Variety (December 1908)

VARIETY EMPIRE CIRCUIT DIVIDEND. The Empire Circuit (Western Burlesque Wheel) will pay to its stockholders a quarterly dividend of 25 per cent, on Jan. 1. Tb?i fund will not be turned over, however, but will, by the consent of the beneficiaries, go into the construction of the New Casino, now being built in Flat- bush Avenue, Brooklyn. In lieu of pay- ment the stockholders will receive certifi- cates of indebtedness representing their dividends, each bearing six per cent, in- terest. The stockholders were unanimously will- ing to put the dividends to this use, be- cause the New Empire Theatre, in Will- iamsburg, now in its fourth month, having been tremendously successful, the bur- lesque men believe that there is a profit- able future before the Casino, which is to be ready for opening in February. The sources of the profits thus to be distributed are the burlesque houses and shows operated by the Empire Circuit as a corporation, the booking fee exacted from the houses owned by individual mem- bers of the corporation and the booking fees of the shows (said to be $26 a week each). Empire Circuit stock is reported to be quoted at $350 a share. Such a bid was made recently and refused. The rule of retaining dividends as a sort of sinking fund and undivided surplus makes this value. AN AMBITIOUS STAGE CREW. Chicago, Deo. 3. Sam Weinberg, treasurer at the Empire Theatre, has the "Salome" fever. Every Thursday night, which is given over to amateurs at the theatre, he ushers in an alleged "cooch" or "Salome" dancer with a view of inducing her to out-do the pre- vious reign of "wrigglers." On this particular evening the stage employes are active. The music is fur- nished by "props," better known as "Mother Colburn," and electrical effects by Alberta Trodson, "The Electrical Spark." The chief admirer is "Blutch," the dextrous and censorious "critic," who observes the performance from the "flies." When the amateur show commences Manager I. H. Herk is half way home- ward in his green automobile. He cannot be tempted to witness the "artistic" in- novation introduced by his ambitious stage crew. SHOW NEEDS FIXING. Chicago, Dec 3. Jack Burnett passed through here en route to Kansas City to look over first part and burlesque of Scribner's "Big Show." Mr. Scribner assigned Burnett to the task of reconstructing it. "THAT" QUARTET RETURNS. "That" Quartet (Pringle, Jones, Syl- vester and Redmond) returned to New York on Monday, having cut short their western trip. They say engagements at Milwaukee and Cincinnati were canceled for the reason, as they believe, that an offer of the Orpheum Circuit time, made through their agent, was declined, due to a promise to William Redmond, the tenor, that no fai western trip would be taken this season. Mr. Redmond recently became a father, and did not want to travel too fa* from his family. DEAL FELL THROUGH. It is pretty definitely understood that the negotiations wliich recently brought the Empire Circuit (Western Burlesque Wheel) officials to New York and which looked to the elimination of Albany from the Western Wheel route sheet in ex- change for the scratching of another opposition house in some other city by the Eastern crowd, have come to nothing. President Butler left the city several weeks ago, Rankin Jones followed a few days later, and now none of the out-of- town executives of the Empire are in the city. It is said that the Easterners made the first proposition, agreeing to leave the Western Wheel in undisputed possession of a town, name not known, in return for its retirement from Albany. When the two factions got together almost all the details were settled, but at the last min- ute the Easterners demanded that Troy be taken out as well as Albany. Negotia- tions were then declared off. $i VERDICT. A jury in the United States Circuit Court last Friday returned a verdict of one dollar in favor of the Sparrow Com- pany of Montreal in its suit for $100,000 damages against nineteen members of the old Traveling Managers' Association for losses alleged to have been suffered by the wholesale cancelling of shows about the time of the big split in the burlesque wheel. This is virtually a victory for the de- fendants, among whom were numbered a dozen or so Eastern Wheel managers. The $1 verdict came at the end of a week of testimony taking. It was the third trial of the case. The first ended in a disagree- ment; the second gave the plaintiff a nom- inal verdict of six cents, and the new trial just concluded was granted on the conten- tion that the damages given in the second trial were inadequate. It is very doubtful whether the case will be again revived. MUSJC HALL'S EMERGENCY SHOW. At Hurtig & Seamon's Harlem Music Hall this week "In Gay New York" is playing. It is Dan Mason's musical show, taken off the road for a week to fill in the blank at the music hall, caused by the regular wheel piece, "The Rialto Round- ers," due to return, not appearing. "The Rounders" opened its season at the Music Hall last month. The return engagement was avoided by the booking of the Mason show. Two extra vaudeville attractions have been added to the regular performance this week. LOUISVILLE'S OPENING IN JANUARY. Louisville, Dec. 3. The opening of the new Eastern Bur- lesque Wheel theatre here (Gayety) will not occur until sometime in January, ac- cording to the present outlook. More legal tangles, instigated, it is said, by the opposition, have been brought to the front. It has not delayed the build- ing operations to an appreciable extent, but the continuous legal complications piled up around the new building have tended to place the opening to a later date. BROADWAY ANGLING FOR "MAJESTICS." Chicago, Dee. 3. When Irwin's "Majesties" play the first engagement in New York this season—in about seven weeks—it will be with an augmented company. The show was given at the Star and Garter last week with more than fifty people on the stage. It is the intention of Mr. Irwin to bring to New York the largest organisation that ever played burlesque. Plans will probably be made to give the "Majesties" a showing on Broadway. Several theatres are being considered. The Star and Garter broke all previous records last week, playing to $6,239.95. XL© attraction was the "Majesties," a return engagement in ten weeks. The rec- ord until last week was held by "The Behman Show," which drew $6,165 to the box office last season, during the second week after the theatre opened. On Fri- day afternoon of last week there were 660 women in the audience, considered the largest number of females collected at one time in the history of burlesque. HOLIDAY WEEK RECEIPTS. Business took a big brace during last week (including Thanksgiving Day) ac- cording to the statement of several bur- lesque managers. In Boston the newly- opened Gaiety Theatre cut up $5,100 with Charles Waldron's "Trocaderos." Oppos- ing the Gaiety, Tom Miner's "Bohemians" had a profitable engagement despite the strong opposition. Glowing accounts come from other places. "Rents-Santley" broke the season's record at the Gayety, Phila- delphia, selling out several nights and dis- posing of stage aeats at $1.50 each. Harry Bryant's show is reported to have taken $5,000 in Baltimore, while "The Behman Show" got $5,300 in Washington. Last week seems to have been a good one all around. The three Ziegfeld com- panies, Anna Held ("Miss Innocence"), in Philadelphia; "Soul Kiss," Philadelphia, and "Follies of 1908" in Chicago, accord- ing to one authority, did an aggregate business of $47,000, the Anna Held play leading with $18,551 to its credit. BURLESQUE STOCK DISBANDS. Chicago, Dec. 3. The stock company organized to give burlesque at a theatre in Memphis, with Nat Fields and several others, has dis- banded. The management decided to close rather than sustain financial loss. Fields has joined "The Dainty Duchess" Co. ROBIE MAKES A MARK. Louis Robie's "Knickerbockers" broke the record of the Empire, Albany, on Thanksgiving, playing to $1,330.75 on the day. The matinee yielded $563.10. In the evening, $767.65 flowed into the box office. "The Knickerbockers" are back in New York (Olympic) this week, with three new comedians in the cast: Ward Caul- field, and Fields and Wooley. WILLIE DREW BUYS IN. Willie Drew, who was said last week to have retired from the burlesque busi- ness, is now back, having bought out, according to report, the interest in "The Wise Guy," held by J. Bolton Winpenny, the Philadelphia manager. AL REEVES NOT AT STAR. Although Al Reeves' "Beauty Show" is playing at Hyde & Behman's Star The- atre in Brooklyn this week, Mr. Reeves is not in the cast, nor is the show billed under the regular title. The billboards are calling it "The Broadway Celebrities." This is the name given to the organi- zation when playing the Olympic earlier in the season, and will be continued at the Gaiety, Brooklyn, next week, Hyde & Behman likewise operating those theatres. Mr. Reeves will not rejoin the show until it plays Philadelphia following the Gaiety week. The cause of the change in billing mat- ter and Mr. Reeves' absence from the Hyde Sl Beiiui»ii tucatrea date back to when the company played the Star last season. At that time some dissension or discus- sion arose between Richard Hyde, the senior member of the Hyde & Behman firm, and Reeves. No attempt to smooth over the trouble was made by the actor- manager, according to hearsay, and the slight breach then arising has since wid- ened until Mr. Hyde's edict that Reeves would not be allowed to appear in his theatres this season went into full force and effect. On Tuesday the Brooklyn Eagle car- ried a column account of the affair. The differences between Mr. Hyde and Mr. Reeves do not extend beyond themselves. SHOW TO BE REPAIRED. "The Runaway Girls," an Eastern Bur- lesque Wheel show, will be repaired shortly by order of the committee having the improvement of its burlesque in hand. FINE DOINGS AT TROC. Chicago, Dec. 3. There is a "ballyhoo" at the Trocadero (Eastern Burlesque Wheel). He stands near the box office, urging pedestrians to purchase tickets for the show inside. The methods would put Coney Island's crew of boosters to everlasting grief. His medicated bass voice can be heard at the Folly, across the street, an opposition house, but judging from the throngs at the latter place the "ballyhoo" is useless. Last week the "shouter" told the people what a good show "The Dainty Duchess" was. "The Troc" has the only "ballyhoo" among the burlesque theatres in the city. Without the sonorous voice of the indi- vidual there would be little, if anything, to attract the attention of the passer-by. The exterior of tho house itself is far from inviting. "DOCTORING" "DAINTY DUCHESS." Chicago, Deo. 3. Edward F. Rush, of Weber & Rush, was in the city last week doctoring "The Dainty Duchess," which played "The Troc." It is said Mr. Rush found it necessary to make many changes. He left with the company for Cincinnati, where the final alterations were to have been made. When "The Dainty Duchess" played Toledo, the News-Bee of that city said it was the most vulgar show which had ever appeared in the town. The mother of the Three Electric Clark Sisters died Nov. 27 in New York.