Variety (January 1961)

258 LEGITIMATE Fifty-fifth , January 4, 1961 2Sil> legit ®f)eatre ‘leak’ in 1907? An Old Trouper , Focussing on Actor9 s Fund Bazaar of That Y ear-of -No-Taxes, Believes Successful Players Nev er Had It So Good Bv GASTON BELL I artificial starmaking of persons ; with little training. ! Was Maude Adams at the Fair? i N(tf she w as on the road. I doubt !if she would have come. It was part of her way of life. and. Frohman’s nloroi n.'m^nnrruln^ fliot chu oor Gaston Beil Vaudeville was true and the cinema, then de s-pised by any leading man who cwned a fur-collared overcoat, was just around the proverbial corner. But the play was the thing, as the Brrd had ordained, and to be a ptayer on the boards was a very tat inlying prolession indeed. me long time ago. ment's thought to the flickers How j ' “sh?' “vas’nof at' the My justifica, could we? They were mostly one ,q(V7 . . h t f} years later in tion for recallireelers of preposterous hambo ^vood Ue wa^ «ry much inAt 121 S’ r present in a color iilm with myself of May m 190j j Film money would. In due ? aJ. leading man. Most modern lies partly m a ; course, stifle some of our original I students of the early cinema seem feeling that it i snobbery. Those of us who had never to mention that pioneering was i n d ee d graduated as I had 'Class of 1900 process, Kinnamacolor. I mvsolf m e rr y but 1902 » from the American Academy don-t know xhe corporate facts but mostly a con of Dramatic Arts had an aversion j w'as emploved there a year at viction, that to the “dumb show” of the gallop what I shall describe as verv nic the legitimate j ing lithographs. But there would theatre was!corne a time of lovely checks’., if then at its some artistic compromise. I mvh e y d a y . .seif later went to Hollywood, making inroads. Celebrities Galore, And money. The choice of the coun¬ try’s most lamous beauty was na¬ tural. She radiated in a variety of pastel shades. When the picture 'what was the title. I wonder?) opened in Manhattan, she made a personal appearance at S2.000 a week, pre-income tax. I remained Meanwhile in the opera house v arm personal friends with Lillian that .May of 1907 I saw or knew Russell and her Pittsburgh millionsuch personages as William Collier, aire husband. Alex Moo e, whilom f Lina Arbanell. Irene Bentley, U.S. ambassador to Spain. ! Christie MacDonald. Frames Starr, Their Names Still ‘Pong’ gcccls. two generation hi lore television made "promo¬ tion’' the u nrnonplaee it now is. t Ii< re v ere names destined for figure lame. Ore was John Barr; meie. ie of the classic profile. tMmh : rn a i-ouncy juvenile in “TV Fe-tmc Hunter.” The idea v.\ that ier the lair In* would (incrct i.e cream codas. as he did 2.' t’u pi. • . I.i the light of his Inter r.tv.t"* it mny come as an irony t< (tu:.ivt Luii-ymore and banana s» s m <i.c-h was the situation. I.c veiy V.ry Ryan, then the Itausr.c Ind i i my own play, “Brewsi :’s Ilium” was present 1o iv. r Pa »•;. e dispense the cal . _ . _. .mpori; more. Leo Ditrichstein. Kyle Bel to know the color of his hair but lew. Margaret Illington then Mrs. his;0rv books were no help. Nat Daniel Frohman but Hater to Goodwin was Ev sheerest luck I marry radio's Major Bowes., Julia ;..rt him and learned lie'll placed Dean. Weber and Fields. Louis naie on Bior.dvav in 1899 and still Mann and Clara Lignum. Eddie possessed the wig. I wore this on > '.w.’c F IT Ti.!in Z , „ ■, , _ l.c scu'in. t: e dlit c r i San Forrest. Mane Sam Harris Cohan :< a further identities with a by gone era ti 1* : f> m. Jt ' 4 •: ail t-id ; P’l-fnM; ( I recall this occasion 1 ^onal. Anart fn m ,’5: urns’’ hav:ng bcci .1; i v -t credits as a i\-:t t lie Hudson T::c* 'at week to aF.nd dc h operated uni I 1 (la; indy la?e Hi1 ne an r-ssNim; f t ’Ventre Club wim, a I : mried. w-io >’o!e “Ha-v i. • a stairim* v. hi* ’e cJcitiiwr. Hc-my L. •'ed the Century Ti:.Don’t coniine !.• .2 with the C •nturv ; vf:me years later on > €<■■*..> As an a -t r I FI s because she un¬ iat part for me v. Vn a'tirss named F.-rika :I lr< :.> the Hu’:g;u’i;n ■ h-' ii Daniel Fro’e ' .arlcs C!u rrv * Taylor lead-1 at the E. H. Sothern and Julia .Marlowe. Vi(.la Allen. May Irwin, Robert Manic 11. Arnold Daly. Julia Anderson, John Mason and . Vir¬ ginia Harned. with whom I plrycd Little Billy in "Trilby” at the Xf\v Am-teiriam. I submit That this is a remr.rkfh’e list of durable fame, .ad¬ mittedly not all enjoyed equal bitaks. Bad health and death as v ual eiten had the veto power. For my own taste Audrey Bouciccult. >-on of the prolific. Irish play¬ wright. Dion, gave so superb a 1 eri'ormance that season in “Old Heidelberg” that I rate him in more iar bevond Richard Mans¬ field. So many of the old theatres have Hiiu been razed, though mv H*"£:!\ -remembered Hudson oper¬ ates -1:11. I understand the Lyceum >• the oiliest theatre viF’ & u:( a‘ed to “round actors” en Broadw: ■•. Today, at 84. I don’t get down • ••> : :y beloved legit but stick to my however •:y.c Harry Chaffin’s, hearthstone In Woodstock. X. Y.. a bucolic vil!"re with the added charm of turning many theatrical folk in ’•■•e-hknee, and a summer theaLe, tf-O. no trouble, when I I h< re Having slotted with reiitiniscencts ol otlicr alters at the 19(>7 ua/aar I naturally am reminded of my own career. Alter the color iii?ns on the cot.M I returned last for Lubin, then located :n Philadel . phia. I starred in live Broadway! plays shot in six roe's — “The Third | Dtuce." “Lion and the Alou^e.” ; “The House Next Door.” “The Wolf’ and “The Daughters of Men.” Some more history: after the :irst Lubin iilm I had a ne<\ lead¬ ing lady on the screen, Ethel Claylen. She was destined to become a r. lm star of some magnitude as I was destined, became of early arthritis, to curtail my acting. | A first move to cope with my ! malady was the conversion of my Xrw Jersey eslatix Bcllwood. into a tr'm.c charming ii’.n with Japanese s. c-i vents, much more of a novelty in tha; era than it ould be today. the arthritis was erratic : ud I was able to do a certain amount of trouping. a iilm with T.u (h* Bara, a ro;id lead in “Cheat¬ ing Cheaters. ' again a part in “The Naughty Wife.” Back to the 1907 Fair: At the hook stall on Authors Day I met Mure Playwright’s ‘Expose’ Magico Many years ago when I was 11 years old I got a job with a tra¬ veling tent show called “McMahon’s Palace of Illusions.” Honest Pat MacMahon was the owner and his star attraction was Prof. Ducroute, “The World Famous Hypnotic Wizard.” The Profes¬ sor’s feature illusion was “The Floating Lady.” This bit consisted of the Prof, hypnotizing a beautiful lady and placing her sleeping body on a sofa and after making a few hypnotic passes the beau¬ tiful lady would very gradually rise from the sofa, in a rigid hori¬ zontal position and float in mid-air. In order to conclusively prove that there were no wires holding her up, the Professor passed a hoop over and under her body. Then he made a few hypnotic passes and the sleeping beauty gradually descended to the sofa, lie would awaken her from her sound sleep, and they would take bows to thunderous applause from the amazed audience. One of my numerous jobs with the show was operating the windlass machine from a hole dug in the ground under the stage. The lifting apparatus was the simple mechanical device of a ver¬ tical iron bar passing up through a hole -in the floor directly in back of the sofa and connecting on to a horizontal iron cross bar which was concealed on the seat of the sofa. where the hypnotized lady was lying. I only had two cues to watch out for in this levitation act. When the Professor stamped his heel on the floor was the cue to start turning the winch crank-handle that sent the iron bar up through the hole in the floor and lifted the sleeping beauty into mid-air. After she was floating the Professor had two or three minutes of gab about the science of hypnotism and the years of study -re¬ quired before anyone could master this mysterious art. After this gab the Professor would give the second cue by stamping with his heel on the floor and l*d start turning the crank-handle lowering the Floating Lady back on to the sofa. Even thing was going along line for me at 1'his job. At last I was in show business and I loved every minute of it: We were playing the Country Fair in Berlin, Conn., and the free show attraction was the famous Dare-Devil Dan Burnell, -the greatest aeronaut ex¬ tant. I had ^cen him pereform many times and always got a terriiie kick seeing him cut from the balloon and make his parachute drop. On tliis particular day, the Professor was gabbing, the beauti¬ ful lady was Hoating. the audience was entranced, and I was hot in that hole under the stage, I had two free minutes before my cue to wind her down. I' laid on my back and lilted the bottom of the tint wall to get M»ne air. I heard a roar from the crowd down at the balloon pit as Dare-Devil Dan Barnell was just making his asetiis.on. Hi" famous words as he took off. each time still ring in my ear. “Goodbje everybody — everybody — let her go.” I got a good clear \:ew of him and the balloon as he sailed over our tent. He we* doing Ills daring stunts, hanging by his teeth and the spread-eagle. I forgot all about listening for my cue and the Float¬ ing Lady remained in the air un.t;l the curtain was closed. It gave lee trick away much to the Professor's embarrassment.. I didn’t 1 cali/e what ’Happened until the Professor came cursing at me and attempt* d to kick me in the head. I got to my feet and started lunm’ng like the devil with the Professor after mc; I was faster than he was arid I gave him the’ Hip. I hid out in the Tattooed Lai!\’s tent until the Prof, cooled off. I never ims-axl another cue. The Professor and I became good friends. The ka-t lime I saw him be was running a Magic Store on 34th St., west (.1 7th Ave., in New York. P: J Du.-iuuiff. Before Inducements Became A Jain Factor S leak.::1; t,I theatrical romances t; . t there was a girl in c:.e < *h*. 1 o'hs dispensing s;\ p marmiai ;:i:t i by her dad. I:cr r-arne v.. IN: b Sully and her he m v ii' Drugla-: Fair banks. Her grar.d .Mark Twain. With h*s bushy white hair and his traditional Palm Beach suit. He was snappy in ap¬ pearance and very much alive. I also met Ella Wheeler Wilcox, .noted tor her poems of passion. Well she did not look it in any respect. She was tall, very con-(nat.ve in appearance and man¬ ners. Her poems in those nays were supposed to he pretty hot even though she was a pel feet lady. child of Doug Jr., ( :i ju-t the other day. nt that the New York theatre was at its peck s borne out. I think, by n ( i the famous trout;, s fit the time and at the n ght. Not least v as sen. later Mrs. Augfst name long ti>,so-i':t',,I The Met that \ear fid! 1 h! tistifv. and I would sg-e. H;a: 'he great aetre>s jr-g thin v. j.s Mmnie Maddern Fi he. What a powerhouse of emotion! It v. a cl coax'C. the era of dedi atnn to stf.jre acting with L.v d.wusions to the movies There wire the^e in the crowds at the Fan* v :n wcTd iatt r make f ! in pktmc'-. Fairbanks notably. II. inb B. Yy 'who played ( ]( g tinr U/ er Eh. me Ee’mrnr. ; v. .th t'-e ?’ was 23 yt. : W: ny wo w a n mantic juvenile hi. number two pink gnasepaint. about getting b; wage car or group tickets or a ( oaM-to-const tour for 'lirstrate sluv.s. as I now read in Variety. h'c e v ere probably 7.000 thea¬ tres plajing live talent, if halls u» *1, irs ever the fire houses are < i-untid. Henry Miller was one of the e'eat actor-managers, a species ;I‘:le known to the present genera¬ tion. Richard Mansfield also fkrivui in the land. And. of course. Paulme Fredericks Loses ivXySnf tfKSlTo a Burlesque Queen producer, a man of great taste in ! George Barr McCuteheon was ]:)-• day. fated to be among fhe'*iirro. signing his “Brewster’s hlilnu moron c celebrities to go down in ]jc«s'» novel with pictures of the 1913 with the Titanic. players in our stage version. My mind’s eye re-creates that When Ethel Barrymore would wonderful 1907 bazaar, the exciting enter alter her play (Galsworthy's mingling of the great ones of their “Silver Box”) she was instantly profe-Hon for the enrichment of surrounded by worshipping girls, the prefecsi on's wonderful then No actress ih ( w them as did Ethel and-since-do-it-yourself charity. I Barrymore. She was around 20. -impose there were few’ stars pres Daniel Frohman the president of (nt tho*-e happy nights who lacked the Fund was repeatedly present, pe.-'-onal knowledge of what it Margaret Illington, then his wife, meant to “strand” in the sticks or was co-starring in “The Thief” have the manager abscound. It with Kyle Bellow. Never in my life would be another 12 years before have I ever seen such a gathering .V/ors Equity came into being. t-lcnt. looks and charm. 1 I won’t say that all of the players wonder if that 1907 highlight of that day were ladies and gentle would noi stand comparison. Who m n but I will say that standards can lop it? < f personal behaviour in public There were many opportunities were high, though the theatre al to buy chances on something but \.\s bad its lovers of the :e: vy the most important event was the -('iiice. The graciousness of the \oting for the most popular Icadlegit luminaries was inbred, if not ing lady of the theatre. Also the i. It was bcloie the synthetic leading m;.n. A small plattorm was Ld.tiy of Hollywood and t.:c built in the cmUr of the Door and two blackboards and one could vote lor his cr her la\ orite at 10c a vote. Fav ire 1’ii-d. ricks was not playing at. that time and she volunteered to be a barker for the popular lead¬ ing lady. Sire .-leod there every atteruoon and evening taking in the vole*! and money. She dressed in all while, changing gown lrom altcrnoon to evening hut still .white. Well ;.n time went on the | score hoard v. as something to be¬ hold. It was im cresting to watch the 'names climb up in thousands , and : in ii iall back as the week j roiled by. As it happened Miss Fi\ (!•. rlc k*; i.i-r-ilf was building a; commanding score and in justice i to many lamoiK actresses she was on the --pot. Apparently many ju-i looked into her beautiful eyes and voted for her. There were. to be plot complica• ! lions "Wine, Women and Song” ' at the small threle Theatre at burlesque, quite coloriul with a Columbus Circle, wa< ’'superior” lively choru line, some good low comedians and. Hue 'usual .sketches. It had caught tlu* public laiuy and was drawing carriage trade. For , the elite it v us must. The show's voluptuous brunette could (lance land ”bell” popular songs. They called her Bomtn. She loo, would drop in at the Fair with her manlager and Mie was soaring until ; Saturday night came. The prize was • a diamond broach in a star design I which had been given to Georgia 1 Cayvan as the most popular lead¬ ing actress some years before, at the old Lyceum Tneatre near 23d and Fourth Avenue. When Miss Cayvan died she willed 1h broach to The Actors Fund. It had been in a safe for years. A few moments before midnight it was about to be decided that, the diamond star belonged to Pauline Frederick*.’. Then Bonita’s manager pulled out a roll of bills that raised the score for Bonita and she won. Pauline T rederieks ceied and I never felt so sorry for a person as I did for her after all these days and .nights of work, with her hopes raised. Of course she went on for years on the stage and screen and of course she didn’t need the star, because she was al¬ ready a siar in her own right. I wonder what became of Bonita and the diamond star? The Fair was such a success that it was prolonged until the follow¬ ing Wednesday. What' a -field for autograph hounds it was. it seems to me. at least at my time of liie, that the legitimate theatre in America mu>t have been 1 1 high noon then. If you matle the. big salary Class, the money was yours to keep. ' You weren’tWorking for the U. S. Treasury. Don’t think its glories existed only' in the hr agi¬ nation of talkative old performers. Fcunaation to Bankroll Canadian Players Tours Toronto. With formation of the Canadian Players Foundation, of which Lady Flora Eaton is financial backer, tills offshoot of the Stratford ‘Ontario) Shakespearean Fc*Ji\al plays .splitweeks and one-niehters of' Canada, and Hie U. S. from Jan. 4 to April 8. The ail-Equity . c-omnr.ny louring Canada presents Shakespeare's “The Tempest” rud Bertolt Brecht’s “Caucasian Chalk Circle” at 44 po:nts. The com? ; r.v touring Pie IV S. presents Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” and Shaw’s “Saint Joan” at some 30 American situa¬ tions. T)Hs takes The Canadian Players across Canada, with snlit-wceks. in Winnipeg. Regina, Saskatoon. Leth¬ bridge. Victoria, Edmonton and Ottawa. The otlur company goes P'rough Indiana. Ohio. Michigan, M:s-ouri, Illinois and Wisconsin; with jump-offs to Montreal, Ottawa and Guelph, Ont. Lady Eaton, who heads a chain of trans-Canada department stores in principal cities, founded the Canadian Players Foundation and is honorary president of the Cana¬ dian tour. The “in\;?si(>n” of the H. S. remains an operation of Cana¬ dian Players Ltd. The group was founded by Tom Patterson, who originrllv conceived ♦ ho Stratford. (Out.' Shakespearean Festival, and Douclas Campbell, actor and son-in-law of Sybil Thorndyke. Both formed the new group to take the' road and present live drama -across Canada. The venture lost money until Lady Eaten stepped into the picture, thereby permitting the current American tour of the midwest. The aim of The Canadian Players Foundation i* to brine legit to .cities and towns that are remote from professional theatre in any form.