Variety (September 1917)

1^ VAUDXVILLE 1 liSr 1.); ACKERMAN'& HARRIS PROCURE WESTERN TERRITORIAL RIGHTS Agreement with W. V. M. A. of Chicago Definitely Settles Sit- uation. A. & H. Booking 12 Weeks of Own Time, With But 10 Days' Loss, From Miles City to Pacific Coast and Back to Denver. Independent String Affiliates with A. B. C Chicago, Sept. 26. Closely following the eastern arrival of Messrs. Irving Ackerman and Sam Harris, the California vaudeville cir- cuit owners, comes the statement of a ten-year franchise arrangement made bv the westerners with the Western Vaudeville Managers' Association of Chicago, providing for an entirely new allotment of the vaudeville privileges of the western section of the country and completing what is really the first tangible connection * of the Pacific Coast with the pop vaudeville supply depot of the Middle West. The arrangement should prove of mutual benefit to both organizations, for heretofore the W. V. M. A. with the Middle West thoroughly covered, have never been able to get a foothold in the virgin vaudeville territory west of the Rockies, while the vaudeville men of the cost heretofore have not been in a position to make proper con- nections with Chicago to warrant a booking alliance with any responsible agency. The Ackerman-Harris inter- ests will be looked after in Chicago by Harry Miller of the "Association" staff while the W. V. M. A. will have a San Francisco representation through the coast agency, whose general booking representative is Ella Weston. In the booking and franchise ar- rangement the coast people have been given the exclusive vaudeville rights of California, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico, Montana and Washington. Shows will be routed di- rectly from the "Association's" north- ern string to Miles City, Mont., where the Ackerman-Harris tour begins, thence westward to the coast and back through the Central West to Denver, where they complete their 12-weck route for the coast firm to be re- routed into Chicago via "Association" time. This arrangement nullifies the exist- ing agreement between Ackerman & Harris and Chas. Jacobs, of Denver, who heretofore handled the coast acts upon their arrival there for indepen- dent booking through Colorado and adjacent states. Jacobs will still have his small monopoly on the independent houses thereabouts, but will have to procure his material from other sources. » On the entire A. & N. tour, but 10 days will be lost in travel, two days between Miles City and Butte, and a full week between Denver and the opening point selected by the W. V. M. A. The time between Portland and Sacramento is covered by short stands in Reading and Chico, Cal. This arrangement likewise precludes the California agencies from procur- ing acts routed over the time. Pre- vious to this system being inaugu- rated, acts traveling to the coast have found sufficient time off td* ac- cept short routes from local agencies in and around the coast territory, but from now on those agencies will have to either import acts direct from Chi- cago or depend upon the short supply of "coast defenders," which inciden- tally has dwindled down to a surpris- ingly small number. In the interchange of material the Ackerman-Harris office will route acts secured on the coast eastward over their time to be picked up in the Middle West by the "Association." The coast people have decided not to participate in local booking, although any number of small towns could be procured for the usual booking fee. A sub-agreement protests the Kellie- Burns combination in Seattle, their time being classified on a new tour to be known as Tour B. The "Associa- tion" will route four acts weekly to the coast for the Kellie-Burns time, which comprises about five weeks of one, two and three-day stands, these shows being supplied by Paul Gou- dron. Once through with the Kellie- Burns houses those acts will be picked up by Bert Christy, who will re-route them. for an additional four or five weeks east of California, Christy hav- ing no connections in the latter state. The Chicago-California connection practically settles the far west situa- tion and removes the possibility of the Chicago t>ooking organization becom- ing a direct fixture in the far west, at least for a ten-year period. That seemed practically impossible anyhow, for the coast territory was rather wholly controlled by the one or two active circuits there, and the Inter- booking scheme seems the most feas- ible. It also allows for the develop- ment of considerable vaudeville terri- tory in the Desert section, which can now be lined up with some surety of service. The Ackerman & Harris Circuit com- prises Miles City, Great Falls, Butte (two houses—Hip, vaudeville, and Em- press, being remodeled). Anaconda. Missoula (Mont.), Spokane, Walla Walla, North Yakima, Tacoma, Seattle (Wash.), Portland, Ore., Reading. Chico, Sacramento, Stockton. San Francisco (3), San Jose, Fresno, Bakersfield, Santa Barbara, Oakland, Los Angeles (Hip, vaudeville, with a large picture house now building and to be ready Feb. 1 next; A. & H. build- ing in conjunction with the Grau- mans, house not yet named), San Diego, Santa Ana ((!al.). The three San Francisco houses are the firm's Hippodrome and Casino, playing the A. H. regular vaudeville, with the Wigwam at present also try- ing vaudeville. A. & H. will soon have their own office building in Frisco, where the executive offices of the cir- cuit will be quartered. They are building new theatres, to replace pres- ent ones, at San Jose and Fresno. The independent vaudeville interests of the coast, immeditely following the consolidation of Ackerman and Har- ris and the Western Vaudeville Man- agers' Protective Association, ar- ranged with the Affiliated Booking Company, of Chicago, to link up their time and provide a consecutive tour of 25 weeks, routing from Chicago to the Northwest, where Edward J. Fisher will look after the acts, and thence south to California, where Bert Levey will take them over his string. HOLDING DOWN SPECS. San Francisco, Sept. 26. In an effort to discourage ticket speculators the local Orpheum is noti- fying patrons who hold season's reser- vation that should any of the seats fall in the hands of specs, the privilege will be revoked. It is also announced that seats pur- chased from specs will not be honored at the door. UNION MATTERS QUIET. "All is quiet along the line" was the statement made by Charles Crickmore, assistant International President of the I. A. T. S. E., this week when ask- ed if there were an^ new developments in any of the cities where recent trouble occurred with the different unions. No trouble was reported at Danbury, Conn., where "Katinka" cancelled Monday, owing *to labor troubles. Nothing new had been heard from Memphis, San Francisco, Buffalo (settled), Cleveland (everything set- tled but Keith's Hippodrome), Dayton (handled entirely by the local), Win- nipeg (picture operators reported ^.still out), New Haven and Bridgeport, the musicians having union dimculties in the last two cities. There was no word from Chicago, the picture operators' trouble believed to have been satisfactorily adjusted by Vice President Richard (jree. ORPHEUM REOPENS SEATTLE. Seattle, Sept. 26. The Moore theatre opened Sunday with Orpheum Circuit vaudeville. The iirst two performances were sell-outs and the advance sale now indicates a similar condition for the remainder of the week. Marck's Lions headline the initial bill. The Moore replaces the old Orpheum on the circuit. Saturday last Judge Jeury in the Su- perior Court dismissed the contempt proceedings instigated by the New York Life Insurance Co. against the Moore theatre management, alleging it had violated an injunction order re- straining the use of the "Orpheum Vaudeville" or "Orpheum Circuit" in connection with the Moore theatre, the former Orpheum (which still re- tains the* name under other manage- ment) having secured the injunction some time ago. Saturday and Sunday Raise. The 5th Avenue theatre has raised its Saturday night prices to 50 cents in the orchestra. Sunday night the first 12 rows in front are now held at 75 cents each. 27 ACTS AT BROCKTON FAIR. Providence. R. I.. Sept. 26. A total of 27 acts ot vaudeville have been booked for the Brockton Fair, New England's greatest, to be held at Brockton, Mass., the great shoe city, Oct. 2-5. The fair this year is devot- ing all its profits to the American Red Cross and expects to turn over to this organization between fl5,000 and $20,- 000 and maybe $50,000, if good weather prevails. The vaudeville acts booked, which will show on two large stages m front of the grand stand on each day of the fair, are as follows: Dayton Family, Max Eccleston, **The Diving Bell"; Dc Vries Sisters, Navas- sars Ladies' Band, Six Flying Silbons, Dare-Devil Oliver, High-diving dog "U-N-O," James E. Hardy, Dunbar, Banvard and Dunbar; Braggaar Broth- ers, Four Velmars, Fridkowsky Troupe, Wells-Oxford Troupe, Portia Sisters. Four Danubes, Aerial Cromwells, Eddy Duo, Herrera, So Dio's animal act, Ce- cil and Dorris, Bert Lamont (wire), Laura Ida Booth, Ad Sid, Ella La Vail, Laura Morris, Francois, John White's animal act. LOEWS BOSTON COLUMBIA OPEN. Boston, Sept. 26. Marcus Loew's fourth Boston house, the new Columbia, opened Monday night with a capacity audience and a special attraction in the form of "Fatty^* Ar- buckle himself, delivering an introduc- tory monolog for his latest comedy film "His Wedding Night" The new house seats 2,000, has one balcony, and contains a mammoth or- gan, one of the largest in New Eng- land. It will play fewer acts than either Loew's Orpheum or the St. James and will go strong on pictures. The top price will be 20 cents. The regular Loew split weeki>olicy will be adopted. Sam Messing, for- merly assistant to Victor J. Morfis at the Orpheum, will be house manager. The structure was designed by T. W. Lamb, who also designed the htige Orpheum. Colonial buff and gold form the color scheme and tht; lighting is mainly derived from illuminated panels. The opening bill has William S. Hart in "The Cold Deck" (film) featured, and the film serial "The Seven Pearls," fea- turing Mollie King and Creighton Hale was started. The yaudeville included the Celli Opera (io., William Cahill, and Ryan and Juliet. Marcus Loew and a party of New Yorkers, with also Irving Ackerman and Sam Harris, of San Francisco, as his guests, were at the premier per- formance. LOEW'S MONTREAL NEAR DUE. Montreal, Sept. 26. It is reported the new Loew theatre here will be in readiness to open Oct. 22. It will play the Loew vaudeville. The Canadian Circuit's new big time vaudeville house, Orpheum, is not ex- pected to be completed before Decem- ber. It will replace the present Or- pheum. FRISCO'S LABOR SETTLEMENT. San Francisco, Sept. 26 The differences between stage hands and managers were finally settled here last week. The basis on which an agreement was reached gives the heads of depart- ments and assistants an increase of $2.50 weekly, while other stage hands receive an increase of 25 cents per per- formance. "ORIGINAL FRISCO" Creator of the Jazz Dance. The Boy with the Hat and Qgar. RECTOR'S, 48th street and Broadway, in- dcflnitely. Chester's New House Seats 2,500. Chester, Pal Sept. 26. The Edgemont, Buck Taylor's new vaudeville theatre here, ofDens Oct. 8. It seats 2500. Five acts on a split week the program, with pictures. Arthur Blondell in the United Book- ing Offices is to arrange the programs.