Variety (July 1906)

!7^'j.r VARIETY MORRIS WILL BOOK FOR RYAN. Koiir of i]w lar^«'r Iu)ii«<>h on the hitri national J'Jieatro ''onipany's circuit, con- trolled by .lolm .1. Kyan, will Ixxtk the Ix^ttor class of acts enjjjagcd tlirou<j:li the ofVice (►f \\'illiaMi Morris. Mr. Morris on behalf of some nianaj^crs booking throut^h liis oflico submitted a proposition to Rym to lease his new Cin- cinnati theatre, 'lliis was declined, but Morris was informed that his bookin«?s would be required in that city, Ohicaj^o, Krie and IJufTalo. In C*hicago the circuit will reo|KMi tlie International Theatre in the fall. The admis-sion in these four towns will be increased to one dollar. POLI TAKES OVER JACQUES' IN- TERESTS. S. 7.. Poli has afT<»cted an arrangement witli the executors of the estate of his late j)artner, .lean .Iac(jucs, by which he secures control of practically all the busi- ness enterprises in which .lacques was interested. They include ,Iac<jues' Theatre juid the Auditorium iii Waterbury, and a large estaldishrnent for the manufacture of root Ihmt, which is Imttled and sold throughout tlu' New Kngland States. MANAGERS BOOK WITHOUT SIGNING. Nothing further has developiMl in the re port'ed request from the Morris ofliice for signed contracts from its managers. I^okings are being made through the office as formerly, and the manager who informed Variety originally of the matter stated this week that nothini: further ha<l been heard by him about it. SHAYNE GOING BACK TO CHICAGO. Kddie Shayne, the vaudeville bookiny ajrcnt, ha.s dtnided to return t«» (Mii<nno and open bu.sine.ss for himself nncv more. Mr. Shayne Iia.s returned to the city. While out West on his recent trip lie re- ceived numerous re<iuests from park m.in- agers to once again put himself individu- ally in harness. He will ret irn to Chi- caRO and open nri offic(> th<'ro within a month or .so. FIELDS SELECTS HIS WRITERS. Alth<»ugh the title has not Im>cm chosen for the new play to t»c produced at the Herald S<niar(> Theatre next seas(»n bv I.ew'P'ields and his company, the writers of the production have. Kayjiiond Hub bell will attend to the musical end and .loe Herbert the book and Ivrics. MARDI GRAS, SEPTEMBER 17. The contro\ery over this \eai*s date (\t the Coney l-l.ind .Mardi (lra> lias sub sided and ricli iiaiinonv i)er\:ides I lie l.oii" If-land resort. Tlie outsideis Iimnc > ielded to the park j.cople and m^tcc Io I lie wt < k of Septeml>er 17 for the closing festivities. KEITH AND THE LICENSE BUREAU. .After considerable j^rrxlding cm the part of T>icense Commissioner liogart the Keith Ixtoking establisliment in the St. dame? Muilding has finallv signified its willing ness to take out a license as an employ- ment agency. Cp to a few days ago tliev held olV. urging as excuse thai the Uni (rd htiuking Oflicc was rud yet a c(ti|M» ration. They say the papei'^ of incorpo i;ilion will be liere in a few (la\--, when they will appoint a secretniy and take iMit a regular license. EASTERN WHEEL'S DETROIT HOUSE READY. With sublime secrecy has the new theatre of the Kastern Hurles<pje Wlu'cl been erected in Detroit. N'ariety printed two weeks ago that the theatre would be finished by January 1. 'J'he surprising announcement came this week that the house i.s near completion and will open for the regular season in the latter part of August. It is located opposite the post-office in Detndt and will be named the Gayety. Xo previous inkling of the construction going on had leaked out through any channel. WESTERN WHEEL'S DRAWING. All the burles(]ue theatre owners who were trembling on the edge of indecision having been brought into the fold, it is pr(d>able that the annual drawing of routes by the P^mpire Circuit will be not much longer delayed. Xo date for -this annual ceremony has yet l)een officially fixed, but it is ur.derstoml that it will be lulv 10. GOING IN OPPOSITION. Announcement is ma<ie by the Western |{urles(pie Wheel that the corporation has ac(|uired a new theatre in Toledo, which will be remodelled and ready for use by the beginning of the .season. Anotiicr deal is all but clo.sed by which they will c«uitrol a house in a neigh'])oring city, su|)posedly Indianapolis. These two houses will be run in conjunction, West- ern W heel companies playing three nights a week in each of the yoked pair. ALBANY AND TROY SIGN. Contracts were signed and delivered on riiursdav <»f this week bv which the Lv- ccum in Troy and the (layety in Albany are leased to the Kmpire Circuit for a term of ten years, as was announced in last week's Nariety. The Koyal in Troy has ,ilso been leased to tl)e same concern and w ill be closed. \\ is said at the offices of the Km|)ir<' Circuit that they will pres- ently break ground for a new an<l up to- datc builes(pie hous«' in .\lbany to be read\ b\ the first of the year. When tlii-> is compleled the present (Jayety will l)e dixontinued fcir burlesijue and sublet. WILL ENJOIN SULLIVAN & KRAUS. Durinu the comin'' week the c(»uns<d for the Kasterti Hurlescjue Wheel will make application for a restraining order against Sullivan cV Kraus. who. it is allegt'd. vio lated their cofitract with that Wheel. The injunction papeis will pray for an order 4>>topping the firm <u" members from fulfilling or entering into any agreement witli the Western Wheel which could Iw constrm>d as a breach of contract. Tlie application may be entered in tlu- I'Tiited States Circuit (Vmrt. AFTER COSEY CORNER. Ilariy Martell, of Whalen .S; Martell, niend)ei- of tlie Western Hurlesque Wheel, is said tri lie ilirting with tlie owners of Watson's ('<»-.( y (*«irnei- in Hiooklyn in iliplotiin t ic I c|ii i-^i til ,(1 ions looking to the purchase of tluH Jiou^e. II i- even VTmI that Martell h;i^ -• < iir*^! an option which evpires williiii a few wick-.. Meanwhile no announcement of tin deal has been made. MISHLER GIVES UP VAUDEVILLE. I. C. Mishler, who made up his mind at one time to conduct his theatres in Altoona and damestitwn, Pa., for vaude- \ille. has sufTere<l a change of opinion. He will not pose as a vaudeville man- ager for another season anyway. POLI'S TROUBLES IN SCRANTON. Scranton, July 6. There is trouble brewing here in labor circles for S. Z. Poll, the vaudeville man- ager, who is erecting a theatre in this city. 8cranton is a strictly "union" town, and the difficulty will arise over "scab" labor which the Poll contractor has en- gaged. The builders of Scranton are in an as' .sociation, with a cash forfeit of |5,0()0 imsted by each that none but union men will be employed. Kicci, the builder who has the Poli contract, has already ruti foul of ilugh Frayne, the "general or- ganizer" for the American Federation of I/jibor, through the employment of non- union workmen on the job. Hicci may evade the union by subletting the ccmtrnct, but in that event the building will be de- clared "unfair" and the outlook for sup- port from the town residents is very slim. • KEITH ON HIS TRAIL. The Keith people are reported in Fall River to be out after the scalp of Alpha Hayncs. manager and part ♦•wner, as a stockholder, of the Casto Theatre there. HaVlies' term as manager ends dulv 12. when there will l)e a meeting of t)ie .stock- holders to appoint a manager for the coming term. The hint has been conveyed to Mr. Haynes that someone else will wear the managerial mantle if the Keith people have their way. Haynes is very busy these days in an effort to secure eiKUigh proxies of his friends to insure his reappointment. 'ITie Keilli outfit holds a considerable block of .stock in the theatre company. EASTERN WHEEL SERENE. Serenity marks the attitude of the Irlastern Hurles(jiie Wlie<d. Xo furtlM-r de -ertioii is considered po.ssible, and the Kastern men say that thosi- who have de- parted left no nmurners. Indirectly it is learneil that a surprise is awaiting the other side in an announce- iiuMit which the Kastern people will shoit- Iv make. INGERSOLL CIRCUS OFF. Pittsburg, July <». The jiroposed new IngersoII <'ircus will be abandoned according to r<'i>ort here. SuJlicient <a])ital has been subscribed, but l''redcii<k IngersoII concluded le could not dev(»t»' the ne<e.ssary lime t(t the manage- ment in connection with his various other enterpri.s(\s. BUILDING IN BROOKLYN. The Kmpire Circuit, it is announced at their offices, will break ground on Mon- day for their burlesque theatre at Myrtle avenue and I^ewis street, Williamsburg. WILLIAMS WILL TAKE PHILADEL- PHIA. The ^o.ssips have it that Percy William.s lias informed Oscar Ilammerstein that provided he does not care to tackle Phila- delphia with vaudeville, he (Williams) will |;ikc hoM of the job. MELVILLE INJUNCTION ARGUED. Argument on an application for a con- tinuan<e of the injunction secured by Frank Melville against the KeJtli syndi- cate and the Red Haven Cadets, restrain- ing that act from playing syndicate time, came up before Supreme Court Justice Ulanchard in Special Term Part 1, last Tuesday morning. Both sides pre- sented their case.'*. .Judge Dittenhoefer for the defendants and Edward S. Schwartz representing J. A. Moross, man- ager of the Cadets, were given until Thurtulay to file briefs and affidavits in support of their positions. The Keith people soiight to cntr«Tich themselves l)ehind a breastworks of tech- nicalities. The defendants made cheir contest on two points. The first and main contention was that the contract which Melville had with the Cadets to play Syra- cil«»t* was 'inequitable, unconscionable .inl entirely lacking in mutuality in that un- der its provisions the agent was able to cancid the act prior, during or after the first j)erformance," while there was no possibility of the act escaping the ful fillment of the contract Horm^ui L. Roth, appearing for Flank Melville, argued against this point that tl'.e injunction sought was against Keith et al.. and that as the contract was be- tween Melville and the Cadets and did not concern the .syndicate, who merely aided and abetted the act in violating its terms, the point was not well taken. The s«'cond ground of tlie defence was that, whereas the Cadets was not an act ".special, tinicpic and extraordin.iry," it could be replaced by Mr. Melville with little dilficulty and that therefore the agent sutTered no damage by its with- drawal. In support of this contention allidavils by .Tules Delmar. Daniel F. Hen- nessy and Kiiward .Mbee were submitted. On Thursday Attorney Hoth put before the court affidavits attempting to show .. that the Cadets' act poss^'ssed th<»se special qualifications. •'We are here merely to have our po- sit i(»n defined," said Moross' attorney to the court. "We have no desire to eva(fe the consc)|uences of our act. We signed ' the ciuitract with Frank Melville to play Syracuse and our desire i.s to give the full facts." Tin' lawyer made a further statement indicatiMg that .Mr. Moross would urge in extenuation that he was coerce(l by the Keiih peoph' in withdrawing from fho Melville contract. He intimated so prct.ty • haily. 'J'he servi<'e of the papers in Mie -iiits If en the manager of t}:e (\idets. I. A. .\!oH»ss, was attended with considerable • lifiieulty. .Moross is said to have evaded service for ten davs. On last Saturday night an attempt was made to .serve the leader of the act, who is .Moross' wife, by |»assing the subp<iMia conc<aled in a bunch of roses over the footlights at Henderson's at Coney Island, where the art is playing, but it failed. I'Ved ^^. Henderson, the manager of the theatre, when he learned of the facts in conned ion with the service for tlie first time last Monday night, was indignant ov4'r the evasion. He called upon the manager of the act to accept service im- mediately under pain of cancellation, which Mr Moross then «li<l. appearing in court the following morning with his at torney. / /