, served as an excellent drawing card, making a tremendous hit and packing the house nightly. From now until the beginning of the new AFTER THE MATINEE WITH AL. F. WHEELER’S NEW MODEL SHOWS. The above is a likeness of the performers and Model Shows the past season. Many prise for the past five years and nearly all are a rush of business, and all places of entertain ment report things as more than favorable both from an artistic and financial point of view RODERIC STE. FLEURE. NEW ORLEANS, LA. Miss Marie Shotwell and Oliver Doud Byron in The Lion and the Mouse were the attraction at the fashionable Tulane last week and played to capacity business. Robert Mantell, present ing the following plays, Macbeth, King Richard III., Othello, The Merchant of Venice, Riche lieu, King Lear, Hamlet and others, are the at traction this week and playing to packed houses. Ethel Barrymore, in Her Sister, will be the offering week of Dec. 16. Christmas week The Prince of Pilsen will be the attraction. Additional bookings for the Tulane are Goodwin, and James O'Neill, in repertoire. Several of the big musical productions booked for the Tulane this season have canceled their Nat engagements owing to the high railroad rates, among them being Hattie Williams, in The Little Cherub, Anna Held, in The Parisian Model, and others. Human Hearts was the offering at the popu lar Crescent last week and drew big business. The Black Crook is holding the boards this week and doing a capacity business. W. S. Hart, in The Virginian, will be the next attraction, and The Time, the Place and the Girl will be the Christmas week offering. Wine, Woman and Song will be the attrac tion at the Shubert beginning week Dee. 15, and Blanche Bates, in The Girl of the Golden West, will be the attraction Christmas week. Miss Bates will play a two weeks’ engagement. Miss Grace Van Studdiford is the headliner at ‘he popular Orpheum this week, and is suppurted by an all-star bill of advanced vande ville: Barrows-Lancaster Co., in Thanksgiving Day; O Hana San and Co., in The Geisha’s Dream; Charles Leonard Fletcher, the American impersonator; Slivers and Charles Siegrist, pan tomimists; Herbert’s Dogs. The Balzers, acro bats, and the Kinodrome. Capacity business is ruling. The Orpheum Road Show, under the ~~? of Martin Beck, will be next week's bill. The Barry-Burke Stock Co. presented The Voice of Nature at the Dauphine last week to big business. Forgiven i being presented this week and drawing big crowds. of these people musicians with have trouped re-engaged for Al. F. Wheeler's New with the growing enterthe season of 1908. year it will be necessary for the managers te put forth the best bills possible in order to compete successfully with the large holiday business of the big stores and at least get a fair share of the enormous amount of money to be spent by the populace. Knowing this, Managers Goetschius, Bruggemann, Gilbert and Jacobs of the local playhouses are straining every point to oblige and are generally succeeding. At the Empire lowing well good-sized vens Co., greatly Loraine, Hioward, for week of Dec. 2 the fol balanced bill was presented to houses at every showing: Hal Ste in A Modern Rip Van Winkle, which pleased; Cook and Stevens, Alsace and The A. B. C. D. Girls, Howard and as The Hebrew Messenger and The Thespian, who were the hit of the bill, being recalled time and again at every performance. The work of the comedy man is top notch. The Zanettos, Kinetograph, and, as an added fea ture, Doomsday, a $25,000 spectacular produc tion, created a sensation at every performance The Opera House has been rather unfortunate in its bookings of late and in consequence when a first-class production holds the boards it is impossible to accommodate the crowds that apply for admittance. This was the condition of affairs when Strongheart was presented here last Saturday afternoon and evening with Edgar Selwyn as the college-bred Indian, supported by a capable company of artists, including Kate McLaurin. Alexander Reid, stage manager of the Pater son Opera House, has written several plays, the latest of which is Where the Sun Sets, a pleasing love story of the West, enacted by the mem bers of the Paterson Dramatic Club of teurs to good-sized houses of friends at two performances of Wednesday, Dec. 4. ing pictures fille’ out the week to fair less At the Folly, offered Dave ama the Mov bus! The High Jinks Burlesquers Marion's Roseland, a two-act en tertainment containing pleaty of jollity, humor ous situations, music and dancing sufficient to satisfy the most exacting. It pleased goodly numbers throughout the entire engagement, Dec 2-3-4 For the remainder of the week Maury Kraus's Twentieth Century Maids played a return date, presenting a much more pleasant show, repeating its success of a former visit, and playing to capacity houses nightly. Amatenrs every Friday night are a big scream, while the ladies’ matinees on ‘Tuesdays becoming more popular each week, A musical comedy melodrama (one of the ¢ on the road) entitled The Mysterious Burg! finished out the latter half of last week at : Lyceum. A feature of the production was : specialties offered by the Garden City Trio » the Brooklyn Rosebuds, a bunch of beau: that can sing. Goodly numbers enjoyed show very much. FRANK A. EAKINS KANSAS CITY, MO. The Grand Mogul, with Frank Moulan, » open a week's engagement this evening at + Willis Wood Theatre, and from the adva; sale this show will be liberally patronix Kansas City is glad to learn that Mr. 0. |) Woodward, who was shot by Gen. Richo Horne is so far on the road to recovery th: he was well enough to be removed to his ho from the University Hospital where he w taken after the shooting. Mr. Groves, m aging editor of the Kansas City Post, w! was shot at the same time as Mr. Woodwar died from his injuries. Miss Grace Hazard, styled as ‘‘five feet «5 comic opera,”’ returned last evening to th: Shubert Theatre for a week's engagement, «n:! no doubt will: prove as great a drawing card and attraction at the Shubert as she did the occasion of ber first visit here in No vember. Miss Katherine Bunn, who sang = sopray last week with Hart's Crickets, at the Or pheum Theatre, is a Kansas City Girl and dur ing her engagement her father sat in a enjoying and applauding her delightful ing. This week the Orpheum has another of star performers, and the Orpheum is tainly a good place to enjoy a good show Minnie Seligman is appearing titled A Dakota Widow, portunity to show her She is a great treat. Of course, a season would not be visit of In Old the Grand In box sing bill cor Miss in a sketch er which gives her o; talents as an actress at the Grand Theatr: complete without the annual Kentucky, and this week at Old Kentucky ts delighting many of its admirers as formerly, and ik pears that capacity will be the word agal: The Banker, the Thief, and the Girl is at the Auditorium this week, and is filling the house, for Joe Morris in the etellar role of th: Jew Banker is very clever and Miss Mabel Grif fith is good as “‘the race track queen."" Miss Lyda Powell, as Lottie, the Poor Saleslady, at the Gillls Theatre, is a strong emotional ac tress, and is good in her part. Miss Powel! will present each lady attending the Monday and Wednesday matinee with a handsome pas tel photograph of herself. Jos. R. Donegan, manager of the Century Theatre, has a most unique souvenir for the la dies’ souvenir matinee Thursday of this week He offering to every lady that attends the Thursday matinee of The Washington Society Girls, at the Century, a new hat. The bats are on view at Adler's Millinery Company. The Majestic Theatre did not give any per formances yesterday, either in the afternoon or evening of The Gay Morning Glories for rea son they wished to hold strictly to the letter of the law, which Judge Wallace says makes it illegal for the amusement places to be open on Sunday Se the Gay Morning Glories open this afternoon with a big show. Convention Hall Roller Skating Rink has en gaged for the week with two appearances dally the wonderful one-legged skater, Chas. G. Kil patrick WILLIAM W. SHELLEY as ap is OMAHA, NEB. Man of the at the week, proved one best the season Lionel Adams, The last of Burwood attractions Hour, of the as Alwyn Bennett, talented actor, and the company was a most excellent one The tracted capacity business during the ment. The many is a very in support play at engagt friends in this city of O. D Woodward are pleased to hear that he bas a! most entirely recovered from his wound Man ager Monaghan has returned from Kansas City where he went to see Mr. Woodward, and reports that no after-effects are likely to fol low. Buster Brown, at the Krug last week proved as popular as ever, judging from the large attendance. Master Rice takes the part of Buster, and was very pleasing. The company }s a large one, and the musical numbers excep tionally good. The Theatrical Mechanics Association, Lodge No. 32, had a benefit entertainment at = the Burwood the 6th. The program comprised the entire bill at the Burwood besides several acts from the Orpheum. Carl Reiter, manager of the Orpheum, also favored the audience with some of his clever stories. The benefit was a big success, sum was realized for the organization. The T. M. A. in this city, of which Chas. W Porter is president, has a large membersh'p and is in a flourishing condition. Miss Beth Stone, a former Omaha girl, was seen at the Orpheum last week. Miss Stone is a very clever dancer, and wears some beau tiful gowns on the stage. The Jewel Moving Picture Theatre offers its patrons this week a colored production of Life and Passion of Christ The film is 3,114 feet long, and it takes over an hour to show the entire picture. The week opened to capacity business and a large Business Skating season has been Rink ever Manager special attractions each week. Albert skating good at the Auditorium since the opening of the Gillan has been offering some This week, Prof Waltz is giving exhibitions of fancy H, J. ROOT. HOT SPRINGS, ARK. of season, scored a shows have The Time, The Place big hit from the rise finale. The only weak chorus. A weak chorus Although a number played here this and The Girl of the curtain to the feature was in the ruins a good show Traveling managers inform me that business improving in the past two weeks, The first people who feel a pantie are the show people, for the simple reason that during a panic when musical is people are drawing money from’ the banks, the public will not spend money for amusements under any clreumstances but only for the ne cessities of life Prosperous times means good business An advance agent told me recently that Co burn’s Minstrel Show is coming to the front