Variety (Feb 1906)

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VARIETY " FRANK MELVILLE INTERVIEWS HIMSELF. SUMMER PARKS lot of improvements there, and the street railway will make frequent trips. Tells About Summer Parks, Past and Present, Interestingly. "Mr. Melville, Variety has requested an interview with you, and as you have been so busy, desires that you interview your- self during your leisure moments. Speak- ing as an interviewer, it would like to get your opinion of summer parks, the class of shows appropriate for theatres, and a brief outline of the park situation to- day as it appeals to you. What have you to say?" '*A feeling of modesty naturally pre- vents me from making any personal allu- sions, owing to my close relationship to the interviewer, hut I will do the best that I can under the circumstances. "The growth of vaudeville in summer parks has been the subject of much com- ment by those who have watched the situation during the past five years," says Mr. Melville. "Where vaudeville or other amusement attractions were in previous years the exception, they are now the rule at trolley parks throughout the vountrv. "In former years band attractions were considered to be the only drawing card that the street railway manager would consider, but the great advantage of vaudeville and kindred amusements over band concerts has been demonstrated in many places throughout the country. The comparative values of these two forms of attractions were demonstrated by my visits throughout the various parks in Pennsylvania and New York State three or four years ago. "The superintendent of a well-known street railway company in Pennsylvania, being approached with the proposition of a vaudeville theatre installed in his park, said that he had used bands for many years with good results. On being asked in what way he got his revenue from band concerts, he said: 'There is only one way to get revenue that I know of, and that is through the income derived by traffic on our street railways.' I asked him if he would feel interested in a propo- sition whereby the amusement attractions could be made self-sustaining, and that the money derived from car fares would be net profit, aside from the operating expense of the road. He said if I could show him a proposition whereby he could do this he would be decidedly interested, and, moreover, would most likely accept the same. I advised him to build a the- atre, which he subsequently did, and the showing of the first season demonstrated that the shows were self-sustaining, and his road carried 50 per cent, more people, and had saved several thousand dollars throughout the season in attractions. The admission charge of ten cents to the the- atre paid for the shows, whereby in the past his attractions had been a source of expense only, no income being derived from the park itself. "Many of the parks to-day throughout the country charge an admission of ten eents, and in the up-to-date amusement park there are fifty other sources of rev- enue; if the ten-cent admission charge i an be made the profit, and the income de- rived within the enclosure pay the ex- pense of the park, the proposition is with- out doubt a very good one. In many in- stances the past season this has been <lone. "While opera companies, musical come- dies, minstrel shows, etc., are used exten- sively in park theatres, vaudeville is still, generally speaking, the most popular. The • lass of vaudeville appropriate is not ex actly the same as played in the vaudeville theatres—society sketches and kindred acts being in very little demand. Com- edy and action are the bywords of choos- ing the proper cla*s <>t" acts for summer parks. This does not mean horse-play. <j!ood, refined comedy combined with lively situations are what the people want; it is needless to say that vulgarity is as unwelcome in summer parks as it is any- where else. The days of tilth and sug- gestiveness have gone by, and the same show that caters to women and children appeals to men also. It is remarkable in this connection how this sort of thing has •lied out within the past few years; the true artist does not resort to material that is in any way otf color. Acrobatic acts, musical acts, animal acts and good singing and dancing are given the prefer- ence in the summer park; monologue and talking acts are undesirable excepting in a few places. Some of the modern parks do not have theatres, but stick to out- door attractions, depending on their ad- mission receipts for their revenue. "There has been a surprising quantity of European acts used within the past summer as free outdoor features. The cost of these acts in some instances would have caused many of the large vaudeville theatres to hesitate before engaging an equal number of expensive performers on the same bill. "Speaking of bands, while they are in many instances good attractions they do not in any case take the place of a vaude- ville performance, and as a usual thing appeal to a different class of people. In view of the fact of predictions of the de- cline of vaudeville several years ago, it is surprising to note that the number of vaudeville houses in parks and out of them is increasing at the rate of over thirty per cent, each year. The growth of the summer park has done much toward the advancement of vaudeville, and has given steady employment to the artist who in years gone by was 'resting* in the good old summer time. "Frank Melville." T. A. Morris, the inventor of the spec- tacular electrical displays at the Beach Amusement Company's Park, The Jungle, tvhieh opens May 20, contem- plates going to Europe next year to in- stall the apparatus in a mammoth amuse- ment resort now being built in Sheppard's Hush, England, by Imre Kiralfy, who, it is said, has invested $3,000,000 in the ven- ture, with several more millions to back it. A well known New York showman will invest $1H0,000 in a feature produc- tion when the buildings are completed— in about two years. Manager H. E. Rice of the Beach Amusement Company is authority for the statement that The Jungle is Hearing completion, and will surprise the public when it opens May 20. Talbot, Tate & McConnell's big spec lacle of •'Fighting the Flames," which will tour the principal cities of the country during the coming summer season, is fast, approaching completion. The scenery, more than a ordinary city block in length, is being built in the Coliseum in St. Louis. Over a hundred artisans and scenic experts are engaged day and night get- ting tilings in shape for the opening, which has been set for the last week in April. As yet the route has not been given out owing lo the many counter at- tractions in the field this season. A half dozen promoters are on the road arranging time, which has already extended into next October. There will be presented at leiist forty vaudeville and circus acts in conjunction with the spectacle. The train and parade equipment is superb. Louis Abe Abdul De Balistrier will be the principal trainer during the coming tenting season with the Col. Mundy car- nival company, which is wintering at the Zoo in St. Louis. The former has been putting in most of his time during the past three months training lions, bears, dogs, pumas, jaguars, leopards and tigers to work amicably in a big act that will be seen next season in vaudeville, open- ing in November after the close of Col. Mundy's road tour. Major Crawford has a very good exhibition in which he pre- sents eight big Nubian lions; Capt. lod- cardo has an act in which pigs, bears, monkeys and lions perform edifying tricks together; Millie von Gordon has taught her lioness, Diana, to ride a horse and perform other marvelous stunts. The contractors for Wonderland, the big amusement park being constructed at Revere Beach, say they are having consid- erable difficulty in securing competent workmen to rush the building of the park to completion. The firm, Shea & Moore, is employing union men and paying the full union wages. It has now on its pay- rolls about 700 men, but E. L. Shea, who is directing the work, says there is need of the services of many more laborers and skilled mechanics. An idea of the im- mensity of the task of building the park may be obtained from the enormous quan- tity of material being used. More than 1,000,000 feet of lumber has been shipped for the park and thousands of bricks and tons of iron and steel. —*— The circuit of Southern parks directed by George Homans will have vaudeville bills for the coming summer which may stand comparison with the usual bills found in town during the season. Seven companies will be started from New York playing over the route. The smallest sal- ary list will be $1,500. As the theatres In Mr. Homans' parks charge seventy-five cents and one dollar admission, this ex- pense is permissible. Arthur Pryor is arranging for a big sea- son with his great band. He will open the park season in Chicago May 20, where he will remain three weeks and then goes te Willow Grove Park, Philadelphia, open- ing June 17. Asbury Park follows, July 8, and then Indianapolis, Pittsburg, Dallas, Texas, and other dates to follow. He claims the band will be larger and better than ever, a number of new soloists being added, while the programme to be given will surpass any he has ever offered to the public, Pryor predicts a great season. Manning and Armstrong have bought the "Fire and Flames" feature in Won- derland at Revere Beach, for which the park people are spending, it is said, $40,- 000, and people have been engaged for the spectacle. It will open on Decoration Day and run in the Massachusetts park for 105 days. After that it will go on the road, playing week stands. Fifteen cars will be used to transport the show. Mrs. F. P. Sargent, better known to the profession as Virginia Knapp, who was at Dreamland last year and the year be- fore, has secured the palmistry concession for Wonderland. Col. Harrington, of Rocky Point, at Pawtucket, a summer park near ProvL dence, has got a lease on Talequega Park and will run that this summer, making a Belle Isle, the Detroit amusement park, is just now torn up in the process of re- construction. The original ground plan of the park is undergoing great changes. It is being extended 42.'? feet into the water and a number of new features added. Among these are an electrical tower, a pavilion and roof garden in which a vaude- ville performance will be given, the "Down and out" novelty, and a new amusement place to be known as "The-House-That- Jack-Built." VARIETY THEATRES OF GREATER NEW YORK MANHATTAN. ATLANTIC GARDEN, Bowery Concert 8 P. M. ALHAMBRA. 7th Ave. an«l 12ftth St Vaudeville 2 and 8 P. M. CIRCLE, Broadway and <J0th St Burlesque 2 and 8 P. M. COLONIAL, Broadway and 88d St Vaudeville 2 and 8 P.M. DEWEY, 14th St Burlesque 2 and 8 P. M. FAMILY. Beet 12ftth St Vaudeville 2 and 8 P. M. GOTHAM, East 12ftth St Burlesque 2 and 8 P. M. HURTia & BEAMON'S, West 12ftth S: Vaudeville 2:30 and 8:30 P. M. HAMMFRSTF.IN'S, Times Sq Vaudeville 2 and 8 P. M. IIUBKR'S. 14th St Museum Continuous. HIPPODROME, 6th Ave. and 44th St Variety 2 and 8 P. M. KEITHS, 14th St Vaudeville Continuous. LONDON. Bowery Burlesque 2 arid 8 P. M. MINER'S BOWERY, Bowery Burlesque 2 and 8 r. M. MINER'S 8TH AVE., 8th Ave. and 27th St Burlesque 2 and 8 P.M. PALACE, Amsterdam Ave Vaudeville 2 and 8 P. M. PASTOR'S, 14th St Vaudeville Continuous. PROCTORS 58TH STREET, 3d Ave and riHth St. Vaudeville 2:1ft and 8:16 P.M. PROCTOR'S 231) STREET, West 83d St Vaudeville 2:1ft and 8:16 P. M. BROOKLYN. AMPHION, Bedford Ave Vaudeville 2:16 and 8:16 P. M. ALCAZAR, Washington St. Burlesque 2 and 8 P. M. GAIETY, Broadway Wurlewque 2 and 8 P. M. GOTHAM. Last New York Vaudeville 2 and 8 P. M. HYDE & BEHMAN, Adams St Vaudeville 2 and 8 P. M. IMPERIAL, Fulton St Vaudeville 2 and 8 P. M. KKEN FY'S, upper Fulton St Vaudeville 2:1ft and 8:16 P. M. NASSAU, WlllOUghby St Burlesque 2 and 8 P. M. NOVELTY, PHkks \ve Vaudeville 2 and 8 P. M. ORPIIEUM, Fulton St Vaudeville 2:16 and 8:16 P. M. STAR. .lav St Burlesque 2 and 8 P. M. UNIQUE, Grand St Burlesque 2 and 8F.lt.