Variety (June 1922)

-, rw- VARIETY; Friday, June 2, 1922 :j** i..i-a',i ■■■ IN LONDON i * (Continued from page 3) return requires £300 a week. Tt's a rfood Idea, even if he doesn't get It. Bortram Mill*, accompanied by B. Bherok, id on the Continent looking I for this year's international circus j at Olympia. At the moment he Is after horses In Poland. From there he moves on to Marseilles to see if the big exhibition now running there holds anything for London, and ! from there he goes to Barcelona. I quandary as to wb.it he shall do. In the early autumn Marie Lohr produces an adaptation of de Flers and do Croisset's "La Ketour" and wishes Boucicault to play an im- portant part in it. On the other hand, Somerset Maughan has just completed a comedy for Irene Van- brugh with exceptional parts for herself and her husband, Bouci- cault. The future, as far as the actor Is concerned, is a toss-up. If he accepts Mario Lohrs offer, Irene Vaubrugh will go holidaying. He moved over to the Piccadilly. There he found the quietude he 'bought, only too much of it; so he moved back to the Savoy. There he had hardly settled down when two American managers buttonholed him. Bored stiff, annoyed and frightened of being talked to death, ho once more packed his grip and returned to the Piccadilly. | Managers are evidently getting j wary after the long list of failures I which have been registered of late, and there Is a marked tendency to revive old favorites. Many of these earlier West End successes, apart from their popularity, have the ad- I vantage of simple staging. This Is j an enormous advantage In these days when the producers of heavy spectacular shows wail that they cannot make any profit unless they play perpetually to capacity. Two I particularly Interesting revivals which are promised for the West End in the very near future are Sir Arthur Wing Pinero's "The Second Mrs. Tanquerary" >ud "The Light That Failed." With the arrival of the heat wave and the sunshine the concert party • ' proprietor is spreading throughput II he country and the prospects 'for [this kind of entertainment seem un- usually bright. Gone forever though is the "busker/* and the parties to- ifay are well-organized affairs, their, artists being often well-known musical-comedy players. Despite the very high rates demanded by , local town councils, charges which i aliow that all the amusement prof- iteering is not in the West End of | London, every holiday resort will ! have several parties and the num- ber of touring troupes is larger than before. A new move will be the municipally run parties in the parks of the big cities. Altogether It is estimated that between 700 and 800 parties will be on the road, to say nulhing of itinerant troupes who in some places still struggle to earu a living. Fred Molr Bussey, for many years ' editor of the Parliamentary Record, | known as "Hansard,'' died May 16. j Apart from his official duties he ; was a regular contributor to sev- \ eral publications and was the Brit- I ish representative for John R. Rog- , *rs. One of his sons is business manager for Lord Northcliffe, an- other holds the same position on fhe Sunday paper, "News of the World," while the youngest is agent for the. "Syndicate" papers. \L> I' •The Sign on tho Door" finishes ( Its successful run at the Playhouse May 27 and on June 3 the revival (of Pinero's "The Second Mrs. Tan- t query" will open. "The Wheel' 'finishes at the Apollo on May 27, alio, and 1'jiyllis Nvilsou Terry will ?present her ■ revival of "Trilby" . three days later. "Nuts in May." Which opened at the Duke of York's last week, closed Saturday. \L — At the Palace, May 2G. at 11:30, Laddie Cliff will light Parry Lupinu for the lightweight championship of the vaudeville profession. R. H. Gillespie will present a silver cup to tho winner nnd the loser will be given a large wooden .spoon by the "Co-optimists." The battle will be public anil there will he a uniform charge for admission of two shill- ings and six pence. The receipts will go to the Variety Artists' Benevolent Fund. I* ' The will of tho late Richard Thornton, who, with Sir Hugh Moss, founded this Moss and Thorn- ton vaudeville enterprises, has been sworn at- £105,000. Most of the estate is left to his widow, but there are many legacies to rela- tives and to employes. The new series of Grand Guignol shocks includes: "A Happy New Year," adapted from the French of Gustavo Duclos by Seymour Hick3; •The Sister's Tragedy," by Richard Hughes; "To Be Continued In Our Next," another adaptation from the French by Sewell Collins; "The Better Half." by Noel Coward, and a revival of the ghastly spiritual- istic "thriller." "The Hand of. Death." In the last item, George' Bealby will play his original part. Aurfrd Lee will take up Sybil Thorn- dyke's position as leading lady. one character Is allowed to call an- other a "bloody fake." No author can rely upon St. James Palace. There Is no knowledge there of the saying, "What is sauce for the goot»e is sauce (or the gander." A decree for tiie restitution of conjugal rights, the general prolog to an action for divorce here, has been granted to Gwendolyn Brogden against her husband, Basil Foster, airman, cricketer, former racquets,, champion and now ploying In "Tilly of Bloomsbury." Petitioner Is now a "Co-optimist," having taken Betty Chester's place at the Palace. The parties were married In 1910. In December last respondent's manner changed. He became indifferent to her, and she received a letter from him telling the usual tale, and add- ing that he earnestly hoped she'd be happier without him and that he personally would find "some rest and peace from the unbearable mental strain." She replied pleadingly, but in due course received tl s usual let- ter declining to return. The decree was granted, to be obeyed within 14 days of service. BLAME RADIOS I George and Harry Foster and Paul Murray will shortly present what they describe as "a new style of entertainment." The title is "All In One," book by Laurl Wylie, staged by Jack Haskell, "conceived and supervised" by Paul Murray, George and Harry Foster. There will be 11 scenes ranging from the lounge of the*liner "Aqua- pura" to a harem in a playlet, "The Sheik." The company includes Jay Laurier. Ben Beyer, Charles Perez- off & Co., and Cicely Eldon. The cast In each town Is made up of the current week's Variety program. Elder Heam's "Minstrels of 1922" occupy by far too much time on the current Coliseum program. The entertainment they present Is quite excellent as a holiday attraction for school children, the singing Is good, but the jokes are weak and have long, white whiskers on them. It is certainly not a satisfactory item for the greater part of the show at London's leading vaudeville house. It* also handicaps the rest of the bill by reducing the audience to something like boredom. George Choos presents Alan Brooks in the dramalet, "Dollars and Sense," which repeats its Alhambra suc- cess. Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn & Co. provide the great attraction of the week and had a big recep- tion from the poor house at Mon- day's matinee. The whole of their six numbers are exquisitely pro- duced and staged, particularly their Aztec dance drama "Xochltl," although they might have had a more pronouncablo title and one less, like the name of an antiseptic tooth wash. a May II Prlscilla Laurllard, maiden name O'Dowd, was granted a di- vorce from I'M ward Laurilard, the theatrical manager. There was no defense, the grounds for the action being desertion and adultery. The parties were married in 1900. During the evidence Laurilard was de- scribed as a "Dutchman" domiciled here for 30 years. Lady Constance Mary Malleson has obtained a decree for the res- titution of conjugal rights against Miles Mullesou, the actor and dramatist. Maurice, (lie French Juggler, who manipulates six halls with one hand, Is about to leave for America. He Is not certain yet whether he will play any American time, but his ul- timate object is settling down in the States. i Charles Garry, who played Sven- gall it the recent gala performance of du Manner's "Trilby" before the King nnd Queen at the Palace, has dropped out of the cast for the Phyl- lis Neilson-Terry revival at the Apollo The part will now be played by Lyn Harding. On occasions artistic London tries hard to appear interested In the plays nnd players of non-English speaking countries. We have had Japanese players, French players, Sicilian players, Russian players, and we are now about to have In- dian players. They will appear for two matinees at the Duke of York's, June 6-7, in a three-act play by Niraujan Pal. This is said to be the first time an Indian play, by an Indian authfer and with an Indian cast h is been seen in any theatre outside of the Occident* bread and butter on the road is an ex-officer concern, Sylvester's Cir- cus. This has been touring the suburbs and unless things buck up will have to close. Business has been disastrous, although every act In the show is first class. For the flatter of that since the early Vic- orlan days London has been unable %0 support a circus. It Is not often on let or, even a "star," is swamped hy offers or even hesitating between two seem- ingly substantial stools with a firm Seat on each. He will tell you he is, Although In days gone by we have had several good circuses in P.ritain, the two shows run hy the Sangers and Clinnetts for instance. Englishmen never seem to take kindly to the "big top." They look upon It an a kind of kids' show. The sanguinary expletive Is a The latest circus to try and win popular one In England, probably some of its users comfort them- selves with the historical fact that it is derived from the slurring of an olj ejaeulatory prayer. "Uy Our Lady." CJeorce Bernard Shaw para- llel y. ueorae tsernara !->n vzed the tirsr ni«ht audien ce on the production of 'Pygmalion" at His Majesty's by putting it into the mouth of his leading lady, and since then many dramatists have bowed to its power of providing a touch of realism to their characters. In Galsworthy's "Windows" a charac- ter Speaks of an ex-convict as hav- ing done "something bloody," the Lord Chamberlain's reader deleted but—Don rV'ticicnult. Jt the mo- the name word from "Loyalties," but anent, ho..e\et, 'is- genul'iely m a <tt the Bavoj in "TheOard.Flayers" IN BERLIN (Continued from page 3) the Kammersplele, "The Steamship Tenacity," by Charles Vildrac; April 22, at the Lessing theatre, "Madame Sans-Genc," by Sardou. The first may be dismissed at once as a stupid farce—a deserved fail- ure. The second, a fine play, done in New York this season also, was killed here by the heavy direction of Iwan Schmith, only the Segard of Hans Brausewetter catching the mood—an undeserved failure. The third justified its revival by the brilliant acting of Kaethe Dorsch in the title role—a very fine piece of impersonation that carried success with it. A. H. Woods was at the Adlon last week to look over the German stage, and although he didn't buy much, he seemed to be in very good spirits. Through George MacLellan he acquired the rights to "Gri-Gri," an operetta by Paul LInke, and also took options on the farces, "The Werwolf" and "Casanova's Sohn." r ii Z*ast week In Munich c. couple of young American girls stirred up quite a rumpus In the opera house. They were giving a performance of Wagner'i "Twilight of the Gods" with a new scenic investiture, and the pauses with lowered lights seemed quite endless. Suddenly from the balconies came shouts of "Profiteers out! No smoking al- lowed here!" Policemen rushed down the aisles and arrested in the front row of the orchestra the pair of miscreants who were killing time in this. It must be admitted, rather tactless fi anion. It took some time to get the house quiet again* \ ■■ - ■ Richard Strauss has* Just com- pleted the orchestra score of a new ballet. "Whipped Cream" (Schlag- sahne), which Is to be played In New York at the Met and In Vienna at the same time. It la said tfl be as light as Its name. i ~=-» *j|g : NEWS OF DAILIES ** Ten theatre managers were ar- raigned In the First Precinct Court, Newark, N. J., charged with oper- ating last Sunday. i The Auditorium, Harrison. N. X, was damaged to the extent of $25,000 by lire last week* I The Creole Producing C6. will present "Strut, Miss Lizzie," written by Creamer and Layton, authors of the song of the same title, at the National Winter Garden, New York, soon. Mary Servoss has been placed under a contract by David Belasco, who will present her In a new play. X group of prominent Germans, headed by Adolph Philip, plan to erect a $1,000,000 theatre in New, York. The theatre is to be erected on West 46th street, adjacent to Broadway. Edward Margolies is to put up the'structure, which, it Is estimated, will cost $800,000 %0 build. Helen MacKeller will appear In vaudeville for five weeks in a con- densed version of "The Storm." Robert B. Williams, In "Abie's Irish Rose," at the Fulton, New York, was held on a technical charge of manslaughter when his automobile ran down and killed a seven-year-old boy. "Robbed* Hair." by Laura B Alden. has been accepted for pro- duction by Max Marcin. Audrey Munson, artist model and picture star, who attempted suicide by poison in Syracuse, X. Y., is recovering. Prlscilla Dean, pieture star, when attempting to save prints of her latest picture, was burned on her face and hands In i fire in a western studio. Eddtf Cinfor ordered' the large lank benei'h th*» stage of the Win- (Cont,in<ied ofl page. 30> (Continued from page 1) • ■ past two generations. What those directly concerned would like to learn is whether history will repeat itself in the matter of radio—will that /decline in popularity as .have the other crazes? With the approach of summer radio sales started downward, ac- cording to th,e statements of deal- ers in radiophone apparatus, al- though the radio set manufacturers are behind in orders. The explan- ation Is that the average layman has .conceived the idea radio is un- safe during the summer months—he has read enough to get some idea of static disturbances that abound in the electric storm period, and such disturbances detract from the results to be obtained by radio- phone broadcasting. * The desire for higher priced sets is given as an- other reason. The dealers, however, claim a come-back is due in the fall, at which time the leading manufac- turers will "jazz up" the trade. In- formation from dealers in radio ap- paratus is to tNe effect eompc a- tively few living within New York are owners of radiophones. Diffi- culty encountered in placing anten- na properly accounts for it in part. The newest device whereby the radiophone may be made effective by connection with the ordinary electric light socket (claimed to do away with the necessity for wire aerials) Is expected to bolster sales among apartment house dwellers. Despite the various counter fads the music publishing trade states the volume of popular music sales increased steadily until two years ago. The chain stores accounted for unprecedented sales for a time. But a revision of the entire scheme of sheet music eales via chain stores has dropped the volume of sales during the past year. The first important decline came when the Wool worth chain eliminated 1,000 music departments. Sales at 10 cents a copy became impossible of profit to the publishers, and Woolworth's policy could :.ot stand raising the price. There Is no way of dividing sheet music and selling one part for 10 cents, as is done with other articles. The Kresge stores, next In im- portance, then reframed its music departments, selling sheet music at 25 cents per copy, feeling secure of being alone in the field, with Inde- pendent stores soiling at 80 cents. Publishers say the chain stores now selling; popular muslo have, sifted down the catalogs to a few super hits and let It go at that Back orders are said to be a thing of the past. Plugging and advertising to create a demand la now leas ef- fective than before because of the store managers' present policy. A well known music radio home entertainment publisher in tracing the various "counters" to the prog- ress of popular music has crystal- lized the professional idea of ra- diophone concerts and the absence to date of general payment for ar- tistic services in the. broadcasting stations. He said: 'The radio erase Is primarily a form of horns entertainment, reach- ing every Isolated spot where the class of entertainment was formerly almost unobtainable. The lasting power and attraction of radio will depend largely upon the conduct of the business and the liberality and the broad-mindedness of the powers in control. "Looking back s to the various causes that have, from time, upset the muslo business proper, we re- call the golden period of canned music, when phonograph records and rolls reached the zenith of their popularity. It has always been a more or lesg discussed question as to whether or not these mechanical devices impair the sale of sheet music. They probably do, and this reminds one of the ancient chant, "And a water came and extinguished the fire, and burnt the stick, and beat the dog that bit the cat, which devoured the kid," etc. For just as canned music put a dent into the sale of sheet music, so, also, is the music of the air waves having its demoralizing affect on the sales of records and rolls, and to carry the simile further, along come the So- ciety of« Authors, Composers and Publishers, controlling all the worth - while musical copyrights, with its recent message to the radio broadcasting stations, which interp- reted into plain language, says: You, who make millions through the brain-children of f.minus composers and authors of the world, must cease to use copyrighted music for profit, unless through license you abide, , by the constitutional rights to authors and composers by Congress and revert to thorn a small percentage of your enorm- ous earnings as royalties for the. copyright privilege you enjoy. "It is an admitted fact that in photoplay theatres, 40 per cent, of the actual entertainment derived by patrons is through the music fur- nished. Some picture fans even de- clare it is a fifty-fifty proposition and that they enjoy the music fully a a much as the pictures. For this, the picture theatre is taxed 10 per cent, per seat pe*- year, a very nom- inal, fee considering that it hardly totals one day's receipts out of the thousands of performances given in a year. "Now that the majority of the vast film industry recognizes this legal and moral right, will the radio manufacturers meet the issue? It ia identical in their case, in that they also perform copyrighted music for profit, excepting only that it is through somewhat different agen- cies. They have everything to gain. There are indications already tho fickle public will tire after some months of radio. The interest must be constantly stimulated. The pro- grams must be widely varied and in- dividual tastes catered to. Rsdio Music Now Mediocre "Many prominent publishers who provided the great percentage of the popular melodies that proved such a great inspiration during the war. are holding aloof from radio until they know where they stand. The class of popular music broad- cast up to now has been largely of the mediocre type, drawn from the smaller catalogs, and in some in- stances poorly rendered by uninter- esting song pluggers and free tal- ent. Over 3,000,000 Sets Have Been Sold "Commercially, radio has taken on astounding proportions. So many parts are required and so many varieties of each are manufactured that the volume of business runs into the millions. Even though in- dustrially radio Is only in its in- fancy, already 700,000 instruments of the leading makes are in use. To gain some Idea of the future volume, it is reported that the manufac- turers are several millions of in- struments behind in orders, some makers running three shifts day and night to catch up. *'As another indication, every other Incorporation In the daily papers bears soma connection with radio. The machines are universally sold everywhere^ Department stores, specialty shops* phonograph and muslo dealers artj si! beginning to stock up* attracted by the great demand and liberal profits. A small 8x12 Broadway shop that specializes in radio considers it a poor Satur- day's trade if a thousand dollars or more is not taken in over the coun- ter. Music and phonograph dealers who formerly concentrated on rec- ords, music rolls and sheet musioj now reflect in their show windows a deep interest in radio at the ex* pense of the other musical items formerly exploited exclusively. The new trend is evidenced by the fol- lowing sign displayed In an up-to- date Brooklyn phonograph dealer's window: "Why buy a victrola when you can have the music brought right into your own home by radio?" "It is with this phase of the radio craze that we of the musical clan have to deal. No other business Is quite as sensitive to commercial or other disturbances or to the inroads of a prevailing public fad as the theatrical and music business. The equilibrium of these highly tem- peramental Unas Of entertainment, art and luxury Is easily upset. .,. Bicyols and Bleating Fads : '-' ■There ars soma of us who re- member only too well the blcycM craze of soma years back. It lasted only a season or two, but wluio it did last. It kicked the musical bus- iness, to use tho vernacular, 'n\ fhe slats.' Everybody an! his sweet- heart learned to ride the bicycle out of doors. The parlor piano and organ were deserted, and the music business temporarily did i.ot i.'aaw; what struck it. "Again, when the roller-skating craze hit the country at large and enormous rinks sprung up almost over night like mushrooms,- the crowds followed the rollers, nnd once more the business of pianos and music suffered and was shot to pieces. The theatrical business w»s not inn 'ii better off. "But these cntertainnssftti were only passing fads. A short iedWO" or two and the pi.l.lic returned to its normal entertainment with i consequent revival iu the Interest L N