Variety (Aug 1932)

Tuesday, Augusl 9,' 1932 ]f;4 ail E V I LLE VARIETY 2i3 RKO OUTRANKED FOR VAUDE Air Back on Air "When the "RKO Theatre of the 'Air' returns to its Friday evening plche on NBC, starting Sept. 30, Graham McNamee will be the m. c. Framing of^ the program will be in <pharge of the network's production iptafC although an BKO exec will be fussighed to .cooperate with the chain's producers. Theatre circuit's session was sud- denly pulled off the ether when Martin Beck stepped In. Shortly after M. H. Aylesworth took over ^he. RKO reins the program was ordered back as early as considered timely in the fall. Number of the circuit's chief execs had opposed the broadcast ballyhoo from the start, holding that the loudspeaker attraction kept the set owner from attending the theatre that evening. It didn't take much argument for Beck to yield to their point of view. ReschedTiUng of the program is •In line with the Aylesworth policy and contention. that radio and the screen and theatre can be made to cooperate to mutual advantage. Chicago, Aug. 8. The RKO local ether program, which was suspended during the summier, will be resimied over .WE^Nft on Wednesday evenings at 8 p. m. It's a, local hoqkup with the Palace and. State lAke theatres, with acts from these spots being used over this hour. Although the hour looks an ap- parent' conflict with ' the best the- atre hours, there was no objection from RKO.. RKO Adds OH $U00 Wkly. for Kate Smhli [ Broadcast Wire Charge High wire charges Involved ne- cessitating the shifting of broad- casts origins is no obstacle towards vaude booking of top notch radio people. The average cost of a wire shift when a radio turn shoves out of New York for a stage booking, eo that his broadcasting can go oh, j-uns to'over Jl.OOO per town. iCKO' In ^taking care of this in the 20 weeks out-of-iown for Kate Smith.. JLiatter's New York salary (currently at. the Palace on a hold- 'over) Is $5,000 per. .Going to Boston next week, she tilts to $6,200, of -which the $1,200 Is for her CBS .Wire charges. Elsewliere, out-of-town, however, RKO Is figuring an arrangement Whereby Miss Smith will pay her own wire charges, with her salary fixed at $C,000. CANADA DRY ACT Benny, Olsen's Band, Ethel Shutta, Frey Fop RKO Canada Dry program la being readied for a route over the RKO circuit. Vaude routine is now in process of being- framed between George Olsch and Jack Benny, with special gag material also being au- thored for the act. Ethel Shutta and Fran Frey are set for the warb- ling assignments exclusively, while se'verar stooges may be added to bolster ihj comedy. Initial date for the act when ready to uhvell before,the footlights will be the iPalace. PennerV F&M Tab Joe Penner cancelled Trenton, Boston and Albany for RKO to hop out Saturday (6) to the coast for Fanchon & Marco's tab 'Follow Thru.' His vaude partner. Max ilofCman, Jr., Isn't going Into the same unit, but plans to hit the Coast a fortnight later. Olive Olscn left earlier in the Week to Join the same F&M unit. 6th Floor Congestion ■ Agents' 'cut' having proved futile, since there are now more agents on the floor than formerly, the RKO booking of- ; flee Is figuring out other ways to depopulate the exchange. Latest is a one-man rule for the half-dozen bootblacks who shine the agents and bookers' shoes, with no more than one permitted on the floor-at a time. N^xt week birth control. RKO CONSIDERS ASH AS cm COMEBACK M.C. Chicago, Aug. 8. Paul Ash Is being considered as permanent m.c. at the. Palace. If assigned Ash will follow the pres- ent rotating band policy. - Chi 1» Ash's former, stamping ground with RKO moguls holding that the Palace can be revived for big b.o. with Ash as a personality m.c. similar to past performances in local show biz. F.&M.'S!IO Beraie-Downey at Cap^ Then Dowling-Dooley-Coots 'Skyscraper Souls,' holding over at thp Capitol, New York, will have $10,600 worth of acts added on for the. second week when Ben Bernie at $6,600 succeeds Abe Lyman and Morton Downey cones in at $4,000. Downey was to ha-ve topped the current week but his flu attack forced cancellation. Zelaya drops out,, but Milton Berle continues m.c'lng. V Show to follow Includes £ddie Dowling and Ray Dooley plus J. Fred Coots, songwriter-pianist ac- companying them. NBC SETS 2 3 Blue Spades and Harriet Leo In Stage Debuts Three Blue Spades, harmony team slated for an NBC build-up, have been Included in the Para- mount, New York, bill for the week starting this Friday (12). it's the first deluxe date for the trio, hav- ing recently been discovered and picked up by Harry Lenetska on a Philadelphia outlet. Warbling threesome go sustain- ing on a four-nlghts-a-week sched- ule starting next Monday (16). Net- work execs have Instructed the NBC press department to give them the concentrated ballyhoo. Trio has been auditioned for Lucky Strike. Harriet Lee and Boy Friendis, NBC sustaining feature, makes Its stage debut at Loew's Metropolitan, Brooklyn, Aug. 26. Further routing Is dependent upon the show date. Couple of Radio Acts For Balto. Vaude Hipp Baltimore, Aug. 8. Two radio turns are on the books to headline In succession at the Hippodrome, town's only, and indie, vaude spot. On Aug. 12 come the Funnyboners while the week fol- lowing brings In Don Redman's or- chestra., House has been particularly suc- cessful with colored radio-plugged bands. Both ^ incoming acts are known here ' through the ether waves, having local chain outlets. HABBIS' MOTHER SUICIDES San Francisco, Aug. 8. Mrs. Clara Bush, mother of Sam Harris, committed suicide here Aug. 2. • Harris was formerly of Ackerma,n & Harris. ED) ACT FOS BERLIN Geraldiiie and Joe, American kid act, opens Sept. 1, at the Scala, Berlin.. -. They sailed with their parents Saturday (6), on the Lafayette. Vet Vaude Circuit Di8t>laced for Leadersliip •—^ Loew's 25 Weeks for 1932/33 Equals RKO — Other Chains May Ditto—RKO Salaries Aliinost Down to Independent Level tOEW-F&M TALK Embarrassing Decorah, la., Aug. 8. . Hazel Blann, and C. J. Brooks; with the Creat White Way shows, are sitting out $25 fines in the county jail after haying jumped board bills. The dub, two of flve, were habbeid at Wayerly and brought back here for having skipped after running jp a bill while the show was spotted here. In the case of the girl, she was taken' olf the stake while doing a shot illusioh trick with , a bullet proof vest on, Sheriff Graf has requested the return of the props worn by the girl, including the vest. If the sheriff insists she may have to .leave town when her time is up a la Godlva. The 30-year reign of the Keith circuit and its successor, RKO/at the top of the yaudevijle heap is drawing to an abrupt close. For the iFirst time since the commencement of booking variety bills on a cir cuit basia, a season Will start with a new leader in the amount of play ing time.. ^ Not only will RKO be displaced in the leadership, but it is likely to start the '32-'33 season in third or fourth place. Fanchon & Marco has taken the leEad over the summer and slgnifles intentions of keeping it, while at least one other circuit booking ofllce, Loew's, is,, in a po- sition to do likewise. F. & M. is at present down to a summer minimum of 2t weeks, but Will start off with 60 weeks on or about Labor Day. Part o*. this tlnie will be three and a half weeks of RKO theatres which have con- tracted for the F. & M. units. RKO and Loew's 26 RKO will f^ommence with approx- imately 26 ^' weeks and Loew^'s ab|out the same. Warners and Paramount-Publix are both talking vaudeville without reaching set plans as yet, but either of the two, especially Warners, which had more than 20 .weekis on its vaudeville book last year, may pass RKO. Besides the loss of playing time (Continued on peige 47) CANTOR'S UNDERSTUDY FOR TABLOID 'WHOOPEE' NABE HOUSE'S mm SHOW Loew's Paradise, New York, will play a $15,000 vaudeville bill the week of Aug. 19, probably the niost expensive ever spotted In a neigh- borhood theatre. It's for flash pur- poses. House is in the Bronx. Bill will be set this week. Tes- terday (Monday) the probable name acts and , their salaries were Phil Baker at $4,600, Morton Downey at $4,000, Abe Ljrman's band at $3,500 and Hannah WUliams at $1,160. Lyman, Baker and Miss Williams were on a recent Capitol show to- gether, with Lou Holtz. SCHULTZ BACK AGAIN Agent's Thtve Months' Suspension Rescinded by RKO John Schultz of the Weeden & Schultz ofllce is back on the RKO booking floor, his three months' suspension having been lifted after two weeks by Martini Beck. Schultz was suspended when ac- cused of advising Frank Buck, who was booked direct at $750 for per- sonal appearances with his picture in the RKO houses,' that he (Ruck) needed an agent. Dempsey's 5 (or RKO Lbs Angeles, Aug. 8, Jack Dempsey will . play flve weeks for RKO opening at the Pal- ace, Chicago, Sept. 10. Palace, New York, follows. Weber-Slmon ofllce made the deal. Between now and opening, Demp- sey will barnstorm through, the northwest refereelng .flghts. Buddy Doyle who understudied Eddie Cantor In Ziegfeld's 'Whob pee' will play- the lead in Fanchon & Marco's tab version of the same show. He leaves for the Coast this week to start rehearsals. Cantor refused to get sick during the original 'Whoopee's' ' run, and Doyle collected $20,000 in salaries without looking at ah audience. Big-Tiine Vaude a On West Coast Opereftas as Second Half Of Radio City Programs Paris, Aug. 8. Just before he Sailed, Erno Rapee, who will be musical conductor of Radio City, stated that the music hall will feature condensed oper- ettas for the second half of ltd bills. These will be authoiled by the fore- most librettists and composers. Operettas will be put on once'a month, as li^ to be the policy for the entire show. ' CHAZ CHASE AN AlilGEL Bankrolling Fritz Bloeki's Play in Chicago Chicago, Aug. 8. Fritz . Blockl, formerly draniatlc editor of- the 'American,' left Thurs- day (4) for New York to cast his play, 'The World Between,' which is being bankrolled by Chaz Chase, vaudeville comic. Present plans are for a Chicago premiere about. Sept. 15, although Blockl wh{le In New York may arrange tb open the show at that point. . Piece, metaphysical in theme, ran for four weeks as a little theatre attraction at DePaul University, Chicago, last spring. Chase, on the road-wlth 'Vanities,' didn't see the little theatre effort, but put up the dough on strength of reports. David Itkin will stage. Los Angeles, Aug. 8. Passing of big-time vaude on the Coast Aug. 11, with the dropping of stage fare by RKO establishes a new low for all time for that type of entertainment In the Pacific re- gion. Not since tiie Orpheum cir- cuit was launched in ^an Fransisco has the Coast ever before gone totally 'dark' as regards big-time vaude. After this week there remains but five weeks of vaude tinie available between Canada and Mexico along the. Pacific 3lppe. . This cotnprJses a week in Seattle, for Fox-Weet Coast; full week stands at, the Downtown and Million Dblliar here, and a week at the iStrand, Long Beach. Two split weeks make up the balance. They consist of three four-day stands at the Hippodrome; downtown,' and the Dome, Ocenn Paric Only other vaude time available is half a dozen or so Saturday-Sun- day dates In nearby towns. Port- land, San Francisco, Oakland and San Diego rate no straight vaude houses, and any other spots are one or two night sporadic stands, where, salaries are paid In cakes. RKO units booked In the five Coast cities for the closing weel^ have been kept Intact, with the ex- ception of the Seattle flve-act unit, which retains only Benny Ross a:nd' Jack Gwinn. Other three act? were called back before reaching the Pa- cific slope. To flU the gap, Bern Bernard, RKO doast booker, sent three acts out of here. They In- clude Olga and Lester, Tommy Wonder and Sister and the Rahgpra, Influx of vatide talent Is looked for here, with many of the 22 acta making up the flve units on the closing week figuring for a try at pictures or some pickup booking locally, unless recalled by RKO New York booking office for other fill-in time. ■ Imimgration Law Keeps Reri Out of Toronto Detroit, Aug. 8. F. & M's 'Tahiti' unit will play Toronto without Reri, as the im- migration difllculties prevent her malclng the trip and return. She is in the U.S. on a temporary permit and under bond. If she leaves she cannot re-enter. Reri will rejoin the unit in Buf- falo for the rest of her route, which ciids in December. Pance Team Producing Fowler aiid Tamara are produc- ing dance acts for vaude. Team hasn't retired profession- ally, but .Is sending out protege talent oh the §Id'e. , CITRON LOSES COHHISH Herman Citron's claim for com- mlsh on Fanchon & Marco's routing of. the Buster Shaver midget act was dented by F. & M. Mark Leddy booked the act and la entitled to the commish, F. & M. ruled. NBC ROUTES ACT SANS PREUHINARY BUILD-UP Before even giving the boys 9, crack at a local or network build- up, the NBC Artists Service booked a singing act labelled The Radio Rogues into the RKO Prospect, Brooklyn, for a showing date.' Comedy, harmony quintet opens to- morrow (10) on a spilt week basis. • .Boys had been brought Into New York from an outlet affiliated with NBC, in line with the network's search for available vaude. talent. Chester Strattoh, NBC, listened to the boys and figured thein good enough as ah attraction to step out for the circuit without the necessity of a preliminary series of sessions on the air. Radio Rogues 'is the first act rated as worthy vaude material from many submitted or recommended by some 30 stations controlled or afllll- ated with NBC. Rube Wolf Closing San Francisco, Aug. 8. Rube Wolf closes as m, c. at the Warfleld here Aug. 12, after 12 weeks, . No one set to follow, with possi- bility house, with its spot-booked stiage showB. will discontinue the m. c, policy. Watkins in Providence Providence, Aug. 8. Harvey Watkins, former RKO booker, has become manager of the Albce (RKO) here. He succeeds William Dubach, Watkins was at the New York Hipp, Earle Belcla, formerly Skoura's, .succeeds Jack Hobby at the local RKO Victory.