Variety (June 1917)

1C GITIMATE, ■Baa Chicago, May 31. Although the weather up to now hat not shown May time form, save for a few scattered dayi, the legitimate houses are closing up for the season and by the end of the week there will be but five regular attractions show- ing. They are "The Show of Won- ders," "Turn to the Right," "Seven Chances," "The Pawn" and "The Bird of Paradise." The latter show, now in its sixth week, surprised the Loop experts by being able to stick. Re- ceipts are reported under $5,000, but the management claims to be making a profit and it looks as if the show would last for some weeks yet With takinfcs approaching $20,000 for last week, the "Wonders" show by long odds overshadows the field, with capacity houses the rule, save at mati- nees. This is ahead of last year's show in point of receipts since the higher priced seats in balcony and gallery nave been moved back. The night top remains at $2, but the matinee top is $1.50, whereas it was $1 last summer. "The Pawn," with Frank Keenan. opened at the Princess Sunday, and although not a sensation, was voted good enough to remain a month or more. The show laid off here last week to allow "Getting Married" to stay for a third week, the latter snow taking in $10,000. "Very Good Eddie" minus Doraldina is in its eleventh and last week at the Garrick. The decision to close it was co-incident with the determination to rush the play to the coast, it arriving there two weeks after leaving here. The Garrick was minus a booking to succeed it early this week. "Dollars and Sense," with Alan Brooks, opens at the Garrick next Monday. "The Love Mill" stops Saturday and the Illinois closes for the season. Last week's reports on the receipts were considerably under the $5,000 mark. "Seven Chances" is well thought of and possesses a fairly strong demand. The end of the run of "Turn to the Right" is not in sight and the show is turning a good weekly profit San Francisco. May 31. Business for "The Masked Model" at the Cort is holding up nicely. Stock burlesque at the Savoy draw- ing well. Alcazar—dark. Atlantic City, May 31. The Raymond Hitchcock show, "Kit- chy Koo," opened Monday and will require some drastic knitting together before it opens in New York Thursday. Most of the scenes were prolonged be- yond their entertainment length and will probably be cut for the New York premiere. EQUITY ASS'N. ELECTION. The annual meeting of the Actors' Equity Association was held Monday afternoon at the Hotel Astor at 3 o'clock. In addition to a gratifying at- tendance, despite the inclement weather, some splendid reports on the progress of the association were heard. The main interest was centered in the election of officers, which resulted as follows: (to serve one year) Presi- dent, Francis Wilson; vice-president, Bruce MacRae; corresponding secre- tary, Howard Kyle; recording secre- tary, Grant Stewart; treasurer, Richard A. Purdy. Councilmcn for three year term: Ed- mund Brecse, Bertha Churchill, Charles D. Coburn, Edward J. Connelly, Her- bert Corthell, Frank Craven, Will J. Deming. Harry Harwood, Frank Mills, Grant Mitchell, Edward H. Sothern, Scott Walsh." The Equity Council at a previous session resolved that delinquent mem- bers be suspended, with the exception of those who have been excused, and all those who were behind in their dues were barred from the Astor Ho- tel meeting. The Equity is in splendid shape finan- cially and applications for member- ship have been" pouring in at a most satisfactory rate of late. The Association has a cablegram re- ceived from Sir Johnston Forbes-Rob- ertson, now at his home in London, which embodied greetings from the Ac- tors' Association, representing British actors and actresses, to their comrades, American actors and actresses. Forbes- Robertson, in signing the message,, conveyed the English spirit that is with the English profession and with which the American sentiment is now allied. The Equity has practically agreed to a mutual form of players' contract which the United Managers' Protec- tive Association is expected to ratify next week. The contract is very similar to the one formerly used by the Equity and managers, the new form providing for a co-ordinating board of arbitration composed equally of representatives from both the Equity and managers. A chairman of neutral disposition will preside. Nothing to date has reached any tan- gible shape regarding the request for a charter with the American Federation of Labor, and there is no telling when the Federation will make any definite decision now that the war is on and the Federation heads are chary about is- suing new charters. The Federation has apparently had enough of the theatrical acting pro- fession for the present, the much- vaunted promises of the White Rats' heads at the Baltimore convention fail- ing to come true, with the Rats organi- zation now a thing of the past, ex- tremely bothersome in its day to many A. F. of L. leaders. But should the charter be granted to the Equity at the next Federation meeting, it is almost a certainty the Equity will change its present name. Meanwhile the proposed equitable contract is the main talk arrrong the Equity members. Final considera- tion by the managers is expected when Marc Klaw returns from his western trip. Chicago, May 30. With a renewal of the present lease of the local quarters of the Actors' Equity Association is a report to the main headquarters in New York that the western office has done exception- ally well in adding new" members, set- tling a number of disputes in which A. E. A. members were involved and has obtained the consent of practically all Chicago producers to use Equity contracts next season. When the Chicago office was first es- tablished it was not seriously looked upon, but the success the representa- tion there has recorded has made the office most important. FAVORING CANADA. Fully convinced Canada is show hun- gry and that conditions up there will be unusually rosy for "girly shows," a number of New York managers are penciling in routes that will keep their productions mostly in Canadian road territory. One show that has been cut for four seasons and has played nearly every crossroads in the States played a part of last season in Canada and the re- turns were such that the show will get in that section early in the fall R. R. TAX LIFTED? Washington, May 31. The indications here are that the railroad tax will be suspended as far as amusement enterprises are con- cerned. This is the opinion prevalent among those who seem to have some sort of an inside line on what the War Tax Committee proposes to do. There is hardly any possibility thai the tax on admissions will be modified. Producing managers in New York hail the possibility of the theatrical traveling attractions being exempt from the railroad tax as a distinct vic- tory. They do not feel the admission tax is going to work any particular hardship because it is to be borne by the public. The tax on railroad tickets would have hit all of the traveling attractions particularly hard. Several of the man- agers had fully made up their minds not to send out road shows during the period that the war tax would be in effect Up to Thursday there had been no further developments in the proposed tax levy in so far as it concerned thea- tres, circuses, baseball and other forms of amusement enterprises so included. The protestations of the Theatre Managers' Association as well as the circus interests, represented in Wash- ington by Attorney John M. Kelly, Chicago, and the former by Attorney Ligon Johnson, New York, are now in the hands of the Senate drafting com- mittee, which is exnected to make cer- tain changes that will reduce the tax, especially that phase which affects the show interests. It was Mr. Johnson who in behalf of the managers requested the Senate committee adopt the Canadian form of tax as it now works during war times there. STOCKS OPENING. A musical stock (direction Messrs. Katze & Phelan) will open in the Olym- pia, Lynn, Mass., June 4. The Odeon, Newark, is to have sum- mer musical stock opening June 4. The company was recruited through the Paul Scott Offices. With Godfrey Matthews and Flor- ence Carpenter playing leads, a dra- matic stock (direction Walter S. Bald- win) opened at the Lyceum, Duluth, May 28. Baldwin is personally manag- ing and directing the company. A denial is made by Charles Blaney his stock at the Park, Bridgeport, Conn., is closing. Blaney reports good business since opening last month. "Common Clay" has been chosen as the opener for the Poli stock in Water- bury, Conn., starting June 4, with Jack White, as stage director. Enid May Jackson and Harry Bond will play leads, with the company including Wil- liam MacCauley, Mary Hill, Maude At- kinson, Joseph Creahan, Arthur Grif- fin and Gus Tapley, stage manager. The second bill will be "It Pays to Adver- tise." With vaudeville closing for the sea- son Saturday at, the Temple, Hamilton, Can u the house' will revert to a stock policy over the summer. The same management continues it. Harry Hoi- lingsworth and Ottola Nesmith are the leads. Charles Pitt is the director of the stock plays, with Russell Webster assistant. Others members are Robert Lowe, Philip Lord, Sumner Gard, Charles Fletcher, Nan Crawford, Lu- cille Crane, Anna Athy. "It Pays to Advertise" will be the opener. O. E. Wee has opened his summer dramatic stock in Haverhill, Mass. The Holman theatre, Montreal, a new 1,200-seat house, opened May 20 under the management of George Rod- sky. GRAND OPERA CONFUSION. Until the courts decide who is legally entitled to the possession of the Lex- ington opera house, now held by Frank Gersten, and occupied by the Corse Pay- ton stock company (to close Saturday), Oscar Hammerstein. of the Hammer- stein Opera Co., which built the house and still claims ownership, said Thurs- day the Chicago Grand Opera Com- pany, under Cleofonte Campanini's di- rection, would not be permitted to open there, as officially announced by Cam- panini's New York representative, John Brown, for Jan. 22 next Hammerstein avers Gersten retains . possession illegally and that the case, now on the court calendar, mav be set for a final hearing next week. The Ham- merstein faction has been reported as planning an operatic season of its own, providing it can get hold of the Lexing- ton, but, according to the Hammerstein agreement with the Metropolitan, Ham- merstein is prohibited from sponsoring any grand operatic movement in New York. Hammerstein claims Gersten had not paid the Hammerstein Opera Company one cent since obtaining possession of the theatre. Campanini's eastern representative, Mr. Brown, and his press publicist, Ru- fus Dewey, continue active preparations for the inaugural of grand opera in the Lexington for four weeks. Campanim is due here next week. Campanini had John McCormack last year, but efforts to retain him fell through when the Metropolitan landed McCormack at a salary said to greatly exceed that paid by the Chicago com- pany. To offset the McCormack en- gagement, Campanini has signed up everybody with the Chicago company last year, including GaUi-Curci, Lucien Muratore, Rosa Raisa, Marcelle Journet, Vanni Marcoux, Julia Giulio, Crimi and others. Among the newer contracts are those of Mme. Melba, now in Australia, Marthe Chenal, of the Paris G. O.. Charles Fontaine, the French tenor, and Mme. Genieve Vix, also of the Paris company. The regular Chicago season, starting Nov. 15 and running ten weeks, will be preceded by about a ten days' tour that will embrace visits in Kansas City, Oma- ha, and other western cities. After the New York season the company plays two weeks in Boston. The war so far has not cut into the preparations for the Metropolitan's reg- ular season Nov. 13 and continuing 23 weeks. All of the Met's artists are now in this country, fearing a delay in coming back were they to go abroad meanwhile. If the Chicago company gets under wav at the Lexington, it will be running at the same time the Met is in opera- tion. All holders of opera box seats will be subjected to a ten per cent tax of the amount the seat cost for each per- formance. STOCKS CLOSING. The dramatic stock (direction J. E. Home), which has been playing at the Fifth avenue, Brooklyn, for the past 38 weeks, closes June 2 for the sum- mer. The Academy stock (Haverhill, ' Mass. (direction Emerson & Sights), is to close June 2. Warren O'Hara plans to wind up his dramatic stock at the New Bedford O. H., New Bedford, June' 2. The Empire stock, Salem, Mass., (di- rection Harry Katze) closes June 2. The Lew Morton stock closed at the Hyperion, New Haven, Conn., Satur- day after two weeks. Earl Sipe closed his stock at the St Claire, Paterson, N. J., Saturday, for the summer. Sipe will reopen in the fall. His Trenton company, headed by Miss St, Claire, will, continue indefin- itely. Max Halperin, with the Jos. Sullivan Agency, Chicago, has joined the U. S. field artillery and is at Jefferson Bar- racks, St. Louis, Mo.