The Billboard 1909-02-20: Vol 21 Iss 8 (1909-02-20)

The Billboard ‘FEBRUARY 20, 1909. VAUDEVILLE IN NEW YORK. BILLS FOR THE CURRENT WEEK Hammerstein’s Victoria.—Jefferson DeAngelis and Company in a musical absurdity, The Rebearsal; The Empire City Quartette, Cooper, Tally, Mayo and Cooper; fourth week of Princess Rajah in ber Cleopatra Dance; Melville Ellis, artistic pianologist; Foster and Boster, musical oddity; Charles Kenna, The Faker; Charles Ahearn Troupe; Hy Greenway, the original jag, and Vitagraph views. American Music Hall.—LaBelle Clark, Ward Bros., Quaker City Four, May Duryea and Co., Incognito, Smirl and Kessner, Georgia Campers, May Tully and Co., Ezra Kendall, Delmore and Lee, Emma Carus, Harding and Ah Sid, Mile. Olive and Morriscope. | Blaney’s Lincoln Square.—Harry Lauder, Daisy Harcourt, W. S. Harvey and Co., Wat son, Hutchings and Edwards and Colonial.—Circumstantial Evidence, a oneact play, containing fourteen well-known players; Stella Mayhew, Frank Fogerty, Annette Kellermann, La Petite Adelaide and her four Dainty Dancers, Kitamura Japs, Jimmie Lucas, Count De Butz and Tossell, and Chip and Mar e. Alhambra.—Cressy and Dayne in The Wyoming Whoop; Murphy and Nichols Company in many others The School of Acting; Avon Comedy Four, Six > Tuscany Troubadours, DeHaven and Parker, | Wormwood's Animals, Loney Haskell, Wills | and Hassan and Gould and Suratt. Keith & Proctor’s Fifth Land, a _ pretentious vaudeville production, Howard and North, Nelson and Otto, Musical Spillers, At the Country Club, musical comEd. Blondell and Co., Scott and Wilson Proctor’s Fourteen Tyroleans, in picturesque phases of life in the Alps; Bert Coote and Co., Cameron and Flanagan, Empire Comedy Four, The Mermaids, Arthur Rigby, Martinetti and Sylvester. and Sewell Collins’ clever satire, Awake at the Switch. % William Morris is back in New York after a transcontinental trip which is reported to be eminently successful. Mr. be will have a string of houses from New York to San Francisco, and is prepared to give twenty-five weeks. He also states: “‘I can not go Into specific details at present; the reason is Obvious: My associates and myself are compelled by the existing conditions to work quietly and secretly until we attain our ends. I have net failed to make good any statement Avenue. — Spirit | 125th Street.—Rainer’s | Morris states that. or promise which I have yet given to the pub| lic or the press. The William Morris, Inc., dependent Circuit is an assured fact East. “I was laughed at when a few weeks ago I made the statement that I would shortly have In in’ the | a house in Chicago. Within four hours after my last arrival in Chicago from New York the lease of the Garden Theatre, a new modern and artistic and acknowledged the safest | theatre in Chicago, was ours for twenty years. | “Last Monday night it began the fourth | week of its career under my management, and althongh a month ago its owners were playing to empty benches with edy attractions, solute capacity at opening and every night. “It’s an honest cash business, every performance could fill the house too. ing capacity is playing to any more actual receipts at this time. “The Western country, ited, is a prize tertainment thet giving other cities. infancy in the Far West and on the Coast. We _ had a hundred offers of co-operation, cap a William Morris Cireuit wil! soon plant fag at the Golden Gate, and that means that there will be several locations obtained by us between Chicago and there. “Ry the way, is Imey Weston, William Morris, Ine., the English comedienne, who which I recently vis| country for just the sort of en-| are | The business is only in its | sites and plans jin these several cities. The | its | mediocre musical com| we have to date played to absince | twice over I doubt | if any theatre in Chicago with twice our seat| the latest recruit to our ranks | has been making such a success in New York.” * After Sunday Frank Keeney will cease to supply hbighclass vaudeville in Brooklyn. On Monday Keeney’s Theatre in Fulton Street will present vaudeville a: motion pictures with ten cents the minimum, and fifteen cents the maximum in price. Mr. Keeney is entirely frank as to his rea sons for the change. “I am tired of losing money in chunks,” he said. ‘The mammoth salaries paid performers now make it difficult to make money under the best possible conditions. Since this Syn day agitation began I have found running at a profit impossible. “I shall give one show in the afternoon and two at night, except on Saturdays and Sundays, when there will be two shows in the afternoon. I will bave six vaudeville acts and the best motion pictures obtainable.” Ed. F. Gallagher will be Mr. Keeney’s booking agent. He now books the Keeney Theatre in New Britain, and the two houses will be made the basis of a popular-price vandeville cirenit, with short jumps, on the same plan. * To be the one silent figure from the rise of the curtain until six minutes before its final fall, yet to be the dominant force of the play, is a difficult task for an actor. In Circumstantial Evidence, a story of the jury room, which is seen at the Colonial this week, as the juror holding out for acquittal in a murder trial, Robert B. Kegerreis gives a performance that has stamped Loth the play and his work as convincing. His silence in the early part of the act is tragic, his telling speeches later Review of the Variety Offerings in Greater New York with Running Comment on the Acts Presented and Some Personal Items of General Interest to the Profession—Blanche Ring will Enter Vaudeville The VAUDEVILLE PROFESSION Alexander and Scott, The Boys from Virginja, have just returned from Europe, after a successful tour, and will play dates on this side until May, when they return to England for a tour over the Moss & Stoll Circuit. +. Virginia Harned will book over Percy Williams’ Circuit this spring in a new production called Anna. * Maude O'Dell has signed with Chas. E. Blaney, who will stage a new sketch. * Fitzgerald and Mason return to vaudeville at the Majestic Theatre, March 6. The White Rats of America are announcing their annual ball and entertainment to be held at Terrace Garden, East 58th street, Friday, March 19. This promises to be a jollification of unusual importance as many prominent members bave signified their intentions to be present. BLANCHE RING IN VAUDEVILLE. Miss Blanche Ring, who until ey om one of the most prominent members of the Weber Company, has forsaken musical ote + for the vaudeville stage and is now doing a singing act over the Keith & Proctor time. Miss Ring, during the years of her career on the stage, bas established a most enviable reputation as a singer of rollicking Irish songs and SAMUEL A. BRISTOW, Art Legal representative in Chicago for William Morris, Incorporated. Fisk O’Hara will play at Percy G. Williams’ Greenpoint Theatre next week. + Louis F. Werba is producing The Spirit Land at the Fifth Avenue Theatre. % Jeannette Lourie may possibly fill some English time this spring. NOTES FROM THE INDEPENDENT BOOKING OFFICE, NEW YORK. Acts sent out from the Independent office to open this week: Three Azards, sensational gymnasts; Nellie Burt, Harry Kraton’s Hoopland, Alfred and Steve Miaco’s Comedy Pantomime Co., Patrice and Company. in The Lobbyist; Parmet and Russell yany, Scenic Phantasy, A Trip Around the walla in an Air | ship; Carl McCullough, footlight impersonations; to be conducted | Cireu ; on are delivered without ranting, a feat which | only an actor of ability would be able to ac complish in so dramatic a situation. Evans and Evans, dancers de luxe; Edith Montrose, novelty character impersonations; Clotilde and Montrose, comedy acrobats; Ford and Swor, comedians; Hickey and Nelson, twisted and tangled, and Ascot and Maximo, acrobatic comiques. The Young Americus Quintette, with Mattie Boerum, is listed to open shortly on the Mozart t. The Fisher, Fielding Fisher Company, which ame on the Mozart time some weeks ago, has anged their title to Pauline Fielding Com any, gage Virginia Rose, a clever singng playl et. Adams and Mack, comedy magicians, are back on the Mozart Cireuit again. Adams and Mack were released in order to play a booked date at Philadelphia. Mrs. Sidney Reynolds, who sprained her ankle while playing on the Mozart time at Milton, Pa., January 28, has returned to her home in New York, where she is resting until able to resnme the time lost by the accident. Mr. E. Frymire has assumed the management of the Mozart Family Theatre, Milton, Pa., replacing M. Goldstein, who resigned to accept another position. | maica, West Indies, and is meeting with sue _ insurance. 'O. Mr. cess with his singing, dancing and comedy hat juggling act. Earl Flynn, The Little Boy in Green, opened at the Haymarket Theatre, Chicago. week of February 8, and will play Detroit, Cin cinnati and Indianapolis following. Lenora Lester, The Girl with the Dream Eyes, is again working in vaudeville after a long illness. Miss Lester is at present touring the West. Donovan and Mackin opened on the Williams and Kuehl time at Shreveport, La., February 15, with the entire circuit to follow. PLAYHOUSE NOTES. The Lyric Theatre, in Sedalia, Mo.. which was formerly conducted as a moving pic ture theatre, has changed its form of amuse ment, and is now playing vaudeville in conjunc tion with moving pictures. The first perform ance under the new policy was given January 23 to S. R. O. houses. The Lyric is controlled by the Middle West Amusement Co., with Roy P. Barker as the local manager. Manager J. G. Capron, of the Majestic Vaudeville Theatre, at Waterloo, Iowa, has secured The Phillips Opera House at Ocel wein, lowa, for vaudeville. The house was opened under the new management, Monday, February 8. The bill will be changed twice a week, acts dividing week between Waterloo and Oelwein. Both houses are booked by Sul livan-Considine Circuit. The Majestic Theatre (formerly the Cameraphone Theatre) at Globe, Ariz., managed by T. Tupper, was opened with stock om February 4, to capacity business. It is the in tention of the management to run a condensed — version of popular farce comedies, one reel of moving pictures and one vaudeville turn, apd give two shows each night. A disastrous fire visited the Wood Opera House, Wellington, Kansas, February 1, entailing a loss of $20,000, partly covered by The cause of the fire is unknown All shows booked at the Wood will be played at the Auditorium. The Wood was managed by H. W. Glaman. R. P. Stoddard, for the past seven years resident manager of the Oneonta Thea tre, Oneonta, N. Y., bas been appointed resident manager of the Sandusky Theatre, Sandusky. Stoddard is sneceeded in Oneonta by Harry Donham, of Middletown, N. Y¥ Andrew P. Weschler of Erie, Pa., has secured a permit for the remodeling of the Tab ernachle Church in that City, and will open it as a vaudeville theatre as soon as the work is completed. $17,000 will be expended in im proving the place. Salamanca, N. Y., has a new playhouse. It has been named the Teck, and has 8 seating capacity of 600. The Teck is controlled by the Salamanca Amusement Co., Inc., with Max Andrews, as manager. B. F. Farris, of Atlanta, Ga., is plan ‘ning the opening of a new playhouse in the Du Rant Building, Sumter, 8S. C. According to the plans it will have a seating capacity of 500. It is to play vaudeville. Sidney Anderson, manager and part owner of the Majestic Theatre, Portsmouth. 0., has disposed of his interest in that play house and retired as manager. He will locate in the East. The Morgan Opera House, at Can onsburg, Pa., will hereafter be known as the Canonsburg Theatre. It was reopened February /1 as a vaudeville house on the Gus Sun Circuit. | tre, McAlester, she now bids fair to surpass this reputation as — a singer of Scotch songs. In the Merry Widow and the Devil, the Joe Weber Stock Company is playing, Miss Ring sang a Scotch song called Bonn e My Sigpiend Lassie, and scored the biggest hit of the play She is retaining this song in her vaudeville act and has added a new novelty song called, You can Learn to do the Hootchie-Kootchie for One Dollar and Thirty Cents. which VAUDEVILLE. Frank Loyal, manager of Hadji, the trained Arabian horse, is just recovering from a severe attack of blood poisoning. Mr. Loyal underwent some serious operations, and was at death’s door for a week, but his strong constitution and constant nursing pulled him through. He was attended by Dr. Moss, physician for Cincinnati Lodge T. A. Grace Tempest, of the Grace Tempest Trio, has formed a partnership with Leon Miller, formerly of Black and Miller, and together they have been re-engaged over the Sullivan and Considine Circuit, opening at Winnipeg, Can., February 2. They have just finished the United time with their new singing, dancing and acrobatic novelty. Frank F. Fisher, musical director, orchestra at the Pa. Mrs. year-old playing the well-known is at present leader of the Liberty Theatre, Tamaqua, Fisher (Regal Haven) and their fivedaughter, Kathleen, are at present the Gus Sun Circuit. The Daleys, comedy and trick roller skaters, now playing United Bookings, have received several offers to tour Europe, but have not yet fully decided whether to accept time on the other side or not. P. B. Grojean, of the team of Grojean and Maurer, Miss Carrie Kelly, ceremony professional people. Eddie Gardner writes that he has opened at ‘the Rockfort Gardens, Kingston, Ja of Pensacola, Fla. Manager Busby, of the Busby TheaOkla., will build an up-to-date airdome in McAlester, to be opened in the spring. It will be managed by A. B. Estes. Hildebrand and Decker, proprietor: of the Electric Theatre, Enid, Okla., have se cured a_site and have had plans drawn for a vaudevifie theatre, seating 900. Noyes Burdette, formerly with the | Depew-Burdette Stock Company, has béen ap was. married January 29, to | The | was attended by a large number of | — assistant manager of the Burlew Opers ouse at Charleston, W. Va. DRAMATIC. Notes from Imhof & Fisk’s Lend Me Your Wife Co.: We are in our 24th week, and business is still good. We have been in Okla homa for six weeks, and will stay in this state for six weeks more. We have played Kansas. Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma and our show has given the best of satisfaction. The com pany remains the same as when we opened, Sep tember 2 with Ben F. Imhof and Chas. L. Fisk, owners and managers; Harry Felling is now in advance and he is a real hustler for us. There are quite a number of shows in Oklahoma this season and they all seem to be doing well. The Musical Fisks, one of the feature specialties with the show, have an entire new musical act in preparation, which they will produce next year. We will probably put out a repertoire show for the first ten weeks of next season to wey fair dates, then back to our one-nighter again. Notes from Monroe Amusement Co.: This company is featuring Miss Janie RB. Mon roe as Dora, in Dora Thorne, has made more clear money than ever before in its history. We are carrying seven people as follows: Geo. L. Dick, W. B. Darcey, Walter Monroe, Gall Hamilton, Clare Summers, Janie B. Monroe and Kate Johnson. As a special feature we present Juggling Monroe, who always gets his part of the curtain calls. Mr. and Mrs. Horace B. Atkinson (Audna Fraser) closed with R. W. Fraser's Lost in the Hills Company, at LaSalle, Ill., recent after fifty-eight consecutive weeks with e organization, and have returned to their heme in Milwaukee, for a much-needed rest. Sitheman TR a ee