Variety (July 1922)

Frktoy. July "' ^*" 1- 1 I ■ ■! ■ ■>■-»- '- ■ '" —T TT- V A K I E T T C=BC SPORTS the Ban the bur the The and to the Jr., as . hicb mark haa been let up for ^ iSual golf competition for the] •CS-SpaMing trophy In J>^SS> Billy Frawley set '•"^^e at 80. compared to Wilbur i"?.?* which carried home the r « m the 1921 competition. Cntit runs through the season ri medal score wins. Next ?lifv II Tom Dingle's 85. This :L the ellgibles are more than Ki-S^ All acts appearing at the ITGate. the new Orpheum lila house, may enter as well tAnUvers at the Orpheum, and . '* house attaches of both estab- I' 'tment may plaV the Lincoln park '^"! aB^ften as they like. Harry . !"ifr representative of the clr- ' u on the Coast, and Harry Camp- manager of he Orpheum. have h bad a shot or two at the mark. ut nobody has yet bettered Fraw- , y'» 80. Words of praise sound sweet in .rears of a ball player. Witness e case of Jim Thorpe. The old jdian was going along at a great in m the Eastern League and nortmg writers were throwing rbal boquets at him. Then^ : InRo' One day last week he went ut on the field and started to loaf. ) ^hen the fans razzed him Jim limbed int« the grandstand^to whip ne of them. The Hartford club , uBpended Thorpe for his tem- eramental capers. Women may be all right at jnnis, golf, swimming, running, j tc, but as pugilistic managers— ,] ^.' This is taken to be the at- . itiide of the State athletic commis- i Ion. following their action last ■i reek in refusing to grant Florence .'■ i. North, New York attorney, a 1 cense to manage Charley Picker, welterweight, who appeared In 1 he main bout at the Collar City ,. C., Troy, Monday night. Secre- ' ary Haj^ry Burchell of the athletic ommission notified Matchmaker • (oe Myers by phone that he must , onduct all financial dealings di- «ctly with Picker. Just how well he lady attorney could manage * 'icker in the ring is not known, but hit much can be said—she Is there" on the publicity. Items., ent to Troy papers anent Picker ind his female manager would do •edit to a p. a- pugilistic pilot of ,e male species. Picker, who is id to be a chemist, has not been the ring long, but has already Ined considerable prominence inder the direction of "Manager" orth. Jack Britton is at Lake .George sting with his family. The 37- old champion will remain out the ring during July and August, is understood. He has received ur stage offers, but has turned em all down. That Brltton's easy Ictory over Benny Leonard was a rprlse to some of his training intourage is indicated by a letter rhich Charley Pitts wrote to an P-State sporting editor: Pitts, a ghtweight boxer and all-round ath- Bte who helped condition the wel- erwelght champion at Saratoga for is bout with the lightweight king, ays in the epistle that he expected lis boss to be whipped. The theatricar stage appears to lave a peculiar effect upon athletes 'ho take to the theatre, especially vaudeville, through fame acquired n the open or in the ajrena. Trac- ng the athletes from years back it 'fill be found that although some >ut temporarily invaded the show business during regular season. I"niost all either 'started to go back *nen continuing in their athlet aivlaion or thereafter becamq, unl 10 further pursue their athletic wa, Just what the effect of the foot- •Khts upon an athlete is rto one ^an explain. It may be the double J^'^^^'^y-that ..secured from the ^«fn field and the excess suppli( jrough the theatrical press agent •'inouph the large weekly .salary "cairical mana^-er will pay to u lh« ""'^"it" might contribute lo brw A "■''*''^''^'^' career, however .»-/• ^ ma^razine lately carried a cim^ ^ »'-'^^-hall player who bc- Wanf 1* ^^^'^^Jrical attraction and V "^1 /^ rfrnain an actor, only di- Ihe , ^'^^ inevitable fini.sh on tiri / ^'^ ^'y ^ Ron«ible vaudeville riL, "^''*' •''^^> ^^ bad grown •endly With. Thrrr. was much un-j fact '^ ^*"'" ^''rtially ba^ed upon i No tic jfit ly- •Ir ied a isc to toga. Formerly settlements were made with the books at the tracks on the day following the races, among the constant betting patrons. Often also after the day's racing settlements were made between the books and the bettors before leav- ing the track, though the latter did not occur often enough to attract notice. The new rule is stringent and Is being generally observed. It's a great out for the welchers. The bad check-givers have 24 hours' delay assured thejn by the rule, which gives a full three days before the first check can be returned N. G. through banking channels. A bookmaker dislikes to have a check certified through fear of offending a possibly good customer. The bad boys might give bad checks for two days if losing, and if winning one day of the three they have no heai- tation about certifying immediately, then vamping. On top of these tribulations of the layers, they are complaining that while the volume of bettors is as big as in former seasons, the vol- ume of money handled daily is much smaller. Bettor • who formerly placed $100 to a race are now bet- ting tens and twenties, with other wagers in like proportions. The recent report In Variety H. H. Frazee would welcome a chance to dispose of the Boston American League baseball team was empha- sized last week, when at Fenway Park there Were but 68 persons counted in the grand stand watch- ing the Red Sox lose to Cleveland. The Boston fans grew sore when Frazee sold Babe Ruth and Carl Mays to the Yankees two years ago and let go of other stars, Including Everett Scott.. The Hub ball fiends never got over the trades and the position of the Sox in the league has about crystalized the sentiment against the present ownership. It was reported a committee of Sox players called upon Frazee with the idea of telling him that a change in management would be very wel- come. There is but one hitch to the sale of the club. That is the price, 11,200.000. ■ i II ■ .i.i'.a: Coffey of KIngslon, who Is a big drawing card upstate as a result of his two victories over Frankie Lau- reate, the Troy sensation. Al Cross of Syracuse and Charley Pitts of New York, former Austra- lian champion, boxed 12 fast rounds to a draw before a small house at the bi-weekly show of the Collar City A. C. In Bolton Hall at Troy, N. Y.. Monday night. The bout was one of the best staged at the Troy club this season. Announcement was made by'the Massachusetts Boxing Commission during the week that Jack Demp- sey would not be permitted to fight in the Bay State until a challenger for the title appears who measures up better than any mentioned to date. Dempsey, however, will be al- lowed to engage in exhibition bouts with a sparring partner in Massa- chusetts, the commission announced. The total gate of some $41,600 an- nounced for the Joe Lynch-Johnny Buff championship at the Velo- drome, New York, last week was a surprise to sports who figured a greater amount grossed even at the $7.70 top. Boxing shows are care- fully checked up by Inspectors for the state which receives five per cent tax on all tickets. There Is small chance of error. The printer is required to submit a sworn state- ment as to the number of tickets supplied. All unsold tickets must be returned to the printer and the stubs In the ticket boxes are checked up with the totals. Lynch and Buff and their respec- tive managers, Eddie Meade and Lew Diamond, were suspended by the New York State Athletic Com- mission when it became known Lynch had guaranteed Buff $30,000 for his share if he lost the cham- pionship. When the news was abroad that In winning the bantam title Lynch vas to pay Buff $9,150 to make up the difference in the boxers' share of the gate, the com- mission stated the agreement was in violation to the rule against pri- vate agreements. In sporting cir- cles It was said the men were cognizant of the regulation, but just talked too much. Margaret C. Luther, the 20-year- old daughter of Thomas C. Luther, proprietor of the well-known }iot(d at White Sulphur Springs on Sara- toga LJike, swam across Saratoga Lake from the dock of her father\s hotel property to Irving Wiswall's camp Tuesday afternoon. Tiu; stretch is one of the widest on the lake, two miles. The Luther gi'i covered the distance in one hour and 54 minutes. >Iis.s I^utlu r ha.s planned to attempt to awini the lake for the last three or four s» asons. She is 5 feet 5 inihes in height and weighs ir»0 pounds. It is the first time any jierson sw.irn th»' lake, so far aH is known. When Frank Mo- ran, the hfjavyweight boxer, was training at Luthrr's in 1'Jlf» tor.h:s fl^-ht with Jim Coflry. which he won by a knockout, he .saved a man and a woman who had tijfpfd (-ver in a c;!ncf> from drownirij^: in the lake in fi(.nt of L\ifhers hot* I. Jack Gleason is manager of the new Ed Margolies Sporting Club, with present headquarters at Ar- verne, L. I. The opening show was to have, been given in the Arverne Pier theatre, an open air picture house managed by Sam LeMaire, last Saturday evening, but rain caused cancellation. Margolies is a builder, having erected most of the Shubert houses on Broadway within the last half a dozen years, and he is reputed to be wealthy. Last week when it was announced that Jack Dempsey and Harry Wills, the colored giant, had signed to meet for the heavyweight cham- pionship, the Margolies Club was named as one of the bidders for the match, said to be dated for June of next year. Gleason stated Margo- lies would build a large sports arena within 30 minutes of Times Square whether the match was secured or not. One of the features of the arena will be an ice skating rink. Wallace "Doc" Elliott, 'footb(%ll star of Lafayette, and son o^ Jack Elliott, the Keith manager, will in all probability sign a contract -this .week to play baseball with the New York American League Club at the completion of his college career two years hence. Young Elliott Is burning up the Cleveland City League playing first base. He has attracted the attention of ma- jor league scouts. The boy's father has promised the Tanks first call on his services. The young ath- lete is 6 feet 1, weighs 196 pounds, and is credited with doing 100 yards in under 11 in baseball togs. He bats and throws left handed, and is reported as one of the finest prospects since George Sisler flashed across the baseball flana- ment. Miller Huggins plans to have young Elliott work out with the Yanks the next western trip while they are in Cleveland. El- liott played fullback for Lafayette last year and was a sensation. El- liot, senior, is managing the tour of Emmett, French and Frownes, professional golf players. French holds the world's record, for low score for 18 holes, 65. He is the pro. at the Youngstown Country Club. turned a profit at that pace. "The Plantation Revue." a colored show, relighted the 48th Street Monday, the attraction being expanded from a cabaret revue. It won a lucky break (rom the dailies, since second and third string reviewers were as- signed to cover it. Tuesday night it played to capacity at $2 top. A couple of dirty songs are helping to draw. The colored show situation Is changed over last week. Saturday "Shuffle Along" closed at the 63d Street, completing a run of 60 weeks. One week was suddenly cut off the date. "Strut Miss Lizzie " got into financial trouble at the Earl Carroll and is resuming on a co-operative basis. The colored shows appear to be waning In favor, though the "Plantation'* outfit has a chance be- cause of the revue feature of the show. Tryout dates are getting the at- tention of producers. More new shows are listed to be reaAy for a showing in August than there are available dates. Estimates are that three times as many attractions are readying a.s can be taken care off. At one of the seaside resorts it was reported 11 attractions were pen- cilled in for one week, but only three can be played. Additional special picture show- ings are being arranged for Broad- way houses. Willl.am P'ox is re- ported having taken over the Lyric for next season and will occupy the 44th Street from August until Janu- ary. The Astor will turn to pictures after next week, the house being se- cured by Metro for "The Prisoner of Zenda." The film booking will cause "The Goldfish " to be moved into the Shubert. No Changes in Buys or Cuts The theatre ticket market re- mained firm this week without any changes in either the advance agen- cies or at the cut rate counter. The demand in both ends of the game was decidedly off how-^vcr. and complaints were general. Eight buys remain listed, they are "Kiki" (Belasc'o), "Kempy' (Belmont), "Captain Appl««jack" (Cort). "Gool Morning Dearie" (Globe), "Music Box Revue" (Music Box), "Zeigfeld Follies" (Amsterdam), "Partners Again" (Selwyn) and "Splc^ of 1922" (Winter Garden). The cut rate market had 10 6ho'*ri^ listed with little demand oni^i^oir anything. These listed were ."'Thof Goldfish" (Astor), "The DoVel* Road' (Bijou). "Strut Miss Lizzie" (Carroll), "The Plantation Revue" (48th St.), "From Morn to Mid- night" (Frazee), "He Who Gets Slapped' (Garrick), "Six Cylinder Love" (Harris). "The Bat" (Moros- «f'ftlin^' of wagers is permitted ockev n, ^"^ '''"^' ^''^'''' ^'•''■*^ «f l^^ e m«i Association, takinr ^- "'^tropoiitun tracks and Sa, ira- .Mat.hmakcr U'ln E. M( Mahon of the Knickerhnf krr A. C. at Albany. .\. v., will .staK^' '^ '^'•i'" "^"'"^ "'' ^2 rouruis b< tween welterw( i^rhts at his next open air show in the (_'ai>it.'il City Monday ni^ht. Kate Seigcl. the liovton \>f>yfr, will meet Vine BROADWAY STORY (Continued from page 13) der. And for the first time. "Good Morning, Dearie," at the Globe, dipped under $19,000. The ''Music Box" is listed to continue here until September 23, then going to the road with Philadelphia its first stand. "Dearie" is selling for August and should extend into the new season. The next attraction for the Globe, "The Bunch and Judy" is pencilled in for some time in the fall. White's new "Scandals" is a Globe po.ssii)ility, although the Lib- erty, as usual, may house it. "The Bunch and Judy " is pencilled in for some time in tho fall. White's new "Stanilals"' is a Globe possibil- ity. althoUL'h theLiberty may house it. 'Tlie Hat" will rompleto two years at tiie M ('IOSCO Aug. 19. It.s man- agement has arran^'d to continue the mystery play, which is Broad- Avay'E run kader for two weeks ad- ditional, leaving Sept. 2 for Ho.ston. The heat brouKht down "J'artner'H Again" at the Sdwyn last week, when the J'otash and I'erlrnutter show >lid under $1:^,000. The mid- w<'ek matinee has been discontinued tar a ;im'\ that f)erformance beinK nr>t(irious]y weak here. It is th«> sec- ond attraction to go on a seven p«'r- forrnance basis, "Kiki" having cut tli»' Thur.'day matinee two weeks ago. "Sut Hear. ' IM< musical |)i»ce which entend the Tiqns .S.juare last week, drew stronger business than first in- difat«<I, the gross af)prnxirn;itinK $S,()00. The atrracti<»n is inexp<n- esively geared, and it is said to have SPICE'S PERCENTAGE (Contfnued from page 1) per cent. Mi8.s Rowland is said to have agreed to 4 per cent, Hussey had volunteered to go into the show as a friendly action when it opened out of town. With the ,Winter Gar- den in prospect an understanding was said to have been reached with Hussey he would receive 3 per cent. ' The percentages, looked upon at the time as a new way to play, com- monwealth, amounted in all includ- ing royalty at 5 per cent to Jack Lait, the show's author, to about 31 per cent, of the grons receipts weekly. Besidts, there were fiat salaries to minor principals and chorus people, besides other fixed expenses. The percentages had been agreed upon with the show expecting to reach the Astor or the Casino, New York. It was switched to the Win- ter Garden, where a possible weekly gross of $30,000 Is obtainable. Last week the show did $26,000 in that house, and played to $16,900 in its first four performances after the previous Thursday night premiere. P'ollowing ti»e opening perform- ance in New York tiio percentage players of the cast were assembled and informed that the new arrange- ment called for sharing terms under which the sIkjw would have diffi- culty in keeping afloat owing to its heavy overhead'weekly. Ki'ductions would have to come from the play- ers, they were infotmed, through a decrease of the percentage or by the acceptance of a flat salary. Players continuing on percent.tge, according to the report, were told a stop on the (Garden's gross would be pla< ed at $1H,000 for percentage figuring. re}:-'i rdlcss of the actual gross btyond. that amount. The percentage players were told that while they would receive a percen- t.'igo upon the entire gross, under the original understanding,* if that were lived up to. the management Would be paying them |)»>rc«'ntage on the wh<dc thing while receiving for itself less than 60 per cent, of the grrtss through the nt^a-ring terms with the hou e. These .are under- stof)d to be rtO [xt cent, of the first $15,000 and 50 p'^r cent, over that amount for the show, said to be the same terms the Eddie Cantor show played at in the Garden just pre- ceding "Spice." //..-J - Miss Rowland is reported to have been willing to forego her per- centage arrangement but insisted upon a flat salary she and the man- agement could not agree upon. Mr. Hussey is said to have taken the same attitude, Insisting upon a flat .salary to hia liking, refusing a.n offer of $500 weekly from the manage- ment. The percentage agreement placed Into effect with "Spice," and more extensively spread among the prin- cipals than any Broadway produc- tion had been known to do, is re- ported not to have worked to the entire pleasure of the management. After each performance, while the show was in Atlantic City and Philadelphia, a nightly statement had to be delivered personally to each of the several percentage players, giving the gross for the performance or the day. These statements were placed in envelopes and made quite <a bundle for a boy to deliver back stage. Lillian Shaw may Join "Kplce" next week. Midgie Miller, out of the performance for some days fol- lowing the premiere, returned to the show Monday, but owing to the Injury to her foot refrained from dancing. MAIN CIRCUS (Continued from page 9) well handled by Miss Wallett and Miss Sweeney and they also ap- peared In a carrying act. The show is carrying a wrestler, offering to pay $2 a minute for every local who can stay with him without a fall. The "boy" was brought out several times, but was really a con- cert feature. The concert was rather strongly played up. About a third . of the crowd stuck for it—at 25 cents a smash. The feature of the con- cert was the wild west exhibition, the riders doings most of the selling. A local boy was picked to go against the professional, the local havlngr been In the navy and knew the mat game. He makes a practice of pick- ing up extra change in such con- tests and with carnival shows when fhey come along. It is probable the show's fixer attends to having a man volunteer to ''take a chance." Last season the Main show was the only circus to tour Long Island. In June, the Spark show broke In there in advance and pitched Its tent in the main villages. Downio's outfit got a good "rep" on the island last season and with any kind of weather break should clean this week, despite the other show in ahead of him. Ordinarily the jump from the mainland to Long Island means a ferry passage with the conseciuent loading and unloading. For the first time for a circus, the Main show made Freeport (the first stop on th^ Island) without more incon- venience than the ordinary Jump. Over the New Haven tracks it left Mt. Vernon and used the Hell Gate bridge (used heretofore for Wash- ington limited trains and freight n. movements). That landed the show '' at Fresh Water Pond, L. I., where it switched to the Long Island road and proceeded on its way without the performerB being in tho leaat disturbed. Downie figures to clean up this season and he plans expanding his circus next season, having commis- sioned an agent to secure foreigf^ attractions, some of which are al- ready under contract. Usually for a circus of the kind an admission would be 50 cents plus 5 cents tax. At 60 cents. Including tax. the show is getting the best of it. But tho reserved sections take up the bulk of tho seating capacity and tickets for those sections cost 55 cents ad- ditional, or a total of $1.15. Tho' concert costs another 25 cents and that is what Is charged for the side show, the latter Is about the weak- est of the entire outfit. It was claimed accidents Injured the side show, but according to what was in sight under the tent the side show gave little value. The extras probably count the ad- mission for each patron between 75 cents and $1. Hardly anything in the way of concessions (other than a swinging ball) were in sight, an«l no sign of any grift. The canny Downie Won't stand for that. Aiul his show is About the most suc( •hh- ful circus in the one-day lots of tho medium and smaller town.s j)lay«Ml. J bee. FORUM New Voi l<, July 17. Editor Variety: In Variety of July 14, "Rush" re- viewed an act of mine entitled, Nola St. Claire anfl ('tympany in "Tillie." He .»;aid this .'k t was probably in- spired by tho poi)ular stu cess of "Captain y\i>pkj uk." This act was written and produce<l by me o.'^r four sea.^;ons ;igo .and has been play- ing sinre that tirn«'. Ifo-.v, when or where tho Idea for "Captain Apple- jack" wa^ obtained, I do not know, but I do brlieve I /im entitled to the fjriKJo.tlit v of this vehhb'. DatUffl Kus*'ll.