Variety (July 1922)

10 ODTOOOR AWDSHWEITrS Friday, July 7. I92t MANAGERS' HIGH RENTALS FORCE CONCESSIONAIRES TO "GYP" Internal Evils of Carnival Management Come Out— Better Reports of Late on Business—Less Grift This Summer—Small Towns' Just Complaints There has been an improvement In carnival conditions In the past few weelis. From all over come re- ports of better business. A deal of rain in some sections and the 0I1OWS have suffered in consequence, while in some parts of the Kast Fhows have reported good crowds, but no money. Michigan has shown a vast im- provement over last season and west I of the Missouri most of the shows have experienced a marked increase over the business of the earlier part of the season. The Southwest re- ports a better business. With the exception of a few spots in the East, the Middle West and the Paclflc coast, there seems .o be a gradual but healthy Improvement. Carnival managers, for the first time In history, have openly admit- ted the alarming conditions. A few have said they have had a hard time keeping their shows moving Against the opposition of conditions. It Is also stated there Is a marked change In the standard of carnivals this year. Many a company that has deemed the "cooch" show and "49 Camp" Indispensable in the past has cut out the objectionable fea- tures and now has a clean midway. The "strong joint" and the "thiev- ing store" have had difficulty in finding a place to land. Many man- agers who never before have done without the "grift" cither cleaned Up entirely or are now busy with the process of ridding their shows of all and every feature that could or might give offense. Concession Men Complain Concession men have complained of the treatment received from the manager or of the exorbitant rates hi is compelled to pay for space at some much-heralded and over-ad- vertised "doings" which turns out to be a rank "bloomer." Another show man kicks about the low percentage he gets and with which he is expected to pay all of the expenses, while dis- grur.llcd committees complain about the carnival agent who comes into town and makes a contract and then, after the local committee has gone to much expense and trouble, evn having secured a license, the carnival fails to show, nor does Mr. Agent excuse the cancellation. A number commented on the re- cently published letters of Harry Crandall and William Creevcy, both well known carnival contracting agents, and other letters requested answers to certain queries pertain- ing to different features of the pres- ■-ent carnival situation. One of those is from a conces- sioner who was then in Dallas. He says in part: "You printed an Interesting story taken from the concessioners' view- point. There are listed in the United States at the present time approximately 250 carnivals. 1 am seeking this information through you: Of all the carnivals In the United' States, hew many managers can answer the following question? Could they exist without the con- cessioner? ''There may be one or two who mfly answer 'yes,' but I say that this is an absolute impossibility. Even the few organizations I claim to be worthy of recognition could not exist ''or transport their material through- out the year without the conces- sionrr. He is the spinal column of the carnival organization. "I have no use for carnivals of any kind and left them because, from my experience, which has always been with the so-called real big ones, was that the carnival managers always took advantage of the concessioner because they knew that when a biff and responsible concession man once contracted with their organization ho has a hard time to move all of his para- phernalia to another show, after the season opened. Why Take Advantage? **Why do carnival managers take "advantage of concessioners and why do most of them use the conces- sioners as animals around their or- ganization? Why do they keep charging them exorbitant prices, •uch as was stated in Variety? These very same carnival managers that charge the prices to conces- sioners when they play a celebra- tion or get to a city that looks ex- ceptionally good, from the lying telegrams sent in advance by their contracting agents, they immediate- ly raifte the amounts anywhere from $5 to 125 a foot. "What are the results? *NIne out of every ten of these cities do not live up to what the show owner claims them to be to the conces- sioners and they, therefore, are put on the nut to the manager and are forced into putting on crooked con- cessions of some kind to try and make up the nut and get even with the office. "1 know one manager who owns several large enterprises In the United States and who is sometimes called 'The Giant of the Universe.' He never has a set figure*for his concessioners, but charges them ac- cordingly, after he sees what the town looks like, the lowest possible price per wheel being |75. This does not include lights, wagOt< rental and transportation, all extra. This same manager may claim he can get along without the concessioners, but I would like to see him try it "In one issue you said that a con- cessioner with a few concessions could get a merry-go-round, a ferrls wheel and a side show, give it a name and go through the country making a lot of trouble. 1 agree with you that these gypsy outfits are really the sewer of the show bu.slness. "Who causes thisT Who is to blame? No one but the carnival managers themselves. They force the issue. Their exorbitant rentals and their ill-treatment of the con- cessioners cause these to go Into business for themselves. You sec the result; you hear of them. Town after town closed to them. The big shows are the cause of it. They can't help but admit It. "I can bring about out-door amusement features that will do away with ievery carnival organiza- tion in the United States. The same applies to the small circuses that carry graft and which can only transport their organization over the road with graft. If they elim- inated graft they couldn't exist. "I am still In the amusement bus- iness but not with a car.iival, and I do not havj to deal with carnival managers. I do not carry gypsy outfits and do not tolerate graft. I don't carry grafters nor side shows with banners on the front proclaim- ing the wonders Inside and fooling the public with nothing but hum- bug." Always Will Be Carnivals A v/ell-known carnival manager once said: "As long as they build merry-go-rounds, there will be car- nivals." With some modifications, plus a thorough cleanslnr. the car- nival In some form or other will continue to flourish. The man from Dallas wants to know If the av- erage carnival show could exist without the concessions? It is a question which has been the sub- ject of discussion among big out- door owners for some time. At ' many of the State fairs, all conces- sions are booked independent of the carnival, and at those events the shows have only their amusement attractions to rely on. Some of these managers, mostly of shows of the larger type, have been often prone to regard the concessioner in a far-from-friendly lighi. In in- stances ho has been coerced and harshly treated. More than one manager declares he could get along better without concessions. Of the unde.qlrahle and crooked kind he would be better rid of, but clean and legitimate game of skill is another matter. It is a carnival question deep and intricate. It re- quires the sober judgment and in- telligent opinion of many. One prominent carnival owner stated: "Without concessions many a carnival would never live to cel- ebrate July 4." At a few of the big State fairs, where there Is an enormous attendance an I an all- day play, the big show with Its (Continued on page 57) INDOOR aRCUS PLAN FOR CONVENTION HALLS Meeting Called in Chicag Ballard-Muggivan Idea for Winter Circuses Chicago, July 5. Mugglvan, Ballard & Bowers have decided that expansion of their cir- cus endeavors to the winter season may place them in a position whereby it might be possible for them to g£Cin tbe upper hand in the circus field. With this idea in view, Ed Ballard this week called a meeting of all the convention hall managers in the large cities of the middle west at the Congress hotel. Present were con- vention hall managers from Min- neapolis, St. Paul. Kansas City, Omaha, St. Louis, Denver and Chi- cago. There was outlined a plan whereby the Muggivan-Ballard- Bowers organization will go into the indoor winter circus field, and that through the convention hall men's co-operation would be enabled to play in the larger cities for exten- sive periods. The men seemed to look on the plan with favor. The shows to be presented are to be of the massive and spectacular type, requiring many performers to do the various specialties and en- semble stunts. The plan laid before the conven- tion heads was to have their road men go out and solicit lodges, fra- ternal organizations, chambers of commerce, rotary clubs, kiwanis clubs and charitable organizations to have the winter circus appear in their respective towns under an or- ganization's auspices. It Is said these affairs will be han- dled In the same manner as circuses using an advance car and a ten-day car. It will also enable M. B. &B. to holt! their performers on a 40- week contract and allow for train- ing of animals while actually work- ing. POUCE CARNIVAl IN BUFFALO, FIASQO Run by Frank P. Spellman, Then Taken Over by Po- tice Association Buffalo. July 6. After the carnival under the auspices of the Police Mutual Aid and Benefit Association had been run for two weeks by Frank P. Spellman, the local organizatioii took it over and conducted it for a third week. It was then too late to retrieve the heavy losses, It is said. A deficit of anywhere up to $100,000 is expected to be reported within a few days when the final figures are computed. Varying stories and reports about the carnival may be heard all over town. The project is looked upon as the worst kind of fia.sco. Spell- man Is said to have told the police organization It should have a net for Itself of over 150,000 from the affair. Some extra attractions were fea- tured. Including a former champion wrestler, but nothing met with response from the public. Spellman Is said to have come out of retirement near here to put this one over. WISE HANDLING VEAL SHOW Chicago, July 5. David A. Wise will handle the Veal Brothers' carnival, represent- ing the widow of John D. Veal, who owned the show and was killed by unknown assailants June 16 at Jollet, 111. BURLESQUE-IN THE FUTURE Al Tintch Assistant Manager Tulsa, Gkla., July 6. Al Tlnsch has been appointed a.ssiHtant manager of the John T. Worthann Shows, here for two weeks under the auspices of the American Legion. A wild west with eight people and 18 head of stock has been added to the show. In speaking of burlesque of the future, only burlesque flying the banner of the Columbia Amusement Co. can enter at this time. All other is nondescript, if there is any other. One annoyance, anchor, drag or ball and chain, whatever it may be termed. Is that so many Irrespon- sible producers and attractions will tag their product with "burlesque*' or "extravaganza." Regular bur- lesque must stand for all of them, for there Is no plan yet devised through which the lay public may distinguish or discriminate. Probably no better Illustration could be made than one very fair 'Sized city in Pennsylvania last win- ter issuing an ultimatum no bur- lesque show would be granted per- mission to play there. As a matter of fact and record, no Columbia Amusement show had ever ap- peared in that city. The edict was based on some attraction that called Itself burlesque. It was possible, of course, that the show, as many do, had purchased a lot of old litho- graphs and other theatrical 'ver- tising paper, giving the company the name of the original ploce called for on the lithos. What the show people call "tur- keys" often . travel as "burlesque companies." A "turkey," in theat- rical parlance, is a hastily gathered company of small-salaried people, without any real production, that goes "wildcatting" on a lirzardous route. "Wildcatting" Is a term the public knows as "barnstorming." A company wildcatting seldom knows where it Is going to be three days ahead. A Columbia burlesque show be- fore starting its season can name every city and In what week it will play during the entire season. The routes for the Columbia shows arc mado out before the shows open. No Columbia attraction can play anywhere without the sanction of the home office. This stigma created by the wild- catting turkey shows may have some bearing upon the future of burlesque. It's a wearing and wearying existence for regular bur- lesque producers to go through sea- son after season, expending large sums in equipping their productions, paying high salaries to ■ principals and chorus girls, and then find that some people are classing bur- lesque on the level of a performance they have never seen, but gauged through hearsay from someone else who watched a "turkey" perform- ance that was called burlesque. It discourages prod- -rs, and it is rr'hty discouraging to regular burlesque. How to educate the public to Columbia shows has been an objec- tive the Columbia people have de- voted untold time and thought te for several years, without finding anything approaching a solution. A change of name was considered for a long time. It was surmised that perhaps the expedient of drop- ping "burlesque" and employing another general title would aid. The Columbia men, however, con- clufl .d it had taken too long to establish the standard Columbia buriesque has now reached, to ruthlessly throw away a trademark of value because of the scavengers of the show business who traded upon It. To state that Columbia burlesque Is now the cleanest entertainment in the American theatre would be scoffed at. if uttered before 70 per cent, of the country's lay popula- tija. Yet it is perfectly true, and recognized by those familiar with all branches of theatricals. That is the subject of another article in this issue, through its Importance. And on that very platform, cleanli- ness, lies the future of regular bu:lesque. The burlesque producers, managers and executives now con- cede It. Columbia burlei^que, like iho other nmusemontp, felt the imr-tus of the war. It required only in those days that the doors of a theatre si - ■" remain open. The crowds went In. It encouraged laziness, over-confidence and, worst of all, fooled everyone. To the people of the show busi- ness, the best critic is the box office. Anyone can tell a manager his show Is poor, ordinary or ju.st middling. But If the box pfflce Is overflowing, that judgment la ac- cepted a» supreme. As the box office continued to overflow, the producers, m.inagers and execu- tives concluded their attractions were perfection thomselvos. In the i war times it was not uncommon. when asking an executive of the Columbia Amusement Co., upon seeing him in the Columbia theatre in New York, how the show was that week, to hear him reply: "n surprises me. If it wasn't for the business, I would say this show should be fixed up a bit, but there's the answer," pointing to the ntandees at the rear, with ev^jry seat taken. The experts were deceived, and the box office could deceive anyone when it's doing high-tide business. Yet that very experience is going to work more heartily and steadily for a better burlesque than any- thing else could have done. For with the past season, when all show business slumped, it came back to the regular burlesque managers, striking them right in their centre of knowledge—they had been right and, for once In theatrical history, the box offices had been wrong. As the '21-'22 sea.son progressed and theatrical patronage failed to keep pace with previous seasons, the Columbia executives Inspected more closely, analyzed more thor* oughly, with the result, before that season had ended, its plans for at- tractions on the Columbia circuit next season were fully developed. The season of '21-'22 might be said to have been an insurance upon burlesque of the future. It. was without much doubt the best lesson regular burlesque ever had. Like many other businesses that had been watched, scrutinized &tia nursed carefully for years. It should not have relaxed as burlesque and the rest of the theatricals relaxed. In the musical comedy field of the legitimate the results were even more noticeable. The over-night producers In musical comedy, from the war times, rapidly passed away when business fell off. It was easy to produce a winning show when it did not require a show to win. but when called upon to "give a show'* that was, the over-night producer found his place again once more in the ranks, for in the theatre, as elsewhere, it's experience that, eventually lands permanently. With a watchful policy and stem orders Issued for the regulation Of burlesque performers, burlesque must go forward. It can't back up. It won't bo permitted to back up. Burlesque has an undeflnable pe- oullarity. Of all amusements, it is the most consistently attractive to Its lay admirers. Once a burlesque goer, always. Burlesque never loses patrons unless it is burlesque's fault. Boyhood may grow to man- hood, but they retain their love for burlesque, with its odd. clever and cunning manner of concocting a performance that has never been solved by anyone outside of bur- lesque. Burlesque draws as surely as the sun sets. The burlesque men of the regular line know it; they know how to make burlesque; they know how to conserve burlesque, a«d they know how to make burlesque profit- able. The proof is the Columbia Amusement Co. itself, from nothing 20 years ago to the present—the only regular burlesque circuit In the world, without competition or op- position—each chased away by th« very character of the shows pre- sented by Columbia companies. That stopped competition , pre* vented and drove out opposition^ for to secure as many experienced producers as Columbia has. It would be necessary for them first to take the Columbia course of producing. The future of burlesque looks rosy. It would be rosier If the dra- matic editors of the country would assist somewhat in the scheme of education the Columbia p e o p 1 • would like to Inaugurate, to tell the world that burlesque Is entertain- ment; that it is amusement; that It Is the cleanest performance In the theatre of America. Sime. KANE ORGANIZES COMPANY Chicago. July 5. Max Kane has organized the Chi- cago Amusement Co. It will pro- mote events in and arotind Chicago, and will make some fall fairs if suitable contracts can be made. The Majestic Exposition Shows, operated by Nat Narder, have been secured on a ten weeks' lease, with shows, riding devices and cars in- tact. The officers of the company are Harry Tansey, Gibson K. Gorman and Maxwell Kane. Walla Walla Takes Action Walla Walla, Wash.. Jub"^. The City Council here has pa^i^cd an ordinance prohibiting carnivals. The measure Is to take effect im- mediately.