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

| | ; aes ee. ec 16 The Bi llboard JULY 8, 194; W. H. DONALDSON, Publisher. ISSUED WEEKLY, and entered as Second-class Maii Matter at Post-office, Cincinnati, O. Address all communications for the editorial o1 business department to THE BILLBOARD PUBLISHING CO., 416 Elm St., Cincinnati, O., U. S. A. Telephone, Main 2769. (Registered) ‘*Billyboy.’’ Long Distance Cable address NEW YORK. Holland Building, 1440 Broadway. Telephone 1630 Bryant, CHICAGO. Schiller Building, 103-109 Randolph 8! Telephone Central 5034. ST. LOUIS. Room 805, Missouri Trust Building SAN FRANCISCO. Westbank Building, 830 Market St., junction Market, Ellis and ockton Sts., Suite 62 4 LONDON, ENLAND. 170 Temple Chambers, E. C. PARIS, FRANCE. 121 Rue Montmartre, Telephone 222—61. Room 5, 1205 ; ADVERTISING RATES—Twenty cents per line, agate measurement, Whole page, $140; half page, $70; quarter page, $35. No advertisement measuring less than five lines accepted. Subscription, $4 a year; 6 months, $2; months, $1; ee in advance, E No extra charge to Canadian or Foreign subscribers. THE BILLBOARD is for sale on all trains and news-stands throughout the United States and Canada, which are supplied by the American News Co., and its branches. It is also on sale at Brentano's, 87 Avenue de l’Opera, Paris, France. When not on sale, please notify this office. Remittances should be made by st-office or express money order, or registered letter ad dressed or made payable to The Billboard Publishing Company. The editor cannot undertake to return unsolicited manuscript; correspondents should keep copy. Saturday, July 8, 1911. A UNIQUE GRAND OPERA SITUATION. By ROBERT GRAU The season of 1910-11, as far as grand opera is concerned, is unique in that four opera houses in as many cities are controlled absolutely by men of great wealth, who have come together in the same manner which obtains in the financial world. The advent of the multimillionsire as an impresario, was brought about by the disastrous results from the fierce com petition of last year in the metropolis. and it was but natural that such men as Otto H. Kahn, Edwin YT. Stotesbury, Eben D. Jordan aml John C. Shaffer, who had made their fortunes by reducing everything to figures, should eall a halt. When it was fovnd that with a subscription of almost $690,000 for a season of twenty weeks, the Metropolitan Opera House had to face a deficit, conferences were in order. In the final ‘‘count-up’’ it was also discovered that the deficit for the season of 1909-10 was prevented from being colossal by the accidental and sensational vogue of a pair of agile Rus sian dancers, who in the last month of the season presented the unusual spectacle of selling out the capacity of the opera house at every performance, no matter what the opera might be, or whom the cast might include while at the New Theatre these same terpsichorean wonders were the magnet by which that superb edifice displayed the S. R. O. sign for the first and only time in its history! Oscar Hammerstein was having his own troubles at the Manhattan Opera House; for three years he had been losing vast sums, and those intrepid impresario knew that if he continned another year, even the goldladen Victoria Theatre, which was the source of supply by which the Manhattan Opera House leficits were liquidated, might be in danger closest to this Oscar Hammersteiu was weary of it all, while his sons, representing as they do the rising generation of theatrical men, were unwilling to look on and see their father’s fortune and eclth ennihilated Thus it was that the new order of thi vas nancurated. but the question as to wl no yhlems of grand opera has this procedure {s vet an unde«c is nothing to inticate that the elimination of Oscar Hammerstein in 1910 does not mean the creation of a still more powerful competition in 1912' Already it hes been found Impossible to provide seats and boxes fn the sdld out Honse for the new element endeavors of Mr. Hammerstein n. while tn Philadelphia a sim state of affairs prevails in en effort to ate the erstwhile snbseribers of two opera honses within the limited capacity « opera honse which Hammerstein gave “the operatic trnst’’ in making terms for his retirement for all time from grand opera diree tion In this conntry! Metro It is recalled that the Metronolitan Onera House came into be ng becanse of the inahbilits of a new generation of millionaires to encure | hoxes and sets at the Aeadomyr of therefore i+ is not likely that with a New York, containing five millien souls ! 1 aire for opera can be satisfied in wne onera honse! Who will b> “‘the new Moses’? jn the oner ‘tle world?—There are several likely candidates: Thomas Beecham of London possesses many of he qualifications which would enable him to | reign. It is knewn, too, that he is considering seriously an American entourage; he would not be lacking plenty of financial backing, and his | advent is even expected within a year or two | it inost, | Another possibility is George C. Tyler, the dministrative head of the firm known as Lieb ler and Company. Mr. Tyler has had an inter esting career, beginning fifteen years ago with uit capital, and in that period be. has become the most important producer of plays in thfs | country: he has shown, too, that he is not without artistic taste and public spirit; his direc| tion of the tours of Eleanor Duse showed | these traits conspicuously. | But the most likely to enter the operatic | field—and in this instance it would be a return | to first principles is Henry W. Savage, who stands uncompromisingly for opera in E j and there are not wanting many ing that the next great effort in the musi will be revival of opera in the vert Mr, Savage always profited in this fiel he is firm in the belief that only national opera can the problems of our opera honses be solved. For more than prospered, while the ort of the signs twenty vears opera riff v impresarios ticle n fact, it was net mnt ! ‘ *the leal cast’ at the Metror n 0 " » 1895 that it was possible for ft t on to declare a 1 fad in ts th 1 to averaged “ek, hav “ uso alone. un to the advent of Mile. Pavlowa and M. Mordkin, » to attract the public the nights when the the receipts when the almost nil. yet there are ten singers in the Metropolitan organization to whom an .honorarium of one thousand dollars a night is paid, and a dozen more whose nightly e is In excess of five hundred dollars. There are half a dozen conductors in this one organization who receive from five hundred to one thousand dollars a week for their services. Even the imrresario is paid a salary of thirty thonsand dollars a year! Shades of Colonel Mapleson, *Max Strakosch and Henry E. Abbey, | look down upon us! The orchestra alone at the Metropolitan Opera House necessitates a weekly outlay which would enable an old-time imoresario to pre| sent opera in its entirety with a profit. The" pay of the eighty members of the orchestra is not uniform, but none receive less than seven dollars a verformance, with extra allowence for rehearsals, while some are granted as high as twenty-five dollars a performance, | Need one wonder that New York is the Mecca for the operatic artist. There are no less than forty-five singers of high rank on the roster of New York’s onera house. The method by which these are contracted for and concilinated is an untold tale. The late Maurice Gran used to have in his sanctum a contrivance similar {n appearance to a chess-board. He could tell at a glance through this device inst how many appearances were due to each artist. | The way he did jinggle with the problems of his oneratic contracts was wont to amaze his eolleagues: he it was who originated ‘the ideal cast’’; this was accomplished with Gonnod'’s opera, Faust, with Jean and Edouard De | Reszke, Jean La Salle, Pol Plancon. Emma Eemes and Sonhia Sealch! as the magnets. Some one asked Mr. Gran what would be the | after effect on nights when this galaxy of stars did not sing. ‘‘It is enongh to have found an attraction that will draw, afterward may | come the deluge, for anght I know,’’ he replied. Manrice Grau was the first impresario to make | a profit from onera management: during the last | three years of his regime at the Metropolitan. | dividends of seventy to one hundred and fifty per cent. were declared. He left a fortune In | excess of five hundred thousand dollars, and | vet in poe season where he was active was the snbserintion at the opera house one-tenth of what it is today. Pen Kennedy writes The Billboard to the ef| fect that he is confined in the tuberculosis hospital on Blackwell’s Island. New York, and is in very indigent circumstances. Profes| sional friends are requested to contribute to Mr. Kennedy’s assistance. TEN YEARS AGO. C. E. Bray lived in New Orleans. Lee Kraus was a Pinkerton man. Ray L. Royce was with A Wise Guy. M. E. Rice managed Two Merry Tramps. Knox Wilson was with The Burgomaster | Montgomery and Stone were In vandeville. *“Dolph’ Meyers was selling shoestrings. Fred Niblo was one of Hyde's Comedians. | Elsie Janis was billed as “Little Elsie.’’ — Rinaldo clerked in a matting store e Four Cohans were with the Behman Show Walter Meakin “discovered”? Ringling’s Show, | Arthur Dun was featured in A Runaway Girl. | The Empire Theatre in Pittsburg was op ened, | Senie MeCree was with The Reilly and Woods Ss ow x, ‘ Hayman was secretary to Martin | Sedie Jacobs was playing with childish tors Peters was in Charlie Harding's of Fred Mozart was Opium Ringe with The King of the | Jake FElivs was city credit man for Albert | Pick and Co | Matt Nasher was in advance of the Jack Hoeffler show The Academy at Allentown, Pa., was de Mann and Marguerite Sylva were arriage, ul was breaking Into the vyaunde| Ner was a “high-grader’ out at agher was Show mes Was an | treasnrer of the Ring| i ‘ insurance agent In av Dakota Klein end Clifton were with T. W. Dinkins’ | { Clair was bendmaster of the Barnum | ar , Show | | per tn “presented” to small towns 4 “ve 7 ‘ ++ 14 " ; } ‘ 6 ’ ittending the public school fH) leag | photographed | showing for Mark Heiman was treasurer of the Grand at Syracuse, N 4 The Western Vaudeville Managers’ Association was organized. Claude Humphrey was singing Illestrated songs at Lansing, Mich. Bert Cortelyou was secretary to the president of the Alton R. R. Norman Friedenwald was running a_ bird | store in Denver, Col. Readers’ Column W. H. Chapman of Booneville, Ind., is very anxious to know the address of Roy K. Chap man, trap drummer, last heard from at Shreve port, La, Helen Ogden, the three-voiced singer, will | learn something to her advantage by communi t tob Stanley, care of Manhattn et Ave., Cleveland, Ohio. Any ’ uidress please communicate. rtic Mrs. Frank Ellet was diy 1908S, and has the custody of ' D fie Adams would like to know } “ la Alabama Page s 1 I and kulf ( C. 999, note. Send ten cents for our List-Book, Sarah Koon, 93 Sherman Street, Wabash, Ind., would like to hear from Jack Koon % John Conner, 5407 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, 0., would like to know the address of John P. Quinn, last heard of in Pittsburg. Pa., a month ago. He lectures on crooked gambling. Sarah Hall, 509 W. Mo., is very anxious to hear from her daugh ter, who is traveling under the name of Jesse Fox and Abbie Hawey. Any one knowing the address of Jack Swayzee and J. H. Leonard. please communicate with Chas. Jarvis, care The Billboard. G. R. Hutsler, 1326 Union Street, Lafarette, Ind.. would like to hear from the publishers of the following comic songs: This is no Place for a Minister’s Son and Foolish Questions. Reader—We are not sure whether or not an | other tent show will play Cincinnati, but in all probability the Ringling Show will be here this season, + E{mer Thurston, Arkport, N. Y., woud ike to know the whereabouts of Lew Seeker. HEARD IN ADVANCE. By TOM NORTH. Here’s a good way to break into the Chicago Tribune without Percy Hammond's assistance: Chicago, Feb. 21.—(Editor of The Tribune.) —Please inform me through your paper as to the identity of the person who plays the part of the ‘“‘baby’’ in the play, The Bachelor's Baby. Please give name, sex, and age. (Ethel Downey; age, at least 20.—Ed. Tribune.) co “Wally’’ Decker -ut over some stunts in St Tonis recently for his Broken Idol Company that made ‘em gaze. He sent up balloons. te A stranger In Chicago was robbed three times in an hour. What I can’t understand is why he didn’t go to a certain hotel in Louis ville and get it over with in five minutes, there by saving twenty-five minutes. Time is valuable, a Thompson Buchanan, | Way and The Cub, is one of about eleven na tive young playwrights who have captured Rroadway within the last decade and who have introduced a new era of youthful endeavor into the history of the American stage. The other young writers of drama ere: Channing Pollock, | Panl Armstrong, James Forbes, W. J. Hurlbut, Edward Sheldon, Jules Eckert Goodman, Avery | Hopwood, Porter Fmerson Browns, Eugene Walters and A. E. Thomas, A student of the contemporary drama, curious about such things, recently tried to average up the age, height, weight. features and general appearance of the composite young American dramatic author, as he would be seen ff all these eleven successful according to the composite meth o1. According to this computation, this in quisitive person arrived at the fact that this young American dramatist wonld be about 31 yeers of age, about 5 feet, 10 Inches In height. about 165 pounds in weight, and naturally with regular clean-shaven features. Mr. Armstrong fs a chorecter all by himself, and, attired in his picturesone style. greatly resembles one of his own Western characters drawn from the pages of Rret Harte The achievements of these younger dramatists of the new twentieth century might be summed np in The Heir to the Hoorah, Salomy Jane Going Some and Alias Jimmy Valentine. of Paul Armstrong: The Bishop's Carriage, Little Grey Lady, Secret Orchard, and Such a Tittle Princess, of Channing Pollock: The Chorus Lady Traveling Salesman end The Commmters, of James Forbes: A Fool There Was and The Snendthrift. of Porter Emerson Prowns: Clothes Seven Dave and Nobody's Widow of Avery Horwood: The Mon Who Stood Stil] and The Mother, of Jules Eckert Goodman: The Fiehting | Hope and The Writing on the Wall. of William J. Horlbut: Wer Hushend’s Thomas: A Woman's Way, and The Cuh, of Thompson tion Nell and The Nigger and Pald in Full. The Way. of Eugene Wife, of A. F Luln’s Husbands Rnuechanan: Salvaof Fdward Sheldon. Wolf and The Easiest Walters Ouite a brilliant the new generation of American playwrights. MarieClaire was written by a French seamstress rising thirty years of age. She emerged upon the world from an orphan aylum, served an apprenticeship on a farm, and later earned her living oe a seamstress at a wage a Mttle tn excess of 25 cents a day. I have It, but those ‘who had previously borrowed books and neg 23d Street, Kansas City, | author of A Woman's | playwrights should be | lected to return them will have to tuke q , tion at the farther end of the line. The original Four English Madcaps, who j ated a veritable sensation when they cand | this country for the first time two yours , participate in a big Broadway musica) edy success, are now four-sevenths of Wi; | Musical Dancers. They are assisiey p | their performances by three agile young land the act even attains the dignity of | ing its own musical director, the mosie ¢, | dancing being so “‘tricky’’ and difficul: of ; tion, undirected, The Madcaps still are young, and {t y | |} real ‘‘kids’’ that they first reached thic | try and won American fame overn)y} | now they are as jolly as ever, in s f 4 rigorous work, and panting from exertjo, with perspiration streaming down (their ¢ they run off the stage after each ) laughing at the pranks of one anotly Winkler's Musical Dancers do fift: of the most lively acrobatic dancing | hy seen, Their opening is surprising ss least. The three men walk onto the « their hands, hauling behind them which are seated the four girls. (Hop Revell won't contradict the opening par of this story, MARRIAGES. WALDEN BOXBURG—Dana Wa nown magician and illusionist, whos: well-known to Chautauqua people, $ recently in Palatka, Fla., to Miss Hel burg of Scotland. They will tra t FRIEDLANDER-HALOERIN—Denvyer June 22 (Special to The Billboard popular manager BR. Friedlander, the prietor of the Friedlander Comedy one of the leadir ‘re married in this city last At the close of the season, Mr. lander will go to some secluded spot their honeymoon. RICHARDSON-STEPHAN—William J | ardson of the Auditorium Theatre, and } | Stephan, pianist at the American Theatr Bend, Ind., were married at St. Joseph, June 26. | SLAGEL-IVEY—James B. Slazel, a pr } member of the carmval company pl | Arand and other western towns in Texa: married, June 11, to Miss Louise Ivey of § er. The ceremony was performed by John Moore. Mr. Slagel is a resident of | Rapids, lowa. | | | BIRTHS. Mrs. G. A. Rudloff of Meriden. Cor presented her husband with a _ ten-pour girl. Dr. Stork called at the Rudloff res during the evening of June 20. Both g and baby are doing well. DEATHS. DAVIS—Lillian May Davis died at | June 28. Mrs. Davis is the wife of | Davis of O’Brien’s Minstrels, who was home in time to be with her before She was 26 years of age. They b children. The remains will be inter Youngstown, Ohio, Sunday, July 2. BOOTH—The profession has lost one talented members through the death of Booth, which oceurred at the Franklin Hospital, Baltimore, June 19. Mise Boo! ill for several weeks and typhoid-pne was the cause of her death. Her rema shipped to Brooklyn, N. Y., where t! buried. Miss Booth was forty years she was in the profession for twenty-five She first came into prominence as the ‘ Little Booth, and later, with her bus |thur Booth, they toured Europe and with great success, After the death husband, she did a sister act and was | and and Lizzie. During the past fe* } and up to the time of her death pearing in a sister act with Dot Ellswor had a clever act with singing and | Alice Trueheart, Nellie Ward and PD | worth were with her when she di | Sister took the body to Brooklyn. CUNNINGHAM — Frank <A. Cun | known to the vaudeville stage as Frank died in Boston, Mass., June 26, after | illness. Mr. Cunningham was a bigh-« former, and had several partners. The took place in Boston, his home. He Is | by his father, two brothers and a sister. |} BRUCE —B. F. Bruce, father of M | Bruce, of the vaudeville team of Bruce ra died at his home in Nyack, N. } | | AKARMAN —Wilton Akarman, ninete¢ old, and a well-known Australian cornet | in San Antonio, Tex., June 15, from ure, Young Akarman was a member Australian Musical Millers, and bad | this country but a few months. He ' }son of the late William Akarman, we stage manager of Harry Richards’ ‘' | theatres, in Australia. His mother | Akarman, one of the Musical Miller | funeral took place in San Anton STYLES —C, C. Styles, an old shown a the Bridget Hughes Hospital, Ash’ June 15. He had been ill for some t ; only after much urging did he « pital. He was connected = with Morgan Shows, His home was B Ala. He leaves a wife, mother ao CLARK —James Clark, one of | managers for Hyde & Behman, died burg, Pa., June 15. Mr. Clark hod Hyde & Rehman for nineteen y: «uch bouses as the Galety, Star a: tres, Brooklyn, His funeral to his old Rrookiyn home, 445 Bal ROUGHTON Mrs. Maria RBoug ton, }elght years of age, and moth toughton, proprietor of Rough Show, died at her home in Danbu 5 Mrs. Boughton was in no with the theatrical profession Was well-known to many. Fo she was a music-teacher, end for ths Was organist in the Congrega Ridgebury, Conn. HUDSON —Miss young vaudeville Decatur, Il., Mazel = Tuvde actress, whose om died at Atlanta, |" Miss Hudson was a singer and AY her sisters and mother. She had xs for a long time, the canse of 1) to be throat trouble. She was buri il! SS oF oe ene & te