Variety (March 1915)

VARI1TY JOHN McCORMACK'S $25,000 WEEKLY FOR VAUDEVILLE Singer Sets Highest Figure Ever Asked for Week's Engage- ment Under Management. Says Concert Guarantee of $1,500 for Vaudeville's 14 Shows a Week Regulates Asking Price. Who"! th«- :.ir.j.',«.-. s from uiioia and with voices -.nctj thought of lor vaude- ville John McCormack was not forgot- ten. Scmeone is'-cv* him about it. Mr. McCormack replied $25,000 was his vaudeville salary. They asked whether by the month or year and he replied by the week. To suppress a possible report he had gone wild, Mr. McCormack is said to have advised the booking men through his manager that he never plays a concert without a $1,500 guarantee. Vaudeville with its wear and tear of twice daily, making 14 concerts a week for him at $1,500, etc. When the book- ing man was picked up some hours afterward, he was still mumbling, "Oh, you McCormack I" CALVE PULLING. The conceded drawing power of Calve as a vaudeville card manifested itself with the week's opening of her first variety engagement at the Palace. The house bulged Monday after- noon with the attendance. It sim- mered down but slightly at night, and a strong advance sale started. Tuesday it was settled that Calve would hold over at the Palace for next week. WAR SONGS. A total of four "war songs" are on the market. Three have been added within the past two weeks, with some of the publishers claiming prior rights to ideas, also perhaps titles. Of the four, three are for the idea of having the boys soldiering, while one is against the scheme. BOOKING HOTEL DE GINK. The Hotel de Gink is having Sunday vaudeville. Two free acts are sent there each week by Sol Turek in the Loew Agency. The Gink place of abode for weary rustlers is presided over by Jeff Davis, for one week a feature at Hammer- stein's. WAR ORDER ON HORSES. A war edict has been issued in Eng- land making it impossible for horses to leave the country without three months' notice to the Government. This will affect horse acts, as even after the three months have expired there is no certainty about them being allowed to leave. PRIMROSE ENJOINED. Detroit, March 3. George Primrose did not appear this week at the Jeffers, Saginaw, Mich., as booked. Monday United States District Judge Arthur Tuttle, of De- troit, granted an injunction against his appearance there until such time m the lihal hearing of the case could be arranged. He also granted a restrain- ing order against H. S. Butterfield, owner of the Jeffers, from further in- terference with the business of the Franklin theatre. Several weeks ago Primrose was booked to open the new Franklin, then booked by Pantages. When the time came, Primrose had arranged bookings in the south. The Franklin is now being booked by Loew. GOING WITH LOEW. Rose Coghlan, who lately opened in the B. F. Keith theatres with a sketch called "The Sleep Walker," written by Edgar Allan Woolf, has signed with the Loew Circuit after playing two weeks on the big time in the playlet. The Loew people will headline Miss Coghlan over their western circuit, probably using a sketch Miss Coghlan played some seasons ago. She opens at Detroit, March 15. The Pollard Opera Co., an Austral- ian organization of 20 people, have been engaged for the Loew Circuit. They reached New York last week. "Clown Life," with 14 people, a re- production from a big time act, is on the Loew circuit. Bob Fitzsimmons, with Mile. Zillin, in "Her Birthmark," opened at Loew's Bijou, Brooklyn, this week. AUSTRALIAN DOINGS. Chicago, March 3. The Fuller-Brennan Circuit is nego- tiating with the Casino de Tahiti with a view to placing acts en route to Australia. A new theatre is being con- structed in Newcastle, N. S. W., which will play Fuller Brennan vaudeville. A new theatre on the site of the old Tivoli in Adelaide is being constructed for Ben J. Fuller. GOING TO ENGLAND. "My Scientific Baby," the play open- ing at Stamford, Conn., last week, was purchased by Sydney Blow from Mrs. Henry B. Harris through Walter Hast. The piece will be produced in England under the title of "Three Spoonfuls" Easter Week. The company and auth- or (Zellah Covington) who plays a role in it will be taken to England. The company will be under the man- agement of Clifford Brooks. Howell Leaves Controlling Co. London, March 3. Bert Howell has left the office of the Variety Theatres Controlling Co. SAILINGS. London, March 3. March 6, Imperial Bicycle Troupe (St. Louis). COYNE SETTLEMENT. London, March 3. Alfred Butt has received a substan- tial sum and will have program men- tion "by permission" through releasing Joe Coyne from the "Watch Your Step" production for the new George Broad- hurst-Walter Hackett piece, "He Didn't Want to Do It," at the Prince of Wales'. Coyne signed with Butt to appear in the "Step" production at the Empire. Later he agreed to first open with the Broadhurst-Hackett play. The Empire contract barred a prior London appear- ance. Butt secured an injunction against Coyne, when the settlement occurred. MRS. PANKHURST AT HALL London, March 3. The chief of the Suffragettes, Mrs. Pankhurst, will open March 8 at the Pavilion, lecturing on the German peril. Ayer Added to Show's Cast. London, March 3. Nat Ayer was added to the cast of "He Didn't Want to Do It" last week. The piece opens at the Prince of Wales March 6. Acts With the Circus. Charles Bornhaupt expects the fol- lowing acts (some from Europe) to shortly open with the Barnum and Bailey Circus at Madison Square Gar- den: The Yien Tun Troupe, Pallen- berg's Bears, and the Imperial Troupe. MIDGETS DRAWING. Albany, N. Y., March 3. The Royal Lilliputian show, put out by Frank Bohm, and which has Sin- ger's Midgets as its big feature, opened a tour at Harmanus-Bleecker Hall Monday. The Midgets give an hour- revue in the performance. It was staged by Ned Wayburn. The show did not open very big, al- though having good advance work. But with the newspaper notices and the personal advertising of the merits, the house Tuesday drew big business, which continued today, until the show's management believed it had made a mistake in but booking three days in this city. The street ballyhoo is also a busi- ness-getter. The show goes to Wilkes-Barre for the last half of this week, and plays a full week commencing Monday, at the Shubert, Newark. French Band for Exposition. A French band of 80 pieces arrived Tuesday on the Provence, in New York. It will travel to San Francisco, routed by Bill Lindsay of the Lehigh Valley. The band is due to play at the Exposition. Prince at the Winter Garden. The United Booking Office's tour of Arthur Prince expires with this week's engagement, it is said. It is also re- ported the Winter Garden manage- ment has submitted an offer for the English ventriloquist to join "Maid in America" immediately. LA MILO The world-famous inimitable Breathing Mar* ble. KEITH'S latest and greatest headliner sensation, who is repeating her great European successes on the U. B. O. time. MARINELLI hat djrectios. SHUBERTS HAVE REVUE. The summer revue which Lew Fields was to have done seems to have been turned over to the Shuberts, who start- ed making engagements for it this week. Elizabeth Murray was wired for Tuesday and Grace LaRue was sent for to talk about the production. Miss LaRue was willing to go into the show providing she could be featured. There was some hitch regarding this. It is said that when the production is finally staged it will be presented under the management of F. Ray Comstock. The book is by Edgar Smith, the lyrics by Bert Grant and the music by Ray Goetz. CAHILL IN VARIETY. Marie Cahill may shortly play in vau- deville. "90 in the Shade" closed at the Knickerbocker last Saturday, rather abruptly upon the actors in it demand- ing salary. The Saturday perform- ances were not given. Similar de- mands had been made before upon the management, and they had been par- tially met. Miss Cahill was starring with Richard Carle in the piece. The theatre management, Klaw & Erlanger, took occasion to issue a statement upon the suspension, patting themselves, upon the back and "pan- ning" the actors. D. V. Arthur, who managed the show, had been plunged into bankruptcy during the week. To- ward Saturday one of the principal supports of the production was report- ed "ill" and unlikely to go on or to Philadelphia, where the piece was billed for this week. The closing happened when the actors found the chances of securing their past due salaries were very slim. Miss Cahill is said to have received an offer this week to appear in vaude- ville as a "single act." Philadelphia, March 3. The Forrest is dark. "Ninety in the Shade" was booked for the'house this week, and the theatre was left without an attraction,