Variety (July 1922)

\m^mM'. . Friday, July U. 1822 EDITORIALS 11 , Trade Mark Reg!«ter©d ' PublUhed Weekly bj VABIBTT. Im. Slrae Silverman. President 114 weat 46tb Street New York City SUBSCRIPTION: Annual.... I7 I Foreign..... ....|» eintl* Coplee 'O Centa TOMMY'S TATTLES By THOMAS J. GRAY Everybody whoever hnd hfa or her name In print scomii to be writing a diary about themselvoa. whether the public wants to read It or not. Morning: and evening newspapers Inform un of every action, thought and love affair that goes on with our better known people. There la no law that eaya you have to believe them. a Hingia turn. Is reported de.^lroun of learning of hfa whereaboutH. aa titorica of tlie affair m tho southern city have M'a<"hod her o.ua. Henry's Barber Shop in the Loew Building Annex on 46th street, passed, out one (Jay last week. No one had advance informaUon about the departure of the fixtufea. Nor does report say whether it was high reJit bad buHlness or competition tSkt forced Henry's retirement as boss barl)er. Henry was formely with Sully, the Barb, who has gr'dwn stout shaving the Palace the- atre building population. Henry rented a double .store in the Loew i^h street buiUling before it was finished. Ho is the third of the oc- cupants of the stores on the 46th street side to give up since opening. Vhne three of the heavily scaled afores on the Broadway front of the liew building also have had new tenants since the building opened a year ago. Interested with Henry in the barber shop was Arthur Hor- witz, the agent, who is said to have inrested $1,000 for a half interest. Later Moe Schenck interested Henry in a barber shop on one of the upper floora of the Loews main building, with the room reported to have been secured at $50 monthly rent. Henry paid about $3,500 a year for the 46th street shop. After a few weeks, Schenck bought out Henry's share In- the upstairs shop, which left Henry fighting it out alone in his ground floor shop. Sully expressed his regrets, but mentioned he is still doing business at the old stand. Ruth Pettit, Bert Leighton and Bkby Josephine (3-act) have been ^ligaged tot the Lew Fields, unit. Soli, the two Leightons (Frank and pri), ^a reported. , Take, for example, the dinry of Misa I^otta Fotoa. tho actress—your morning meal is not complete unless you read her life'a history, some- thing like this: Monday—How does It feel to be In love? I ask myself this question every second of the time. So far haven't given myself an answer. Four telegrams from Hector this morning, one prepaid. He la such a dear, sweet boy, I am sure we will be very happy. Had two phone calls from my manager. He speaks English quite well now. Two more millionaires proposed to me between the acts of my play. One had a small, black moustache. The other one didn't look very good either. Tuesday—Hector telephoned me this morning from out of town. Don't know who owned the phone he used. I'm sure we'll be very happy. Hector has done so many great things. He told me he was the fellow who won the war. What a lucky girl I am to have such a brave boy. Three more millionaires and two wealthy men asked me to marry them today. I wouldn't give up my Hector for any of them. I am g'>ing to borrow a calendar and pick out our wedding day this week. I won<ler what is the best c.ilendar to pick out a wedding day from? Is there any difference? Wednesday—Six post cards from Hector this morning in his own handwriting. Pretty pictures of statues and flowers in parks My manager says he does not like Hector because Hector likes ma Helped mother with the housework today. I dusted off two chairs Hector will be glad to hear it I am sure we will be very happy Ten millionaires proposed to me yesterday. One said he was a "Volstead Gold Miner." Could he have meant bootlegging? Hector said he was sorry he didn't meet him. Or if you don't cire for that diary you can turn over on the next page and find out the innermost secrets of ten or twelve thousand other people, and still it's all apple sauce. Curiously tho Athintic City dailies (th«>re are two) in publishing the advance notices of the opening of the 'Ilobe there with Keith vaudeville, combined the headliners at Keith's with tbo.se at the tlirden I'ior, play- ing independently booked vaudeville. The pipers' lieadlines T<»»d, "Vaudeville Biggest Stars at the Cllobe—Nora Bayes, CJus I'M wards. * etc. Miss Bayes was the headliner for the Pier. Two boya were enjoying a swim in tho water tanl. itop Loew'a Ave- nue B, New York, last week, when the mother of one discovered it. She sought out the manager and endeavored to expl.iin to him in Yiddish. Unable to understand her, he called his assistant, who .loted as inter- preter. The trio made their way to the roof and fished the youngstscrs out. The woman took her son's companion In hand and gave him a severe thrashing. IFpon its completion she turned to her boy and .said, "There, Abie, that is a good lesson for you." I. H. Herk Is reported interested In jthree Shubert units In addition to the two he will personally operate next season, ".Joys and fllooms" and "Stolen Sweets." The other shows Herk la understood to have a piece oC are K. Thos. Beatty'a two units (one "Latighs and the Ladies" and the other unnamed). The other Is Henry Dixon's "Broad- way Celebrities." Max Marcin was to have held half of this unit with Dixon, but Marcin wtepped out last week, with Herk reported as financing the show far Dixon and becoming a partner In Its operation. It has been definitely decided the new building to be erected '»t Broad- way, Fifty-seventh-Fifty-eighth .streets, will be an ofllce building only. The intention to have a theatre on the site was altered when Dr. iohn A. Harriss, its owner, found the theatre would leave little space for offices or ground floor stores. Nellis Reveli was the subject of a,radio talk by Bertha Brainard the other evening, from the Westing- house broadcasting station at New- ark, N. J, Miss Brainard's dellv- trj on Miss Reveli covered four typewritten sheets, besides poems written by Nellie. It made an in- teresting portion of the program, as It was an Intimate story, through Miss Brainard having visitd Miss Reveli at St. Vincent's Hospital. As Nellie Reveli is now a national character (as she was before inter- nationally, professionally), through the tremendous publicity she tias received while at the hospital. Miss Brainard did not feel called upon to more than outline Miss Revell's condition, just telling how Nellie keeps cheerful and passes her time "While In a plaster cast. The old Royai opera house, on King street, "Toronto, was burned July S. In 1858 its Italian manager, Kero, an inveterate poker player who always carried considerable currency, disappeared overnight and was never again heard from. The ©pera house building had been em- ployed for manufacturing purposes for some years. "Wa" Lytle-Newkirk. who for a great many years conducted a rooming house for professionals at i'S West 46th street, was compelled to vacate the building because of Its being converged into an ofllce build- ing. "Ma" has located at 127 West 77th street, which she was com- pelled to buy to obtain possession. The Blanchards (C. M. and Eve- lyn), vaudeville authors and pro- tlycers. are now known as the Blanchards and Feely. through the alliance of Matthew Feely, known *«» the film and dramatic field. Robert Nome left New Ynk this Week for a vacation at Tacoma. where he will remain until about Labor Day. The Airdome, York, P.i., under the n»anagoment of Harry Miller switched Its vaudeville booking.s this week from the Sheedy ofllce to Jack Llnder. The hnuyo i)Iays four *cts each half, giving evening p'»r- formances only. The Ferber. Lake- WOod. N. .1., pi lying vaiideviil.' two .^ays a wecU. hi.«^ ;ilso "open adch-d *0 the Linder book.><. ^^^'•, vaudeville tc un of .\.arie Wal.sh and Irving Kdwards is ,.n- nounced a.s .separating at the e.x- P*ration of this weeks cngagemem. The circus fad seem.s to be tho popular idea of this season's benefits. The only winners so far are the people who sell the tentfi. The plans for next season are now being announced. A lot of plans were announced last sea.son. "After all. what are a few plans between press agents? Europe will furnish Broadway with many plays next season, think what Broadway has furnished Europe with. But CABARET Broadway could .stand a little refurnishing itself. Germany is to get a t\yo-year intermission on her war debt. Th.it will give her plenty of time to get a new act ready. Report says jazz bands are on the Increa.sc in France. They are playing louder than ever in America, too. The motto here seems to be. "What is home without a jazz band?" Might add, "What is a jazz band without a homeT* INSIDE STUFF ON VAUDEVILLE A couple of vaudevillians who grew tired of contributing to the bookmakers are trying to recover their losses through having taken an interest In a book, each going in with a bookmaker. How it may turn out has not yet developed. The theory that every bookmaker must make money Is regularly disproved around the metropolitan tracks. About 50 have been knocked off the line already «hi« .reason. AlthouKh the books pay but $6 daily for the privilege, this la the least of the daily fixed expense, which varies according to salaries paid the dif- ferent attaches of a book, besides that drawn by the bookmaker him- self. The books that remain throughout the racing season are the old timers, those established. If the new ones can last until Saratoga, that usually winds them up, while on the other hand It seems if the older books have a bad start in the metropolis before Saratoga, Saratoga usually pulls them out. The regular ring bookmakers are a wiso\set. They know almost to a dollar the amount of the bankroll a new book has to work on, and they often them.selves knock off the new books just to get them out of the way. An "angel" for a book may put up $r,,000 or $10,000 the first time, but generally quits when asked for another deposit. A small bankroll at the track has little chance. The man handling the book must be a wizard if operating on a small bankroll to stand off the others. Even with the books giving the layers ,»11 the worst of the percent.iges in odds doesn't help the new booits. Some of the percentage layout in odds so far this sea.son have been laid .50 the i>ook3 couldn't lose if they tried, while the public keeps on giving up to an lmpo.«stble proposition for t4iem. A man who w.ints to gamble certainly has «mall change mirgin playing Wall street, but he aKso certainly has more of a chance on sto<>ks than he has at any race track in Ameri'-a. The metropolitan tracks in summer are little b»>Tte- than New Orle.ins or Havana in winter. Uunning racc^. formerly called -Th.- Sport of Kings," i.i now m.-n'ly the sure-thing run around of the gamblers. There is a Broidvvay musical comedy producer who got a lilth* bank Kalance ahr-ad md .started to pliy the race.s. lie had a 10 to 1 winner the first dav. pl-nm-d f.,r $1').000 ind won $100,000. IJ-fore the day's racing ended he b.d won $175,000. That was three years ago. That .lay's win has cost the producer $700,000 to date in lo.s.ses at the trick Betting in tho wav it has been conducted und-r i)v- present law has made weh-h.-rs of eveiybody almost, it .-ecms. who bet. Irom the busuuvss men who have i.ssued phoney cheeks in .sftth-nient to thos- who ha.l no right to g;.mble at all through knowing they would have to take the fence if they lost A mini-d e..u!.l.' who hive app-'-ared fog-thcr in v .udrvilb" ts a <|..uble art for fr(.me t me n-.-.-ntly erne to a parting of the ways while 1. living in I s.»uth.-rn city From gem-ial appearances th^ marriage ties xvili he .-".evi-i.d ,.< well .is Ih- .-t.ige partn.r.vhip. The trouble is .-aid to 1 ivi- ariMMi <A<-r tho fi":>ndiv attitude of th- y-ning woman towaid a member of a mab- double api>M,nng on the .v .me bill. The husband, ac- roiding t'. r.'P'Mt. n-turn.-d to the hotel early .and unexperled one n.«ht. and found his vMfe in the other's comj.any. The busb.nd itnm' di,.tH|y p:,rkcd bis < loth..s at the hot-d ar.d i,is trunk it tho th.atre and .eft town ■without playii.R ..ut tho ongagemtnt. The ^^^U^ has .-ince toturned t<. Nev York ind is uporUil as having been .-«•• m/in the company of tho number of the male double -,tvfcral l.rr.e3. The l.l'.cr.* wife. v%ho does A liquor pinch occurred the other evening in a Peftiam section road- house. Two revenue men made the arrest for having liquor on the per- son, since the per.son bringing a bottle in the restaurant was served with a suminon.s. The charge will probably be thrown out of court, as I it seemed a rather extreme step j for the revenue men to take. They | had been in the restaurant for three hours, asking everyone for a drink, which was refused. One of them staked the musicians to $25 during their stay, hoping through the tips to get in right. The musicians were wise, it seemed, and passed up all inquiries. Finally, a party at one of the tables started to dance, leaving what i looked like a bottle of liquor on the top of their table. The waiter for the section started to clean up the table. As he lifted the bottle of liquor to remove the cloth, one of the revenue rten walked over, tell- ing him he was under arrest. The ortlcers then told a captain of wait- ers to follow them outside and when in the ofllce oTlhe restaurant start- ed to serve summonses. One was served ui>on the manager, who de- manded to know why. The ofllcer said for having liquor on the prem- i.'-es. The manager told them what he thought of them and the revenue men replied if the owner of the hot- • tie would admit the ownership they would transfer the summons from the manager to the owner. The per- son who brought in the bottle was called outside and asked if he had owned It. He replied in the aflrtrma- tive. Tho summona given the man- ager was withdrawn and another issued to the bottle owner. A couple of New York dailies dur- ing the pnst weok or .;o had pretty strong editorials upon the methods and tactics adopted by federal offi- cers to make liquor arrests. If the dailies had known one-qu.arter of all the insiile stuff there is i.i con- nection witii these things, they probably would have printed pages instead. Nevertheless, the federal men. through their manner of work- ing (either way), are doing more to mako prohibition dotested than anyone elso, even the drys, and the drys in theli enforcement procedure are switching the entire country, exooptlng tliKse Who have their own h'lrd < Ider 'or applojirk in the cel- lar, ovi.'r to tho p.'f.onal liberty hJo.-i. through certain sources. An offer of the week was a cat.* (12 bottles) of mixed cordials tyour selection, not over two bottle.s of any brand), at $125, extremely reasonable. Lit- tle demand. Beer holds at $35 a barrel, domestic, fair quality, with Imported beer reported scarce. Ale of a good kind, $45. A dealer holding a warehouse re- ceipt for 50 barrels of rye in bond and with a permit to remove it (pre-prohibition) says he wouldn't bother through feeling certain that the barrels now contain water if they contain anything. In New York and Chicago of late some Scotch, especially, has been offered at such low prices it has been rejected for that reason. Quo- tations with standard brands men- tioned have been as low as $70. in- cluding delivery. In Chicago, where a chance was taken, the Scotch was found to be excellent, with the be- lief following it had been stoien.^ The preventative or guard is to test, not bottle submitted, but all bottles before settling. A purchase of a case made last week from a sample that was o. k. developed into badlly cut Scotch In all of the other battles. Forged labels of every kind of liquor wore discovered in a raid in New York last week on a printing plant. Liquor prices show little charisJ ;n Now Yorit and elsovvhere. Scol<h • linKM iroiind $f>.'; with $105 as often aski'd, whilo the lowest quotation (to l",i!ers in 25-caso lots) has beon I SO One Broadway producer paid $17:'! a case for two caso.s of Scotch the othor day and was satislle<l bo- oause he know it was on the level. The Scotch whiskoy made abroad ff>r American con.sumption continues to increase. At the present ratio of itnpr»rtations of this quality of whiskey t'here will be no pure Soot'h obi.ainibh sluutly. CJood ry^ holds around $100 with "good rye" a rarity. The othor kind brings $H5-$I)0 a rase. (Jin at over $13 I case is ati ovorchargo^ but the ..skiiiK price for .i c ise often goes to $G.'i. Dr. tiers t-ty iImmp is no ^'■nuine i^m to be had on this side but thiit the Kin available is as «ood for cocktail |>urpos^s. Lit lie doihngM in ch.impugne with $]0r>- J120 quoted. Cordials, thought to be extinct (t^enuine), may be had Bootlegging in Chicago and serv- ing drinks in local cabarets have beon kept very much under cover. For a long time some under-current Influence guided the destinies of those cabarets able to get away with serving In the open. It was proving a prosperous business. Then a raid was made on the Moulin Rouge, with arrests. The front pages of the dailies took thi.s up for a couple of days. This was a while back. Since then the inside has it that many of those cabarets presumably immune have been f.aced with warrants. The Friars' Inn and Mldnite Frolic were recently visited by prohibition agents. The government .-ient a new Ntaff of booze smelUrs to oasis Chicago. They have been succeeding to a degree, but Inside politics interfere. "Diamond Joe" Esposito, nporating Belle Napoll. a local Italian ro»- taurant. Is an illustration.- The pl.ict^ was clear of lirjuor and him- s(df when the inspocfors arrived. Bort Kolb-y's U«'d [..antorri hiH steppod out to get an injinirtion against raiders. Mure than 25 recent raids are detailed in his Iietition. Kelley bases his injuno- ticjn petition <>n discoura<?ing un- escorted women f; m visiting his place, and tliaf ho does not allow immoral dancing or entertainment. He rates his incorno it $:',00() [»or month. Vice-CHancellor Robert H. IngOr- ! sol! July a refused an ai>pli(Mtton I for an injunction to restrain the jar.z mu.sic in tlie Musi(* Box Cafe, At- lantic City, on the Kroond the right of injunction .Htand.<« or falls on the fjuo.stion whether or not the ca'fo rnusii" wa.^ :\ nuisance. Ho held that the aflhi.ivits of llalph Woloff and David Abtims in cjppo- sition f(» Nathan CJoIdenbiirg's i>''ti- tion were suflleiontly .strong to cre- ate a doubt in bis mind is tu the exi.vtence of x nuisance. He further held that the cou.t had no power to (Continued on ptgt ?9) "'