Variety (September 1908)

8 VARIETY INVESTIGATION GOING ON. Washington, Sept. 17. It itf said here that the investigation usked for by or upon behalf of William Morris, Inc., regarding an alleged re- straint of trade in vaudeville, is going on, a mass of testimony having been reported presented to the authorities to substantiate the allegations. MOVING PICTURE AN ACT. Next week (Sept. 21) at Hammer- stein's, the usual closing number of the program will be dispensed with. In its place will be shown a moving picture of the Gans-Nelson fight held in San Fran- cisco on Labor Day. The film of all the rounds will be received by Mr. Haminerstein, who ex- pects an hour to be taken in the unreel- ing. Aaron Kessler for the theatre was in Chicago this week watching a private exhibition. He w?r*d the views were clear. PAT ROONEY IN SINGLE ACT. On December 7 at Hammerstein's, Pat Rooney (Rooney and Bent) will appear alone in a large spectacular number he is now arranging. The offering will be of a nature entitling it to an extended run at the house, decided upon by Wil- liam Hammerstein after listening to Mr. Rooney's outline. With Marion Bent's (Mrs.Rooney) tem- porary retirement from the act and stage, which may be for the remainder of the season, Pat will at once follow with the lone specialty, the solid time booked for the team being rearranged to permit of this. Next season Mr. Rooney may forsake vaudeville for production work, having opened headquarters in the St. James Building. He is interested with B. A. Rolfe in two vaudeville numbers. Roon- ey's first on his own account, "At the Union Station/' with book by Leo Curley, will shortly be presented. SINGER DIES SUDDENLY. Maurice Lovenberg, who was known on the stage as Charles M. Harris, dropped dead on the street in New York Sept. 1. He was a member of the Gotham Comedy Four and last season played with Hast- irig's "Bachelor Club" burlesque company. FELIX AND CAIRE. Felix and Caire, whose portraits appear upon this week's edition of Variety, need no introduction. Ad. Newberger's young prodigies have leaped in a short time into headline estate in vaudeville. They have now joined the Morris farces, and will make their first appearance under the independent manager at the Lincoln Square, Sept. 21. It is but a year since Mr. Newberger launched this clever pair of youngsters in vaudeville with a sparkling skit. Their success" was instantaneous and in a few weeks they were the talk of the town. Since then they have made rapid strides, playing all the large cities as far West as Chicago, where they were exceptionally popular. They have just closed a phenomenally successful engagement in the Broadway production, "The Mimic World." The return to vaudeville of Felix and Caire has been widely heralded and the pair are assured of a hearty welcome. TAKES OVER ENGLISH CIRCUIT. Jx>ndon, Sept. 10. Alfred Moul now has the direction of the half-dozen halls formerly operated by Rosen & Bliss in Great Britain. It was announced some tune ago Moul had purchased the circuit. AMERICAN BILL IN DUBLIN. London, Sept. 10. Paul Murray of the Morris office has arranged for an American vaudeville show to play at the Theatre Royal, Dublin, iu the future. The bill has been partially gotten up. From some of the names on it, Mr. Mur- ray will not give his entertainment before the Spring. Most of the acts are now playing in America. It will be the first ail-American vaude- ville show to play in Ireland. "TAILING* BIRDS" MAKE TALK. Niblo's "Talking Birds" appeared at the Empire, Hoboken, last Monday. Since then Hoboken has been arguing. The "talkers" are parrots, answering questions by auditors. One of the feath- ered speakers picks Taft to be the next president. Many claim Niblo is a ven- triloquist, but there are no grounds for this suspicion. The act plays Peterson next week, en- tering New York at 125th Street Sept. 28. MARK & DELMAR UNDER WAT. Cleveland, Sept. 17. The new firm of Mark Mitchell & Jule Delmar had its premiere last Mon- day when the Mimic World, the., renamed Coliseum, opened with 10-cent vaudeville. The Majestic will begin operations Sept. 21 under the same management, and the Globe and Grand a week later. The Grand is the old Lyric on East 9th Street. The Globe is on Woodland Avenue, near 66th Street. It cost $86,000 to build. The attractions are booked under agree* ment with the United Booking Offices by Jule Delmar, who has charge of the Cleve- land office of the firm. SCENIC OPERATIC PRODUCTION. "Cavalieria Rusticana," wfth three peo- ple and an expensive scenic setting, will shortly appear in vaudeville, having Louise Montague as the feature of the number. Lykens & Levy are the agents. POLITICAL CLUB IN CHICAGO. Chicago, Sept. 17. Three hundred actors have joined themselves into a political organization here and have declared for the Demo- cratic ticket. This is the first partisan political club to be formed by stage people. John H. W. Bryne was the prime mover in the association. He has been elected president. DOROTHY MORTON'S SPECIAL SONGS. Special songs have been written for Dorothy Morton by Clare Kummer for Miss Morton's return to vaudeville. The operatic singer will reappear under the direction of Pat Casey. It is Rome time since vaudeville has seen Miss Morton, who has played in several musical productions since, and for the past few months has been gold mining in the far West. HARRIS LEAVES AM. MUSIC CO. The American Music Stores Conformed originally by five music publishers, has now on its directory Witmark & Sons and Leo Feist only. F. A. Mills and F. B. Haviland of the incorporators with- drew some time ago. The latest resignation was that of Charles K. Harris, leaving the two men- tioned firms in full control. While ostensibly the cause of Mr. Harris* retirement from the American Co. was for the purpose of devoting his en- tire attention to his wholesale publish- ing business, it is understood in the trade the actual reason is the competition against jobbers and customers of the publishers in the concern, which the American caused. To relieve themselves of the embar- rassment this unlooked-for development hroiight about, the trio retired, it is said. For a second cause, it is rumored that the united concern injured the individual business of the publishers. It is stated as a matter of record that in some dis- tricts sheet music was on sale in branch stores of the American Co. at a lesser price than the jobbers in the immediate vicinity were being charged for the same goods at wholesale. WEEKLY FEE; NO COMMISSIONS. Maurice Boom was in Hazelton this week at a meeting of the managers in Pennsylvania for whom he books attrac- tions. Mr. Boom placed before them his new scheme by which he proposes to book under a stipulated weekly fee and with- out the charging of commissions to artists. The Hazelton and Pottstown houses opened Monday. Chester, Carbondale and Mahanoy City open next week, all booked through the Boom Agency. WANTS FAT ACTORS; THE IDEA! "I want ten very fat actors," wrote Geo. F. Hayes from Atlantic Highlands to Pat Casey this week. "They must weigh from 160 to 300 pounds, and the weight must be in 'fat.' "A year's en- gagement in the show business at twenty- five per week, and they don't have to open their yap," added Hayes. Well, when Pat Casey read this letter he was furious. Biting a chunk out of his roll top desk, Mr. Casey broke a hole in the wall with his fist to quickly grab the telephone. Calling up Atlantic High- lands, Casey got Hayes on the wire and demanded to know what he meant by of- fering ten people a job at $25 a week when he (Casey) could fill the entire bill alone, copping the whole $260. Mr. Hayes inquired if Casey would charge him commission, and if he could work for a year steady away from Broad- way. Mr. Casey told Hayes some of the things he has done in his time for less than $260. Before finishing, Hayes assured Casey the job belonged to him. Then Casey with his grief assuaged handed the job back to Hayes, and started on a hunt for .fat actors who weighed one- tenth as much as the agent does. Mr. Casey has never been weighed. Before he left his home town, Springfield, they widened the streets, but Pat wouldn't stay. MRS. SPOONER'S STATEMENT. Mrs. Spooner,of the Spooner Stock Com- pany, playing at the Park Theatre, Brooklyn, is highly incensed at the accu sations of Preston Kendall, who implied that the condensed version of "The Devil," as player^ by Edna May Spooner in vaudeville, was inspired by his one-act adaptation of that piece. "I did not read Mr. Kendall's manu- script," said Mrs. Spooner. "He submit- ted it to me as a curtain-raiser, but I had already decided to play the piece in its longer form and beside had already had several one-act versions at my command. "I made this plain to him when he called upon me at the theatre, but he insisted upon leaving his 'script with me. I did no more than glance hurriedly at a few pages and it remained on my desk until he called for it the next afternoon, Tuesday. Meanwhile Mr. Albee of the Keith-Proctor office had asked me to have Edna May Spooner put on a 'Devil* sketch. "I spoke to my daughter about this and she agreed to do so. Thereupon I called up Mr. Searle Dawley, who had produced a moving-picture arrangement of 'The Devil' for the Edison Manufactur- ing Company and had already in his pos- session a complete sketch, written for this purpose. I called him up over the telephone the same afternoon Mr. Ken- dall called for his manuscript. "Mr. Dawley came over to Brooklyn immediately, and together with Miss Spooner went to see both the Savage and Fiske productions of the play. They worked together on the sketch from then until Miss Spooner opened at Keith- Proctor's 126th Street Theatre. Mean- while I did not have anything to do with their work, did not have a word to say in its construction, and none of us ever spoke of Mr. Kendall's manuscript. Mr. Dawley and Miss Spooner did not see it. "It is absolutely impossible that any of Mr. Kendall's ideas w«re consciously used in the production of Mr. Dawley's adaptation. "On the night of Edna's opening I met Mr. Kendall in the 126th Street Theatre and on that occasion he told me that there was no similarity and that his sketch employed only three people. I am utterly at a loss to understand his public statements under the circum- stances." PRIZES FOR LOCAL MANAGERS. Wilmer & Vincent are offering prizes to their house managers in an effort to pro- mote friendly rivalry between the direct- ors of their seven vaudeville and two moving picture houses. This is the same scheme employed by the big railroad sys- tems in maintaining efficiency in the serv- ice. The traction concerns offer substan- tial cash prizes to the different section bosses. Wilmer & Vincent will put up cash prizes for several departments. One will go to the house manager whose establish- ment is kept in the best order; another to the one who returns the largest profit in proportion to the amount the firm has invested, and a third who evolves the most novel and effective advertising schemes. The prizes will all be awarded at the end of the season.