Variety (May 1918)

-_l VAUDEVILLE Elsie Jams "Over There" £Ui« Janis. Songs, Imitations, etc 50 Mint.; Full Stags. Somswhere in Franca, April 28. Snap to it, Buddy; big show. Dry that mess kit and shuffle them dogs! Elsie Janis at the Y. M. tonight. Take my tip the house was packed. Some on the rafters next to the roof, but all saw Elsie, and the hit she made was enough to bring joy to her heart and the realization that her mission to furnish entertainment for the boys "Over There" was a huge success. Miss Janis is one of the first of the female American stars to make a tour of the camps in France, appearing at the Y. M. C. A. huts and in towns of any size at the local theatre, giving a free performance for the American soldiers. Wherever she may go Miss Janis scores her usual knockout, and from the soldiers' point of view is the biggest thing that ever came down the pike. On this specific occasion the inimitable mimic kept up a steady run of applause for one hour, interrupted only by convulsions of laughter. Miss Janis' work is one round after another of clever entertainment, *o construed as to be comprehensible to the boy from the sticks as well as those from the big towns. Every one feels at home, with both general and buck private equally entertained. It is an apparently carefree Elsie" that we have over here, full of the old pep so necessary and hard to keep so far from home. A batch of imitations constitute her turn, which cannot rightly be termed such, for it is an entire entertainment. Miss Janis is setting a wonderful example for her fellow American stars. Elsie Janis may be cited as having done her bit. Eddie liartman. [Mr. Hartman was formerly a member of Variktv's New York staff. He is a sergeant attached to Headquarters, A. E. F.] KEITH'S, WASHINGTON, LEADS Washington, May 29. Roland S. Robbins, manager of Keith's in this city, again leads all other theatres of the Keith circuit with subscriptions to the second War Fund of the Red Cross, with a total of $24,726.76. President Wilson donated a big Texas turkey recently sent him, and which has been named "Col. Jake," to the theatre, to be auctioned off. "Col. Jake" has been sold four or five times, each purchaser returning it. At the theatre Monday night, Al Herman and Ida May Chadwick col- lected over $500. The Allied Theatrical and Motion Picture Team of the Red Cross second war fund drive, when all returns are in, will have a total of over $1,100,000. All the theatres in New York, ex- cepting the Moss Circuit, made its do- nations through this team, the Moss people making their contribution di- rect. Of the vaudeville theatres the Palace made the biggest showing, with the Riverside second. The five monster benefits yielded a gross of $250,000, divided as follows. Hippodrome, Thursday, $30,000; boxing and wrestling at Madison Square Gar- den, Friday, $50,000; ball at the Astor, Saturday, $60,000; All star show at the Century, Sunday, $35,000; concert at the Metropolitan, Monday, $80,000 (the lat- ter the largest takings ever known for a benefit performance at that house, the nearest to it being the affair for the relief of the San Francisco earth- quake sufferers, which netted $54,000). DOINGS OVER THERE. May 1. Editor Variety: Some weeks ago I was in a differ- ent place. Those were the days when I was a small town guy, but now I am in an honest-to-God city, with street cars, but things like that don't scare me any more. When I first saw them, after my stay in "the sticks," I was somewhat shy. But this place is there, when it comes to a French town. Only Paris has anything on it. We have beaucoup the- atres here and things are pretty lively, the only trouble being that the "pow- ers that be" think there is too much life for the young soldier boys, so everybody must be in by 10 o'clock unless a special pass is obtained. ' Jimmie Fletcher, the contortionist (he worked the Loew Circuit, booked by Mark Levy, about two years ago), played here a week ago. He has just returned from South Africa a*.d Aus- tralia, also having played some time in England. We thought we would hook him for the army, but as he has plenty of work he thought he would stick to that, for he is getting regular money over here and seldom lays off. He said a friend of his, an actor, had gone to the Amer- y ican Consul in London and asked for transportation back to the States, as he wished to join the army. He was informed they were not calling Ameri- cans in foreign countries as yet. They did, however, round up a bunch that had been in the American Field Service before the U. S. entered the war, but were released and are just bumming around Paris. The theatres are not doing a big business in the Fr#freh cities in the provinces. They seem to be able to get along all right on Saturday night and Sunday, but the rest of the week they starve. These towns don't pay much for acts and it is almost impos- sible to change bills every week. In many cases they hold over acrobatic turns no matter how bad they are. There are a few English and Ameri- can turns playing. Most have a good deal of trouble getting to towns where English and American troops are lo- cated and must carry what is called the Red Book, a sort of special pass- port. If they don't have it and try to make one of the restricted towns, they get placed in the cooler by the police. Most of the turns speaking English and have played in England say they want to stay in France as long as they can, as there are no food restrictions such as exists in Great Britain. They are not put on rations here, although there are certain hours only when the restaurants and cafes may sell food. Any act that can talk a bit of Eng- lish is a near riot in the towns where Americans are located. The theatre management boost an English-speaking .act all they possibly can, as it is sure to bring business. Oftentimes an Eng- lish turn will be billed as American and then come out with that Cockney lingo. The Y. M. C. A.'s are, of course, en- couraging amateur theatricals among the fellows. They have what they call "stunt nights," when the boys offer a specialty. Some of them are there, some not. You know the old old stuff, "Face on the Barroom Floor," etc. E. B. Styles, well known in the circus business, is over hero as a first lieu- tenant in the Engineers. Hartman. Burlesque Stock in Bayonne. Joe Gilbert opened the Liberty Park theatre, formerly known as the Bayonne Park, May 30 with stock burlesque. Ted Murphy, Fred Nolan, Mablc Morton, Marie Dclmar and four other principals and a chorus of 14. HELLO, SOLDIER BOY." "Hello, Soldier Boy," a military mess of mirth and melody, was produced by the soldiers of the <J. M. Corps Detach- ment at Fort Jay, Governor's Island, N. Y., Thursday night, May 23. The show was a tremendous success and is now in great demand by all the Y. M. C. A. officials at the various camps and posts. It was an original and novel performance from the pro- log to the spectacular war song finale; the show being replete with excellent humor, eccentric dancing and lilting melodies. The cast and chorus were all soldiers of the post, some of whom are well- known professionals. In a recruiting scene, Corp. J. F. Rose as Uncle Sam, Pvt. Frank Goodman as Yankee Doodle, Corp. J. A. Pasta as an Italian recruit, Pvt. F. Reeves as a Dixie volun- teer, Corp. Ben Jacobs as the Hebrew soldier-boy, and £gt. G. Moody as the Irish Scrapper made a sensational hit; the piece of business and dialog was refreshing in its originality and humor. The "Ragtime Exemption Board" trav- esty was another feature which scored. "Hello, Soldier Boy" was written by Frank Goodman and Justus Rose, with music by Pvt. L. G. Franklin. The production was staged by Pvt. Good- man and supervised by H. H. Bayliss, secretary of the local Y. M. C. A. Corp. Pasta was the business manager. {Contributed to Variety by l'vt. Frank (iooilman.) "BRONCHO CHARLEY" ENLISTS. Syracuse, N. Y., May 29. "In 1890, I played for three weeks in Berlin, with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show and was presented to and shook hands with the Kaiser. Now, I'm going back to do my bit in breaking that Kaiser's Prussian militarism," remark- ed Charles W. Miller, of Oneida, N. Y., when he left Monday for Toronto, Can., following his acceptance for ser- vice in the Canadian Cavalry at the local British Recruiting Station. "Broncho Charley," as Miller is best known in the circus world, is 44 years old and has a son in France. When he left today, "Rowdy," a little West- ern pony and Miller's trained circus mount, went with him. One qualifi- cation of the wild west performer's en- listment was that he be given the priv- ilege of riding his own horse. Miller, since war was declared, has tried in seven different cities where he has been showing to enlist, but his age was a barrier that the U. S. Army rcruiting officers would not pass. Of late, Miller has been in vaudeville with the pony he will ride in France. Miller is probably one of the best known survivors of the Buffalo Bill regime. After being accepted for en- listment, he sold War Savings Stamps here. Miller's son is Sergeant Harry D. Miller, who is in France with the ad- vance school detachment of the Twen- ty-seventh Division, U. S. A. B. M. P. A. SESSION NEXT MONTH. Some time next month a meeting of the producing managers forming the Burlesque Mutual Protective Associa- tion will be held in New York. A number of matters are slated to re- ceive full discussion and perhaps a definite line of action marked out for the new year, regulating some condi- tions that need attention. No date has been set, but the second week in June will likely be seleeted. Dare Devils on Tour. The Dare Devil Show, which dragged out two weeks at Madison Square Garden' lately, is going on tour, ac- cording to the plans of "Daredevil" Shrcyer, who conceived and "owns" the outfit. The "troupe" is due for Jersey City next week and will anchor under a tent at Atlantic City, where it is hoped a summer "run" can be made. WEBER GIVEN MORE POWER. Never in the history of the Amer- ican Federation of Musicians has so much authority been invested in its chief executive as that granted by the Federation during its recent conven- tion in the Morrison Hotel, Chicago. Joseph N. Weber, returned to the presidential chair, now has unlimited power by virtue of his office, and whatever procedure he and his staff may decide upon within the year will be backed by the Federation. Another important matter transacted at the Chicago session was the raise in the present scale of wages for trav- eling musicians, which while slight in proportion to other years will not be given out publicly until the matter is taken up properly with the Man- agers Association. Inasmuch as the new scale would not become effective until next August the musicians have plenty of time meanwhile to present the matter to the managers through the regular channels. The officers of the Federation re- elected as well as the executive com- mittee are as follows: Jos. N. Weber, president; William J. Kerngood, vice- president, both of New York; Owen Miller, St. Louis, secretary; Otto Os- tendorf, St. Louis, treasurer; executive committee—C. A. Weaver, Des Moines; A. C. Hayden, Washington; Frank Bor- gell, San Francisco; H. E. Brenton, Boston; D. A. Carey, Toronto. The Federation will hold its 1919 con- vention in Dayton, O., the second Mon- day in May. Delegates representing the A. F. of M. at the American Federation of La- bor in St. Paul are Messrs. Weber, Carey, Miller and Joseph F. Winkler, Chicago. RAILROAD MEN PREFERRED. ir Th . e . e , xccutives of the National Vaudeville Artists sent' a petition this K e f. t( > thrcc railroads, the Lehigh Valley, New York Central and Penn- sylvania, requesting that at the forth- coming business meeting they recom- mend the retention of Messrs. Lindsay (Lehigh), Meyers (N. Y. C.) and Kib- by (Pcnn) as professional passenger agents because of the rare ability 1 f Cy . hav ? €xh >t>ited in the transfer of theatrical people and property. Since the government has taken over the supervision of the railroads, it is possible the professional end will fall under the guidance of someone not acquainted with the necessity of prop- er time connections and without solici- tation the N. V. A. officials felt obli- gated, even for the protection of their members, rather than of the individuals mentioned, to have them reappointed to their present positions. It is possible the Vaudeville Man- agers' Protective Association will take a similar step within the next few days. "OVER THERE" INFORMATION. Information concerning the progress of America's Over There Theatre League is secured in meagre quantities, as far as any names or approximate dates of sailings of those going over as entertainers. Up to Wednesday it was reported the War Department had returned no ques- tionnaires to the League among those forwarded to Washington received from volunteer applicants. The vaudeville fraternity anticipated more activity and with no detail given out to hold up interest, that field, from which it was thought the larger pro- portion of entertainers for the soldiers abroad would be drawn, seems unable to understand the delay. The League is reported to now re- quire that applicants shall also fur- nish references among managers or others connected with the theatricals as to themselves, not acting upon any application until these references have been corresponded with and a reply re- ceived.