Variety (October 1909)

VARIETY CIRCLE MAKES GANE'S SECOND. The day following the departure of "In Hayti" from the Circle, Oct. 17, William J. Gane, acting for Felix Isman, will com- mence a policy of vaudeville, and pic- tures in the house, on the same lines and at the same prices now prevailing at the new Manhattan, also operated under Mr. Gane's management, with Isman the controller. The two New York combination thea- tres will play independently .of the cheaper grade of houses in Philadelphia that Isman and others, under the corpo- rate style of The Moving Picture Co. of America, are interested in. The Circle was held under lease by Isman, "Little Tim" Sullivan and Larry Mulligan, or for them, until a deal was made with Klaw & Erlanger, turning over the bookings of the house to "The Syndi- cate" in exchange for a route over the K. & E. houses for one of the shows then at the Orcle which the trio were interested in. The assumption was at the moment that Isman was altogether "out." This assumption seemed to answer for the pur- poses of all .at the time. The Circle has a capacity of about 1,800. Mr. Gane will manage the theatre in per- son. His brother, James, will have charge of the Manhattan. Vaudeville acts for both houses will be booked for a week's stay in each. Several reels of moving pictures will be run during the shows at the Circle, which will secure the "first run" films, the Manhattan displaying these on the sheet the day after. The New York authorities' restrictive order on the Manhattan limiting the seat- ing capacity there to 300 is still in effect, although there is space to accommodate 1,190 people in seats, with a lobby ad- mitting of sufficient standees to incresse this number to 1,600. At about the center of the orchestra floor in the remodeled office building at 31st Street and Broadway, a partitioned wall has been erected, shutting off the rear of the house. In front of these partitions rows of seats are placed with a wide aisle between row. The balcony is in the same condition, giving the Manhattan a pres- ent seating capacity of 299. With this handicap the new house in playing to more money weekly than did the old Manhattan, which had a high mark of $3,500 on the week at a straight ten- cent price to all parts. The new Manhat- tan is Charging 10-20 30, though the lat- ter price applies to the boxes, not yet fitted up. With the full capacity, the new Man- hattan at its admission scale can, and it is expected will, hold between $4,500 and $5*000 each week. , A- great portion of this will come from transients, a factor that did not figure in the attendance at the old to the extent it does in the new Manhattan. SOME NAME, THIS. Talking of "name attractions," wot d'yer think of Gartenfau-Gesellschaft! That- is the title under which Wilhelm Sommers wants to bill his Venitian band in vaudeville. In Vienna Mr. Sommers plays long engagements at one of the principal concert halls under royal patron- age. Formerly Fran/. Lobar, composer of tbe "The Merry Widow"' music was one of bis assistant-directors. KNOBLAUCH OUT OF UNITED. Harry Knoblauch, of Knoblauch & Her- sker, operating a chain of theatres in Pennsylvania, is now established in his own office in Philadelphia, booking attrac- tions for the company's theatres in Potts- ville, Hazelton, Mahoney City and Carbon- dale. The houses were booked by Maurice Boom until they went over to the United Booking Offices last year, being then handled by Jule Delmar. Knoblauch takes attractions from both the United and In- dependent lists. There are no United houses in opposition in his territory and the K. & H. chain is not considered "oppo- sition." In Hazelton, Pa., however, there is a little vaudeville fight on just now. Knob- lauch's house is the Family. Against him is a new theatre, playing vaudeville booked in by Taylor ft Kaufman, of Philadel- phia. Knoblauch is paying feature acts above the $200 mark, during the fight. aoo ONE-SHEETS FOR GREENP0RT. Jules Larvett, an agent in the "NYBO," has framed up an eight-act variety show for a series of one night stands through Long Island. He inquired of the Green- port Opry House manager how much paper he needed and received in reply the stero- typed line "All you can send." Without much detailed knowledge of Greenport Larvett sent on 200 "one- sheets." Now the rural billposter is scour- ing the town and wide vicinity for places to put the paper. Attractions visiting Green point can sometimes manage to post thirty or forty one-sheets. Beside Green- port the Larvett aggregation will make one day visits to Hempstead and Glen Cove. WOOD TAKES LEAVITT. Harry Leavitt, formerly attached to the Sullivan-Considine booking office in Seat- tle, Wash., has been placed under con- tract to Joe Wood and the NYBO, taking headquarters in Pittsburg, where he will represent both exchanges in the booking of acts coming into and going west from, New York. MANAGERS' ASSOCIATION. Louisville, Oct. 7. The Theatrical Managers' Association of this city has been incorporated with a capital stock of $5,000. The incorporators are John T. Macauley, John H. Whallen, James P. Whallen, Al Bourlier, Charles A. Shaw, Edward W. Dustin, and James Weed. WM. PENN SHIFTS AGENTS. M. Miller, one of the firm operating the William Penn Theater, Philadelphia, this week closed a deal whereby that house will receive its vaudeville acts from the Inde- pendent Booking Agency in New York. Taylor & Kaufman formerly booked the establishment. 4a HOUSES ON CIRCUIT. The addition of-seven new houses on his New England chain wtyhin the past few weeks has given John J. Quigley a total of forty-two theaters for which to book "pop" vaudeville attractions. Some of the week's "split." The latest acquisitions are the Opera Houses in Newport and New Bedford. CONTRACT BREAKERS DISCIPLINED. Mr. and Mrs. George W. Hussey are lay- ing off in Lynn, Mass., this week, having been restrained from playing the Lynn Theater there by a court order issued in Boston last week. The applicant for the injunction was J. J. Quigley, allied with the Independent Booking Agency in New York. '1 placed the act under contract for four weeks," said Mr. Quigley in his New York office this week. "The couple played two weeks for me, and when I directed them to go to Halifax, Canada, they re- fused to do so, although they were booked under a "White Rat" play or pay con- tract. "On the following Monday when they should have opened for me, I learned that they were at the Lynn Theater. I in- structed my attorney, E. P. Barry, of Boston, to take the matter into court. The artists' defense was that they did not have money enough to make the trip from Boston to Halifax. As a matter of fact after their refusal to go to Halifax at first they reconsidered their decision and agreed to play the date at a salary $35 more than that named in the contract. "The court issued an order restraining the act from playing at any other trea- ter than that I should indicate until the time of its engagement with me had ex- pired. This will be Saturday night of this week." The act played Monday and Tuesday of last week at Lynn, but the court order was served upon them Wednesday morn- ing, when they retired from the bill. CRITERION CHANGES. Atlantic City, Oct. 7. It is quite likely that Felix Isman has the Criterion. W. A. Barritt, the present manager of the house, will have charge of Dumont's, Philadelphia, another Isman theater, when that house resumes its min- strel policy soon. DUMONT'S MINSTRELS RESUME. Philadelphia, Oct. 7. The Eleventh Street Opera House is an- nounced to open Oct. 16 with the famous "Dumont's Minstrels" as the attraction, The old scale of prices will be in order. After the minstrels withdrew from this bouse last season, several weeks of "pop" vaudeville and moving pictures were tried under the management of William Gane. The house was newly painted and im- proved to open this season with the same kind of entertainment. The announce- ment of the minstrel opening was only recently made. "POP" PROMOTER KILLS SELF. Cincinnati, Oct. 7. Roy G. Daniels committed suicide by shooting himself Monday at tbe National Hotel/ Topeka, He was president of the Arkansas Amusement Co., of Mot Springs, and had attempted to promote the control of all the popular price vaudeville and picture theatres in Arkansas. Opposition proved too strong for him and his company was sold by creditors. Daniels left Hot Springs last June. His wife is in Kansas City. A letter by tbe Suicide gave finnncial failure as the cause for his self-destruction. 0PEN8 WITH A RUSH. - Philadelphia, Oct. 7. The Victoria, the largest and hand Boniest of the many picture and vaude- ville houses, built for this style of vaude- ville entertainment, in this city was opened Monday night with the strongest vaudeville bill ever offered at "pop" prices in this city. The new house is situated at 913-1517 Market Street, in the heart of the shopping district. The show was little more than a re- hearsal for the acts which had been wait- ing all days, but a fairly smooth per- formance was given, the following turns being on the bill: Five Lorenz Family, Bosanquet, "Georgia Campers," Billy K. Wells, Herr Franz Meisel, Harry Thome and Co., Tyson and Brown, La Grande and Malverno and Del more with several reels of pictures, the show running close to two hours. The Victoria is among the houses under control of the new organized Moving Pic- ture Company of America, of which Felix Isman, George H. Earle, Jr., and S. Lubin are the principals interested. The house was erected at a stated cost of $108,600, and is larger and more elaborate in its equipment and furnishings than any of the picture houses built here, the Lubin Palace being its nearest competitor. The seating capacity will be a little more than 1,000, more than 900 on the first floor, while nine large boxee, ar- ranged in the form of a balcony in the rear of the auditorium will make up the difference. The price will be 10-20 on the first floor and 25 cents for the box seats. Ten acts and pictures will form the weekly bill, four shows daily being given. The acts will be supplied through the William Morris office, which also books Lubin's Palace. Jay Mastbaum, formerly general man- ager for the Harry Davis' enterprises is Jhe resident manager of the Victoria. There is considerable work to be done at the Victoria and the opening Monday night under the conditions was a mark of progressiveness on the part of the management, which can be given recog- nition in prophesying for tbe future suc- cess of the theatre. I MORE "CASH GIRL" CONSEQUENCES. John Reisler, the capitalized barber, who was interested in the former tour of 'Tbe Cash Girl," which closed amid turbiilant scenes in Boston, is plaintiff in a damage suit for $20,000 against tbe National* ""Printing Co., of Chicago. It appears that upon the closing of the musical comedy in which May Ward was principal, tbe printing company brought an attachment against John Reisler per- sonally on a bill for printing. .Instead of proceeding against the John Reisler Amusement Co., which was the real prin eipal in tbe enterprise, the Chicago firm attached Reisler as an individual. A body wan-ant was issued in Boston and Reisler was forced for six nights to sleep under guard of two sheriffs, a couple of oflieials playing bis shadow during bis waking hours. Reish-r's suit was phieed upon the mien dar this week for trial. He is represented by Newman & Buckley, attorneys.