The Billboard 1913-03-22: Vol 25 Iss 12 (1913-03-22)

—— Pe a MARCH. 22, 1913. — The Billboard 49 ~ < THE THEATRICAL WEEK IN CHICAGO FRANK KEENAN SUING FAVERSHAM Plaintiff Asks $75,000 Damages, Alleging Trespass—T he Lady From Oklahoma, a Lively Little Comedy, Seen at Princess Theater—The Iron Door Has Chicago Premiere iz Mareh 13 (Special to The Billboara). rank Keenan, actor, brought suit here today sgacnst Willlam Faversham, the tragedian, for $75,000, alleging trespass. The full complaint in the sult Was not filed and will not be fo, several dass It is understood, however, that Keenan bases tis claim for damages on the fact that he was drcpt from the Paversham Company while it wa: playing in Omaha, Neb., on March 7. He sets ' according to those who are familiar wit! that he was forct out by Mr eversham for ne fault of his vwn. The Faversham eide of it is that Keenan, wh« was playing Cassius in Julius Caesar, made him self so objectionable to all members of the com t the trouble, t pany that several of them resigned. Mr. Fay ersbam sent Mr. Keenan a letter asking him to resiga in order to prevent furtber trouble. Keenan refused. Accordingly Mr. Faversham gave bim a written two weeks’ nvtice that his services were bo longer required and as a result Mr. Keenan quit on Mareh 7. THE LADY FROM OKLAHOMA. LADY FROM OKLAHOMA—A comedy by Elizabeth Jordan. Presented in Chicage at the Princess Theater, March 9, 1913, with the following cast of characters: Miss Ruth Herrick . Isabel ? Madigan Freddy Belden eeecencessese ‘rank Dee BR cccccveseen ooneees éuscencs w a Renfort Mrs. Herbert Gordon. ove thryn Browne Decker Senator Joel Dixon -».-William Harcourt THE ee eeeeee Birdie Smith ..... seeeeceeses DT Deresa Michilena Mrs. Rutberford Dean ..........Helen Orr Daly Bie Castle SAGGD casccnccecceveses Maude Earie Robert Pierce ..... coccsceee -Edward Davis Sombter Gee <cnsescsceentaneesu Henry Harmon BED COMIN occesecensecesaenes sds Mary Scot: Mrs. Henry Jenkins. . Victoria MacFarlane Miss Virginia Je ferson Alice Lindab! Geaetee TOOONS wacdetcticdckes Maud Gilbert Arthur Belden nee bot ++++.Walter Hitchcock Gs, COG) BOR cancueéavecececs Jessie Bonstelle Chicago, March 10 (Special to The Billboard). —The Lady From Okiaboma, which was written by Miss Elizabeth Jordan, editer of Harper's Bazaar, and which is the current altraction at the Princess Theater, has met with the ap proval of Chicago's audiences and critics, and what the later say of it, follows in part: ( * W. Collins: “‘The Lady From Okla homa is a diverting comedy, with many a well tu ! is almost a compendium of that advice to "fom nin subscribers which forms such 40 important part of modern journalism. Mis. Bonstelle appears as an expert comedienne, and William Harcourt is persuasiv as the Western Senator."’ Herbe Caxton, Chicago Tribune: “A natura wit ervades the lines from the first witty thoug foret but growing out of the batura. S.tuations of the play; put the rea) merit was, of surse, that pertaining to the main theme whi bh manifested itself in the poignant &rief of the senator's wife. The admirable reStraint of Miss Bonstelle kept this well within the proper bounds of realism. Katheryn Brow ue Decker, as the adventuress, always an un €racious part, acquitted herself with credit, as did also Mr. Harcourt, as ‘Senator Dixon.’ M: excellent as Senator Kirby Harmo was Sa. as the part was, while Miss Gilbert and ber associate manicurists gave the audience much joy, so much, in fact, that many of Miss Bonstelle’s most pathetic lines were also received with guffaws, a misfortune al! too com ™mon."’ James O'Donnell Bennett: ‘‘Miss Lindab! de serves a word for her charming diction and her spontaneity in a bit of a part, and Miss Daly was distinguisht and tactful in another bit."’ THE IRON DOOR. THE IRON DOOR—Play by Allan Davis. l're sented by John Cort’s company in the Chi cago Opera House, Chicago, March 10, 1913 —_ : THE CAST. 1 Ol POONOS 62k cavhewes bee Russ Whytal Alice “W nfield Frances Slosson Howard Carson .Douglas J. Wood I Rosenberg ...... seaesss+L@o Donnelly Patrick Dorgan ..........e008 Eugene O'Rourke Beware FOGe ‘sacksceblese sae Wayne Campbell! l Hon Arch bald. Stone... Tom Burrough the Hon. John C allahen CEE joy Wison Day “S00 WROTE ise canecsscés . Corliss Giles OW ME ape kkaccdbeckeeens Ann Bradley Somas Cummings ....... -Willlam J. Gross Mace NOE biG dies vuriswed Eugene Foxcroft OTOMSS OF TS PO cacrecsanncs George Spelvin I Catherine Lanah Mary Masterson WOME cicnchiel seaeees Gustav Griesbach Pinky MGM 560 <hncdnydneceaeunae Pr. J. Lewis YT avsecunadeuaentueebieunsannaun Joe Meyers ROG WRONNM 0 did ode nie ana vndicanct Rey Bell CED cvéccecnaeseassnsesséuas Clarence George WP sactivenate deen Charles Smyth Sopeceseneseebececbens ..»Mique Shannon . nlcago, March 14 (Rpectal to The Billboard) Chi nes ae Door, the current attraction at the ea Opera House, if we are to take the word : _ erities, is not a supreme lay, tho they ; + HP ne to admit that it has its many good ‘Rie bard eritle, Henry Little, Ch 7 ‘iner’ bas this ‘te ny feago Exaniiner's “The Iron Dour is a play that won't burt a lot of us to see. It con cerns more of us than most of the plays nowa days. e or the specally the kind that deals with graft. underworld or the troubles of a man with a woman scorned."’ C. Sharp, on the same aH its Door is real, With t publication, varying fases and characters. The Iron decidedly modern and truly human. he near approach of the post-lenten holl says: ‘‘In and feeling. The impossibilities of the role as it is drawn, in all its artifice, must have imbedded themselves in the actor’s pleasantest field of thought, for he covers inaccuracies up with cho'ce art, and develops small beauties with accurate directness. Corliss Giles plays the thief in a cyclone of elocution. Frances Slosson, with a nice voice, struggles in a maze of contradic tions and makes the heroine rather engaging. So much is left to the actors, that about all Davis has given the consumpt'y sister of the thief, is a hacking cough and two shrieks after the ver dict, yet, Anne Bradley gave symptoms of acting in the part.” : ACTRESS ATTEMPTS SUICIDE. Chicago, March 14 (Special to The Billboard). —Having devided that |ife was not worth living, Nellie Berger, a vaudevil actress, attempted suicide by taking morphine in her room at a downtown hotel in North Clark street. A man who occuried an ad‘oining room heard her moaning and summoned a fysician. She was taken to a bospital where it was said she will recover. “THE GREAT RAYMOND.” Chicago, March 15 (Special to The Billboard) —What James O'Donnell Bennett has to say about “The Great Raynwnd:’’ ‘Maurice Ray mond, a conjurer who is expert enuf in gab and sielght-of-hand to amuse one-half of the au HELEN WARE Miss Ware's excellent portrayal of the role of May Joyce, comments ——___—____ —— elicited most favorable days, when everybody flocks to the theaters, it should receive its just patronage." Percy Hammond, of The Chicago Tribune: “Inspired by the feeling that Mr. of The jon, one Door, Another Iron Davis (author Iron Door) is worthy of an honest opinis impelled to say that his play, The is not a good play.” critic, Sheppard Butler, calls it “Wasted effort.’ He further adds that The Iron Door is not a virile play, and unless all signs fall, it ts not going to be a remunerativ one Not to put too fine a point upon it, the play is incredibly bad From Charles W. Collins there is at least a word of consolation: ‘‘Allan Davis, author of The Iron Door, is a novice playwright, and he has written a noevice’s play. His work is typical of the average young American's first attack upon the drama, with plans for a box office success; it is melodramatic and over wrought, tolled field of crime and politics. characters with and its subject matter is the too well He has several excellent fidelity to American types; and he bas endeavored with some success, to psychologize his theme.’ By way of conclusion Amy Leslie. of The News. writes that: ‘Russ Whrtal, grown ‘eep eyed and silvery during the years since he came to us, plays the judge with exqu'sit symmetry in The Escape, Paul Armstrong’s new play, from the Chicago critics dience while he mystifies the other half, made his first appearance in Chicago last evening. after several years of prosperous jaunting about in foreign parts. A crowd that filled the Studebaker Theater witnest his entertainment and pronounct him a comical cuss. The vivclet proclaims himself ‘The Great Raymond.’ but he draws the fangs of criticism by hastening to adi that the adjectiv is a trade-mark and not a boost. In brief, the usual program of mechan ical and manual illusion was presented in rather an unusual way, often with neatness and de spatch, and sometimes with tedious overelabora tion of foeling. The card tricks were pretty sad. perhaps because the great man was a litile nervous in making his first appearance in a long time in his home town. One of those feats went quite wrong. but the performer continued cheerfully loquacious, saying, ‘I don't dv this trick because 1 think yeu want to see it. but because I want to learn it.’ Percy Hammond, in The Chicago Tribune: “Many perplexing, if nut bewildering feats ef legerdemain are performed by Mr. Raymond between his seedy jokes. A dim recollection of Herrmann, and cf Kellar, leads one to believe that neither of these famous wizards excelled him in adroitness and ingenuity. He operates with great celerity, the rather bulky implements which give him aid, producing every twe, one of his industrious assistants vacuum of some sort of cabinet Sr other, The most mystifying of his endeavors is that ir which be sweeps a small fowler’s net thru th: air, and captures therein, enuf poultry to make the stage of the Studebaker look like Soutb Water street on a busy day. This is truly an amaing trick. minute vr from the MANCHESTER PLAYERS TO APPEAR HERE. Chicago, March 14 (Special to The Billboard). —The Famous English Repertoire Co. are appearing in the Fine Arts Theater, Chicago, for a month, starting March 17, in nine plays select ed from a repertoire of 91. Miss Anna Elizabeth Horn'man’s famous com pany from the Gaiety Theater, Manchester, England, generally known as the Manchester llayers, will make what will be practically its first appearance in the United States, when op Monday night, March 17, it appears in the Fine Arts Theater, Chicago, under the auspices of the Chicago Theater Society in Arnuld Bennett's famous comedy, What the Public Wants. The eccasion will mark the first performance in the United States of this play by Bennett, the famous novelist, who is known to theatergoers only as a collaborator on Milestones. Following is the arrangement of the plays for the first two of the four weeks’ arrangement of the Manchester Players in Chicago: First week—Monday. Thursday and Saturday nights and ‘Thursday afternoon, What the Public Wants. Tuesday and Wednesday nights, John Masefield’s The Tragedy of Nan, followed by Gertrude Robin's comedy of Makeshifts. Friday night and Saturdsy afternoon, Miles Dixon, by Gilbert Cannan, followed by Shaw's famous com Candida, Second week—Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights and Thursday afternoon, Goldsmith's immortal comedy, She Stoops to Conquer. Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and Saturday afternoon, John Galsworthy’s notable play about the unemployed, The Silver Box. The second week will be markt by two special matinees in the Studebaker Theater. The School for Scandal, Tuesday afternoon, and The Rivals, Friday afternoon. BARTHOLEMAE OPENS CHICAGO OFFICE. Chicago, March 16 (Special to The Billboard). —Philip Bartholemae, the latest recruit to the producing field, who first gained theatrical prominence as playwright, onened offices in No. 1205% Schiller Building om Friday, March 14, where he will conduct his Chicago activities. Leander Richardson, his general manager, be in charge of the new office. Mr. Bartholemae’s When Dreams Come True will appear at the Garrick after the Faversham engagement—that is April 6 EASTER VACATION FOR PRODUCER. Chicago, March 13 (Special to The Billboard). —Edwin W. Rowland, of the firm of Rowland and Clifford. is arranging for a vacation, which will start immediately after all his arrange ments for the Easter routes are completed. Mrs. Rowland will accompany the theatrical producer. No destination is announct for the tour ists. will MILWAUKEE BUBBLING OVER. March 15 Milwaukee, (Special to The Bill board).—The Indoor Carnival. which Herbert A Kline will install in the Milwaukee Auditorium March 24 to 30, when the VonSteuben ment Association will try to raise the funds with which to erect a memorial to the German-American patriot, is progressing in great fashion; thanks to the good work of Walter K. Sibley. This showman announces an advance sale totaling about 20,000 admissions and further reports that 400 eight-sheets, both pictorial and block; 1,000 quarters, halves and one-sheet pletorial for the windows and sniping; 200 quarter sheets for the dashes of the trolley cars; 300 three-sheet muslin banners; several thousand lights and $200 worth of newspaper advertising. Prominent among the pay attractions will be David C. Whittaker’s Motordrome. for which Mr. Sibley has suggested the name, Tub of Blood or Hell’s Saucer. As for free attractions a most excellent line-up has been named, and the concess‘ons will be of usual ‘‘Kline-Class’’ calibre. It is only natural to believe that Messrs. Kline and Sibley will give a real treat to the town of breweries. Monu necessary RIALTO NOTES. A. H. Woods will produce a new musical comedy called The Grass Widow, by Rennold Wolf and Channing Pollock, authors of The Red Wid ow. George M. Cohan will resuscitate Kid Burns next season in a new musical comedy to be call ed Kid Burns and the Four Hurmired. Victor Moore of course will be the star Messrs. Klaw and Erlanger make known purpoge of entering the moving, picture on a vast scale next autumn Arrangements are assuming shape for the complimentary dinner to be tendere@ George M. Cohan on Monday evening. March 24, at the Hotel Sherman. Many em'nent mén in and out of the theatrical profession will attend Owing to the success achi “ by Hindle Wakes now playing in Chicago. this play is to be seen thruout the United States William A their field Rrady, who brought the ptece to the United States, abandoned it after a brie@ tour of the East. but after reorganizing the cSmpany, plac ing Whitford Kane in the eate its London success. The plan for restoring the Oly@pic Theater to the uses of vandevil is not proceedng to ful fillment with a complete avoidance of obstacle. It is told that cond'tions have arisen which for the moment create indecision with regard to the policy of the playhonse for the imr late future. The plan for operating the theater ’as a ponniar price continnous vandevil house hajds so fair a promise of large profit that the EAsterners who have been interested with the Koh}-Castle Com pany In operating it. as a dramati@ and mnsical comedy theater. are loath to sufrender their interests, it is reported, altho they would elim'nate it from competition with their other standard theaters. role, he.saw it dupli —