The Billboard 1922-03-11: Vol 34 Iss 10 (1922-03-11)

MARCH 11, 1922 The Bi lliboard oro -_ PEACOCK PICKS FIVE Now York, March 3.—Bertram Peacock, playing in ‘‘Blossom Time,”’ heard forty-one aspirjong stage singers ip an audition held at the Ambassador Theater last week. Of these five were picked by him as 6uitable stage material and they will be signed up by the Shuberts, it is said. Those chosen were Helen Heller, of Los Angeles, now visiting here; pauline Miller, of New York: James Sneddon Weir, of Riverdale; Esther Brankin, Rutherford, N. J., and Frank BE. Baur, of Brooklyn. Mr. Peacock said to them: ‘‘Uniess you are prepared to undergo many disappointments and discouragements you should not continue anether day spending your time, money and energy in cultivating your voice. A singing career comes only after the hardest kind of struggle. It requires pluck and patience quite as much as a goog voice and ability to use it effective wy.” “A FAIR CO-ED’ REGISTERS Chicago, March 3.—A letter to The Billboard ofice here from Will H. Gregory, stage director, announces that “tA Fair Co-Ed,” played by seventy students of the Michigan Agricultural College, in Owosso, Tuesday night, showed a superior and imposing lot of amateur talent. An Owosso newspaper says the play was brought to a point bordering on perfection, and pays a decided tribute to Mr. Gregory’s direction. The “Co-Ed’’ was also played two nights in Lansing and registered a big hit. Mr. Gregory will return to Chicago this week and begin rehearsals of two plays to be given by the students of Northwestern University. THREE MATINEES FOR “BAT” New York, March 3.—The ‘“‘Bat’’ Theater of Moscow Company, which playing at the 49th @treet Theater under the name of the “‘ChauveSouris,’ will play three matinees a week hereafter nstead of the regulation two. The performances will be given on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoons. It is becoming quite the thing for professionals to attend the midweek matinees and they have been much in evidence since the show opened. JACK DEMPSEY AT “HIP.” New York, March 2.—Jack Dempsey, heavyweight boxing champion of the world, and Joe Jackson, comedy cyclist, were added to ‘‘GetTogether’ at the Hippodrome last Monday. Dempsey appeared in a scene called “A Day in the Gymnasium With the Champion” and gave a sparring exhfbition with Jack Kearns. The “champ” is said to have taken the engagement for a big salary And percentage of the receipts. “SCANDALS” FOR COAST New York, March 3.—George White will take bis “Scandals” for a tour to the Coast. Since leaving New York the show bas been playing thro the East and Middle West, and after the conclusion of a Boston engagement in April the young producer will give California a taste of bis brand of entertainment. Three weeks have been booked in San Francisco, two in Los Angeles and then all the Coast cities will be visited. White does not intend producing another edition of ‘‘Scandals’’ until October. PLAYS FOR PRISONERS Chicago, March 2.—The Turner Production Company's ‘‘Aviation Minstrels’ show given Monday for prisoners in the State Penitentiary at Sioux Falls, S. D., was a great success, according to an account of it in The Sioux Falls Argus-Leader reaching The Billboard office here. The program was repeated Tuesday in the Orpheum Theater, under auspices of the American Legion. NICHOLS CONDUCTING “BRIDE” New York, March 3.—George Nichols is now Wielding the baton over the orchestra for “The Blushing Bride," playing at the Astor Theater. Al Goodman, general musical director for the Sbuberts, had the job when the show opened, but is now with ‘The Rose of Stamboul.”* TABLOIDS (Continued from page 83) Weeks’ engagement at the Odeon Theater, Huntington, W. Va. According to Manager Jack Wald there's diversity in the programs offered which fs refreshing. Swipe Russel, the meting fon maker, is ably assisted by Wallace “Morrow, delineator of the Southern darky, who a offers a dancing and musical specialty. Nela Morrow, soubret, is in no small way re a HOTOS OF THE BETTER KIND Chap ®t, Lobby Display, Selling er Distribution. Every ear. snappy reproductions from any original. Resuilig all reproduced with imperfections corrected. lobby ‘eranteed. Double welght paper, Standard als oo.”*; 8x10, $3 for 25, $10 per 100. Photo Post$12 So ct? UF Photos on one card, $1.75 for 50, $109, 2t,,500Sample any size from your photo her wo ttdited on your order. Lettering photos, 5c Print ord. Slides, large Paintings and Mounted Your yentde according to your own fdeas. Submit REPRO tO Prices. Prompt service, U NO. CO., Cswego, New York. ROLL TICKETS J. T. SHOENER CASH WITH ORDER—NO. C. 0. D. Printed to your order—all one wording—4 00,000 for SHAMOKIN, PA. 10,000 for $4.50. 20,000 fer $7.50. $15:50 Titen 50,000 fer $10.00. FOR SALE, AT A BARGAIN! Complete Living Picture equipment—frame, lights pictures, etc. Cedar Rapids, lowa. May be seen in operation » Scenery, orchestrated music, March 17, 18, at Majestic Theater, Address E. GRATTAN, Cedar Rapids, lowa. sponsible for the company’s success with her ‘‘blues’’ numbers, while her cornet and trombone specialty has much merit, they say. Other principals are Jack Wald, straight man, and Marie Lane, prima donna. Peggy Gordon, Dolly Lane, Helen Smith, Jowana Wamsley and Nellie Bradley make up the chorus. An added attraction is ‘‘Texas Jack,’’ the roper and fire-eater. THE FOLLOWING was cited under a column captioned ‘‘Cherrygrams,” conducted by J. A. S., in a Oherryvale, Kan., newspaper of FebTuary 20: “‘It isn't very often that we hand out bouguets in this column, because people wouldn’t appreciate them anyway, and therefore jt is reserved for the more sentimental stuff. But when we hear of a man in a public place handing out bouquets to his fellow men instead of to himself a funny feeling creeps over uS and prompts us to do the same in our column once jn a while. Instead of the familiar ‘Now and immediately after the first performance the ushers will pass among you,’ etc., saying used by the average show or carnival troupe, we have run across one that spoke a good word for the town in general. Hats off to Bert Olcott, the famous yodeler with the Glen Cunningham Players. Last night at the Liberty Theater, instead of telling of what 2 wonderful man be was and how wonderful the players were, he handed out some plain facts on co-operation and was not ia the least hesitant to give credit where credit was due. It is only once in ages that a man has nerve to speak words of appreciation before an audience for favors shown. Each and every member of the Ounningham Comedy Players, from the chorus girls to the leading man, is made of the material that we like to see people made of. MHere’s luck to them—may their path be strewn with roses with only enough thorns to keep them all together.” H. R, SEEMAN’S “Ob You Wildcat’ Company is experiencing a profitable season in Kansas. The company is putting on a brand of entertainment that is sure to please the T. B. M. and thruout there is not a word to which the most fastidious could object. The attraction is booked as the official American Legion show for the Kansas State convention in Eldorado next September, and the National Convention in New Orleans, La., to be held soon. The principals are Clyde Rube Hooper, Grace Connelly, Helen Huntington, Harvey Gatchett, Owen (®arsons, Joe Lee, Merideth Hubbard, Billie Hooper, Julius Seigel, Ruth Parsons, and Martin R. Chapman, musical director. “This attraction has proven that chorus girls are not necessary,"’ Manager H. R. Seeman writes. “We have eliminated the chorus over a year and one-half ago and are doing more business than ever. Business isn’t bad if you have the goods. There is a field still open for good tabs. thru this territory, but the class of show I refer to js quite different from what has mostly been seen thru Oklahoma. Let the managers who intend getting business look around for $75 and $100 a week actors and some of the comedian-managers get away from the idea that they are the whole show and that all they need is a good straight man and a few choristers. Neither will beautiful scenery, beautiful wardrobe and beautiful effects bring them back the next night unless it is backed up with real talent.” HAPPY JAOK GERARD'S ‘Revue of 1922" is packing them in at Acker's, for at present there is nothing else but pictures in Halifax, N. S. The Billboard correspondent waited in line forty minutes to get into the second Saturday night show. The scenery is far above the average tab. shows which play Halifax, and the costumes look good, tho a few looked rather soiled. The eight girls in the chorus are all lively and not too bad vocally. The principals all look and dress well, but the show needs comedy material badly. All tab. comedy seems to run in the game channel, and while some old bits may be camouflaged the point is always self-evident. This outfit is second only to Jimmy Evans’, which is practically a local institution, but at 35 cents it needs strengthening in ‘the comedy scenes. In the cast of principals are: Dolly Clifford, prima donna; ‘“‘Happy’ Jack Gerard and Herbie Swift, juveniles; Frances Kyer, ingenue; George Watson, Irish comic; Al Watson, Hebrew comic; Stella Watson, soubret; Caroline Gerard and Marion Brime, Specialties; Mrs. Al. Wilson, Winnie Maynard, creative dances; Bernard D. Lewin, musical director; Virginia Day, Kitty La May, Helen Kelly, Dot Carrol, Billie Clark, Babe Brayton, Edna Watson and Frances Raymond, chorus. CABLES FROM LONDON TOWN (Continued from page 29) Williams Criticises Managers Bransby Williams, the impersonator of Dickens characters, has broken his long association with the vaudeville stage and is Preparing to join the ranks of actor-managers. With his own company Williams will stage “David Copperfield’’ and commence a six months’ tour of the chief provincial towns. To be free to do this he has canceled music hall contracts covering the next five years. “Managers complain that variety is dead,”’ says Williams, “but the Victoria Palace and the Coliseum, which run variety shows, are paying big dividends. As soon as business began to boom after the war managers filled their halls with anything, and then booked everything up. Now that there is a slump they blame the artistes and say the ‘stars’ are no good. Yet they are going to show their audiences for the next two or three years the people they say are no good! ° “The managers are all grousing now that there is a slump, but all over Great Britain there is a slump—and commercial men do not say their shop-walkers are the cause of the slump. “Sir Oswald Stoll says variety is all right. He has uot joined the combine to cut down salaries, but he is paying dividends.”’ Williams admits that all the blame does not fall upon the managerial shoulders. Part of the slump, he thinks, may be accounted for by the fact that, having seen al] the stars who gave their services in charity performances during the war, the ex-Tommy who is the present music hall patron is too blase to be eatisfied with a bill including only one or two stars. Commenting on the growing tendency of the big actors to go “‘topping bills’’ on the halls with sketches, ‘‘with material inferior to anything they do in the theater for four or five times the money they get in the theater,’? Williams is now going to invade their territory. He bas no syndicate behind him. He is alone responsible for the production and will stand or fall by the results of the tour. He knows, however, that he has got a good play—he tried it in Birmingham last year. A Kinema in Every Home With Paper Films A movement destined to carry the kinema into the home and to have a tremendous influence on village and school life has been initiated by the Boy Scout Association, the Church Lads’ Brigace and other organizations for promoting the welfare and education of the youth of this country. An organization bas been formed to provide at low rates a new kind of kinema machine and paper film. The new invention removes most of the difficulties which have prevented the exhibition of films in places not specially constructed for the purpose. The principle of the new projector is that the light is reflected on a paper film at an angle of 45 degrees instead of thru celluloid film as at present. The result is that the electric power from an ordinary sitting-room plug is sufficient for the projection, and the paper film, being already fire-proofed, bas no risk of catching alight. The film can stop while a lecture on a particular section is given, and it does not show any sign of scorching. Anything that can be reflected—a halfpenny, a jewel or a small printed illustration—can be thrown on to the screen as a magnified picture. The prospect of enlivening village life by moving picture shows in which there is no fire danger, and for which therefore no license to exhibit is necessary, has induced a number of people, among whom are Sir William Maxwell and Sir Henry Galway, ex-Governor of South Australia, to form an organization for the distribution of the machines among the 20,000 parishes and 30,000 schools of this country. The machine will be hired or sold at a price well within the reach of any institution, and films will be hired at the rate of $2:62 for 2,000 feet per week. For buildings where no electric light is available an oxy-acetylene lighting set will be Provided. The films will include interest and travel subjects and short comedies. In time full-length dramas may be available. The traveling showman now, instead of having tents and caravans, will carry his entertainment in a motorcycle side car! He will be able to give bis show in the street with a whitewashed wall for a screen, and will be able to charge prices which will escape the entertainment tax. Several people have already made inquiries for machines to use on these lines. Educational authorities are taking the greatest interest in the new kinematograph, which has been tested before education committees, the Kinema Commission and gatherings of teachers. Before next winter, in practically every village possessing a ball or a school-room, the ebureh councils and similar organizations will be able to brighten the lives and expand the knowledge and ideas of the inhabitants with this new form of kinema show. The initial cost of securing a projector for the home will be no greater than that of a gramophone, and it will be possible to secure paper films from a library as cheaply as gramophone records can be bought. A London director of education is at present working on a plan in connection with the invention which will convert the school text-book into 8 roll of paper film. Instead of reading dry facts the pupil of the future will see them in pictorial form on the sereen, and the teacher will be able to stop the film at any moment to demonstrate 2 particular point. So impressed with the importance and practicability of the invention is the Irish Free State Government that it is arranging for educational and propaganda films to be shown thruout Ireland by its means. Situation Not Ripe for a Levy Sentiment plays a very big part in the V. A. F and the bigger people were curiously enough the main ones who suggested that the proposed levy of 25 cents a quarter be deferred. It was pointed out that the A. A. had injured its membership by the imposition of a 12-cent levy for 26 consecutive weeks, altho at the same time this brought the A. A. over $10,000. Frankly, the V. A. F. is desirous of doing something similar to that of Equity in the immediate relief of stranded members. For this it was sought to build up a reserve fund in the nature of an emergency fund, the nucleus of which in a limited financial form, has been in working for some years past. The want of some such fund wae fully admitted at the annual meeting and it was suggested that $2,500 be taken from the general funds to mect the requirements. This no doubt will be done and the establishment of a new rule to be called a ‘Distress Fund Rule.” A notable revival in things in the V. A. F. bas been the emerging of Joe O'Gorman from his self-sought retirement to the arena of V. A. F. politics, the more so as he was the most firm champion of the permanent officiale. O'Gorman showed some of his old opponents he had not lost his fire or the power to give and take hard knocks in a very stormy debate. It was stormy as between himself and Harry Mason (Mason and Bart) and W. HL Atlas. It seemed like old times had come again. AUTHENTIC OFFICIAL NEWS AND UP-TODATE METHODS HAVE MADE “THE PERFORMER” A VITAL NECESSITY TO BRITISH VAUDEVILLE, “THE PERFORMER” (The Official Organ of the Variety @ation and all Other Variety Organizations.) DEALS WITH VARIETY ONLY AND_ READ BY EVERYONE CONNECTED WITH BRITISH VARIETY, The Paper That Shows Results to Advertisers. Whole Page Sa Half P 27.60 Third Page 21.00 Quarter Page 16.50 Sixth Page cecccoccccecccce 15.60 Elghth Page ........... ceeoccccccecces AUD Wide Column, per Inoh.............-.. 3.00 Narrow Column, per inch........ cosces SE The PERFORMER is filed at all THE BILL BOARD Offices in America. HEAD OFFICE: 18, Charing Cross Road, London, SCOTTISH OFFICE: {41 Bath Street, Glasgow. Trunks, Bags, Suitcases to you at wholesale prices. Save half on your luggage bills. Guaranteed goods, equal to any and better than a whole lot. Rebuilt Wardrobe Trunks a specialty. Send for catalogue. REDINGTON CO., Scranton, Pa $1.00—PERSONAL STATIONERY—$1.00 100 Envelopes and 100 sheets of 8%x5% in. White Linen Finish Paper. Your name and_ address printed in blue. DELTA PRINT SHOP 1912 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. Pennsylvania. WANTED—All-round Med. People. Sketch Teams that do Singles and Doubles. change strong for week or more, those doubling piano preferred. (ther useful Med. People write. Don’t misrepresent. Address MATT. N. HARLAN. Plymouth, Richland County, 0.. week March 6. If you see it in The Billboard, tell them so.