Variety (November 1907)

VARIETY NEW MANAGERS LIKE BURLESQUE. Milwaukee, Nov. 1. Harry Harris, who with Mannie Kar- ger, of Dea Moines, manage the new Eastern Burlesque Wheel Theatre (Gayety) in this city, are so well pleased with the results shown by the house that they are thinking of operating like ven- tures in St. Paul and Minneapolis. Both cities have at present a burlesque house in which the Western Burlesque Wheel attractions play. /or each house added to a Wheel, a new company is organized for the addi- tional room made, and it is understood that two new shows have already been apportioned by the Eastern Wheel, one to be under Harris & Karger's manage- ment, the other by New York people. HYDE SHOW REORGANIZED. Chicago, Nov. 1. Hyde's "Comedians and 'Blue Ribbon' Girls" reorganized here and completely changed the material of the show. A new two act musical comedy will be used for the balance of the season. Niemeyer and O'Dell and Barney Wil- liams were added to the cast. BURLESQUER SECRETLY HARRIES. There is a romance in burlesque which will be a romance no longer after the secret marriage > of-Gladys Carlyle, now with the "Bon Tons," to Richard McLaughlin be- comes known. The couple were united in wedlock some time ago, but it has since remained a secret, Miss Carlyle continuing with the show, while her husband, a young New York business man, resided as before with his parents. COLLEGE GIRL SOUBRETTE. Jacobs & Lowry claim the distinction of having the only college graduate in bur- lesque as a member of their "New Cen- tury Girls" company. She is Grace Wal- ler, soubrette of that organization, and among her possessions is a sheepskin signed by the president of Wellesley College, where she received her education. LEW ROSE AESTHETIC. Carmen Creatore is still wondering how it happened, not being intimately acquaint- ed with the inner relations of Hurtig & Seamon's Harlem Music Hall. Miss Crea- tore, "the original Carmencita," who played Hammerstein's a few months ago, does an Oriental dance as part of Fred Irwin's "Big Show" at the 125th street house this week. She has given the same dance in the best of the Western vaude- ville theatres. It is described as an artistic affair, mod- elled somewhat on the order of that given in New York recently by Rhada, but it offended the aesthetic tastes of Lew Rose, Hurtig & Seamon's house manager, and he required that she discontinue. All of which is made plain when one understands that Mr. Rose is the husband of Mile. De Leon ("The Girl in Blue"), a sensational dancer of the "hoochie-coochie" sort. Miss De Leon is said to be booked for an ap- pearance at the music hall shortly. Miss Creatore is a candidate for vaude- ville, the burlesque appearance being only temporary. HYNICKA "GETS BACK." Cincinnati, Nov. 1. R. K. Hynicka seems to have no idea of letting "The Post" get away with its at- tacks against him through the Standard Theatre in which he is interested without some sort of come-back. This week the city has been flooded with a handbill as big as a one-sheet, presumably distributed by Hynicka's political organization. One side of the sheet shows a comic cartoon bearing on the local political situa- tion and the other is taken up with an ex- pose of the alleged sharp advertising methods of the "Post." Not long ago the "Post" based an attack against Hynicka upon the nature of the shows being given at his theatre, an item in the Eastern bur- lesque. At the time it was alleged that the "Post" was playing politics. GRACE LA RUE HAS DIVORCE. Justice Giegerich signed an interlocu- tory decree of absolute divorce in favor of Grace LaRue Tuesday. Charles H. Burke, the defendant in the action, did not ap- pear to plead. The case was tried before a jury. Testimony was introduced to show that Burke and the co-respondent named by Mrs. Burke lived together in Harlem as "Mr. and Mrs. Henry." He has not been seen in New York for several months and his wife's attorneys, House, Grossman & Vorhaus, deny any knowledge of his where- abouts. PANTZER SETTLES CASE. A suit for salary brought by Willie Pantzer and Company against Weber & Rush, which was to have come to trial in the Municipal Court Wednesday, was set- tled on a compromise basis the day before, the managers paying Pantzer $260. A week's salary was in dispute. Weber & Rush claimed Pantzer owed an amount practically covered by a week's salary and held back the final week's pay of a long en- gagement. INDICTMENTS "POLITICS," SAYS HYMNES. Fred Hymnes, proprietor of the Majestic, Kansas City, playing Eastern Burlesque Wheel shows, was in the city this week on a pleasure trip. He declared that the sud- den crusade recently started against Sun- day performances in his home city, and which resulted in the indictment of several theatrical managers, was generally under- stood to be a political campaign move. In all probability the indictments will be pigeon-holed after the elections. Shortly after Mr. Hymnes' arrival, he received a call from a suave young man who tried to sell him a small flock of auto- mobiles. He represented E. R. Thomas, the young man said. The millionaire sportsman, he explained, had been caught in the market and was anxious to realize on some of his excess personal property. Among this were the automobiles. So Hymnes went to the gar- njfe with the suave fellow. Although Hymnes is from Kansas City, he recog- nized a "plant" and ducked. "STEAM'S UP" IN BOSTON. Boston, Nov. 1. Steam's up, the engineer is in position, the "danger" flag is out and all is in readi- ness for the starting of "The Steam Roller" next Monday. At the Tremont, where the mashing ma- chine is housed, there is unusual activity and everybody is standing by to give a mighty whoop as the crusher gets under way next Monday morning. A. L. Erlanger, who was here for half a day this week, gave out a characteristic interview, only a little less emphatic than his talk in Chicago recently. "What has been done was only the prelude. Things are on now in earnest," he declared. The inaugural bill for the second edi- tion of "Advanced Vaudeville" will com- prise Hetty King, Paul Cinquevalli, Ed- mund Bosanquet, "That Quartet," Simon and Gardner in "The New Coachman," The La Vails, Cartmell and Harris, the Brothers Gautschmidt and the moving pic- tures of the "Lusitania's" arrival. The "opposition" is not saying a word. There isn't even a bugle call to disturb the placid atmosphere of the Rialto, but the camp fires are burning brightly. Keith's features next week are Lasky's "Night on a Houseboat," Camille D'Ar- ville, W. H. Murphy and Blanche Nichols in "From Zaza to Uncle Tom," the Four Fords, Warren and Blanchard, John E. Hazzard, Holden's Mannikins and Lam- berti. At the Orpheum the features are Marshal P. Wilder, Eva Taylor and Com- pany in "Chums," the Ellis-Nowlan Troupe, the Five Piroscoffis, James A. Kiernan and Company, Darras Brothers, Big City Four, Weston and Ydung and Agues Mahr. WELCH VS. WELCH. Joe Welch has brought an action in the New York Supreme Court to restrain Lew Welch from using that name in connec- tion with the performance of "The Shoe- maker." Joe alleges that he himself made the name known and that Lew has in- fringed upon his rights in assuming it, "Lew Welch" being a pseudonym. The argument was up before Justice Fitzgerald Thursday. KANSAS CITY LOSES A WEEK. Kansas City, Nov. 1. The Sam S. Shubert Theatre, now play- ing Klaw & Erlanger vaudeville, will have a "legitimate" relapse for week commenc- ing Nov. 18, when Mrs. Fiske will occupy the boards, playing an engagement con- tracted for the house while it was under the Shubert regime. Vaudeville will be reinstated the week following. E. Ed Ackerman, of the Western States Vaudeville Association, who has been in Now Jfork for the past two weeks, leaves to-day 'for San Francisco. FLORENCE MOORE. The subject of this week's .cover design is Florence Moore, leading boy with Weber & Rush's "Bon Ton Burlesque Com- pany," now playing the Gayety Theatre, Williamsburg. Miss Moore has been iden- tified with burlesque companies in both wheels, playing minor roles. She is a Boston girl and started her stage career as a chorister. She is of a striking blonde type of beauty, and although she is but newly ar- rived at the dignity of a principal part, she gives promise of real attainment. "NEW CAMPAIGN" WORKS WELL. Philadelphia, Nov. 1. Klaw & Erlanger gave "Advanced Vau- deville" a new start at the Forrest Theatre in this city this week. Dan Fishell, the new manager who was brought here from the Garrick Theatre in St. Louis, assumed charge, replacing Ed. Price last week, and instituted a campaign of circus advertis- ing, heralding the approach of the "steam roller," reducing prices and announcing the biggest bill yet offered by the "Advanced" management. Capacity audiences viewed the perform- ance every evening, and hundreds were turned away from, the box office each night before the show started. The afternoon patronage was also big, though not so large as the evening. Manager Fishell reported Wednesday night that the house was en- tirely sold out for every evening during the balance of the week and that there was also a big sale for next week. The reduction of prices, together with the attractive show (Vesta Victoria, head- liner), drew the business and seems to bear out the theory that "big bills at low prices" are the more profitable. At 25 and 50 cents admission for the matinee it is reported the receipts on Mon- day afternoon were $750; at Tuesday's matinee these figures were beaten. The attendance at Keith's was capacity Monday night, with a well filled matinee. Manager Fishell worked wonders at the Forrest in the little time he has been there. Not only was the bill offered this week a big one, but it was put on the stage in a manner to secure the best results. There were no waits and everything ran smooth- ly and with some action to it, keeping up the atmosphere and life of the entertain- ment, which was so lacking previously. There was even a change in the scenery used. Fishell has made several changes in the house staff. David Allen, stage manager, and Dan Cahan, treasurer, of the Garrick Theatre in St. Louis, have been brought East, and the work of the former has al- ready made itself felt in the improvement behind the footlights. The local papers on Tuesday all ex- pressed flattering opinions: "THE INQUIRER" said: "In the presence of a packed house, fall season opened auspiciously. If anything like the same standard Is main- tained, local theatregoers will be decidedly the gainer. It was In fact a glorious feast for the epicures of vaudeville." "ITEM": "One of the most sumptuous, most extravagant bills offered to lovers of vaudeville is that at the Forrest. Such an aggregation of big acts is seldom seen." "RECORD": "The crowds found the Forrest, the house being packed at both performances. It was an exceedingly popular bill, one of the kind that started with a rush, and kept it up to the end." "LEDGER": "The happy effect of A. L. Er- langer's "Steam Roller" was observable at the Forrest Theatre yesterday." "NORTH AMERICAN": "Well, they made good, Klaw & Erlanger did, with their bill nt the Forrest yesterday afternoon and evening. Costly stars and cheap prices, well advertised, was a combination, as it always must be, irre- sistible." "PRESS": "'Advanced Vaudeville' was glv«-n fresh Impetus st the Forrest. The spacious For- rest was filled at both-performances. And that the 'Steani Roller' brought with it a most divert- ing bill was beyond question." As foretold in Variety, the chances of Klaw & Erlanger securing the Academy of Music for vaudeville here have been prac- tically eliminated. Samuel Gustine Thomp- son, a stockholder, publicly stated that he would not sell his stock under any circum stances, and declared that the charter of the Academy was such as to prevent the sale or lease of the property without the unanimous consent of all the stockholders. >