Variety (December 1922)

I ■•,*«■ M LEGITIMATE -c?- I'-ilK.^t Friday, December 22, 1922 OUT OF TOWN REVIEWS m^ RED BULLDOGS Lo8 Angeles, Dec. 20. IffAlo^rama of the Northwest by Wtllard Mack, who pl«ya th« leadlns part Titl* la r«f«renc« to the red-coated Northweat Mounted ToUoe. Produced at the Uaaon, Loa Ansdea, I>ec. 18. r WlllaVd Mark's new play has the •ame atmosphere and much the Mune quality as his "Tiger Rose." But this time the Canadian police are the unqualifled heroes of the •vent. It has four stimulating acts of swift action involving many great dramatic situations. The dialog sparkles with Mack's wit, with oc- casional shadings of the playwrlght- actdr's peculiar philosophy to give It variety. Between the thrills ther* are amusing sidelights on women and prohibition reflected ip Mack's own style of humor. These personal touches were ap- preciated hy an audience largely of professional people at the pre- miere. But there Is i¥> question of the play's strong appeal for the public. It does hold interest from first to last. The dramatic suspense hegins to build up from the very start and the auditors remain on edge until the curtain. The play will require pruning, for it ran until midnight at the first performance. The Los Angeles newspaper re- viewers are enthusiastic In their praise. Mack Is splendid in the leading role, that of a sergeant in the Northwest Mounted service. In the cast are Phillia Connard, Gus B. Thoma.*!, Claude Boardman, Beatrice Banyard, Clark Marshall, George Morrell, George Sherwood, Sanford Dodge. Forest Creighton and Aimee Torriana. James B. Bayham is the producer. Krelg. THE LAST CARD Buffalo, Dec. 20. This latest for Minnie Maddern Fiske demonstrates with more than a reasonable degree of certainty at least two things—first that Mrs. Piske stands as one of the consum- mate artists of the English speak- ing stage and second, that "Paddy" is as poor dramatic stuff as has graced the local boards In many moons. It is because the latter proposition Is so apparent that the former Toecomes all the more con- clusive. In her hands, the role of Paddy evolvee from a literary nonentity Into a living, breathing study of the character of an erratic woman. True, no such woman ever could or ever did exist," but for that very reason there will be few who will dare to cast the critical stone. The play is Mrs. Fiske and Mrs. Fiske .is the play. There is nothing Aore. "Paddy," by Lillian Barrett, is under the Frasee banner. Miss Barrett is said to be a writer of short stories for the magazines and an incipient novelist. The play is in three not-over-elaborate sets and employs a cast of 21 persons. Out- side of the star, there is scarcely one of any particular importance or worthy of any special mention. The play opened a fortnight ago show- ing through the central part of the state where it is said to have been enthusiastically received. The Buf- falo reviewers handled it with mixed sentiments. In story and construction. "Paddy" is a novellstic drama. It proceeds so leisurely that one feels certain the story must orginally have been meant for a novelette. Dramatically it is one of those things in which the author artfully keeps anything: at all from happening. The average spectator is In the position of watching the man on the proverbial river bank—he is always Just about to make the leap but never quite does. Something really should be done about this type of play. Some day some constrained spectator will rise convulsively In the midst of the conversation and shout, "For Heaven's Sake, Jump." If it is anything. "Paddy" Is a character study. The leadin;^ role Is that ot an erratic, high-strung creature, addicted to morphine, jealous, crafty and by turns sad, glad and even perhaps a bit mad. The role is at times incoherent and obtuse, sometimes becoming dense enough to be unintelligible. The same may be said of the play. Its weaknesses, incongruities and in- consistencies are legion and are best passed over lightly. Paddy's dope addition verges on the ludicrous— she takes it three times, twice In water and once in the arm. The prop man should see that the pills dissolve better. The story concerns Paddy's effort to induce her daughter, whom Paddy describes as "a good woman" and consequently "an abomination." to wed a wealthy widower thus saving mother apd daughter from the last refuge of perploxid playwrights- "poverty. The daughter prefers a poor, BtrugnlJng but ambitious artist, Roger Winthrop Canby, whom I'addy of cour.sc di.slikcs. When the girl refuses to go through with the wealthy marriage. Paddy for no reason at all drags her off to Florence, where a little later the mother sacrifices herself on the •Itar of her dniighter's love tor Canby and gives her up, deliberately taklnjr an overdose of morphine— whole gobs of it—while festival gayety goes on off stage. It is all very sad, but it doesn't mean any- thing. Ernita Lascellcs played the daughter as well as the author per- mitted. The other players and roles were inconsequential and frequently unnecessary. Mrs. Fiske was the life and soul of the play. The part gives her an opportunity to show every gift she has. She played on every string in the emotional gamut. In her Interpretation of the piece she was, as always, the sure deft master musician. To her admirers the play may mean something, to others it may mean anything or nothing. The title "Paddy" was changed during the week here to "The Last Card." Burton. OH LOOK San Francisco, Dec. 20. "Oh, I»ok." starring Harry Fox. produced for a coast tour by Nat Goldftein, opened at the Curran Surday, sifter having played a four- week preliminary season in South- ern California towns. The Curran engagement is for one week only, after which the piece is to take to the rodd and eventually travel to the middle west. The opening performance was smooth and the production showed no economy In either scenery or costuming. There Is a corking chorus of 12 gins and they are beauties. Several changes have been made in the musical score, with several numbers of Goldstein's re- placing those of the original. The local critics lauded the pro- duction and stated it was far su- perior to many of the attractions sent to San Francisco this season from the east. If the show doesn't do business it won't be because of either production or cast. Consid- ering that this is the week beforo Christmas, the returns Sunday and Monday were \tn*y good. The David Belnsco production. "The Gold-diggers." opened at the' Columbia Sunday to a good house on the lower floor. Josephs. ^ FOREIGN REVIEWS 5^ ^ I HAWLEY'S OF THE HIGH ST. London,' Dec. 6. "Hawley's of the High Street." produced at the Apollo last night by the author. Walter W. Ellis, is described on the program as an eccentric comedy. A more specific description would be a conventional farce. A wealthy parvenu has made his pile running a little shop, and is residing with his wife and daughter at a summer resort. The girl falls overboard, and is rescued by a rich viscount, who falls in love with her and proposes marriage. The girl realizes her parents will never be able to mingle in aristocratic society, and although she loves the titled young man. rejects his offer rather than cut htrself off from her parents. It took a full hour to develop this, with the obvious de- nouement that In the end she will yield. The plot will not stand analysis, in that a sh(Ti)koeper who had grown wealthy would have been more worldly than to bow and scrape continually before a man of title, and the mother could not possibly have been so Ignorant as to constantly refer to the viscount as a "viking." A group of "provincial" players was recruited to portray the respec- tive roles, and contributed a per- formance that would be expected of a medium sized village stock com- pany. Ellis is the author of "A Little Bit of Fluff," which made him a fortune In England, and Is stPl touring In the country. "Hawley's of the Hlph Street" Is not likely to increase his bank roll. Jolo. f 18.000. ahowed play's drawing power even during lull. ''GrMnwich Village Folli««'' (Great 'Northern, Sd week). — Week-end trade pulled gross over $12,000. Being nursed for two big holiday weeks when show should set new mark for this house. *'Bill of Divorcement" (Central. 7th and final week).—Allan Pollock didn't wait for the two weeks* notice closing. Settled Saturday, devoting this week to rehearsals for "Why Certainly" opening at this, house Xmas night; $3,000 final gross for Pollock. ''He Who Gets Slapped" (Play- houset 2d week).—The $7,800 meant more for future chances of this play here than ordinarily would be gleaned. Big boosting continues for Sam Harris, Joe Gaites and Lester Bryant. "Spice of 1922" (Studebaker. 2d week, with sudden exit Friday night).—Internal troubles brought sudden closing before curtain time Friday night. Would have been tougher for all than it was if local bunch had known Jack Lait was "off" show. Had gone to $6,000 when closing. "Shuffle Along" (Olympic. 5th week).—Held nicely around $14,000. Prediction made that "Shuffle" will do $25,000 Xmas week. SHOWS IN FHHA. (Continued from page 14) downstairs. Gross about $20,500. "Scandals" Monday for two weeks. ''Anna Christie" (Walnut. 3d week). Real improvement shown last week and both house and com- pany are elated. Gross went to about $10,500, with indications of little change this week. Word of mouth advertising seems to have turned the trick,and offset bad in- fiuence of "Hairy Ape" and "Em- peror Jones," both of which flopped here. "Monster"' Jan. 1. ''Blossom Time" (Lyric, 9th week). Success has amazed everyone here, and shimp last two weeks expected. Considered good enough to hold over through holidays, however. Mav h.ive crared $11,000. "Molly Darling" (Garrick. 4th week). Not world-beater, but has done quite well and without expen- sive cast and show probably turned in nice profit. About $14,000 last week. "To the Ladies" Monday. Dark (Adelphi); Decision to close hou.se came after "To Love" fiopped start. Last week's gross of Grace George show was around $5,000. "The Guilty One" comes in Monday and may try for a month's run. Dark (Shubort). "Tangerine" faded after bully start and last week's gross was a trifie under $14.- 000. "Passing Show" in Monday for three weeks. src BROADWAY STORY SHOWS IN CHICAGO (Continued from page 14) Around $24,000. best indication of how week hit everybody. Finally decided for Jolson to depart Jan. 6. "Music Box Revue" (Colonial. 5th week).—Figured $25,000 on hard check-up. "Sally" underlined for Jan. 8. "Thank-U" (Cort, 16th week).— Held ar und $6,800. receiving share of "bump" that went to small town plot plays. Promises to gain house week's gross record with five mat- inees sfhrduled for Xmas week. "So This Is London" (Cohan's Grand, 4th week).—Town has caught Cohan idea. Perked up again, giv- ing full promise of developing ir»to tremrndoua hit. Harry Hiding.'* figures \v«re $11,500. "For All of Us" (LaSalle, 4th week).—Drew unusually good Satur- day matinee, continuing its winning call, and sticks In town, moving to Stiidchaker with arrival of "Demi- Virgin" Xmas Eve. Checked at $8,600. "Cat and Canary" (Princess. 15th week).—P>11 to lowest mark yet, MANA6EHS' MUSIC ROYALTIES (Continued from page 13) our position would be to imme- diately deny any such demand.' Already it is the custom of these managers to demand prece- dent to producing a musical show, a very substantial cash advance from the music pub- lisher; already in some cases they are "cut In" on the mechan- ical royalties, and they now re- ceive a greater share than is actually fair in the potential profits of the musical composi- tions of the shows which they produce. As far as any threat that they will not produce shows unless the composers, authors and publish- ers assent to these demands is concerned, they may suit them- selves. If the managers, whose sole and entire profits fiow from the creations of the brains of playwrights, composers and au- thors take any such position. It will be simple and easy enough f<jr these men upon whom they seek to impose such an injustice to place their case before the public, and we haven't the slight- est fear of what the popular ver- dict would be. We are. therefore, entirely will- ing to await developments, and should there be any dl.sposltion upon the part of these people, or any others, in their or any oth«3r line of business, to unjustly en- croach upon the rights of the men whose brains make their b\><Pi- ne.sses possible and profitable, wo will know how to act. A committee of six. Victor Her- bert, Gene Buck, Jerome Kern, Joe McCarthy, Max Dreyfus and E. C. Mills, was appointed to consider the matter. The consensus of opinion was that outside of a dozen fore- most writers and composers, the average songsmith did not cum more than $5,000 annually on the average, and it would be unfair to further minimise that as proposed by the managers. In view of the $3 prices charged for admlsflons and the $15,000 weekly grosses of musicil comedy succ«'RscH — which naturally makes the sheet music amount to some- thing worth while—music division «>f royalties is counted upon as un- fair. The publisher contends that 90 per cent of the musical shows do not earn money for the publisher. Where formerly a show j)layed (Continued from page 18) up the struggle with a "Fantastic Fricassee," a sort of revue that has ambled along most of the fall to poor business. The octet of new productions for Christmas day will open as sched- uled, but special performances will lessen the problem of the critics. "Why Not," the 48th Street's new try, will be given Saturday night, but collides with "Krelsler." Sun- day afternoon "The Clinging Vine" will be shown by H. W. Savage at tho Knickerbocker. Sunday night (Christmas eve) a special perform- ance of "Rose Briar" at the Empire and "The Tidings Brought to Mary" at the Garrick will be held. That leaves the other four new ones for Monday night (Christmas) for the reviewers to choose from. "Secrets" lights up the Fulton. "Glory" will unfold at the Vande|-- bilt (playln^r In Brooklyn this week). "The Lady Cristlllnda" comes to the Broadhurst and "The Egotist" startp at the 39th Street. The pre-holiday slump started last week, with business away off this week, though expected. There were a number of exceptions, how- ever, last week, when the outstand- ing dramatic hits not only held their own, but climbed. "Hamlet" moved up several hun- dreds at the Harris and beat $19,600 (it can play to about $24,000 with the $3 scale). "Rain" again got $^15,000 at the Elliott, "Merton of the Movies" reached $15,300 at the Cort, "The Fooi" was close to $15,000 at the Times Square, "Loy- three and four years in every town of importance in the United States it now has a short life of a year in New York, Chicago, Boston, Phila- delphia, San Francisco and other important cities. Following the action of the Pro- ducing Managers' Association last week aimed to secure for the pro- ducers of musical comedies a share in the royalties on production num- bers as gained from publishing, mechanical and radiophone, a com- mittee was appointed to work out the details. Arthur Hammersteln Is chairman. Lee Shubert and Sam H. Harris, associates. Two resolutions covered the mat- ter. One conveyed the power to employ counsel to present claims to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers for a share of the fees already collected from orchestras, cafes and radio broad- casting stations. The committee, through counsel, will endeavor to learn Just how much the society has collected and that Is to be the basis of the claim. The other resolution calls for a uniform contract as regards royal- ties which all musical comedy pro- ducers will use In engaging authors and composers of production song numbers. The contract form Is now being devised. It calls for one-half of all royalties paid the composers and lyricists by publishers. That takes in^he royalties from "canned music" and the dividends from the composers' society. Although the contracts are to be between pro- ducer and composers, it is to be agreed that the amounts due man- agers- be paid them direct by the publishers and tho American So- ciety of Composers, Authors and Publishers. The managers took action after reports of the big sumd collected by the society. Their contention Is that song numbers are "made" by the attractions and are a part of» the production property. Managers at present receive royalties from music publishers and are interested too In the mechanical music, but the share is not what the producers claim Is rightful. It Is the custom of pro- ducers to secure advance payments on royalties from publishers, which will probably continue, as there will be no change from the competitive bidding for music publishing rights for productions. Musical comedy managers forecast the growth of radio and believe big profits possible for rights to broad- cast. On^ producer in discussing tho matter pointed out that many showmen overlooked moving pic- tures and not being able to visual- ize the possibilities never grasped the opportunities for profit. That radio Is proportionately as big a field la growing In heTlcf among the mnn.igrrs. Although the American Society of Composers. Authors and Publishers estahllFhed the r'ght to collect foes where published music is given for profit, the Stanley Company of Phil- adelphia Is contesting the charging of foes In the courts, and the matter may again reach the Supreme Court. alties" at the Gaiety held to fona of nearly $14,000. "So This Is Lon- don" KOt close to $16,000 in its 17th week at the Hudson and "Seventli Heaven" was near capacity, $13,000, at the Booth. AH the musicals dropped off, though Ziegfeld's "Follies/ with over $31,500. "Music Box Revue" with $26,000 and "Little Nellie Kelly" with $22,000 held their spots as the money leaders. With the many extra matinees carded for next week—Christmas to New Year's—the annual show har- vest Is expected, while the auto- mobile show in early January gives promise of more big trade. Some attractions are to try daily mati- nees, but only a few, the others playing one or two extra matinees ^and many sticking to the eight- performance limit. To make way for some of the new arrivals, this will be the final week for "The Boot- leggers" at the 89th Street,, "In Springtime of Youth" at the Broad- hurst and "Hospitality." Only the "Youth" operetta will go on tour, the other two going to the store- house. "The Texas Nightingale" was withdrawn from tho Empire last Saturday, the house going dark and no other berth In sight for the Akins comedy. Bookings for the first week ot 'he year have "Will Shakespeare," un- der the direction of Winthrop Ames, opening at the National, which nny mean the closing of "Fa.shions for Men." The holiday week will be the finale, too, for the current bill of "Chauve-Souris," the Russians being c rded for a new program at the Century roof Jan. 4. "The Cat and Canary" was the leader last week in the subway houses. It getting nearly $13.P00 at the Majestic, Brooklyn. Walter Hampden at the Montauk, Brooklyn. could not beat $7,000 with his Shakespearean rep, which he moved on \o Boston this week. Teller's Shubert the other house over tho bridge, was weak at $5,000 with "The Goldfish." "Partners Again" drew $11,800 at the Broad Street, Now.ark, and Is laying off this week. Jumping to Chicago where it bows in Sunday night. "Make It Snappy" got about $12,300 at the Riviera* and "The Monster" a little under $6s500 at the Bronx opera house. Three Big Buys Added The theatre ticket brokers, not daunted by the Producing Man- agers' proposal to put them out of business with a consolidated ticket office, made three heavy advance buys for new shows this week. The three attractions are "Johannes Krelsler" at the Apollo, for which they have taken 600 seats a night at $4.40 top; 40 for David Warfleld In "The Merchant of Venice" at the Lyceum, and S50 for "The Masked Woman" at the Eltinge, making a total of a buy of 1.350 seats a night for those three attractions. Even with the addition of thesa three buys the total number of at- tractions held outright by the agencies fell to 20 this week. The list comprised "Johannes Krelsler," Apollo; "Our Nell," Bayes; "Klkl,** Belasco; "Seventh Heaven." Booth; "Springtime of Youth." Broadhurst; "Merton of the Movies." Cort; "Rain," Elliott; "The Masked Wom- an." Eltinge; "R. U. R.," Frazee;^ "Loyalties," Gaiety; "Bunch and Judy," Globe; "So This Is London," Hudson; "Little Nellie Kelly,* Liberty; "Spite Comer," Little; "Merchant of Venice." Lyceum; "The Awful Truth," Miller; "Music Box Revue." Music Box; "Zlegfeld Follies," Amsterdam; "The Old Soak." Plymouth, and "The Fool," Times Square. The agency men were letting out a equawk this week on their buy for "Our Nell," which they cannot manage to push over the counters. They had hoped that the show would close last week, but the management decided to continue after they had effected a half-sal- ary arrangement with the cast. Cut-Rate List Grov/s There were 18 attractions listed in the cut-rate agency on Wednes- day. This was several more attrac- tions In number than were on sale at bargain prices last week. The shows offered were "Our Nell" (Bayes), "Thin Ice" (Belmont), "Listening In" (BlJou), "Spring- time of Youth" (Broadhurst). Shu- bort vaudeville (Central), "Blossom Time" (Century), "The Love ChlTd^ (Cohan). "Gringo" (Comedy). "Liza" (Daly's), "Hospitality" (48th St.), "World We Live In" (Jolson), "Spite Corner" (Little). "Why Men Leave Home" (Morosco), "Fashions for Men" (National). "Up She Goes" (Playhouse), "Abie's Irish Rose" (Republic). "It Is the I^w" (RItz) and "The Bootleggers" (8«^h St).