Variety (January 1909)

VARIETY OVER SEVENTY HOUSES BOOKING THROUGH UNITED Could Be Divided into Four Grades. The List of United Houses This Week. According to the list of houses pub- lished weekly by the United Booking Offices, with the program of each, there are over seventy vaudeville theatres open at the present moment with bills secured through the United Offices. With reference to the "grading" of the United houses, as announced a couple of weeks ago, a manager was asked this week to place the houses in the grades he thought the Executive Board would eventually fix upon if the move should be carried through. "In the statement which was given out," said the manager, "if I recollect, three grades were mentioned, but there must be a fourth one now with the addi- tion to the time the United is booking in the small towns. Most of this very small- est time comes under the heading of pic- ture shows. Then there is The Brother- hood Circuit, with small theatres located in the upper portion of New York State, fitff H* *nd Pennsylvania. I am not so well informed regarding this, but think it would belong in the fourth class, as it contains some picture houses among the thirty-five or forty on the circuit, all in little towns. "In arranging a list of this nature, you can't exactly place the Poll Circuit," con- tinued the manager. 'Toll always allies himself with the 'small managers,' but as a matter of fact, he plays some of the largest acts at the market price set by the New York houses, although of course, the Poli Circuit can not play a big act in all of its houses, nor can it give con- tinually a show to compare with New York. "In grading these houses, however, I should place Providence in the first class; also Syracuse, although the system has been to include both of these under the 'cut rate' heading. To me a house is a first-class house when it's on a paying basis with a capacity to compare with the largest at prices of admission about the same. If Cook's Opera House, Rochester, doesn't question the salary, I don't think Providence and Syracuse should, so bear this in mind when I read these towns off. Here they are: Allentown. THIRD GRADE. Lowell. Vow Bedford. Lynn. Lai Waterbury. WUmtafteav Brooklyn (Columbia). Union Hill. Tonkera and White Plain* (split). FOURTH GRADE. Cleveland (Grand). Hakanoy City. Pottevflle. Pittabnrv (Gaiety). Erie. "Have you noticed 'Schenectady* is not on the sheet? Go after that, boy; there's the dandy little story for you of the smoothest thing that has been pulled in the United Offices since the agency started." HELD HP RIVENHALL. Boston, Jan. 28. While Fred Rivenhall, the Australian singer, was playing the Orpheum Music Hall, Boston (Morris), last week he was served with attachment papers in a suit to recover commissions, brought by a New York booking agent. It appears that previous to accepting the Morris time, Rivenhall had agreed to take twenty weeks on the Sullivan-Con- sidine Circuit. When the independent cir- cuit made him a more attractive offer, he declares he at once advised the agent to that effect, giving him a month's notice of his intention not to play the Sullivan- Considine contracts. The attachment was raised by the filing of a bond, and Rivenhall left Boston Sunday. MTXmOUGH FOLLOWS DE ANGELIS. The vaudeville tour of Jefferson De An- gelis will come to an end the week of Feb. 25 at the 126th Street Theatre. Shortly after Mr. De Angelis will appear in a musical comedy under the Shubert management to be called "The Beauty Show." Following his departure from the com- edy sketch, Harry McDonough, who suc- ceeded to De Angelis' role in 'Tantana" and other pieces, will replace him in the twenty-minute piece. Ralph Post and Ed- . die Russell will continue in the support, and the act will be further booked by William L. Lykens. SCRANTON HAS ANOTHER. After being for some time dark, the Star, Scranton, Pa., has come to life again. This was the house formerly given over to burlesque under the management of Alf G. Herrington. The new lessees are Lewis & Polock, who have a booking agency in the Gayety Theatre Building, New York. They book their own attractions, sending eight vaudeville numbers weekly to Scranton. In addition to the vaudeville there is a nightly "athletic carnival," with boxing and wrestling bouts as the features. The firm has entirely renovated the place, redecorating the interior and put- ting in new seats. It opposes Poli's, in the same city. CURTIS, DENVER OPENS. Denver, Jan. 88. The Curtis Theatre opened Monday, playing "White Rat" acts under the man- agement of Pelton & Smutser. Three or four shows daily are given with prices of admission ten and twenty cents. This is the first of the proposed Pelton & Smutzer circuit to be booked through the White Rats agency at Chicago. The opening bill contained the six fol- lowing acts: Three Sadas, Frank and True Rice, Misses Patrick and West, Adonis and his dog, Claude Markiey and Thelma Karlton, a "woman of mystery." HOLDING "JEFF" THREE WEEKS. San Fr an c toe o, Jan. 28. The engagement of Jim Jeffries at the Wigwam will probably be extended to three weeks, notwithstanding the reported price of $3,000 weekly. TALK OF HOLLIDAY STREET. Since the first intimation was made last week that the Empire Circuit Com- pany might rebuild its Baltimore house, the plan has been advanced that the bur lesque shows be moved from the New Monumental to the Holliday Street Theatre. This house is the property of George Rife, director in the Empire Circuit. It is a modern theatre with sufficient capacity to play burlesque at a profit. Previously it was used as a stand for Stair ft Havlin melodramas, but since the slump in that class of attractions, has been devoted to a moving picture exhibition. WILSHIN WITH MYERS. Last Monday Charles Wilshin, formerly of the William Morris office, became the general manager of B. A. Myers' booking agency. Mr. Wilshin has been with the Morris concern for a number of years. When Wilshin entered upon his duties, he discovered that Mr. Myers' pretty ste- nographer, Sadie Folly, has been "fired" the previous Saturday. Miss Folly "fired" herself in order to prepare for the nuptial ceremony to occur Feb. 17, when the young woman will become Mrs. Charles Wilshin. The Mrs. Wilshin to be is fully acquainted with the "show business," and Charlie is already being informed by his friends "what a chance" he will have of offering Sadie an excuse for "getting-out-a night" without her after the marriage. Charlie swears now that he will never want to. COSTLY PICTURE SHOW. If S. Lubin, the Philadelphia moving picture man, continues as he is going now, his big Market Street theatre will soon develop into opposition to the es- tablished vaudeville theatres of the Quaker City. Lubin's is now booking in seven vaude- ville acts. Last week the feature was a troupe of seals for which Lubin paid $700. In addition to this he increased his orchestra from a piano and a few musi- cians to an organization of nine. NEW PIECES OPENING. Chicago, Jan. 28. The new musical comedies intended for a Chicago run at the Princess and La Salle will open out of town. "The Prince of To-night" will make its first public bow at Milwaukee this com- ing Sunday, remaining there all week, en- tering the Princess Feb. 7. "The Golden Girl" will follow the same route a week later, opening at the La Salle Feb. 14. ADDITIONS TO STOCK COMPANY. Chicago, Jan. 28. Winona Winter, Harry Tighe and Will- iam Robinson have been added to the La Salle Theatre Stock Company, which will present "The Golden Girl" in a week or two. .Miss Winter and Mr. Tighe are vaudevillians,'«nd Mr. Robinson was for- merly connected with the La Salle shows, the last "The Girl Question." TAKING IN SOUTHERN TOWNS. Chicago, Jan. 28. The Greater Charlotte Amusement Co. of Charlotte, N. C, has opened the Alamo in that city, and the Lyric, Athens, Ga.; also new houses at Biloxi, Miss., and Apa- lachicola, Fla. Sam Du Vrles, of Chicago, places the acts. The Dallas (Texas) branch of Mr. Du Vries, who books for a large number of theatres in the south, opened recently with John Dickey in charge. The office has ten theatres on the list and expects to secure twenty-five before the end of the season. An effort will probably be made to ab- sorb the independents who book out of Atlanta, or arrange to combine in order to avoid conflicts in cities where both are represented. BENEFIT FOR SHORT RIDE. Chicago, Jan. 28. Jack Leonard, manager of the Majestic, Chicago Heights, HI., disappeared suddenly one day last week, after paying salaries to the acts on the bill, leaving behind obligations to attaches of the house, and others in that suburb. The theatre employes arranged a bene- fit to raise sufficient funds to take them to Chicago. The fare from Chicago Heights to Chi- cago is about 30 cents per capita. COAXING BUSINESS. There are nine acts playing at the 126th Street Keith-Proctor house this week, the show opening at 8 o'clock (in- stead of 8:15) and running until 11. For next week an unusual collection of features has been announced, including Eva Tanguay, 'The Naked Truth," "Awake at the Switch," Bobby North, Monroe and Mack, Barry and Wolford and three others. MR. ALLEN SAYS Erie, Pa., Jan. 80. James D. Allen, manager and proprietor of the Star Theatre, says he has in con- templation the building of a modern vaudeville playhouse in Erie, to have a seating capacity of from 1,200 to 1,500, and to be finished by autumn. Olga Desmond, a French singing and dancing soubret, Is said to have become somewhat of a rage in Berlin, where she is playing at the Wintergarten. When she has finished European contracts already en- tered into, Marinelli will offer her for this side.