Variety (February 1914)

VARIETY "The TraflQc" Company, which has been In rehearsal Id Chicago, Is to play the one nlgbt- ers through IIHdoIh and Iowa, and Walter Duggan left Chicago last Thursday to blaie the advance trail. Harry DeMuth Is back with the troupe and Kid Elberfleld. who re- cently closed with the Eva Tanguay show. Is "second man." Theodore Mitchell, a Clnclnaatl newspaper man and a foftner road agent, has been se- lected as the New York representative of the Oliver Morosco attradioDb. Several weeks ago Julian Johnston pcvered connections with the Morosco press depttrtinent and the Morosco publicity was again placed in the bands of Richard Lambert. Dicli got scadloads of stuft in the daily and Sunday papers about the opening of Jack Lait's "Help Wanted." Lam- bert will continue as John Cort's chief pub- licist. Leon Kalmer, late manager of the Edison talking pictures, is now attached to the Oeorge Klelne Company and at present Is booking six shows through New York State. H. H. Frasee will produce next Monday In Hartford a new farce by HMward Peple. an- tlUed "A Pair of Sixes.'^ The two prlneipal roles will be played by Arthur Aylesworth and Ann Murdock. Charles Dooin, manager-player of the Phila- delphia National League team^who during the winter plays TauderlUe with James McCool, pulled a bit of press work that almost got him "In Dutch" with the fans, the sporting writ- ers and the National and American League owners and managers. After Oooln had done a little panning on the proposed Federal League movement the Feds came back with a letter In which Red was claimed as the writer in which he offered to Jump to the outlaws and take several of the regular Phillies with him. After much bushwa pro and con Dooln now comes out and says It was all a publicity plant and that it helped him to draw them in at Toronto. "The airl on the Film" will end its run at the 44th Street theatre Feb. 21 and the Eng- lish members of the company will return Im- mediately to London. John Trump has gene to his home in Co- lumbia. N. C. Eddie W. Hart, who has been with the Sanger A Jordan ofDces for ten years past. Is now In full charge of The Tip Folio which the firm issues each week. Eddie. In addition to checking up all the stock houses and cur- rent hills, keeps his eight-page pamphlet run- ning OTer with little notes and personal ref- erences to the managers and players. James F. Meaney, a Lawrence, Mass., boy, now general manager of the bill posting plant at Portland, Me., was recently married to Llnna DeCrato. of Berlin, N. U., formerly attached to her father's theatre la her home town. Probably the most angry person In Cincin- nati this week was Mae Dowllng. She went out and did a hard day's work, arranging pub- licity for "Fanny's First Play." which was to have been put on at the Lyric, Feb. IS. When she got back to the Lyric office a tele- gram was there, saying the show had been shifted to Cleveland Instead of Cincinnati. The premiere of "Daddy Long-Legs" will take place at AUaatle City. Feb. IB, when Henry Millar will prvseat the new Jean Web- ster comedy, witk Batt Ckatterton as Judy. The Columbia AmveemMt Co. put over a fine press stunt this week when it sent out an announcement it had arranged to form a sec- ond bnrleeque circuit comprising theatres In 30 new cities, this chain to be known as Co- lumbia Circuit No. 2 and "will be operated in conjunction with the older parent organiza- tion." THE GUS HILL IDEA. Gus Hill expects to start rehearsaTs of "Bringing: Up Father" some time next week. He is oTgzmz'ing a com- pany made up mostly of specialty peo- ple, following the lines laid down by the late Charles H. Hoyt. There will be but eight girls and no male chorus. "I have been watching all kinds of shows, from burlesque to two-dollar Broadway musical productions," he said, "and have concluded that it isn't tbe 'numbers' that make good, but the specialties. Take the Winter Garden, for instance, which seems to have gone everything else one better with its 'numbers.' I found that Wilie How- ard and the the other vaudeville spe- cialty artists received the biggest ap- plause. The cost of p'i'tlngr on one of their 'numbers' would pay the galaries or nearly all their specialty people put together. "Put a bum quartet with a show that cann6t^ harmonize, and they'll clean up every time by comparison with the ev- olutions of the girls. That being so, I'm not going to argue with the audi- ence, but try to give them what they want, especialy when it will be cheap- er for me. Besides, an actor who can do a specialty doesn't ask any bigger si/lary than one who can't" ROY ATWELL IN "'MRS. SMITH/' Los Angeles, Feb. 11. The engagement of Roy Atwell to take a role in "Pretty Mrs. Smith" has been made and Mr. Atwell is on his way here. George Lydecker is to re- place Arthur Buckley in the cast. The show headed by Kitty Gordon will remain at the Burbank until Feb. 28, when it starts eastward, to open at the Cort theatre, Boston, March 16. "Rita's Romance," by Silvio Hein and Avery Hopgood, will be given its chance at the Burbank, by the Oliver Morosco stock company, commencing March 1. CLIFFORD'S NEW TERRITORY. When Billy Clifford goes out next season in the musical show,* "Believe Me," which he is now playing through the west, he will make direct for the south under C. A. Burt's exclusive booking direction. This will be Clif- ford's first southern jaunt since he became a star. MAJESTIC, SO. BEND, BURNS. South Bend, Ind., Feb. 11. Fire destroyed the Majestic Feb. 5, caused by an overheated furnace. The Angel Musical Co., which was playing its 20th week at the theatre, suffered a heavy loss. The theatre's loss is set at $8,000. BILL ABOUT TO BE PASSED. Boston, Feb. 11. The bill framed by Mayor John F. Fitzgerald and Corporation Counsel Corbett to end the ticket agencies and speculating in Boston as the result of the jumping of prices at the Colonial and Shubert on the night of the Har- vard-Yale football game, will probably be passed upon by the Legislature the latter part of this week. It was argued that the agencies in the hotels and elsewhere are a great con- venience and that the purchaser of a ticket at those agencies expects to pay for the privilege of not having to go to the box office to stand in line. OPERA AT AUDITORIUM. Chicago, Feb. 11. The National Grand Opera Co. of Canada will come to the Auditorium for one woik. opening March 16. The rcpi rtoire will include such operas as "Otello" and "Mme. Butter- fly," "Samson et Delila" and "La Navarraise," tlie latter being new to Chicago. ARRANGES FOR LONDON. Edward Laurillard, the London mov- ing picture manager, who is now in New York to establish a high class picture house for the exploitation of his foreign feature reels, has stcured a theatre in the English metropolis. He sails for home Feb. 18 and prior to his departure will make an official announcement of the name of the playhouse. The policy of the theatre will be the presentation in London of established American successes, the English rights for which he is in ne- gotiation or has closed for. The opening attraction will be "Pot- ash & Perlmutter," which will occur about Easter. SWEATNA^ WITH STEVE KING. Steve King on Wednesday engaged Willis P. Sweatnam to star under his management. Sweatnam will resume his original role of the porter in King's "Excuse Me" company. Sweat- nam played the part for several sea- sons before. LONGACRE PASSES. Wednesday of the current week ne- gotiations were practically concluded whereby *the control of the Longacre theatre would pass to Selwyn & Co., H. H. Frazee retaining a minority in- terest in it Several managers were dickering for it, among them, L^ Lawrence Weber, in association with the Shuberts. ELKELES' FOREIGN MISSION. In about two weeks Percy Elkeles, the dramatic impresario and agent, will start on a trip abroad, with Lon- don his objective point. The reason for Mr. Elkeles' going is kept very se- cret, although it is reported as an im- portant mission. BARTHOLOMAE'S %IRL" PUY. Philip Bartholomae is making ready a new musical comedy, written by him- self. It is a "girl" play, with no chorus. CHORUS GIRLS MISSING. Pittsburgh, Feb. 11. Police searched the apartments and office of James A. Grundy, promoter of a new musical comedy, in Hotel Clinton to find two stage struck girls, Stephania Staroszk, 20 years old, and Anna Kissahonyak, 19. Both are American born and pretty. The lat- ter danced with a carnival company last year. Grundy told the police and relatives of the girls they had been accepted for the chorus of his show but had disappeared after rehearsal. They gave their stage names as Stephania Strauss and Anna Lentz. Circulars with their pictures have been sent out to police headquarters throughout the country. ARRESTED ON SUSPICION. Cincinnati, Feb. 11. Grace Carey, a mermaid in "Nep- tune's Gardens," which played Keith's recently, and Rexford Johnson, at Heuck's last week, were arrested in a rooming house, 815 Race street, on suspicion. His relatives registered the complaint. ^^I^7oa*3on'^3TerTT!5Tir d«a't adTertlae at all ''UNDER COVER'' AT CORT. Boston, Feb. 11. Selwyn & Co.'s production of "Un- der Cover," at the Plymouth, will be the opening attraction at the Cort, New York, next fall. The piece start- ed slowly here, but business has been steadily increasing. Roi Cooper Megrue's name appears on the Plymouth programs as its au- thor, but Walter Hackett is said to have been the original writer of the piece. "Under Cover," controlled by Selwyn & Co., New York, which is having a most profitable run in Bos- ton, is said to have another company present it in Chicago, opening there Labor Day. "LAST RESORF' IS MELLER. Albany, Feb. 11. "The Last Resort," a melodramatic satire by George Scarborough, author ot "The Lure" and "At Bay," will be "tried out" at the Hall, Feb. 13-14. The drama deals with the crooked- ness of judges. The cast has George Faucett, Julia Bianc, George Wilson, Frances Ring, A G. Andrews, Richard Barbee, Wil- son Melrose, Arthur Edwards, B. R. Graham, Ruth Findlay, George Back- us, Mark Price, Albert Hyde, Alfred Moore, Charles N. Greene. EARL TALBOT VERY ILL Earl Talbot, of the Winter Garden cast, forced to quit the show owing to pneumonia, has become worse, and was reported Wednesday at Presby- terian Hospital where he is confined, in a most dangerous condition. GIVING SPECIAL SHOW. Detroit, Feb. 11. "The Family Cupboard" company at the Garrick last week remained over, and tomorrow will give a special per- formance of "The Decent Thing to Do" by Charles Rann Kennedy, author of "The Servant in the House." "SPEC." TOLD A STORY. A bold speculator was taken into custody in front of the DeKalb, Brook- lyn, Monday night, for trying to dis- pose of tickets for "Within the Law." When arrested the spec said he was in cahoots with Clarence Gray, a for- mer boxoffice man at the DeKalb, but when Gray confronted him the specu- lator acknowledged he didn't know him from Adam's off ox. "MOSELLE" ADDITIONS. Al. Hart and William Pruette have been added to the cast of "Madam Moselle," which opens in Buffalc Feb. 19. The company will carry 12 extra musicians, and the opening per- formance will be conducted by Ludwig Englander, its composer. TO JAMAICA ON VACATION. A. W. ("Sandy") Dingwall, "Lute" Phelps and Fred Peel sailed last Satur- day for Jamaica for several weeks' va- cation. Incidentally they will endeavor to clear the expenses of the trip by taking along for exhibition there a fea- ture reel, entitled "The Street? of New York,"