Variety (December 1907)

26 VARIETY MANAGERS I HAVE MET By HARRY HOUDINI. It may come as a surprise to many to hear that I have been almost twenty-seven years before the public, having started in with a "five-cent" cirrus in my native town, Appleton, Wis., the Jack Hoefler Circus. Mr. Hoefler now controls a pros- perous vaudeville circuit in the Middle West. Many a strange manager, many a queer individual, has it been my lot to meet, and some are worthy of being mentioned. In 1880, when doing a trapeze act, mixed with contortions, my weekly stipend amounted to les.s than $3, and I did not know the difference between the real man- ager and the ticket taker. But after years had elapsed, I became well versed in the art of recognizing a MANAGER. I can tell if he is a dress suit errand boy, like the English provincial brand, or the real bona fide article. In Russia the managers all take up with artists and make quite a fuss over them. Their specialty is women acts. No matter how poor an actress a good looking wq may be she is all right for Rusa Some of the German Director Bruck, \Ux^ ^^*Kohn (Leipzig), Wan^ ^), and II Tichy (I'n^ ^^U^ji w^ ' uv '' f«*iiial»' nets. ^J| l^progra^^. ,iever complete liiJ^^^onif foreign feminine stnr "im roves" it. Little Tichy of Prague, Austria, is one of the few managers who loves to play cards with his artists. He is a poker fiend—the kind you read about. He has lost thousands of kronen to artists. It is said that one American (Morton, of Mor- ton and Elliott) nearly won his theatre in his two weeks' engagement there. Tichy is well liked, and an artist is certain of 0 fine engagement in staid old Prague. The most scientific manager I ever me; was Walkofsky, a well known Russian manager, who it is said had the first real Music Hall in Moscow. He engaged me for three months, gave me a marvellous <<>nhart, a champagne supper on signing it, and left for St. Petersburg to com plete arrangements for my engagement. That was four years ago, and I am still waiting to hear from him. I took the matter to the courts, and found out that in his old age he had become feeble minded, was running a milk shop, and whenever he had a flush of his old-time managerial blood run through his veins he would en- gage artists for vast amounts and then forget all about the contract. He even paid $250 to the Russian tax collector to bind my contract. I still have it beauti- fully decorated with all kinds of stamps conservative, but will book any act for any amount. They all take trips to the Continent to look for material, and in this way they book up the entire season. Women agents are the rule in Russia-% Madame Raschonin in Moscow and also Madame Olga are the real booking agents. The two principal men agents are Mons. Reutter in St. Petersburg, and Mons. Harry, Moscow. As a rule the representative manager is well paid, but the managers in Great Britain (by managers in Great Britain I only allude to those engaged in the Eng- lish provinces), are, with few exceptions, dress suit errand boys. They have no more power to run their theatres than I have to run the 20th Century Limited. They are not well paid, and I think the provincial managers who draw more than $25 weekly can be counted on your two hands. Some I have met are good fellows. LUIGI-PICARO TRIO. The above picture represents the famous Lulgl- Tlcaro Trio, sensational acrobats, who have earned a standard reputation by their clever work. W. Plcaro, the head of the act, was the first to perform bead-to-head balancing upon a revolving globe, ten years ago, being then top- mounter for the famous Onrl Trio. He also originated many other difficult feats upon a globe. They are now playing the leading vaudeville .i.'fuww -*rd-. kt*#- % R<y*-_.-..-?.* in •p?offl"?"tlcn for next season. Something novel and sensational in the acrobatic line. their coutracts, ergo, "The manage- ment has the right to cancel this contract after witnessing the above act on the stage of the Wintergarten, Ber- lin, during month of October," or what- ever month the act may be booked for. In this way I booked two years' work, and had I not done so it would have meant thousands of marks in my pockets. An act is foolish to allow this clause to be inserted in his contract, for if you are a hit, you can get any salary you ask for as long as it is within reason, but with that threatening clause you are positively not booked. Kurt/., the juggler, received a blow be- low the belt from German managers, and has had a lawsuit on which he has spent many a good dollar and squandered many a peaceful hour. I think he will fight that battle as long as he DM breath in hi* (Continued on f>agc 87.) The above is a scene In "THE WJLDFLOWER," ■r A novel and original Intlinn sketch, by Aaron Hoffman. Presented by ARTHUR BEAUVAIS AND CO., Featuring Teresa Maridor as "Wanda." jmd Including Dan Moyles. Copyright Class D, XXC, No. 7202. ESTELLE WORDETTK. Kstelle Wordette and Company are certainly fortunate, in that they cannot accept all the work offered. They intend only to play in and around New York for the balance of the season, preferring the white lights of Broadway and till the comforts of home to the grandeur of "the wilds." "A Honeymoon in the Catskllls" will next sea- son be reconstructed into a corking three-act comedy and play the light houses, that Is, If Harry Seamon keeps his word. as a souvenir of my best Russian contract. In Moscow Manager Sudakoff, who owns the Establishment Yard, charges no admission to his patrons, but makes his money on the amount spent on meals. Can you imagine a steady customer coming in, who, if he likes the performance, will eat strawberries in mid-winter, which shows he thinks the show is good. When an act is bad, that is the headliner, the eating does not amount to as much as when the program is up to a good stand- ard. In Kussia the guests like to show their approval by inviting the artists (gen- erally the women) to dine with them. In this way some of the acts get four or five meals paid for, and the waiter will bring the same meal to the artiste several times, handing her a check calling for a real meal any time. The manager of the Aquarium in Mos- cow is the best in Russia to-day. He is and some are but there are exceptions in all cases. The managers of Holland are all in one class, with the exception of Herr Oscar Carre, and his manager, Fritz Van Haar- lem, who has charge of the circus in Amsterdam. Few acts receive a big salary. When in act plays Hague, Schevenin, Rotterdam or any of the minor places, you can easily deduce how much salary they are drawing. The only chance an artist has of drawing a fair compensation is to enter the coun- try with a traveling circus. Herr IMere Althoff once in a while brings in a high salaried act. It may not be known but the Winter- garten in Berlin is really the fashion plate for all foreign acts. When an act is booked at the Wintergarten, and managers hear of it, they will book it themselves, but will put this proviso in all MURPHY AND McGEE. Frank Murphy and Jack B. Magee are the members of a partnership well known In the varieties. They form rather an odd combination for the burlesques in which the act is now play- ing as principal comedians with H. W. and Sim Williams' "Ideals." Both are capital comedians, and disregarding this valued attribute, possess originality, besides which they are ambitious. Each season brings forth something new from Murphy and Magee. This year it is a clever idea of a "sidewalk conversation," given In "one," and called "The Floorwalker and the Customer." Mr. Murphy Is the gentleman pictured above in the garb of an Hibernian; Mr. Magee, the "straight" man of the act, dressed in modish street clothes. Murphy and Magee are a credit to the bur- lesque stage; they do much more for that form of entertainment than burlesque does for them.