Variety (June 1916)

10 LEGITIMATE, SHUBERTS CUT OFF AGENCIES IN ROW O VER FIE LDS BUY OUT Seats Were First Offered by Fields For "Step This Way" at $2 Each on a Four Weeks 9 Buy, With 25 Per Cent Return Privilege. Lee Shubert Wanted an Eight Weeks 9 Buy. Agency Men Refused to Do Business. The ticket agencies and the Shu- berts arc rowing over the buyout for the Lew Fields "Step This Way" at the Shubert. Before the company left town, Fields in a talk with the ticket men is said to have stated he would wait until after the opening and then specs could have whatever they wanted for the show on an outright buy at $2 per ticket with the privilege of 25 per cent, return. The ticket men were satisfied and this week they made the requisitions for the seats. When the orders were turned into the Shubert office, Lee Shubert it re- ported to have stated if the agencies wanted to have seats for the Fields show they would have to take 450 a night at $2.25 and they could return but 10 per cent The deal was at a standstill Monday, with the ticket men holding out for better terms. Tuesday the Fields office took orders from the agencies for four weeks and they were to deliver to the agencies at $2.00 and 25 per cent return. About a half hour after the orders had been placed there was a call from the Shu- bert office that the deal was off because Lee Shubert would not stand for the arrangement and that he insisted that if the agencies wanted seats they would have to buy for eight weeks. The ma- jority of the agency men refused this but a few bought. Wednesday morning those that did not buy for the Fields show were in- formed Lee Shubert had ordered them cut off of the lists of all of the Shubert houses in town and that they would not be given seats for any of the Shubert attractions or houses. This is about the tenth time that this threat has bd % n used on the agencymen and they say that they are going to stand pat, for the Shubert office has not in the past been able to make the threat good, to the extent of making it impossible fo? the agencies to get seats for the at- tractions that they wanted them for. going to stay all summer. The "last two weeks" is announced. May Irwin is doing fairly well at the Grand, while Peggy O'Neil is getting her share at Powers' in "Mavourneen." "A Pair of Queens," at the Cort, con- tinues to draw profitably, while "So Long Letty" is more than keeping up at the Olympic. "A World of Pleas- ure" is going big at the Palace. Among the shows underlined are 'Treasure Island," for the Colonial June 5, and "Nothing But the Truth," at the Princess June 2. SHOWS IN LOS ANGELES. Los Angeles, May 31. "Canary Cottage," the new Oliver Morosco show, now in its second week at the Mason, is going at top box office speed, with no sign of a let up. Mr. Morosco is making changes in the production, adding bits here and there, besides speeding up some of the num- bers. "The Brat" at the Morosco, seventh week, may be retained beyond its ex- pected date of leaving for San Fran- cisco, owing to a sudden increase in local interest. Oliver Morosco is ar- r ranging for the New York premiers of this play. MASQUE IS OPPOSITION. The Shakespeare Community Masque, "Caliban," at the stadium of the City College, has been so tremendously suc- cessful that six additional performances had to be added to the original sched- ule. The other amusement attractions in town have felt the effect of the opposi- tion the masque has proven to be. All the Broadway houses reported that they had dropped off considerably this week, and even the neighborhood houses in the Harlem section lost considerable business. This was especially true of the houses in the Washington Heights section. STOCKS OPENING. A stock will be installed shortly by S. Z. Poli in the Jacques, Waterbury, Conn. Edward Ornstein will organize four stocks in and around New York, open- ing Labor Day. His stock season at the Elsmere ends June 3. Jamestown, N. Y., May 31. A musical stock, numbering 18 peo- ple, is to open here tomorrow at Celeron Park. Hagerstown, Md., May 31. Charles Boyer is opening a musical stock tomorrow. The first bill is "The Mikado." The Poli Stock in Springfield, Mass., opened Monday. A stock is being recruited for Poli's, Wilkes-Barre. STOCKS CLOSING. Milwaukee, May 31. The stock at the Shubert closes about June 17. Schenectady, N. Y., May 31. Jane Lowe will close her stock sea- son at the Van Curler June 3, after eight weeks. Miss Lowe will return here next spring, meanwhile appearing in a production under the direction of William L. Wilkens, press representa- tive for the Barnum-Bailey Circus. Mr. Wilkens has Miss Lowe under contract. St. Paul, May 31. The Ernest Fisher- Stock closes here Saturday night. Wilkes-Barre, May 31. The stock at the Nesbitt closes Satur- day. SHOWS CLOSING. "Sybil" at the Liberty, "Common Clay" at the Republic and the Hippo- drome close this week. "The Great Lover" at the Longacre will close June 10. "The Fall of a Nation" goes into the Liberty next week. FIRST SUMMER TRYOUT. Atlantic City, May 31. "The Double Cure," the first of the warm weather tryouts of Selwyn & Co. crop, opened here Monday night. SHOWS IN 'FRISCO. San Francisco, May 31. "The Uncliastencd Woman" opened nicely at the Cort, receiving favorable notices. A new show was put on by the musi- cal stock at the Columbia this week. It brought healthy business. Business medium at the Alcazar. SHOWS IN CHICAGO. Chicago, May 31. This week brought several new shows to town. At the Garrick is "Omar." The critics did not take kindly to it. "Experience" is back, opening favor- ably at the Chicago, where it will re- main three weeks. "Chin Chin" is not RECOVERED FROM THE SHUBERTS. Chicago, May 31. Fred Lowenthal, local attorney for the White Rats, won a suit against the Shuberts and the American music hall, for Robert Emmett Keane. The suit was the outcome of the engagement of "Within the Loop," the musical comedy which rehearsed for about 16 weeks and then played about two on the ,road, after which the company were advised that they would have to take a cut in salary. Keane refused to accept, and the company was then closed, reopen- ing here. Keane sued for the two weeks' salary that he held was coming to him in lieu of closing notice, and recovered on those grounds. CHORUS GIRLS FIGHT. Portland, Me., May 31. Just before "The Female Clerks" ended its season at the Portland the- atre Saturday, last week,, two of the chorus girls in the vaudeville act had a pitched battle, with Frankie Wilson, one of the combatants, arrested Satur- day and placed under bail to appear for examination Monday morning. At that time the other complainant, Hen- rietta Rheams, failed to appear, and Miss Wilson was discharged. It is said the cause of the battle was an internal one, known to members of the company. Miss'Wilson is reported to have called Miss Rheams several names the latter didn't like, when Miss Rheams began to tear the clothes off Miss Wilson before they were sep- arated. Most of the company returned to New York Sunday. RUTH ST. DENIS AS GUARDIAN. Los Angeles, May 31. The aged mother and father of Ruth St. Denis, the dancer, appeared in court here to testify in the application of Miss St. Denis to be appointed guar- dian of their small estate. The parents are agreeable to oe placed in a sanitarium, at the will of their daughter. Theater's Lights Went Out. Chicago, May 31. All the lights at the Empress were mysteriously cut off last night, during the fourth act on the program. The show continued with acetylene and candle light. "CIVILIZATION." t . A scene in THOS. H. INCE'S eleven-reel cinema apectacle, "CIVILIZATION," now pitying at the CRITERION THEATRE, NEW YORK. VIRGINIA NORDEN. The front cover has portraits of Virginia Norden, late of the Vitagraph and at present with Balboa. Her last Vitagraph picture, "The Destroyers," will be released early in June and is said to be an excellent exemplification of Miss Norden's talents as a screen artist. Miss Norden is now at the Balboa studios at Long Beach, Cal. She has just completed her first picture for that concern, in which she portrays % Western girl, a title for which has not yet been selected. Miss Norden is r. -w in the throes of her second Balboa feature.