Variety (July 1912)

10 VARIETY BB LIEBLERS PIN FAITH ON FORMER ROAD A TTRACTIONS Chary of New Productions Until Late in the Fall. 44 Daughter of Heaven 19 at Century. Robert Lorraine Coming for "Superman" Tour Around Labor Day will bring an exodus of the road shows which Lleb- ler & Co. will send out this season. "Oliver Twist," with Nat Goodwin, Wilton Lackaye, Constance Collier, Marie Doro and Violet Heming, will shoot into Chicago, probably opening at the Illinois theatre for a run. "The Garden of Allah" also goes to the Windy City about the same time, at the Auditorium. William T. Hodge in "The Man From Home," starts the fall season at the Plymouth, Boston. "Pomander Walk," which opens in the Middle West with the same Eng- lish company which played it in New York, will travel to the Pacific Coast and back. George Arliss opens about Labor Day in "Disraeli" at Wallack's, New York, where he ran all of last season. H. W. Warner in "Alias Jiuimy Val- entine" starts out about Labor Day, playing eastern territory. "The Herfords" is announced for a Labor Day opening at the Hudson, New York. Viola Allen is to be starred by the Lieblers in a new play. The Irish Players are returning to New York the first of the year with further local dates. Madame Simone is also to return for another New York engagement- She opens some time in January with a number of new plays. Two of her prospective New York pieces are now slated for performances in Paris and, if successful, will be brought over here. The first big production to be made by the Lieblers at the Century will be "The Daughter of Heaven," by Judith Dantier and Pierre Loti. They expect to surpass "The Garden of Al- lah" in point of stage production with it. Prior to the opening of this big piece around Oct. 1 the Lieblers will book in one of their standard at- tractions. Robert Lorraine is coming over to play twenty weeks under the Lieblers' banner, opening in New York about Sept. 15. He is scheduled to also play in Canada. Loraine will appear in "Man and Superman," which piece he produced in America several seasons ago. "REDHEAD" NAMED SHOW. Joseph Byron Totten, who staged the stock productions at the Manhat- tan for Charles E. Blaney, has been engaged to play the feature role in a new play, "The Redhead," which will be produced on the road early in the fall. SEEKING FUTRELLE'S WORKS. A new comedy by Jacques Futrelle, the novelist who went down on the Titanic, has been accepted by Jos. M. Gaites for production next season. Arrangements for its stage presenta- tion were made by the writer's widow, one of the Titanic survivors. The comedy has three star parts. Several other pieces which Futrelle wrote before going aboard the ill- fated ship are being sought by Ameri- can managers. Futrelle's last work was "My Lady's Garter," now running serially in the Saturday Evening Post. NEW PLAY DISAPPOINTING. San Francisco, July 3. "Cabbages and Kings," a new play by Joseph Medill Patterson and Hugh Ford, adapted from one of O. Henry's stories and originally called "No Ex- tradition," had its premiere at the Alcazar this week. It is adequately staged and well played by Richard Bennett and stock company, but dis- appointing as a play. Coincidence is strained to the limit in the plot and the seriousness of the piece is broken into by the laughter of the audience at inopportune mo- ments. There was little applause on the opening night and no call for auth- ors, whom, they say, will rewrite the piece at once. FIRST OF THE SEASON. Atlantic City, July 3. "Room 44," the first of the Cohan & Harris productions for '12-' 18, will open at the Apollo Monday, remain- ing for the week. The show is a farce in four acts, by Frances Nordstrom, with scenes laid in Washington and a Virginia village. The piece has to do with a young man who meets with an accident dur- ing a football game, which results in his losing his memory for a peri- od of thirty days. His ineffectual efforts to recall what happened leads to the farcical situations. The cast is Henry E. Dixey, in the leading male role; Mrs. Stuart Rob- son (who created the boarding house keeper in "The Country Boy" and will have a similar character in this play); William Boyd, Ernest Truax, Lincoln Palmer, Horace James, Andrew Buck- ley, Louis Le Bey, Hattie Russell, Emily Wakeman, Ada Oilman, Edna Baker. "VOLUNTEER PARSON" REVIVED. "The Volunteer Parson" is to be revived on a bigger scale than ever according to the plans of Edythe Tot- ten, the authoress. She will play the leading feminine role. The company, which opens early in August, has been recruited by R. L. Herbert as follows: Charles Kyle, R. Roy Templeton, Marie Mayes, Mr. and Mrs. Vaughan, Frank MacMunn, Lewis Dlldane, Frank W. Fey, Emma Weale. ONLY FULTON FOR RENT. Of the three New York theatres managed by the late Henry B. Harris, but one, the Fulton, on West 46th street (formerly Folies Bergere), is on the market. Mrs. Harris has decided the other two (Harris and Hudson), will con- tinue to operate under the direction of the Harris Estate, which is under the direction of William Harris. The Henry B. Harris estate has en- tered a judgment for $350 against Byron Chandler, husband and man- ager of Grace LaRue. It is for the right to produce "Betsy," which was a mustealized version of "An Ameri- can Widow." Mr. and Mrs. Chandler are at present in Europe. MASON'S SHOW, **THE ATTACK/* John Mason's starring vehicle for next season will be "The Attack." Mr. Mason, now under Charles Froh- man's management, will open about Aug. 29 with a several weeks' road trip before the new show is given a metropolitan premiere. Albert O. Warburg has been en- gaged as stage manager. MUSIC HALL—PERHAPS. If negotiations now pending are consummated (and they either will or won't be within the next fortnight), there will be still another "music hall" in the Times Square district. While it won't be, strictly speaking, in the Square, it will have an entrance on it, with the structure itself in a side street. The scheme is being promoted by western capitalists, who are seeking an alliance with what they believe to be "the powers." They are amplv equipped financially and stand ready to build at once If satisfactory terms can be made. The house, as planned, is to be on altogether original lines, and the policy is to be a combination of "review" and music hall turns. it will have a large seating capacity, mezzanine floor and but one balcony. »4 WILLIAM, THE CHILD'S" 7TH The seventh season of "Billy, the Kid," under the direction of William Wood, commences in the fall with Berkeley Haswell in the leading role. It is one of those pieces that goes along year after year and "cleans up" a little coin without any boasting. CORT DOESN'T WANT IT. From Seattle John Cort sends word the announcement that he has secured "Mama's Baby Boy" for production over his circuit, is untrue. Mr. Cort says: "I have no inten- tion of securing it nor have I any interest in that attraction whatever." WAVERING BETWEEN OFFERS. Despite the official announcement that Frank Keenan would be among the players supporting William Faversham In "Julius Caesar" in the west, Mr. Keenan has not yet signed. He is wavering between the offer and a vaudeville route. SINGER SERIOUSLY WOUNDED. New Orleans, July 3. One of the most serious accidents that ever occurred on a local stage was that at the Tulane last week, when Constantino, who remained over witn his grand opera organization to give an extra performance of "The Barber of Seville," wounded Giovanni Gra- vina, the basso of the organization. During the second act, Constantino, while singing the tenor role, made several thrusts with a sword, which the basso is supposed to dodge. In- stead, Gravina remained motionless. One of the blows came down upon him with such an impact it perforated his skull, scratching the brain. The curtain was rung down imme- diately, and Gravina hastily trans- ferred to a local sanitarium, where his condition is pronounced critical. Constantino is inconsolable, remaining at Gravina's bedside almost continu- ally, and states that he will not leave this city until the crisis has passed. The company was to have made a tour of several of the Central Ameri- can countries, but the trip seems now but a remote possibility. Gravina is a native of Messina, and has been a grand opera singer for more than twenty years. He first came to America seventeen years ago, singing at the Metropolitan, New York. Since then he has made the United States bis home. HiB wife and three children, a girl and two boys, live in New York City. "LUXEMBOURG** STARTING. Klaw & Erlanger's "Count of Lux- embourg" company received its start for the New Amsterdam premiere last Tuesday, when the commencement of the rehearsal period got under way. In the "Luxembourg" cast are Fred Walton, who will play Brissart, Frank Moulan as the Grand Duke, Thomas D. Richards, Anne Winburne, Fran- ces Cameron (Juliet), and Gladys Hornfrey, who created the role of the Princess in the Daly's, London, pro- duction. Miss Hornfrey comes over here to assume the same part In the K. & E. version. FILLING UP WITH SHOWS. The booking agencies for the one- nighters are reporting a plentitude of attractions for the coming season. They say that for the first two or three months of the season they are well filled up. A rather staple line of shows is claimed, much more so than in pre- vious years, when any number of at- tractions on the book could be labeled doubtful. SAVAGE ENGAGES CUSHING. Henry W. Savage has engaged Bart- ley W. Cushlng to stage his English production of "Everywoman," which will be made at the Drury Lane thea- tre, in October. Cushlng sails August 3. MANNING MANAGING. When the "No. 1" "Excuse Me" show starts on the road, about Sept. 27, Frank Manning, the Hebrew come- dian, who plays a principal role in the piece, will also be the manager of the company for Henry W. Savage.