Variety (August 1909)

10 VARIETY London, July 28. Horace Cole, formerly manager of the Empire in Liverpool, is now district man* ager for Stoll. Mr. Cole is taking charge of the halls in and around Liverpool. Adeline Genee has been held over by the Empire management to appear at that hall two weeks longer, closing there Aug. 11. LONDON NOTES VARIETY'S LONDON OFFICE. 4ii itbamii, w. a (Mail for AsMrlcsM and Europeans la Earopo If addrteasd caro VARIETY, .) as aboro, win is due to the enterprise of a certain ager who wants a cheaper act. Whit Cunliffe is topping the bill at the Canterbury this week, and in his new role the comedian seems to be filling all re- quirements. For a single act that has Just lately been the big attraction at some of the halls Mr. Quaiifla* shows by the business that he is to be n^ured with the most popular of the profession now. The Rooney Sisters, to open at the Al- hambra Aug. 2, will remain there six weeks, afterward touring the Continent for about three months. The girls return to England Christmas time, to open in pantomime at Liverpool. Terence B. McManus is presenting a "Devil" sketch at the Canterbury, far above the average act of a more serious nature. The sketch should be a help in places where dramatics are in demand. Marie Lloyd and Oswald Stoll will shortly be engaged in a large law strug- gle, Mr. Stoll claiming damages for al- leged broken engagements. Lwellyn Johns, the EngUsh-American- Welshman of the Stoll office, will sail for the 8tates shortly to take up his duties as the Moss & Stoll representative for America. 4\ Claire Romaine expects to go to Amer- ica about next February, filling the time in between now and then with a trip to Australia. Jack Hayman, Paris representative for] Moss and Stoll, is in London during the] rest season in Paris. Truly Shattuck, who has just reached London after a trip to Russia, will leave shortly for the continent, remaining there until she returns to the Drury Lane in pantomime. Terry and Lambert, who have just fin- ished many tours with Moss & Stol have arranged to open on the Barassfoi circuit. Leon Zeitlin is in charge of the Canter- bury while Ernest Leppard is away vaca- tioning. Last week there was a rumor around] London that Pat Casey was in town stopping at the Queen's Hotel. Immedi- ately there were telephone calls, telegri and inquiries ail around the office of tl hotel for the gentleman. Along, to wi noon the clerk, rather sore by this time, was heard to exclaim, "Who. the h isl Pat Casey T" It is not known over here] whether the clerk will find out tl summer. Miss Shattuck, in speaking of her Rus- sian engagement, "goes after" the man- mient of the Kretosskey Theatre, where khe appeared. Miss Shattuck says that [while her contract was a valid one, there was "raw stuff" being handed the other lartists on the bill. It was no rare thing, [she says further, for an act to be told Ithat unless they cut their salary in half, [they would be closed immediately. Truly [also spoke about the expense attached, going and coming from Russia. The iKretosskey Theatre is situated a little Iway out of St. Petersburg. Caryl Wilbur's Co., in a sketch called |"Superstition," opened at the King's The- itre last week and were immediately [booked for the rest of the Barassford [tour. Mr. Wilbur will probably put out few more sketches before going to work Ihimself. Flo Irwin has turned down an offer for] time in the Syndicate halls. Money seei to be the argument. Hill and Whitaker have received con- tracts binding them to engagements on] this side as far ahead as 1915. Middleton and Spellmeyer will return] here next spring, playing London time for' a total of thirty-five weeks on the Gib- bons circuit and the Payne halls. Amelia Bingham opened this week at Ithe Palace and all in all the American stress was appreciated. Miss Bingham (held the stage about forty minutes, at [least ten too long. A better selection of iinaterial along with the shortening of [the time ought to make the act a valu- able number. "Talking heads" are becoming quite a erase on this side now. In addition to the two heads ("Delphos" and "Occultus") now in London, there is another said to be under way. When "Occultus" played at the Coliseum a few months back, Ju- Kan Wiley, now an agent, discovered that this head .was a counterpart of one that he had, owned and worked on the conti- nent some years ago. Mr. Wiley found that he oould not recover damages by go- ing to law so he immediately made an- other head. The new head, it is claimed, The Four Fords have been moved down to close the show at the Palace, but "the place" does not seem to make any dif- ference to this act. The entire house stay in nightly, and lots of noise is made at the finish. Reynolds and Donegan, the skating team at the Palace, are still causing some talk around town. They will work to Friday, Aug. 13, sailing the next day on the Mauretania for home. Callahan and St. George start trouping again next week, taking up some time on the Barassford Tour. Walter C. Kelly repeated his former success at the Glasgow Pavilion, where he i'i playing this week. Emerson and Baldwin, who opened at the Empire last week, have proven to be a very good comedy item for that house. This is the boys' first appearance in London. Daisy Wood (Lloyd) in all probability will play for the Morris Circuit next season for something like twenty weeks. Roffe's Paradise Alley, opening this week at the Hippodrome in Birmingham, ought to prove a first-class number for this side. Marguerite Haney is the only one of the cast who played in the States with the act, but the others work well, and in a couple of weeks the act should be pleasing them all. Miss Haney has the "ginger" of a real soubret. The act plays the Palace, Manchester, next week, coming into London for about twelve weeks on the Syndicate time after that. Ray Cox, playing the Palace in Man- chester this week, returns to the Coliseum next week. Campbell and Barber, who played the Coliseum last week, will play the Empire in Glasgow next week. Out of six acts next week at the Hippo- drome, Colchester, four are American acts; Mooney and Holbein, Chas. T. Aldrich, The Big Four and Hitter and Foster. The Avon Comedy Four will be in Lon- don next week playing the Empire in Shepherd's Bush. Alex Carr makes his first appearance in his sketch next week at the Liverpool Hippodrome. At both the Tivoli and Oxford next week the absence of big names is very noticeable. Charles Austin, a very new West End star, and T. E. Dunville are at the Oxford, while T. E. Dunville is alone at the Tivoli. Outside of the "name" scarcity, both shows look like good ones on paper. It has been rumored around lately that Ben Rosenthal, lately manager of Taylor Granville's interests in London, has re- signed his position. It is stated that Ben will go into real estate. Tt seems as though Nerigne, the Greek girl, who has tried both the legitimate and vaudeville, will have to worry a little now. The lady was held over a week at the Holborn, but this week her name is on none of the bills. Halls belonging to the De Frece Cir- cuit in Birkenhead, Blackburn and Old- ham have been closed for the summer season. Marshall P. Wilder sails for New York today. Lew M. Goldberg* general manager of the Goldberg Amusement Co., has been in London the last few days. Herbert Lloyd is topping the bill at the Grimsby Palace this week. James J. Corbett will make his first London appearance at the Oxford Aug. 2. From the laughs that were handed The Gothams, a "rough" quartet playing the Grand, Birmingham, this week, the act must be one just built for this side. Marie Lloyd leaves the Tivoli this week to take her own company to Brighton to play at the Pier Theatre there. Wilton Heriot now plays a sketch not reflecting much credit on the author, or the company, one of the cleverest in England. It is supposed to be a protean act, with a girl and a man who imper- sonates types of different nationalities. The girl is supposed to look over these different types and chose a husband. She is described as an American girl with money. After looking them all over the young woman clinches with the English- man, and while the orchestra unwinds the "Star Spangled Banner" and "Rule Bri- tannia" the curtain falls. Beautiful sen- timent, but only in vaudeville. Gertrude Gebest opened this week at the Bedford Palace, and the little girl did more than please the audience. With a few twists in her material Miss Gebest ought to frame up an act that will go very well on this side. The Aldwych Roller Skating Rink has closed for the summer. It will reopen in September. Ted Marks surprised a bunch at the rink the other night with fancy stuff on the rollers. Charles Wilson, the music hall manager, died last Saturday at the age of 49. Mr. Wilson has been failing for some time, but insisted upon giving the opening of the Hippodrome his personal attention. The deceased was very well known and personally popular. For the past two years Mr. Wilson was engaged with the Moss-Stoll Tour. John Ayres, for many years an em- ploye of B. F. Keith and F. F. Proctor in the handling of their moving picture interests, died Monday in his Newark (N. J.) home after a long illness. He was 01 years old. Mr. Ayres was at- tached to the house staff of the Union Square Theatre in 1893. Two years later he became superintendent of the house. In 1898 he moved over to the employ of F. F. Proctor and during the following seven years was superintendent of that manager's Fifty-eighth Street, 126th Street and Fifth Avenue Theatres. After this he was "assigned to the management of Proctor's Newark Theatre. His last detail was as inspector of the Keith & Proctor moving picture houses.