Variety (February 1908)

10 VARIETY Ix)ndon, Jan. 18. Tlio new music liall octopus has "died a-borninV' and seems to have been a bad case of Fleet Street journalistic imagina- tion. The triple-owned music hall circuit givin«^ a year's work first loomed up in the dailies. Later came denials. Barras- ford said his holdings were too good to let anybody in on them, while DeFrece and Gibbons disavowed any arrange- ments. Macnaghten kept out of print. There is no doubt the matter has at least been thought of, but we must take the word of the principals that no clinch- ing arrangements have been made. -; II. H. Marks is over here from America, trying to steal a march on B. F. K. by installing the non-stopping vaudeville idea at the Tivoli Music Hall on Lime Street, in the heart of Liverpool In ap- plying for license Marks said the ventila- tion would be on the very latest Ameri- can ideas, and everything would be up to date. When the alert bench objected that a "penny peep" show seemed to be the object, Marks counter-cut on the Olympia, Hippodrome and other preten- tious halls, saying his lowest admission would be the same as theirs, "tuppence" (four cents). The question of crowds on the street was next considered, though it is well known that a continuous show often clears the street instead of crowd- ing it, and has only one preliminary queue. But the head constable said they had had no experience with shows of this kind, and anything new quite disconcerts an Englishman. The knightly Sir Thomas Hughes rather threw a wet blan- ket on the stopless show, saying he did not think they should experiment in mak- ing the Tivoli a financial success. Of course it was Marks who was to do the experimenting and run the financial risk, but such wild departure from things Eng- lish grated on conservative nerves. In the finish Marks was told the bench could not see their way to grant him a license that day, at any rate. The Tivoli is a new and bright little hall, upholstered in Rose du Barry plush and neat to look upon, whi'e its location is the best in Liverpool lor the experiment. It has not done much "hitherto here before," though listed on the DeFrece tour, as the larger halls all around it put on iifore preten- tious bills. We think the Marks venture would pay, but he must be patient and bide his time. Nelson Lingard, representing John W. Vogel's minstrels, has been here trying to make arrangements for next year, when the Anglo-French exposition and Olympic Games will draw the moneyed strangers to our gates. At Liverpool Broadhead expects, to open hia twelfth establishment, the Lodge Lane Pavilion, about the last of Febru- ary. It will seat about 3,000 people. All Broadhead's halls are splendidly con- structed, showing much original thought and care. the queer populace is "agin" music halls, and there is much opposition to the Stoll move, while local capitalists do not sub- scribe. At Sheilield Barrasford has had permission to abolish the curious right of way tunnel through the rear of the. build- ing right behind the auditorium, which had heretofore legal standing, and was guarded night and day by a policeman.— At Tonypand Hippodrome (Wales) a boy got $25 at law for being hit in the head by a falling stove, while the Shakespeare Theatre, London, paid $125 to a suing patron hit in the head by a gallery check box which thoughtlessly fell off the win- dow sill.—In England the theatres keep turning music halls, while dramatic actor<>, from "hams" to Hamlets (more of the former than the latter), keep turning music hall artistes. The Palace show is getting rather stilted with these knights of sock and buskin, but for people who like that kind of a thing no doubt it's about the kind of a thing they would like. Stoll is dividing his halls into first, sec- ond and third class, like English railway cars, and grading salaries accordingly. Reductions scale from 20 to 50 per cent., but railways and landladies do not re- duce in proportion. Bradford, with 280,000, is ranked as "medium," which would be all right if it referred to the amount of applause you get, since Brad- ford keeps its heart on ice. The artistic theory is that "the laborer is worthy of his hire" (Good Book) and that a diamond or a pot of jam will cost as much in a little town as a big one. Hence the artist should have standard value and not be "conned" everlastingly by that well-worn insinuation, "The house is small, but we have a fine orchestra and you will have a good time." The Barnsley disaster, sixteen children trampled to death in a mix-up going con- trary ways on stairs, recalls the awful affair at Sunderland twenty-five years ago, when a vast horde of children rush- ing down stairs to receive a conjurer's presents, was stopped by a swinging door closed for single passage ticket collecting, and ICG children, mostly from five to twelve years of age, were trampled to death and suffocated. Regarding the matter of agent's com- mission, a strong V. A. F. committee now lias the matter in charge. Something will be done. Meantime Tom Pacey, a well-known agent, declares in this week's "Performer" that he is and always has been in favor of doing away with the re- turn engagement clause. He says it would be as fair for one as another, and would make free trade, so that what an agent lost on the swings he would gain on the roundabouts. ; At Preston, a large town where Broad- head got the sole music hall after a hard fight, Stoll is now trying to edge in, but WORLD TOUR PROFITABLE. Charles J. Carter, the magician, is re- ported to be doing well in his long tour around the world. The company opened in Brisbane, Australia, Dec. 22, and played to $800 on one performance. Abigail Price and Allen Shaw are members of his company. CHICAGO'S FIREPROOFING RULES. The fireproofing "hold-up" continues in Chicago, according to an act which re- turned from that city a few daya ago. This act carried certificates from one of the standard fireproofing firms in New York, but when it reached Chicago the representatives of the fire department sub- jected the scenery to a "blow-pipe" test that could have been depended upon to nielt a Harveyized steel plate. Two holes were blown in the scenery, and the fire- man declared that the fireproofing opera- tion would have to be done. There were 1,200 yards of canvas to be treated. The price was 10 cents a yard. The same firm which had done the original fireproofing was called in in place of the one indicated by the department official, and the work was done for the cost of the solution. ihe local department will accept no solution except that manufactured by a local concern, and this must be pur- chased at a cost of 50 cents a gallon. It is claimed Ihat it contains blue vitriol and is warranted to shorten the life of a set by half. There is, however, no escape from the exaction of the city rule, as interpreted by the zealous firemen. BAD MATINEES IN ST. LOUIS. St. Louis, Jan. 30. The matinees at the Columbia, the Mid- dleton & Tate house, are poorly attended, even with the discontinuance of "Ad- vanced Vaudeville" at the Garrick. A penurious policy prevents proper bill- ing of the show, and though artists offer to supply their own paper, the manage- ment gives no attention. The Columbia is back again to its man- ner of running ten years ago. It has a lot of stock lithos in the bill room, and when an act arrives that can be fitted to one of the old three-sheets, it is underlined and placed outside the theatre. The "deal" for Hopkins', Louisville, was closed here the early part of the week. H. M. Ziegler came on with an attorney. A CRITICS' CLUB. Hartford, Jan. 30. Hartford has the "bug." It's forming a "Vaudeville Critics' Club." Several local young men are to attend Poll's in a body each week hereafter. After the show there will be a beer-sandwich ban- quet, when debate will occur upon the best policy to "handle'' the show just seen. It is for the education of the public. If the club is successful in its object it is going over to Bridgeport one night weekly and try to instill intellectual ideas into the denizens of Poll's gallery there. The "critics" who have organized are Geo. E. Cox, William F. Taylor, F. Ij. McGee, H. A. Little, James J. Hogan and Martin W. Morron. "CASEY'S PRODUCTIONS" COMING. The Ernest Cadle agency in London has written a New York agent asking that "Casey's Court Productions" be booked on this side for a run. The act has been appearing in London for 231 weeks. It is a series of bur- lesqued and travestied sketches, wherein id shown an urchin's conception of many topical events. HAVILAND LEAVES MUSIC COMBINE. F. B. Haviland & Co. is no longer con- , nected with the American Music Stores Company, the combination of music pub- lishers formed to combat its rival, the United Music Stores. One of the reasons for the Haviland firm withdrawing is reported to have been the poor (financial showing made by the American. It has stores in different parts of the country where the publishers' music is retailed, but the returns have not made a profitable showing. Four of the original promoters of the * American still remain: F. A. Mills, I^o Feist, Witmark & Sons and Charles K. Harris. . BOSTON'S ACTIVE PRESS AGENT. ;^! Boston, Jan. 30. That boy Larson at the Orpheum who conjures up "publicity" schemes is clinch- ing his job through the amount of space the Boston papers are giving to his en- deavors. This week he had one of The Zanettos, Japanese jugglers, stand at the bottom of the Bunker Hill Monument while a turnip was thrown off the top. The monument is a big piece of work, and when the Zanetto fellow caught the vegetable on a fork held in his mouth the newspaper men unanimously agreed it "was the goods," and they "fell" heavily. LYRIC CIRCUIT GROWING. New Orleans, Jan. 30. C. E. Hodkins, president and general manager of the Lyric C!ircuit of cheap vaudeville theatres, passed through this city en route to Texas. To a Variety representative Mr. Hodkins said: "We are going to prove an important factor in the vaudeville world before long. We now control twenty-eight theatres, and expect to add twelve more by April 1. Five acts and pictures constitute our usual bill, with one matinee and two performances at night." ' FEIBER STILL AN AGENT. "I'm still an agent," said H. H. Feiber, one of the United foreign representatives this week. "Vakiety reaching Europe with an account of my having taken over the Perth Amboy theatre, the general im- pression on the other side is that I have given up the agency business. ? "The foreign dramatic papers have copied the item, and I have received sev- eral letters from foreign artists. Kindly correct the impression I am out of the agency business. I am not. This mana- gerial end is just a side line." EXPECTS A LOVELY VISITOR. Atlantic CJity, Jan. 30. Advanced information has been received that Atlantic City will be favored to-day by the presence of Marie V. Fitzgerahl, the charming and attractive female press agent for the Williams' vaudeville circuit. ' Atlantic City has heard of Miss F'itz- gerald, and it is waiting. She will re- main until Sunday. While here, even the ocean has promised to behave. Dancing Davey and Annie Moore, billed as "the miniature cowboy girl," were married in Spokane, Wash., on Christmas Day. They will hereafter work as a team in vaudeville.