The Billboard 1925-01-31: Vol 37 Iss 5 (1925-01-31)

“te 38 The Billboard FROM LONDON TOWN The Vaudeville Field Billboard Office, 18 Charing Cross Roed, W. C. 2 By “WESTCENT” Ob. Those Free Songs! E ONDON, Jan. 9.—With the pantomime season on in full blast various music &4 ‘eal song hits of the season. from the firm of Feldman, and the reason cially interested in the firm of Wylie & Tate. house can get into this production. The cesses and one would like to know how much it has spent boomin has a semblance to The Sheik of Araby. derived is by the song publishers, as every pantomime, resident or not, has plugged them twice nightly, and then when the singers break up and get back into their single acts they naturally want to plug the same number that the listeners were familiar with during the panto. Then the long-suffering audience and the harassed musical director get the full fury of it. Even a deaf and dumb audience would get tired of Sahara continuously twice nightly, tho by different singers, for 20 consecutive weeks. No wonder show business has much to blame for its stagnation and downfall thru the “free” song curse. A good story is going the rounds that, whether true or not, points the moral of this stuff from another angle. Many of our prominent singers are under contract with song publishers to sing one or two or maybe all of their numbers and none other, and for this they get a handsome retainer. Fred Barnes was appearing recently at the Palace Theater, Manchester, and Lawrence Wright’s firm has opened a branch office in Cottonopolis. One of the representatives called on the local house manager and presented the Lawrence Wright business card and asked for happened the house was very full and he was told it was impossible to grant the request. Much annoyed, the applicant expostulated at the refusal. “Why, I must go in. Barnes is under contract to us and I must see that he is singing our songs.” It was then explained to him that if that was so he had better seek admission via the pay-box route, as the management was under the impression that Barnes’ salary was being paid by it and not by the song publishers. Songsmith’s Many Aliases Don’t think we have any animus toward Lawrie Wright. He’s a very good fellow and a rather busy man, as the following will show. He has pulled a good press-space filler in explaining to the public how as Horatio Nicholls he writes song successes and as Lawrence Wright he publishes and booms them. He attributes his business acumen in this publishing game to his early work asa printer, so that when at 17 he wrote and published his own songs he also comped them and then sold them personally from street pitches at 12 cents a copy. Toa make matters all the better he learned to play the piano, mandolin and banjo, and had some further experience in a minstrel troupe. He borrowed $90 from his mother and opened a shop in Leicester, doing well, the more so when he wrote the well-known Spanish onion song, Don’t Go Down the Mine, Daddy, and May I Come Home Once More. He wrote Dream Eycs in 1914 and folelowed it up with A Dream of Delight. Others are When God Gave You to Me, Heart of a Rose, Dear Old Home Town, Old-Fashioned Mother of Mine, Wyoming and Caravan. Some of these latter figure under other of his aliases, namely Gene Williams and Gene McCarthy. What’s in a name? Well, Lawrie finds there’s something in many, so what’s the matter? Lyons Cut Out Wembley 1925 “Eats” That’s the news which looks like making a hitch as to the reopening of our “hush hush” exhibition this year, Lyons & Company, the mammoth food providers, refuse to renew the contract, and a press statement says that their refusal is purely on business grounds and not because of any ill will against the Wembley Exhibition authorities. They only did the catering at Wembley last year after considerable pressure had been brought to bear on them. Another reason why they are not c ‘upeting this year is because records show that repeat exhibitions are not always successful, and that if the attendances fall far short of that of 1924 Lyons would not be justified in undertaking the task. The irregularity of the attendances showed 300,000 one day and about 50.000 the next day. Last year Lyons operated 56 cafes, buffets and restaurants, but the maximum capacity at any one moment was 30,000, so with 300,000 in the grounds there was bound to be a great amount of disappointment, not to say inconvenience. Transport was another big problem with their vans making 70 return journeys daily about nine miles each way. There was no service storage for Lyons at Wembley and everything had to be brought there fresh. The weekly estimate was 75 tons of meat; bread and cake, 260 tons: potatoes, 4 tons; tea, 5 tons; sardines, 300,000 boxes; soft @rinks, 50¢,000 bottles, and small cakes, 2.000.000. As before stated herein the breakages were heavy. One million cups, 2 nillion glasses and half a million teapots were smashed. So taking it all in the all it was some job, and the authorities will have a reaf difficulty in smoothing over the matter. It is said that there is a possibilty of the authori publishers are busy telling that their particular firm is the only one with the At the London Hippodrome is nothing but songs it is said is that Bert Feldman is finanHence not a song by any other music Lawrence Wright firm has its own sucSahara, which Francis & Day also have their own special line, and thus the public is surfeited with these songs. The only benefit that is ties doing the catering themselves. If Lyons couldn’t handle the thing this year with an idea that there would be a margin of profit, and their vast organization in full working order, how will amateur caterers succeed? Discord About Army Bands With the advent to power of the Labor Government the Musicians’ Union, thru Stephen Walsh, the minister for war, got its own way as to the strangle hold on army bands competing with civilian orchestras. The Labor Government made an order requiring band presidents, prior to entering into any agreement for the civil engagement of an army band, to ascertain from the local secretary of the M. U., the corresponding charge for such an engagement at M. U. rates. That in many cases washed out the army band. Recently at the conference of those in charge of health resorts like Bournemouth, Harrogate and Hastings it was asked if local municipal authorities would agree to refrain from entering into band engagements, civil or military, for 1925 until the secretary for war receives a deputation to discuss the hardship in the case. Under the Labor Government rule the miniumum charge for army bands would approximate $1,150 instead of the old fee of $900 or $950. The Conservative Government has now reversed this rule and the M. U. is rather downcast. Thus the seaside and health resorts will now be able to get hold of the army band as _ heretofore. Local authorities 4 there's ye in the name of a swell army band. Fort Greenwood, assistant secretary of the M. U., says that it is untrue that the organization laid down exorbitant rates to erush out the army competitors, but that its rates have been paid by the corporations of Margate, Bridlington and other pleasure resorts, According to King's regulations military bands are supposed to be employed at the current rate of pay of civilian bands as shown by reasonable local enquiry. Greenwood says that in practice no really serious attempt has been made to ascertain the local rate, and in many seaside resorts there is no local rate, for, being only seasonal towns, there is no M. U. branch there and the rates are “catch as catch can’. So if any enquiry is made of the council itself (the would-be employer) a rate is quoted, which generally turns out to be the contract price the army band accepts, “Backing in Colors” Bertram W. Mills prides himself that every concessionaire under his control on the Mammoth Fun Fair at Syne is iving the public a square deal and no avor. For this purpose Clyde Ingalls has the fullest control and the widest powers. He can enter any stall at an time and examine any one of the ° gifts” or “prizes”, and if the label says there should be a pound of chocolates or some such declaration and on examination it is found to be a fake then all offending articles are taken from the stall and the concessionaire has to replace them at the required figure or quit, and all rental money is forfeited. Ingalls and an electrician can hold up any paddle wheel or electrical device and see that there are no concealed wires or “faults” in favor of the game operator. If so, out he goes and the pitch cleared. It must have been annoying to him the other day to find the police authorities prosecuting . Peter Nielson, a Dane, and George Shillinglaw with being concerned in attempting to obtain money by false pretenses, A detective said he saw Shillinglaw manipulate a revolving table on which were colored sections bearing different values, and he was offering prizes to anyone who backed a color which THE NEW PLAYS ON BROADWAY LAFAYETTE THEATER, NEW YORK Beginning Monday, January 19, 1925 “ALABAM’ FANTASIES” Presented by Arthur S. Lyons —Featuring— JOHNNY HUDGINS, EDDIE RECTOR, ABBIE MITCHELL A Colored Company Billed as “A Creole Travesty on Public Opinion” ACT I. MISSISSIPP! MAMMY (A Song Story Episode of the Sunny South) A Lonesome Boy.. -Clarence Robinson BD Bemeeeme Gil. cccccccocccscces Grace Rector Old Black Joe...... ° eeeeeeC. Carroll Clark Cotton Quartet........ eesececsces Alabam’ Four Club Alabam’ Mammy........... Abbie Mitchell Mississippi Sons........... Eddie Rector, Louis Simms, Bobby Goins and Alabam’ Peaches A COUPLE OF BUMS IN AN INCIDENT Sehany Wedgine, Shelton Brooks, Ollie Powers DO THE Saneen ith Hyacinth Curtis, Bobby Goins, Lydia Webb and the Alabam’ Peaches ne Rae Louis Simms Speciality—Popular Song......... Grace Rector Steps Every Which Way.......... Bobby Goins THE STORY OF THE BEE AND THE ROSE POO ROY. snn5dcpniessésvheas Clarence Robinson wee SOG: 66609060060 cbse danes donee Amy Bates a Pen ais descencnsecaces waebeaoen Al Moore ee ee eT Ruth Cherry POGUE: 0.0.05 0i05s0acenn May Fanning, Hazel Cole, Lillian Powell and Freddy Washington EDDIE RECTOR ABBIE MITCHELL A ZULU HULA Grace Rector and Alabam’ Peaches Shelton Brooks Assisted by Ollie Powers A Creole Tiller..... oseeeees-e-Alabam’® Peaches JOHNNY HUDGINS The Story of the Persian Slave Market Bi OT Amy Bates, Marie Bushell, Ruth Cherry, Hyacinth Curtis Mistress of the Exchequer........ Grace Rector Merchants. ....ccece Goins, Rector, Bell, Bullix Binve: DIAS. coccscevetenwcssesssanben Al Moore Ee eeeesessoeesClarence Robinson EANG TRRRONG. 0 ocie u's inwcansce May Fanning, Ethel Johnson, Evelyn Shepherd, Hazel Cole Paverite Bist. ciscesses eccccece Lilian Powell Bong BMpeciahts. ..-ccscconssees C. Carroll Clark Shelton Brooks CANDY i! eee ere Clarence Robinson AnsdrteG’ Checskates. cccccccccsccdccccccccocce Grace Rector, Al Moore, Marie Bushell, Ethel Johnson, Bobby Goins, Louis Simms Chocolate Drops in Parade....Advancing in Art Te, Comeand. ccccoccccccccescscecs Eddie Rector Se TAD s.0.0.00000600006005s0eens Alabam' Peaches Entire Drill Conceived and Staged by Eddie Rector . ACT II HARLEM IN PARIS A Creole Version of the Apache Apaches .....+.+++++0++++Freddy Washington, Al Moore, Evelyn Shepherd, Bobby Go ins cellent music. Flower Gitf...ccccccccccocccccecAbble Mitchell Entertainers ......ccccsoce shbtndeediwe Eddie Rector, Grace Rector an Mildred Hudgin ee Lickecne «Clarence Robinson, C. C. Clark uests Corecess cecccccesesecesoseceooes obnn Hudgins, Shelton Brooks and Alabam’ Peaches This production, which we are advised is to be either sent into a Shubert house on lower Broadway or to London on a fuarantee, is one of those blase cabaret revues of the hit and number type. There are four big scenes, all elaborate, and the whole performance is characterized by a milder tone than usually prevails with shows of this type. An outstanding feature is the work thruout of the Sam Wooding Club Aiabam’ Orchestra, both in the pit and when it made a stage appearance in the final act. . These musicians are adepts, the 10 men playing with equal facility more than 40 instruments, and playing all of them well. Johnny Hudgins carried the burden of the comedy, and he is a unique and versatile a comic as graces the stage today. His pantomime alone marks him as an unusual artist. In addition he is a dancer with an exceptionally varied assortment of steps and styles. Shelton Brooks and Ollie Powers assisted effectively in the comedy end, working thru the piece and doing a team offering that went big. Miss Mitchell was ill 9n the occasion of this review and did not make an appearance after her one number in the opening act. Eddie Rector, one of the most rraceful steppers fn the show world, almost stopped the show on his several appearances. The first act was a Southern cabin exterior with garden setting that afforded opportunity for Clarence Robinson, Grace Rector and Carroll Clark to sing some melodious ballads typical of the scene. The Story of the Bee and the Rose, the next full-stage offering, was a very pretty conceit, beautifully costumed and staged. Ruth Cherry and Al Moore executed an interpretative dance that would be appreciated by an audience anywhere. The Story of the Persian Slave Market was another beautifully costumed and interesting spectacle. Candy was not presented on the ane night, due to the illness of Miss Mitchell. Lillian Powell dominated this scene. Harlem in Paris, the finale offering, was a clever blending of the elements of the New York cabaret and the reputed resorts of the apache. It was here that the, band came into its own. Alabam’ Peaches, a kid dancer, make quite a hit and Louis Simms, whose acrobatic dances had already been received with favor, slipped over some more pedal _ work. Moore and Freddy Washington, Evelyn Shepherd and Bobby Goins did an apache bit that outdid the Parisian idea by a long shot. : To those who liked the Dirie to Broadway show, the new Negro offering will be pleasing. It has all the pep and speed usual to the Negro revues, plus some remarkable individual talent and some exJ. A. JACKSON, January 31, 1925 stopped beneath a pointer on the table. Neilson and a girl were standing on each side of him, and witnesses noticed that these two were the only persons to win prizes. The detective then went behind the table and saw that Shillinglaw had his leg thru an opening in the table and was controlling the revolutions of the wheel so that he could stop it at any desired point. When spoken to Shillinglaw replied: “Well, you people tumble it, but the mugs don’t. They don’t a= long enough.” Both men were remanded. Dramatic Notes (Continued from page 25) roduce the play, in association with the huberts. Business has been big enough at a now at the Henry Miller heater, ew York, to warrant playing a special mid-week matinee. Lorenz M. Hart has written a play called Peter Stuyvesant and will put it — emai next month, wooden leg and al That play of Ben UHecht’s which Horace Liveright was to produce—Tongo —has had its production postponed until next season. The Dark Angel, the latest production to come from the house of Robert Milton, will open at the Longacre Theater, New York, February 2. Harry Davies, who was out of the New York company of Simon Called Peter for two weeks on account of illness, has returned to his part. Walter Hampden finds the strain of playing Othello so great that he will lay no mid-week matinees during the ew York engagement. Elisabeth Risdon has been engaged by L. Lawrence Weber to play the leading role in Martin Brown’s new drama, In the Dark. It should come to Broadway sometime in March. The Carpenter no longer goes by that mame. It is now called Odd Jobs and will come to Broadway during February, under that title, if all goes well. Sam Comly, Inc., is the producer, Margaret Mower, Mary Hail and Brandon Peters are ip the cast of Don’t Bother Mother, which will be seen at a Broadway theater during February for special matinees. Mike Mindlin has engaged Nace Kondo, a Japanese actress, to appear in Houses of Sand. Being a thrifty soul, Mike is also using Miss Kondo in his press department. L. Lawrence Weber will make still another production before the season has run its course. It will be ‘Fraid Cat and rehearsals will be in charge of Edward MacGregor. Estelle Winwood and John Cumberland have been engaged for the leading roles in The Lounge Lizard, which Jules Hurtig is about to produce. This play is a revamped version of Collusion, recently tried out and taken off. Episode, Gilbert Emery’s new play, is due at the Bijou, New York, February 2. Rehearsals are being conducted by Mr. Emery, who will appear in the play, along with Kathleen MacDonell and William Courtleigh. Blanche Upright, who wrote The Valley of Content, in which Marjorie Rambeau is porting. has finished a play called Half a Chance, which may be seen on Broadway with Belle Bennett in the leading role. The title of The Farmer’s Wife has finally been changed. During the New York run a contest was held for the best new title, but the one selected was not used. Now in Boston, the play goes by the name of The Wife Hunter. A Chicago company of Is Zat So? Is being rehearsed by James Gleason and it will open there within a fortnight. The cast includes Jay Hanna, Max Waizman and Ann Winston. Two road companies will also be organized. The title of Cape Smoke, the play which opened last week in Bridgeport, Conn., is now called The Witch Doctor. James Rennie and Ruth Shepley head the cast and the play will be brought to Broadway shortly. Benny Leonard, who recently retired from the prize ring, may biossom into a dramatic player. Earle Boothe has offered to produce a special company ©! Is Zat Sof with Benny as the star The champion is reported as being interested. The Devil Within, due in New York shortly, opened last week in Atlantic City. The complete cast includes Henry Pemberton, W. W. Jones, Coates Gwynne, William Ingersoll, Leonore Sorsby, Walter Petri, Herbert Belmore, Helen Holmes, Edward Poynter, Mary Hampton, Reed Brown, Frank Harvey, Joseph Smiley, George Thompson, Dorothy Walters, ‘. Morse Kupal, Ralph Threadore, Boy’ Gilmore and Irene Shirley. Rock and Horan, Inc., are the producers,