Variety (January 1920)

li _• ' ■ :- .■;.,.,.•:. VARIETY ■ .', . ■ ■ •■:" "/■ i ..'■■•.;;.. OBITUARY CABARET 1 or? : <$ John J. White, John J. White, known in the sport- ing and theatrical world, died January 14 at his home, 817 West End avenue, after being taken suddenly ill at the Reviera theatre, New York, the same day. Mr. White was a close friend and associate of the late "Big Tim" Sul- livan. When the Tammany leader died he became associated with Wil- liam Fox, taking over most of the Sullivan interests. White was one of the foremost referee* of boxing of his time and was the third, man in the ring in the Mc- societies of San Francisco and bay cities, died last week at a San Fran- cisco hospital of pneumonia following' an illness of a week. Charles Allen. •■ Charles Allen died Jan. 1, at his home, 324 N. 8th street, Philadelphia, of heart disease after a short illness. The deceased was formerly with Harry Meyers' "Novelty Minstrels." IN LOVING MEMORY of MY DEAR SISTER Zv&t OTiteon Who departed this life January 21st, 1920. GRACE WILSON Govern-Dixon and McCoy-Chdynski battles at the old Broadway Athletic Club. White-had been actively associated with Fox during the past ten years and was financially interested in sev- eral of the Fox houses, among which were the Nemo, City and Riveria. The deceased was the son of an Ital- ian merchant named Blonchi and is survived by his wife, son and daugh- ter. Sadie UtchelL Sadie Litchell, late of the John Rob- inson circus, died at the St. Joseph IN FOND MEMORY OP My Belored Brother aad Pal PHIL KAUFMAN Who ewartad thta lift Ji Hi* Brother JACK KAUFMAN 24th, ISIS. hospital, Chicago, Jan. 14, following an operation. She is survived by a husband, Joe Litchell (Joe Wallace), a sister, Mrs. Paul Goudron (Anna Con- nors) and her brother, George Con- nors, director of the Hagenbeck-Wal- lace circus. Tude Wilton. Tude Wilson (Tude and Grace Wil- son), died of influenza at Flint, Mich., . IN FOND MEMORY of Oar Dear MOTHER Who departed thli life laat Aagaat, Her LoTtav Bom IRVING & JACK KAUFMAN on Jan. 21, after two days' illness. The act was playing the Palace theatre in that city this week. Grace Wilson ac- companied the body to Wheeling, W. Va., for burial. Mrs. Alberta Livernath Hyde, noted pianist and leader in various musical IN LOVING MEMORY MABEL HAMILTON Died January 22nd, 111* ROSA ROMA ' Edmund D. SUadish. . Edmund D. Standish died Jan. 2 at Los Angeles of pneumonia. The de- ceased was the son of the late Wal- ter and Annie Standish. The mother of Ben Roeder died last IN LOVING MEMORY of my DEAR HUSBAND Iftiltp Haufmait Who passed away on January 24th, 1919. MRS. PHILIP KAUFMAN week in New York. She was about 80 years of age. Mr. Roeder is general manager for David Belasco. IN MEMORY ef Oar Belored Sister end Daughter Ella (Astor) Rogers Died Janaary 27th. 1918. Mother, Sister and Brothers The father of Clarence J. and Stan ley P. Dawson died Jan. 10, at his home in Columbus, O. The deceased was 73 years of age. MY DBAB MOTHBB AGNES RESSNER Who aaae* ea toitte Iml Beyort JaaaanrSth, tut, GUSTAVEKESSNER Wht 4M Aarll 2»h, ISIS. ROSE RESSNER The rather of Duncan Hall (Hall and Guilda) died suddenly Jan. IS at Oak- land, Cal. ^^ ■aafjf f aaaaiaaaaaaaaaa f j 1 -aaaaj--i IN FOND REMEMBRANCE OF MY BELOVED BROTHER PHIL KAUFMAN Whe departed this life January 24th, ltl». IRVING KAUFMAN The mother of Ralph C. White died Jan. IS, at her home in Stamford, Conn. IN LOVING HEMOBT OF MY HUSBAND ALFRED CLARK "AL" HARRMAN Who awarta* tun earth January 24th. lilt. MAY HARRMAN The celebration of booze passing was not much of' a celebration. The Jan. 15 night crowd was light except- ing in a few places, and not much , money was spent. Prices were high enough to have made the checks much larger than they were. Scotch high- balls were. retailed at $3 each in one restaurant, the top notch scare so far. Parties brought liquor with them and fights were frequent. The revenue men were out Thursday and Friday nights. An arrest of a waiter at mid- night in one x of the resorts stopped all sale for that evening. The place had escaped an arrest previously. The frightened waiter was asked by one j of the revenue men how he obtained the liquor to serve. The waiter said one of the managers had .0. K.'d the order. None of the executive staff of the restaurant would admit manager- ship, but the revenue men were quite decent. • They said if anyone of the management would guarantee the ap- pearance of the waiter the following morning they would not lock him tip, and also demanded that whoever had O. K.'d the order appear with him. The revenue agents were three in number and were seated by themselves when at a table, the waiter taking their order for liquor without knowing them. On one of the roofs the same evening was a mixed party having ringside seats. In the party were a fellow and a girl,' with the young woman evidently jealous of his atten- tion toward the girls of the chorus paraded past them. Suddenly the girl swung on her- escort and started a battle that stopped all the proceedings. Taken away ffOm the table and sepa- rated, the- couple went to the rear of the floor, where they"' temporarily patched up the affair. They returned to the table, and just as they were about to sit down, the female champ swung again, repeating her jamming until led away with her arms pinioned to her sides. One of the best filled restaurants remained open until 7 a. m., selling continuously without in-/ terference and holding the crowd to the finish. A fight or two > occurred there, but nothing serious, as the. liquor served was better than the average. If the troubles all around resulting from bad booze since war- • time prohibition commenced may be indirectly traced to the brand' of liquor, goodness knows what is going to happen when the drinkers start buying the bootlegged brand. Most of the restaurants have held out their best liquor, retailing the pofJrest, sub- stituted stuff and reduced booze until the wanderer along Broadway couldn't tell good whiskey or Scotch when he got it. And a's for imported* cham- pagne, if anyone has had a bottle of it on the level, no matter what was charged, within the past three months, it must have been through an error behind the bar. But the restaurant men have been all right with their friends, taking care of them to the exclusion of many others and taking chances for them. In that way it was worth it and through that no one .is kicking. When they wanted to drink they were willing to pay for it. San Francisco, Jan. 21. Arthur Buckner, who is conducting a general theatrical agency here, put on his first revue at the Portola-Odeon cafe last week. The show is called "Bubbles" and was staged by Billie De Rex, who is entertaining at the Fair- mont Hotel. "Bubbles" is a lively af- fair in two parts, running about an hour altogether, appearing three times in the evening between dancing. It has a good looking chorus of 12 girls who are kept on the jump during the running, as it's one costume change after another (all short stuff minus' stockings), using seven sets during the brief time. On the opening night the -•>'< show contained about 30 people, in- cluding acts engaged for specialties. The latter will be dispensed with, leav- ing the revue eight principals and the even dozen choristers. A good impres- sion was made by a fast, snappy set' of principals without a dull minute. ;; Myrtle Victorine easily lead all the ,'/:■; others with her good dancing and all- around showmanship. Portia New-'. .^ port, a prima donna; Hazel Stailings, whistler; June Delight, dancer; Ruth Williams, soubret; Harry Rose, Ray- mond Baldwin, and a couple of lesser J lights proved an excellent aggrega- tion. A "surprise act" is put on night- V ly. Monday night it was—Sid Lewis,- 'i who went through his "nut" offering.- ;| successfully. Buckner was very, much in evidence on the opening night with *m many humorous and timely announce- ^ ments. The revue is a sort of an ex- ', periment on the part of the Portola- ; Odeon in an effort to bolster up busi- ness with a two-weeks' notice clause '-.{i in' the contract with Buckner. If the' show does not make money for the \-% Portola-Odeon, it will be no fault of ^ the entertainment, which, is best that J the cafe has had in years. -.:■-.:, Snuggling liquor from Canada is be-'. coming more hazardous, although the. border has a length of many, many miles. A Bmugghng arrest recently reported was that of two motor trucks with Scotch aboard to the amount of $12,000. The whiskey and trucks were confiscated. Three trucks started from the border with the liquor in potato, sacks. Each truck was supposed to carry enough gas to take it through to a safe point. Owing to the hard driving over,the snow the second truck ran. short of gasoline and stopped at a garage in a small town. One of the garage owners, snooping about, saw" the top of a bottle that had burst through the canvas. Rubbering far- ther, he got the contents of the truck, 'phoned the sheriff, and that truck:, was seized as well as the third one when it got there. The first truck had gone on and was not molested. The time is not far off, if it is not here already, when wealth may be com- puted by the number of gallons of "real"' stuff a man may possess. Quite recently the unloading of 100 cases of a variety of liquors took place in front of the residence of a certain prominent manager. Two trucks car- ried the stuff over while a man, who had all the rugged features of being, a "dick," stood guard. Several men who knew the guard tried in every way to get the man away from his task, but he wouldn't fall, while the others passed on thinking of better days. A Greenwich-Village Night's Ball is to be held at Delmonico's Jan. 31. A ^ statement says the ball is under the ^ direction of Virginia Lee, of "The Greenwich Village Follies, but in real- S ity Morris Green and Al Jones, the : producers of the show, are back of the affair. AI. Herman is also interested i in the financial side. The admission is to be $10 and the ball is to start at ^ 10 o'clock. Following Jan. 16 several places along the main artery commenced to '?& sell while others would not take ' ' ehances. Highballs in the "open" places were $1.50 and $2. There is a■'■'"■ hst in existence with revenue of- ■; ficers assigned to various places named ..; on it that about covers the entire >1 Broadway section. The revenue men , ; will work in squads, it is said, exchang- mg routes often. -.•;.- ■, Engagements this week include Mary Genro (Maxim's); Ray Cossar (Golden Glades); Chas. Gibbs (Shan- \'4 ley's).