Variety (December 1921)

jPtrlw. December 2, 1921 VAUDEVILLE BOOTLEGGERS BATTLE PROHIBITION AGENTS ««- Continues Along Cana- dian Border Line ' \ lUattsburgh, N. T., Nov. 3*. S\SJ^Z.*SS K Z M».« ^ of Loew-Financing of Expansion in Circuit a Strain—-Famous Players Preferred ORPHEUM FAILS TO RECOVER; DISCOUNTING DIVIDEND VOTE CONDENSED VERSIONS AGAIN FOR SHUBERTS Canadian border continues with un- abated 'Intensity. As in all wars, etch fide is constantly devising B«w methods and adop'ting tactics to outwit one another. The latest ind most effective method of the agents In checking the rum runners to place large logs across the itMjd. The average bootlegger will take a chance by running by the authorities even if the latter have their guns drawn, and not a few trill ram a enr left astride the highway. sliouTd it happen to be Moving v Up, Carrying Common Along Tax selling us an explanation or the crash in Orpheum stock went into the discard this week when the price failed to recover. At times it was at the level of Loew and Wall street comment was frank in indicating belief Unit the dividend vote of the board early next month might be unfavorable. •mailer than the machine In which "»K™ ne umavoriuii*. gey are traveling, but no venture- , * rom " s ^ ott I 0,n °< "^ lho <la > 2me spirit has so far been discov- l '^ ro Thanksgiving the issue ral- some sp ered who will risk "hopping" the legs. Manx <>( the booze smupglers operate wiMi what is k.iown as a •leader." This is an automobile Which movtH over the highway Without lights. It is invariably a high-powered, high priced car. Which can be driven with a maxi- mum of speed and a minimum of BOise, thus accomplishing an ap- proach, which is not discernible Until the machine is very close. Occupants of the "leader" scan the road on both sides, often with the •id of fhiHh'ights and report back to the "l»ooze boat" evoryV*'*e\v miles. Tho car which Is following the "leader" lags or stops entirely If it docs not receive frequent and favorable reports. The driver of the scouting machine on seeing the agents attempts to turn around and return to the main party, if he has the room and the tim£. In case he has not, (lie lights are Hashed on. the car is given gas and it leaps forward like a shot. Log Aoross Road "When the agents place a log across the road, it Is stationed in such a way that sufficient warning can be given to the occupants of approaching automobiles. They are commanded to stop several hundred feet away from trie log and then •gain ordered to halt by agents In front of the log. In this way inno- cent parties are saved from injury. If investigations show the car to be without liquor, the log is raised and the machine is allowed to con- tinue. The log is acrosB the high- way for only a few minutes at a time, placed there when the lights Of approaching automobiles are seen. Some of the bootleggers When ordered to stop step on the foot board and let the machine run Wild, thereby damaging the car and Tery often destroying the illicit Contents before the enforcement Officers can seize It. The runners Jump from the auto- mobile and take their chances of escaping in the woods which bor- der the roads. Running battles in Cars between the Invading and de- fending forces are still a common Occurrence. "When the former are being followed at night, one of their practices is to stop as sudd-'nly as possible and turn eff the lights. Tho driver of the car behind temporarily loses sight of his quarry and is forced to slam on the. brakes to avoid a collision. The sudden- ness with which he is compelled to pull up may swerve him into a ditch or damage his brakes to such an extent that further speeding is im- possible. While the machine In pursuit Is coming to a atop, the, bootleggers flash on their lights again and dash off into the dark- ness. lied to 16 and then dropped back to 14%. The greater part of the deal- ings were done within a fraction jboth ways from 1.". There were lin- iments when Orpheum and Loew {stood at the name level, and it was this development that turned atten- tion to the possibility's ol' tin- div- idend vote. Closely Held It appeared obvious to traders that when Orpheum. which has had a short but uninterrupted record of dividend payments on the New York hoard, got down to a basis of an allied security which has passed two quarterly dlvid* wis and is likely to pass at least two more, there must be something radically wrong. At least some intercut was busily at work discounting an ad verso .de- velopment. The wonder is that the stock could drop ho precipitately. In the case of Loew. selling in considerable volume is .understand- able, for there are something like J,000,000 shares of the issue out- standing and holdings are widely distributed in small lots. Orpheum is tightly held. The outstanding common amounts to about 550,000 shares and t-ome- thing like three-quarters of this is in the strong hands of inside company interests. There was con- siderable short selling in Loew to accelerate the drop from 19 to 10 when suspension of dividends was i.. prospect, while there could s -arcely have been any bear opera- tion against Orpheum by reason of its technical situation. The trading community took the view that when the stock broke on Nov. 24 and tailed to recover lost ground sub- sequently, somebody knew some- thing and was turning it to account. In the tlve days ol business up to Vv'ednc day, transactions in.Orpheum DANCER SHOT Harry Wallace Reported Dy'ng in Elmira—Colored Porter As-ailant :u». JCHH C. THOMAS FOR £11 t-BERTS AT ?2 y 000 PER Elmira, N. V., Nov Harry Wallace, a dancer with Eli- T en0 r, ClOSinO With "LOVC >rc Pierce and Co.. playing at tin » ,,-»,. • ,, ■ Letter," Debuts in Vaude- norc Majestic here, was shot Wodnesdaj morning at 4 a. m. by a colored por- ter at a hotel after an altercation. the nature of which has not been divulged. Wallace is reported as dying by the attending physh Ian. Miss Pierce will continue with the act. playing Blngh imton, N. Y.. the last half, with a substitute dancer, who is being rushed on from New York. ville in Home Town AUBURN PRISON'S SHOW Auburn. N. Y.. Nov. 30. Convict members of the Mutual Welfare League of Auburiv prison have started rehearsals for their annual show, a musical comedy. "Cousins," to be given for outsiders in the prison chapel evenings of Dec. 5-7. S^xty persons participate, some being old professionals. The musical numbers have been chosen from some of the latest sh«.w< in New York, through special per- mission. Several new singers among the prison population have been as- signed solo numbers. Baltimore, Nov. ',)0. The Shuberts Academy next week will headline John Charles Thomas. his debut in vaudeville, and in his heme town. The t'-nor, who is clo-ing with hillii.tflMin's "Love Letter" in Ros- t«'U this we, k, i.; to r. ceivo $2,000 Wi-hly t'rmn the Hh liberie for three v. < iks in th«-ir vand*. ville. Mr. Thomas will I e presented under the personal direction of Lee Shubert. BETTY BONDS 15 P. C. OFFER A lawyer, aciincr for Hetty Pond. has .it in out a leiier stating as Miss I'o'i.i is ntimiM Mom lie- jdugt* and owes many people, she would like to k:a»w if In r creditors will accept 15 cents on the dollar for their ei;i iins. in all markets (Stock Exchange and Consolidated in New York and the Boston and Cfllcago exchanges) reached the total of about 10.000 shares, or 2,000 shares a day. This In a stock which normally docs not avoragc more than 300 shares a day in sales. No 8upport This turnover would be insig- nificant in Loew, but it la remark- able in Orpheum. Inside interests are understood to hold 76 per cent, of the issue and company employes and others allied with the circuit have some of the remaining 25 per cent. On this basis the stock that changed hands would represent around 10 per cent, of the outside holdings. Apparently tho company did not give the price any support and all the initiative was on the selling side. Put the source of sell- ing was a mystery. The market thoroughly under- stands that show business is bad this year, and in the case- of Orpheum has the operating deficit of the six months to June 1 as a discouraging detail. But this news was out and discounted in Sep- tember. Last summer the stock made a new low of 16%, but early in the autumn rallied to better than 19 on the expectation that tho Sep- tember-January period, the best in the theatrical year, would go a long (Continued on page CAITES' SEPARATION Suddor* Departure .of Wife from Whom He Had Been Inseparable do Caites of the Cait.es Rrothers has separated from his wife, follow- ing a visit by her to Pittsburgh when the act was playing at the Davis recently? Mrs. Caites came on from New York to visit her husband, but re- mained in Pittsburgh for two days, dbappoaring suddenly, leaving a note in which sh . said t at she did not wish to see him any more, and also left the jewelry which he had Kiven her. Caite.- has had no word from her sine''. The eouplc had been inseparable for veins. "Whirl of Town" Next—50 People—Jack Mason and Allen K. Foster to Stage Condensed versions of musical productions will be again attempted by the Shuberts as additions to their vaudeville features. The first of the new batch will be a condensed "Whirl of the Town" that closed In the middle west laat week. That piece will be cut down to the vaude- ville size, carry many of its prin- cipals and with choristers have a company of 10 people.* Other condensations have* not been as yet selected, but none of the former group of condensed pieces that opened with Shubert vaudeville, to be later discarded, is to be revived. The new vaudeville tabs will be staged by Jack Mason and Allen K. Foster. Cincinnati, Nov. 30. "The Whirl of New York" closed at the Shubert Saturday. The en- tire company with one exception re- turned to New York Monday. They will rehearse there for a Shubert vaudeville condensed version. The exception. Bard and Pearl, opened at the Palace, Chicago (Or rheum circuit), Monday In the Palace's vaudeville bill. WOMAN BOXER Going to Sing for Us in Vaudeville— No Boxing Exhibitions Jeanne La Mar, the woman featherweight champion of France, has arrived in America. She Is going into vaudeville, but not to give boxing exhibitions or bag punching. Mile. La Mar is a soubret with sufficient knowledge to put over a song; therefore she will try num- bers both,in English and French. SAWING" NOT SO EASY The rush of producers to organ- ize illusion acts based upon "Saw- ing a Woman in Half" has caused several accidents, due to tho In- cvpericnee of the operators of the turns. Ou« ^,ii! is at present confined to a local hospital, having been se- verely cut by a saw with several other minor injuries having been .caused in the handling of the acts. RIVALRY IN WILMINGTON Wilmington, Nov. 3v. The Carrlck here, booked through the Keith Agency by Wally Howes, installed a change of policy .Mon- day, going into a split week playing six acts and a feature picture three times daily with a Saturday closing. The fJnrrlck is the former Dock- stader house and wan a full week two-a-day house. O. I*. Klslcr Is the new manager. The Carrlck ha& opposition -from the Felt Bros.' Aldine. hooked through fhe Shcdy Agency and playing six acts and pictures twice weekly at popular prices. TALKED IN THE DARK H. Gives Full Lights Out Act With t'.rand Rapids, Nov. SO. 1». D. it., on the bill at the Km- press here, did his entlr; act in the dark Monday when defective wiring or some unknown cause for 1 the lights out at the matinee. The t . Upse occurred as the tnnn- ologi-M u;is about to go on. lb held the entire house throughout his tnr . < nahling the electrician to ran fT■.w • i 11 <• < trouble and r< no ly it. INDOOR SPORTS A 1.V111 •■;ir«:e in the Putnam build- ing broi.• p jn a row one night last •Week w hoi, ;i was discovered that a Hm.ll 'iiric agent had rung in a Pair of he.(led dice. CONOLY'S COLORED TROUPE Joe. Conoly's colored comedians open the season at the Lafayette, Now Vork, Christmas matinee, and play tie house for two weeks. They then go to the Dunbar, Philadelphia, and to Baltimore and Washington for a week each, with a fortnight in Pittsburgh in the company are LcRoy Brown ("Stringbeans") as Mutt, Taushe A. Hammed ("One String") aa Jeff, Louis Godfrey the juvenile, (lussie lUume the ingenue. JANE and KATHERINE LEE are using the i.'.tliiornia climate to improve their golf. Tlu-v i««.w make eight holes in two hundred. Saciainento and Kiesno, Calif. Ntat Week (Oec. I) BESSIE BARRISCALE SKETCH Negotiations are under way be- tween Cessio Itarriscale and the Keith odlee for vaudeville. Miss Marriscalo has a dramatic sketch, with three i»eople, in prepa- ration. MYRTLE STEDMAN AS ACT M.m.'Io »Stivlm;i, , the picture pro- gram star, ii entering vaude\ille in a "single" turn produced by l^owis & Cordon. Miss stedman will oficn at an out of town Keith house in two weeks. "AVALON" SUIT DISCONTINUED A formal order of discord muu: - of the copyright infrinirerrienr. a>,_.r by O. Jticordi & Co. against Jerome J. Remick A Co. was signed by Judge Knox In the Federal IdsMct Court this week. The plaintiff had charged Remlck's "Avalon" song, written by Al Jolson and \ jnc»mt Rose, was "lifted" In melody from Puccini's "Tosca" opera, which copyrighted composition tln-v 4011- trol. Remick put up a $2"..0O0 hood to stay the Injunction Issued. The or- der of discontinuance rc>a<cd t>•« bond. 3 BUFFALO TAB STOCKS Buffalo, Nov. fle. ^The Fred Vice tab stock compan.v opened at the Venus theatre Mon- day with a triple weekly change policy. This makes three local tab stock companies, Sam Miley having opened recently at the Temple and the Klite Players at the F.litc, Ni- agara Falls. Xnus Contributions Limited A Xmas collection for former pro- fessionals now recuperating at King's Park Hospital, Wards Islsud, New York, is being conducted by Nat Sobel, I'alace theatre biuhling. S^w York City. Tho^c desirous of < •«•«( rihuf ing. limited to $f», ma. iniwaui ih»* amoiiu' to SobsX ENGUSH ACT COMING OYER The Shuberts have booked ah Knglihh physical culture turn, 'The Flemings" (two men). It is to open at the Winter Garden, New York. Dec. 19, fur tho first time over here. On the same date and In the saino theatre. Alice Lloyd will common e her return American engng< no-nt. • i I- N. C. GRANLUND ILL N'. C (fi-ardund, the u-meni rrprcsentative for the l.or.v {'•<; in repen t"d (pilte III. He in at S: Srii.iitot Hint, New Yoii; dlv. EH* Retford Opens in Brooklyn Tie- rcuirii tour of V.Uu I'.e' i*« i «. ei ; i».' Keiii Circuit starts !»■•• J J a! ;he |;u-hwlek. Kr«K»klva i