Variety (Dec 1934)

Til'esciay, pe^eiiibcr'tt^^^ V ^ li Di E V f x i. E VARIEtY SI Farnsworth Probably Presidmg At Vaude Code Rebearings Dec. 19 washinstonrDeo lOr I Loew's Opieiung Day First important : revlBlon; of v Switch fot HoHdayS illm code-HBonBlderatldn'o£ a« even ..-^^^^ ^^^^^ ■ . . ^''■,1 ... . . •„.i„„ii„ lioew iB Juggling the calendar In dozen amendments principally, re- ' :~°,v. ;i -kt » X Ji til i„w-»« .i<..,o<>a Jersey City, Baltimore and Newark, lating to vaudeville labor : claufles--1 ; ' - ■ _ i •, i J ^ -lA. t 1. < i. l o -j.ivii^ tulKweek spots, to take In the, Xmas is definitely aet for Dec. W. , Public . . ^ ' : hiring, probably to bis conducted and Neyr Teat's holidays with >s by Deputy Admlnistrator'Wlllle^ Farnsworth, Is scheduled, for Wll- j The three towns, starting Dec. ?1. la,rd hotel Calling the session to obtain In- go ais a three -day date, with ia. new dustry views on changes advocated I show : aind plc going In . Dec. 24 'or, by the c0d6 authority, the KRA has ] seven days; to take In all' of Xmas Included In the Met of matters to be week,. New Tear's week gets ; discussed Ohe , ajneiidmient of Its I new show opening i)ec. 31 to : Jan. 6, own di-afting ■which is intended to I gix days closing oh: Sunday. A four curb, chiseling; In ' ppeiientatioh aay- date follows thlSi 7-11, and hpusoB "arid tb: help mollify labor.' ; then the towns" go back to their Government proposltlbn would j p^g^lar^ I^^^ as full add a hew section to'Artlde IV; Dl-I vlsibn C, Part 2, reiadlng 'Sectloh ii. No exhibitor shall, , -, permit any actor or chorus Persoh, TMlimfmAN A^^ -howroevBiTCompeh8ated~or-paldr.tp I-Um^ perform In any theatre upon tierms or working conditions less advah: . tageous to such uctor, or chorus person than those prescribed In this code for such actor pr; chorus p6r sons' • <3hicftgo, D : Morris: Sllyer of the Morris agency here has made ' a big; concession to the present ad-. minlstratloh;'' • .. . j ' Instead of having his own' picture on the new calendars, ■ he has Roosevelt on the dater. IN COURT ^Syracuse, Dec. 10, The decline, of vaudeville was placed; officially on court records herie last week. when William J Tubbert; RKO city hianager, testi- fied as a witness in certiorari pro- ceedings for the 1933 .and 1934 assosaments Ph the k^ith Theatre TRIO DENIED GOLDENS Suit for an Injunction brought' by Maurice and .George > Golden, pro- Accbcding to general ■ NRA pol-1 ducera, against the Tic Too. Girls Idles, dlachsslon . at the first ,1m tant public hearing since the code ■ ^. ■ . was Blgned .a year ago wUl be con- I Tork Supreme Court fined to the 13 specified' prpppsals, and any efforts to bring ^upi com- I however, for the Goldens to aniend pla:inta a.bout other . features^of the their complaint and sue for damages compact will be blocked. Formal . . . _iiv. oa Wdcf of hearing restricts proceed- on brea^ of^^^c^^^ ing to consideration of following fays wlt)iout losing their Place^«n ni^nosltionS- the court calendar. Goldens claim ■ <1) Amend Article IV, Part 2, the ^Jeft thelr^agement fit- S jction i (a) by deleting the fol- ter they had provided the trio with . lowing: 'Rep shows, tab shows, teht j special material owned by George shows, wfigoh shows, truck ishows, Golden find built Ui» the act'd salary, medicine shows, show boats/- (2) Amend Article IV, Part 2, | Section 3 (a) to read as follows: 'Rehearsal perlPds for principals I Bhall be limited to two weeks. In the eviejit that the rehearsal period extends more thah two (2) weeks, the principals, shall be paid half salr ary during' such extended iperlod. 1 :;This shall not apply, however, to | prlricipals owning their own acts;' building. Tubbert cited that stage equip ment worth ^60,000 and designed ex cluslvely for a vaudeville house was no longer In use, that the some thing applied to a $26,000 organ, and thiat 26 dres;9ihg. rooms; expensively equipped with shower ; baths and furnishings, were obsolete.: He aJso te'stlfled that when the the ~Wiy'^wiS"left~open""by-liie-cou a-day vaudeville, sllit coverings for the w'alls and valuable canvases by famed painters were: deemed; essein- tial, whereas today, with the thea tre almost continuously darkened for talkies,. they mean nothing at all, / The Eelth interests wiant. the 1933 assessment, sliced to . $760,000,, from $1,001,600, and a further re duction to $700,000 for 1934/ City of Syracuse is fighting the rieidUctions ^Ith the contention that there's no, . guarantee; vaudeivllle won't come back. RKO recently darken^ the Paramount^ vaude- flimer; four days a week. PittsburghVXmas JoYe Sbow Switches to Aim Pittsburgh, Dec. 10. |^'TtSVlVBl~ o t amate uif—^Pittsburgh ':^?^^*;J*^'^"$'^oP^^!?'2- On Parade- show, started ftt Penn G, Part 2, Section 4 (3) to read as . - ■ i.^ ,„ < follows: :/Minimum wage of per- and continued; by Stanley, will .be formers employed on a 'per diem* made this year at Harrls-Alvln, baisis and paid either directly or In- , . , . . • ^ i «i. , dlFectly ^n any form of compensa- Where It's to be, staged Christmas tlon shall be $7.60 net -per day for week; First announcement brought each theatre in which they appear.'I - timn Bnn icl<idle entries with (4) Amend Article IV, B, Dlvi-: ™ore than BOO kiddie entrips. witn Bion C, Part 2, Section 4 (B) (6) by house; production staff .consisting of adding the following: 'If layoff Is QePrge Tyson, Jerry Mayhall and required because of .f"^e"lartty^of U^^ Miller now ellmlnaUng taleht is'S^^M^i^i SSI sjo''-"^,^^^^^. person may be laid off without i>ay venile performers, most of them seven (7) days in any six: (6) weeks' coming from various dancing period. Such'layoff may occur, at achools about town. Only profes-. any time during the first two weeks;! slohal In bunch will be Johhhy Per of consecutive employment. If ad- iiinti Alvln's,house comic and m.c. dltlonal layoff Is required, :thb' chorus person shall be paid for the, , - period of such dldditldhal layoff at HIZED TEAMS the jate: of three dollars (13) : per U.jh^-a, jjl^cgnt ^i-e of the Para - day as long-as;thelayoff_contlnues.^^^ ^^^^^ Mbrb-arid Tacbnelli Amend Article IX-B, Part 2, Dl- 1^ erroneouslv described as The vIsIbfrnCT^eirtion-^br-torTea^-asrh^^ follows: 'If Individual notlcp of con- . Moreiiis. , tract termination Is given by the I Former have been teamed in employer the chorus person shall be vaude for 17 years, while the Mo paid In cash the amount of cpist of relfls Is another act his or her transportation (Including sleeper and tho cost of transporta- the point , of origin wh(rther tM required to ''^?as^r^Z iTSfle W DW1& a theatre before 9 o'clock ^i«rt^ s^cti^ 6 bviddln^^^ morning except upon one day SllolSig' ta be^nown S^^^^ In each week, which shall be the (c!° '"f individual hotjcd T)f-bon>- day of the -opening o^a new weekly tricV tei^lnatlon Is Klven by the program, on which day such, chorus Sas'^SJ'^e'ln&r^^t ?e«^^^ -required to provide transportation port^at a theatre before 8 o clpcK or sleeper.' in the morning. (7) Amend Article IV, Division (9) Aniend Article I by adding C, Part 2, Section 4 (b) by adding the following to be known as See- the following prior to subdivision J tlpn 16: This code shall apply only - <ir thereuf : ' In the event the e xf htb tho Continent a l United Rtaten , ' ■ : : Hollywood, Dec. 10. Suit by Jack Qsternian against IrVlhg Stlrouse and ilugo. Rpmberg for an accounting of funds in con- nection with the Wllshlre-Ebell (li.A.y Sundi^y vaude frollcs;: as re- sult of Osterman beini?; tossed but of the sietup some weeks a;go, -was settled out court oh Saturday. Hundred dollars 'adyanced by Katherlne Ostierman, his mother, arid payment i on 'another hundred to Joe VRosen, ■ Osternian's "if.ttorneyi sfettled the: matter. Gas^ -^leas caJehdared for this Monday morning. 15 YEABS^AOr (From YAsasa^. and Clipper)' . Joe Xeblang trying to promote a $2,000,000 combine of allVthe ticlcet agencies. Didn't put It: over. Famous Player);-LAsky bought the. scteen . rights tP 'Aphrodite: Never produced. ; ^ iSo few theatres available tiie pro ducers stopped work on hew jplays. Martin Beck ahnoiihcied that vaude artists wpuld be permitted to buy stock in tiie new setup at a price Jower than outsiders could obtalnit'^or.''^ Coal strike getting serious, awn to six shows a wfii B'way electric sighs dark. Each state had' its own fuel admlnisi trator. ^ Jensen & Von Herberg announced they would build in Seattle a house with a large ballroom to occupy the time of the, standouts until iseais were ready. Also the largest organ lyama, Japanes^liiiierjadKon OSTERMAN SETTLES L A. VAUDE SUIT in the world, tertallze. , Ballroom didn't ma- . Mark Luescher quit the Hippo- drome to go to the new Orpheum circuit as asst. gen. mrg. In charge of publicity. To help market th $60,000,000 stock issue. Jie, 'ist. Police after gamblers in the Put nam building, then housing most of the vaude agents. Mostly poker and facise-bets;— ' ■ ^ ■ ; — ■. Columbia, bUrley headquarters in N. T., went to $1.60 top for fli'st 10 rows, :■ " Announced that Al Jolson would have his own house in N. T. Not the Seventh avenue spot .which ultl mately bore. his name, but ne*t to the Moroscp. Producers and ticket agencies dropped the buy system, which the agencies claimed caused them to try and get. back on the hits their losses on flop buys, pickets to be allotted by a committee of three. .; - Tom Ince, Mack Sennett Marshall Nellah, Maurice "Toumeur and Allan Dwan announced they would pro- duce their plbtures Independently. Only Ince. and Sennett did. Sid GraUmah .opeiied. hiis Riialto in Iios Angeles with a flourish of trum pets and 'Male and Female.' : : Bxhlbs were trying to induce Congress to authorize minting of 2c and' 15c pieces. To fapUltate making change. 50 YEARS ACO (From Clipper) C. D. Hobson was not only part owner of Hunter's circus, but Its blilppster... -Pinched in. T exas for slapping 'em up, without a license, alked himself out of the Jam. Turkish circus landed in Boston Troupe consisted of two men, five women, two bears, a monkey and three dogs. Thought that; was enough show fpr America. Orton'is circus advertising car sold for $400 under an attachment. The 125 Ferformers Possibility . of kn ajppreciabl* amount of playing tinie for vaud* and unite in the Far East loopaed greater last week with the doainic Of a deal by Billy Jackson, agent, for Jack Bonney, lawyer-producer, and Tommeo Kajiyamai head of th* Pacific: Mutual Publicity Associa- tion, located In Hiroslilma, Japan. Deal ehtalls a guarantee of four weeks at $2,600 weekly and 10% of. gross for a 60-people unit, with the deposit of $10,000 In a New Tprk bank as assurance. for the Amer- ican producer. Also Included in the deal is the payment of round-trip fares for the entire trPupe by the Japanese Inter- ests. Liowest estimate on fares for the 60 people for the five-week trip from New Tork to ToklP and back is $21,000. :,v.'-' '.r Bonney is putting a new unit,. 'Broadway Topics,' Into immediate riehearaal to sail Jan. 17 . for tin xIpeninK in-??oklo Haxoundr-Marchr-l* - What They Want Kajiyama, who once played la vaude In this country as a mental-. gave no Intimation in his cables or contracts what theatres in Japan the unit will play. He did mention, however, the type of acta Japanese audiences would like: ; plenty of .girls, Odlva, the seal girl, and General Plsanpi ■ sharpshooter* xylophone acts ftnd plenty of seen-, ery and costumes. Jackson replied; that lie did not know the where- abouts of Odlva and that Piaano Is out of the biz and running a liquor store. ' ■■ Kajiyama also asked Jack- son to get in touch with Earl Cju:» roll. George: "WTiite and 'even Zleg- feld' for condensed musicals, ap^. parently not knowing Zlegfeld ia dead. :. - ' Besides the four-week guarantee, Kajiyama holds options on the unit for fjirther time, the first being, fpr eight weeks. He outlined the cities the show can play as. Toklo, four weeics;' Osaiia, four weeks; Nagoya, one week, and Fukuoka, one week, with possible..repeata.ln. Toklo. and^ Osaka. In the past moat American shows going to the Orient did so on a wlld-cattlng basis, few of them get-, tlnfir any guarantees of playing time. Marcus Show, which just returned from there, had a successful tour. entire. Cooper & Jackson circus to be sold under another attachment. In Memphis. Two of John.Robinson's tigers es- caped- from their cage near Rich- mond in October.: Had been terror- izing the country. An old negro met one on a log bridge and not enough room to pass. Thinking It was a dog, he used his stick. Saw his mistake and saved his life by Jump- Ing'lntothe-^gte r. ^ "twke" IrouH; license of $26 a day. After the Sells Bros, agent contracted the town this was upped to $260 and the city limits pushed «out 10 miles In all directions.. • Show had to pay. Georgetown, S. C, one of the old- est towns In America, got its first dramatic show in all its history. ,: English .Ideals. Opera Co.. formed from two other stranded troupes, took It on the chin again when the new manager skipped. Walter. Whiteside hot so hot as a boy tragedian. Did not last out the six weekif route. hlbitPr or Independent contractor In any tlieatre which maintains a resi- dent chorus under weekly contract eo elects and notifies such chorus, then instead of the above-mentioned layo': .period which provides that the chorus be iklven one day off per week with pay, the chorus person may be given one full week's layoff with pay' "after, six cohseoutlve. weeks of: employment; provided, however, that if the -chorus person working in a theatre operating un- . der such policy receives less than Six weeks' employment, the chorus person shall be paid : on a pro rata • basis,: which pro rata basis shall be computed Upon u basis of eight days' pay for seven diysf work. Provided further, that when the chorus person is given one full week's layoff with pay after six con- secutive weeks of employment, the chorus person shall on request re- hearse not more than 10 hours dUr-. Ing the week of layoff, but shall not be requested to rehearse at all dur^ Ing the week prior to layoff.' (8) AmWd Article IV, Part 2; Section 4, last sentence first para' knd shall not a.pply to any territory or possession of the United States.' (10) Amend Article V, Dlvlsioh E, by deleting Part 6. . <1) Amend Article VI, Part 1, Section 7 (b) by adding after the word 'appeal' In ;the seventh line thereof .jthe following: 'Unless the CodiB-Authority.: shaU.-..eKt.end. Jhe time to render its decision, which extension shall In no event exceed 30 days.',..:' ■.; ;■;■: • (12) Amend Article VI, Part 2; Secflbh 7 (c) by adding the follow- ing: 'Unless the Code Authority shall extend the time to render Its decision, which exterisloh shall in no event exceed 30 days.' (13) Amend Article IV, Division C;: Part 2i by adding a new section to read as follows: 'Section 2. No exhibitor shall permit any actor pr chorus person, howsoever compen- sated or paid, to perform in any theatre upon terms or working con- ditions less advantageous to each actor or '"'iorus person than those as prescril • n rthia bode for such- ab tor or 0. ia persona.' ; . • . Boston, Dec. 10.. Vaude trend in Hub la definitely on the up-beat, from actors' point of view, due to Emergency: Relief activities in this section. Massa-" chusettfl^v^as- first- state ■ to take on a'vaude project, with boTjkrhgs coni" ceritrated in Boston. First unit was put on road Sept. 9. and this weeirgoes into.15th cort- secutive stanza. At present, with quota of 126 filled, there are 10 units'" making the ERA circuit rounds, with an average of 12 peo- ple to a unit. Each show , usually carries five acts, piano, time-keeper and company manager, who also acts as deck hand. ERA circuit In- cludes about 30 GCC campa, four transient campa, five hoy a,', centres, 19 State hospitals, 19 other Institu- tions for aged, feeble-minded, etc., pcnltcntiarieB, ;jails, • reforhiat ylea . In additibn 'tb ttfls routeT new fields ^re opening up, with communities applying for free vaude shows and getting them. . It is estimated that 600 performers are on the waiting list, waiting for a Job. and the $1 • an hour scale TJhits averiage~18 hours a week "and when they play out of town in government camp, they are given board ; and room free; plus tians- portatlon. One show a day Is the general rule on the circuit. Out standing advantage to ERA set-up is that if an act clicks on a pro booking while.on the new deal pay roll. It is given leave of absence to play the date and then allowed to return to its unit. •Thomas D. Senna, with 20 years' vaude experience, is in direct charge of the project In Massachusetts, 'Doc' C. S. iBreed, head of Hub RKO booking office, is_ln '_ an advisory capacity.' . .' ' " " Widow of Vancorbeil, director of the Paris opera, granted a pension of $300 a year and a tobacco shop, Latter was valuable, as the state controlled smoke sales; Dumas wrote a story about a se- duced-lierblne ,who.xefuse.d.to! marry.. her betrayer. Greeted as a novelty when situation was used In 'Hlndle Wakes' some 36 years later. • Paul Martinettl' produced 'Robert Macaire' as a pantomime, and a hit. Same story basis used for operetta, 'Erminle.' Col., Ma;pleson was announcing Pattl's. farewell tour. She actually made here final tour here nine years later. ; Hamilton, Ont., gaa works had to shut down because of: an, accident^ and the DiPn BoucicauU played; by ■;cahdic';ifghi.. '■.' -^v^ .;- -