Variety (March 1923)

p- VAUDEVILLE Thursday, March 1, 1023 I. a HERO AFFILIATED CORP. LEAVING SHUBERT UNIT aRCUIT This Week Final for Operating Company—Disposi- tion of Affiliated Theatres—Hov/ Affiliated Started The ending of ihls week will mark the end of the ottlcial relations that have existed betwee^ 4he Shubert vaudeville unit circuit and the Af- filiated Theatres Corporation. The disconnection Is reported having been ordered by Lee Shubert. Shubert la said of late to have advanced moneys for the cun-cnt Af- filiated expenses. To protect his ad- vances, the banner bearer of the defunct Shubert vaudeville units reserved for himself a lien or claim to the equity in some of the the- atres operated by the Affiliated for the unit shows. The equilie.s were held, according to report, by the Affiliated or Its officers or both. Among the latter being I. H. Herk, B. Thomas Beatty and Max Si»iegel. The arrangement from accounts on the possession of the Affiliated theatres was 50 per cent, held by the Herk bunch and the other 50 per cent, by Lee Shubert. Shu- bert's Hen or claim for advance.^ was against the 50 per cent. Of the others. Among the theatres controlled by the Affiliated are the Princess. To- ronto, and Keeney's. Newark. Other theatres It also hold were the State, Cleveland, and Empress, St. Louis, besides the Buffalo house and per- haps another or two. Lee, though, tenaciously hung onto the other 50 per ef^nt. only in the Toronto and Newark theatres. He seemed In- different to the fate of the others, even the State, Cleveland, over which he is said to have assured Marcus Locw the Affiliated would be thoroughly prt-pared to continue its tenancy at |4,000 a week. The latest report is that the Affiliated and Leo are letting the State sl:de right back to Marcus. From incomplete storie.^ of th** fla?co'rt flni.sh, about all the Affiliated will have left wheri the blinds are j^ led down Is Its name. Mr. Herk,' W r> originated the operating plan un-'cr the corporate title, is reported to be the owner, personally, of the ofJico furniture In the suite oocu- pl.'d HH headquarter.^. Some of the recent rent paid for the space is yim-.in.',' the moneys repo:i«vl ail- vancoil by Lee. Herk Outlined to Lee Ilvrksj scheme was outlined to Lee, while Herk was about to re- linf;ui.sli ail pliysical Inter^-st in the Anurican burlesque wheel. Herk Wii.s .stiictly a burlesque man at that, timo. Ai'tf-r ho explained his plan to Lrn, Lee mentioned something about how strange It was tliat a man witli Mcrk's ideas should have remninril in burlesque. Herk, not realiziuLc he was then on the verge of leaving burlesque, reciprocat»'<l by informing Lee what he liad lieard about Leo Shubert. Herk said all nice things and in fact H"rk still believes some of them about I.,ee. Herk also believed Lee. When Herk was told Lee was a ])retty \\ise guy around the front of a theatre, Herk answered with one of those "1 in- there-myself-kid' shrugs. Herk's idea was splendid—Lee told him, but that wasn't sufllcient. evidently, to warn Herk. Herk sug- gested a jilan that only caused Lee to think for the moment about something new in "extras'* until Herk y.ot to the point wliere he mentioned the terms would be 50-50 straight. Lee almost leaped out of his chair and asked Herk to .?ay that last line over again. Lee's Word and Bond Department Herk has the reputation of being a very straightforward and honest showman. He ha.s borne that repu- tation since the days whoa people like Herman Fehr, Mort Singer and Rud Hynicka accepted his word as his bond. But Hcrkilidu't know that Lee doesn't carry on a word and bond department, r.or did ho know there might be a million dol- lars behind that startled jump cl Lee's. Ilerk wn9 from burit;»«.|ilv ainl "Ihaf.s til- w.i" they«^#^it th.-re. nf> It meant nothing extrdrtrdinary to I. H. "Vou Interest me hugely. Pro- ceed," said Lee, as ho lo 'kcd I. H. over and wondered how far ho could go with him. Nothing like Herk ever had walked Into the ,Shubert offic*. Then Mr. Herk got down to cases, "It's so simple, Mr. Lee," he said, "that I'm surprised you never thought of It yuurMflf." Lee hastily interrupted to say he had so much to tliink of, with the Equity, Brady. Erianger and the rest of that mob, not to mention Arthur Hammer- stein, the youth who speaks so plainly. So many names in one breath staggered I. H. for the nonce, but he didn't forget the object of his visit—he was going to make money for Mr. Lee. and Anally Mr. Lee got the thought. The Herk plan grew more definite as the hour grew late. There would be a corporation formed by Herk and his associates, who would hold 50 per cent, of It, while Lee couM have the other 50. Then there would be shows produced by Herk and his associates and some more shows produced by Lee and his associates It's the first time in Lee's life that a storehouse visualized itself to him as a gold mine. After that, said Mr. Herk. the corporation, which would route the shows, would charge each show and each theatie $50 a week. At the end of the fl.st week or season or any time the board of directors decided they could cut up the melon. By this time Lee became a bit worried. Was this man wild to offer him all of those things? So Lee says, says he, "Your proposition sounds all right, but is it all right? fiet me .some men who understand mo.e about It." And the next morning Lairy Weber and Max Spiigel were at I^e's door before the elevator man showed up. Larry Weber Declares In "Leave it to me," said Larry, "but first I want four of those shows and I want a piece of the corporation and a j)iece of the booking office, and if I'm going to advise you 1 want a piece of anything else there is to have a pieco of." Spieg^ didn't seem to bo anxious, having a .side graft at that time, but he voted witli Weber, and Herk stood behind both. The movement swiftly proceeded, although Lee first threw In his 13 houses In the 13 best cities in the East. In tliose 13 cities were about eight that pos.sibly could do a gross of $10,000 a week at the Shubert vaudeville scale. Herk didn't seem to have time to figure that out. He told all of his producers from bur- lesque tiiat every one of the 30 towns on the Shubert circuit would do $10,000 average gross weekly. By and by Herk briieved It and so did all of the produoer.s, excepting Lee Lee coinmenced feeling pretty good about the new Shubert vaude- ville, the unit circuit. Ho passed up a Ivii'.eh now and then to cat with Weber. Weber told him everything; held out ni>thiiig. Weber told him ho knrw all about burlesque and vaudoviilo. too. Leo knew Larry kne\»- a lot because Larry had gotten into many a side street theatre, making it easy .street in doing it. Every so often Lee's steady luncheon pal had to again eat alone because Lee wanted to eat with Herk. Lee knew he could take a chani>o on the pal, but catch Lee pa.ssing \jp Herk—then. Suppos- ing Albee go: to Herk! Thoy say Leo woke up one night after having dreamed It, and couldn't sleep until Herk assured him over the phone everything wa.s still o. k.. or. as they say away from the Shubert office (where they have never heard It). on the up and up. Arthur Klein Hung Around Once in a while Lee would allow Arthur Klein to hang around tlio lunch table in the Astor. Arthur was growing worried. There was too much Herk moving right into Shubert vaudeville. Arthur thougb.t he had paid for the exclusive rights to Lee's vaudeville companionshii) by hard work, according to Arthur's idea of hard w^ork. In booking vaudt'ville. Arthur's hard work is Icnov.iM- whicli agents to pick out (<» r- f ;»'tS i But by Aug. 1 all was set. It wa.- i;<'tting close to rehe.ir.'al time. nn< fvoe added three bookkeepers in his auditing department to figure eu prospective profits. They were siil working on It a« the producer: started to start their companies. Jot HACKETT and DELMAR Colonial, N. Y., Next Week, March 5 Jeanette Hackett and Harry Uel- mar return to New York next week In their miniature dancing revue, 'The Jewel Box." The act has Just completed thirty weeks, Keith and Orpheum circuits, now playing the Eastern Keith theatres. Assisting Miss Hackett and Mr. Delmar axe Madelane Lane. Irene Griffith, Betty Kerr. Mildred Anders, Manny Mor- ris and Lou Winthrop. Under the Direction of RALPH G. FARNUM (Edw. S. Keller office) Galtea cam« around one day and tofd Lee it didn't look so good and he guessed he'd blow, but Lee said that it was too late. As "Take It From Me" had what looked like a good western route, Joe revereed his opinion. Then the season opened with the AflUIated Theatres Corporation now covering the Herk-Shubort operat- ing crowd and the'producers waiting to count up. Lee counted first. His auditors are said by this time to have nearly compiled their reckon- ings. The first Item was the Shu- bert own unit revues, with no pro- duction cost, since the equipment came from a storehouse. Lee knew that any producer who could make a set of costumes pass through five musical comedy choruses would have no trouble in outfitting a dol- lar unit from the warehouses. And the Shubert theatres—no store- house productions for them, and Lee looked over the list of other unit pioducers who had started to work for Leo Shubert without salary. Each of the producers wanted to show Lee Shubert what a good pro- ducer he was, whether from bur- lesque or 48th street. So they bought new eciuipmont on credit, promised to pay high prices for acts, looked up their routes and said "Let 'er go." The Affiliated officers were very busy those days. Everyone came In to see Herk. Herk saw them all. He's congenial, so much so that when Variety, In September, printed that Herk had a piece of the Bar- ney Gerard units, Herk wouldn't deny it, but when, In January, Gerard's units went Into bankruptcy and Variety mentioned Herk had a connection, Herk called up to say that was a helluvathing to print about him. J. J. Kept Out Meanwhile the unit circuit was working with everybody connected with it al-^o working. Lee woiild get reports as lato as 2 a. m., but al- w lys about the Shuberts' o^^n the- atres. J. J. Shubert long since had taken himself out. Lee was satis- fied to let J. J. go out of the vaude- ville end, for Lee probably thought J J. didn't know as much about the inside as he did. Maybe J. J, diJn't, but the returns are now proving he did How Lee a.i(^ J. J. .split on the vaudeville subject was very .''•im]>lo Th'j brothers were in conference one night when a dispute aros.?. Lee salj something, J. J. answered and Lea wanted J. J. to tell him if .1. J. thought Lee didn't know what ho was i.-iiking about. Being brotherly at all times, the argument was merely wordy. J. J. answered it by telling Loe he could have the vau'le- ville all to himself; he (J. J.) wanted none of It, which be^i.Tie tine, as all J. J. got out of it was • Sal'y Irene u'l 1 Mary," at the Ca«.ino. One evening while Lee was talk- ing vaudeville in his office, J. J. walked into the Winter Garden, watched tho Dowling vaudeville unit there, saw the Eddie Dowling sketch called ".S;illy, Irene and AlarjV and while Lee kept on talk- knows the more about vaudeville when he sees it. As the Affiliated started to op- erate the units commenced to vamp. No one had figured that, not even B. Thomas Beatty of Chicago, charged with being the biggest cash Individual loser on the unit cir- cuit, because Mr. Beatty played his with coin; the other erected charge accounts. Herk held faith and persisted. He 1? known to have had a.«» many as ! eight Affiliated creditors In the Affil- iated office at on time, a solace In a way, as It prevented anyone want- ing to sell him something from get- ting m. While Herk could see the Affiliated slipping, he wouldn't take water himself and continued to hold out for the unit cl^'^ult—even Lcc Shubert, often agreeing with Lee when Lee was wrong, which was often. Hotel Astor Only Winner The good old unit days at the As- tor may never return, but the Astor has Its lunch profit tucked away, while Herk may yet figure It out and Lee is still hanging onto his the- atres with the latftet reports, as previously quoted, stating that he is finally adding two houses to the lot he started off with. While many will mourn the deser- tion of the Affiliated from going con- cerns and others are conjuring up how to make a living after Shubert unit vaudeville, It hardly can be said that Lee Shubert's peace of mind is disturbed; he came through without guaranteeing anyone, without loaing anything anyone yet has heard about, not even giving a play or pay contract to any other producers' acta; retains his health and, barring a dent In his vanity when an actor advertises what happened to him in Shubert vaudeville, it looks like a glorious season for Lee, though he must yet have $4,999,999 left out of that $5,000,000 he threatened to spend to put over his vaudeville cir- cuit. The "busted" producers are trusting that when Lee lets loose tho rest he won't overlook them; any- one of them will be satisfied with the $99 on the end. WALKER BANKRUPT Agent Owm $1,603 and Has Ass«lt of 1976, Mostly Debts Harry Walkor, theatrical agent* of 835 IClghth avenue, New York, with an office In the Astor Theatre building, filed a voluntary petition In bankruptcy this week, setting forth liabilities of $1,603 and assets of $975. , . Tho liabilities consist of a $453 judgment due Dorothy Edwards on a b.each of contract claim; and loans for $750 ar^d $400 to Bernio Foyer and James Thatcher, re-- spectlvely. The assets, besides the exempted two suits of clothing and an overcoat valued at $125, are moneys due from Billy Sharp. $210; Miller and Mack. $145; Leslie Twins, care of the Monte Carlo cafe, New York, $77.50; Florence Mackey of the Park Musical hall, $51.50. and other sums from the Dixdn Sisters, Boweh and Alban of the Walter Manthey act; Elaine Gordon, Irene Stone, Doris Leslie. Judge Learned Han»' Wednesday adjudged Walker a bankrupt and appointed Harry K. Davis receiver. . " LOEW-PAN DEAL Lottw's, Hamilton, Ont., Booked by Pantages MAILING TIME SAVER Metered Mali System in Keith Office The Keith office this w.eek estab- lished a centraliz'^d mailing de- partment v.hich will simplify the present mf ihods for handling out- going mail and effect an economy in stamps which rvms into ihou- .sands of dollars annually. The now department wi;l func- tion on the fourth floor. All out- going mall will be prepared from this ofllce on a Pitney Bowes Post- age Meter, which will seal, stamp, obliterate postmark and stack mixed mail at the rate of 250 pieces per minute. •"' ,,■; • '-.■":/,■..'.■■■ The system known as Metered- Mail not only makes it possible to prepare letters for the post office far more rapidly than by any other known mechanical sjstem, but by simultaneously performing two time saving post office operations (to which all mail bearing adhesive stamps must be subjected), a delay of from three to five hours at the post office Is eliminated, and letters will, as a result, reach tlielr des- tination from one to 24 hours quicker. Stamps and stamped envelopes heretofore used by different depart- ments of the Kolih organization have been collected and will not be required in the future. Hamilton, Ont., Feb, 28. Through the pooling arrangement effected between the local Loew and Pantages houses the Loew hous? will return to vaudeville be- ginning March 17. The Pan/uges has been playing the Pan road shows and will book the vaudeville In the Loew house through an arrangement where- by the Loew office will supply three acts weekly from Loew's, Buffalo, The Loew house will be rated as a full week stand on the Pan cir- cuit. Several months ago through a pooling arrangement It waa agreed that Loew was to play pic- tures at his house. This was done to eliminate competition between the two houses as far as posj'ible, both then suffering from a slump in patronage. SINGER COLLAPSES DuFranne Drops on Rochester Stage After Second Song TWINS STILL EVEN Both Married in Frisco and Both Now After Divorces ing vaudeville, J, J. talked to Eddie. As 'Sally, Irene and Mary" this sea- son has been the .Sluiberts' be.st on Broadwaj', running all season and moving to tho 44ih Street (where It did $15,811 last week), It's still debatable whether J, J. or Let- San Francisco, Feb. 28. The final chapter in the wedding romance of the Love Twins was started last week when Lucille be- gan divorce proceedings against her husband, A. K. Munson, Jr. The Love Twins are playing the Orpheum Circuit. During their last engagement here four months ago Garnette filed her divorce action. Both girls Wf-re married when m'»mborH of the Harry Carroll act, which layed here le«s than one year ago. Boche>rter, N. Y., Feb. CS. Following his second song Mon- day matinee at the Temple, Georges Du Fianne collap.«5ed, falling to the stage. The tenor had cont?-a?ted what he thought was a slight at- tack of grippe in Pittsburgh last week, coming In here and not feel- ing well but attempting to go through his turn. Mr. Du Franne Is resting here and expects to be In condition to open at the Palace, Chicago, next week, said his pianist, Carl Stetzel, who left for Chicago yesterday to arrange for It. The Honeymoon Minstrels were despatched from New York Monday nitrht and filled in tho vacancy ycs- teiday matinee. In the announcement for the newspaper ball of New York to be held tomorrow (Friday) evening at the Hotel Ritz-Carlton, New Y'ork (at $5.50 to get in), "Bugs" Baer, as chairman of the Committee on Arrangements, said among other things: "Annual Indignation Meet- ing of the Overpaid and Under- worked Newspaper People—It will be a masquerade, so bring your busiest look with you.—The be.st jazz band In New York will furnish what tlicy think Is music.—Hints for masqueradeis:—Beautiful but economical costumes.—For Chinese mandarin, let your finger nails grow and wear the cover off tho parlor lamp.—Cleopatra, If her no-^e had been loiiger history would have been changed. For this character use nose only.—Napoleon, keep one hand inside your ve.st. But don't scratch.—Acliilles, he had sore heels. Make yourself at honie.— Dress to understudy and historical character you know of and oui^ Committee on Insults will tell you whom you repiesent." , Lillian Fitzgerald Loses Jewelry "' ■ Chicngo. Feb. 28. Lillian F!t7.i;crald, with Eddie Cantor in "Mai^e It Snappy" at the Apollo, Chicago, took off hor r!ng«^ in the dres.-ing room tl e other night. Now they are mi.sslng. Th(> rings are valued at mor than '1,0CQ. Hazel Boy no has left New YcrH^ .'or California in search of her hu.s- hand and vaudeville ])nrtner, Don- ald Vj. Boberts. wh.o dL'^appoared uddcnly several weeks ago without. notifylnr- her. The couple appeared together for the past fwo yoars as •T. douhle act and are reportod inter- ested In real estate on the Coast, where, it l.s under.'itood, MoberU has gone.