Variety (July 1922)

VAUDEVILL Friday, July 28, IM2 I&S HOUSE FAILS TO PAY SALARIES; MARKUS AGENCY THROWS IT OUT Morrieon*8, Rockaway Beach, Offers Savoy and Brennan $450 Less Than Agreement Called For —Agent Makes Good and Will Sue Morrison's, Rockaway Beach, was dropped from fhc books of the Fally Markus agency this week following the refusal of D. Flack, the house manager, to pay Savoy and Bren- nan, who appeared there last week for a full week as the headline act. the salary contracted for. CJlack, as representative of the Morrison Amusement Co., which leased the house this season from Mrs. Morri- son, offered the act $450 less than their contract called for. Savoy and Brennan refused the amount. They took the matter up with Markus, who paid the act in full and notified the theatre that all future bookings ' for the house through that oflfice should be considered cancelled. Markus Is preparing legal action against the theatre to recover the amount he paid on the Savoy and : Brennan contract. Morrison's passed from the active management of the Morrison this season for the first time since its erection. The Morrison Amusement Co., in addition to leasing the the- atre, operates a roller coaster which .'Hljoin.*- the theatre property. A ver- dict of $9,000 was recently handed down against it for damages oc- curring on the latter. Split week vaudeville and pictures was installed in th. theatre for the summer with u name headliner re- tained for a full week. The weather is said to have given the house a bad break so far on the season. The new management also became in- volved in .'i billboard war with the Columbia and Strand, Far Rocka- way, which were granted permis- sion to use certain boards belong- ing to Morrison's during the winter months. With the leasing of the house Mrs. Morrison was unable to locale or identify the boards form- erly used by her theatre and the new management was forced to se- cure other locations. Morrison's will go into straight pictures, it is said, next week. The house charged $1.10 week nights for its mixed vaudeville and picture bill, with $1.65 Saturday and Sunday. CLARA MORTON Exclusive Songs by BILLY TRACEY and DANNY DOUGHERTY Direction THOS. J. FITZPATRICK WAFTS LOEWS HOUSE Memphis, July 26. It Is reported the Orpheum Cir- cuit Is attempting to secure Locw's Falace here to play pop vaudeville In. The Orpheum has its own big- time theatre In this city that re- opens Labor Day. If securing the Palace, which plays pictures onTy, It will coHt $50,000 to install a proper stage in it. Pantages closes Saturday and jS announced to reopen Sept. 4. Rumor says Pantages rn.iy r<r-pf n with pictures, without vaudeville. LOEW'S COAST VAUDE. OUT San Francit^co, July 2C. Loew'8 Warfield will discontinue Its vaudeville policy Aug, 27, after which the house will show nothing but pictures. The same house staff will remain, but there is to bo a change In the personnel of the or- chestra and leader. Lcew'8 State, Los Angeles, will discontinue its vaudeville three weeks after the Warfield. Earl Sewart at New Orleans Chicago, July 26. Earl Sewart. for several years manager of the Palace here, has been appointed manager of the C)ri)heum. New Orlean.v. Sam Mauri(!e, manager of the Orpheum, Lincoln, Neb., has been transferred to Suit Lake City. ED MUNE IN NEW YORK Ed Milne, who is to succeed Ed- ward Fi.«?her as booking manager of the New York Pantages office, arrived In ' New York early this week. Milne has been inspecting the Pant'agcs^houscs on his trip from the coast, where he was con- nected with the Seattle office. It has not been settled when Fisher will leave New York, but it is understood he will remain in Chi- eago indefinitely, In place of return- ing directly to the coast. CLEVELAND HIP'S LAY OUT Cleveland, July 26. The Hip will reopen tabout Aug. ir> under the name of Reade's Hip, running continuous from 1 to 11, with seven vaudeville acts and pic- tures. W. H. Raynor will be resident manager. The bookings will be made through the Western Vaude- vjlle Managers' Association of Chi- cago. ACTS "STRUCK OFF" FOR PLAYING OPPOSISH State, Jersey City, Independ- ently Books—Attracts i[eith Office Notice The Keith ofllce this week ordered two acts struck from the- "acts available" list for playing the State, Jersey City, an independent vaude- ville house owned by the John T. Hall's interests and booked by John Robbins. The acts are Furman and Nash, a two-man singing team, and Stafford and DeRoss, dancers. Both acts are reported as holding contracts for future Keith bookings, and playing the Jersey City house during an open week. It was stated at the Keith office that in the future the cicts holding Keith contracts would be considered as breaking them when playing an independently-booked house in prox- imity to a Keith house, without ob- taining permission from the Keith office. The State, Jersey City, has not been tabbed as "opposition" here- tofore. The Lightner Sisters and Alexander, one of the Keith circuit feature acts last season, are at the State this week. This booking Is said to have attracted the attention of the Keith people to this house, which has been playing "features" and "names • whenever available, since the hot weather set In. Neither of the acts concerned was said to hold a route, but have been playing Keith summer bookings from week to week. O^lcago, July 26. Five weeks have been added to the booking sheets of Keith's Western Vaudeville Exchange as a result of the taking over of the bookings of the A. F. Brentlinger circuit of houses in Ohio and Indiana, and th^ Lyric, Indianapolis. ThiB Brentlinger chain was booked for several seasons out of the Gus Sun Chicago oflfices, wil4i A. Warren Jones representing the Brentlinger interests. Last week Brentlinger was in Chicago, and in company wfth Jones made arrangements with "Tink" Humphries o£ Keith's to switch his bookings to the latter's office. The four weeks of the Brentlinger time will be booked as In the past by Jones, w'ho will move over to the Keith ofiflce. The Lyric, which also comes Into the Keith fold. Is owned by Charles Olscn and will play all of Its billS a full week, also booked by Jones. BOOKING PLAN Negotiations Again Reported for Sabtosky & McGuirk with Keith's Negotiations between the Keith interests and Sablosky & McGuirk for the latter'a houses to be added to the Keith books were revived this week. The dev If consum- mated, will Include the Cross Keys, Alhambra, Globe, Allegheny and Broadway, Philadelphia; Tower, Camden; Garrick, Norristown; Hip- podrome, Pottsville, and Grand, South Bethlehem. The deal as at present laid out makes no provision for the Graden, Baltimore; State Street, Trenton; Capitol, Wilkes-Barre, and the Keeney houses in Newark and Brooklyn, at presen' booked In con- junction with the Sablosl^ & Mc- Guirk houses In the Amalgamated Agency. KEITH'S GAINS FIVE Western Office Takes Bookings from Gus Sun THE JUDGE WRITES Tells What's Doing in Atlantic City Atlantic City, July 24. Editor Variety: Just to advise you that I am slowly recovering from the . cere- monies attendant upon the Elks reunion. About 25,000 of the Ant- lered herd took possession of the city, and with flags, bands, lodge colors and quaint costumes made the Boardwalk look like a carni- val in Bagdad. The parade was a riot of color and music, with Philadelphia cap- turing the lion's share of prizes, and deservedly so. Grakelow, ex- alted ruler of Philadelphia lodge, rode in a flower and flag-bedecked limousine that would have made the Shah of Persia's state coach look like a garbage wagon. Fred Goldsmith and Jack Lewis headed tho New York lodge, both shame- fully out of step. It took the parade four hours to pass a given point, said point being the Atlantic City brewer:. Despite Volstead and the blue-nosed kill- Joys did not have all their own way there was not one unseemly disorderly act charged against the 25,000 Elks present, a splendid tes- timonial to a great American order. Boardwalk cabarets gave the Elks the usual Mexican standoff— took all their money, but spared their lives. Ocean avenue and the Board- walk are beginning to look tike the front of the N. V. A. LOEW'S UNIT Production by Cantor Opens Sept. 4 in New York The first of the Locw Circuit units will open at the Avenue B, New York, Sept. 4, an<l then tour the entire Loew Circuit. The unit will contain 10 principals, featur- ing Clayton and Lennle and Mason and Cole, both doing their special- ties in the vaudeville portion ahpad of the revue. Lew Cantor is the producer of the unit. The Loew Circuit bookers will use the Canto.' unit as a barometer, and other productions by Cantor will be forthcoming if the first unit prove draws .ind popular. ACT OP ENGLISH DANCERS Gtorge Chocs, who iy aboard the incoming "Aquitania," due to dock late this week, in accompanied by Ivy Sawyer, an English dancer, and eight Tiller g:rl.«, who «re to be \iyet\ in a new vaiidevill* act ho is to prcducf. Misf} Sawyer >nd Frank Ellis will 'be Icatujed I , the new turn. SIX SISTER ACTS Six sister acts have been supplied Shubert unit shows through Davl- dow & LeMaire, Watson Sisters, Courtney Sisters, Georgette and Capitola Do Wolf (Jack Reid's show), Flo and Ollio Walters (Bar- ney Bernard unit), Evangeline and Kathleen Murray (Butler and Tralles show) and Mellette Sisters, in one of th^ Shubert units. ' Police Note.—Cottagers on Ocean avenue report the theft of ernkU door mats, milk bottles and news- papers. A deep funereal gloom hovers over the city. Willie Cohen Is leaving for New York. Driving his own three-cylinder, square-wheeled concrete mixer. Model 1904, he .should arrive there about Aug. 1. He has spent a very pleasant va- cation, also $7. Willie leaves be- hind him the regrets of a boat of friends, also a 6^4 straw hat and bathing suit, 51 waist, chest not so much, which he will sell very reasonably. FOX BOOKING BORO PARK The Boro Park, Brooklyn, con- trolled by the Levy Brothers, will be added to tho books of the Wil- liam Fox office commencing in Sep- tember. Tho house will play split week vaudeville, reported on a sharing arrangement with Fox. Tho Levys control the Ridgewood and Bedford, also booked by Fox. I wandered In to see Murphy's Minstrels on the steel pier, and found John Murphy holding forth as he has for the past 25 years with all the wit, humor and melody that made him a town toast at Concross* opera house in Philadelphia back in the last century. Vic Rlrhard.s, late of Quinlan and Richards, who shared honors with me In England, Africa and Australia, is one of his principal comedians, supported by a real oldtlme musical ensemble. They gave me one of the best even- ings I have had In a long time. Leaving tomorrow on a short cruise along the coast on tho yacht "Helena," owned by Bernard Dunn, an Oklahoma oil man. Phil Carlin,' Fred King, myself and several other millionaires will comprise the list of guests; In fact the only poor man aboard Is the bartender. My Japanese chef has Just an- nounced dinner. Curtain! I wonder how it feels to be poor? W. C. KtUy. HOUSES OPENING The Kurtz, Bethlehem, Pa., under the management of H. W. Hel- berger, returns to vaudeville Aug. IB, playing five acta, split week, booked by Fally Markus.. ACT AFTER '^MISTERr GALLAGHER AND SHEAN Duffy and Sweeny in Court^ for Injunction and $25,000 * Damages The "Gallagher and Shcan" song has become the subject of court litigation for a second time, in thlf instance Janues Terrenoe Duffy an4 Frederick Chise Sweeny (Duffy an^ Sweeny, vaudeville) asking $25,00« damages and aa accounting of the profits from Ed Gallagher and Al Shean for the alleged infringement on the plaintiffs "Mr. Duffy and Mr, Sweeny" song. The complaint, filed in the New York Supreme Court through Ken- dler & Goldstein, sets forth that on and since June 1, 1919, Duffy an4 Sweeny have been Identified with their "Mister" spng and that "the said song . . . has acquired good will, great popularity and reputa-^ tion, and, as alleged. Is the trade- mark of the plaintiffs herein, and a« a result of auch usa^ by them has distinguished^ their vaudeville act from any and all other vfiudevllle acts played In the theatres of thtf United States . . . That notwith- standing the long and quiet use and enjoyment by the plaintiffs of the aforesaid name and trade-mark, the defendants, without leave, and against the protest of the plaintiffs, and well knowing the premises, and wilfully disregarding p 1 a i n 11 ff »». rights therein, and in fraud thereofi and in pursuance of deliberate de- sign to cheat and defraud these plaintiffs and the public, thereafter and on or about March 1, l'J21, they wrongfully and fraudulently used and still continue to use . . . the title of song in their vaudeville act^ which is Hltiiilar to plaintiffs' and is an Infringement thereon. "That the said similar title of song was chosen and is used by the defendants in the production and presentation of their act for the pur- pose of deceiving the public, and that the continued use of the said title of song by the defendants and each and every instance thereof greatly diminishes the business and profits of the plaintiffs herein, and that by reason thereof defendants have obtaiped large profits, and if allowed, will greatly Injure the pro- fe&sional standing, good will and popularity of the pla'intiff.s -and. re-; duce their Drofits in the pursuit of their profeslion . . . ." In addition to the damages and accounting, Duffy and Sweeny asic for a permanent injunction. In the Bryan Foy suit agralnst Gallagher and Shean, now under consideration by Federal Judge Knox, td Gallagher*e answering • affidavits admit that the 'Mister'* song idea is not original in refuta* tion of Foy's claims to part au« thorship and royalties, stating that the "Mister Dooley" and the "Mister Duffy and Mister Sweeny" songe and others have been familiar itt idea to vaudeville patrons before them. A decision on this case i« expected (early In August. MABEIA6ES In New York, July 19, Cordon Dooley to Marthft Morton. The hus- band is about 24 and of the Phila- delphia Dooley family. Mrs. Dooley Is 19 and the youngest daughter of Sam and Kitty Morton, now appear- ing with her parents in the Four Mortons' act. Jan RubinI and Mile. Diane were remarried In New York la^^t week. They had been divorced in San Francisco in March, last year. Harry Rome, vaudeville agent, to Rose Haney (Lanigan and Hancy)« July 24 at City Hall, New York city. The newly weds formerly appeared as a dancing team under the billinf of Rome and Haney. Hazel Vlnto to I. U. Wood, at Boston July 20. Mrs. Weed Is a professional and her hu.sband wai formerly In the show businrsy. H« it* uL present piesidcnt of the Py* Ora Dental Co. of Williniantic, Conn. Wilfred W. Butchman, 345 West 55th street. New York, wno gave his occupation as actor, and (Iladyi E. Perry, same address, at the Neif York Municipal bureau, July 25. Rodney B. Birch, Inwood on the Hudson, N. Y., film player, and Milllcent C. Gilpin of the same place, at the New York City mar- riage bureau. HOUSES REOPENUvTr Fay's, Roche.«^ter, N. V. ft"° Providence, R. I., reopen Aug. *•