Variety (Sep 1935)

64 VARIETY VAUDEVILLE ^Tednesday, September 25, 1935 Must Keep Open Door for Talent Brit Bookers on U; S, Talent Hunt Val Parnell, general variety book- ing head of General Theatres (Gau- mont-British), England's largest users of variety talentj is now In the U. S. on a periodic talent hunt' —^He-^preoftte*-the--shortslghtedBess- of the U; S. immigration authori- ties (notably the Dicksteln com- mittee on /foreign theatrical labor) as well as that of the American Federation of Musicians, for the un- told damage both bodies may do to this interests they may both be most desirous of protecting. . Any artistic restrictions would tend to stifle In- ternational stage development In general, Parnell feels. He and Harry Foster, of the Fos- ter's Agency, London, are currently touring America on a talewt quest, for every British act admitted to this II. S.i avers Parnell, England would gladly play 20 American turns. For every Ray Noble, Jack Hylton or Bert Ambrose prchestra which the U. S. might approve for American bookings, England would be iglad to welcome'back scores of Whitemans, Ijombtirdps, Bernies, Lewises, Lopezes, Commanders, Warlngs, Ellingtons, Ina Ray Hiit- tons,. Calloway^) just .to mention a few who have been signal clicks abroad, not Including the many hew bands tAat have come up in recent years, and are unknown abroad, save ttie. records, but are likely, for for- eign bookings. Parnell emphasizes that whlle^ j-the U. S. Immigratioii. authorities and the A.F.M. seem to concern themselves mosUy.with bands at the moment, he feara that. England could .retaliate tO; far greater dam- agel Hy This International amity, urge both. Parnell and Foster, has been the reason for variety prospering. abroad. Not only In England, but in 'France; Germany, .Vienna and Budapest, the vatideville theatres are money-makers, strictly because managements enctfurage empioy- qient, for foreign talent. ' Both:Parnell and Foster tour the Continent regularly In quest of new faces for the British variety houses. Foster also books acts into the Al- hambra, Paris, besides the Rex and Paramount, Paris, which play vaud film or' presentations of one 'form or another.. Andre Ullman comes to London regularly for acts on behalf of his Par, Paris, where Jacques Charles is the stager. The Theatre Bonacher, Vienna, is Indie-booked by Teddy Ehrenthal, who feommutes between Paris, Vienna and London ^^arching for acts. Eddie Duisberg, booking the Nazi-controlled Scala in Berlin, constantly flies to Lon- don and Paris for talent. Ditto, agents, and managers for the va- riety theatres in Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen. But never, in recent months, state Parnell and Foster, have they en- countered any body .,ou the Continent scouting talent 6n behalf of the American variety theatres. True, occasionally some fllm executive on a business-vacation trip, or a talent ^ scout from Hollywood, gives the ^Continent a once-over-llghtly;. H sometimes a legit producer makes a quickie tour and picks up a play, or two; but by and' large the Americohs are now passing up the continent. (J. S. Backwar America; from the foreign show, viewpoint, seems surprising back- ward in 'its talent scouting. Ad- mittedly, vaude conditions in the U. S. today do not encourage for- eign scouting as when Martin Beck, H. B. Marlnelli, the William Mor- ris agency, et al, were wont to •"»*%ake a practice of It, but that is ascribed to be one of the causes for the disintegration of the American variety form of stage entertain ment, England, therefore, states Parnell, doesn't want to Experience the same thing. England is open to Ameri can acts, as well as French,"Ger- man, Italian and other variety turns. But since politics and dlplo macy and what they are, Parnell opines, perhaps an Impatient Brit- ish Labor Office might decide t6 retaliate against .an American era batgo. In view of the IT. S. quiescence on new talent suitable for the varieties, It's now becoming a problem for ^iJngland, so -far as the American PHULY MUSICIANS AND THEATRES MEET An —--^-^Philadelphia-,-Sept/-24,^— arbitration board will meet here tomorrow (Wednesday) on the musicians-theatres impasse, which resulted in the dropping of stage shows by the Fox and Earle the- atres a few weeka ago; Musicians demanded double pit crews In each theatre, which the latter nixed and then dropped the stage ends entirely. Vode HoIdsToo Many Obstacles For Can. F-P Winnipeg, Sept. 24, There Is no Immediate prospect of the return of vaudeville to the Canadian Famous Players theatres, J, J. Fitzgibbons, western chief, said on his arrlvel here for a confab with western managers. Circuit operates most of the larger houses in Canada. 'Famous Players has no definite plans for Introducing permanent stage presentations,' he aatd. 'This is not good vaudeville territory, ow- ing to the big jumps, although Win- nipeg might concelvaby be a good vaudeville center. But Winnipeg Is 5^0 inlles away from the neares[t town where a stage show could be presented. Then, too, there Is a dearth of talent, and In addition a Toronto, house which has been featuring vaudeville Is diBcontlnuIng it.' He didn't name the Toronto house. Fitzgibbons' declaration of ppUcy, however. Is at variance with local conditions. Last week the Capitol, second F.P^ house which has been playing two features to rows of empty seats, packed them , in at all performances' wlth< a stage show. On Friday night the house was full when the lights went on at the end of the last performance. 'But the dual policy apparently Is here to stay, according to Fitzgibbon. Fltzbibbons professed to be In ignorance of the demand of the local musicians' union that a local flve-plece orchestra be placed in the pit when touring stage bands ap pear, 'The demand, if it has been made, Is out of all reason,' he declared 'The policy of the company is. to hire enough stage hands, musicians, etc., necessary to put on a show, and I cannot see any reason for hir- ing local musicians, simply because they are local musicians and out of work.' Saranac Lake By Chris Hagsdorn Doris Oascolgne and Hazel Qlad- stone arranged first bridge club .fleils^DIl,.j55P.t^.lT,_flye Winners ^ High score, Sally (WB) Ragone; Booby, Oscar Davis. Tonl Temple- has her. cousin, vleltr Ing her this week. Miss Frisco Devere lefi the San for her ht>me in Scarisdale, K»- T. Nellie Queally had; a surprise visit when her two daughters and son- in-law rushed In for two days. All patients :wl8h to thank Jerry Vogel for his weekly, candy . sur- -prlses-.—' • r — Mrs. (Mother) Morris returned from N. X. Lee Lamar,, formerly pianist for DeSylva, Brown & Henderson* now doing radio broadcasting over WNBC, Saranaio La|ce. Le» has made a great comeback after several years of Illness. Fred Rtth to N.. T. on sad mission; he lost his mother last week. Constance Brown, show-girl. In town for check-up; Rudy Plank, x-ray expert, to N. T. on business for a week. Patients wish to thank managers of Pontiac theatre here, and Palace theatre, Lake Placid* for courtesy to sick.folks at N. V. A. Lodge. The Lake Placid Club Symphony Ensemble gave a concert in Tru- deau Sanltorlum and N. V. A. patients were Invited. Musical wtis In commemoration of Victor Her- bert's membership in Lake Placid Club. Dr. Karl. Flshel, medical supt.. Is at Saratoga to try out the baths. Bobby Graham, who is In St^ Michael's hospltai Toronto, Is re- ported on the mend after auto crash. Write to those you know at 8ara- nae. Moss Ticketing Six More Agents: Acts to Tesify Vs. Schilling. Hadon Save Vaitde (Gontlnuied on page 63) Whitehead did not commit himself to the producers on a senatorial In- vestigation. That,, he said, would first have to be taken up with the AFA council before he could support the producers In asking Washington for an Investigation. The petitions and tonight's mass meeting are the AFA's only attempts so far to convince theatre operato]cg. that vaude Is not a dead Issue. A large number of prominent speakers, the majority of them expected to be from.outside, the show biz, have been Invited to the St. James to tell the meeting whi^t vaude nieans to the performer, merchant, hotel, etc. Girls Block Traffio Original Idea of the AFA was to have only sandwich girls parade Broadway with the announcement of the meeting and Its. purpose, and it sent 12 femmes on the march Girls, however, attracted too much attention, trafflo becoming snarled and cops irritated in several spots, with the result that the signs were NEB. LOOKS TO VAUDE. WITH BANK NIGHT OUT Lincoln, Sept 24. Vaude has piled up a total .of thlr'- teen days in Nebraska so far, with another week ^xpiected Itt' by the middle of October. Capitol, Grand isiand,"'Wd:"invblir HastrngHT^ just signed for three days steady with the Cushman circuit, and York and Norfolk are considering adding. Recent court decision here, which was a blow to Bank Night, has the iheatre officials around the state protecting themselves with a new kind of draw, just In case; Downtown Bidyn May Be 100% Sans Sti^e Shows; Par? Unless the Brooklyn Paranibunt goes through with Its tentative plan to resume stage shows, Brooklyn's downtown loop will be entirely vaudless this Friday (27). The Fox drops its presentations for a double- feature policy on Friday, cutting Its admish scale from BSc top to 40c. Friday will also start a double- feature war among the« Brooklyn downtowners, tiie RKO Albee and Loew's Metropolitan going into the same policy. With the Fox using two pictures weekly, the Paramount will probably adopt stage shows. Like the Fox, the Par Is Operated by SI Fabian. Opening dual program at the Fox will be 'The Bishop Misbehaves' (MG) and 'Storm Over the Andes' (U); 'VThen and if presentations are re- sumed at the Brooklyn Par, Eddie Paul will probably be the pit maes- tro. At any rate, double features won't go.into the house for the pres- ent, though Its present single-fea- ture policy is subject to momen- tary change, according to Fabian. hung on men, and the girls walked alongside gathering signatures. . During the White Rats strike, ac- tors picketed theatres for awhile, but quit when pictures were taken. They didn't like the Idea of managers knowing who was doing the picket- ing. Besides protesting the vaude situ- ation, AFA will also present to the St. James attendance Its plan for the government to take over a. self- supporting, national vaude project at an Initial outlay of $9,000,000. talent source is concerned, says ParnelL. For example, today (Wednesday), right after the Baer-Louis fight wBtch alone kept Parnell and Foster in New York, they started on a cross-country jaunt stopping off In " Dayton to once-over-the Olsen and Johnson: unit; thence into Cleveland, Clncy, Chi, Detroit, Milwaukee, ICansas City and kindred midwest towns, before heading for the Coast. There, both are after picture peo- ple for Lpndon and provincial Brit- ish bookings. An indication of bet- ter times in England is that not only London's 'Westend but the provinces pick up in grosses. That's the case right now. Parnell '^ants names for the Palladium. and Hol- born Empire and other General Theatres houses. Foster has carte blanche from the British film mak- ers, including all the major com- panies, to sign up talent for film work In Elstree, Twickenham, etc. Keynote of the Continent, In al~ most every aspect of Its show busi iioss, is that it's Interntitlonal. The Parisian revu6 houses long thrived on being iriternatipnal; ditto Lon don's internatloiial variety houses. America, from the foreign view- point, seems to have kept itself so strictly 100% American In show tastes, e.speclally vaude, that Jthere was little novelty appeal. And that's its trouble, says Parnejl. 2 Whs. and Morris Tieup Gives Simon Agency 1st Monopoly on RKO Floor For the first time on record a virtual one-agency monopoly has been created In the RKO booking offlce. Through a combination of circumstances, chief among which Is the fact that it's booking two de- sirable full weeks In the middle west in addition to its agenting ac- tivities, the Simon Agency is now in the position to dictate to the RKO bookers and theatres. The situation is. viewed ^ with alarm by the 60-odd other RKO agents, who say they' can't compete with Simon, and with dismay by the RKO bookers whose stand Is that they can't do anything about It. Simon Agency is booking Indian- apolis and Loulsvillei two vital weeks In the current vaudeville picture, and representing a much sought after fortnight of playing time under present conditions. Both towns specialize In units, and the fact that the Slnion Agency has two quick weeks to offer producers gives it a clear Inside track with the Intact show stagers. The pro- ducers' . attitude In flocking to the Simon Offlce is that the latter not only services them with the cue tomary agency representation, but also can guarantee them a choice pair of weeks at the start and on which to recoup some of their in vestment. Another general Im pression among producers is that it's much easier to set a show In Indianapolis and LoulBville it Si- mon in return Is given the right to agent the units on the side. Simon's other ace card is its con nection with the William Morris o ce, by which It represents the latter at RKO. Morris offlce Is also a booker as well as an agency, and as an agent dominates the vaude- ville business outside itKO Through this affiliation anything Simon can't pick up on Its own or through iiidlanappUs-LouIsville, is obtained through the Morris office, Simon's .Agency's outside book ing activities were objected to by RKO a year or so ago, but the pro tests were dropped and the book ing Is now condoned on the grounds the Louisville and Indianapolis weeks are not opposition. Between .the theatres It books and the con- trol It possesses over the source of units, the Simon Agency occupies the .:Unique position of an agent giving the bookers orders" instead of taking thenu From reports of New York Ll- sehcie <JomiriIssi^ri€r'''Ptful''Mtfsd*' plans, complaints will be made and su-nitnonses lBsued-«gaInst. slx-Jaiore.. agents this week on the. charge of operating unlicensed employment agencies. second summons (first was lfisuecl on ■Bill Schilling) Jn.:Ll]t]ils!_jjegr __Mo8scrusa de was served on Alex Hanlon, franchlsed Loew ageiit and salaried booker of the ihdle Grand Opera Hquse, last week, but case was postponed Mon- day (23) by Magistrate August, bi-eyer till Oct. 14 at the request of I. Robert Brdder, Hahlon's cpun' sel, who is also handling: the SchllU Ing matter. Broder attempted to have the Hanlpn case fall on the same date as Schilling's hearing, Sept. 30, but Magistrate Dreyer said that it didn't make any difference lnas« much as the Hanlon case prob< ably would be tossed out it Schill- ing gets a dismissal. Broder theii told the court that test cases ap- parently don't go with Moss, -who is renewing the licensing matter against theatrical reps despite that a similar complaint against Charles* Allen (Curtis & Allen) was dls* missed a year ago. A.Rap. At this point In Monday's argu« ment. Moss' special counsel took a rap at Variett. for accusing him of tossing anp^her hot potato In the Corporation 'Counsel's lap. When Schilling's case first came* up. early last week. Moss' lawyer suddenly turned the matter over to an as-, slstant corporation counsel In court* who pleaded for . adjournnient qn the premise that he was unfamiliar with the matter. Moss' last week sent for Hanloa to come to his offlce after Issulngf the summons, telling Hanloa that he still had the opportunity to tako out a license. Hanlon refused and brought up the Allen case, but Moss claimed. ttiat last year's trial was not won by the agents on the merits of their case. He still contended that the reason the city lost last year was the Inexperience of the assist- ant corporation counsel with the-: atrical matters. He engaged spe«( cial counsel right after the Allen trial to study the agency business. Moss' counsel told Magistrate Dreyer that special theatrical wit- nesses (inferring actors), who aro now out-of-town, would be sub-^ poenaed to testify against the agents. There were no actor wit-: nesses at Allen's trial last year. Ten aictors, it is reported, will tes-. tify against Schilling and Hanlon. Worcester, Sept. 24. Theatrical bookers, agents and managers must obtain licenses- from the city in the future, ac- cording to a ruling Saturday by the City Clerk. License fee under new; law will be set Thursday (26). Those who book performers and musicians for stage perfornaances. Including fioor shows, must not only obtain a permit, but must maintain an .office in the community in which they conduct the business. Agents ' also must be under (1,000 bond. Violation may .be punished by fine of not more than $600, or ; im- prisonment for not more than a year, or both. Edgar Alien States He Gave Post-Dated Checks Edgar Allen, onco one of New York's leading producers and agents, is out on $500 bail on a charge brought, by a Boston Jeweler. Allen ^as arrested in front of Loew'a State on Broadway Friday (20), with the hearing adjourned Monday (23) by Magistrate Brodsky till Oct. 7. Jeweler charges Allen took $1,200 worth of jewelry and pawned it for $500. Allen states ho gave the jeweler $1,200 in post-dated checks and notes. Vodes Fetches Fetchit Arriving In New York by plane tomorrow (Thursday), SteplnPetchit hangs around for a week and ttien opens a four or five-week vaude tour at the Keith, Boston^ Oct. 3. Subsequent stands not yet set.