Variety (Mar 1936)

Wednesday, Mar ch 25, 1936 VAIIDEVli ■_ E VARIETY Hood Damage Shuts Pittsburgh's 2 Vaude Houses Indef—An let of God' According to reports in New York, will be several weeks before, Pittsburgh's two stage show houses, Warners Stanley and Johnny Har- ms' Alvln. will be reopened. Both theatres were considerably damaged by the flood. . Alvln plays urtit now 'n' then, but ♦he Stanley has been consistently lifllrie names and attractions, Seclally bands. The Warner house g P jointly booked, by WB and Loew's, the theatre being operated ,ln * pooling agreement with Loew's Fenn, straight. fllmer; At one time last week the depth of'the water In the Alvln and Stan- ley theatres reached between 30 and 40 feet, Inundating the backstage dressing rooms as well .as the thea- tres*" fronts. There was no stage Bhow at the Alvln, hut Xavler Cugat's orchestra was necessarily cancelled out of the Stanley after playing four days of the week's, en- gagement, Theatres are not responsible for actors' salaries in the event of floods because 6f the 'act of God' clause in standard contracts. Edwards Wants a Name For Showindow' Start; Stage Nat at $10,000 Gus Edwards is still oh the hunt for a name m.c. for his first two-a flay straight-yaude show at the Broadway Showindow, N; Y., sched tiled' to open April 12. In the event he can't get a name, there'll' be. a postponement in the. opening date Both Milton Berle and Benhy Fields were approached by Edwards last week to head the first show, but turned it - down,- Edwards is now dickering for either Ken Mur ray or George Jessel. None of the standard acts for - the revue-type of show has been set as yet, though Edwards says he has picked several 'new faces.' Clark Robinson will design the scenery and Bill Powers will stage the -dances. Gene Conrad has been engaged to write sketches. Ed- wards states that' the nut of the stage end of the theatre will be kept ■under $10,000 a week. ; To Double in London Corlnna Mur , currently at the Waldorf-Astoria, N. Y., goes to Lon- don in two weeks for an engage- ment at the Dorchester House. She's also pacted for singing at the Pal- ladium. She'll be gone four weeks. STRAIGHT FIX AT CHI PALACE Chicago, March 24. It was about decided last week to continue the Palace here as a straight flicker spot even after 'Follow the Fleet' (RKO) has gone, Plans are now to run the following pictures without vaude: 'Sutter's Gold,' 'Love Before Breakfast'* and 'Showboat,' all. Universal releases and all available for immediate showing. House staff received a number of yelps from the patrons on the dis continuance of vaude and there have been many refunds made., '' Business on 'Fleet' without vaude at the Palace was a disappointment to RKO.. Had expected a record gross due to its eight turnovers daily, but the gross of $28,000 on its first week was far under 'Roberta' and 'Top HaV which turned in bet ter than $36,000 On their first weeks with vaude. However, the loss in gross was made up in the net re- sults due to the lessened operating- cost. Retention of the straight film pol Icy at the Palace depends wholly on the strength of picture product available. Should strong pictures continue, the house will stick with all-Aim policy and return to vaude when product fails to hold up on its own. 15 YEARS AGO • rom Variety ayid Clipper) Burlesque houses, which had reached the tops the previous sea- son, now planning early closings because of the depression. Only, six in black. Old Mad. Sq. Garden started work on a swimming pool for sum- mer season. Made a hit when opened. 15 Nifty Weeks at Fancy Coin Available to Radio-Film Names, But Vaud Just Can t Find 'Em Harry Raver wrote Variety that roadshow share on 'Cabiria' had been $463,560150, Subsequents got $165,700, or a total of $629,260.50 oh the American showings, Italian with the giant Macciste the feature. Herseys to Shanghai Seattle, March 24. Edith and Betty Hersey sail from here April 3 for Shanghai. Upon arrival they open at the Cathay hotel there; John D. Williams won. a $12,500 verdict against H. B. Warner for walking out- on 'Sleeping Partners.' Usually It was the other way round. Sam Harris tried out a play at a midweek matinee, liked it, and put it back on ice for the fall. Actors ganged up on Ethel Barry- more. Asked Equity for salaries during five-week layoff due to her illness. Buck and Bubbles replaced Tem- pest and Sunshine at the. N. Y. Pal- ace. Sunshine was ill. Marx Brothers held over, and still a wow, Billy B. Van and Jim Corbett topping the bill at the Hamilton, N. Y. Before Van went soap. Pauline Frederick to be starred by Al Woods in the fall. Just signed the contract. Pat Rooney in N Y. police court because he permitted Pat III to make a brief appearance at one performance of 'The Love Birds.' Got off with a warning. Just Pat, Jr., then. Hadn't thought of the ritzy three eyes. ELIDA BALLET IN LOEW'S WASH. SPECIAL SHOW Loew's is spotting a special show into the Fox, Washington, the week of April 10 (Eastfer Week), with Everett Marshall, Patricia Bowman and Yascha Bunchuk heading a specially produced unit. Other acts will be Enrico and N/ovello and the Elida Ballet, comprising 12 girls. Elida Ballet is currently at Para- mount's Metropolian, Boston, where Jt originally opehed for one week and 1s now winding up a two-and- arhalf years' stay. It is directed by Betty Friedman, who continues at the Hub theatre. • In the event the Elida Ballet con- tinues on the outside after the Washington date, where it is op- tioned for two- weeks, Miss Fried- man will set another troupe for the ■ Boston house, which is dropping the ballet temporarily because of a string of unit bookings. Charles Yates is agenting the troupe. Sen. Murphy Rebooked In Eng. for 20 Wks. Senator Murphy returns to Lon- don April 4 to open on the 13th at the Holburn Empire. General The- atres has him set for 20 weeks over there. It wlill be Murphy's sixth Eu- ropean vaude trip in five years. He returned to the TJ. S. last fall and is currently at the Roxy, New York. Charles Tucker, Murphy's British agent, set the latest return. Tiixie Friganza heading the show at the Chicago Majestic. Holding her own. 50 YEARS AGO (From Clipper). Circus season neared and Clipper marked the fact by splitting the circus from the variety news. Sure sign of spring.' Polly Holmes was wowing 'en* singing 'Our Firemen Should Not be Forgot.' N. Y.-Paris Small troupe playing 'Mikado' in vaded Boston. John Stetson hired away the leader and the show was played by two pianos and an organ Smashed biz. (Continued from page 1) graph and player piano have been relegated to the horse and buggy era, ASCAP declared sales of. sheet niusic, records, and rolls has fallen off 80% due to ether • competition, living force to its argument that broadcasters should pay through the nose, the Society appended follow- ing figures showing the drop In revenues: Sheet music flopped from $17,- «b.7l5,in 1927 to $2,340,723 In 1933. Mechanical royalties from popu- lar music toboganned from $638,380 m 1924 (peak was $936,224 in 1926) W ?al,770 ih 1933. r Mechanical royalties from stand- vSx T U » C 6kldd ed from $27,701 in -^24 to $3,345 in' 1033. iSiwHf of musI cal stage produc.-: Wnfi' fell from 68 in 1920-21 season derHn." 1 , 1933 -H with 'hit shows' declining from 26 to 8. (Continued from page 1) it was served before three and you couldn't drink it quick enough, see?' So the more it changes, the more it's the same thing, as the French say. It's the same great town it used to be. But there's been one real shift. I went from New York to Paris, and In the meanwhile a hunk, of Paris came over to New YOrk. And I don't mean the French Casino, either. Cliff Fischer, George Boronski and Le Seyeux fix up these shows in Paris, not like the shows are there, but like Broadway thinks they ought to be. There's more in them from Budapest and Warsaw and Vienna than from Paris. More of the real Paris is to be found in Leon and Eddie's. That's a real New York spot. It's got the intimate free-and-easy, say-what- you-please and if-they-blush-as In Chicago Clara Beck, described as 'a three dollar actress,' in German stock company, was suing her husband for divorce. He got $10. Ted Solomon premiered his 'Pepita or the Glass Eyes' to which Alfred Thompson had. supplied the book In spite of the fact it had Lillian Russell and Chauhcey Olcott in the cast, it was a flop. 15G IN Pin. FLOOD Pittsburgh, March 24. Xavler Cugat and his band lost about $10,000 worth of instruments and around $5,000 in personal _be- longlngs here when the big flood washed out the Stanley, where the orchestra was- appearing, for a week's engagement. Cugat's own $5,000 violin was saved, however, when Bill Beck, assistant manager of the house, waded into the lead- er's second-floor dressing room and removed the fiddle to safety. As a result Of these losses, Cugat was forced to cancel this week, in Buffalo, although he intends to fill a three-day auto show engagement there. He intends to buy enough instrument replacements there to tide him over until his men can get new supplies. One of the. few theatrical trouper to get out of town during the flood siege, Cugat managed to charter a bus on Friday (20) to transport his company to Buffalo. The Duke Ellington and Mills Blue Rhythm bands, playing dance dates In the territory, were' tied up by the Pittsburgh flood. Boucicaulfs 'The Jilt' had been a hit in Boston but N.S.H. in N. Y. Racing drama that did well enough on the road, and was revived. About the. first to feature a girl jockey, though the race was" not shown whom but merely described. Then she rode on. Plumber fined $20 when he knocked down an usher at Nlblo's who was trying to make him take off his hat. Rule was that caps were okay in gallery but not hats. They came off when the 'post' rapped—or else. Barnum haying trouble getting 'Alice,' Jumbo's mate out of Eng- Lilli Lehman bo.unced as court .•••.inger in Berlin, She overstayed her leave to sing at the Met. More profitable. they-laugh, they like it better spirit land but promised she would ap which is the Parisian's idea of fun. pear. Also had Jumbo s skeleton. The wall ( 1 ecorations, the somewhat bawdy murals are like what you might'find in a Parisian spot, only funnier, fur the most part. Eddie's songs are 100% .American, but the spirit of them is pure Paris, like the stuff the best of the French songsters do. Fast, shady humor. You couldn't find that in New York. And when a young lady, an- nounced as a Chinese girl, came out without a bra and with very little else and did an undulating hip swing all saturated with hmmmmrn, then 1 knew I was in my home town. Both ot them. Fields, Pressed By Nitery, Radio, Nixes $1,750 Vaude Offer Benny Fields turned down $1,750 from Loew's State on Broadway, finding, it impossible, to .do. so majiy shows, particularly on Saturday. He has a midday matinee show at the Hollywood cabaret-restaurant, dinner show at the nitery, rehear- sals in between for that night's 'Ziegfeid Follies' broadcast, which goes on the air at 8 p. m., and then there's a re-broadcast. Besides there's the usual midnight show, at the nite club. Loew's State plays five shows Saturdays, which would make it too severe a schedule for Fields. With the shortage of stage and radio attractions available for vaudeville becoming more and more acute, picture names of box .oflty potentialities can reap a. harvest currently with personal appearance tours. The major circuits, Loew's, Paramount, RKO and Warners, have a total of 15 full weeks In large capacity theatres in key spots which are able to play acts in the high salary brackets. Qf the 15 theatres, however, only 12 are placable for a name in one season inasmuch as the circuits are. competitive in three of the key towns. Loew's and Warners both play stage, shows in Washington; Loew's and. Paramount book thea^ tres in Detroit, while RKO and Par- amount are .competing for stage at- tractions in Boston. Latest picture names made avail- able for stage bookings are John Barrymore, teamed with Elaine Barrle, and lissa. Land!. The Barrymore-Barrie p.a., ' which will i>e a sketch, has been .tentatively set for the Chicago, Chicago, April io, and the Hipp,. Baltimore, the week following at $7,500 net. Wil- liam Morris office is agenting Bar- rympre's p.a/s. Miss Landl, agent- ed by the Charles Morrison office, is seeking $5,000 weekly. , RKO Producing Its Own Shortage of b.o. stage shows has- forced RKO, for one, into again producing" shows. . Its 'Follies Comique' opened Friday (20)> . in Boston, the circuit putting up all the necessary coin for the staging Job by Macklln MegleyV This unit, containing a cast of over 70, is costing the RKO houses close to $8,000 weekly. The orchestra field has been thor- oughly scoured in the past few months by the vaude booking offices in search of b.o. acts, with the re- sult that, most of the name bands available for stage, dates have been exhausted for another six 'months at least. Paramount has leaned heaviest on band bookings, due to the fact there's so little else avail- able in b. o. acts and because or- chestras are the • only type of en- tertainment that .fits the pit show policy of the Paramount, -N. Y. Saraoac Lake By Chris Hagcdorn LV>s Moines organizing a society to fight nudity on the billboards. Chronic. Dan Sully was playing Cincinnati St. Patrick's Day, so he bought a new topper and turneu out in the parade. JTe,iry E. Dix^y li:&d»ru a contin- gent frori N. Y. to play an .Elk's Harry Gordon won the domino title from Armand Monte. Bobby Merrick to bed with high temperature. Joe (WB) DabroWskl in general hospital for a sinus operation. Ben Schaeffer up and. around again after a slight cold. Dickie. Moore up to see San's film show for the second time during the last year; Geo. (WB) Wicks is getting hi okay health report to leave arounc April 1. Ditto Oscar Davis. Bert Ford (Ford and Price) to N. Y. for the christening of his grandson—a grandpa at 38. Garry Sitgreavos back at the Lodge to continue his curing routine after .a 10 day stay in N; Y., visit- ing wife, who was ill. Brian Tracy is new .arrival. Was assistant manager and treasurer of several RKO houses. Saranac hotel's St. Patrick's Day Ball was attended by 500 people. Write to those you know at Saranac. BENHY UNIT CUT $4,000 IN BALTO Baltimore, March 24. The Jack Benny unit, current at Loew's Century here, is taking a $4,000 cut for the engagement. Had. been booked in at $12,500 net, but agreed'on $8,500 net for this week. Aside from Benny, irt the unit are Mary Livingston, Georges" Me- taxa, Liazeed Arabs, Chicken Sis- ters and the Stuart-Morgan dancers. EDGAR ALLEN ARRESTED Astoria Truck Driver Says He Gave Him $300 to Promote Job benefit in Wash in ton' March 17. Back in time f'.T the show that evening. Edgar Allen, who surrendered last week'after a warrant for his arrest had: been issued, will be arraigned tomorrow "(Thursday) in West. Side Court, New York, on charges that he took $300 from William Pollack, truck driver of Astoria, J. I., allegedly to get him a job as fore- man in the Sanitation Department. When the job failed to develop, Pollack obtained a summons, for Allen,, with Magistrate Hulen Hap- shaw issuing a warrant for Allen's arrest when he did not appear, in court. Detective Dave Smith was assigned to bring him in, but was unable to locate the producer-agent. At 347 W. 55th street,-where Allen lives.with his wife and child, Smith- was told Allen was. out of town. Last Thursday (19) Allen walked Into court alone and obtained an adjournment. He was released in a $50 cash bond after spending a couple of hours in Jail. He claimed he bad been irt Philadelphia on business and did not .learn of the warrant till *hls return, According to the^i&ck driver la search of a forirrta'nship, he met AHe'n thi-mi&h a friend's introduce tlon.