Variety (Sep 1933)

Tuesday, Sejitember 19, 1933 "I" AODE VILLC VARIETY 41 OUSTS MRS. MURPHY ,000 Guarantee, Pet SpEt (or Jokon-KeeleF-Whiteman at Capitol! Al Joleqn; RuVy keeler and iPaiil "Whitenvan's band as a stage com- bination .wiU get a $26,000 guaran- tee plus a p6r<:enta,ge split.for.a! w^ek at the OapitdV New York. Tentative dat^ is Oct. 6, pending answer oh a reqtfest to the Paradise restaurant to pbistpone .Whiteinan's _OBeati*iLjhere» scheduled f or Oct. 8. The $2B,0o6 guarantee on a dear > woi-lied out for Ih^ threeisbrt:* by the William Morris office will stand against a TO-'50 split with ^the house over a gross of $70,000. The Capi- tol's recent business average , has •been around $50,000 or $20,000 iinder the',Show's; percentage flgiire, but at^ preflent* scale it's possible for the' .house to better $100,000. Likelihood is that the Capitol yfrill go on a five- show daily basis all week to ffcoiirage isuch a groiss. The $25,000 guarantee is the larg- est ever mdde in a picture, or vaude house' booking. Jplson also; holds the preyiouB record high of $20,000, -which he drew at the Capitol three years ago as a sihgle. Thip time it's uhaerstood to be figured 6n a basis of $20,000 for keieler and Jolsoh and $5,000 for the 'Whlteman band; with chances all will draw down con- siderably more percentage split. PUHy, Boston Waitf Dirt Is Acts'Reply to Midwest Bliishes Chicago, Sept. 18. Vaude , bopkers , a.nd managers in the midwest want to know; what's the matter with Philadelphia; and Boston. They, must be the. two roost honky-tonk towns in the World, ac- cording to ideas spread around by the acts coming out'of that section. Whenever a X>obker., Pr manager squawks about the off-color Jlnes and business in a turn,, the act's ireply is tha,t they ate It up in Philly or-Boston. .They never mention New York or Baltimore or Pitts- burgh or tVashihgton, just the Quaker burg and B6antown. There has been much criticism •mong vaude bookers and- hotises in the midwest about offside material In "acts coming through. Especially dbfes it get "under the skin of the Vaude ni^n when so many standard acts who have done, clean cut turns in .( the past come through with messed up routines. In most pases It's not a question of the vaudef' boys here going Miss Purity. Acts admit that they're dirtying it up. Maybe the midwest is a couple of years behind the cast. But what- ..ever it Is the midwest vaudemeii are doing plenty of yelling about the raw material on the actis coming through. It appears that the radio sapolio influence ..lis 'making midwest. audi ences consPlous of the' blue stuff on the stage following the pure white material 6n. the .ethers From Milfpn ta Aimee Eddie Miller is doing straight for Milton Berle for his cur- rent State appearance:" Next Week Millar goes Up and across the street to the Capitol. tP straight for Aimee —^^fePheFso^H——--4-^ imee's Share NVA Investigator's Recom- mendations to N.Y. Dep't of Social Welfare —Ad- vises Committee of Three to Write and Enforce Rules^No Blanket Pun- ishment for Indi^dual In^ fractions r [Salaries Back to Par for Acts In Demand; Standards Getting Own Prices; 'Names' Mostly on Percent 8-Hour Larceny Day Charlie Williams is cirganiz- ing the gag men for a code. Only provision "will -•afea-irist-stealing jnaterlal .pver eight hours a, dayi. , Claims the, gag lifters, are now ing on a 24-ho.tir' schedule. Small Despite fler Fast Otiel DR. AS NEW HEAD Morales' Pooches Left Oot in Property Sale Syracuse, Sept. 18. O. t,. Smith, of Utica, wanted to buy a twck, but he had to purchase l6 dogs, in order to .gain its posise.s- sion. Truck and canines were the prop- erty of Sanchos Morales, circus, and vaudeville dog trainier, committed to Wlllard State hbspitfvl .following a nervPus breakdown while motorin.i,' through this Section last June. Since t hat time:the -.dP R's Jhad 3:feen . £fV]['£'? for at the Syracuse S,P,C.A., "giv- ing that institution a problem. Bidding $300 for the truck and trick canines, Smith advised tlio animal shelter management that he was bniiy interested In the for ond walked out on the dog.s. 'The SjP.C.A.'.s final .solution wa.s to dispose of them to cullers seeking pet8. , Mintieapolis, Sept, 'Aimee Semple^oPherson, show- woman, (evangelist, deviised a new method of coaxing the shekels Into the collection boxes at her revival meetings on the final day when all of the takings go to her. It's a real fast one. Aimee asks everybody whp cares to contribute to rise, please. At the same time, the organist has in structions to play 'The. Star Span- gled Banner,' Of course, everybody gets up oh their feet. In Minneapolis, however, the 11- day session didn't prove so profit able for the evangelist The big gest crowd ever attracted to the. municipal auditorium, 11,000 inside the main auditorium,. 3,000 in the exhibition hall and 2,000 outside, came across only to the tune of $1,141, and that's all Aimee took away with her as the pay-off for 11 days of hard work. Receipts of the first 10 - days, less expenses, went to local charities, the latter bene fiting to the extent of $(570. Considering that her hubby, David L.: Hutton, came to town during the campaign and got $1,500 for a week's vaudeville engagement, Aimee must have been plenty dis appointed with the last day's fre« win offering which went entirely to her. .It was reported here that Aimee sent for Hutton to come here en route to New York whei^' it looked as though her campaign was flop- ping. His arrival brought plenty of more free newspaper publicity both for her and Hutton. In newspaper interviews he threw plenty of verbal brick bats at his frau. Then he went up to the auditorium one of the evenings and led the choiv in singing for her. On the day of his departure he claimed to have received a kidnapping threat and had a police department escort ac "company"him^ the. failr'oad .istai tion. Figuring it was a publicity stunt, the newspapers didn't give the affair much space. In the collection boxes on the last day, there was one. $10 bill. Penr nies- and nickels were mo^t. in eyi dence, however; Rempvial of Mrs. Katherine Mur phy as superintendent o.f the NVA Sanitarium at jSaranac Lake wa« officially Recommended yesterday (Monday) to the New Vork State Deisartment of Social Welfare by its special investigator^ Dr. David Park. it was further recommended by Park that a medical'director be ap- pointed 'to' head the San, with. the pt-ovision that he devote' a'H his time to the admi istration job. It was previously reported that Dr; Park had considered* advising appointment of Dr. Edgar Mayer, present medical heaid of the San, as supervisor, but that Maiyer's out- side practice prevented him from doing so. It's thjB State's policy to ask sanitarium heads for un- divided attention. Understanding is that Dr. Mayer has declined to re- linquish his own practice and re- search work. The Dr. Park recommendations were received in New York yester- day by the State Department's committee of 12, of which' three members will comprise a nev^ com- rhittee to carry out the suggestions, if adopted. Dr. Pai-k's investiga- tion wap carried out for two months, including several trips 'to Saraiiac Liake and New. York, and interviews with patients, ex-pa- tients, employees, oifflclals and oth- ers iat or with the. NVA. Authority Clipped in regard to Mrs. Murphy, Dr. Park's statement declared that be- yond her official conduct in run- ning all Sah affairs, she keeps the place clean, and therefore might re main as housekeeper and buyer of supplies, but without authority over the patients. Another recommendation of Dr. Park is that individuals who vio late the San's rule should be dealt with individually, and not in a manner that affects the whole pa- tient body. Under Mrs. Murphy's punishment system the breaking of a rule by one Pr several patients has frequently resulted in suspen- sion of privileges for all patients, Dr. Park found. (Cpntinued on page Piers Labor Day . Atlantic City, S$pt. ^8. Figures' completed on the I^bor Day weekend business at the Steel Pier show a gross >bf $130,000, or approximately 175,000 admissions at 75c apiece, for the three days (Sept^ 2-3-4). It might be the country's record gross for a straight and strictly business thea;trical enter prise over a three-day period. ■ Peiak was hft on the second day (Sunday), when 74,000 pWid admis- sions went -through the gate. ^ For their 76c the customers got a 12% hour show, comprising Amos 'n' Andy and Rudy Vallee in per- son, three first run pictures ('Dr. BuU'-Fox 'One Sunday Afterriooh'- Par, 'Paddy the'Next Beat Thing'-r Fox), minstrel show, Mai Hallett's dance orcheiJtra for continuous hoofing, Hardeen (magic show), Hawaiian diving troupe, circus, wild animal show and a five-act vaude bill headed by Jack Pepper. Talent cost the Pier about $45,000 in salaries. Amos 'n' Andy, on percentage, were on a repeat 'engagement, hav- ing played the Pier earlier in the summer, along with Eddie Cantor, Burns and Allen and others. Black- face team did nine shows Satur- day, 12 Sunday and eight Monday (Labor Day). Pre-Cut for Weavers Weaver Brothers with their own unit are set tut $4,500 fPr Loew's, RKO, etc., for. a minimum of 10 weeks commencing Oct. 6, opening In St. Louis. Lyons & Lyons booked 'em. The Weavers have -been barn- storming through the' midwest on one-niters and doing well. Salaries are back to pair for all acts that are in demand around the circuit booking offices. Furipuis. bPokihg' pace accompanyi n&w season that has prevailed for the.\.paat three weeks haa depleted .. the. supply .of yaude. materl.al to the extent that gpod, standard acts are naming their own salairieis'and' get-' ting them. -Same . applies to such names as are wanted or needed, by the namerplayihg theatrics; Last semblance of the four-clr-. cult pact which- trimined the va- riety salaries 25% or more last March, has dlisapp.eared in the past couple, pf weeks* The bpokers ;are ail booking their own, theatres once more, and no questions asked. In many Instances actj^ .especial- ly in demand are liot only back to- the pre-agreement salary^ but even higher. When a cphsensus! among bookers revealed that no more than 15 reliable next-to-clpsers wenBi a:vailable a couple of Weeks Ago, (Continued on page 50) , MORREFOm William Morris agency's lengthy connection with Fosters' Londori agency Is being severed. Eric Wolr helm may supplant Fosters as Morris' English booking representa- tive. Morris Foster connection has stood fPr about 25 years. In that, period Morris has' placed Its British bookings exclusively through Fob-. s ter. Until recently the interchange of acts has been on a reciprocal basis, but recently Harry Foster Was reported to have worked through other American agents over here. Thla is understood, to have. brPught ph the split. Another Morris fpreigh rep, Lou Wolfson, of the agency's Paris of- fice, . Is back in New iTork, working with Nat Kalcheim on fpreign placements. Latter has charge of the. Morris fPfeign department. Wolfson had been in the Paris of- fice four years. Four-a-Day at $12,* Amos 'n' Andy will do six sho\y6 a day at 3jO-;w's Parjidise. and Valencia thcn.irr' when they play there the weeiiK of Oct. 6-13, Blackface air team .is in on a percentage deal arranged by the Morris office and which will avr erage them about $12,000 per. lElaborate Screen Musicals Create New Hurdle for Flash Producers Mayhairs Philly Berth Jerry MaylKall, produclion man- ager at: the Stanloy here until «tagc .shQw.s "were droppeO a year :i(co last June, has boon nain.od to a similar ■post at the Stanley I'biladfl- phia under Al Kayo.. Sinoo last yoai. .lio has boon hoc- lancing Inr.illy,. <UM.\\nt.r in radio and (lanc'O band v.vvk. Musical picturei *ole on its re- turn trip, with .it.s tendency toward heavy production numbers, is a nev worry for the vaudeville flash act producers. But it may be a breai* for the talent. iWducers feel that their actsj on what they have to spend and tho salaiy and mechanical limitations thoy have to contend with, are bound to suffer enormously by com- pari.von. if . . the, prpclu^c^^^^ shown by •42d "Stroct.'^ 'Gold ig ' gcrs of '33,' 'Moonlight and Pretzels' and other film mUsiral relca.scf? thu.? far is continued in future picture producing. ■ Set Fast Pace Bookers' and audienc*;. are both inrjined to underrate the Kkimpy vaudo flashof? alter seeing what can be done in pictures in the way of elaborate staging. This makes it tough for even the best of the vaude fla.shes today, most of which aren't on a par With the turns of the past, anyway. • Accoi"dm£f to the producers, their only alternative is to put more ac- cent oni the specialty talent and lifss thought and expenditufc on the trimmings. The bookers have okayed thi.s attitude, having the jameLXCALCtipn. as^the ^^ ward picture comparisons, and be- lieving that more talent, desiiitc .scenic .sacrifices, will result in' im proved entertainment value. Although strengthening the talent end lengthens the payroll, the sav- ing on production cbst.s can carry part oH the salary Ourd<:n, Home Iirodurors docLirf.. CdPANY Act Quits 'Murder' on One-Way Notice Terms Two hours before the opening of Earl. Carroli'B •; 'Murder In the Vanities' at the New Amsterdam oh BrOadwj(,y the team of Shaw and LPa walked but, telling the pro- ducer that If he felt that he was being 'held up' they would rather nPt pperi. Carroll had objected to their insistence' on a run-of-the- play contract and billing,' stating that all In .the .;cast were set on two weeks* cancellation clauses, the hoticiB resting with CatroU. The act had been led to believe through Carroll's agent-rep, Tom Rooney, that all was oke, but when Carroll's attitude was revealild, the team .scrammed, although the pro- ducer stated he Would sign run- of-the-play, although in.st his inclination. Cooper Off Deep End Etcrt Coopoi-, artLsts' rep whose ofilcc seemingly has been in his hat, judging by liia 230 West 7JJth street. New York, address, seemingly his rosld<-'nce, admits himself broke to the extent of $6,77-3. No assets. Cooper's brother Lou is also an agrrit. Both arc brothers o£ Harry.