Variety (Dec 1934)

Tneeday, PeMiid»er lit 1'984. die New VARIETY 49 ::;:'By-JOE BIQELOW. ■ ; Saremao l4dce, i>eor^^^^^ ' TbanKB: to a thorough reorsani- Bstlbn, which changed the KVA Sanatorium on the htU trpiA a house of hate to a home of h<^th. things are now more like what they ' should : be hei^. . It la bnl/ alz ' niohths since .the new order began, . but lii those six months much prog- resa; has been made. The NVA , San Was dedicated purely to the welfare of those from whom the rlgon of ia life In the show-business took their toll, but . only until recently has it really been devoted to such a .pursuit. ' The iSan was opetfed about six years ago. It cost In the neighbor- hood of $l,00Q,00fr. Physically, it ^Is a magnificent Institution and one pf the show spots of the beautiful Saranac Lake region; .; It has always looked like the mil- —lionlthat:Ji_<?jjat.. but in reality its -■uniiitt tvio y^^uiga whlch it was dedicated .has been,, up to now; . Wprth mu^^hi less than 711,000,000. ^ Built: In a. period when careless ex- travagance In the wrong direction ■ Was the NVA'iB established policy; the San malntalried that policy for its first five years with , almost dls^ astrous results. Born amidst the political: Intrigue that penheated all NVA a,ffairs, It Inherited that affliction and,: in turn, I passed it down tP the patlohts. The patients had a $i,ObO,000 sanatorium in which to be cur^d, but lacked that, element which is of first Impbrtarice If a. cure Is : to . be- effected—peace ef ;. mind.-' ' The task with which the new and present . .regime . was, faced v six months ago was I'O hiake 'the $1,- 000,000 San give |i,000,000 Value In return to the.cause; to rid the place 'of injurious politics; to Improve the badly dented morale; to rid the pa- - tlenta^df-a-fninie ofrmlnd that-pre:-^ eluded, chances of recovery. . It Is a tribute., to the valiant efforts; of Mrs, William Biorrls, Dr. ^Itorl^lschel-^hd—Harc^d-^odner- that these things have been accom- plished. They,have done wonders. Bodner's competent and busl- hiess-llke executive direction,. Dr. Fischers artful medical superVisibh and Jlrs. : Morris' humane social activities aro_the elements that changed the Saii., from 'Mrs; Murphy's Country Club,' as it was facetiously called by the patients, to ohis of. the - flne'st health .centiers -■;of the eastr-.-^-: •;''-:-•■-■•;■ 60 Patients Patients , now number 60, double the average total under the previous regime. Conditionis, food and treat- ment, are better, yet the operating cost , has not iiicreased. Improved conditldns at no added cost have been made possible, by. ellmlhatipri of maily. useless extravagances of thn p a st • ''- '■ " " An Impression; to be gained by nhyone after an inspection of the San Is! that it was. designed as a golf club, or social lodge, rather than a sanatorium. The architects who designed it, with' apparently little knowledge of the requirement; of a sanatorium, were liberal in pro-" vidlng sjpace whore It wasn't needed. Capacity of the San is now _ 89, but any otiier place of its size ' csn comfortably a^commo'date at , least 100. : ■ V . In addition to wasted room, there ire other oddities-that question the, Jiidgment of those who built the place. There IS a Turkish bath- room wltii reduoihg cabinets and weight-reftioval devlcos, iri an lii-; stitutlori Where the loss of weight is the last'thing in. the world any- one Wants. There Is;, ah operating room sp; inadequately equipped it pan be used for anything but opera- tions, .There is a ^notion pictuw; - projection TDOoth; ;^vhich,. un tll^, a^ month" ago, .htid; ..neither",^."prbjectbr^ nor films to project. ■ This latter, jn' an - Instltutibn endowed ; by picture ^exhibitors,.Av:as..a;.p.acadP>:lj>f_EJir^^ dbxes. Tlirbugh. the good grhf^o.a oX Leo F'riedman of Locw's; who ar-' • i-anged ; wlfh Erpl:.for the install.^ tiph of picture eaulpment; the film problem has bccri settled;. but tho .,other handicaps m.ust be pvercp.tnc, and time and. money only . can do this, ^rs.; Morris, Dr. Fi.schbl. and, Rodncivai-e \Voricing liard;;to over- •come'thpm. ': Mrs. iVIorrls ;i.<? the 'mother'; of the San, every paliont'g. ain.crel of mercy. .She listens to .llioir Iroiiblcs, .sobthe.s - - (Contihued OBvpage -68)-^--^ Add Tough JchB Mlnneapbllfl, Dec. 10. ; A tihlbn' stagehand received; a salary pf |7B for. the^ week for sitting In the audience at the St. Paul Uptown thcfatre, linlon reiqiulred the house to enipZoy the ha.hd wheii It played a. single : vaudeville act. There wasn't .any rbom on the quasi-stage for.,; him, .all the available, space being taken; up by the ; sound equipment, so he planted himself.bh a seat In the auditorium. . His only duty was' to be there.' ^riiigfidd*8 Yaudfilm : Ih 2 Spots fw Springfield, O., Dep. 10. The . B a t t o n,' 8 *representatlTe Ainerlean dtj^ now has two ther. atrea ofCerlnjg atage bills for the first time : In history. Both are flrst'-run liouaei^ <dipwlng pictures In conjunction. . . Regent ahowa flVe acta of RKO yaude ' on Fridays and Saturdays, iand Fairbanks ahows retue units for toiiir . iiaya atartlng ,^hdays. Both houses are ChakeresrWarner oWne^. In addition,; State. ^ another Chakeres . unit, has: started organ interludes of IG .minutes per per- formance bh: Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. A" HbllyWbod, Dec. 10. With .the; success of the Sunday Ijlght Froilcs : at ihe ' Wilshire- Ebell, town has gone Sunday Vaude concert screwey, ]^with two, mpre planned to;, start .within the next fortnight. Result will prpbably be the flopping of the entire Idea due to cpmpetitlpn andr l^ck pf: talent, NeW; starters are Ben Bard and Bay , Deusern, ; who or en at the Mutsic Box next Saturday and Sun- day, and Arthur Kleiin, .who was set to; do the same thing .:at Pant- ages Hollywobd, but whp has switched to the Ciurthay Circle, "plannlng~tb BtBrt~ln'^twb::WTO ■ With nowhere to go bn . Sun- days, the Wllsiiire-Ebell has been .moderatel y successful with a h aver- age taitp of $900 for the" single shows. Bills have been In and out, but It htas at. least; been a plaice to gather on a Sunday. . With the talent strictly llmWed, the twp new, ventures are going to have a tough time to escape. repe - titlon of actis. Outside of a few picture names and. recent arrivals whp are stage struck^ acts avail- able here have all been played to death and are In^^ class.A Levey office Is bringing two acts weeitly from .the east to fill local bills, but operators bf L.A. houses playing vaude are souring oh the opposition and are refusing to allow acts to double. ' ^ " It's also felt that local vaude en- thusiasts and the regulars combined wiir just about fill one nbuse, so it looks as It tne boyfl are but to kill the goose, / ; 17-Yr,-01d Lass WiD Lead an AlKM ale Band Alex Hyde is building a new bartd arbuiid Una Mario,; i7-year-old hPtciiaist from the Chez Paree and the B.&K. theatres in ChlcagP, for- -^nerly known as ;T^a yilon, She'll head a male'rhythm band, Unlike the Ina Ray HUttpn. all- fismme combo which; Hyde also ,co- Bpnngnra. ■ ■ KOLBANDDUL AREilittD ■ - y Oakland, Dec.. 10. Kbll) A DUIi once the 'Weber and Fields : of the, West,' are teamed again, this tihie in a new line, the hot e l floor s how b uslh'esst^n-put^ growth of the:; old-tinie mielodrar matic prPductlonB. . I'eanri starts current Week at thie Hotel Leamlngtpn here fpr a week stand, reverting to their old dbtch cpinedy; rbutlne .and planning com- edy skits-as .v^eii as general m.c. work. !<• - . . Van Scbnois a^^^^ ioists' es Radla city. Inc., and. William 6, :'Van Schmus, ylce-preisldent; and managing director of thb Music Hail, N. T., last week filed general denials oil the . aiander ault Ipr $500,00.0> .brought against them by ther""Lpw, ■"'Burnoff ;and Wensley adagio act. Act/ through attorney I. . Robert Broder, brought ault against . the 'c'ofp"oiti^bii"-and Van-Schmus-after they were cancelled; out ,ot the Music Hall. Oct, 20, before they had finished the week's engagement. Ac- cording to their complaint, Van Schmus,. before laymah witnesses, scored .them aa an 'liideceht, lewd, immoral and laaclyloua* act and then took them oiit of the show. Suit aaka for 1250,000 for defama- tion -of character, and another $250,000 for damages Incuired through Ibas of-wbrk-ln-other tliea- tres as ia result of their being can - called at the Music Hall. FIRST SNOW Ci^UilLTIES OF SEASON In IOWA Cedar Rapids, la., Dec. 10. StiP W and i u e —played—hob with vaudeville acts at the Iowa here last week, :two of tihe five acts failing tp arrive at all for the opening day. Only two aicts arrived unscathed by the storm—the Mullen Sisters blew in by train from Kansas City, whilb Medley; and Duprey arrived Vfrpm Chi before the storm hit. . The Three Theodores got aa far as Lowden,.and at 3 a. m, did apack horse stunt getting their trunks to the railroad depot; leaving ebenery with their abandoned bus In a snow-r drlf tj iDick Nash and Midgle Fately failed to show up, being^snowbound at M;arshalltbwn; Bradha Boys and Co., snowbbund at Orlnnell, missed a number of . ahbws. nscious; "•■•;■■"—---y^7M-irineapolisrrDec;.--10t—-r Comeijack of flesh here has i>een one ' Of . most sensational : theatrical developments ever recorded in Twin Cities. .. There : iiCver has . .be'eh ,a time -.wlv»ri the. two towns held more :va\idrilm than, now, , Jh contrast, a y.e.ir ago there wasn't anyj arid the only 'stage ..entertainmpnt was ; an pccasipnal unit, touring : fittraction and .Oayety stock'buvlcsq\ie.. . In; Minneapolis three, thf.ltrc.s, ar.e Uf^inf;,..a vi.urrin>in- ,]-)(vMf\\v' iV;uvl;ii:ly. TfaeyJr^_Jhe_^rpheum» ^tate .ahd Pk,laGe..---Jrhere?s_:s.toc.k_b.Url^^ regularly at the Gayety, an pcca- sional touring a.ttraction visits the Metrbpolitan (legit), there has been a week of the San Carlo. Grand Opera company at the Lyceum, and the : Shubert theatre's six-week Drama : Festival with imported Di-oadway casts, ^ ^ ' ; . .. For the first tirn^ - St. Paul ha.s •three houses uising : vaudfilhi-- pol- icyT^the Orpheunr, Paramount arid Lj'ccum. It also gets ah occaLsioriai touring'attraction. forldns (Unis M Rep Show Definition Washlhgtoh,: Dec.: 10. While it Isn't an pfflclal in4 terpretatibn^ heire Is the deflhl- tipn of •t^p. shpw' pn which the Blue Eagle depends: A presentation by a theatre cbmpany bf a repertPire bf several plays, two or; niore Usually being presented within a^ week. Such - plays are con- densed versions pf full-lehgth ;plays, nuinlng ; In their . Con- densed form less than an hour and usually about 40 or BO- minutes. In i cpnjunctlbn with such presentatiph, there Is often Interspersed between the actSv'olios, specialties,Tfeats bf legerdemain, \etc., sometimes followed by a'concert';; J- Lexicographer .who authbred this Is Deputy Administrator Farnsworth. ' : N. T., Dec. 10. Attempts by city authorities tp prevent ftirther performances of Jack Mason's Playboy Revue, with Its . cast of 11 fema,le impersbnatorsi at FJcho Tavern In North Troy, met another; isetback Saturday (8) when Supreme Court Justice Kills J. Staley Issued an injunction tem- porarily restraining Pbllce Chief John Conroy from enforcing a hast- ily-passed ordinance requiring the written^ okay of the chief for all theatrical and athletic shbws In places selling liqupr. : "^-T^e—-"Common- Cpiincll,.;.-m through the bill and Maypi* Cbrr neliuB F. B^rna ^i^ed It, at his home, after efforts to'halt the show by arresting the troupe on a charge of wearing disguises without a per- niit had failed. The attorney for Thbmas J. Dunn, 80, pro- prietor of Echo Tavern, sticPeeded in effectiiig his release 'through habeas, corpus proceedings before Supreme .Court Justice Foster at Albany,_ the . Judf e ruling that a written' Infbrmiatibn was necessary. Several shows were missed that week, and. one was 'out' last. wcbk. after ; Chief Conroy had refused i>unn a perndit. At the hearing be- fore Judge Staley,. Dunn's lawyer cpn tended that the ordinance was unfair and Illegal. .He said that there was npthihg Idecent or im-. moral abotit the shbw, and 'the pp- lice ; iiey e i ' li ave-elal*aed-th er e w a s Z. Furthermore; the lawyer arguedj the: brdiharice Was llle^l; because the Sta.te ABC and the Legislaiture alone iiad the right, to prescribe the conditions under which liqiior cpUld be sold. Having; paid ,a license fee of $600, Dunn enjoyed a vested right to sell liqupr, declared the attorney, whp added that the revue treupe had a 10. weeks' contract running from NOV; 1 at $ 476 per w®^H. Assistarit.. V Corppration . Counsel Joseph Fi Purcell contended that the' law haji been pasised to 'prptect the welfare s:hd lAbrals of the city of Troy.' : He aald that the female; ImpersPnators had. 'unsavory repu- tations' .and that if the word igbt around trie lid was off, Tfby wUuld be 'oyerrun by people of thalt type of morals!' Judge Staley held: that there wc'c; only twb questions at issue: Whether the city had the power It assumed by the • brdlnance, arid whetheil!. the . exercise bf_ that power is reasonable. The terinporary iri- junctipn runs for a week; Chi^s Chisel Bojrs E««t . : Chicago, Dec 10. . ; Small-time agents getting; best Ureak in years. Qver 45 tavern.s now u.sirig talent booked,through the ponny-ante reps. . It's coffee money,' but. It coriies In■ re>,'ularly. Joints, change sho\vs Woolcly .du.c, ,to difilcuity in .'holding adtH ,ljccau>f(! of long . hour.s-.\and Kniair pay, h.ut. tho ofncc.-in-tlii?-hat boys ax'b accustomed to -Buch things. Al & Belle poVr, Indie bookers,' may be haled before License Com- mlsslpher Paul Moss on the com- plaint Of Marty Fbrkins, . producerr and Rae Samuels (Mrs, Forklns) that the : bppkers held but part bf the 'Cbcktai. Hour* unit salary -when it iilayed Fay's. Philadelphia, the week of Sejpt. 14.' last.' . Deduction of $218 Was pn the claim that It Was fbr extra stagehands needed for the unit,-.; ■• -■ ,.-.;-v--::---";-'■.-■::;-:-■;.: Matter will be., brpught -before Moss If the ;Dows had not settled by last night (Monday) on a lial- ance of $101,75, : rest bf , the deAiic-. tlpn having been paid. Early yester- day the Dows offered to settle,- but on weekly payments, claiming that they are broke. When Forklns called tiie Dows last week and threatened to bring the : matter. up before Moss unless the money waia paid,. Dew's lamyer, ZiOUis H.. Rpbinsbn, threatened In turn to have Fbrkins brought up for- extortion, I, Robert Broder Is at- torney for the producer and Kae Samuels, . .';''^ ■''■;■■ Investigation' by Commissioner Moss on the Dows' methods .In book- ing a show fpr the Brooklyn Mer- chants' aind Salesmen's Club ban- quet at the Waldorf-Astoria, N. T., ^Oct; -28—ls-atUl-4>elng-pressed,. .al?- though the License Department has received but one affidavit so far, this from Estelle Taylor. According tp the complaint against the Indle bookers, the Dows were paid for booking the show but did not pay the name acts, whom it Is alleged they told It was. a benefit. Estelle Taylbr'a Affidavit In her notarized letter to Cora- ; mlasloner Moss, Miss Taylor clalma she went to the Waldorf-Astoria as a favor to Jack Mandell, Lbew agent, but was not told what kind of a show If waa'~ Mandell, who ap- peared before. Moss yesterday (Mob. day) to verify Miss Taylor's-signa- ture, gave the Dows an a:ffldavlt swearing that they did not tell him It was a beneflt. - - Other-agenta - who gave -the Dows - affidavits similar to Mandell's were Harry Romm, M. S. Bentham and Ferdl Simon, trhey do business with the Dows and provided som^ of the names -who appeared at the show gratis. ■ According to one of the agents, he did not knbw that the Dowa were being paid to book the show until he arrived at the Waldorf-Astoria, where a member-friend of the club running the organizational banquet told him that the Dows were getting $1,600. He' then approached Belle Dow on the matter, but she swore that she wasn't getting a dime for the show. At a hearing before Moss,. however,: Al DoW admitted they re- ceived the $1,600, $800 of which went for talent and the rest for cham- pagne and liquor fbr the acts. Commissioner Moss Is trying to ■secwe-AffldwitS-^r^m-AiMAur—^Dra-- cy (Street Singer),; Mary McCor- mlck, Hal LeRoy and Baby- Rose Marie on whether the affair was misrepresented as a beneflt,. and whether they received payment. HAL LE ROY SUES HIS FAIVER FOR $65,000 Hal LeRoy_.ls suing his , father, George H. ScHottb, for ah account- ing > of all the dancer's earnings, which he turned oyer to his parent for banking.-Agreement was to coh- tlnuo this gprangem o nt until thb dancer reached ,21 years of age. Sum of $66,000 figures In the suit. Father has since withdrawn all his money from New Tork, Now Le- Roy Is attaching his father's ac- count in (Cincinnati banks, where they' formerly lived. Suing through Al- fred B. Carb; with trial cPtning--up late this month. Glaire to B^timore ^: Having -recovered from a three weeks' illness which cancelled him out of the Fox, Brooklyn, as m.c.^ Ted Claire opens, Dec. l l in Balti- more'at the Century for Locw to m.c. the locally produced an au- thored revue. It's called "O. K., Bal- timorc.' ' ^ Norman Clark of,the 'Balto Pbst- News dramatic de.sk wrote ti.c spe- cial material for the local talenU