Variety (March 1932)

Tuesday, March 1, 1932 L EG ITIMATE VARIETY 51 No-Ta|k Clause rsBennett In1>yrano'M i;x)a Angeles, Feb; 29. : ■ Bichara Beinnett .Veraiop, of 'Cy- lario' opened here tbnight (29), for cril/ two weeks, and will go store- bouse after that. Dlssatisfaction by • and with Richard Bennett fespon- flible. Star's, no-talk clause in his «ohtract, preYentiiig him from scor- ing audiences for their noh,-api>rer elation of; his efforts, has ha,d jen- ervating effect, according: to. word Irom San. Francisco. Kay Johnson, opposite Bennett, also irked, after her efforts to take a hand in direction of the play were frustrated. lieariwhile thie Waiter Hanipcleh ■ production' of the. same . play is blazoning In its ads: 'Walt for tho .criglnal-.production and star.' Hampden is in for a fortnight at the Biltmore, starting Mar. 7. He'll lay off week of Mar. 21, Holy Week, before opening at the; Columbia San Francisco. VANITIES' MOVE CAUSES JAM ON BUY DEPOSITS '.: Tii'e moving . of 'A'anlties': froni thie Earl. Ca;rroil to .the 44tii Street, which was indicated early last week after dispossess .proceedings were iBtarted, occurried Saturday night, it had been rumored that the rent squabble between Carroll apd the landlords might be squared during the week, i>ut no move in that di- rection was'macle. . Also expected tHat the reyue pro- ducer would, be back ir the Carroll before the ettd of the season. Talk of the house goiiig into grind pic- tures independently was discounted because of product scarcity. Pos- Blbillty of HKd taking over the Car-" toll and iiistalling the Hippodrome policy, also considered^ . Sixth save nue house said , to be on a week to week basis. Eight.'theatre. ticket agencies are In a quandary over money deposited with Carroll as a guarantee oh the last four weeks of a 32 weeks' buy on 'Vanities.' Something lijie W5,500 was .pald to Carroll when the show opened. The moving of tlie revue at the end of tlie 27th week auto inatically discontinued the buy. As the 44th Street is a Shubcrt-oper iB.ted theatre, the brokers are trying to find out if the money advanced to Carroll would apply on tickets originally contracted. The several larger agencies did not. have to make the advance payments, guar- anteeing the sale of a large block of tickets for th6 first eight weeivs in atead. Most of the agencies asseii't they took losses on the 'Vanities' buy. Agencies which paid the advance money to Carroll are Leo Kfewman, $3,800; Broadway, $3.0e0; Beckhart, $2,000; Equity. $1,600; Acme. $1,500; Warfleld. $1,600; Mackay, $1,00.0, and Alexander, $800.: Fame IiOS.Angfeleg, Feb. M. : A legit: producer ai-ound town is well- known in theatrical cir- cles . as a bouncer oi: bum chepkis,. When an actor got a check from him in payment for some Work he tddk.lt around to his butcher, in aft obSturei llt- tle suburb, saying: 'Here's a check I iwant cashed; but I thlnii It's rubber.' . . The butcher took one look at the signature arid yelled, "I know It Is!' . ALGONQUIN REVUE Say Parker, Behchley, : Taylor, Pembertbh On /Script . Members of the Algonquin iii- eracy tribe are supposed to be working on a revue. Dorothy Par- ker, Bob Bencbi^y, Deems Taylor and Murdock Pemberton are among these named. , Edward McNaniara; who played the cop in 'Strictly Dishonorable,' Is .mentioned as one cast" membei-. I'roductlon som'ce is unnamed. Three-Way Policy Burie.sque, flraniatid stock and vaudeville,, each Tflbpping at the Bronx Opera House in tiie past few «eason.<5, the theatrfe reopened Satur- day (27) with a combination of all thrive ;forms of entoctainmcnt. Joe Wright is the manager, and be calls his venture a 'Thre6-in- One-Show,' . Dr. Sirovftdi Cites 'Variety' Box Score In Anti-Cridic Move According to the New Tbrk 'Sun,' Dr. William I. SlrOvich (D.:j, Cotit etessmah, dramatist and surj^eori, charges New Tbrit's dramatic crlticB with the ruin of th0 Broadway ther atre. Dr. Sirovich, • whose own plays iiave been produced, on Broad- way before he became one. of the na- tion's, lawmakers, advocates a la.w that 'wbiild prevent newspaper jnen who have spent their lives covering prize fights from being e,lev.ated to the posts of dramatic .critics.' . . 'I have just been toid that on a New York evening paper there, is a man by the name.'of Suliivari who formerly was a prizeTflght reporter and is now a dramatic critic.: . . . 'I do not suggest that these crit ics are open to bribery. They, just don't know anything about whethier a play will, be good or bad. I am going to s;et the batting averages of the critics, as compiled by tljat great paper called Variety and :-put them in the recoi'd.' . GEO. Ii/l. DUCKS B'WAY To Tour In Own Piece But Retire For N. Y, Date When and If ■ George M. Cohan^s newest play, VCorifldential Service,' comes into New York, Cohan will not be, in the cast, it'll , be a 'by and with' thing on the road, how r ever. ■ . Piece .is sched uled to go into Tie- hearsal " todaly (1) for dpenlng Easter weeit. Proposal Is to keep it moving on the road as long as possible, and then—If It clicks—re- cast the main part for Broadway. Piay opens in Newark; March 2S and. will be taken to weiek stands this season, but New Torli; not until next. : ■■' ■ Cohfin is acting In Jils new. one, but'onie.reason for the iiold off until after the summer oii a . Broadway date is his desire to get Walter Huston for the lead Cohan is now filling.- Huston, unobtainable now, but may be in a few months. Sam Forriest, :as usual, staging, with.. Elsie LawsOn, Selena Royle and Chas. Trowbridge cast. United Cigar Stores May Sell Cut-Rate Tickets To Aid Own Theatres WERBA LINKS UP A NEW SUBWAY CIRCUIT CHAIN MOSS HABT ACROSS Mo.ss llart is. going to Paris and the Riviera on the II© de France March 4. Plans to do his next play writing jnder . the inspiration of the Cote « Azur, Reconstruction of the New .York subway circuit, on a different basis, Is being worked out by. Louis Werba. Main difference In Werba's new operation is that , tlie houses will: be .'further.'.away from .the metropolitan center. : .,- First step taken by Werba is in getting the . Boulevard, Jackson Heights, back into , .the • Buijway route, with this house the only, one of tiie previous suburban layout to be a cog. In'the new works,; open- ing March 14, Theatre previously showed a profit when Brandts opcr rated it together with the Windsor, Bronx and Carlton. Brooklyn. Other new spots in the new sub- way route Avill. probably; include Mount Verhori, N. Y. and; Long Eteach, L. I. Latter has the Castle which is 'set .for summer tryouts with Werba booking. Werba also books the Majestic,. Brooklyn for E. D. Stair and the Playhouse, Great Neck for Skouras. Boulevard, a Skouras property, had. stock for. slightly more than a weiek, but closed abruptly Wed- nesday (24), Werba's arrangement- with; Skouras is on percentage. Werba was general manager for Brandts when they operated the subway time, before which he had that circuit himself. French Revue Maybe For World Fair Biz Chicago, Feb. 29. Local group of promoter^ are talking about importing an edition of the Folies Bergere for a run dur- ing the World's'' Fair next year.. Management of the Civic Audito- rium, seating around 5,000 and; lo- cated in the lower end of the Loop, has already been approached with an inquiry on the rental phase. of the proposition. GRACE MOORE'S GUARANTEES . Grace Moore, operatic spprahb, is reported drawing $2,500 for her ra- dio appearances on the General Electric program. ailss Moore;, who. also sings: with the Metropolitan Opera, has a con- cert Itinerary said to call for guar- antees; ranging from $1,250 to" $2,000. Aborh Go's Tour Milton Aborn's Civic opera troupe starts its tour March 7 at the. Ma- jestic, Brooklyn. First show either The Mikado* or 'Merry Widow.' Company on Broad-; way about a year. United Cigar Company Is now op- erating the Mansfield theatre. New York, and before the end of the sea- son, piay have three other Broad- way houses under its direction. Th«. M.ajestlc, Rpyale and Masque arie the others. The trio was part of the original; site, including the Lincoln hotel, which United also owns and operates. . All four houses were built by the Chanlns. .Latter thrce were sold by the brothers to the Shubert Go. Lat- ter ; In receivership turned the houses back recently, .stating there were no funds to pay $80,000 in back taxes and mortgage Interest. The Majestic, Royale and Masque are also In a receivership that may be dissolved. It seems to be a question of who is to assume the $80,000 loss. ;1. ■ S. W. Straus, holder of a block of bonds on- the three theatres, id the other principal concerned. The Mansfield went to United when the New York Title and Trust Co. with- drew,' Object of United Cigars lis to op- erate the theatres for two or; more years; until such time. as realty values will have become more stabilized. ' W^ith United In show business, it may also bring the chain store peo- ple into the ticket field. It was pointed out that the United could help its theatres by selling tickets In its stores at out rates, if and when necessary. Idea was consid- ered some time a^o, but rejected then by the directors on thie grounds that , there was but one clerk on duty in the stores, save in the mid^ town district and a few other spots. Shubert M Is Fbreed on Block; in Comoration's Cigar as Salary Something like • 250 wires to : A.r Woods lightonctf^the pre- miere of 'Inside Story' at the. National last . weefc. Show is ■Woods' boinoback .bid to the dmma.' Players of i-eputatioh , are said to; have offered their serv- ices to the man.iger for the show, he to name the salary. Equity checked up on salaries^, to verify the protective phase and; when . the . repi-esentative.' asked one player what his salary was .the answer Was 'I' get a Corona cigar every night, and th'afs all I want.' Business after the opening was considerably under ex- pectations. The veteran pro- ' ducer, recently forced into re- ceivership through realty and stock losses, accounted for the light trade by th? generally low attendance wave on Broadway the past two weeks. The in- dications are that Woods still knows how to take It. Director's OK Needed for Lupe on Zieggy's Show Addition of Lupe Velez to the cast of Zlegfeid 'Hot, Cha' rested not only upon permiasion of Columbia Pictures, but also'v.one of that firm's directors. Frank • Capra, Oddity came through Capra, in his contract with the film company, having the right to use' anyone ■ In his films whom. Columbia has under contract. SIcrech girl was ofilciaMy to have swung Into action with the musical coniedy troupe last night (Monday) in Pittsburgh, assuming the part previously played by Rcyva Reyes. Latter remains with the show in a minor assignment. Part, is being built up for Miss Velez . through added scenes and a soiig or two. It is her first Broadway show. ■ Roy Sedley Is also a cast addition. Yiddish B'way Revue Miislcal revue, along 'dhauve Sourls' lines but with Yiddish actors is being plotted for a possi- ble summer run. on Broadway'. Principals would be Ola Lillith, Willy . Godlck and Jo.seph Bulofl". currently appearing at the Second Avenue theatre. In Ylddl.sh mu- sicals. LllUth and Godick came here la.st Spring from Europe. They ap- peared In a series of concerts on Broadway, then joining th* Second Avenue company. GUILD'S GROUP BECOMES RIVAL OF ITS SPONSOR Group Theatre; ; logit firm first financed by. the Theatre Guild, but now tui-ned indepcriden*» will shortly bob up as opposition to the" Guild as a subscription organization. Group unit is now working to that end and e.xpects . to. announce its alms withi-h a fortnight. Group .subscription arrangement differs somewhat from the custom- ary system connection. Outfit Is bringing in 'Night Over Taos,' Max- well Anderson play, March 7 week at the 48th Street, N. Y., the piece now on tour. . Group started out doing 'House of Connelly'. which originally was bought by the Guild and which gave the offspring firm a good start. '1931'—second Group show—a fail- ure. Firm owns several plays for next season, one 'Donagoo Tonka" by Jules Remain now being ad$,pted by Gilbert' Seldes arid another on the fire being a play by :;SIdney Howard, who previously wrote for the Guild. Groiip headed by Cherryi Craw- ford, who was an assistant to the Guild nianager.ial board. Harold Clurman also with the (Group was a Guild play reader. Lee Strassbcrg, Group director, -was at one tlmie an assistant stager with: the parent or- ganization.- When the Group was. hooked up with the Guild there was no Equity bond needed, the Guild being oh Equity's exempt ll.st. Cast guaran- tees win now be. required fi'om the younger firm. ■ First indication of the Group split- ting from the Guild came when va- rious playwrights were queried as to plays. Identity of the outfit at that time was unknown. Group now has separate ijfflces. No'single sue- , cesser named for Miss Crawford's former, position with, the Guild. COAST OPERA'S IDEA ON SINGERS'SALARIES Lo.s Ai^geles, Feb. 29. Tentative dpoi-a conipany . I sted sal.arics proposed in'applying, for co- .opcrat,es from, the m.uslclans' union are as follo.xvs: Experienced chorus people,.:, .... $6 Inexperienced chorus people..... 3 Maestro ......., ;... 75,- Assistant maestro............... 75 Tenors, baritones, and mezzos. . 60 Bassos ;... V... . /.. ......, 35; (Rates apply to single perform- ahciffl.) 'HOTEL'S' L. A. REPEAT ... Los Angeles, Fob. 29. , !.F(:)il<Avin.g' .ilH run in San ..Fran- cisco arid 'the n(jrthWje.st,'Bt-la.jco, & Curran expect to bring 'fJrand Hot'jl' back to the Beln.sco. hore for a return f^ngagement. Show got a lO-woek i-un hf?rp, closing Saturday night to opfn to- night at the Geary,..San Kijinc-isco. Breakjh for ;'First, jlrs. Fraser' will bo at thp Havo.v, Kan Dlr-go. Marclr and .'i, th(Mi jumps to Ih'' Currfin; .S^ F., .Mnrch 7. Pittsburgh, Feb. 29. Pitt theafri?, owiied by the Shu- berts, will be sold by'the sheriff on March 7. . Forced sale will go to -satisfy a mortgage and intierest amounting to $419,085. : - The house has not been used for legit .attractions for several seasons. Stock was the last policy tried, but Pitt has been dark since last May. Shuberts have been playing their attractions at the Alvin under a pooling arrangement with ithe War- ner' interests. George Jaffe sought to buy the Pitt some time ago for burlesque, offering $475,000. peal fell through because Shuberts held otit for $650,- 000. ' . The Pitt theatre was on the Shu- bert statement as having a book value of. $773,34i. The annual In- terest on a $400,000 mortgage wa« 523,850. The receivers refused to pay the carrying charges since they had no attractions for the house. Same operation as that which concerned the Majestic,'Royale and Masque in New. York, the receivers turning back the trio to the first mortgagee. Shubert receivership procedure is this.: "The l^vlpg Trust, repre-. sented by Charles Fisk and Lee Shubert, thie co-receiver will file a report with Federal Judge Caffey March 15, Since the business has not and can scarcely do better than; break even or slightly better, the . report will of necessity state that the receivers cannot pay off. The court will .then likely order the creditors to assemble 10 diays after the report is filed and at that time, a decision must be reached. The peridd of the original re- ceivership was extended to June 2,> but the court may order termina- tion or liquidation prior to that date. To prevent liqtildatloh the Shuberts would have to arrange a reorganization plan acceptable to . the bondholders and creditors. That a further extension of the receiver- ship will be granted Is Improbable, since. It Is likely the business would run into the red on operation dur- ing the three dull summer months. Further, the court rarely counten- ances long receiverships. Leases Thrown Back Not In the corporation are thea- tres with which they would operate. ; should the icorporation's houses go to other hands. The. theatres are the Shubert,: Rroadhurst, Plymouth, Booth and 44th Street.. Interested with Lee: and J, J. Shubert are Sam- uel Untermyier and the estate of An- drew Freedman, which Untermyer represents and which apparently gives hlnl control. Wlnthrop Ames owns 60% of the Booth. Added are theatres owned by the brothers and formerly leased to the corporation. Leases on such houses as the Ritz, . Ambassador, 49th Street and Cbrt were disaffirmed by the' receivers and dumped back on the Shuberts. Latter houses have been big losers in the past several years. The 44th Street lease was also; disaffirmed, but .ks being operated under a tem- porary lease. Early In the week there was but one show owned by the corporation playing Broadway, 'Cynara.' An- other comCs In Thursday, and nexit week most of the corporation-owned theatres here will have attractions. There' are half ;a :d02eh corporation- owned'sho'ws out of town,' , . If the corporation Is liquidated and houses here and in other cities are di.sposcd iof to other hand.s, the question of continuing the Shu"jcrt booking office wlli arise. An inde- pendent exchange Is a pos.slbillty. V- Wiman's Musical . Dwiglit Wlinan office is how busy on an elaboratCr musical to be pro- duced about , the etid of April co- starring Gertrude l.,awrcnc.e and Jack Buchanan, British stars. Je.ssle . Mathc:w.s, also English, le under.stood llkcwi.se to be included in the cast, details of which are being kopt quiet by Wiman. ^yiman dui-lng the past week I)ractioally concluded a deal—'names to bo mentioned only after slgnine of the complete fcontractural de- tail.s'—for ah English production. «^ 'The A'inogfir Tree,', ■,,:'