Variety (Jan 1906)

-J^..: ■■'■ VARIETY A Variety Paper for Variety People. Published every Saturday by THE VARUBTT PUBLISHING COMPANY. Knickerbocker Theatre Bulldlns. : ' - ., 1402 Broadway. '■-'•■■''• ■■'■'■ ■ ■ New York City. ;, .^ SUBSCRIPTION RATB8. : Annual "..... .fl Foreign • Six and three months In proportion. • Single copies live cents. '■ .i"' " "^V Variety will be mailed to a permanent address or as per route, as desired. adve;rtisinq rates on application. First Year. No. 4. VARIETY deslr«a to announce th« poller vovernlns the paper. We want yom to read it. It la la. tcrestlns If for no other reason than that it will be condncted on original linea for a theatrical newspaper. The flrst. foremost and extraordi- nary feature of it ia fairness. What- ever there is to be printed of interest to the professional ^vorid ^rill be printed without revard to whose name is mentioned or the adTertlslns eoluntns. «*A11 the news all the time" and <*absolately fair" are the watchwords. VARIETY is an artists' paperf a paper to wrhich anyone connected with or interested in the theatrical world may read with the thoronsh knowledge and belief that what la printed is not dictated by any ntetlve other than the policy above outlined. We want you for a subscriber. If you don*t read VARIETY you are niisslnv ■omethlns. Do you want to read a paper that's honest from the title pave to its last linef That will keep its columns clean of *<wash noticest" That mrlll not be InHuenced by advertisinfff That's VARIETY. To insure yiou receiving VARIETY revnlarly, send in your subscription now. You w^ill And it coming to you regularly to any permanent address Siven, or **as per route.** Correct English has ever been a fail- ing on the vaudeville stage. No one has taken the matter in hand, and it properly lests with the artists. Privately they are privileged to speak as they please, the lack of schooling belng^a misfortune rather than cause for rebuke. But publicly a grammatical error should be carefully avoided. Mono- logues or any acts without manuscripts should be reduced to writing, and sub- mitted to someone competent to edit. Single turns and teams often let fall an expression which causes the Bnglish language to blush. Only recently in a sketch receiving |300 weekly, and which cost perhaps |150, the expression "I seen" was used by one of the princi- pals. It is a simple and inexpensive matter to correct all this. Every artist should give it his attention immediately. Uni- formity of grammar would be of great assistance to vaudeville. The managers should help to eradi- cate the evil. It grates upon the new- tomers which "refined" vaudeville seeks to attract, and instead of attracting, re- pels. ■■ ',. : ■ ■.; ;. • , .. William Grossman is bringing a suit against F. F. Proctor in behalf of Eph. Thompson, who was informed when he recently put in an appearance at the •*THE ONLY WAY" Will It Come to This in the Agencies? Newark house that he had been can- celed. It is asserted by the management that Thompson's agent was notified of the cancellation last October, but Thompson denies having received any such notification, and the suit will be pressed. It is understood that Mr. Proc- tor was disposed to plead the recent de- cision that the Sunday clause nullified a contract and that there was no basis for a suit, but he changed his mind when it was suggested that the acknowledge- ment that all outstanding contracts bear- ing the name of Mr. Proctor were void might work him an injury were the fact to become advertised, and he abandoned his position. still existent, and in a better shape than when the erratic Golden was at the head. They could come forward and find an army of supporters in a move- ment for a proper organization in the in- terest of all performers of repute. The matter is worth agitation. There are clearly evils to be remedied. OUR PICTURES. On the front page this week ther6 ap- pear pcitraits of Charles T. Aldrlch and Sabel Johnson. Mr. Aldrich has dropped from vaudeville for a time to foil the villain in a play called "Secret Service Sam." Miss Johnson has a voice so altl- tudinous that she calls herself the high- pst soprano in the world. As a matter of fact, Mr. Grossman agrees with Variety that a contract for a performance sanctioned by the police is a contract for a legal, performance, and that a contract for Sunday work is not null and void. The uncertainty of the matter points the moral of the sugges- tion made in Variety two weeks ago that some organization of artists be formed with a fund for testing these questions in a court of law. The White Rats are Bruno and Russell are just out of the legal woods on a suit brought by Hurtig & Seamon to recover the penalty stipu- lated in their contract should artists en- gaged by them play other New York houses before appearing at the theatre on 125th street. Bruno and Russell signed with Hurtig & Seamon and then played the Williams' time. Suit was brought for the $400 penalty, William Grossman taking charge of the artists' interests. On Wednesday Hurtig & Sea- man abandoned the suit, and Grossman has a silver card case as a souvenir. He will have to have new cards printed to fit the rase. other week, by the way. There is plenty about Clarke, his act. his friends and his enemies, and there is a lot of clever reading. It is one of the best advertis- ing ideas since the S4dman postal cards, and the paper is in demand. An adver- tisement that a manager is willing to read is worth more than the idea is cost- ing Clarke. . . Edward Clarke is having a merry time with a little press sheet called the Weekly Hash—which comes out every Up in Harlem, next door to the Al- liambra, is a sporting goods store where "P. G. Williams' Electric Belts" may be purchased at prices from |2 to |26. The«e are manufactured and guaranteed by Percy G. Williams over his own sig- nature from his own factory in the City of Nods. (Free Adv.)