Variety (Dec 1905)

VARIETY. — The head usher at one of the local heatres lost a "phony" diamond in the louse—and found it. While congratu- ating himself, a gentleman walked up stating he had lost a $300 stone—whic'i he hasn't found up to date. Last Friday night at the Alhambra two young men walked up to Dave Rob- inson, the manager, and said: "Were friends of Matthews and Ashley. Can't we stand up for half-price?" "It's all right," replied the courteous Dave. "Walk right in." A couple of seconds afterwards an usher comes out with a rush saying, "Mr. Robinson, did you tell those fellows to take box seats? They are sitting in one." "See that they don't get the chairs warm," replied Mr. Robinson, adding "What's the use?" Charles Wayne, w*ho struggled along with "The Incubator Girls," has dis- posed of rights in the piece to Hurtig & Seamon, who are using it in one of their burlesques. Wayne says it was impossible for him to procure suitable girls necessary to keep the act up to the catchy point. W T ayne and Gertrude De Rouche will soon open as a singing and dancing team. Miss De Rouche played with the former act throughout. Mary Manson, now with "Veronique," will soon enter vaudeville, and expects to remain in it through her dancing ability. The reverse is the exception with Miss Manson. While she heartily detests the stage, the young lady's pa- rents have impressed her with the opin- ion that it is her destiny. Edward Mayburn, who is not famous as yet, is about to produce a playlet called "i he Love of a Gunner s Mate." Mr. Mayburn does not wish to risk the success of his sketch, so awaits the re- turn of Beatrice Foster from Australia to complete the details. The Interstate Amusement Company have their headquarters in St. Louis and have houses in Hot Springs, Ark., Dal- las. Houston. Waco, Fort Worth, San Antonio. Texas. They bill eight acts and the motion pictures. Prices run from 15 to 75 cents. They have already firmly established themselves with the people in their various towns. Virginia Earle opened her vaudeville tour with her "Johnny Boys" at the Orpheum, Reading, Pa., Christmas Day. The report that reached the interested offices was that the act had made a distinct go. Broadway will have an op- portunity to do its own thinking on this point later. MAURICE KRAUS' ANNUAL. The annual ball of the Maurice Kraus' Dewey Theatre Social Circle takes place at Tammany Hall to-morrow evening (New Year's Eve). It is announced as being the real thing. PLAYED AT THE GRAND DUKE'S. Mart Williams, of Williams and Padre, is managing the Star Theatre at Chis- holm, Mich. Mr. Williams, like many others, made his debut at the famous old boys' theatre, the Grand Duke, in Baxter street, near the Five Points. This was in 1879 and in the same bills with him were Tommy O'Brien, of O'Brien and Havel, "Master Dunn," Howard and Thompson, Conroy and Daly, and many others well known now. Mr. Williams' old partner, Harry Netter, has been dead some two years. Doubt- less some of Mr. Williams' old associ- ates will be glad to relocate him. STAGE STRUCK VETERAN. Molly Davis, sixty-flve years of age, cherishes the idea thp.t the amateur nights at the Circle Theatre are for the express purpose of gaining her an open- ing on the stage. She went on two weeks ago and the audience did not throw the seats at .her largely because they were screwed to the floor. Last week Mollie was in the audience, but did not go on. Seven policemen and a roundsman were in the audience to see that nothing was started and the proceedings were en- tirely decorous. Miss Davis' specialty is an imitation of Sara Bernhardt. She is the only one who regards it seriously. ANNA MARBLE A FEATURE. In the story contest in the theatres programs, Anna Marble, the press rep- resentative for Hammerstein's, has won out this week with a story entitled "Cupid and the 'Copy' Boy." The story appears in all programs pub- lished by the Strauss Company, and tells a great deal in the short column allowed it. MILLY THORN EXTENDS THANKS. Miss Milly Thorn, who was very active in the preliminaries which meant so much for the success of the Children's Festival at Pastor's on Christmas, de- sires to extend her most sincere thanks to the policemen and firemen of New York city for their assistance. WHO IS BOOKING ROSS AND FENTON? Charles Ross and Mabel Fenton are to again appear together in their traves- ties, and are announced for next Sun- day night at The New York Theatre in "Oliver Twist." M. S. Bentham attends to the bookings for this house. B. A. Myers, of Myers & Keller, the booking agents, has stated that he would attend to the vaudeville wants of Ross and Fenton. The Casino Theatre Sunday night concerts are taken care of. by this firm. Mr. Ross has said in alluding to his vaudeville tour, "See my manager. Harney Myers." It is not a momentous quest ion. but still, it is diverting under the eireumstances. KARNO'S TROUBLES. The hearing in the action instituted by one Reed Pinaud to prevent Fred Karno presenting his one-act comedies on this side in vaudeville will come up on Jan. 4. Alf. Reeves, the manager for Karno. has engaged ex-Judge Ditten- hofer as counsel, and will s*t up the de- fense that Pinaud violated the original agreement by neglecting to pay royal- ties. In an English suit Pinaud was de- clared to have forfeited his rights. REWARDS OF SONG WRITERS. Song writing, if successful, is remu- nerative, much more so than any one un- familiar with this art is aware. A big popular "hit" sells from 600,000 to 1,000. 000 copies, on each copy of which the lyric writer and composer receives a royalty from one and one-half to five cents. Among the music publishers, who con- sider songs so much merchandise, there are several who are known as success i'ul composers and derive incomes apart from their mercantile pursuit. Gus Edwards, Charles K. Harris, the two Von Tilzers, Kerry Mills and Vin- cent Bryan are among the publishers who have made a name for themselves in the musical world as composers. Not one of these gentlemen will admit of having less than $20,000 yearly credited to his personal account in his own books as royalty on compositions. Mr. Edwards is worth about $25,000 each twelve months to himself in that way; Mr. Mills, who is the head of the house of F. A. Mills, equals that amount. The Von Tilzers and Vincent Bryan may run a trille less. Charles K. Harris, whose specialty is ballads, is in receipt of an amount approximately as large as the largest. Theodore Morse sings his own songs in vaudeville, and has an in- come of $20,000, besidea an interest in the firm of F. B. Haviland & Co. The individual writers without busi- ness connections are more numerous than successful. Will D. Cobb, the best known lyric writer in this country, an- nually collects about $20,000 from music publishers, and his compositions have a cash value upon delivery. Ed. J. Mad- den is another writer of words whose work is in great demand, and has $15,- 000 flowing into his coffers regularly. George M. Cohan, who writes the words and music of all his songs, receives five cents from F. A. Mills on each copy sold. Mr. Mills has paid George during the year just ended about $30,000. Cole and Johnson, the colored musical gentlemen, have discovered song writ- ing to be an easy manner of picking up $25,000 yearly, and James O'Dea and Neil Moret, of "Hiawatha" fame, will have no need to worry over royalties for a long time to come. Jerome and Schwartz, Ren Shields. Paul Dresser and Williams and Van Alstyne, not forgetting George Evans, could afford a luxuriant existence ou their income from "hits" alone. A host of others, averaging from $5,000 upward could be mentioned.. To write a catchy song is worth try- ing for. Once an opening, and you are in demand. More manuscript has been placed in the waste basket as the result of some tyro attempting fame in one round with a song than In any other line of endeavor. Ward and Curran have in preparation a sequel in their present act, "The Ter- ribly Judge," entitled "The Terrible Judge Out of Court." It will be done next season and will run about twenty minutes. ?????? The question that seems to be agitat- ing the agents' souls just now is: "What is Domino Rouge getting at Proctor's?" The act Is owned in part by Mark Leuscher, who i3 manager of the Fifth Avenue Theatre, and the agents are try- ing to puzzlo out whether the masked dancer was rented out for less than the regular sum or put in at a higher price because of the connection. Why worry? SkiQie" Goes to tturtiQ and Scamon'cS, But Doesn't Know Whether the Show or His Vaccination Made Him Laugh. Says Sabel Johnson'tooks Like a Chunk of Straw- berry Ice-Gream." ("Skigie" is a boy, seven years old. Hav- ing been a constnnt attendant at vaudeville theatres since the age of three, he has a dreided opinion. "Skigie's" views are not printed to be taken seriously, but rather to enable the artist to determine the Impres- sion he or his work leaves on the infantile mind. What "Skigie" says is taken down verbatim, without the change of a word or syllable.) What's the use of making me add up that show? (Hurtig & Seamon's, Sun- day afternoon, Dec. 24.) I think it's rotten and the only thing I liked was that sketch where those two fellows sang about "Violets'' (Otto Brothers), and one of them comes up and shoots off a pistol at the other and makes the other stop singing, and they weren't really Dutch, were they? I liked that act with the coal-man (Mr. and Mrs. Mark Murphy) and I laughed, but I don't know whether it was the show or my vaccination that tickled me. That coal-man comes in with some coal and he says $1.50 and the woman says a dollar and then he says $1.60 and the woman says one dollar again and then he starts to take the coal away. I didn't like that Buffalo Bill man and girl (Libbey and Trayer). I don't like those kinds of acts that shoot off pistols all the time, and I liked those colored men that looked like Williams and Walker (Avery and Hart). The little man brushes the big man's clothes with his gloves and then the big man gets sore and pulls the little man's hair. That girl in the pink dress (Sabel Johnson) was a peach. She looked Just like a chunk of strawberry ice-cream, and she sang songs and she sang one with the search-light (spot light) on her, and I could see the paint on her face. That other sketch with the French- man (Edgar Allen, Emile La Croix and Co., "The Victor") made me tired and I didn't like it because that Frenchman was around all the time hollering and jumping and wanting to fight and the other fellow wouldn't, and that French- man thought he was the whole thing. The moving pictures (The Miller's Daughter) were good. A girl and a boy runs away to get married, because I saw the minister, and then the father chases the girl away from home, and then she jumps in the river and the fellow jumps in after, and then they have a baby. I wish I could hang that fat girl (Sabel Johnson) on my Christmas tree.