Variety (June 1923)

10 EDITORIALS . Thursday, June 7, 1923 niETY Trade Mark Iteglattred Publlfthed Wetkly by VARIKTY, Inc. Slme Silverman, President 114 Went 46th Street New York City SUB8CRIUTION: Annual $7 | Foreign $1 Single Copies 20 Cent* 1 -' - VOL. LXXI. ~fr(Bn %tt No. 3 Frequently America gives the English reason to observe that pos- sibly the English opinion of Amer- icans In their manners are not so far wrong. The latest Instance was concerned with advertising dele- gates coming over on the "Beren- aria," docking In New York last Friday. There were 115 English delegates and they had been ex- tended the courtesy of the Port of New York. In any other country this would have meant that their landing should have been expedited, but not so with the New York cus- toms. It Is said the customs men held up the baggage on the "Beren- garia" for examination until the big boat, to catch the tide and dock the same day, had to leave Quarantine with the delegates still on board, notwithstanding It had been ar- ranged to transfer them to the cut- ter at Quarantine. Some of the un- knowing reporters unjustly blamed the captain of the "Berengaria," al- though, as a matter of record, the "Berengaria" reached her dock min- utes ahead of the smaller boat. Had the Cunard line wanted to make an explanation of the criticism heaped upon it, an explosion might have fol- lowed in Washington. It was merely another instance, however, of the bullheadedness or pigheadedness of the New York Customs, and a sys- tem employed in that department never thoroughly understood by the public that \m supposed to pay the customs men their salaries through taxation. INSIDE STUFF ON VAUDEVILLE The New York Law Journal, the official law paper for the First Judicial Dept I Maurice Wormser, editor, devoted a column and a half to an editorial May 31 on the Justice Holmes' U. S. Supreme Court decision in the Max Hart-Keith interstate commerce damage suit. The editorial refers to the baseball decision commenting: "As shrewdly remarked, with characteristic insight, by Mr. Justice Holmes, could it reasonably be said that a firm of lawyers, sending out a member to argue a case, or a lec- ture bureau sending out speakers, is engaged in interstate commerce simply because the lawyer or lecturer goes with his brief bag and papers to another state?" The Hart-Keith decision is commented on: "We agree, however, with Mr. Justice Holmes that in many instances it really is the necessary and essential apparatus, including scenery, properties and animals, which constitute the vaudeville performance's success, and as these have 'to be and are transported over state lines in the course of the operation of the circuit, there is a matter of interstate commerce truly involved, at least so far as one can determine from the allegations of the bill, beyond which the learned court correctly refused to go in determining the issue of jurisdiction of the Federal District Court." THE STYLISH SIDE . That the deal credited to John Ringling and E. F. Albee to erect an Indoor sports coliseum on the site now occupied by the car barn at Seventh avenue and 50th street has been consummated was strongly indicated by developments within the last week. One significant sign was the renting of a store in the closeby Earl Carroll Theatre building to be used as a ticket office. The lease was secured by Mike Jacobs, who has specialized on all sporting events at Madison Square Garden. Jacobs appears to be the official ticket broker for the Tex Rlckard shows, and other Broadway agencies have been supplied by Jacobs. The new amusement structure will include three theatres, according to present plans. Two houses will front on Seventh avenue and one will be located at the Sixth avenue end of the plot. It is believed one house will play vaudeville along the lines of the State-Lake policy. Martin Beck does not intend to return to the other side immediately. He is now In New York with no intention, he says, of leaving. Mr. Beck is chairman of the board of directors of the Orpheum Circuit without his duties in that post being generally known. Joseph Alexander, father of the Alexander Sisters,, answering Leo Edwards' royalty suit, claims that the sisters did not avail themselves of Edwards' vehicle, but played in an old act produced by Sammy Burns. Edwards claims a 10 per cent, interest in the act's salary for having authored the Alexanders' routine. The latter, answering through Kendler & Goldstein, aver that after breaking in the Edwards routine in a local Fox house, they could get no further bookings with it. Edwards arrives at his $1,000 an a percentage of the $10,000 the act is alleged to have groseed up to the time of. bringing suit. It has not as yet been decided who of the Orpheum Circuit staff will take to Paris the Sarah Bernhardt memorial tablet the circuit will send over. Marcus Heiman, president of the Orpheum, is sailing July 4 on the "Leviathan." It is possible he will convey the tablet across. Otherwise the circuit may, as a mark of memory and regard for the great actress, delegate Eddie Sullivan, manager of the Orpheum. St. Louis, to be its bearer. Sullivan was Bernhardt'* first manager when she came over here to play in vaudeville for the Orpheum. Thereafter, whenever Bernhardt had an American tour in prospect, she made the condition Mr. Sullivan should again be in personal charge. A warm friendship thus developed between the French tragedienne and the American showman. Were it left to Bernhardt's choice as to the bearer of a token of regard to her tomb from this side, it would be, without doubt, Eddie Sullivan. A.quaint comic costume was the one worn by Miss King (Yorke and King) at the Palace. She Is supposed to be half of an old-fashioned tin- type and succeeds in looking it admirably. The dress is of the vintage of 1900, a marvel of comedy possibilities. Miss King has a crisp and staccato style of working, and her mock ballad was delightfully offered. How smart Aileen Stanley looked in a white coat trimmed with white monkey fur, topped with a white poke, hat. She later divested herself of this chic hat and cloak to reveal the loveliest of orchid shaded silver cloth, made with two oblong panels back and front of waist and trimmed with sequins on lower edge and a row of the same sequins on the bottom of thl skirt. Just the proper touch of color was lent by a powder blue girdle. Miss Stanley has appealing beauty and reminds one at times of Ethel Barrymore. Her lullaby she delivered charmingly. My. how those Foy Kids grow, and Madeline has beaten Mary by at* 1 least a head, though she is the younger. Eddie gives a cracking' imitation of Pop and has a very good voice. Mary, watch your diet. Harry Stoddard and his orchestra's playing of Thais was tip-top. The orchestration was splendid also. Speaking of orchestrations, Moore and Freed'*" arrangement of harmonica and castanets was a gem in IfS way. The combination of pink and red worn by Miss Mackaye in Lionel Atwill's playlet was quite bad and put Miss Mackaye's prettiness at a disadvantage. . , t General Pershing is a daily hit this week at Loew's State for you boys who wore uniforms in the course of your histrionic careers. As he looks when decorating the unknown soldier's grave in International News Service pictures, one must perforce agree he appears as though he had worn a uniform from the cradle. Why do they call the whirling dervish acrobats "The Eight Blue Devils", when they are nine, dressed in yellow? They do some remarkable stunts. Marie (Casson Bros, and Marie) showed us something novel in a baseball' costume and got away from the conventional thing usually worn. New music would help this act a lot. A clever bit of paper tearing was done by one of the boys. Considering he did the tearing behind his back, it was very accurate. Marie's hair is not bobbed short enough unless she is letting if grow. A good idea if she is, as the bob is a thing of the past. Cora. Green looked well in a tomato red crepe made quite simply with u skirt draped at each side. A very nice voice has Miss Green. Eddie Carr and company, the comedy of the bill, and Eddie has the same fluent nonchalant humor as heretofore. He is masterfully aided and abetted by George Edwards, though one can't but regret Mr. Edwards is not doing one of his cameo-like characterizations. Grace Carr likewise assisted as the flip stenog and wore a most tasteful black gown with a revere panel the full length of the skirt, caught gracefully back about three inches above the hem. She made quite a picture. The annual election of the Amer- ican Society of Magicians occurred Saturday evening, June 2, during the society's banquet at the Hotel Mc- Alpin. Harry Houdinl was re-elect- ed president; B. M. L. Ernest, vice- president; Howard Thurston, second vice-president; George W. Heller, treasurer; Richard* Van Dien, sec- retary; Charles Nagel, Harry Linna- berry, sergeants-at-orms; Servais LeRoy, Dr. Lionel Hartley, Francis J. Werner and Jean Irving of coun- cil, and Horace Goldin, representa- tive-at-large. The Famous Players special attraction booking office is said to have lined up so far 31 weeks for next season. It means the F. P. office has 31 picture theatres where it can play a special attraction for that length of time Experimenting, however, has proven there are few real drawing cards for the picture houses, regardless of the name or the salary paid. It is seemingly because the picture theatres appear to quickly wear out the special attractions or names. The first in of a type does a little some- thing, but those that follow, if along the same lines of entertainment, carry little box office weight. Even the house attempting to.aid the turns by placing a production around is of little avail. Before next season starts, however, there may be a change in picture hou c e special attractions This will be likely if producers are allowed an opportunity with some assurance of genuine time and no favoritism. Just now the picture house booking is so chaotic and apparently without guiding hands there is hardly anything to it other than the prospects— and the prospects are brilliant, but will only be made so through experi- enced people placed in charge. The first thing the picture house booking offices must do is to oust the gyp agent. The trouble so far has been the picture booking heads do not seem to know the gyps, though their names are common property in booking circles. The Herald 8quare f Steubenville, O., was completely destroyed by fire May 31. The house for several seasons played pop vaudeville booked by Billy Delaney of the Keith Family Department. It had been closed for three weeks prior to the blaze which wiped it off the theatrical map. George Schaeffer's (manager) loss in scenery, props, etc., will total about $15,000. This is not covered by insurance. The damage sustained by the theatre will reach about $100,000. A comedienne of several years standing recently approached a vaude- ville executive with a request she be given an opportunity to show an act prepared, but which she was having difficulty in securing a showing date for. The executive gave the comedienne, who is well along toward middle age, a note to a booking man in which he requested an opening date be arranged. In place of taking the note directly to the 'booker, the comedienne took it to her home, and, steaming it open, read the contents. The execu- tive had commented on the woman's age in the note, but purely on a busi- ness basis. She took offense and confided to friends with the result it got back to the writer with her indiscretion eliminating any chance of book- ings. Agnes Ayers is wearing tights this week at the Rialto in 'The Heart Haider," and wearing them very "Well. The said tights are part of a fancy dress costume made in the cap and bells style, short satin pants and carrying a shoulder cape that reaches almost to the ankles. Her costume that stood out most was a lace and chiffon affair that had haut ton stamped all over it. The drooping picture hat was thoroughly lovely and framed Miss Ayers* beautiful face entrancingly. The only trimming on the hat was small blossoms beneath the brim, set at intervals of about two inches and hang- ing rather loosely. The dress carried an overskirt with a series of points falling slightly below the underskirt. A more adorable tom-boy_could hardly be pictured. As the daughter of an insurance-protected daddy she sure raised the dickens, and let us hope the hubby she rar to earth had the good sense to insure himself against her pranks also. Mahlon Hamilton looked very dapper in his dress yachting clothes. Harry and Grace Ellsworth, the vaudeville dancing pair, are in "Dew Drop Inn" at the Astor, even if Variety's reviewer did miss them on the opening performance. They do about 8 minutes in the show, be- ing on at the middle of the first, and near the end of the last act. Gus Edwards has gone t<» Great Falls, Mont., to play around in the Dempsey camp and take In the big battle. After that he will return and get busy with "Sunbonnet Sue," the Rdwards-Lait musical show set to open Labor Day. The bookings in Africa arranged for Rich Hayes by the Irternational Variety Theatres Co. baVi been in- definitely postponed it his request. Ada Mae Weeks is to appear in vaudeville for five weeks outside of New Y/ork commencing June 11. The consent of Henry W. Savage had to he secured for the vaudeville dates. Miss Weeks has signed to be starred under the Savage mrvn-v.-»ment next season. Savage agreed to the limited vaudeville engagement if bookings were made away from New York. The opening week will be played in Chicago. CABARETS Kramer and Boyle, with Meyer Davis Hand, h.iw booked for Loew's Stair. York, the Wtek Of June is. the i:r< n N < w Seizures of booze cars, valuable in themselves and valuable in their loads, have been numerous upstate of late. Packards and Cadillacs have figured prominently in the "bag." A Packard car with 341 quarts of whiskey aboard was nabbed by pro- hibition agents outside of Malone. The machine and the load were es- timated to be worth between $6,000 and $7,000. After ..sizing a Packard on their way down to Albany, where they participated in a raid, the "bor- der squad'* working under Robert D. Angell grabbed another, along with a Cadillac, on the trip back. Five of the agents were driving north in a ear when they noticed two ma- chines which appeared to contain bottles in the tonneau. They gave chase and outside oi Glenn Falls overtook the quarry. They seized the automobiles, confiscated their load of whiskey and beer and ar- rested several men. One occupant of the booze "fleet" escaped. Agents working out of Albany rounded up another liquor fleet of Cadillacs and a Marmon in a barn on a farm at West Mountain and apprehended a group of alleged bootleggers. Among those arrested was Ralph Hackmeister, who was regarded as a "bad man" by rum runners when he operated as a cus- toms guard along (be border a year ago. Hackmeister had the reputa- tion of being a dead shot and his gun was figuratively notched with a large number of bootlegging vic- tims. A revolver and a rifle were (Continued on page 31) The best quotation in Bathe's Topics last week was from the Brooklyn "Eagle": "Minority has the say and majority has to pay," it repeated, but wheri Gov. Alfred E. Smith signed the bill to repeal the MulJan-Gage Bill it began to look as though the majority might have some say after alL Clifford and Grey, a hooprolling act opened the 5th Ave. show the last half. Here is a good act getting only half the results they should because of the music. New and tuneful music would enhance the general effect tremendously. The young girl does not improve her costume by wear- ing the headpiece she does—the gown is chic enough. Don Quixano held No. 2 in a very effective and colorful Spanish Don'a promenade suit. A little less arranging when replacing his hat would leave the impression of more familiarity with Spanish clothes and man- ners. He has a true and resounding voice, but his routine is meaning* iess. "Mandalay" was the first and only number to get the deserving re- sults, and that was next to last. A beautiful and silent girl walked through the Porter J. White sketch in a compelling Spanish costume. Something sweet in hats was shown by Hawthorne and Cook. These two young men have an original and clean ssnse of humor. Miss Stark (Bobbe and Stark) is the sweet girl graduate type. She wore a dress of flowered design over silver cloth with much gruce. Miss Kelly (Swift and Kelly) has a sweet-sixteen creation, but .Miss Kelly is getting a little too plump, and 'tis a pity with her baby face. The or- chestration of her song "Last Night I Was Dreaming" is really beautiful. And her voice is at its best when she sings sotto voce. The Lorner girls looked girlish in their first dresses of pink chiffon with rows of ostrich trimming, horizontally around hips, and the bottom of the -skirts. The remainder of their wardrobe was entirely .without character. The crook types in 'The Exciters" (at the Rivoli this week) are shuu> deringly convincing. Especially Irvil Alderson who plays "Strangler" Louis. The clothes worn by Bebe Daniels, are not up to her usual standard. Most of them are neutral in style. As Miss Daniels is not an unusual tvpe, it might behoove her to go in for an individual mode when choosing clothes. The best thing ;n her wardrobe was a negligee of chiffon'edged at the top and bottom with metal lace, and over this a clinging all over lace wrap that showed the attractive contour of Mi?s Daniels' figure. In bad taste was her picture hat in the aeroplane, and the sleeveless sport dress. Fashion decrees that sport clothes have a sleeve of some sort or .length, but a sleeve is necessary. However, her arms were nice to look at. Antonio Moreno wore one suit throughout the picture, and while it was abviously burglar-like, he managed to give it a certain dash. The per- fume spraying bit Miss Daniels indulges in, in the boudoir scene, was done in thev same way 111 "The Awful Truth" (stage) at the Henry Miller theatre last season. <U>ld braid and bra-s buttons en famiiy butlers are dislin tly bad form. The proper dress for house servants is plain black with black bow tie for informal occasions, and white tie for the more formal. The medium siz, ha: this year is out. Hats will either be very large or small and close titt'ng. The lace gown should be a part of every sinaitly dressed girls wardrobe. Women will find when taking out last summer's frock* that they will be far too short for this year's style In case the dress has a hem that is too narrow to allow of lengthening, a good plan will be to separate the waist an,; skirt, and by Inserting a wide girdle between it will at the same time lengthen the gown, ac- complishing ihe long waist,lint of this season,