The Billboard 1924-12-13: Vol 36 Iss 50 (1924-12-13)

—_. The Billboard DECEMBER 13, 1924 .Have you seen our Campaign Booklets Boards have advanced. We QUITE A FEW ITEMS HAVE | SWAGGER STICKS. | LARGE PARAMOUNT BALLS, | 6-INCH BALLS, stripe! Per Dozen i PERFECTO PLAY BALLS, 41 inches ci | WRITE FOR OUR CATALOG , we tcl SRREDIA TERY PRICE, EACH will sell you our Salesboar’s at prices far below your expectations. BEEN REDUCED IN THE PAST FEW WEEKS. Our Junior Lamps are unbeatable—ask the boys. Value guaranteed or will refund money. Per DOZOM.....cccerccccsceeees+$4.00 12 inches in eee er, striped. Eae! i} TORCHIERS, not the cheap kind. Ours on the metal rim t 15-INCH DOLLS, Fan Dress, with Marabou Trimmings Per Dozen SALESBOARD ) OPERATORS—NOTICE—CAMPAIGN OPERATORS | WHY BUY READY-MADE ASSORTMENTS AND PAY THE LONG PRICE? r We will make you a Salesboard Assertnet with items that yor u_ select from our ca te and charge you for the items used. ITE FOR OUR CATALOGUE AND CIRCULARS TODAY. YOU NEED TH CAMPAIGN OPERATORS! They warrant your meeting with competition because the 8 CENTS. 100-HOLE CAMPAIGN BOARDS, EACH 18 CENTS. 100-HOLE SA SALESBOARD USERS, WRITE FOR OUR PRICES We sell Boards at positively NO PROFIT. New and latest designs. including the well-known Butterfly Shade. Packed 6 to the Crate 4 15-INCH DOLLS, Fan Dress, . OVAL ROASTERS, 18 inches. Per Doze naib nineteen eecce sccccecrecoccs S00 8-QUART PANELED PRESERVE KETTLES. POP BOBM. ..cnvcecesccsoconceve hyo ESMOND BLANKETS, 2 Size 66x80. _AMUSEMENT NOVELTY SUPPLY CO., Poeaes 4080-4081 434 Cc ABSOLUTELY no charge for the making. large margin of profit allows you to give the COCA TATION a vi attractive fizure. LES CARDS, EACH 7 CENTS. sed is 26-INCH DOLLS, Fan Dress, with Tinsel and Marabou Trimming. he Dozen... BEACON INDIAN da BLANKETS, — wel around. Each OUR CUSTOMERS ARE GIVEN IMMEDIATE BENEFIT OF ANY REDUCTION. Our Lamps are complete with pull cords and fancy top ertaments. Price, Each $9.50, with Tinsel Trimmings. Per Dez pescescesce ee ereereetteseses$ 6.00 aevesincdecnas as Cees cocccecccrcees C0 0nseenceesece coos 67.50 es ee Renee Cececcccece «» 8.40 eos nudes Repedseneessceossce see —— —. . THE VAUDEVILLE SKETCH (Continued from page 15) clways in demand. Yet for all that ‘here is usually a pretty good demand for z= good sketch. The present-day trend is for comedy sketches, not the slapstick, but 2» good story, clean in every way, with smart lines, laughs that are not’ obviously “gags” or “hokum’’, and a_ probable situation. The nearest thing to a sketch is the socalled come dy doubles, who play in “one”, firing away at each other small talk and “ Audiences like them and the “nuttier” they are the bigger they go. But a regular playlet played in practically a full stage, with its own scenery and lighting effects, is well liked if properly done Dramatic acts are not in great demand and usually when they afe offered the cast is headed by a star, and the story * just a matter of picking up any one similar to the type of work that the star may be best known for in Broadway legitimate theaters. Producing a_ sketch, is not manuscript that may conveniently come to hand, getting four or five people together and saying “let’s go.” It is hard and serious business. Usually the sketch that is picked for ome eee the lucky one of 200 or more read, requires the hand of an experie nced vaudeville sketch writer to rewrite it before it is ready for rehearsal. A director who knows his vaudeville audiences well must be secured, and in all there are about ten in the United States who are really good. A cast is engaged and the fun begins. Sometimes a good cast is secured at the first try. Usually before an act is thru rehearsing two of the four people who started originally have been changed. If a star heads the cast the director must not step on his pet ideas and theories about acting, but diplomatically get him to do the kind of work that is essential -in making a_ sketch successful. The average playing time of a sketch is 18 or 20 minutes, and the story must be told in that time, aside from getting plenty of laughs or big dramatic moments. The average cast of a sketch is four or five people—seldom more. Salaries for supporting people range from $75 to $150 a week, while stars and featured play ers receive salaries commensurate W ith their ability to secure business for the theaters they play. Stars’ salaries have been anywhere from $700 to $1,500 or more a week. Ethel Barrymore receives an exXcellent salary when she plays vaudeville every now and then, and Arnold Daly is usually a very good bet for the big time, while many othe rs, such as Francis Bush therefore, man, Beverly Bayne, Mildred Harris, Henry re Warner, Charles Cherry, Mrs. Leslie ‘arter, Jean Acker Valentino, Henry Hull, Edna Hibbard, Elliot Dexter, George Nash, Harry C. Browne, Raymond Hitchcock, Jose Ruben, Solly Ward, Wellington Cross, Nelson Keys and Grace La Rue have all found it very profitable to take an occasional dip into vaudeville. And the odd part of it is that usually they have to be coaxed for the first try. They must be taught that after rehearsing a week or ten days, showing the act another week, and getting 40 or 59 consecutive weeks’ work, is just as profitable and desirable as rehearsing in a Broadway production four weeks” with no pay, trying it out on the road several weeks, going thru a period of continual changing of script and cast, and then dé ps nding on the first-night New York audience and critics to proclaim a hit or a flop. After a sketch has been in rehearsal a week or ten days the cast seems all right and the story good, the director advises his producer that he is ready for the tryout and a date is set in one of the neighborhood theaters. These neighborhood houses are in the nature o “hide aways”, where only the booker and producer see the act at its first matinee, judging it for its possible value on the big time, passing on the cast and story, as well as equipment and scenery. Tt is a lucky act that is considered all set and okayed for the big time at its initial showing. Very often it is necessary to change one or two members of the cast. This is done while the act plays another three days or a week in another tryout house. In addition to changes in cast the actual manuscript is often changed around. More laughs are injected, a situation or piece of business is changed; at times the act has taken too long to play, so that lines must be cut out without hurting the story; tempo THE FAMOUS NAT REISS SHOWS “THE SHOW WITH A WORTH-WHILE REPUTATION.” Wishing All a Merry Xmas and Happy New Year NOW BOOKING ATTRACTIONS FOR THE SEASON OF 1925 WANT GENERAL AGENT, and one more PROMOTER. WANT LADY HIGH DIVER with complete outfit, WANT TEN-IN-ONE. with or without outfit. WANT MINSTREL SHOW. Have new wagon front and complete new outfi WANT Anima! Show, Midgets, Motordrome, Monkey Speedway. HAVE b COMPLETE 0 Live § Stock, for WILD WHST SHOW. Will sell or furnish same to responsible FINANCE any attraction of merit. Nothing too big. All shows wil] have wagon fronts except side sh — _CONCESSIONS—EV ERYTHING OPEN except Cook House and Juice. Want to hear legitimate people. FOR SALE—50-ft. Box Car, with side and end doors, $400. 76-ft. Baggage and Stateroom, 8-Section Stateroom, and Stateroom and Berth Car, $750 each, H. G. MELVILLE, Owner. J. F. MURPHY, Gen. Mgr. P. O. Box 325, Jeffersonville, Ind. W. G. WADE SHOWS FORMERLY WADE & MAY SHOWS It has been decided by the management of the Show, formerly known as “Wade & May”, to abandon the use of. the old firm name, and in the future the Show will travel under the title ““W. G. Wade Shows”. The Show will open April 25 in one of the best manufacturing districts in Southern Michigan for a nine-day stand including two Saturdays and two Sundays. Five choice locations in Detroit will follow, after which the Show will take the road playingyunder strong auspices, the route including a Jong circuit of day and night fairs. x WANTED—SHOWS. Can place any shows of merit, with or without outfit. Will make exceptional offer and furnish calliope for strong feature show. CONCESSIONS—Practically all concessions are open. Will sell a few exclusives. Our rates are reasonable, and we furnish all after joining. We own our rides, and band is contracted for. pte W. G. WADE SHOWS 5811 Cass Avenue, DETROIT, MICHIGAN WeOverhaul and Rebuild all Mills or Jennings Bell and O. K. types of Mint Vending Machines. Ship us your. ola machine. Let us rebuild it to look like new. Labor tarves $22.50 plugs cost of necessary new parts You pre; ay express charges to us. Five-cent Cheeks $2.50 per hundred. Mints $15.00 per theusand standard Se packages, We job all makes of Mint Vending Machines, Jennings, Mills and Silver King. Rebuilt Machines like pew guarantee filled with checks, ready to operate on arrival, $85.00 Each. All new Sec O. K. Machines, $115.00 Each. $25 deposit with order for each Machine, balance C. O. D Cigar and Candy Salesmen be supplied with Ma—— 1€5 on a rent al basis for a side, “line in the Central States “~ INDIANAPOLIS MINT VENDING CO. WN. E. Cor. North St. and Capitol Ave., INDIANAPOLIS. IND. Rings. Look! Rings, Ten for $6.00 The ‘1849°" SOUVENIR MINT Salesboard, Concession Men, Agents, Wanted At Once QUARTERS AND HALVES i no money—we will send you prepaid Assortment of 10 Rings for $6.00, eons . cut. $80.00 per Gross. witH OUR USUAL GUARAN’ J. G. GREEN CO., 991 Mission Street, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA. Tell Them You Saw Their Ad in The Billboard. must be secured, and everything w smoothly in the actual playing. 6 ork Scenic equipment for sketches unless requiring unusual settings is not fur. nished until it is known whether the act is going to secure a route. Then the proper scenery, electrical equipment and properties, as well as costumes are ordered and the act is ready and com. plete for its big-time tour. It often happens, however, that acts require scenery for proper presentation that the theaters cannot furnish. In that case the producer must buy his entire equipment and hope and pray for the best. The wr'ter has seen acts produced out of his office with scenery, props., costumes, etc., costing $1,200 or $1,500 that looked great at dress rehearsal, but took a terrible ‘ ‘flop” at the opening, so that they were a complete loss, while other acts, playing in the usual house interiors, costing not a dime, go over big. It’s as much luck, in some instances, as anything else. When an act is finally acknowledged to be ready for the big time, which consists of the Keith and Orpheum circuits, the agent of the act sells it to these circuits for a certain figure each week it plays. Out of this flat salary come booking fees, royalty to the author, salaries of the actors, railroad fares, baggage transfer, prop. bills and scenic production cost. When it’s all over the producer is doing well if he nets about ten = cent of the actual salary of the ac Where an act has well-known BroadWay people in it, such as Arnold Daly, Justine Johnstone and Lowell Sherman, 75 per cent of the salary of the acts consists of actors’ salaries. In the case of Apartment to Let, an act written by Elliott Nugent and Howard Lindsay, and very successfully played by Janet Beecher, Olive Wyndham, Violet Kemble Cooper and Harry C. Browne, each one a Broadway “name”, there wasn’t much to the act, except stars’ salaries and some glory for the producers. So it is readily seen that the production of vaudeville sketches is quite a business in itself. The author is the one that usually makes out very well if he knows how to write for the big time. Acts can play the circuit for two or three years steadily, and then be rebooked four or five years later. This is the case with an act by Edwin Burke, entitled . And Son, which had a successful tour ‘five years ago, with Paul Decker, a vaudeville favorite, starring in it, and which is now repeating the Orpheum Circuit, with Paul Decker again playing it. Edwin Burke is one of the best known and most success: ful big-time writers of sketches developed in the last six or seven years. He had a run of 35 actual hits without one fail ure. This is quite a record. Elaine Sterne has come forward in the past year with several big successes. Her former work had been that of short story and scenario writing, while Burke secured his training as a ee reporter in Albany, N. Y. Edgar Ams Woolf is another very successful sketch author, and Paul Gerard Smith has an enviable record. Bert Robinson is one of the younger generation whose efforts have been well rewarded on the big time. The aren’t enough good authors, so that anybody connected with the theater, newsp4per or magazine fields gets a hearing by producers, for they usually have the fundamental principles or knowledge to start with. Howard Lindsay, well-known Broadway actor and director, who staged Duley and To the Ladies, has recently taken to the writing and staging of sketches with fine success. Authors’ royalties average about $50 a week on the big time and about hi ulf of that on the small time. One company will play the Keith Circuit, which takes in all the good houses east of Chicago while another will play the Orpheum Time west of Chicago and a third will play the Western Vaudeville Association Time, which is a sort of small Orpheum Time. To the beginner in sketch writing the following hints, which may seem needless. are a great help: Long speeches are never good, natural writing is essential, bright comedy or new ideas are bound to receive consideration, and about 20 typewritten pages will be long enough for any act. A glance at the Hotel Directory in this issue may save considerable time and inconvenience.