The Billboard 1916-06-03: Vol 28 Iss 23 (1916-06-03)

JUNE 38, 1916. The Billboard A NEW ORLEANS NATIONAL FARM “LIVE STOCK SHOW OPEN NOVEMBER 11—CLOSE NOVEMBER 19, 1916 NNOUNCEMENT OF THE 5 WEEK DAYS—2 SATURDAYS—2 SUNDAYS $25,000 IN PREMIUMS AT THE BEAUTIFUL FAIR GROUNDS OF 90 ACRES IN NEW ORLEANS Best Grand Stand and Mile Track in the South With a High-Class Midway and All Other Features FOR ANY INFORMATION ADDRESS I. B. RENNYSON, Gen’! Mer., 401 Carondelet St., N. O., LA. Want Trombone ROBERT GRAU (Continued from page 5) the viewpoint that a successful play will pay if out of four ‘dog days’’ he gets two days of ‘theater weather.’’ So far the theatrical sea son has not recorded one day, aud surely not one night, when theatergoing has not been wholly Double Stage pitch, B. & O.; other Musicians who double stage write. One-night tent and car show. I pay all after joining. salary Must join at once. Show has not closed in nine years. Frank Casson, Address C. A. PHhiLIPS, McAlester, Allow time for mail to be forwarded. WANTED—Lady oe ~ to join telepathy act; 35% on what you make. ‘ay fare. Thirty weeks. Ad dress K n aliah, aulen Shows, Grand Rapids, Mich., week May ‘29; Greenville, Mich., week June 5. WANTED QUICK—MAN FOR HEAVIES Must have ability, wardrobe and appearance; Specialty Woman, good singing voice and responsible ; Trombone, x & A. es that double, write. State all in first letter. ot misrepresent. Address DEWINTER’S STOCK PCO, Decatur, Ill. WANTED Circus Acts and Musicians For Wagon Show at once. Write all you do and salary. Must double. Will engage five or sixBand. Show near New York. MEATHA, care Billboard, New York. Wanted Quick—For Wagon Show, People in a!) lines. Any kind of Vaudeville or Circus Acts, Chorus Girls, Aerial or Ground Tumblers, any kind of Acts, Billposter, Man to take care of elephant. Write or wire quick. W. C. Richards, Oakwood, Okla. FOR SALE One Wagon Show, complete, 14 Wagons, one Picture Show, one Pony Livery for Pony Truck, one Tent, 50x80, $100; 50 Ponies, one small Horse. Address PONY FARM, Cortland, Ohio. AT LIBERTY—Feature Specialty Team. Will play . A-l Piano Player. Good wardrobe. Sober and reliable. Write or wire quick. KNAPPE & GREENFIELD, week of May 29, Cambridge, Ohio, care Greater Sheesley Shows. AT LIBERTY B. A. NEVIUS, -:LAURA TANNER Characters and General Business. Wardrobe. Good study, competent and reliable. MASTER BARRETT (eight years old), Feature Specialties and Parts, Address B. A. NEVIUS, 1911 Live Oak St., Dallas, Tex. GREENBACKS Pack of $1,000 Stage Bills, 10c; Send for a and os the boys what a WAD Cc. A. “~ dR., ‘Box. ‘141, Chill, N. NEW FOR PIT sHOW— makes them ty a pl e. But just wait ‘til we get the firs June heat or even the last days of May, theaters will close at a day’s notice in the face of the Known fact that June is a great theater month for the few who stand “pat.” The writer has never carried any brief for the Messrs. Shubert, and it is rare, indeed, when he has any occasion to pay them a tribute, but the same Messrs. Shubert have made more money (which they have never lost since) through their keen perspective as to theater weather and their persistent method of keeping their houses open until well on in July, and more Shubert theaters have been kept open all year around than is true of all the rest of the zone theaters combined. Liowever, right now, the gentlemen who own and control our playhouses appear to regard the | influx of a half dozen so-called million-dollar picture productions as the greatest kind of a boon, but there is not one good showman among them all who has the nerve to refuse a rental contract to any of these big pictures. Not one is making the least effort to secure a sharing contract. How different is the film magnate himself in such a situation. The writer suggested t Thomas HH. Ince the advisability of sharing, at the Criterion Theater, where Civilization is to be seen, if only to secure the managerial as sistance in exploitation, but Ince, intrepid and all confident of the tenability of his position, lost no time trying to convince ‘‘the other side."’ Ince simply leased the Criterion for sixteen weeks, covering the complete summer, dog days and all, and the Lerd of Inceville is so good a showman that, before the ink was dry on the contract for the Criterion, Ince was negotiating to secure the big Hippodrome for the same film production. Charles Dillingham is alive to the extraordinary situation in motion picturedom, and, if the deal for Civilization is concluded at once or even after a fortnight at the Criterion Theater, Ince would merely pay the rent at the amaller playhouse and use the greatest corner in New York as a hand ‘‘to point the way’’ to the Hippodrome, which is just a block east. This would be the first time in theatrical history when a Broadway playhouse was used as a sign to attract a greater public to the Dillingham establishment, with its capacity for 5,000 persons twice daily, including Sundays. About the only reason for hestitation in this colossal undertaking is the absurd idea that the Hippodrome is too large, whereas there is no more intimate auditorium in all New York than the big show place at 44th street and Sixth avenue. A few pessimists will probably argue that the only time the Hippodrome was utilized for the films it did not prosper—but this was before the days of million-dollar pictures and also during the final days of the Shubert regime, when some of the poorest one-reel pictures ever made, and a feature (Mrs. Carter in Heart of Maryland), by no means of the first order, failed to attract for long. At that, even in these conditions, the Hippodrome was packed daily at the outset. But now, with Dillingham and the greatest advertising genius of today, Mark Luescher, at the helm, the spectacle of the Hippodrome being closed in the summer is inexplicable; moreover, Luescher has proved the case respectively with Chaplin, with Miss Pickford, and almost every time the big showshop has been exploited for a night with screen stars. The Hippodrome is the coolest auditorium in all New York, and it is a safe wager that if Dillingham, Luescher and Ince combine for this unusual scheme the final result will mean a big revenue every year for those ninety days in which the greatest of all our amusement institutions has lain dark and dormant. And, as for the hot weather bugbear, have we all forgotten the history of Cabiria, when Harry Raver rented the Knickerbocker Theater outright at a time when ninety per cent of our playgoers refused to be lured into a theater of any kind? What was the outcome of Cabiria? It held on there throughout the entire summer, commanding regular theater prices and turning people away most of the time. This was before the days of Chaplin—before the fame days of Griffith and Ince, and, above all, before the astounding days of ninety per cent of all the people worshiping the magic screen, instead of ten per cent, when Cabiria was launched. DRAMATIC NOTES (Continued from page 5) Henry B. Harris announce that arrangements have been made to take over the production, and it will continue with Mr. Blinn and a woman star as yet not named. Louise r’s engagement at the New Brighton in vaudeville came to a sudden close Sunday night. She has been engaged for the leading role in H. H. Frazee’s farce, Nothing But the Truth. She will appear in ihat piece in Indianapolis Yussday, May 30. W'iliam Morris has been engaged for of tne leading roles in Mag Marcin’s Cheating Cheaters, AMUSEMENT MEN. HERE’S THE WINNER! The Very Latest and Most Novel Amusement Attrac~ome ete. anu seeps them spending their nickels. The most successful fun and profit maker ever invented. Some operators have made $400 in ONE day. More up-todate and costs 50 per cent less than fhe old-fashioned Carousel. E ated by one man — Can be erected in four h includes complete machine with gasoline motor and either plano or organ. Write for Detalis—a will do. ARMITAGE & GUINN, 5 MIll St., Springville, N. Y. THREE BIG DAYS August 22, 23 & 24, 1916 THE HARDIN COUNTY FAIR ELIZABETHTOWN, KY. August 22, 23 & 24, 1916 WANTED—Good, clean Concessions. Write W. H. OLIVER, Secretary. WANTED FOR THE M. 1, CLARK & SON'S SHOWS Leader, y> 4 Acts. Answer quick by wire, ite Gentry, Prof, Schmitz, write M. L. CLARK’ x SOx. New Tent Outfit FOR SALE CHEAP 60-ft. Round Top, 30-ft. middle plece, 359 ft. side wall, 10-ft. high: marquees, 10x12; one proscenium, 50 yards canvas, portable stage, — all jacks, ropes, poles, stakes going for tent. ‘aL McMAHON, Room 508 Delaware Bidg., ae ™® Exchange, Chicago, Illinois. WANTED TENT OUTFIT I will buy or lease complete Dramatic Tent Py es. be in first-class condition. fully in first complete invoice. TOM CASEY, New Wilson, yee 5