Variety (December 1908)

VARIETY ^RtETY A Variety Paper for Variety People. Psbltaaed vnej aatnday fey THE VARIETY PUBU8HINO CO. Knickerbocker ThMtre Banding. 1408 Broadway, New York Cltj. TtJepboo*-T^l 88th St. MnUft m tt o eacT o laa i wtmtter Dtommbmr 22, 1905, el th* Post OJloa el JTsw Tera, N. 7., mmdm- the ae$ of Oongrt— of March t, 1879. L0VDOW 0FJ10K, 411 ttr*»4 (l«« •). (OakU, "ftestes, Lcain.*') J. WMMMMMM, la «kut* savnivoaoo omes, 1111 Vam Mass Ave (Inb lit). para ornos, •slat Mite, KDWAXD O. 01T10B, Utter 4t» Uaica «, inm'i UBEABT. ai.»7':*i-#r-wK': , :::-iT SO ccnta an agate line. 93.80 aa lack. Oa« Doaa, $120; out-half page, 900; ons-quarter page. Okargaa for portralte faralakoO oa application. apodal rata bj the month for prof—looal card nnder heading "BapreaentaUre Artlate.*' AdTertlalng eopj ahonld bo received by Thnra- dar at noon to Inanre pnbllcatlon la current lerae. 89 BUBaOtXPTXO* BATtt. Annuel 94 Foreign 3 3 Is and three montha In proportion. Ingle copleo ten centa. VARIETY will be mailed to a permanent ad- dress or aa per roote. aa desired. Advertisements forwarded by mall must be ac- companied by remittance, made payable to Variety Publishing Co. Copyright, 1008, by Variety Publishing Co. VoL XII. DECEMBER 8. No. 13. The Hard Bros, will play for Morris commencing Dec. 14. Emma Carus opens at the Fulton, Brooklyn, Monday. Mollie Walsh commences an engage- ment under a Morris contract on Dec. 14. The Finneys play Morris' Fulton next week, closing at Shea's, Toronto, to-night (Saturday). R. G. Knowles will reappear at the Lin- coln Square a week from Monday, lie is expected to arrive to-morrow (Sunday). Hite and Donlin open in Chicago Jan. 11, with St. Louis, Cincinnati and Milwau- kee booked after. They are at Shea's, Buffalo, this week. Tom Gillen says the report that he would go to Australia is wrong. There is too much work ahead routed for him, says Mr. Gillen, who is now in the west. Lai la Selbini is now booked on the other side at $350 weekly. She never re- ceived over $300 weekly here. Miss Sel- bini is at the Berlin Wintergarten this month, billed aa "An American Girl." When Daisy Harcourt appears in Chi- cago on Monday next, she will sing two new songs, the lyrics for each having been written by Karl Tausig, son of the steam- ship agent. Frank Belknap composed the music. Dorando, the Italian runner, goes into training next week for his forthcoming Marathon race with Longboat, the Indian. It will be held at Madison Square Garden Dec. 15. Margaret Witt, of "The Singing Col- leens" is in an Auburn (N. Y.) hospital, having been taken suddenly ill while playing the town last week. The act will rest for about a month until Miss Witt recovers. The "Three Golden Graces" will hold over at Hammerstein's next week, the third. The act was booked and brought over here by B. Obermaycr. The "Five Golden Graces," another act, will play the Morris time. At the dinner to be tendered by the Friars to Oscar Hammerstein on Dec. 13 at the Astor, there will probably be three tables of prominent vaudeville men from the United and Western offices in the St. James Building. Harry Walters, the Hebrew comedian, has canceled his vaudeville engagements to play in "The Little Daughter of the Rich," the musical satire which opens at John J. Murdock's Olympic Music Hall, Chicago, Dec. 7. Hetty Urma, an English soubrette and character singer, is soon to make an American vaudeville appearance. She will be assisted by Roland Cnrter, former- ly in musical comedy. Pat Casey is handling the number. Sidney Drew is preparing "The Still Voice," a miniature problem playlet by George Cameron, for vaudeville. There will be seven people in the piece, headed by a prominent legitimate. The premiere will occur in about a month. It is stated at the United Offices that that agency has no headquarters for club bookings in Philadelphia. All private en- tertainments booked through the agency anywhere are taken in charge by its Club Department in the St. James Building. Hymack, the "chameleon," sails for New York Dec. 0 on the Teutonic, opening at P. G. Williams' Colonial Dec. 21 with an entirely new offering. The English nov- elty has been booked through the Mari- nelli office for twenty-five weeks on this side. Walter C. Kelly is routed solid up to May 3. During that week Mr. Kelly will return to England. P. F. Nash placed Mr. Kelly for twenty-five weeks over the United time within forty-eight hours after receiving his cable of acceptance from London. Ralph Johnstone, the bicyclist, broke his arm at the Orpheum, Yonkers, last Satur- day night, while performing a simple fancy trick. He will be unable to appear for about two weeks. The Morris time was offered Mr. Johnstone the day before the accident. ' Joe Welch in "The Peddler" is playing the Yorkville, New York, this week. The piece with Mr. Welch in it will travel to the Coast over the John Cort time in the northwest. Mr. Welch's reported closing with the show was caused through an open week, during which Mr. Welch wanted to play vaudeville. Jas. H. Cullen wrote Billy Jerome about an acrobatic act on the same bill with himself a couple of weeks ago. The audi- ence was silent during the time the turn was on the stage. Reaching the wings, one of the acrobats said: "That's a rot- ten audience out there. They must be all one-armed people." Carleton Macy and Maude Hall will leave for England February 1, opening on the 15th at Newcastle for a twelve weeks' trip over the Barassford Tour, booked through the William Morris office. Mr. Macy accepted a new sketch this week entitled "Stranded," by Porter Emerson Browne, who wrote "Freckles." Aimee Angeles (Mrs. George Considine) opened at the Garrick, Philadelphia, Mon- day night in "The Girls of Gottenburg," replacing Gertie Miller. Miss Miller sails home to England. A large party of New Yorkers journeyed over to Philadelphia to witness the opening, including the Hotel Metropole "regulars" in a body. Andy Gardner, principal comedian of Miner's "Bohemians," was taken ill sud- denly in Boston last week and removed to a private sanitarium, where he was opor- ated upon immediately. It will be two weeks or more before he will be able to rejoin the show. In that interval Eddie Johnson will substitue for him in the part of Patsy. May Leslie and Gertie Moyer commence their vaudeville trip at New Britain, Conn., next week. The "sister" act is under the direction of Max Sherman of the Casey Agency. List to what Max says about it: "There's some class to that act, kid. They are going to make the rest of the bunch fade, and I am the little old manager still." Harry Bissing now owns the automobile Frank Vincent was wont to skillfully guide through country lanes at top speed. Last week Mr. Bissing presented his "Gib- son Girl Review" in New York for the first time. This week the act is at Keeney's. On Monday it is expected the news will come out that Mr. Bissing has purchased the Times Building. A temporary injunction was granted against Flo Irwin using "Mrs. Pcckham's Carouse" by the Federal Court at Buffalo late last week. The application was en- tered by Kurt Eisfeldt, husband of May Irwin. The trial has been set down for Feb. 10, next. Until then Miss Flo, who was booked in the piece without a lapse, cannot appear in it. The claim is made that May Irwin gave the sketch to her sister originally, afterwards transferring the stage rights to her husband. Miss Flo returned to New York this week and put into rehearsal "The Suffragette," in which she opens at Rochester Dec. 7. There is a booking agent in New York with a name commencing with K. It is sometimes confusing to the laymen upon hearing the worldly wide-known name to see the young fellow who is at once taken for Mr. K.'s son. The impression is never known to have hurt him. Last week, while a show booked by him was being run off at Terrace Garden, he was intro- duced as "Mr. K." to some members of the Entertainment Committee. While conversing, someone in the hall stepped up and remarked to K. (calling him by his proper name), "How's the shirt waist business?" but a terrific kick in the shins broke up the conversation and the questioner. Wesley & Pincus were offering Am J. Jeff, "The Autocrat of Vaudeville," to the managers this week. Mr. Jeff works in blackface and was recommended to the agents by Arthur Rigby. On Mr. Jeff's letter-head he claims to be: "The champion singing and talking co- median of the world, bar none." "Slightly related to the champion pugilist of the world, but not so much that you could notice it." And Mr. Jeff says his "comedy is with- out suggestiveness, presented in black or white face in 'one,'" the "Comedian and Song Writer" adding "No props or centre door fancies for mine." Among the "big song hits" Mr. Jeff has listed on his cor- respondence sheets as written by himself arc "Roller Skating With Catherine" and "I Love You, You, You." "Follies of the Day" (Western Iturlcsqiic Wheel) bids fuir to break the record at the Columbia, lion ton, this week, accord- ing to a statement from Harney Gerard, Wednesday. Gerard declared for the three special nights (wrestling, a local charity benefit and the amateurs) the house was sold out far in advance. Gerard also takes occasion to deny a report of Larry Mc('ale's illness. H. A. Kotarts has just completed the protean sketch which will be the vehicle of his next American tour in all prob- ability. Mr. Roberts is due to open on this side early in Octolwr or November, UMJ0. The new sketch is called "Cruel Coppinger." The great English character actor is a man of many interests, hi the past year be has played two shows a night without a holiday, but still found time to deliver a lecture of lo.ooo words, wrote a four-act me1odraui;i ami directed its tour, ami entirely re<-oii»l rueted his present act. " Hinging the Changes." When Mr. Koberts \i^it* lit lie mav trv the scheme of changing hi- sketch once or twice il week ;i |>laii which he h«M Hue- ee^-fullv te-ti'ii in Knejaml. He sails for South Africa Dec. ."> ami will arrive >»t Johannesburg Christmas morning.