Variety (September 1919)

Of &l^l> A -•i. irf»^»'"*ii< ‘J^ i'»*i ?» ’m^[i!hl\“‘,'M» .''','Vi"'a.‘.J;-Vt, B U Y BON D S LIGHTLESS NIGHTS’ REMEDY SUGGE STED B Y MANAGERS Broadway’s Side Street $2 Theatres Suffering from Four Full Lightless Nights Weekly. Pr^erOpenmg Hour Each Night for Lights.' Plan Economical for Conservation Through Actual Time Saving. Strangers Only Know Broadway. \ With the new theatrical season ap- proaching full stride, an appeal for what is considered a more equitable ruling on the four lightless nights ^ order has taken form. The reason- ableness of the suggestions made may lead to the: matter being handled vig- orously through the United Managers’ Protective Association. The most important change advo- cated is that instead of theatre electric signs being permitted to burn with other signs for four or five hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday only, to permit the theatre signs to be illumin- ated for one hour or for ah hour and a quarter at show time—^7.30 to 8.4S— on each evening, in exchange for the long showings on the three week-end nights. Such a plan would not only help the , theatres but would act as/a force for .^further fuel conservation over the present order. The hourly illumina- tion nightly would entail the lighting of signs but seven hours weekly as compared with a minimum of 12 hours weekly allowed at present (four hours nightly for three' nights). Complaint of the present order and suggestions for a correction comes mostly from managers'of houses situ- ated on adjacent streets and managers of attractions in those houses', rather than from theatres located directly on Broadway, the latter being of ihe lesser number. There is considerable truth in the claim side street houses are handi- capped by dark exteriors. Broadway draws a healthy percentage of its business from visitors, and that class of patrons is not acquainted with the 'exact location of theatres off Broad- way. The suggestion of nightly il- lumination is acceptable to managers of all houses, except where pictures are exhibited on a two-show nightly basis. Those houses are in the very small minority as far as the Times square district is concerned. The suggestion has been made that an appeal be made to the Fuel Ad- ministratioti to place theatre sighs outside the class of non-essential ad- vertising, into which class are all out- door electric signs. Managers say that other industries are permitted to use all the light and power necessary even during the daytime, and as elec- tric signs are essential to the theatre during the opening hour, the order should be changed. The managers do not seek to change the order on the advertising signs which allows them to be illuminated for the latter end of the week. They . :3ay-the niatter of-eontrolling the :the-- atre signs and limiting them nightly to the admittance hour can be easily regulated by outfitting the signs with clock switches, which would auto- matically shut off current at 8.4S. Detr^oit, Sept. 25. H. Somerville, manager of the Drury Lane Theatre here, has solved the lightless nights by the use of Ptesto tanks, which enables him to burn four arcs outside. , PHILIPP’S SEASON. , Adolf Philippi inaugurated his season of dramatic and musical stock in Eng- lish at the Yorkville Tue'sday evening with a production of “Tell That to the Marines,” a comedy drama by himself and Edward A. Paulton. During the season he will present the following plays: “A Kiss in the Dark,” musical farce by James Watson, music by Ar- thur Gunning; “A Joyride,” farce in three acts from the French by Eduard Rlgaut; “Miles from Nowhere,” farce comedy by Philipp and Paulton; “Tainted Money,” a play by Alfonse Duchois; “Three Good Things”; com- edy by Philipp; “Sh, It's a Secret,” farce comedy from the French by Emile Barbou; “Fie-Fie-Fi-Fi,” mu- sical comedy by Philipp and Paulton; “It Haifpens Every Day,” play by Paul Afdot. He has the house on a percentage arrangement with Marcus Lopw. REVIVING “YbuRS TRULY.” Tl\e Arthur Pearson production of “Yours" Truly," played briefly last spring with a Chicago showing in- cluded, is to be revived next month by the producer, under the new-title of (“Marry A Girl.” Negotiations are on for Cecil Lean and Cleo Mayfield to head the show, with Harold Orlob and Otto Haurbach concerned in the rewriting of it. T. Roy Barnes was the featured member, book by Tommy Gray, when first produced. Thq, piece is reported representing about $36,000 to Mr. Pear- son to date. PREPARING ‘TETER’iS MOTHER.” William A. Brady, Ltd.,' has in re- hearsal a piece called “Peter’s Mother,” by Mrs. Henry de la Pasture. It is an English comedy that ran 700 nights in London, with Marion Terry in the leading role. / In the cast are Lumsden Hare, He- lene Johnson, Phillip , Tong, Gypsy O’Brfen. GRACE VALENTINE POPULAR. Chicago, Sept. 25. Grace Valentine has been the life- saver in the publicity line for the local engagement of “Lombardi, Ltd.” Last Sunday Percy Hammond gave her pretty face the entire “layout” for the week) and A.^hton Stevens devoted his entire Sunday article to the fair comedienne. Mis:! Valentine became immensely popular here, in the long “Help Wanted” run. “BEN HUR’S” PEOPLE. Sept. 30 has been set as the date for • |he-<>penjng of -‘®en Hur’" 3t- the-Lex»- ington. Rehearsals are now under way since last week. Robert W. Frazer will take the role of Ben i Hur this year, with William Wagoner and Walter Sherman playing Messala and Simonides. Virginia Howell, Mildred Bright, Mabel Montgomery; Stella Boniface Weaver and Ann Reader are also in the cast. BILL SUNDAY IN PROVIDENCE. Providence, R. I., Sept. 25. Bill Sunday, accompanied by “Ma” Sunday and the rest of the Sunday staff, arrived in Providence Saturday, and “Billy” opened his six-week cam- paign here at the tabernacle Sunday, when he put forth some of His usual hot shots in three spicy sermons be- fore tens of thousands. The city turned out to welcome him and he smiled and said .“God Bless You” to everybody he shook hands with. He will be here six weeks and -theatrical managers are now awaiting to see what effect his campaign is to h^ve on their attendance figures and cash receipts. Bill has hit the Germans, the sins of society, the painted faced dolls of the city, the slackers-and unpatriotic and about everybody he can think of so far, as yet has not hit the play- hou^s although perhaps he didn’t hear about th^Salome dance in "Miss . I Don’t Know'” at the Shubert Maj- estic last week. \ $3,000 FOR ONE JUMP. " It will cost Elliott, Comstock & Gest $3,000 to bring their “Wanderer” com- pany from Wisconsin, to fill in time at the Manhattan Opera House, opening next Monday, for four weeks. David Warfield in “The Auctioneer” will fol- low “The Wanderer.” -- “Tiger Rose,” the Belasco show, now at the Manhattan, closing this week for its month’s stay, has done a lesser busi- ness than during its closing weeks at the Lyceum. i FRAZEE’S DEFAULT OPENED. Alexander A. Aarons’ suit against H. H. Frazee concerning the latter’s alleged infringement on the Australian* rights to Fred Jackson’s “A Full House” came up before Justice Phil- bin in the Supreme Court Monday." Frazee’s application to open the default and defend the action, filed . through his attorney, Leon Laski, was granted. Judge Philbin directed Frazee -to furnish a surety company bpnd to secure judgment which might be entered against hiip, as requested by the plaintiff’s counsel, Henry J. & Frederick E. Goldsmith. The action is a result of Aaron’s allegations that Frazee sold the Australian rights to Hugh Ward for $3,500 without consulting Aarons; who alleges he only is the owner of the world’s rights to the farce, having previously sold to Frazee the United States and Canadian territory. "LESTER’S” CAST. “Listen Lester,” John Cort’s third musical play thus far this season and known earlier as “All for You” and “Mile. Flirt,” vnll open in Washington, Oct. 14. The cast holds Emma Carus, Ger- trude Vanderbilt, Clifton Webb, Scott Welch. Eddie Garvie, Ruth Maybe, Ethel Boyd, Savo and Cook. Concerned in the authorship are George Stoddard, Harry Cort and Harold Orlop. Max Figman is staging the production, and Edward Marks is putting on the dances.. * Rabbi and Priest Characters. “His Little Brother," the first of several plays listed for production by Walter Hast, is scheduled to open in Buffalo, Oct. *7. The leads are Walker Whitesides and Tyrone Power, who play a rabbi and a priest respectively. The cast also includes Edith Lattimer and Sam Sidman. QUESTIONING District Attorney Swann and assist- ants Tally and Kilroe bdgan investi- gating theatre ticket speculators Mon- day, calling many “specs” to head- quarters by summons. The ticket men ^^cre kept waiting from' one o’clock until 4.45 and then appeared before the district attornej^ in a body. Mr. Swann administered a severe lecture telling the men that they should be in the army instead of profiteering in tickets. This brought forth a strenuous objection by Matty Zimtnerman (representing the Public Service Ticket agency), who explained his agency was selling below the box office price and the summons to his agency had been in error. The investigation began over the sale of a 50-cent ticket to the Hippo- drome to a soldier who was charged $2. Zimmerman claimed his agency was doing a service for the men in uniforpi. The particular aim of the district attorney’s office is to eliminate the sidewalk operators who work with store entrances as a base. These men have been particularly active near the Hippodrome. It was shown one head- quartered in a United Cigar store. Mr. Tally said that the “ball would be kept rolling,” meaning a continuation of the investigation. He thought ticket men should all operate along the lines of Tyson and McBride, charging a stand- ard 50 cent advance on all tickets. Other brokers with established offices charge that those two big agencies are attempting to set themselves up as models and seek to eliminate as many others to reduce competition. The illness of Mr. Kilroe interrupted the investigation Tuesday. Among ticket men the opinion is that the dis- trict attorney is aiming at the' side- walk men. V J. S. Jacobs, with an agency at the' Normandie Hotel, created a diversion by voluntarily showing a letter prov- ing he paid a bonus to a wealthy Metropolitan opera subscriber fbr the privilege of selling the subscriber’s seats. >.- BOWERS’ MUSICAL SHOW. The new Fred V. Bowers’ show, “I’m So Happy," will be produced this season by the Adaline Amusement Co. (Max Spiegel, managing director), the tour starting Oct. 7 at Perth Amboy, N. J. The music is by Bowers, book by Victor Gabarie and lyrics by Arthur J. Lamb, with Lew Morton producing. Bowers will 'be sirred. After a week of one-nighters the show goes into Baltimore, then Washing- ton, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, etc. The cast includes Frank Morgan,- Olivet Rivers, Frank De Cordover, Mary Kilcoyne, Edward Sedan, Wil- liam De Vens, Irina Bertrand, Dolly Castles, Alma Youlin, Hal R. Dyson (musical director). Musical numbers are arranged by A1 J. Doyle, with the music published by Waterson, Berlin & Snyder. GUS KILL’S LATEST. The Captain and the Kids" is a new musical comedy Gus Hill will pro- duce next month. Written by Ffahk Kennedy with the score by Seymour Furth, it will have a “jazz" band as a special feature. Rehearsals began Monday with the opening date set for Oct. 14 at Eliza- beth, N. J. Cope Chairman of Village Theatre. John Cope was elected chairman of the executive committee of the Green- wich Village Theatre, which Mr. and Mrs. Charles Coburn have taken over. Edwin Carty Ranck, formerly dra- matic* editor of the Brooklyn Eagle, was appointed general presa represen- tative for the Players. AGENT GETS.-:GATE.-....-.--..- A New York dramatic agent has been given the gate by at least three big New York producing offices who have instructed outside attendants to bar him admission at all times. The methods of the agent in question have not’bee^ to the liking of the producers who have barred him from their offices.