Variety (Sept 1906)

VARIETY LONDON COLISEUM REPORTS. As the fall season draws near reports are spreading as to the disposition to be made of the London Coliseum lease. Thompson & Dundy,, the former man- agers of the New York Hippodrome, are after it and it is said that Col. Mapleson also has a chance of securing the house. Oswald Stoll, the English vaudeville manager, who holds the key to the lease's future, is reported to be considering whether the company he represents and which owns the Coliseum shall put in a season of opera as its own venture. Operas now playing at Monte Carlo and Milan are being considered. The view taken among the informed vaudevillians here is that although Mr. Stoll is an extraordinarily busy man, caused' to some extent by his desire to give too much attention to details, he will not allow the house to pass out of his immediate direction. BOOKED BY WIRELESS. The Manhattan Comedy Four arrived! here on Wednesday after a long trip abroad and were booked to open on Mon- day next at Hurtig & Seamon's. Owing to the change of policy of the house the date was cancelled without the knowledge of the quartet. Myers & Keller, the agents, secured! a vacant date in Pittsburg for next week and held it on condition that the singers might be reached in time. The aid of the "wireless" was invoked and the act caught some hundreds of miles out at sea. The Pittsburg time was acceptable and the opening will occur there, the first New York showing being September 17 at Hyde & Behman's, Brooklyn. WORKING BOTH ENDS. Wilson & Flynn, the agents, are play- ing both ends against the middle, backing, as it were, both sides of the Joe Gans- Battling Nelson fight Monday. Gans' manager has written to the firm that if the colored v pug" puts his man away he will be a candidate for vaudeville or burlesque engagements and appoints the agents to look after this end. "Billy" Nolan, Nelson's manager, has written to the firm to the same effect. SHAPIRO IS NOT INTERESTED. The music publishing business in this country at the present time holds no in- vestment of Maurice Shapiro's, according to Mr. Shapiro's own statement. He says that a recently printed article intimating that he might interest him- self in that direction had no foundation. Mr. Shapiro has taken offices in the Knickftibecfcttt* Tlwat. * Bu'Miiuj. £>n (Jie door appears the sweeping statement "Everything There's Money In." "TRIMMED" BOOM. Maurice Boom cut out the scheme of accepting B. R. T. rebate checks Satur- day and Sunday at his "five-cent" theatre in Grand street. When the East Side be- gan to dump the slips in on him for theatre parties of a score or so he made an investigation and discovered that the tickets were selling "on the curb" for two cents each and his patrons were beat- ing him for three cents of the admission price. VAUDEVILLIANS IN "LITTLE JACK HORNER." "Little Jack Horner," the Melville B. Raymond' production, opened at Reading, Pa., Wednesday night. In the piece are Rice and Prevost and I rank Slivers Oak* ley, vaudevillians. For the first time in "Slivers'" career he is appearing in white-face, but not the "white" of the clown makeup. James Rice of the Rice and Prevost team is also appearing without the white covering. Both the vaudevillians felt much appre- hension over the first appearance and Mr. Oakley claimed that Mr. Rice had the ad- vantage, inasmuch as ho would give his specialty, while Oakley had to play a pan- tomimic part straight. "BEAR ACT" COMING. The negotiations for the cancelling of the Hagenbeck "bear act" contracted! to open at the New York Hippodrome Mon- day having fallen through at the last min- ute, Willie Hagenbeck is on his way or may be here with the animals, numbering seventy-three. No provisions have been made by Messrs. Shubert and Anderson for the production of the act, and some curiosity has been expressed as to the outcome. The time given was lengthy and the salary agreed' upon $1,750 weekly. The Hippodrome's new management offered $15,000 for a cancellation, but Hagenbeck declined. With that large number of polar bears on his hands in a strange country, Mr. Hagenbeck is looked to for a strong argu- ment against any proposition entailing his idleness or the non-payment of salary. Mr. Hagenbeek's father's worth is rated at some fifteen millions of dollars. That may be fallen back upon by the son for the sinews of legal strife. VINCENT HOPEFUL. Walter Vincent returned to town on Wednesday, having gone to Allentown to atteno! the opening of his firm's house there. "We started off very well," he remarked. "It will, however, take a few weeks to educate the natives into paying fifty cents for a vaudeville show. They have two parks out there where they charge ten cents admission and it will- take a little time to show them the dif- ference between a ten-cent and a fifty-cent show. While I don't believe we'll make very much money for a month or so, I feel confident that we will break even un- til we get them coming properly." AMUSEMENT COMPANY ORGANIZED. Chicago, Aug. 31. Harry Aftkili, Mort Singer. Frank R. jtri»V» Will M. Hough and Jot. Howard have organized a com pa"' to send on^ho road all the pieces produced at the La Salle Theatre. The first production to go out under the company's management will be "The Time, the Place and the Girl." DRESSLER WITH WEBER. Chicago, Aug. 31. When the Joe Weber company plays at the Grand Opera House on Sunday Marie Dressier, who suddenly left for Europe early in the summer without her man- ager's consent, will be back in the cast and the Chicago engagement is expected to prove one long joyful reunion. PITROT CLAIMS IRVING PLACE THEATRE. Richard Pitrot, the agent, says that he has the option on Conried's Irving Place Theatre and will exercise it. Mr. Pitrot adds that the option calls for next sea- son, it having been impossible to secure the house for the present one. The favor- able response to his offer was received some days ago from Conried by cable, ac- cording to the agent, who has not yet de- cided what style of entertainment he will give after the theatre passes under his management. GERMAN PAPER AFTER PITROT. One of the New York German dailies is very much exercised over the announce- ment by Richard Pitrot, the agent, that he is negotiating with Heinrich Conried for the lease of the Irving Place Theatre to be conducted as a vaudeville or bur- lesque house. A translation of one of its editorials on the subject is as follows: "Richard Pitrot maintains that he has entered into negotiations with Conried. This may perhaps be true; in fact, any- body can do so who risks five cents on a letter or five dollars on a cable. The main question is: Has Conried entered into ne- gotiations with Pitrot? Not until Mr. Pitrot can show a cable with Conried's signature containing binding conditions and demands can anything but a cheap advertising scheme in Pitrot's information be seen. Even were he to show ten cables which would prove conclusively that ne- gotiations are being entertained, it would not in the least shake the belief m the continuance of the Irving Place Theatre as a German playhouse. The fact that Pitrot gives out the news of the sale at a time when it is either impossible or ex- tremely difficult to reach the other party shows shrewdness on his part. With only Pitrot's version and without any author- ized denial the misinformed and credulous public will put more faith in Pitrot's words than they deserve. "The German press, as far as it is ac- quainted with the circumstances, has taken no notice of this news; it savored too much of 'sea-serpents,' etc. The English press, however, did not deprive Pitrot of the welcomed advertisement." HENRY LEE, BANKRUPT. Henry Lee, the impersonator, this week filed a petition in voluntary bankruptcy. He gives his address as No. 1133 Broad- way. He declares that he has only $1,500 to cover debts and obligations amounting In $8,6M7. Hi addition to this total there are fifty claims against the New Produc- tion Company which produced "San Fran- cisco'' at Dreamland, Coney Island. Lee admits possible liability for these amounts al«o Lee tiled a voluntary ^eUTion \u tartY^ rnptcy once before. This was in 1000. He received his discharge from the court. AGENT'S OWN "GIRL ACT." Gertrude Hoffman has been engaged by George Homans, the agent, to stage a "girl act" Homans has in mind. It will be shown about November. Mr. Homans is positive that he has an entirely original idea for the new act and one that will raise the offering to the novelty class. HYMAN ON HIS WAY. Sydney Hyman, the South African vaudeville manager, will arrive in New York within a month. His representa- tive, Mrs. Madeline Barber, is now here, making her headquarters at the offices of Pitrot & Girard. Mrs. Barber will look over the available acts for the far-off houses of the Hymans, in Cape Town and Johannesburg. CIRCUIT INCORPORATED. Oklahoma City, Aug. 31. The Bijou Theatre Company of Okla- homa City has incorporated for $50,000, with this place as its headquarters. The di- rectors are E. J. Lasserre, M. A. Hender- son, II. A. Carleton, C. E. Olson and J. M. Benson. The company at present operates vaude- ville houses in Oklahoma City, Shawnee, Wichita, Parsons (Kan.) and Sedalia, Mo. It will add another at Iola, Kan., soon, and a house is being built at Ardmore, I. T. One each may be located in Enid, O. T., Pittsburgh, Kan., and Guthrie, O. T. The theatres will all open between Sep- tember 15 and October 1. Owing to the increased circuit its managers say that a better grade of acts will hereafter be played. VAN STUDDIF0RD MUST REMAIN Grace Van Studdiford is going to remain in vaudeville; not because she wants to, but because no engagement may be se- cured by the former prima donna else- where. Miss Van Studdiford had hopes at one time that the Shuberts would entertain her application for an engagement, but that firm "turned her down" and there is nothing left for the singer but vaude- ville or burlesque. The legitimate managers appear to be of the opinion that a summer season of beer gardens and small summer parks in the West, where Miss Van Studdiford played during the hot spell, has placed a damper upon her for a feature place in a production. MAKING PLANS AHEAD. "Those Were the Happy Days" has be- come somewhat of a slangy expression in vaudeville, although it is the title of the vaudeville offering of Howard and North. It may be stretched out into a three-act piece with the present players as the stars. That can not happen before the season of '07-08, but it is even now on the tapis. The managerial end has been attended to and the plot of the longer play sug- gested. The first act will show two youngsters enjoying themselves, and the ^Iw^ffyjes^wiH jrevert back to those "happy days." The Zingari Troupe has been offered' 102 weeks time. WEST HAS "STARRING" BEE. Roland West's vaudeville season having been practically booked solid until next April, it is his intention to produce at that time a three act melodrama as a "try-out" for the succeeding season, and if successful go starring under the direc- tion of Louis Wesley. May Yohe did not rejK»rt dt the New York Roof on Tnesd ly night and J/Ottie Gilson Hast ify took her place,