Variety (Jul 1939)

40 VARIETY LEGITIMATE Wednesday, July 19, 1939 Equity Now Likely to Scale Down Minimum Salaries at Worlds Fair Revision of -worldng conditions, ■which would lower the minimum salaries at the New York World's Fair for those attractions over which Equity assumed jurisdiction, was ib- dicated by the action of the assO' ciation's council ; Latter has finally heeded clainis that the shows cannot operate under the conditions im- posed. The Shakespearean tab dlS' continued Saturday (15): manage- ment of 'Hot Mikado' avers it cannot regain any of its red, while 'Rail roads on Parade' has been-piling up a deficit ever since opening. That Equity ever should have stepped into the Fair situation was questioned from the start by some Equity leaders, and only after the big. show opened was there an ia clination to pass up concession at tractions. Had others been- placed under Equity rules, there would have been more protests than now faced. Insistence in. the council by certain, n-iembers originally led to th~ adoption of the questioned work ing conditions. It was expected that the Fair would siflord bonanza for actors and it was argued that they should take full advantage of the windfall. With the midway period of the summer re&ched, it has become clear tbi.t the Fair's draw is away under expectations, and, after reducing parking fees, the managemeiit is now considering lowering the admission tap at the behest of both exhibitors and concessionaires. With the WPA Torctng out a material portion of the' membership. Equity realizes its troubles will increase if more Fair shows suspend. ° ' Reverses ItSvU Last week the council turned down a fresh application to change the overtime rate for Sundays at the Fair, then virtually reversed itself. The conunittee on working condi- tions was augmented and on Sunday (16) went to the Fair and huddled with che 'Railroads' company, which had been adamant on keeping up the scale. Show, has been losbig $1,000 per day. Some saving has been accomplished by eliminating the night performances, thereby cut- ting the crew, especially electrl clans. With the late shows out, a change in the pay scales was thought to be logical. The 'Mikado' management again went before the council and said that it cannot pay off at the Hall of Music, unless time and a half fot the chorus is dropped. Claimed that the show is $80,'000 in the red and requires $14,500 yireekly to operate. Management was told to furnish a statement of the show's finances and that data was • laced before the com- mittee early this week. It was pointed out that the colored chorUters with 'Mikado' are getting $5'' under Equity rules, while those in the Aquacade are paid only $35 although required to play at least seven more performances weekly, ■ There, are a numbei of Chorus Equity people in the Aquacade ouU fit and they have been outspoken in declaring the difference in the mini- mum to be inequitable. The two attractions demonstrate the incon. sistencies of the so-called jurisdic- tional claims of two actor unions Mikado' being under.Equity rules and the Aquacade coming under the American Federation of Actors. Another variance is .noted at Little Old New York, where a simulated oMtime revue is the main show at traction. Performance is classified as vaudeville, but it is reported that some of the principals who are Equityites are getUng less pay than the choristers in shows under the Equity rules. Business within this rtajor concession has been disap- pointing and a number of let-outs reported. TALENT HUNT ENDS Nell Back to Ainssle '200 Acts With Over Sydney, July 1. Frank Neil, managing director of Tivoli Theatres, back here from Lon- don per flying-boat. States that he had booked some 200 U.S. and British acts for dates'liere aiid Melbourne.' Top . maniuee names include Qedrge Robey, Stanley. Holloway and Mills Bros. Corrent Roadshows (Week of July 17) 'Ladles and Gentlemen' (Helen Hayes, Herbert Marshall)—Curran, San Francisco. 'My Dear Children' (John Barry- more)—Selwyn, Chicago. Tobacco Boad'-rGeary, San Fran- cisco.- ■Whlteoaks' (Ethel Barrymore)— Maplewood .(N. J.) playhouse. <Womea'—Brighton, . Brighton Beach, L. I. . TMATFACnONS ARRANGEPEACE The feud between the so-called Broadway press agents and.-the road advance men groups in the Theatri- cal Managers, Agents and Treasurers Union, appears to be over. Plan to merge the factions last winter was discarded prior to the recent elec- tion, when disputes arose. Recently overtures were mutually acceptable and a single p.a. group is virtually set. Supposed issue of multiplicity of jobs has been dissipated and any agent may accept publicity berths for as many shows as he can handle. Contest over that principle was found to be futile because of TMAT's constitutional.^ provision stipulating that only a two-thirds majority vote of any group can change working conditions. Union, as a whole, can- not effect such changes. Tenure of employment is another issue that the two groups have agreed to drop. Road men sought a rule that if any agent' went in advance for a try-out, he must be retained for the. Broadway engagement It was pointed out that such a regula- tion could be evaded.' It is the in- tention of the combined p.a.'s to seei more road jobs. That may be accom- plished by having producers agree to send two agents in advance of tour- ing attractions. Along that line it may be suggested that while the first man receive $150 weekly, scale for the second man be $100. . The groups are known as the New Yo'rk press agents and the press agents group number one, consisting of road men. Each is drawing up a code, which will be combined when TlREFLr GETS H500 OPEN-AIR ST. L PREEM St. Louis, July 18. .'Firefly,' the Rudolf Friml-Otto Harbach success, shown here in 1920 and 1924,. returned for a week stand to the Municipal theatre's al fresco playhouse in Forest Park last night (Monday) In a modernized version, but retataiing all of the old song suc- cesses. Swell, weather, plus big names in cast and fine bally, brought an opening'night mob that overflowed temporary benches and onto the lawn and grossed approxi- mately $4,500. . Rosemar^e Brancato, Kansas City coloratura $oprano, making debut In openi air theatre .in role of- Nina, is a smash along with Hazel Hayes, star in 'Queen High* and 'Waltz Dream,' and Helen Raymond, co- medienne, who. also is making first bow of season here. Robert K. Shafer, who scored vi^ith his war- bling stints in 'Katinka' and 'Waltz Dream,' repeats, as does, the di- minutive William Lynn, Doris Pat- ston and BiUy Taylor. The dance trio,. Harris,' Claire and Shannon, seen twice here In 1934, return an4 continue success with, sock routines. With half' of season completed, open air. house, has attracted ap- proximately .365,000 customers and with continued good weather last season's record should be smashed. 'On Your Toes' completed week's run Suhday (16) grossing approxi- mately. $3S,000 for fine biz. Cooler weather toward end of run helped overcome b.o. sluggishness occa- sioned by near equatorial tempera- ture on several nights. Piece at- tracted 63,000, 10,000 more than turned out for ICatinka.' Inside Stuf-Legit ManagemenU of Broadway shows are now covering the Newark nano,-, with ads and publicity, a policy they've never before tried. Theatre Guiw Is adyertislng its 'The Philadelphia Story,' Shubert. N. Y, in all five sheett once or twice weekly. whUe the Playwrights Co. and Herman Shumlin are plugging their respective 'Abe Lincoln in lUinois,' Plymouth. N Y ann The Little Foxes,' National, N. Y., in the Evening News daily and Sunday As a result, the News Is understood contemplating the addiUon of critio and drama editor to its staff with the start of the legit season in the fall Other sheets, which have covered Broadway legit for several seasons are expanding their coverage. ' ® the groups are fused. Managers will be tendered lists of all p.a.'s avail- able from time to time, with no des- ignation whether they are, or were, identified with either of the present groups. Robia Hood Dell Signed • ■ Philadelphia, July 18. Theatrical Managers, Agents and Treasurers' union has signed' an agreement with Robin Hood Dell, scene of al fresco summer Phllly Ortfh concerts,' for a closed shop in the ticket booths. Three men' are employed there. . Organization will meet this week to decide on whether to stait picket-' in,j midget auto races at Frankford Yellow Jacket' field. Union charges that Manager WaUy Secrist refuses to hire its men because family and friends are employed In the booths. Confabs with Academy of Music execs are expected to iron out by start of fall season the failure to use TMAT men at the ducat windows, which almost resulted in picketing the big concert hall last season. Durmg the lay-off of 'Leave It to Me,' which suspended for five weeks at the Imperial, N. Y., William Gaxton, who is co-starred with Victor Moore, will vacation in his naUve California, principally at Santa Barbara He will participate In ceremonies at the (Soldcn Gate exposition where descendants of Spanish families will dedicate a typical dwelling. Star's real name is Gaxiola and he is a cousin of Leo CarrUlo. Other family names, some changed for show business, such as Ortegas and Valencies, also are to be present. ^ 'Me', dipped too sharply in the Fourth, of July ,week slump, but is slated to resume on Broadway through September, then going to the road. Jack Pierre, formerly known on Broadway and the road as manager of legit shows, is back in New York after a long lapse on the Coast and plans to bow in as a pfoducejr in'the fall. He was back with the Julian Eltinge shows which were produced by A. H. Woods, and went west when the former impersonator settled down there. Eltinge remains in Cali- fornia, where he conducts a health resort. . Pierre was connected with the Screen Actors Guild, serving as contact man in producer-actor negotiations. He opened a Hindu rope trick con- cession at the Golden Gate exposition, San Francisco, last spring, but let it slide because of the fair's slow start Charles Wuertz, also formerly a company manager, also- returned from California. Phil. Guyran, of the Newman ticket agency, N. Y., will start serving a four-month sentence in the federal pen on Aug. 14. Two days before that date, Samuel Bloom, his associate, will have completed a similar term at Petersburg, Va. They were convicted of tax iroegularittes on tickets sold at a premium, the court in handing out the sentences, permitted the der fendants to serve alternate terms. Usually time off for good behavior is allowed but does not apply in these cases. Guyran is a cripple, suffering from tuberculosis pf the hip. His condi- tion has recently been aggravated through worry over Impending incar- ceration. . The three-house rotary stock wheel operating in the east this summer has each theatre under separate management, but there is a pooling arrangement Jules Leventhal controls the Atlantic City spot, O. E. Wee, his former partner, not being interested. Latter was in on Maplewood, N. J., last season with Frank McCoy, who is currently conducting the Jersey spot With W. J. Alexander a Newark film exhibitor. Brighton Beach is being handled by Leslie J. Spiller and George (Lefty) Miller. . Under Equity rules, no rotary stock wheel may consist of more than five spots. If additional locations are secured, another wheel must be for^-ned. Limited number of high grade Uthographs of Katharine Cornell, starring in 'No Time for Comedy,* Bariymore, N. Y.. appeared recently but are likely to be withdrawn. Feature of the lithos is the face of the star, but the resemblance is so unfamiliar that commenta to that effect were brought to the attention of the management. Reproduction was made from a draw>- ing by one of the star's friends. Turbaned hat effect is unlike anything yet exhibited by Miss Cornell Excellent likeness of the star in color appeared in the N. Y. News roto section Sunday (16). Drunkard' Reek Into 7di Year On Coast WithoHt Break at $1.65 Top Los Angeles, July 18. Produced here at the Theatre Mart, July 6, 1933, by Gait Bell, The Drunkard' Is now in Its seventh uninterriipted year, and still pack- ing 'em in nightly at the 373-seater spotted on a side street Played with the. same script as originaly used by Phlneas T. Barnum when he produced the play at the Amer- ican Musem in New York hi the 1840's, ■ 'The Drunkard' continues to attract patrons from all over the world who are drawn to Southern California. Originally intended as a serious preachment against liquor, The Drunkard,' as revived by Bell, is howling comedy, interspersed with an olio that from time to time is changed. Otherwise the barroom opus remains unchanged. Early in spring of 1933, Gait, who during his days at the University of' California at Berkeley/ was fa- vorably impressed with the script planned his Los Angeles productio;i. Leasing the Theatre Mart a run- down 'little theatre,' he fitted It with-tables and hit upon the idea of serving free beer and sandwiches ;while patrons sat through the sev- eral acts ot. the play and the so- called vaudeville olio. Nightly tariff. Including Saturdays and Sun- days, is $1.65', which covers every- thing. Because of this low tariff. Thea- tre Mart frequently Is alluded to as 'the poor man's club.' Hundreds of celebrities have returned time and again, amused by the serious at- mosphere which prevails back of the curtain line while the spectators out front howl with glee over the antics ot the thespians. Including actors and house at- taches, venture employs some 45 people, number .of whom have actually bought homes out of their earnings during nm of The Drunk- ard.' Angle of the venture is that Gait has no tiein or connection with any brewery, despite fact that between 3,500 and 4,000 bottles of beer and countless thousands of sandwiches are distributed free weekly. . Also dished out are gal- lons of coffee and pound after poimd of pretzels. Lee Parvin, who took the job of press agenting the venture in 1933, figured it would be a stopgap for the summer season. But it turned into a. steady job and he con- tinues to crash the Los Angeles papers week after week with in- teresting art and flowery puffs fOr the play. . An odd angle is that Parvin doesn't have to shell out Oakleys. Sq accustomed have the drama editors become to Bell's they- shall-not-pass policy, this is one show in town that is strictly cash. Customers, critics . and show-people alike lay it on the line when they see The Drunkard,' and many of them have seen' It so often they have lost count '. Al Greenfield, candy concessionaire at a number of Broadway theatres, returned from San Francisco after flopping at the Golden Gate Exposi- tion, where he controlled guide books and programs. He was backed by Ellis & Bersenson, who operate cloak rooms in New York night clubs, they investing around $25,000. Fair managemient, however, took over the concession and reimbursed Greenfield the full amount he was in the red. Owen Murphy has joined the Broadway repatriates from Hollywood, having returned to New York for an Indefinite stay, and engaging in a new line of activity. Composer is under contract to write scripts for commercial filnls to be made for General Motors. Murphy wrote the scores of several Joe .Cook musicals, including 'Rain or Shine' and 'Fine and Dandy.' Understood he may collaborate in a musi- • cal comedy due next season. Lew Brown's. 'Yokel Boy,' Broadway legit production, stands the song- writer-showman around $100,000, ell of it his own coin. Brown is said to have hypothecated much ot his future ASCAP Income as part ot the ready cash fiotation for the show. Engagements Gladys Cooper, Philip Merivale, Robert Wallsten, Joaquin Souther, Don Terry. . Clement O'Loghlen. Anne Baxter, Rachel Adams, 'Spring Meeting,' Cape Playhouse, . Dennis, Mass. ' Helen Twelvetrees, C'rank L^on. Nancy. Duncan, Robert Perry. Louis^ Kirtland, 'No Moire Ladies,' Lake 'Whalom theatre, 'fitchbur'g, Mass. Madeline Clive, Alexandeir Scour- by, Elfrida Derwent,' Louene Am- brosius, Jessie DImond, Lionel Ince, Julia Lathrop, George Graham, Maury Tuckermah, Seymour Gross. Rita Rhoni, Paula Hollinger. 'Kind Lady,' Masonic theatre, Long Beach, L. I. ^ Charles Atkin, John Merivale, Ruth Thane McDevitt Oscar Stir- ling, Everett Ripley, Hamum Clark, Conway Wingfield, New England Playhouse, Ridgefleld, Conn. . Helen Trenholme, Irving Morrow. 'The Man in Possession,' Vineyard Players, Oak Bluff, Mass. Fay Wray, Hume Cronyn, George Macready, Grant Mills, Dorotiiy Bernard, Joseph Macaulay, A. H. Van'Buren, David Byrne, Jessamine Newcombe, J. Hammond Dailey, J. Arthur Young, Jack Gage, Gordon Duff, Kathryn Givney, John Drew Devereaux, Keenan Wynn. Virginia Dunning, Elizabeth Love, PoUy Kir- sten, James Perkins, Albert Dech- nik, Clark Kuney, Jr., Harold Cur- tis, 'Our Town,' Lakewood theatre, Skowhegan. Me. Jdka Blehmend lias completed 'Boy Wonder,' with a locale in a whodunit''publishing house. Frieda Fishbein is handling it. °C. P. Donald has written The Devil Is a Human,' described as- an aUegory of today. Frieda Fishbein is the agent ' Arthnr Plerson and Alexander Clark have written a musical com- edy book, 'Don't Look Now' (tenta- tive title), which Jack Whiting is thinking of doing. Several sketches by Plerson will be included in the 'Provlncetown Follies' at the Wharf theatre, Provlncetown, Mass., next month. John Fearnley, of the Gilbert Miller office, has adapted Rangnar Josephson's 'Perhaps a Poet' from the Swedish. Dorothy Allen, Lon^ don agent, has it Vlnoent Carroll's new play,- 'Kin- dred,' may be done by Edward Choate, Broadway legit newcomer. Joel Gabbe has written 'In The Red,' the book for a musical comedy. Hall Johnson has completed 'Fi- Yer,' a folk opera about voodooism. Title is the Negro vernacular for 'fire.' Elizabeth Shaw .Johnson's manager, is handling the work.