Variety (Apr 1938)

Wednesday, April 13, 1938 OUTDOORS VARIETY Ringling Bros^ Barnum & Bailey By JACK PULASKt The Big Show'is back in the hands of the Ringlings, the kin of the clan holding , the directorial reins, the most vahiable circus property in the ' world being handled by two young jnen—John Ringling North, ■ with Htnry (Buddy), jiis brother, a- chief of staff. The intelligence, industry iind alertness, of these courteous col- lege graduates should mean Vnuch to Ihe . outfit.' Innovations niade and others expected from, them' should count too in maintaining the popu- larity of til is type of aniusement. As for changes in complement .there Jiave been comparatively' few,, the Norths being wise in holding, those iikilled ' in operating the Ringling performance. If Gargantua, the gorilla, survives the sieasbn, 'The Terror,' as he is billed, should ensure a fortune to the show. Not that it is,the first time such an attraction has beeii with the. cir- cus, although not'in this generation, but never with the .showinanship of this presentation. The press given Gargy from -Sarasota was excepr tional, .starting the- build-iip..that made the animal the top feature Of the big top. There is no doubt about the fierce- jie.ss of the beast, and he is probably the toughest so and so that ever hit the lot. . As he was drawn twice around the track, Frank Buck talked about Gargy over the p. a. ' system. The large horse-drawn' glassrenclosed cage made frequent stops, the gorilla gazing at' the audience placidly enough. Painted white and excel- lently lighted, the'.only other Object .'in the cage was an automobile .tire,. Gargy's little plaything. They are faking no chances with the' animal catching pneumonia, the cage, being air-conditione^d and kept at an even temperafur?. 'Bring 'Em Back AIive' Buck is iti charge of the menagerie, making his first appearance atop an elephant in the .<ipec. His name is also new to the circus and is figured 'a draw. 'Under canvas -Gargy will .be a bjgger flash than how. Cage }s ' too big to go down the incline at the Garden, animals being, quartiered downstairs.' .On the lot the gorilla .will, be'in the menagerie, where a closer view can be had. Looks com- paratively .small to those'upstairs at the Garden. . < .Opening night at' Madison Square Garden: Friday (6) attendance was at l^ast double that of any debut in- doors here. That was partly account- ed for by the fact that the perform- ance was a memorial benefit for the late 'Dexter Fellows^ Show rah three hours and IS. minutes exiting at 12:30 with comparatively few walk-outs. Delays were mostly in the first hour, because wild animal 'acts iire'back In the show. Routin- ing will be improved. thi Spec, 'Nepal* It was decided to doll up the out- fit and for the first time in years a Broadway designer and costumer were called in. Opening procession is billed 'Nepal,' v/ith the/Oriental tone predominant. Cost of.'the new di°es.<:ing which extends through much of the show approaches $60,000. and looks it. Color and costliness of the spec was heightened by some unr usual sights, including, a tiger, led by. a chain. Animal was fractious and.the stunt is dangerous, although a lion al.<:o slated to be paraded was scratched. Liberal credits for the coslumers are given in the program, Charles LeMaire being the designer with the assistance of Mme. Sherri and Brooks Costume Co. executing the duds. Seven girl drum-majors in silver were at the head, of the spec, while shortly afterward the crowd giggled at the seven dwarfs—but no Snow White. Terrell Jacobs out of the Hagen- bcck-'Wallace show tops the wild ani- mal display operating with lions. He gets closer to the cats than mo.st train- ers, sitting astride one .at the finale. Jacobs is rated with! the very best ' among young animal trainers, and among' his novelties are a tight rope 'walking black leopard and a lion who does the same trick. Most eflec- live is the herding of lions side by Fide on their haunches. Dolli^' Jacobs, works with a single lion, rriadt to ride a padded horse. Palleoberg's Bears have some new stunts, the standout'being a prop motorcycle. "ThfeTequeStrian numbers-have-been' greatly strengthened, show having' the Loyal-Repenski and Critianis, the: two top riding family acts. .Latter come from the Barnes show arid the leap to t'he back of a circling horse by five of :.the men.at the same time i."; a rattling trick. One:Of the lattcr's back full twister from one horse to »nothcr. .Js also something. The Loyals, howeVer, have the showier turn and is spotted further down. One of the girls is doing a back som- mer.sauU while the two high back of her- brother is still a standout. The Riefltenach girl.<; ai-e out of the outfit nftipr a.dozen years. They're with-the Barnes trick. In the menage display Tamara Heyer ■caught all eyes with a polished alu- jninum eque.<;trichne cart hauled by —haughty—while-horee—Pr6sentT-i<K)r- ^'•e Rudy «ind Erna RudynofT. El|» Pi.Mdna jind Williiini Hpyer. Rudy ■ f^sniri took the center with bii lib ertiies. with Gordon Orton and Adolph Delbosq in the end rings. Wild west section is more diversified than heretofore, including Arlaynie Brown, the pistol shot; the knife throwing Gibsons; Chief Washington, the archery crack, while the Waites are again present. Riders and ropers are Frank and Beatrice Dean, Marco Bordello, Herna, Bobbie.Cropper, Art Bowdeh, Estelle Clark, Tom Cropper, Solbduhin troupe. ' Walter .Guice bar act ne'ver had a better break,' be- ing unopposed, and the turns went over better than formerly. • Newest tht-lller Newest, thriller is the turn ojt the Paroft Trio, working on/ladders atop an anchored pole which reaches close to ,the Garden girders. It. is the. only act in the show not scheduled to stick when it; goes under canvas because of the pole's height. The filers again featiire the Concellos.. Antionette is now doing, a triple s^nni- mersault which, she first accom- plished this winter but she misSed three times at the jpremiere and passed it. The triple is. the feat that forced, the late Afredo Caddna out of '■ the circus -V becausie of torn shoulde:' muscles, and iss Coh- cello's two and a half to a leg catch was . formerly just as effective. On the ends are the Flying Comets and the Randolls. ' Once , again the allenda. high 'wire act is a show stopper. It is spotted letter than ever and'went on at,. 12:15 on the fir.st night. The Grotofent turn on the other.- high line'has built up the' comedy feature so: much that the WaUendas pause while the clown does his seemingly dangerous stuff; -y , Ground acrobats have the Yacopis with Ivirtually no intentional mis.":. The Danvill troiipe: is out, replaced by the Magyars which feature a girl tbp-rno'unter who' is teetered to, a four high while blindfolded, The, Cahnestrellis, Maschinos and Uyneb troupes cbinplete the,display. - Naittb troupe with its two fine Eurasian girl tight rope athletes again takes the center as .a feature. Ala is be- coming the star of the turn with her forward sortier. ult, only credited to Con Colleano in the past. Nio does th,e, back. leap and a bit better per- former. An earlier mixed acrobatic display is featured! by the Maysy Brach dup and the Wen Hais and in- cludes the Spurgat<:, Keltans, Mika- dos, !Beartp and'Frederico. Harry- Ritteley is again with the show as are the Rooneys, Hartz.' Nelsons, Bells, Miradpr, ilans and Budahos. Working the elephants are Law- rence Davis with a head balancer, Erika Loyal, Bonnie and Gloria Hunt Perch and high aerial turns: Walkmir, Mile. Gillette, Dearo, An- taleks, Davisos, Terrance-'Victoria .duol Alf Loyal's dogs and :Tibor's seals ar^ fixtures. Norma Hughes and Miss' Heyer are working the jumping horses, lat- ter replacing the flashy Dorothy Herbert who has switched to the Barnes outfit, Ralph Clark with a two horse Roman leap. Margaret Gar- ner, Ann Hamilton, Lucille Panzer and Rene Trotter are in that section. There was a.straggling.finale.which will be tightened up. The cannon act: is out, so the chai iots ring down the show. Pacing the show ts the veteran director, Fred Bradna, with Pat Valdp the personnel boss. Bradna is on crutches h'aving broken his leg about two months ago but that did not keep him' front blowing the whistle at the side entrance as usual. Dexter Fellowt' Salary Late Dexter Fellow.^, dean of circus prfss agen , niight have commanded a . large , salary, but it was relatively mbderate. He insisted that he be paid. $i00 weekly iaiid not more, but that the Ringling, Barnum and Bai- ley outfit also defray his ex- pense.s, which he carefully tab- ulated. He left about $!>,000 'to his widow plus an insurance policy of $10,000, P.a.'s With the .big top have- joined the union' (TMAT) and, it is understood, the minimum salary i» $1S0 weekly. Socked Double Fee in Boiston Draw Poker Okayed At L A. Beach Resort; Stud a Legal Outcast Ocean Park, Calif., .April 12. While Los Angeles !Counly Grand Jury ' devoti its attentions to gannbling and vice conditions in L, A. city . proper, draw poker has been. legalized by the powers that be of this beach amusement resort subtirb, with a number of wide-open card spots currently flourishing. Stud poker, classified as gambling under .Call ia lawi is strictly taboo in the rOoms that haye mush- roonried .'alo'ng the shor but draw at SOc and '$l li nly tol-, erated. There.;are no house players or kitty takeoff, btit the players are assessed a dime every 20 minutes, or 15c each half hour, depen ing oh the size of the game. . Most of the places are Ibcated on the 'ground floor, with the patrons: visible from the.str t. Fehime play- ers 'are much in evidence at both th6 matinee, and night' sessions. ' In the 50c limit games mininium buy is $1 stack. In addition, to draw,, bridge and other legal card games, may be played, being optional with the play- ers. -t' FRISCO'S BIG ORDER Places ««Btraet for 9,*<N Flood Lights for Fair Use Studios Enter Floats In Shrine Pageant Hollywood, April 12. Major studios and other .film in- dustry enterprises, have,entered floats in the Motion Picture Electrical Pageant to be staged June 0 at the L., A. Coliseum.' Among the.-picture .concern? and Individuals who will participate in the display are 20th-F6x, Metro, Paranriount, RKO, 'Warners, Univer- sal, Fahchon &.MarcOi HarOld-Llpyd^ J. E; Br'ulatour, Leon Schlesslnger- Productions and ' Western Costume Co. Circus Notes Rolling white and gold.cage quar- tering Gargantua is number 98 in the outfit.. It' cost-more than $6.-000.; Under, the' driver's seat is a modern air - conditioning pilant and in ^the rear is a compartment for feeding purposes and when the cage is cleaned.' Only thing the gorilla is afraid of is a snake, which is pushed though a slit when the handler wants him to enter the rear.end of the cage. Gorilla's propensity for throwing things is no yth, an added reason, why the tage is sheathed in heavy glass. Balancer Sues Barnes Hugo Zacchlnl and his brother are out of the show with their cannon which formerly clo.«ed the perform- ance. Under.slo there was a dis- agreement about terms and the new manaigement let the cannon man take a walk. Jo.'ieph Mayer who .publ1.eKe.'> the prograni gave' a party at the Lin- coln hotel after the premiere. On display there were .some excellent enlargments of photos taken by- ax- well Fr eric Copl.in, specialist in circus.pictures. There are admirable color plates of Coplan'., work in, the program-including the laughing fuce of Chester the clown. Fred Bradna wn« oh (he way to pi'iifilable wlnfer when, lie broke hl.s Icy at Lansiiis, Mich., late in the I Los Angeles, America Olvera., balance trapeze artist, has filed suit against the Al G. Barne.s, Sells-Floto circus here for $51,000, alleging that she fell and sustained serious injuries while working with the show last Sept, 11. Accident occurred during the stand in Anthony, Kans. Barnes show winds up its playing time in the Southern California'area April 17 when it pitches at 'Ventura for an afternoon stand only. Tent outfit after seven days to better than average biz .in downtown Los Ah* geles, moved to Hollywood (II) for three days and nights. Combo plays Santa Monica (14) and Glendale (IS) to wind up its Los Angeles county dates, and then starts its northward trek. San Francisco, April 12. Order for 9,000 floodlights, large st single 'contract .of its RTncI eVtr made, has.been placed with General Electric by 1939 Golden Gate Inter- national. Exposition execs. Exterioi: illumination, diijected by J. E. Stan- ton, ill cost .around $500,000, Frisco fair will be the first major exposition to invite labor union par- .iicipation. 'Workers will sponsor special exhibits sho.wing-'how their specific skills, operate, with iron welders, fir.st to sign. Special days honoring individual unions also will be set aside. ! . Winner in . jil,()<)0" contesl to narhe \ .Fun Zone ill be announced before April >2l by committee headed by Judgei Goodell, Four hundred thousand entrants submitted .2Si0O0 different names, now trimmed to around 200. Barbary Coast was the most popular moiiicker, followed by Gay 'Way, Play Way, Gold Coast, Gold Rush, the Span and the Coast. Free admish to fair ground will be- guaranteed to any.one swi ing to Treasure Island—1.9 miles. 'Feat has been done already; by several. GETS 26,0(M) LINES FOR 200 OFF-DAY OAKLEYS what railes as the biggest publicity tie-up ever arranged for a circus (in a town which'is u.sually sewed up by rhotlon pictures) has been cbmv pleted by Sam Ward, p.a. for the Tim McCoy wild west show which opens'in the International Amphi- theatre on Thursday (14). Tie-up with, both Hearst papers,, the ; moriiing HeraM-and-Examirier and the evening American, gives the McCoy show, a total of 28,000 lines in four days, in exchange foi: 200 ducats which- are- to. be dlslribuled for Thursday and: Friday, both' of pretty Jbw value as far as show bu.siiiess ai^misslons ai^e"cbirc'erned;-:- Circus will: get a.box oh the" front page, an iniside quarter page an'cUan across-the-page Streamer in the classified section in both papers. Tie-up is a clas.siQed .section contest, with; contestants .searching through the ads for 50 words of wild we.st atmosphere. First 200 sending the correct listing of hiddci words gel the Oakleys. Reading B.ooks Show . . Reading, Pa., April 12. _ Reading Fair Association,, plan- ning,for fair week, Sept.. 11-18, con- tracted with Geprfje Hamid for a musical revue 11 staged nightly pn. the .stage in frpnt of the grand- stand'and every afternoon between heats, of horse races during the eri- I tire, fair week., | Cellin & Vi'lls T Co,, carnival out- i fit at'the fair for severiaj years, was i again given ,the midway .shows con- I tract. Oregon Quits N.Y. Fair The Governor of Oregon wired or- ders last week for the Oregon dele- gation to the N. Yi fair to quit after Thomas. F. .Gunn, vice-chairman of the Oregon Fair (iommi.ssion claimed that the fair management tried to change that state's desirable exhibit site. Oregon planned to spend $117.- OOO at the New York exposition and it was indicated that this would be spent at San Francisco's fair the same year. Oregonians apjjarently were peeved because the .site optioned to them had. been given to a' foreign nation. Boston, April 12. Showmen playing circus, rodeo and wrestling shows \yithin the cor- porate li its of Boston henceforth will unpur$e with double the fees Ot yesteryear, accprdipg to 'ah an- nouncement oj( license increases by Mayor Maurice J; Tobln, Wednes- day-.(tt)__— - Carnivals and beano gomes were marked lor increases.. ' "The big top is slated to -go $500 i stead ot $250, fpr the six-day, two- a-day. engagement skedded for the Boston Garden; :'week of May ,2., Tobin's special committee recom- mended a-$1,000 license fee, but.they settled for half that much. 'The cir- cus, however, under canvas was charged with a $1,00(1 fee. Rodeo promoters will be' greeted with ia $300 license bill when they come to the Garden In the Fall. Heretofore, charge has been $150. Beano tickets for churches and charitable, civic, educational, frater- nal, iand religious organizations which hold weekly beano, parties, also will be affected by an' increase from $2 to $5 a night v A :neVi; fee of $50 a daj^as been .scaled .for all carnivals held in the Hub. In addition the carnie-prpmn- ters must pay .(1 '.,day for each merry-go-round, ierris wheel and si ilar iittractlohs on which patrons pay to ride. Wrestling bouts iii audit iiims with a seating capacity ot over 12,000 will be billed at ISO per night, jumped ffpm $29. In halls -lesjs than 12,000 turn-stllers,, wrestling bouts will be run'at a $20 cost. Autpmoblle aiid other commercial, shows must pay a license fee of $25 a w^k instead of the former $10. The price of permits for a single day has jumped from $2 to $3, 'Entertainment licenses on Sunday for restaurants, hotels and clubs have en hyped from $3 to $5 a night Track ^eets, bicycle' and motor- cycle racies, skating carnivals will be affected also. At a recent meeting an attempt to increase the present fee of $1,(>()0 a year for Sunday baseball tickets at Fenway Park and Braves Field was defeated in 'the City Council, Coun- cillor Peter A. Murray of Jamaica Plain, wh p jadvpcated a . juinp tp %l.50O fpr tFe twp baseball, park.s, said his plan was not directed at baseball alone, but - at sports gen- erally. Okh. City's Aude HeM Losing {2,000 Monthly Oklahoma City, —Oklahoma. City's- new municipal auditorium, after 10 months' oper- ation, is skidding into the red at the rate of $2,000 a month, it's reported, Despite the fact this auditorium is one of the finest, and mp.st modern, in the Southwest, Its booking dates i arc too far apart, and the, city has I not as yet been educated tc its U.'-e. I Statement by several city bookers .' that they want more touring shows, ' but. the high b.p. tariff niakes it im- pos.sibIe to present any but top Minus a Monk , GharlPtle, N. C,, April 12. Jocltb', a baboon, escaped from Barnett Brothers circus at the York .w.inteE_quatters-.near-herer-iUiilJiei fore the show hit the rOad for the season. He is still at larg;, and the two monkeys that shared the cage with him are heartbroken. " Jocko used his tiisks and loo.sened boards in the floor pf his winter quarters tage. Since his escape he ha.s been reported in two encounters with humans, one of whom .shot ' him. Under Italian Skies winter. He .stepped into a co.'d hole i hidden by snow. The Ringling North brothers who will travel w ith thie show are Vale men, jpnn ra-iseTfTWeTffiri whtrcby- Ihe. family wai enabled'to recaiiture ' control Of the outfit,. CIRCUS ROUTES Week of April 11 Barnes-SellR-Floto. Pal<<:rvn<:lil. <'lillf., IK;' VIvmI) , Ki'*'.'no, aO: Slnt-klHii. .21; MniXlni'7.. iiftn JuKf, 'iH; SutiUi C'nix, Ml, Tlin MeCoy Wild Wtiii .itinrlinc Braj.-Barnum and Bailey • .N'cw Vor k. arch 29. One of main attractions at this years Florenti ay Festival is to be gi:cat open-air presentation of d'Annunzio's 'Figlia di- Jorio,' for Avhicb-^iovacchino-'FoTzatHrTs~m'alt;~ ing ^arrangements. Performance is to be in commemoralipn of d'Annun- zi in. his work, ir operas will be staged on argc scale during July and Au- gust in Rome, Milan, Verona, .Tri- este, Zara, 'Turin and Genoa. ,At the .saine time other cities—including Naples, Palermo, Siena and Bolgona -r.wlll have their outdoor opera, too, ugh not on .such a . large scale, utdopr .syinphony concerts .schcdded for-the summer in Rom Florence, Milan and Fiu^gl. There will be outdoor perform- ances of cla.ssic drama- and other play.s in the open air theatres o Vcnicc,_DiiUa,_CJjikbJxL_sUiri^ and a pi'csrnlation of cla.s.'^ic daniics irrtlii (lid Greek temples at I'ae.stum.