Variety (January 1923)

TFFT nrr BED-SIDE CHATS By NELLIE RETELL I hope you aren't tired of reading about my Christmas. It was all go wonderful I still can't think of anything else to write about I mn Just now coming up for air. I was almost submerged by Santa Claus and his friends. People whom I did not dream had even heard of me remembered me and did something nice to help make my Christmas a Merry One. Even the vice-president of the United States Shipping Board inter- vened to prevent any disappointment about the real English plum pudding, which kind fsiends sent from London. I quote his letter, In part: •'We are very pleased to advise that we have just received for you on the 'Olympic' from London a box containing a Christmas pud- ding, and we are trying to clear same through the customs today In order that you may be able to enjoy this on Christmas Day." I have heard of press agents' plants. In fact, I have been accused of being the planter of a few. But the first time 1 was ever a plantec of one was this year, and I must say I highly approve of them. Th9 New York Theatrical Press Representatives' Club made me very happy with a beautiful plant on which this letter was attached: At a.meeting today of the New York Press Representatives' Club a motion wan made and unanimously carried to send you the loving greeting of this newly-formed organization, of which you were voted a charter member, and let you know that its members, individually and collectively, are holding for you the earnest wish of a New Year which will restore you to perfect health and activity among us. To carry this message to you I was instructed to select a plant as • a symbol of our New Year greetings, and of the wish for you as herein expressed. With the with goes our earnest faith that it will b*» fulfilled. • (Signed) Julia Chandler. The Christmas decorations are being removed so they will not catch dust, the telegrams are being taken down from my screen and sent away to be bound in a book, my room has been dismantled of Its Christmas atmosphere and will soon resume its former drab appear- ance. The beautful large snowball which adorned my room has been given away to one of my little friends, whose mamma is going to save U for him until next year. But I performed an exploratory operation or rather an autopsy on it before it went, and discovered it contained the cutest things. It was just like the pie that Jack Horner of fairy tale fame stuck his thumbs in. I enjoyed them for a while and slipped them all back inside the ball and sewed it up so the little boy can get the fun of phllfng the strings and being surprised. As I glance over the Christmas and New Year telegrams that breathe hope and confidence in my recovery, I note with gratitude the names-of General Mullally, Georgia Goodwin, Gertrude Vanderbilt, Wm. S. Hart, Norma Talmadge, Louise Dresser and Jack Gardner, Mr. and Mrs. E. Humphrey, Al Jolson, management and staff, Hotel Sherman, Chicago; Emma Cams, Sophie Tucker, Will Cressy, Frank E. White, Will Goodall, Amelia Bingham, Eva Davenport, Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Fe'.lowes, THxie Frlganza. Kate Elinore and Sam Williams, Rita Gould, Mr. and Mra Clarence Wllletts, R. H. Burnside, Al Darling, Carl Bernstein, Je«i€ Jacobs, Pauline Cook, Farber Family, Sol Bloom and family, Emma Francis, Arthur Klein, Marty and Henry Steiglitz, Julius Whitmark, Henry Frey, Theodora Bean, Mr. and Mrs. John Flinn, Irvin S. Cobb, J. Walter McLaren. Hamilton Revelle, Dan'l Burns, Houdini, Pat Rooney, id and 3d, and Marlon Bent, Dr. Leo Michel, Edgar Allan Woolf, Dorothy Hirsch, Leslie H. Bradshaw, Constance Talmadge, Al Friend. Nan Hal- perln, Harry Hirschfield, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Orlob, Mabel Rowland, and Harry L. Cort's bunch. My New Year's celebration wasn't so bad, either. My last caller of the 61d year was Mrs. Fred Thompson, widow of Fred Thompson, who built the Hippodrome and Dreamland, produced "Polly of the Circus" and "Brewster's Millions." After she had gone and the nurse had tucked me In for the night I watched the light on top of the Metropolitan Tower flash the old year out and the new year In. I heard the whistles and the noise. I heard the boats on the river signalling each other. I was not blue. I was glad that everyone seemed so happy. I, too, was happy. 1 know the new year Is going to bring me health and an opportunity to make me worthy of my friends. HEWS OF DAILIE8 The first visitors on New Year's morning were Mr. and Mrs. Lou Wis- JraJl Mrs. Wiswall is professionally known as Zelda Sears, the authoress M many successful plays, among which Is the "Clinging Vine."—No, not •pine, I sat up five hours straight Let's see, do I mean I sat up five hour straight or sat up straight five hours? Well, I sat straight up for five hours straight. That's what I call starting the new year right. Among those who personally visited me during the holidays or spoke ft good word to Santa Claus for me, exclusive of cards and telegrams, werb Hazel Blair, Gilbert Clark, Irvin S. Cobb, Bide Dudley, E. F. Albee, Dr. Sam P. GUmore, Dr. Harry March, Sidney Levey, Joel Feder's folka, Julius Witmark, Beaumont Sisters, Walter K. Hill, Walter S Butterfield, Norma Talmadge, Mrs. W. H. Donaldson, F. S. Kahlo, Jos. M. Schenck, Wm. S. Hart, Buster Keaton, Mrs. Rex Beach, Mr. and Mrs, Frank Campbell, Blanche Ring and Charles Winninger, Isabelle Jason, Percy G. Williams, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Gould, Wm. Stuart, Mrs. i. P. Churchill and daughter, Josephine Drake, Edgar Allan Woolf, E. V. Darling, Thos. Gorman, Thos. J. Ryan, Helen Davis, Earl Nelson, Mrs. Clarence Wllletts, Henry Chesterfield, Irene Franklin, Mr. and Mrs. C\ B. Bray, Mr. and Mrs. Hale Hamilton, Mr. and Mrs. Alf T. Wilton, Mr. and Mrs. Barney Davis, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Smith, Mrs. Jas. Shes- green, Nick Schenck, David Belasco, Mary Moore, Constance and Irene Farber and mother, Herbert de Bower, Ernest Boschen, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Grossman, Elmer F. Rogers, Geo. Robinson. Carl Bernstein, R. H. Burnside and daughters, David Robinson, B. S. Moss, Mrs. Sam Forrest Franklin P. Adams, Miss Levoy, Mrs. Russell Bassett. Edythe Totten, Judith Ames. Jane Connelly, Mr. and Mrs. J. J. lltirdock, Etta Tyndall, Trixle Friganza. Charlotte Greenwood, Jenie Jacobs. Pauline Cook. Burns Mantle, Mabel Fcnton-Ross. Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Belmont, Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Morosco, Ann Nichols, Mike Goldreycr, Mike Mindlin; stage crew of Alhambra theatre, George Meyer, Mr. and Mrs. Harry L. Cort. Mr. and Mrs. John Cort, Phil Benedict, Lottie Bird Morgan, Harry C. Grant, Zelda Sears, Lew Wiswall, Matthew White. Jr.; Mrs. Morris Gest. Ina Claire and mother, N. T. Stocker, Eulia McCleary, Laur*-Bennett. Helen Trir, Esther Lindner, Dorothy Zeigle, Sonia, Margaret Mann Crolius, A. Rothschild, Ada Mae Weeks, Mrs. Geo. McElroy, Dr. Harry Riley, Mile. Dazle, Cornelius Fellowes, Edna Morn, Mrs. Max Gilbert Whitman, Mrs. Waller, Ed Wynn, Nellie Nichols, Mrs. Walter Bommell, Billie Burke, Wm. Sleeper, Har\ey Watkins, Mr. and Mrs. EL E, Hart, Mr. and Mrs. ■» J. Lauder, Mrs. Charles Osgood and daughter Charlotte, Robert Simpson, Grace O. Drayton*, Mabel McCane. Jessie McCutcheon Raleigh, Harry Taylor, Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Jacobson, Mrs. Justice Barton ft Weeks, Nlcols Sisters, Hal Merritt. Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Morns, Nellie Sterling, Joseph Moran, Mr. and Mrs. Al Darling. Molly King, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Stafford, T. E. Niics, Barney Klawen. Oo. S. Kaufman, Marc Connelly. Mrs. Walter Lelloy, Dixie Hines, Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Maloney, Adelaide Freedman, Mrs. Reed Albee, Molly Mclntyre, Mrs. lAuferty, Geo. M. Cohan, Frank Evans, Al Raymond and Har.el Kirke. A cross bill for divorce between Mrs. Kyra McKenzie, professionally known as "Kyra," and Alfred J. Sy- mington was filed In the Circuit Court of Chicago last week. The' principals are at present appearing in New York theatres. The divorce trial of Gcraldine Farrar and Lou Tellegen was set for Jan. 11, before Justice Cohalan. The cross suits have been in the courts for nearly two years. Nora Bayes last week formally adopted the three-year-old girl who has been in her custody- since last April. The Statler Hotel people will erect a $10,000,000 structure in Boston as an addition to their chain. The es- tablishment win have Its site at Park Square and will be known as the Hotel Bostonia. Frances White has been nafhed In a divorce action brought by Mrs. Hazel Reba Donnelly against Clin- ton Donnelly, publicity agent. Mrs. Donnelly is a Fifth avenue modiste. Evelyn Nesbit was reported as being seriously ill in an Atlantic City hospital last week, suffering from double pneumonia. Her son. Russell, is the only visitor permitted in the room. William A. Brady suffered a broken rib January 4 when the car in which he was riding swerved to avoid colliding with another ma- chine and struck a tree. The pro- ducer was on his way to deliver a lecture at a meeting of the Interna- tional Garment Workers Union when the accident occurred. He delivered his lecture. Sol Bloom was nominated for Congress by the Democratic organ- izations of the 19th Congressional district. The nomination is to fill the office left vacant by the death of Samuel Marx, Representative- elect, 4ast November. Mr. Bloom entered the theatrical business at the age of 17 and has since estab- lished himself in the talking ma- chine business. He has also built several theatres, Lewis J. Selznick, picture pro- ducer, is defendant In a suit for $3,750 brought by the committee which in 1919 conducted a drive to raise a sum for the support of Jew- ish philanthropic societies. Irene Bordoni, at present playing the "subway circuit," will make her debut as a concert singer Jan. 18 with a song recital at Aeolian Hall. Miss Bordoni recently gave a re- cital in Chicago and formerly was known In 6uch a capacity in Paris. Betty Llnley, a member of the cast of "Her Temporary Husband," has revealed she Is a baroness. Off- stage her name Is Baroness de Richelavie-Kalinowski. The Tri-State Amusement Co. has purchased a site of property 150 by 180 at Steubenville, Ohio, upon which it is intended to erect a the- atre of modern equipment through- out. Fire in the building which houses "The Tent" and "Sideshow," caba- rets, caused damage amounting to $60,000 early this week. A smoul- dering clgaret Is believed to have started the blaze. No one was In either establishment at the time the flames started. The Astor is the first hotel In New York to install a fireproof pro- jection room for pictures as a part of its permanent equipment. A week after the Moulin Rouge Cafe at Atlantic City was gutted by fire flames again broke out In the ruins. It took two hours to ex- tinguish the blaze. Automobile registration reached the high* mark of 1,225.000 for New York State during 1922. Supreme Court Justice Henry V. Borst of Amsterdam, N. Y., has dismissed the action of Evan Bur- rows Fontaine against Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney to recover $1,000,000 for breach of promise. LOEW OUTWITS A. B. C. At the first annual meeting of tho directors of the American National Theatre the following officers were elected: A. L. Erlanger, president; Nicholas Murray Butler, vice- president; Whitney Warren, treas- urer; John Golden, secretary;' Lee Shubert. chairman of the hoard of directors; Augustus Thomas, chair- man of the executive committee, and David Belasco, general art di- rector. Alia Nazlmova will return to the stage .Ian. 22 at the Selwyn. New York, in "Dagmar," a Hungarian play adapted by Louis K. Ans- pacher from the original by Ferenci Hercseg. she will i>h supported by Charles Bryant, Gilbert iKmery, (Ircta Cooper and Templar Saxe. Betty Just asked me wfiat I was going to swear off on. T am not p;oing *0 swear oft on anything because 1 have not been able or permitted to do anything worth swearing off, so I've just sworn off swearing off. Kenneth MacKenna, now appear- ing in "The World We lave In," will play in a dramatised version of Robert Keable'e novel, Simon Called Peter." Th<* petition of AlessAndro Beuri (Continued on page 3<>i (Continued from page 1) politan districts have been removed from the system of competitive booking that has enriched produc- ers. Blumenthal A Haring were the front and center of the A. B. C. group movement for collective booking and their desertion Is a staggering blow to the whole Idea of co-operative film buying. The independent exhibitors were in an uncertain state of mind by mid-week and It looked as though a little pressure would start a land- slide away from the collective book- ing idea and in favor of territorial alliances as protection against com- petitive bidding, .preferably with Loew, but with any strong circuit that would offer. More May Grow Following as it did upon the com- plete lineup of Newark with the Fabian interests in command, the situation suggested that the next step will be a campaign to sew up towns and cities and sub-divisions (like the Flatbush.section of Brook- lyn) in exhibitor agreements, the In- itiative being taken by the big cir- cuits, with the simple purpose of putting an end to competitive bidding. The removal of rival price- setting, it was conceded, would bring a terrific drop to rental prices, and would be a costly development to the Important distributors. It has always been recognized that there Is no such thing as a medium rental scale anywhere. Prices are always from $500 to anything up to $1,500 a day in communities where there is plenty of competition and as low as $10 where there Is no competi- tion at all. What the distributors will do to offset this new state of affairs was the subject of the live- liest speculation during the week. A peculiar detail of the Loew- Blumenthal transaction Is that it brings the Loew and the Keith in- terests into next-door competition. One of the properties involved in the deal is the Central, Jersey City, heretofore operated by Blu- menthal & Haring. It now comes under Loew control and Is practi- cally next door to the Bits, bookc I by the Keith interests. To make, It more difficult the Central will play vaudeville under the Loew regime. The Blumenthal & Haring Jersey City houses which will go over to the Loew control are: The Central. Roosevelt, Montecello, TIvoll and Lincoln, all firs/ run houses. The Central, Roosevelt and*Lincoln will play Loew vaudeville, the other two straight pictures. Blumenthal & Haring have eight other theatres In Hudson county, but they have not operated them for some time, having leased them to independent operators* long since. These outsiders do not figure In the reports. In the absence of Informa- tion It appears that they remain on the outside. Mergers Revived The trade was befogged with rumors of every conceivable kind of distributor combination, that of Famous Players and Metro being the most favored in a revival of the old story. The Brooklyn deal was engineered By* H. Clay Miner Schwarti and Marcus Loew, the Miner estate owning four theatres outright and controlling a fifth and the Loew people being in possession of one house. These six are now grouped in one booking system managed by A. H. Schwartz, heretofore manager of the Miner houses. Schwartz will make bids for screen material in one block at a price set by himself- There is no important bidder for material in that district outside the combination and the distributors will not be able to play one against the other nor take advantage of one exhibitor running up prices on his rival. The Brooklyn houses involved are the Century (Loew), Albemarle (re- cently operated as an independent afer being run by Brill, Moss and Fox in turn), and the Minor houses. Rialto, Kingsway, Farragut and Linden. No authoritative statement has been made of the terms under which the theatres come under the single management, but the understanding In the trade Is that profits are pooled in such a way that Loew will get a percentage of the net of all six under a stipulation. That Is to say Loew will take an agreed portion of the profits instead of only the whole profit on the Century. Schwartz had been a member of the executive committeo of the A. B. C. up until tho time the Loew deal was con- summated, and one of the reasons advanced in current gossip for the belief that other Loew Independent deals were pending, was the fact that the relations bctweon Schwartz and other leaders In the associate I did not seem to have been disturbed. Schwartz continued to visit the A. B. C. headquarters, although whether he took any part In com- mittee affairs did not appear. Ben Blumenthal was asked by a Variety reporter if there was anything in the rumor "that his firm had sold its houses to the Loew circuit," but he declined to comment on the matter in any way. Schwartz's relations with the A. B. C. could net well be term- inated immediately in any event for the reason that the Associated still has certain unplayed contracts with distributors (as recorded elsewhere In this issue). From the Miner Sstate side the transaction Is purely a business one and without relation to exhibitor af- filiations. In the Flatbush section their theatre profits were being cut into by high prices for features. Schwartz would make a bid for a picture and would be confronted by the exchange man with evidence of a higher bid from one of his two rivals—the Albemarle or Loew. The exchange managers played Schwartz against the field and the field against Schwartz and in the three-cornered battle for money-making pictures the profits of the theatres were melt- ing. What Competition Did The Miners were also involved in the same situation in Newark some time ago, before the Fabians gathered In all the big theatres. At that time the opposition was five- cornered. It is related that one of the houses was compelled once to pay $1,700 a day for a feature which was rented In another community with less violent opposition for $600. both houses being controlled by the same Interests. It is conceded that the blame lias not all been with the avaricious ex- change man, anxious to make a showing to the home office. Basically the rival exhibitors in their fight to attract business from competitors were partly to blame. If an ex- hibitor wanted a picture for which his rival had made a bid, he never hesitated to raise the ante and the exchange man usually let the bus- iness competitors enrich him. An exhibitor fight having run the price of one picture up to unreasonable proportions, that unreasonable price to the Exchange created a precedent. The next picture was offered at the level which the exhibitors had really made for themselves. The Outlook If zone agreements like that In Flatbush are carried far, experienced exchangemen predict, it will lay a heavy burden on districts which re- main under scattered and competi- tive buying. All the distributor loses by enforced low prices in Flatbush and other zones will be made up by higher prices elsewhere, until those districts call a truce and shove the burden elsewhere. If a large por- tion of the country ever becomes covered by exhibitor local agree- ments, it looks as though the big distributors and producers will have to create their own competition by owning their own theatres. As the situation appeared to be, forming this week the outlook was for bigger and bigger exhibitor com- binations confronting bigger and bigger producing and distributing amalgamations and you could write your own ticket as to what the out- come would^ be. Newark, N. J., Jan. 10. The Paramount ends Its career as a picture house Saturday when it will be remodeled into a dance Jiall. The Fabians planned to close the Strand a week later, but there has been some hitch in the deal and it may not go through. They hoped to lease It to a southern syndl ate for the production of stock. At any rate it is now evident that thty in- tend to cut their string of five down- town houses to two, the Branford and the Rialto, that is, so far as pic- tures are concerned. This will leave only four picture houses down street. As £frere are over 23.000. seats in the thirteen theatres downtown, none of the other managers Is going to do any kicking if tho Fabians want to reduce the number of s<\its by eliminating their own houses. IN AND OUT Fisk and Lloyd were unable to open at the State, New York. Thurs- day of last week on account of ill- ness. Mammy and the Gold Dust Twins substituted. Clinton and Rooney were out of tho bill at tho Gates. Brooklyn, the last half of last week due to the sudden Illness of Mis* Rooney. The M initios filled the disappointment. ■ - • ■ ... . ♦ - •,