Variety (September 1922)

Friday. September », WW . VARIETY ■ 37 RICE SAKE READ THIS: RICE PRODUCTIONS U the name of our new Producing concern. RICE PRODUL1 IONiS w *" P r °d uce *h e vehicles most desired for present-day vaudeville: RICE PRODUCTIONS RICE PRODUCTIONS RICE PRODUCTIONS RICE PRODUCTIONS RICE PRODUCTIONS RICE PRODUCTIONS NELLIE KING, TOMMY GORDON & CO. aim to specialize in COMEDY and LAUGHS. have the services of ANDY RICE and other well-known AUTHORS. invite all who write to submit manuscripts, and if they are worthy, we them* invite. ARTISTS to let us try and fit them in a vehicle that will fit them, invite MANAGERS to encourage us by booking what is good and te baa* • announce their initial efforts: produce us what is • ■ IN "TOOT YOUR HORN"—By ANDY RICE "MR. NOBODY FROM EVERYWHERE" By ANDY RICE & ■ DAVE) G. RICE Production Manager .-. SAM MANN Directing Manager JAMES R. WATERS with Vivian Van Slyke "FROM DRESSES TO MOVIES" By ANDY RICE MAC GORDON Casting Director « LOEWS STATE BUILDING 1540 BROADWAY, SUITE 1002, NEW YORK CITY • Telephone 3993' Bryant CHI BLAMES AGENCIES (Continued from page 15) Circle" and with a number of other attractions. The producers all 'thought her a "savior" and gladly listened to her proposition and garnered the extra amount. When their attractions opened here there was another side. The manager started to yelp. The new scale, if their attraction was a bit, was of no benefit to the house di- rect, and if not a hit, the Couthoui office was always prepared to dump back the deadwood prior to the per- formance. Explanations were asked for in the latter case and the "queen" told the managers there was no demand. On the other hand the public, anx- ious to buy for anything at all, but desiring their tickets a bit in ad- vance, could not get anything. They went to the theatres and were in- formed choice seats were out and that thev might get some at the Oouthoul\gencies. There the sales- FOR THE MEN AFSONS people said, "No, nothing today." With all of this the Couthoui agency was functioning in perfect style, for Mrs. Couthoui did not thlnjc about the stand patron for they only wanted to pay toon office prices. She was figuring on what she could compel the outsidejarqkers to buy. These outsiders, hungry for stuff on a hit or.near hit, were willing to come to any terms they could with the queen. Her average on a hit is 400 tickets a night. Of this amount one broker takes 200, and through tak- ing these.seats he Is compelled to take a like amount for other attrac- tion* which are not so much in fa- vor on which the queen had to make an outright buy. Then there is an- other agency which takes 50 seats and another 25 under similar terms. The balance of the seats, or 120, is divided among the' 10 Couthoui stands, to be distributed among the Couthoui preferred list of custom- ers. This list is made up of a lot of wealthy people who pay the agency $100 a month for service and get their tickets at box office prjees.. In one instance a couple at the Drake hotel aeked for tickets for "The Goldfish." Mrs. Couthoui was standing at the counter at the time $5 , \^SHOEj? $6 JUST* 2 PRICES 1559 Broadway, New York City BMwfrn 46th and 47th Streets Catering to the Theatrical Profession. Factory at BROCKTON, MASS. 1HEATRICAL OUTFITTEKS 1580 Broadway New York City FRED— —FREDDIE AND IN THEIR LATE8T COMEDY FRIVOLITY "LONESOME" This Week (Sept. 24)—Majestic, Chicago 8IMON AGENCY BOOKED 80LID Direction: and told the people the Ram beau show was not one they would care for, but they would like Pauline Frederick's much better, and the people bought for Freder- ick's. The story was heard by a friend of a loop 'theatre manager, who immediately took the "Queen" to task in no uncertain terms and informed her that if she would not give all shows equal representation this manager would use his influ- ence with other nfahagers to have them* withdraw their /Jckete from her stands. Recently a manager of a chain of theatres invited one of the larger independent combinations to do business with his houses. This combination, known as Waterfall A Horwits, have strong city hall back- ing, and it is said that they were called in by this manager as a re- sult of pressure brought to bear from city BM1. The manager In- formed the brokers he would allow them 50 tickets a night for all of his houses and pay a commission of 25 cents on each ticket, the same as he was paying Mrs. Couthoui. The broker was told his seats would be second choice after the Couthoui seats and that he must sell them at box office price. The broker re- belled, saying he would not play second fiddle to MYs. Couthoui and that he could not afford to do busi- ness with a profit of 25 cents a ticket on a 60-ticket buy. lie told the manager that if he wtre allot- ted equal tickets with the Couthoui agency he would post a bond guar- anteeing that he woald not charge more than 50 cents premium on the ticket. The manager refused the proposal. As the broker was leav- ing he said: "I can get the pick of What 1 want irem Couthoui and regulate my prices, «o I don't think you are doing me any favors." The manager Investigated and disclosed that theatre patrons were getting all the choice seats from the independent agencies and* that the Couthoui mark was on ell of them, but instead of paying the box of- fice price at the Couthoui stand they had to pay from $1 to $3 pre- mium on a ticket. It is said that as a result of this investigation the managers of* at- tractions here are calling on their employers in New York to permit them to break away from the Cou- thoui agreement and have the tickets placed on direct sale at the box office, with precaution taken there that the larger part of them do not fall into the bands of the speculator*. BOSTON SHOWS (Continued from page 10) considerable money 'yet In circula- tion for this attraction. The story on "Shuffle Along" Is a repetition. It did capacity last week, as it has done every week since it hit in here. No serious opposition is looked for from "Oh, Joyf" due into the Arlington. This last col- ored show is playing at a $1 top, is housed well uptown and should take what money it does get from a totally different clientele. Francine Larrimore In "Nice Peo- ple/' opened the Hollis for the sea- son last Monday night. The house was plentifully sprinkled with legi- timate paper at the opening—a move necessary under the condi- tions. The show registered at the local premiere. For the first time as far as is .recalled the local Bhubert manager has adopted a policy of "two for one" for one of their houses for mid-week performances. This is in the case of Thurston, the magician playing the Plymo ut h. For this week the show was sold on a two for one basis for Wednesday and Thursday. Last week this show got about $«»00# in money and this sum satisfied everybody concerned, small as the figure was when compared with the other groses in town. Hstmlates for last week: "Sally" (Colonial, llth week. Doe to pull out a week from Saturday. Grossed $28,000 last week, off f 1,000 from the previous week and far be- low the figure the show baa played to. • "Shuffle Along" (Selwyn. tth FOR SALE OR LEASE Dog Act, Bird Act, Cat and Monkey Act. Canary Bird Act Also fine re- fihirs Monkeys and Baboons ready for training. GEO. E. ROBERTS 2324 N. Fairhill Street PHILADELPHIA, PA. Pamahasika's Hsadquartsrs VAUDEVILLE ATTRACTIONS Booking with the MARCUS LOEW - and all Independent Circuits 160 West 46th Street NEW YORK 0I7ITE SOS PHONE: BRYANT f4M CAN PLACE* STANDARD ATTRACTIONS WITH VAUDEVILLE UNITS AND PRODUCTIONS ■ THE ORIGINAL MARLETTFS MARIONETTES Playing Proctor's Fifth Avenue, New York, NOW (Sept. 28-Oct. I) Direction MORRIS & FELL NOTICE TO MANAGERS AND AGENTS Another vaudeville act is alleged to have applied for bookings, the manager or some member of the act representing hints ell as Mr. Marlette. Thit notice will serve as a warning to such misrepresentation and infnngment, and any further violations will be prosecuted by legal action. ,i