Variety (March 1921)

: ' 7 T r , ■ Friday, Marcn '18, 1921 EDITORIALS S RIETY 11 Trtdi-Jltri ttbsiat«r«4 rubllahed Weekly t»y VAKIXTI li INSIDE STUFF ON VAUDEVILLE SIMS) Silverman. Presldeat 114 Wert 4ftH Street New fork City SUBSCRIPTION Annual f 1 forslga.... fa SJog-le oeplee. St cent* VOL. LXII. w, - 120 As Que Edwards reached the ♦Ttosie O'Grady" number in the "old time songs" section of his revue at the Palace last Friday afternoon, he noticed Maude Nugent, writer of "Rosie" was in the audience with her three daughters. Edwards im- mediately called the attention of the audience to Miss Nugent's presence and requested her to sing the chor- us with him. Following an acknowl- edgment of the applause. Miss Nugent asked to be excused. The audience Insisting, Florence, her 18- year old daughter, repeated the chorus several times before the house would let the turn proceed. The Central Ave. theatre, Jersey City, has been leased by Harring & Blumenthal who will take posses- sion May 15 installing a six-act split-week pop vaudeville policy. The same concern has purchased a plot at 138th street and Willis ave- nue, Bronx, on which they will erect a 2,500-seat house which will play pop vaudeville when completed; also a new house seating 3,000 will be erected by them on Jackson avenue near the Summit street station, Jer* sey City. Mrs. Lucille Sargent, who with her husband has booked the Colum- bia, Detroit, since it opened with vaudeville 11 years ago, is now in active charge of supplying the bills, and is now located in Gus Sun's New York hooking office. Until re- cently Mrs. Sargent was booking the house out of the Buffalo Sun office. She has had charge of the Columbia's publicity in addition to the booking. Her husband's serious illness precludes him from further participation in the bookings. thU week whL K2 Ua K Cing tUn ? Pl&ying the sma11 tlm * be * an t<> ^ although thl hi fl KSSL h * WM » lre * d y out $2,400 out on the venture. amSSZ « , * had been work!n * "teadily. The featured member, a "^ J * ven credit for securing the backing; with the act having IZlil ffered *< a fi * ure h[ *™y satisfactory to the booking men and kept Tor » nfn B ? nUn , U f lly ' ttUh .° Ugh remi "^es from the backer were called for almost weekly to make the necessary jumps. The return of Gertrude HotYmanu to New-York this week found that 1# uu? "? ly Cat had P re « ent *<* the household w4th a new batch of kittens. It was decided the quarters were not sufficiently large to hold the new arrivals, with Max Hoffmann delegated to do away with the kittens. Max tried the drowning process by trying to push the kitten, under the water without putting them in a bag. As they were being pushed under the kittens begun to lick Max's hands, with the result he lost his nerve and the new additions are now recognized members of the family. The office buildings around Times square, with the exception of the Putnam building, seem to have reduced the first rental per square foot placed on their apace. With the opening of the converted Knickerbocker Hotel building into offices, the new Loew building, with the Robertson- Cole building, along with several side street offices, there is not the demand for Bpr~t that existed a year ago. The average space in the Loew building is now said to be $4.50 a square foot, while some of the other buildings are reported charging on a basis of $3 and $3.50. The Putnam building again jumped its rental after increasing from 100 to 150 per cent, last spring. The latest Putnam building Jump is reported at about 75 per cent. While most of the present tenants there will vacate by May 1, the building people claim applicants are taking up the vacated space as fast as notice is received. One office suite in the Putnam build- ing has its lease at $4,700 per annum expiring April 30 (not increased last year). The renting office of the building is now asking $12,000 for the same suite. Its occupant will move. sj**~jl: INSIDE STUFF ON LEGIT Low Wiswell is still •nosing" bets to the box office men at the Liberty. Last week when "Lady Billy" beat $16,50d two silk shirts were presented the ticket men by Savage's general manager. During the run of tho Mltxi show the figure set by Wiswell for the treasurers to beat was bet- tered half a dozen times. The prizes included four $100 gifts to the treasurer and assistant. The Oratorio Society paid H. H. Frazee $1,500 for the closing of the 'FrascO therUre:with "The Woman of Bronze'■ for the night of April 7. On that night Margaret Anglln, who is starring in the drama, will appear in the society's presentation of "Iphigenia In Aulls," a Greek pageant, to be held at the Manhattan. The presentation calls for the appearance of 200. in the chorus, which includes vocal ensembles, dances and pageantry. Miss Anglln will con- tinue in "The Woman of Bronse" for some weeks, succeeding in with "Joan of Arc,* which production is ready. Investigation of a complaint made to the management of the Gaiety showed a patron had paid five different premiums on a pair of tickets for "Lightnin'" last week. The purchaser was stopping at s hotel and paid $6 each for tickets which sell for $2.75 at the box office. It was found the tickets went through a series of "steps" on the way to the ultimate buyer, and a charge of 50 cents on each ticket was added as the ticket passed from hand to hand. , "The Survival of the Fittest," opening at the Greenwich Village theatre Monday evening, and which provoked a storm of derisive comment from the reviewers, is in the house on a four weeks' rental basis. The weekly rental is said to be $1,500. After the first act at the premiere, Broadway managers in the audience went looking for Barney Gallant, with the thought the house would be vacant by Saturday. That's when they found out about the rental. No one knew much about the piece, Its aothor or promoters. j The Tyson company is removing its headquarters from the Fitzgerald Harry Mltchnick. treasurer of the D*s Moines Orphcum, has been I buildin * to its new four-story offices on West 42d street. It will have a designated the most popular man in the town by a voting contest con ducted by the "News." Mitehnick has been connected with the nouse for fourteen years, starting a s usher and growing up with the place to treasurer. The Orpheum has a subscription list of 400 names and Mitchnick says he has memorized the whole list together with the pair of seats that goes with each name. Four new "agents' who up to a few weeks ago were members of vaudeville teams have appeared In the Putnam building recently with lists of acts. Three of the new quartet were number two acts and ono was a next to closing turn. One booker said the "conversion" was so general he did not know whether an act or an agent wanted to see him. Robert E. Riley has disposed of his theatrical interests in Astoria, I* L, including the Arcade theatre, and has filed plans for the erection of an 1,800 seat house In Hemp- stead, L. I. Salvatore Calderonl, of the Strand, Hempstead, L. I., has purchased a plot for a new the- atre. Ann Pennington, while attending the performance of the Frank Fay concert at the Con Sunday night, was requested to do a number by Fay, but declined. Miss Pennington took a bow but refused 11 dance, with Fay introducing Mazetti and Lewis as the next turn. Dick Kearney in the Feiber & Shea office books the Sunday bills at the Columbia. New York. Regularly each Monday morning Mr. Kearney receives an anonymous note from a constant Columbia Sunday patron, commenting upon the performance of the previous day. He doesn't spare Kearney and also does not neglect to give Dick a pat when he deserves it. The letter writer seems to know vaudeville, also burlesque. He often warns Kearney not to book an act out of the current burlesque show for the next Sunday's program. ground floor counter. Th » counter trade in the larger ticket agency headquarters, like Tyson's and McBnde's, has tremendously increased of late years. At one time Tyson's, on the third floor of the Fitzgerald building, seldom sold a ticket over the counter, merely using the main office to direct its branches in the hotels. Now the Tyson counter trade is very heavy, while McBride's, on the ground floor of the Putnam building, has several clerks constantly waiting on customers. The phone business of both agencies is the cream and big. A new form of iieket speculation has appeared, worked for two Broad- way shows so far this season. A woman, not a ticket speculator or handler in a business way, is soliciting women's clubs for the plays rep- resented, securing orders for large blocks of seats and getting a rakeoff through discount. She made $260 out of the sale for one evening. "Sally" is reported to have partners, though the belief was that with A. L. Erlanger and Charles Dillingham declining to join Flo Ziegfeld n the production th f y left Ziegfeld as the sole owner, something Ziegfeld himself has stated. Now it is said Guy Bolton, who wrote the book, has a money interest in the Amsterdam hit, also a couple of others with a small piece each, not before associated manage rial ly with Ziegfeld. Monday night next the Winter Garden will celebrate its 10th an- niversary. The house, which was formerly a car barn, opened March 20, 1911. *For the occasion song hits and characterizations of former re- vues will be added to the "Passing Show.- Robinson & Burns have taken over the Main St. theatre, Free- hold, N. J., and will install a pop vaudeville policy booked by Fally Markus. The same firm has also taken over the Monticello, Jersey City, for pop vaudeville. The Main St., Asbury Park, owned by Walter Reade, will end its season this week the house re- maining dark until a balcony is built. The addition will increase the seating capacity. A world's record has likely been accomplished by Irving Berlin as a song writer. The royalty in cash received by him from Irving Berlin, Inc., for the first 18 months the firm wa 8 in business amounted to $195,000. That is at the ratio of $130,000 annually. The royalty Included the percentage per each copy sheet music sold of the Berlin-written songs, and also the customary one half of the two cents royalty received by publishers from the disc making concerns. The royalty of $195,000 is altogether aside of the interest Berlin holds in the music Arm bearing his name. However, he does hold an interest as part proprietor of the Berlin publishing house, and that naturally insures him a correct statement of all royalty. His partners in Berlin Inc^, are Max WInslow and Saul Bornstein. These figures must be astonishing to song writers of other days, who thought their songs sold then as many copies as popular hits do now. In other days, as well, phonograph royalty did not reach its present pro- portions. Still the fact will impress itself upon all song writers that anyone of them who draws down $195,000 in a year and half may rest safely in the belief be has gotten all that was coming to him. A number of artists assembled at the Carlton Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa, for the purpose of organising an Actors' Union in South Africa. There were present, among others, J. W. Rickaby, Fred Coyne, Cecil Kellaway, Allan Doone, Jack Sprightly, William Milton, Lew James. Barry Lupino occupied the chair and urged the necessity for co- operation for mutual protection. He cited instances of actors being stranded by Irresponsible managers and urged for a purely defensive organisation, to affiliate with the Variety Artists' Federation and Actors' Association of London. The meeting closed with 150 members as a nucleus, who pledged them- selves to pay dues at the rate of one shilling (approximately 25 cents In normal times) per week. Bolton receives 3 per cent, royalty and Jerome Kern, who wrote the music, another 3 per cent., out of which, according to the story, Mr. Kern pays the lyrical writTer. - • Mr. Bolton is not new to investments in productions. He was reported at the time to have sunken $60,000 in "The Light of the World" and another $40,000 in "The Five Millions." The losses of the Chicago Opera Association exceeded the amount first reported. The deficit for the New York engagement was $300,000, It Is said, which was at the rate of $50,000 for each of the six weeks at the Manhattan. Jealousies between stars made for loss as instanced when Bond was to have appeared in "La Boheme" on Washington's Birthday and the house was sold out for a total of about $12,000. One of the members went to the front to inquire if Bonci was to be permitted to accomplish the triumph of such a sell-out. The result the opera was cancelled, money refunded :.nd "La Tosca" substituted. The latter draw $4,500. The Chicago opera organisation is now on tour, which will last for six weeks, ending about the first of May. It is guaranteed a minimum of $125,000 per week, the dates varying from one day stands to a full week, one engagement being for two weeks. The business management of the Chicago Opera Association' was taken over March 2 by George M. Spangler who came on from Chicago. This gives assurance of the passing of control of the organization to the Association of Commerce, of which Mr. Spangler Is secretary. This asso- ciation has a membership of around 2,200 Windy City business men. The opera Is playing Cleveland the first four days this week, with Cincinnati Friday and Saturday, then jumping to Tulsa, Okla. The show then plays through Texas, arriving at Los Angeles April 4 for a full week. The next two weeks will be played In San Francisco. Okmulgee, Okla.. is out on the prairies and has about 25.000 population, but it plays vaudeville of four circuits—Interstate, W. V. M. A., Pantages and Orpheum. It is in the center of the district where the Creek Indians hit it rich in oil, and the braves drive in, with blankets on, steering their own Packards and with diamond buttons on their underwear. 1 ¥ ' Running a trade paper for vaudeville isn't all milk and honey. Out in Chicago the editor of a weekly devoted to the uplift of the Industry was recently Indicted on a charge growing out of some alleged exposes re- garding a theatrical lawyer against whom disbarment proceedings had been threatened. He did a few days in jail awaiting bonds. He also was sued for $50,000. Against this suit he filed a schedule of assets. The Jack White has replaced Mickey Cuaran In the Sam Fallow office. Curran is now office manager for J paper, he said, belonged to the printer; his own wealth consisted of one Danny Davenport, the iccentiy franchlsed Loew and independent •gent. Abe Friedman, of the Loew pub- licity department, is arranging a series of diving contests in the lo- cal Loew houses. In connection with the Odiva act. Dave Schaeffer, former manager of Fox's Ridgcwood. has leased the Lyric, Enisabethport, N. J., and will install a pop vaudeville policy. 'he annual benefit performance Of the Actors' l-Muiiy Association has been set for May I S1 the Met- r-poliun Opera House. Jack Terry (Terry and Lambert) 'as returned from a year's siav In ••nglanu. AMONG THE WOMEN By THE SKIRT. A new set of costumes for the first act of "Sally" was ordered this week by Flo Ziegfeld from Palm Beach, due to a request from Marilynn Miller, who appeared during the past week while under the care of a physician. Miss Miller had appeared in the first act In a heavy woolen costume and contracted a heavy cold with her physician informing her that unless she changed to a lighter costume for the first act It would necessitate her leaving the show. Ziegfeld, upon wired information from diss Miller, ordered now gingham costumes in place of the woolen dresses. Miss nd the suit of clothes (which he had on), somewhat bedraggled, two collar" two ' MI " Cr « ppcar " J ? tne . 8 * c0n <L!l! ,n *" " bbrcviatod costume, ar pairs cotton socks, one battered desk, and a lot of faith in The future*. cb * W * % "° m *° uI * ** ^ej*#*l*c« m », r(M „ on for n , r f!lp „. future Nelson and Chain departed with the Fanchon and Marco Revue. This team elected not to exercise Its two weeks' notice, handed In to date separation from the troupe coincident with the end of the Chicago engage- ment. Variety published an item reporting the notice, and it is said this caused several theatre managers on the road to write in, threatening to cancel bookings if any principals left the cast. Marco made It attrac- tive for the boys to reconsider, Chicago vaudeville chiefs sre unanimous in indicating that the\ are not worried over Shubert Vaudeville invasion. They havo It figured out tluit no "Advsnced" opposition i ;»n thrive west oi Keith lines, and do Hot helicve any will be attempt' d even if the Bhubctts do start a circuit J in the east. Only in large c»M»/n (owns,/With the exception of Chicago, have the Shuborts more than one hoase, they say, and they cannot pee the worlds biggest legitimate r.ini shutting down its combination stands to go into vaudeville id an experiment; and Liny say that the west bting thus shut off. Chicago Will also be U '. alone, because the Bhubertl aren't so strong in the Second City thai they can spate a theatre, and would do so only in an emeigeney if they intended to go to the far coast and n«"~d*-.l Chicago as a western k- J ton-. The Central, with "Afgar" as the attt action, was but half filled hut Saturday matinee. At that the audience comprised mostly men. How the men "ate up'' every little movement of Dclysia. The women's faces were studies. Some fairly gasped. Alice Dclysia with her exquisite figure exposed to the limit, has many little tricks. Tho more the men laughed t lie trickier she became. Her two costumes left nothing to- think of. Red velvet trousers reached her hips. The body from there tip was nude, with a breast-band and a tiny boH at the wa*«t line. The trousers were attacked to tho belt by chains. From th» back flowr t | a long streamer of tulle. Her head was bound in this same red tulle. The second MMiUOM of DelySia's was of silver gauze through which shimmered her pink body. The head-dress, a silver turban, had many Iota; OrsngS plumes. The show, n^arlng its three months* run, hart evidently been cut to pieces, It could never have opened with so uninteresting a chorus. France! Cameron in a small part was Ural a Spanish girl In the regula- tion costume. Her shawl WAS painted. A second silver dress was prob- ably beautiful when new. (Continued on page 35)