Variety (September 1907)

VARIETY — ' A Variety Paper lor Variety People. Piihllttbed every Saturday by THE VARIETY PUBLISHING CO. Knickerbocker Theatre Building, 1402 Broadway, New York City. Telephone f4022 1 4023 J 38th St. 8IME J. SILVERMAN, Editor and Proprietor. Hntervttaa *<-n,.nl-clans matter December 21!, 1008, at the Peel Office at New York, N. Y„ under the act of (JimyrcM of March 3, 1870. CHICAGO OFFICE, Chicago Opera House Block (Phone, Main 4880). FRANK WIE8BERO, Representative. BAN FRANCISCO OFFICE, 1116 Van Neas Ave. (Room 118). W. ALFRED WILSON, Representative. LONDON REPRESENTATIVE, C. C. BARTRAM. 49 Rupert St., W. 0. PARIS OFFICE, 6, Rue Laffltte, C. SEIBT, Representative. ADVERTISEMENTS. 18 .nits nn uKute line, $2.10 an inch. One nnK«>, $100; oiie-hitir page, ST>0; one-qnarter page, Cliance* for portralta furnishe«l on application. S|Mci«l rate by the montb for profeHaioual rani under heading ''Kepret<eiitatlve Artists." AdvertlHliiK copy Mhoukl be receive*! by Thnrw- day at noon to Insure publication in current Ismiic. ■l/BtCstlPTlOM RATES. Annual $4 Foreign 3 Six and three months in proportion. Single copies ten cent*. VARIETY will lie mailed to a permanent ad- dress oh us per route as desired. VARIETY may be had abroad at INTERNATIONAL NEWS OO.'S OFFICES Hrenins Kuildlng. Chancery Lane, LONDON, E. (.. ENOI.ANU. Advertisements forwarded by mull must be ac- companied by rem.ttance, made puyatile to Variety rulilislilng Co. Copyiigbt. 1007. by Variety Publishing Co. Vol. VIII. SEPTEMBER 28. No. 3. The Krancelias missed the show ut the Novelty Monday afternoon, owing to a wreck on the Pennsylvania. Kathrvn McDonald, chief clerk in P. Q. a> ' Williams' offices in the St. James build- ing, intends to enter in the "Herald's" Fluffy Ruffles contest. Miss McDonald is the first young woman in local vaude- ville to wear a "Fluffy collar." Since Bailey and Austin joined a musi- cal piece, their former act has been con- tinued as "Bailey & Austin's American Beauties." The act is the same, except- ing for change of principals. It is at Keeney's, New Britain, this week. M. B. Curtis, the Hebrew character actor, who has been in retirement for sev- eral years, will make his reappearance in vaudeville at a Sunday concert in the K.-P. 126th Street' Theatre, using a condensed version of "Samuel of Foscn" as his vehicle. Terley. a foreign act, who lias been over here before, will reappear on Oct. 7 on the K. & K. circuit, booked by B. Ober- maver. Mr. Obermaver has also Smer- alada and Senitza, a foreign "sister" act under contract to play the same time commencing in December. Through a wreck, Conn, Downey ami Willnrd did not arrive in Salt Lake City at the opening of their engagement there until 9 p. in. Monday evening. Manager Jennings, of the Orpheum, had a carriage at the depot and the act appeared the same night without rehearsal. Mrs. Jennings will travel with her hus- band hereafter. He is at the Orplieum, Heading, this week. The Okabe Japanese Troupe of acro- bats, performing at the New York this week, is two members short of the regu- lar number owing to the Gerry Society's age limitation. These youngsters who can not appear are said to do triple somer- saults. Elizabeth Banks, of the Banks-Breazeale Duo, who was injured in a railroad wreck on the Canadian Pacific between Ottawa and Hamilton, Can., September 7, will re- sume work with the act at the Temple, Detroit, Monday. In the interval of Miss Bank's illness, Bernice Breazeale played alone at Hamilton and London, Can. Among the passengers who sailed last week on the "Amerika" was Bertha Ali- son, the vaudeville soprano singer and the wife of William Cutty, manager of the Six Musical Cuttys. She was on her way to Paris to complete her musical education under the tuition of Jean de Reszke. Kdna Luby left "The Follies of 1907" in Baltimore Saturday night and is the week playing at Davis' Grand Opera House, Pittsburg, in her old vaudeville Specialty. She was billed as the headliner tit Hurtig & Sen moil's Sunday night con- cert, but a sudden call from the Davis house, sent her direct from Baltimore to Pittsburg. THE LATEST "COPY ACT" The latest "copy act" in vaudeville is the New York "Clipper," the fossilized, mildewed sheet, whose editor's most aggressive action is the drawing of his salary, and whose chief executive lacks the force and originality to take the initiative in any undertaking more important than the opening of the morning's mail. Some time since "The Clipper" copied VARIETY'S style of handling news matter. This did not interest us particularly, for the established policy of "The Clipper" made the printing of actual news an impossibility. But this week "The Clipper" goes a step further in its panicky efforts to bolster up a fast failing circulation and commences a "New Act" department, purely an invention of our own. "The Clipper" is doing this to reinstate its advertising depart- ment with the variety artist. Will "The Clipper" please publish what it ever did for the variety artist who supported it for years, except to refuse him credit when he needed it most? And we will gratuitously pass along this bit of valuable information to "The Clipper" editor, who seems sadly in need of instruction in modern methods — the secret of what success VARIETY has met with is not its criticism, but its news. We are not criticizing for managers or agents. We do not presume to think that any newspaper man has a knowledge of vaudeville acts which will prove of specific value to vaudeville managers or agents. They have been in business for years, and they know their own business. "The Clipper" has been in existence quite a while, too, for 54 years, to be exact, but it does not seem to be quite sure whether or not it knows its business yet. At least it seems ready to appropriate any suggestion from its contemporary's methods. If the honored Frank Queen, who founded the paper, were alive to see the mess his successors have made of his original work, he would probably be moved to buy up the outstanding stock of the corporation and send "The Clipper" to a permanent resting place on the scrap heap. We didn't mind "The Mirror" pilfering our "New Acts" idea. As far as vaude- ville is concerned, the hearse is waiting for "The Mirror," but "The Clipper's" latest move angers us, not because we think it will be harmful to VARIETY, but because we do not care to earn "The Clipper's" editor's salary for him. The National Theatre in San Francisco, with a seating capacity of 1,800, is play- ing to capacity audiences at every per- formance. In this connection it is a curi- ous fact that the house never advertises, either by passes, billboards or newspa- pers. The only advertisement is the show itself. Will H. Sloan closed with "The Green Bird," a summer production played in Boston, and will re-enter vaudeville in "The Plumber." Instead of Yolande Wal- lace, Mr. Sloan will have for chief sup- port Julia Foltand, and the company will also include Kittv Hamilton. Alf. T. Wil ton has the act. Paulinetti and Pique after filling vaudeville engagements on the Continent are due to arrive here next week for an American tour. This will be their first visit in four years. The pair are booked until next Julv on this side of the water. 0 They will then return to Europe to fill contracts already made. Pereival O'Malley Jennings, the princi- pal of "A Night on a House Boat." and Florence S. Roach, of "The Belle of May- fair" Company, were married last Monday by the Hew J. K. Mover at Reading, Pa. Tlic Jackson Family of cyclists left Tuesday for Loudon to open at the Hip- podrome. They sail under an old con- tract, which they were suddenly called Upon to fulfill. The act will be gone about six mouths. It is 20 years since (Jen. Jackson, the head of the family, hjst played in London while traveling with a circus. Walt K. Whitman, of Murphy, Whit- man and Company, has recovered from the accident which almost cost him his life a few weeks a go in Asburv Park, N. J., and the act is playing on the Maurice Boon time iu Pennsylvania. >(; Tlie sketch was booked to open on, the Su^i- van Considine circuit Aug. 31, 'but'* for. Whitman's illness prevented. Jil*»»e ••i'U' I' Mabel <J rant, a chorus girl iu the *• Boston Belles," was suddenly jumped to the role of prima donna iu that company the latter part of last week while the show was playing St. Louis. She replaced May Bryant, who retired from the com- pany, for what reason could not be learned. Miss Bryant, who is the only girl in the chorus who was with the same company last year, did nicely in the leafl- ing role. Kltinge, the impersonator, has been hooked for 86 weeks by the United 6fnces, and Mr. Kltinge is paying no outside agent any commission. Several agents placing acts with the United were interested in Kltinge recently, and attempted to secure time for him. All failed. One morning Mr. Kltinge walked through the crowd of his former representatives, interviewed the head of the Offices, and walked out again, panting through the same collection, with the contracts in his pocket, lie had been sent for. and transacted his own business, A meeting of indignant agents convened immediately, but the "inside door" open- • "i ing, the rioters dispersed. *■ 1 A critic in the London Daily Teicprqph mokes this reflection. "Why does the raconteur always come from America? How is it that we must ever take him with New York garnish and Philadelphia sauce? Time was that the music hall stages of this country were able to give us some Englishman—or a "Pawky" Scot—who kept us in merry humor by the force of his native wit. All that is changed. If a born Briton comes on in evening dress and commences to tell stories in a large variety hall there is immediately a suspicion that the en- tertainment is going to be slow." The compartment set aside for the agents in the United Booking Offices has been named "the schoolroom" by the, com- mission men. Two rows of small fiat-top desks are fastened to the floor, and while no agent is neglected, there is only one sofa in the room. This has been placed as an inducement to have the agents call early, and it serves its purpose. There is a legend in "the schoolroom," "piped up" since "school" opened, that a better prjee can lie obtained for acts while sitting on the sofa than behind a desk. When the hustlers after acts are alone there are great doings, each telling the other what a good agent is like and no two descrip- tions corresponding. When a manager or a manager's representative (most often the latter) appears one of the "five per cent, hoys" ealls out: "1 have Blank and Blank for week of Sept. 30^; another screams, "Who want Jim Jams in 'one* for week Oct. i v while still another yells, "Can give thrcc-hundred-eightoen- minute - good - comedy-three-people-sketch s|n>cial-set-big-hit-down-the-line-week 30." When the selection has been made once again the "srheol" resumes its studies of "Prof. Slick's compounded reports on the real reason why some agents are favored."