Variety (May 1919)

Vol. LIV, No. 10 Patdlfhad Wedlj »t 1886 Braadwv, TlmM- fknure, New York. N. T., I b? VtflMJ. Inc. Annual Sutarrlp- tton. It. SUtfe cople*, IS onu. NEW YORK CITY, MAY 2, 1919 Entered ae second class matter ptetmbtf^'^r- 22, 1905, at the Post Office at New York, N. V., under the Act of March 8,187K ; i' •' ' • " '" I :■ REFERENCE TO PROHIBITION BARRED ON ORPHEUM CIRCUIT Orpheum Theatres in Principal Western Cities Must Not ' » Permit Artists to Indulge in Wet and Dry Quips. Martin Beck Issues Instructions. Also Limits "Piano Acts." ■ x ■ '. "■■v •■ ■■.,—— Comment on Prohibition either way, is no longer .tolerable on the Orpheum Circuit. Martin Beck, • pver his sig- ;. nature, Monday, so instructed all .-.Orpheum theatre managers in the ;■'".';; many principal cities of the west, in-' eluding Chicago and San Francisco, i. where the Orpheum Circuit operates. Managers as a. rule believe the \ vaudeville theatre should remain neu- p tral in all matters of national interest. ,..' In vaudeville, separate acts really con- stitute a show in themselves and are v - allowed a certain liberty in remarks ... for the purpose of providing amuse- ment.' This attitude in vaudeville has h-; frequently manifested itself, And the action of Mr. Beck on prohibition is ■: ascribed to it. • ? : Another instruction issued by Beck pi from his Orpheum headquarters in &,': New York limits "piano acts" on any K; single Orpheum program. The fre- quency, of the piano's appearance in vaudeville of above the mediocre class- ification has been often noted even ' by the lay patrons. So many turns seek its aid, that the upright or the concert grand provides an unlooVed for Similiarity in the running of the &4 bill, at the same time removing vaude- ~ ville's aim, variety. To obviate this', Mr. y .:i. Beck's instruction on the point says ' the piano shall be employed but once on the stage during a performance, unless legitimately introduced for the second time in a musical turn, calling for it. • The regulation of the "piano act" frequency will naturally fall upon the Orpheum Circuit's booking men. ture will be financed by T. Coleman Dupont, who is interested in' Ginns' Wilmington theatrical Ventures. V'". Plans have been completed for the I construction to commence this sum- mer. i i.?;''- t..-1 I H AMMERSTEIN'S VAUDEVILLE. Sunday i vaudeville concerts are due to start at the Casino the evening of May 11, under the direction of Ar- thur Hammerstein. Prior announce- ment,of such plans was vague, but Mr. Hammerstein stated this week he had outlined an extensive program for his entry into the vaudeville field and that he fully expected to have a big theatre on Broadway next season with a weekly vaudeville bill of big time calibre. \'\ ,' Mr. Hammerstein further stated he expected to follow the Broadway vaudeville house wjth a .chain of thea- tres with at least a dozen such houses, they to be located in the big cities. Heretofore Mr. Hammerstein has con- fined his efforts chiefly to producing musical plays but after the death of his brother, Willie, and up until the time of the replacement of the Victoria by the present Rialto, he managed "Hammerstein's.** 1 ■. I, !> COLUMBUS CIRCLE'S BIG HOUSE. New York is to have still another large picture house on Broadway, but not in Times Square. J. W. Ginns, the lessee of three pic- ture houses in Wilmington, and also the Playhouse, the legitimate theatre there, is to erect a 4,500 seat picture palace on the southeast corner of Broadway and 5!Uh street. The ven- TIRED OF POLITICS. Portland, Ore., April 30. Mayor George L. Baker has an- nounced that when his term as the chief boss of this city expires, he will retire from politics. The mayor organized the Baker Stock of Portland, famous throughout the show business all over the coun- try. It is expected he will return to theatricals. • ■ "TIMES'* CENSORING ADS. ■j The "New York; Times" has started' a* crusade against the suggestive in all theatrical advertising offered for. its ' columns. During several weeks past all of the drawn (or sketched cut) ads that had appeared inthe other Sunday papers . anent the "Good Morning Judge" show at the Shubert have evi- dently been turned down by the "Times" censorship board, for instead of the drawn ads the "Times" carried only type. Several of the other : managers seem to have been hit by the same edict for they have had their copy, chopped in the "Times" business office, but there, seems to be at least one able to get past' the gate with copy and that was the ad for "Keep It to Yourself," at the , 39th Street, It held the line, "Ifs naughty but it's nice." 5 - . t Several of the press representatives are going to take up the matter with the publisher of'{he paper to ascertain why there has been evident discrimina- tion; against the attractions they have been representing while others were able to. get by with at least semi-sug- gestive copy. • . WHAT ADVERTISING DID. Chicago, April 30. The Morette Sisters have been.en- gaged for 40 weeks next seasqn by the ' Marcus Musical Co. The contract is play or pay. )■• Variety's special State-Lake edition carried an advertisement of i the Mo- rette, Sisters.. It stated they were open for an engagement for next'season at $150 weekly. The salary was mention- ed in the ad, and it is the salary the Marcus people, of Boston, contracted for. The engagement was entered into by both parties as a direct result from the advertisement, the sisters accept- ing the Marcus contract among the many offers received. GREENWICH VILLAGE "FOlLlES/* ;; With Ed Wynn, Frisco and otjier. 1 Broadway names heading the cast the "Village Follies", will open at 'the Greenwich Village Theatre June 12. To make this production, Mary Anderson, Morris Green, Mrs. Hawksworlh, Bald-/; win Sloane and Philip Bartholoitjais, have formed the Bohemian Corpora*/ tipn with a paid in capital of $40,000. Of this, $19,000 was deposited Satur- , day and $21,000 Monday. The company has an option on the Village Theatre for the summer and is arranging to lease that property! for five successive summers. Th«y expect; to do for the village'what Ziegfeld has . done for the Rialto,: Already restau- rants down there are preparing for increased business and a large roof garden will be opened on Grove street. There, will be 12 principals in'this musjcal play, which Bartholomae and"; Sloane are writing. x The contract .with the Greenwich Village people provides for a high artistic standard. SHUBERTSMAKEUPv; p Leeand J. J. Shubert after a long . estrangement haVe renewed brdthefrly.T relations, following the latter'* return from Europclast week with the Am er " ican rights to a number of foreign pla ays. The .-.v- : he brothers had not been talking for six months as the result of some f'etty .argument, but relatives brought hem'together a few days ago. It was known that while J. J. was ill abroad, Lee was much concerned about his brother's condition. v. H '.'•;■.' - BUT IF YOU LIKE IT. .Laurence Eyre has tried a new play- wright wrinkle on the managers. This week he is offering a new play at At- lantic City. The idea is that managers can see it and buy it if they like it. He spent his own money in financing the production : for the week's tryout so as to present his goods to the man- agerial market. VANDERBILT INDEPENDENT. The Vanderbilt is to be an indepen- dent house next season. That means that the theatre will accept bookings direct from the producer, regardless of whatever his' out-of-town booking affiliations may be and that the book- ings can be made direct with the house rather than through any of the book- ing offices. This season Cohan & Harris were in- terested in the theatre with Jo.s. F. Moran. who built it. Lyle Andrews was the general manager for % the Moran interests and conducted both of the houses that Mr. Moran is in- terested in, Vanderbilt and Belmont, Next season the houses will be con- ducted with Mr. Andrews as the gen- eral manager and the Vanderbilt at least will be on the open market'for productions. ' SHUBERTS BUILDING UPTOWN. The Shuberts are building a new neighborhood theatre oh the triangu- lar plot running from 159th to 160th street cm Broadway and backed ih'jL Port Washington avenue. Ground was broken; last week. ' :; ' Picture interests are concerned with the Shuberts in the new theatre and it is the plan,, to offer road attractions, as an addition to the "Subway Cir- cuit" and to show pictures during the summer, ".■.■ ■'.■■'"•';j '•'';:■ ADVICE TO WOMEN. Los Angeles, April 30. Ruth Wilma Snyder, formerly .of "Canary Cottage," was granted a .di*,: vOrce from Edgar Wilson Snyder. " ' The wife, on the stand, advised wom- en not to marry actors. FRANCES STARR, AUTHOR. M Frances Starr is writing her memoirs, 0* ■ They will be published next falL : ? r'p • . .. '•' ••i",,^'%f ■.* ■ ■.:■■•• '■ ■■.■:■••' ■;'■■ f 8mu ■ .-••"'■-.' ,\ ; ",'W ~ PZ4i &&'\