Variety (November 1922)

\ ":'* •„*m-':' %•;«,. • n* • .In-Sl' ■ •rt.''" ■. WJ . ••rw»f . ^ji . »w*., ..jn.. " 5r»* PRICE 20 CENTS .^r. .-.:\i^r- ?i' -t' "■ ■!^'{-; P«bNsh«d We«kly at 1S4 W*«t 4Cth St.. New Terk, N. T.. by Variety. Inc. Annual aubacriptlon IT. BInsIe copies tO cents. ■ntered aa second class matter December 22. 190S. at the Post Office at New Tork. N. Y.. under the Act of March 8. 1879. HOL. LXyra. No. 11 NEW YORK CITY. FRIDAY. N0VE1M(BER 3, 1922 48 PAGES 5»iC7 SEASON'S SECOND PLAY CROP t0im mn MEMBERS ASSESSED . $S EACH BY LABOR FEDERATION :^ '< : V *■ '* jBquity Gives Notice in New York Through Depqlies -—Money for Defense of Indicted Herrin« 111., Miners and to Fight Chicago Injunction .SET FOR THIS / ^ '' >l«n\ber4s of the Actors' Equity ^soclatlon have been called on for ^ AD assessment of%5 per capita by the American Federation, of Labor, With which Equity is affiliated. It Is the first time financial support trom actors has been asked by the A. F. of L. since Equity "went Into Hkbor." and it has caused more of a •tlr In membership ranks that any activity in Equity since the "closed Jdlop** movement was started. The money is to be used by the ' JL F. of L. for le^ral matters, and the assessment was made at the wder of the Executive Council at -Washington. Part of the fund (Continued on page 25^ UNITS WANT "NAMES"; HAY INCREASE SCALE Reported Features Sought-r Castle, Bayes and Tanguay as "Strengtheners" > SPLiniNG FREE HAM THREE WAYS WEEKLY ., t- Huslcal Comedy Producers on Broadway Rewarded for Advertising Display In a musical attraction on Broad- Way is a country store scene. The •how has an advertising display of 4 national brand of ham for which (Continued on page 25) The Shubert unit shows are out for ••names," to strengthen the show, With the object, according to re- port, the Increase of the general ad- mission scale along the unit line from the present |1 to $1.50 top. It Is said the units hare placed Irene Castle, Nora Bayca and Eva Tanguay under contract for a num- ber of weeks with the privilege of (Continued on page 20) Business Off; No One Knows Why; But Stock Market Break Partly Blamed— '*Music Box" SUrted Off with $32,000 Week- Stronger Than Last Year WEBER j^ FIELDS' UNIT aOSING; JEM JACOBS JUMPS TO K. & E Joe Weber Working Too Hard Twice DaUy—1 Jacobs Disliked Prospects on Shubert Unit Time —"Rose Girl" Closed Last Saturday LOW SCALES FAVORED FASTEST FLOP > "Ptraons Unknown" Dies After Sixth Performanc* NEW MUSIC HALL A. L. Erlanger and ChTtrles Dil- Ungham will erect a music hall i "West 44th street, the site being the •Wne as that purchased by Erlanger ••veral years ago and orfginally ^•signed, for a theatre and roof S&rden. It is understood the plans **U for a modest structure ani. the' salary. The show was played out "Persons Unknown" took the season's quick flop record by clos- ing at the Punch and Judy Satur- day, after playing six performances. The mystery drama opened Wednes- night of last week, being produced by E. Ray Goeta, who decided to take it off following the adverse press opinion Thursday. The next quickest stopping was that of "Dolly Jordan," which quit at Daly's 63d St., after playing Ave days (seven performances). Goetz was able to close without notice, the show in total not hav- ing played over four weeks and the players having received two weeks' The seasons second group of pro- ductions is ready for Broadway. Starting next week and continuing through the month the list will be replenished with more than a dozen new productions, the changes af- fecting at least 25 per c.nt. of the total number of current shows. The most active switch date is that of the week of Nov. 13, which is post-election time. Most of the shows moving booked out then to get the benefit of the holiday week in New York. Holidays are generally regarded as signals and withdrawals are dated immediately after or before such dates. Thanksgiving will see more switching, while the Christ- (Continued on page 17) "KNIGHTHOOD'S lOOjg INCREASE ^ HIGHEST Gross Figured to Top Every- thing in Picture History— At Criterion, N. Y. KEITH'S NEW PALACE Cleveland $4,000,000 Vaudevil^ Theatre Opening Monday Ittof feature has been dropped. It is stated the house will have a policy akin to that of he Weber — SS^ Fields music hall, ll^ports arc William Collier and Sam Hernard already have been engaged for the Permanent cast. Travestle.s, bur- »««nue on current events, dr.imatir bits and numbers will make up the ■how. all the material boing spe- cially written. Florence Heed is nasntloned for the dramatic tends. •. ?* ^^^ house is expected to be ready next season. of town first for two weeks, clos- ing down when no house was in sipht. "Pemons ITnknown," first known as "The Star Sapphire," also played two wetks on the second try. Four of the original cast were re- engaged/ one of the other two se- cured an cnKngoment elsewhere, while the show was off and the other was given two weeks salary. In that way the manager evaded entanglement with Equity regula- tiona. Cleveland, Nov. 1. Keith's Palace opens Monday. It will be a local event. Over 25,000 applications have been received for tickets for the premiere. The house is pronounced the handsomest in America. Every de- tail, from construction to carpet tacks, has received the personal at- tention of E. F. Albee. An investment of $4,000,000, ex- clusive of the ground, i.s represented in the I'alace. It Is located on the best block in the city th;it has sev- eral other theatres also nn It.,, Three or four car loads of New York thcatrJcal nnn newspaper peo- ple will make n .Mpveial trip as the guests of the Keith organization for the opening. Jak Dempsey of the Keith staff has booked Elsie Janls, Ibach's Entertainers, Johnny Burke. Grace Hayes. Williams and Taylor, WMHe Schenk and others. Tiie sales organization of Par»,- mount has been started on the cam- paign of placing "Knighthood'' to follow the run at the Criterion, which is to end in January. It Is possible the plctur© is to play two weeks at the Kivoli, New York, with an additional two weeks at the Ri- alto following the Criterion engage- ment, although the Capitol has been bidding for the production for a two weeks' run at thaX house. The bigger circuits, Loew's, Fox (Continued on page 20) Baltimore. Nor. 1. The Weber & Fields Shubert vaudevlHe unit, "Reunited," is ex- pected to close here this week at the Academy, through Joe Weber feeling reluctant to continue the arduous labor of giving two full performances daily with his part- ner. Lew Fields. If the unit is disbanded Mr. Fields will likely Join his oWti unit. "The Ritx Olrls," on the Shubert vaude- ville circuit. CONTRACT m HOUR Frank Cruikahank'a $100,000 Agree- ment With Fairbanks Frank Cruikshank, field manager of the Winter Garden shows for the Shuberts, resigned this week to ac- cept a newly created post as gen- eral world representative to Doug- las Fa,irbanks. The deal was closed on less than an hour's negotiation, through the activity of George M. Cohan, acting as the friend of bo i parties. Fairbanks had never met Cruikshank before, yet signed a con- tract calling for $100,000 in salaries over the period of the deal. Cruikshank is a circus and mu- sical show agent and manager of long standing, and was formerly general manager for Joseph M. Galtes and general agent for the SeUs-Floto interests. His new po- .sltlon involves evtry branch of the picture Indusiry as it affects Fair- J>aiil<s. Cruikshank is not repre- sented in any picture corporation, but the star himself, taking in press work, general promotional services, sronario reading or any negotia- tions of any nature. His headquar- ters will be In New Tork. The Jenie Jacobs-Jack Morris Shubert vaudeville unit "As You Were" will close Nov. 11, after fin- (Continued on page 25) PROPERTY MAN'S RISE TO PRINCIPAL COMIC Joe Yule Will Be Featured on Columbia Wheel Next Season —Started Playing "Bits" Joe Yule, one of the prt»cipal ' comedians witii the Columbia wheel show, "Temptations of 1922," started the current season with the troupo (Conttnusd on page 8) ''' 'WO ^MBISH" V ' Chicago, Nov. 1, The Ungunda fevM- Is prevalent to such an extent in the Southwest that It Is cutting Into show busi- ness. The disease does not result fatally and is not as serious as it* name sounds, but it lessens attend- ance at show houses for the reason that it brings about a condition de- scribed Has "no nmbish." WM. RIORDAN" haa iriven up hia "Anna 8p9nc«r, Inc.." to bncom« our aalea di- rector, lie will tell you why your Dext coBtumea khould be made by BROOKS-MAHIEU 1437 B'way N. Y. City ^m^mmmCoitnmelet No. Sim