The Billboard 1911-07-08: Vol 23 Iss 27 (1911-07-08)

woreres The Billboard JULY 8, 1911. The Amusement Week in Chicago NEW PLAY SCORES CHICAGO PARK NEWS William Hawtrey Makes Hilarious Hit in Dear Old Billy, a) White City to Hold Spectacular Carnival Modeled on the New Farce, Which Has Initial Performance | at Whitney Theatre June 26 DEAR OLD BILLY—Farce by W. H. Presented by William Hawtrey and his com pany in the Whitney Theatre, Chicago, June 26, 1911. ° THE CAST. DE skeen d6oveepebeeesocescucessé Richie Ling Spencer os aerhuasousbedates Harry Redding EE en E. H. Kelly Barlow George Stuart Christie DD . steps tasetasevevenertene Frank Shannon i MD. o5cssc0eeseenpenak Miss Jane Burby DE” 8450600060; ooPecueus Miss Muriel Starr Bees WOR cccccccevcecses Miss Laura Clement Mrs. Barlow ..............Miss Esther Bissett ED -e050bpsnesndoccoeve Miss Cassie Jamason De “GUNEED, sonevescoceoes William Hawtrey Chicago, June 27 (Special to The Billboard). —After a long period of darkness, the Whitney Opera House opened last night with Hawtrey and a capable English company, in an amusing farce, entitled Dear Old Billy. If hearty and spontaneous laughter be a criterion of appreciation and popularity, the new farce bids fair to score a long and prosperous run. The play belies the name of its author, Risque, for it is clean and wholesome to a degree that is quite unusual in modern farce comedy. The production is made by A. G. producer of the numerous Frolfman successes. The Chicago opinion that William Hawtrey is one of the greatest of modern farceurs, and that be is supported by a highly intelligent company, the fem inine elements of which are endowed with a great | store of pulchritude as well as talent. However, they do not entirely agree as to the worth of Hawtrey'’s vehicle, some pronouncing it insipid, and others counting it good farce. events it pleases the public and keeps the audiences in a high state of elation. prises Muriel Starr, who recently closed an engagement at Powers’ Theatre, Chicago, as lead ing woman with Wilton Lackaye; Richie Ling, | formerly leading man with Viola Allen; George | Stuart Christie, last season leading man with Madam Nazimova; Harry Redding, last season leading juvenile with William Faversham; E. H,. Kelly, formerly with Forbes Robertson and Sir Henry Irving Frank Shannon, formerly with William Gillette, Laura Clement, three seasons with Billie Burke, Jane Burby, for several Esther Bissett, and Cassie Jamason, New Theatre Plans Announced Chicago, June 29 (Special to The Billboard). ~—Hamlin Garland, secretary of the board of the new New Theatre movement, known officially as The Drama Players, made known the plans of that organization for the coming season. A ten weeks’ season is contemplated, commencing at the Lyric Theatre on February 1, 1912, and the first year’s productions are to be of a happy nature, nothing morbid or tragic having a place in the repertoire. The aim of the society, it is announced, is to raise the taste of the Chicago playgoers and turn their attention from the frivolous so-called musical comedies, now the rage on the American stage, to what is considered as something worth while. Among the plays that the society contemplates giving are: The Faith Healer, by William Vaughan Moody; a new play by Augustus Thomas; The Lady in the Glass, by Robert Herrick; The Thunderbolt, by Pinero; The Doctor’s Dilemma and The Devil's Disciple, by Shaw; The Play Boy of the Western World, by J. M. Synge: The Scarecrow and Mater, by Percy Mackaye;: Kathleen Ni Houlihan, by W. B. Yeate; The Earth, by J. B. Fagan; The Lady of the Sea and An Enemy of the People, by Ibsen; The Madras House and The Voysey Inheritance, by Granville Barker; and What the Public Wants, by Arnold Bennett. Other works from the French, German and Italian are under consideration as well. A new play by Edgar Sheldon is contemplated for the second season. Donald Robertson, dramatic director of the company, is now in New York, selecting a company of thirty people under the direction of the Messrs. Shubert. The company will be taken en tour for twenty weeks, so that when it reaches Chicago it will be letter-perfect. Eighty-six names comprise the list of patrons, with a guarantee fund that already reaches $50,000. The officers of the incorporated soclety are as follows: Mrs. Harold F. McCormick, president; Ira Nelson Morris, vice-president; Frank G. Logan, treasurer; Hamlin Garland, secretary: directors: Lorado Taft. Hobart Chatfield Chatfield-Taylor, John C. Shaffer, Arthur Bissell and Jane Addams. The executive com mittee comprises Ira Nelson Morris, Frank G. Logan, Arthur Bissell, Donald Robertson and Hamlin Garland, and all of the officers are to be directors ex-officio. Kenney, Nobody and Platt open pheum Circuit July 9. on the Or A complete list of attractions at Chicago theatres appears on page 53. William | Delamater and | Was staged by Edward Elsner, for several years | Risque. | critics are unanimous in their | In all | The cast com| for the past | years leading support with May Irwin; | England’s most beautiful actress | James O'Donnell Bennett, critic of the RecordHerald, says of the play: “In Dear Old Billy, Mr. Hawtrey impersonates a Pickwickian sort of person, who involves bimself in a situation not dissimilar to some of those in which Mr. Pickwick himself was the conspicuous and unhappy figure. William Smith, in a word, middle age, who, flying from a domineering wife, seeks repose in a boarding-house at an English watering place. He immediately becomes A Victim; his landlady, her maid and other women, | | is a gentile, guileless, gullible party of | Mardi Gras—Ravinia Park Re-opens—All Summer Resorts Flourishing WHITE CITY'S CARNIVAL. Chicago, June 28 (Special to The Billboard). —The announcement has been made that the third week of July will be devoted to a spectacular carnival at White City, Ch . modeled on the lines of the Veiled Prophets and the Mardi Gras. Among the features projected are a great parade to traverse the South Side | streets, in which handsome floats will be used. a ballet of one hundred performers, and an extravaganza. The beautiful electric tower at White City, which has been likened to a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, (Continued on page 54.) has lured enormous crowds to the resort all PERLI BARTI. Miss Barti, late Prima Donna of The Broken Idol, has been engaged by Max Spiegel crea the role of the widow, in his new musical production, "The Wioning Widow. " ¥ Pain Indorses Sane Fourth Chicago, June 30 (Special to The Billboard). Tomorrow, Pain’s Fireworks Display Company of America will begin a four days’ exhibition of fireworks along the lines approved by the “sane Fourth’? committees The celebration, which will be called Pain’s Pioneer Days in Chicago, will be held nightly throngh the Fourth at Comiskey Park. 55th and Shields Five bundred Indians, soldiers, pioneers and other performers will be seen in a grand repro duction of the Battle of Fort Dearborn, ter minating with the burning of the’ fort. The Battle in the Clouds will also be given, and a grand pyrotechnic display of the coronation of King George and Queen Mary, in their royal robes, will be made. Four similar sbows will be put on the road by the Pains this season. The Langdons sailed July 3 from Roston for their home in Council Bluffs. Ia. They open next scason September 10 on the United Time. Avenue. | and Grace Kennicott has been engaged to sing Pinafore Revival at Riverview Chicago, June 80 (Special to The Billboard). —Tonight at Riverview Park, Ed. E. Rice, projector of Beautiful Evangeline, Adonis, Hia watha and other successes, will make a unique revival of Gilbert & Sullivan’s comie opera H M. 8. Pinafore. The Rice Comic Opera Company has been organized for this purpose, the part of Josephine, and Sidney De Gray has been secured as Sir Joseph Porter. The performance will be given on a floating stage or rather on the deck of a 100-ft. ship which has been built twenty feet off shore in what is known at Atlanti¢e Beach, a swimming pool. There will be a chorus of sixty and an orchestra of sixteen. Fred J. Eustace is musical director. Seats will be provided for 3.500 people. The opera will be elaborately staged and costumed. Ardell Bros. are playing six weeks of Gua Sun parks, season, The boardwalk at White City is three-quarters of a mile long and nightly presents a kaleidoscopic scene of cosmopolitan life, with its hum of thousands of voices, the music of Liberati’s Band, the songs of the operatic singer, the noise of the ballyhoos and the whirr of the riding devices. RAVINIA PARK TO REOPEN. The North Shore is rejoicing at the pros pect of the reopening of Ravinia Park, which is scheduled to throw open its gates to the public on July 3. For a while it was feared that the elite pleasure place near Lake Forest was too greatly involved in financial meshes to warrant its reopening; but 165 public-spirited citizens have come forward and saved it for the pleasure seekers of the North Shore. The first attraction will be Thomas’ Orchestra. which will give concerts in the pavilion every afternoon and evening for two weeks. The Chicago Grand Opera Orchestra will be another attraction later on, as will also the Ben Greet Players, who have been secured to give several plays in August. NEW ATTRACTIONS AT FOREST. | Demon, the human torch, who makes a sensational bicycle ride from the top of the chutes with his body enveloped in flames, is one of the new attractions that are drawing record-breaking crowds to Forest Park every afternoon and evening. Another alluring feature is the Ranch A. K. Wild West Show, with its many cowboys, cowgirls, scouts and Indians, giving graphic demonstration of the life on the border. Hand’s Band, a popular Chicago musical organization, under the direction of Armin Hand, assisted by his father Johnny Hand, appears in afternoon and evening concerts. Marguerite Moore’s Society Entertainers, an assemblage of six young ladies, provide music and song. The giant coaster and the Grand Canyon scenic railway, together with the big ewimming pool, provide entertainment to thousands of visitors daily. Several special attractions are scheduled for July 4. LAKEWOODS HAS NEW BAND. J. Fleischman’e Royal Hungarian Band has succeeded Thaviu's Orchestra as the musical attraction at Lakewoods, the new half-million dollar amusement park at Gary, Ind., the great industrial town. The location of the mew resort, half-way between Gary and South Chicago, ' (Continued on page 53.) Two New Theatres | Proposed Chicago, June 30 (Special to The Billboard). —Two more theatres are projected for Chicago— a small one on Clark Street, just north of the Columbia, which Harry Moir will build for vaudeville, and a more pretentious undertaking fathered by Vincent C. Price, for the corner of Division and Dearborn Avenue. The latter project contemplates the erection of a combined hotel and theatre to cost $200,000. Negotiations are said to be on with New York capitalists and that there will be some developments in this connection within a few days. Cc. J. VERHALEN A BENEDICT. | Chicago, June 29 (Special to The Billboard). ;—Charles J. Ver Halen of the Chicago office of The Billboard, was united in the holy bonds of matrimony to Miss Lillian C, Buscher at St. Gregory’s Church, Edgewater, at 9 a. m., June 21. The hav-~ couple has just returned from | a honeymoon in the Northern part of Wisconsin. _ will go to housekeeping on the Nort) ore, WATTERSON R. ROTHACKER A HAPPY FATHER. Chicago, June 29 (Special to The Billboar) —Watterson R. Rothacker, president of the Irdustrial Moving Picture Co. of Chicago, wear a broad smile over the advent of his first-born. a week ago today, June The little miss who weighed nine pounds at birth made her debut at the Columbus Hospital, North Park Avenue, and was promptly named Virginia EF! leen in honor of maternal relatives. NORTH CHICAGO CELEBRATES THE FOURTH. Chicago, June 30 (Special to The Billboard) —Messrs. John ©, Hale, postmaster of North Chicago, and George Gehring of the Committer on Concessions of the Progress Club of Nort! Chicago. Ill., were Billboard callers last Thurs day. They came here to secure attractions for the second annual Fourth of July celebratio® to be -‘ven at the flourishing manufacturi'< town on the North Shore. The festivities a to be held in Foss Park, a beautiful tract °° 87 wooded acres right on the lake shore, »° feet above Lake Michigan, which Is owned ! the municipality and named in honor of Co" gressman George BE. Foss of [hnois. An octagon bandstand, thirty feet In diame ter, will house the eight participating ban‘which include the musical organizations from Fort Sheridan. the U. 8. Naval Training Scho! at Lake Bluff and the Naval Reserve Band of Chicago. A notable feature of the celebration will be the parade, which will consist of for'y beautifully-decorated Industrial floats.