Variety (August 1913)

= Vol. XXXI. No. 9. NEW YORK CITY, FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 1913. PRICE 10 CENTS K. & E TIE UP EUROPE FO R DESIR ABLE PLAYS Have Secured Options on the Works of Nearly All Noted Authors Abroad for Five Years. A Year to Accomplish. 14 Continental Shows Already Arranged for With- in the Next Two Years. (Special Cable to Varibtv.) Berlin, July 30. According to report here, Klaw & Erlanger have fortified themselves very strongly on the Continent in the matter of securing practically all the desirable musical attractions available tor America for the next five years. Through a local representative aided by Marc Klaw on his visit to the con- tinent recently, they have secured op- tions on the works of nearly all the foreign librettists and authors of note. This has been no easy task, and it has taken them over a year to complete their connections. At the present time the firm is said to have tied up for production in America within the next two years, some 14 continental musical shows. This will be more or less of a sur- prise to the legitimate producers, who have declared the European market has nothing desirable to offer for Ameri- can reproduction. K. & £. may have foreseen the present situation in the producing field and the possible timid- ity on the part of other musical pro- ducers who had in the past been wont to assist in filling the time on their circuit. Their systematic securing of options on all the musical works of note by foreign composers is along the lines in \ogue for many years by Charles Froh- inan, who for a long time held the re- fusal of practically every comedy and drama written by European authors. play two-a-day at $6,500, and the U. B. O. has countered with a proposition of twenty weeks at $4,500. There it a possibility of a compromise contract at $5,500, in which event she will begin her vaudeville route in January, 1914. - PALACE WANTS $7*0,000 LOAN. The Palace Theatre Co. has been scouring the financial market the past few days trying to effect a loan of $750,000 on the Palace theatre building. Little hopes of ultimate success have been met with, according to reports. Banks, trust and insurance companies have closed their vaults to theatrical propositions, whether in realty or otherwise. It is said the Palace people had only a building loan upon their property and now wish to take that up by plac- ing a permanent mortgage. HEADLINING A FL1V. Philadelphia, July 30. Keith's theatre this week has a con- ceded flivver for its headliner, Marion Barnay and Co. in "Their Wedding Night." It is a dramatic sketch, and from advance reports as poor as any- thing of its sort ever put on the va/iety stage. P. F. Nash of the United Booking Offices, New York, is sponsor for the piece and its booking here. The story now is that Nash must have an interest in the act to keep it at the top of a Keith big time bill. Before first shown, Nash said he would stake his reputation "Their Wed- ding Night" would be the greatest dramatic sketch ever played. No one gambled with Nash, however, for no one would care to have his reputation. CLIFTON CRAWFORD BOOKED. Clifton Crawford has been engaged direct with the United Booking Offices for next season, opening at the Colo- nial in September. After playing the Percy Williams houses he comes to the Fifth Avenue Oct. 6. FISKE'S SECRET. Harrison Grey Fiske is keeping secret the name of the new Ferencz Molnar comedy he is about to produce with Julian L'Estrange and Rita Jollivet in the leading roles. The name selected is "Masks and Hearts." SUSPENDS PLAY READING. No plays submitted to Charles Froh- man's office for consideration will be read before October. The preparations for the autumn openings, and the con- tinued absence from his desk through disability of Theodore Burt Sayre (the regular Frohman play reader), are the causes ascribed for the ruling. DICKERING WITH NORDICA. The United Booking Offices is still dickering with Mme. Nordica's repre- sentatives for the grand opera prima donna's appearance in vaudeville. This week she cabled from Sydney, Aus- tralia, saying she would consent to ARMSTRONG IS TALKING. San Diego, July 30. Paul Armstrong, the playwright, motored to this city from San Fran-J cisco this week and arrived in time to announce he is at work on a new play to be called "The Pirate," and which will be used next season to exploit the acting abilities of Dustin Farnham. Armstrong, after unloading this in- formation, opined he was dickering with San Diego realty dealers for a site on which he will erect a stock pro- ducing house. He also claimed an- other theatre in Kansas City. This California climate is funny. LOWELL'S POEM IN PLAY. "The Courtin'," an American comic operetta taken from James Russell Lowell's famous poem of New Eng- land life, will be dramatized this sum- mer in time to open at the Boston theatre Sept. 15 to start a two weeks' engagement there. The libretto and lyrics are by Charles Felton Pidgin, author of "Quincy Adams Sawyer," and Justin Adams. The music is by George Lowell Tracy. Charles F. Atkinson will produce the piece and will also have "Quincy Adams Sawyer" on the road for an- other season. DILLINGHAM BACK. Charles Dillingham returned to New York July 30 on the Olympic after' a three months' stay abroad on a honey* niodn. ; | Most of the new plays the manager saw in Paris, he said, should have bee* announced "For Men Only." He reports that of about 70 new Loo- don play ventures during the past sea,? son but a few lasted long enough .to cover the expenses of production. Ber- lin, he said, is mad about the turkey trot, and Vienna ditto. He thinks all the big song and mus- ical feature successes written and pro- duced the past season in America mutt really be the work of foreign writers, for the reason that the hit effects are seen in pieces over there almost be- fore they are acclaimed here. VICTOR HERBERT OPERA HOUSE: Broadway is to have an elaborate temple of song and lyrical romance to be known as the Victor Herbert Opera House. Plans have been drawn and endorsed by th composer, and a pro- gram of bookings mapped out. A site within the shadows of the Metropol- itan Opera House, with an entrance on Broadway, has been selected and ap- proved. The only other essential necessary for the immediate construction of the new auditorium is money. Frederick Latham is the promoter of the project. So far, Latham's assets comprise the scheme, the plans, two new operas of Herbert's and $5,000 of Herbert's money. The site at the northeast corner of Broadway and 37th street, recently cleared for the erection of a playhouse was considered at one time as the pos- sible home of the Herbert muse. The owners of the property at the last mo- ment, however, decided they required more negotiable collateral than the Latham enthusiasm. The promoter is now seeking to in- terest the owners of the Longacre theatre property, with the presentation there of the new Herbert works and the change of the name of the Frazee playhouse to the Victor Herbert Opera House.