The Billboard 1916-02-26: Vol 28 Iss 9 (1916-02-26)

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aor 3 ae atari ore Pe » ceanenaeinamemmenmcnne ste ~ ORE a? ee Rae ee me es dole ee en one "arn ee S yew ® | paneer MMSE The Billboard FEBRUARY 26, 1916, AUSTRALIAN NEWS By MARTIN C. BRENNAN Sydney, Australia, January 26. January 20 saw the ‘‘Makura’’ leaving for Vancouver, via New Zealand. Vaudeville people were represented by Lawrence Johaston, American ventriloquist; Mendel and Nagel, mugictans, and Daisy Jerome. These people play the Fuller Time. Going to Honolulu were Allen Boone and Edna Keeley, who have made a big mame in this country with the former's Irish comedy-dramas. They will play a season (vaudeville) of several weeks in-the Hawaiian Islands. Doone will remain in America for a month or @e in search of new productions for this country. Leaving for America today are Coy De. Trickey, Jim and Marian Harkins, Nolan and Nolan, Bddie Marshall, Billy Kinkaid, Hazel Moran, Betty Donn, Walter James and Mary Elizabeth. This latter lady did a return week at the Tivoli, Melbourne, but relinquished ‘her work ere on the second ‘week. It will be remembered that this dainty performer underwent two serious operations some months ago. They were very succesésfiil; but ‘it is’ a ‘question of merves that is the present trouble. The Fox Film Corporation has two representatives in Australin. From what can be gleaned it is expected that the Fox people are about to open up a direct supply office so that the small-time exhibitors can get their @ims first-hand. J. DP. Williams is in close attendance with the representatives, and offices ere already secured in Pitt street. A majority of Australian vaudeville artists have enlisted for the front, owing to a dearth ef work. This does not mean that the vaudeville situation is so acute, but those acts that have joined the forces have, with few exceptions, been worked out here. @ilbert Ridings, a member of the Tivoli FolHes, died of brain trouble last week. He was an Englishman, about 30 years of age, and well respected here. . , Del Baity, the cowboy dog trainer—at least he affects cowboy costume—has a clever animal fm Jap. The act is a feature on the Fuller ‘Time. The Tivoli Follies pack the Sydney house of McIntosh very frequently, and the show is well worth the money. Walter Weems, Vera Pearce, Billy Rego, Jack Cannot and George Crouch are etill the principal funmakers. Two deaths in the profession occurred within three days of each other last week. Both were most prominent in the theatrical field. The first to pass away was George Musgrove, in his time a most imposing entrepreneur. It will be recollected that he exploited Nellie Stewart MAGIC TRICKS, BOOKS AND SUPPLIES Complete, up-to-the-minute Acts in d Reading and Spiritual CHICAGO MAGIC CO.,. Dost. D, 72 W. Adams St., CHICAGO, ILL. New Tricks for Amateurs and Professionals. Advertising: Inch, 50c; Classified, le a word, minimum 20 words. BIG Profits! Magic Dealers, Agents, write for terms. THE EAGLE MAGICIAN, South 7th, Minneapolis, Minnesota. orf ON THE STAGE i tell you bow! Fascinating profession. Big eal artes. Experi Splendid years ri as both and perf. @ Uhestrated book ‘+All About Vaadeville”’ sent Free. LA DELLE, Sta. 93. JACKSON MICH AT LIBERTY ABOUT MAY 1, 1916 MAJESTIC THEATRE ORCHESTRA £. LANGE, Director. “A Classy Organization.” ABAdss B. LANGE, Majestic Theater, Springfield, TL WANTED FOR C.F. HARADEN VAUDEVILLE SHOW Sketch Team. for week and work in acts. State lowest salary wire or letter. I pay trans portation, people pay board. Week Show \ ae eo ge Oe Address VP BARADEN, Wilmington, North Carolina. WASTED TO CORRESPOND WITH P.C. PANNELL at once. JiM B. WILSON, Jewel Theatre, Pau. @h-Trmwen, Ter8s PLUSH DROPS fyeci!pitcoun! “ans Tats Monin Kenta! tn “ CONSOLIDATED VELVET, OM West tm Street. Mew York City. HARRY VAN Weighs In With a Pertinent Reply to Miss Corson’s Statements Huron, 8. D., February 15. Editor The Billboard: I hope you will publish the following, as it comes from a performer and showman— every inch an American—of twenty-seven years’ standing in every branch of the business, For several years, and up until about a year ago, I was also a member of the White Rats Actors’ Union. Therefore, for various reasons, I feel justified in answering, to the best of my ability, Miss Cora Youngblood Corson’s letter in a recent issue of The Billboard, When I joined the Rats it was in the days when the application had to be signed by twelve members of the profession who had personally viewed the act, and to be a White Rat in full standing meant a great deal then. One of the signers of my application was George Fuller Golden himself, and, later, when I was initiated, I was the proudest performer on earth. But later, when the bars were let down and they were herded in like sheep, you got a button for $10, regardless of artistic merit. That was the beginning of the finish, Mies Corson says: ‘‘The order is back to where it was eight years ago."" She is right. What else could you expect of an order or ‘“‘union’’ that herded in ex-ushers, etc., just so long as they had the $10. Whenever I think of the White Rats as a labor union it is to laugh. For years I have enjoyed a membership in the Typographical and Musicians’ unions, so I think I am qualified to speak on that subject. One of the first principles of unionism is representation and loyalty among members, At what period in the history of the United States have actors, as a whole, stuck together? One of the great benefits derived from unionism is the wage scale. Have you ever heard of the White Rats having a wage scale? No, indeed. The few privileged ones pulled down the big salaries (their names gave class to the program) while the lesser lights shouldered the responsibility of making the hit of the bill, at a much lower salary. I remember when one of the upper set would not wear the button of the order. He was morally afraid some manager would take exception to it. Some ‘‘union,"’ eh? I will not say that the White Rats, as an order, never benefited its members. I know they have, and under the regime of Harry Mountford at that. 1 will give due credit to Mountford; he is a hustler, an organizer, a talker, and bas enough vim for ten men. But, doesn’t it make you feel a little foolish and helpless to admit that if the Rats ever amount to anything again it will be only because of this one man? Out of the thousands of actors of America, among them pillars of brains and executive ability, there is not a single American who can and will do this work as Mountford can do. Isn't this fact enough to make him think, now more than ever (since being begged to come back), that we are the biggest bunch of boobs he ever saw? I would not blame him. Miss Corson, I know your intentions are all right, and do not blame you for sticking to the order. You are a life member, and that’s a whole ‘“‘mouthful."’ Your money is in and has been spent a long time ago. You have made a good name in the profession, through the aid of The Billboard. One of the first good write-ups you ever got was sent to The Billboard by ‘‘Yours Truly,’’ when you were touring the sticks of Kansas as a member of a band. You know, Miss Corson, that you were not voicing the rank and file of the vaudeville actor when you wrote that letter. You haven't been around them to hear what they have to say. I have, and that is the difference. The bulk of the White Rats’ membership was made up of the small-time artist. What do you think they are thinking? Surely not of sending in another ‘‘finiff.’"". I dropped out of the order when its affairs were going to the dogs. You would think me the biggest boob on earth if I had fallen for that reinstatement bunk, before the present conditions were eliminated. I want to belong to a union that stands for quality of workmanship and an equal social basis. Did the Rats ever offer this to you, either by word or deed? Thousands have been the heart pangs dished out to the ‘“‘stranger within the gates’’ in the past. I have been through the mill. You have always had J. Leslie to see you through. However, as an artist you have thrown your hat into the ring, so let’s figure this thing out. When you believed The Billboard the biggest and fairest paper in the world you believed correctly. It is the most powerful and friendly organ the profession ever had. If at any time the officers or members of the Rats had been disposed to answer De Veaux or Doyle The Billboard columns would have surely been open to them. If The Billboard, instead of Mountford, had advised the artists to rejoin and join the Rats a few weeks ago there would have been a membership of over 40,000 at present. And if the executive staff were not renovated before the avalanche of new members came pouring in The Billboard would soon have sunk to the same oblivion where our ‘Player’ now rests. Even with our great membership we could not make our little red paper, ‘‘by the actor and for the actor,’ flourish. I do not believe it was because of too many bad accounts with the actors. Actors are just actors, and not publishers, so why do you try to ‘‘tell it to” the biggest of trade journals when we actors could not even run our own little ‘‘red book ?’’ Again, how could The Billboard help but be one-sided (as you say), when, out of the entire ranks of the White Rats none has the moral courage to come back at these ‘anarchists?’ They must depend for the championship of the order on a WOMAN— a life member of the ‘‘branch’’ whose ten dollars per, like my wife's, swelled the treasury without even granting representation. You say that Harry De Veaux is a ‘‘paid’’ destroying angel. Is he any worse than Mountford, who is a ‘‘paid’’ organizer? Is Mountford’s mission one of love for the order? What did our beloved founder, George Fuller Golden, get for founding the order? His Was a message of pure love, but how was it accepted? Not even the beautifu' principle (the foundation) of the Rats is left. Commercialism has stamped it into oblivion. I can not see where De Veaux is trying to break up the Rats. Its officers in the past have proven quite efficient along this line, and have broken up the order for us. I am not prejudiced, and I have some good friends in the ranks who are noble men snd women, and J do not care a ‘‘cuss’’ What name the order sails under, so long as the principle is there. Miss Corson, you were very rude with Major Doyle, if not to say personal. None of us are perfect. No doubt Ma‘> has bis faults and enemies; we all have. I always thought him a rather clever fellow, and cnew him when he was pulling down a nice salary in the profession while you were yet a tiny mite in swaddlings. George Fuller Golden, three months before he died, at his Los Angeles home told me, as the Major was leaving the house: ‘‘There goes a little prince.’* You say only two men have dared to raise their voices in protest to the present management of the order. Give them credit. Perhaps you have awakened that spark of manhood in some of us to break the silence. Perhaps someone who knows of the inner circle better than I do will speak. The members have been watching the union go to ruin without a word of protest, and now, perhaps, your words will inspire them to come out and turn on the light. Again you ask, Miss Corson, ‘“‘Why all this fight against Mountford?’’ I will ask, “Who, in the first place, discredited Mountford, and onsted him from the Rats, after he had made them ‘famous?’’’ It was the same inner circle—the plutocrats—who went down on their marrowbones to get him to come back again and ‘‘save them” from destruction. Did they publish the reason of their ousting proceedings in the official organ, The Player? No. When I wrote for the reason Mr. Cooke replied that it was ‘‘a matter that was only the business of the Board of Directors."”” It was none of our business, as members. Has a reinstated member any assurance that Harry will not be ousted again as soon as the “‘circle’’ is prepared for another few years of ginttonous and riotous living? What is the use of joining? There is only one who can make the union a success, and he may die. Then where are we, again? Harry will have whiskers a mile long when he can come out and say that every stigma is removed from the records of 1912 to 1916. Our Official paper would not tell us what was wrong, and we are naturally a suspicious lot. We could not depend on our Player. A White Rat in Minnesota wired Cooke for a loan of $25 to get him to an opening date for . He wanted to borrow the money on his own responsibility—a White Rat’s responsibility. Cooke wrote back: ‘Can not advance money of the order on a contract.”’ In the same week's issue of The Player this agent had a full back page ad, advertising his circuit. The Player vouched for it—advertising an employer they said was N. G. This happened three years ago last July. Now, why did Harry come back? He didn’t give a rap whether the ship went down or not; he needed the money. He is getting it. He will get more, and it will be the actor to give it to him. It will not be necessary for you to contribute to his sulary, Mise Corson, as you are a life member. You shudder at the thought of Major Doyle becoming Big Chief. It could be, and no doubt has been, worse. Did your teeth ever rattle or did you ever shudder at the doings of our high officers of the order in the last few years? You defy anyone to challenge your statements. They are not statements, Miss Corson, they are a vituperation of brain storm. Then you say that the dominating powers of the show world—the theatrical trust—pose as the actors‘ superior. Superior is right. Haven't they an organization that is built of steel, with a rock foundation? Don't they atick to each other to the man? Do you ever hear of the managers’ trust intending to oust Albee or Beck? These men of power and brains are cherished inside their own organization. Mr. Artist, ‘‘go thou and do likewise,’’ and nse the same standard in your onion and the trust not dominate? Get the right man at the helm and you will. Dig down into the depths of the profession for the brains and honesty if you can not find it In New York. blame none but ourselves for what is happening. We stood for it. And to The Billboard I say, ‘‘Keep on publishing the truth—turn on the light wherever you can. It burts like thunder, but we want to know what is doing, and we ean not find through as HARRY VAN, of The Van-Barkley Co., 4 Oblo St., Huron, 8. D. Now, actors, 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 ‘ 4 4 4 will come to you. Be on the square with each other. We have the numbers, why can we > 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 in America. He was 63 years of age, an Eng. lishman, but came vo this country fifty years ago, Of late he had not been identified with active work, George Titheradge, who died a few days later, came from England nearly thirty years ago, and during a majority of that time was recognized as the foremost actor, gauged on the score of versatility and efficiency. His reper. toire was very extensive, and he had a great number of Individual triumphs to his record, Two months ago he was tendered a mammoth benefit, as he was in a very feeble state of health, He was about 65 years of age, but was a very active man up to a few months ago. George Marlow, manager of the Adelphi Theater, and whose wife, Ethel Buckley, is one of Australia’s more prominent actresses, is about to exploit revues, in conjunction with Ben J, Fuller, so ‘tis said. The National Theater (Fuller house) is featuring Victor Prince's Revue for the first half of the program. The olio consists of Charles Edenbury, American equilibrist; Del Baity and Joep, Jellie Kolle, Dora Oberman, and Rowley and Tointon. Melbourne Tivoli is featuring a Russian strong man, crude in showmanship, but surprisingly herculean; E) Cleve, xylopbonist; Barton and Ashley, well known to everybody. The Adelphi pantomime closes here on Febroary 14, and opens in Brisbane on the 16th. The combination has several clever comedians, headed by Dan Thomas, an English dame impersonator, and acknowledged by critics to be the finest of his kind that has ever played Australia. Thomas’ methods are very original, and American acts have stated that his work is much superior to Eddie Foy, and that he would do well in America. In all probability he will leave for that country next year. Lester Brown, the American producer, is still attached to the Marlow staff. He gains many bewspaper encomiums for his clever mountings. The Tivoli Theaters, Ltd., reopened their Adelaide and Brisbane bouses to catch the holiday crowd, but did not do anything very sensational, as both cities just gave them the once over. It is on record that a Tivoli matinee tn Adelaide netted exactly seven shillings. And this is on the level, A syndicate, beaded by Sol Green, a turf leviathan, bas acquired a most prominent Melbourne property for the purpose of erecting ap up-to-date theater thereon. The price paid was $500,000. A sale of Sydney property, ostensibly for the same purpose, is synonymous with this recent deal. lw aS SUCCESS in vauderille comes from making the public laugh let MADISON'S BUDGET Wo. 16 be your comaty mentor and guide lt bas helped thousands of performers up the ladder of success, You're neat MADISON'S BUDGET No. 16 is & wonderful dollar's worth It contains 12 original monologues, § great acts for two males and 7 for male and female: s bright Irish comedy, 16 wonderful parodies, 4 cracker-jack minstrel first-parts, a screaming tabloid comedy, entitled “Have Mercy, Judge,” besides bundreds of new gags, sidewalk bite and useful fill-in stuff. Remember, the price is ONLY ONE DOLLAR, and your money back if dissatisfied. ack issues al) gone, except No. 15. Combination price of No 15 and the new No. 16 ts $1.50. BUDGET PUBLISHING CO. 1052 Third Avenue, NEW YORK. 2! 3 POPULAR SONGS, 25c BE y GOOD LITTLE CHICKEN AND LAY IN MY | NEVER Teevent YOUR LOVE COULD CHANGE, NEUTRALIT Single copies, 19; 10-part Orch. of “Chicken,” Se DOYLE, 552 E. Eagle St., Buffalo, N. Y. JAS. P. WANTED FOR PERMANENT STOCK Entire Musical Comedy Company of about 15 peo pie, 5 principals, 10 chorus girls that sing and dance. Play one-hour scripts, no nigger acts. Individuals also note. No time to dicker, so wire or write quick lowest_salary. Write all first letter. A. HOR’ 1 2331 Franklin Ave., Toledo, Ohio. boc. 10 B. & O. COPIES SHEET MUSIC 10 of our best Song Hits, including big bit, ““Amercan Girl.” None free. Orchestrations, 15a Orde at once. MAGBEE MUSIC CO., 345 King Avenue, Columbus, Ohle. MEMORIES OF LONG AGO A Beautiful Song. RED STAR MUSIC CO. FAYETTEVILLE, ARK, RED STAR, ARK. stock. Written and in Terms or list FREER. 15 PARODIPS for Ste. E. L, GAMBLE, Piaywright, East Liverpes!, Onle. “Norway,” “Mother,” BIG LAUGH PARODIES “Norway.” “Mower.” Behind,” 10¢ each, & for Mfc, Other material Catalogue and endorsementa FREE. MARY THAYER. Previdenee Rhewle teland n.7100 Renea @ WANTED FOR TURNER AND HERBERT'S VARIETIES OF 1916 Vaudeville Acta that double band, Lady Musicians that do «pectaitie, Male or Female Base Plare. Man with Trained Can place singing and dancing acta that don't play branes: esi jon at once. Addrona JACK TURNER, ati u Oonnectiout. “