Variety (July 1923)

II LEGITIMATE Thursday, July 12, 1823 n INSIDE STUFF ON LEGIT Xtiintlh MacGowan ziA Pllts San.lborn. dramatic and """"^^^^l^^*; r-i)«cuv*lv. for the • Globe/' were retained b, Frank Jdunsey when he l^r over the publication and combined it with the "Sun ' «t ^Wch Z. th.re was a scramble to grab the feature men by the ^^Jer da»^*»- Later however. MacGowan and Sandbom were paid a month a Mlary c J^ldviJ:^ th^J; were no peaces for them. ^^XZ^f.^'^riVl'^uZ the ' M-iV but MacGowan *s ctill a free sg^nt, although he is writing ''It'^'rtrtJ.anr.'et for MacGowan to become critic on th« "Time.." ntioUa^ioM en^ng when it was believed he would remain with Mun^y .i^rcorb^n who'had de-ided to withdraw from ^he 'Jlmej^' critical ; hair and confine hi. work to editorial writing, changed h)« mind mean- '*M*acGowan wa« formerly on a Boston daHy. going to a PhlUdelphia imper ac critic and joining the t^Jlobe' as successor to Louis Sherwln. The Grand Guignol, which will be brought over from Paris by the Sel- i*yni» was to have been spotted in the Dresden, the roof theatre atop 1 he New Amsterdam. New York. Contract has been drawn up ai>d several changes have been agreed on between A. Brtanger and the Selwyns. who were to pay a rental for the house, the latter provision attaining because Erlanger desired to protect himself against losa. ^'; - ^ When the contract was asked for. Erfanger Is said to hatrc advised Arch Selwyn that hfa word Is his bond. Last week, when the contract again was requested, word from "the Erlanger offlce was that the booking was ©» as it would he used for the Italian raarfonette show being hnp*rted l./charlea Dillingham,, who, it was claimed. p«rtlcnlarty desired the I>r#sden. „,, . . The New Amsterdam lease Is controlled by Erlanger. Dillingham ana 7Jegfeld, and it may Include the roof house, remodeled at an expense of about $50,000 last winter. A hot letter Is said to hare been sent Brlanger by the Selwyn* as a result or the cancellation. v^. ,; • One manager is not including receipts from cut rates on the regular theatre sUtement on the advice of his attorneys because of admissions lax regulations. It was ruled sometime ago by the the Internal revenue df'pavtment that the tax Was based on the actual price paid by the ulti- mate consumer or patron, regarilless of what price the ticket was originally stamped. Since then. U is roporled, gome ofHclala in the collector's ofllce contend t»r on the established price is due. The matter miay become an issue PKain and for that reu.son a separate statement is made, out for the cut rate sales. J S. Jay Kaufman, stricken with cholera while viaiiing the refugee camps In th« Balkans, has reappeared on Broadway on crutches. He lost 35 pounds through the ravages of the disease, which .settled hi his legs. Physicians have promised he will be abl« to discard the crutches at the end of the week. . • . ; • It appears the Theatre Guild will not produce King Lear.' the produc- tion belBg reported indeftnitcly pootponcd. according to reliabto reports. F»l«Bs called for the presentation ol the piece with Joseph Schildkraut and hifl l|ther. Rudolph, in the leading roles. The Kitter is appearing with Thomas^^fsl«ly. The sob. Joseph, who went to the coast to do a picture. Is said to have walked out on it, stating he wasn't suited for picture work. The Guild is understood to have a Ave-year option on the services of loscph, but too asuch temperament is reported having interefored ylth the "Lear" plans. \'/:.--,-... . •■.■;, Arthur Hornblow recently withdrew as associate editor of the "The- atre Magaainc." It is now understood the publication is anxious to have him rejoi« the staff. Hornblow is under contract with the Charles Froh- man office and his release is Improbable until the completion of his adapt- ing of several Batallle plays. "Theatre Magazine" lately offered a shares .•^toi'k sale of laO.OOf through increased capital. Nils Granlund and Walter Kingsley are both press agents, single, find judges of beauty, or they think they are—the latter; also they are rivals in a way in the way of popularity amongst chorus girls, stars and *ny one with pretensions to stage fames, whether as aspirants or hope- fuls. T^he rivalry has reai^hed the point where neither likes to hear the other >i»oken of. To say Kingsley has yaid he's the best judge of beauty in the world is to have Granlund retort that that is merely Walter's own opinion of himself. While Granlund doesn't proclaim his ability to judge looks, he does admit he knows some lookers. (jranlund's business as Marcus Lojew's publicist has a side line in Nils {.laying up the popularity of the boas himself, the bos* as the drawing « ard and himself as the persuader, because Loew has opened many the- atres and many stage people have consented .to be present at each one to help it along. Kingsley is the Keith's press man. and just naturally drifted irito the .side lines of locating comeliness. Tlie other day Clranlund received an application from a young woman to aid her In getlinR into pictures. Nils looked her over, mentally vowed -ho wouldn't do in the field of pantomime and camera, so stalled. "Well," noutcd the youHK 'un, "ill get Walter Kingsley to do it; he'd do anything 'or me apd he can get me in even if you can't." It was a cutting thing to say to a guy like Nils, but be brushed his ill temper away at the Kingsley mention and cheerily laui;hed the girl out of his ofAce. A few moments later Walter called Nils. "Will you put a girl into pictures for me?" a.sked Kingsley. Who Is she?'' answered Nils, bland- like. KingsUy mentioned her name and Granlund replied. "Send her vight over." That was his dirty revenge, but this shouldn't have been (Old, for it may teach Walter to keep the good-lookers on the big time snide of the block hereafter. a soeno bi Shelby. X-Ji* Andrews of the Vandei^llt theatre lenUtiTOly accepted th« pioco for prodoetio«. but when he closed a deal with George M Cohan whereby the Yanderbllt was to have all of Its dramatic mat«rla^ furnished by that producer the "flip-flop" production had to be caDe« WT. Its title "Mary Csdfgan.- Is of a type that may appeal to Cohan, and he is to have*ihe script presented to him shortly after his arrival from Europe. Asummer rate has been set for ticket agency concessions as applied to Shubert theatre*, th-. reduction being approximately one third. The .'harge made the smaller agencies for tho present Is $10 weekly as against J30 weekb' during the regular season. It is understood the concession fee charged the larger agencies is higher than |15« weekly, but probably will te reduced until fall also. _ ; There are hut four Shubert houses olferTng regular attractions, the others having gone dark. Only one is lighted with a Shubert production. ;he Whiter Oai-den which has "The Passing Show." The others are Sam H Harris' "Rain" at the Elltott. John Golden's "Seventh Heaven" at the Booth, and Arthur Hamrterstelns "Wlldflower* at the Caaina .Rain* and "Seventh Heaven" are under the direction of producers classed An allied with the Erlanger cflBce but were forced Into the Shubert string because no houses were avi^lable among the Erlanger group. • A musical comedy oomedian who in the past has been noted for his rather vicloua attacks on women when he Is In his cupa, has broken loose again. His escapade severaL years ago when he so severely Injured one of the chorus girls in his company while consorting with her on the read, resulted practicall:- in a complete erpose of his vagarl^a when In- toxicated and cost him a pretty penny to hush up at the time. Within the last 1* days while at a studia party at which a number of picture people were present he Indulged in an outbreak alnrK>at as brutal as his fornter escapade Sitting across from a young women at the party he started kicking her shins under the table with the result that she was severely hurt Re- monstraUng with him. he leaped across the table and fastened his teeth in her ear. Despite th' efforts of the other guests to have him release his hold he climg on. until some one secured a bottle of ammonia and plf^ced it under his noee. It compelled him toYelax his jawt. -": t An article printed In last week's Variety stated that Sidney Toler, rep- resenting "Tho Exile" which he wrote, has started suit for $«,000 aga^st Mark Klarw, Inc., contending damages are due because the show walTpre- vented from opening at the Klaw theatre last spring, though advertised for presentation-there. A letter from the Klaw company to Toler was mentioned as containing a statement that in the event of an Injunction the Klawa would bond :t and that an injunction of the sort can not be bonded. Marc Klaw calls attention to Ibe error whidh implied Toltr had as a contract a worthless piece of paper. There Ig no basis for such belief. Mr. Klaw states, nor was there any such Intent as the insult of the inlx-up which resulted from "The Last Warning'* beating th6 noll^e to wlthdra-nr* from the house by appeal to the court. Attention is called to the fa?t that »t was within the discetlon of the court to refuse the injunction on the conditioo. the Klaw's ftU abend. , .ji» JJXTLE THEATRES The Little Theatre movement |^ Denver, which suffered a tem« porary suspension, of animation several months ago. reared its hes4 again recently with the announet** meat that Btrindberg's "Simoo^ and Oscar WUde'a "The Florentiag Tragedy". wIU be presented In '^ local school auditorium next wcit (July 2). JanM« Church Is the dU rector. The Little Theatre presented p}%ys at Intermittent periods f^ two years, using.for the presents^ tlons a typical miniature theatre is the Woman's Club building. This time, because of failure to ^et tt* gether with the leasees of the buD^^ ing. the Wolcott school auditorhiii has been engaged. Arthur Maitland succeeds 01lir«r Hinedell as director of the LltfH theatre in New Orleans. Mr. Mall^'^.v land will arrive in the Crescent Cll|y*y in September. ;^K An idea propounded by a producing manager to offset Tfie one-sided tactics pursued by Equity in its propaganda may see execution this fall. The Idea Is a result o* Equity's refusal to have Augu.stus Thon»as and W. A. Brady address the Equity members at an open meeting some months ago. This refusal followed John Emerson and Krank GHlnwre's address- ing the Produclr.g Manajjers* Association at a reyular meetii>g. When the P. M. A. asked for a return ojpportunity to set forth their side, i: was refused. One ©t the P. M. A. members has conceived the Idea of^ hiring a vas* auditorium in the center of the metropolis and, in addi- tion to admitting E«qnit.' members and al) actor9. also accommodate those cf the Intereatel ^blie element. The manager aims at the Equity members primarily, however, procee^- fng -on the theory that there are enough open and fair-minded actors willing to listen to both sides. Should the 19?4 situation require any such procedure, it Is not unlikely it will be resorted to, not only on one but several occasions. It will not be an opportunity for professional spellbinders to swing public sentiment, since Mr. Thomas and poesibly Mr. Brady or any other P. M. A. member, and also representative playwrights, would do any and all the speech- making necessary. •. ^ ' ' . Capt. Paul Perigord, at present m^^ France, has been elected presidellt r of the Pasadena Community Plaj»Tf- house Assn. He will assume h|a 4; new duties upon returning to this ]|; country in the fall. In tl>e meaB^^if time Mrs. Robert A. Milliken. vie^^? president, will handle the affairs sf the associatioru Edwin F. Gillette has been elected secretary aiid LajK« . rence M. Jones treasurer. New^ members of the board of dh-ectors . are Mrs. PTillip Schuyler Doant^v Eleanor Bissell and Capt. Perigord. Gllmor Brown has been retained MS director of the .Community Playf/^ house.' . .f^'" The association pwoduced 2'1 plecM lost season for a total of 114 per- formances which netted S45.95l» with ' the expendituree during the' period $44,728. The membership Is 1.737. The seventh active season started July 1 'with "His Majesty .^ Bunker Bean" and **Fanny and tM Servant Probleih" the plays. The association will conduct an art school during the summer. Max Dauthenday's "Pa>.times of an Empress,'' a Berlin success will serve Bertha Kalich as her next starring vehicle dnder the Shuberts' di- rection in association with Leopold Spachner, the actress' husband-man- ager. Mme. Kallch jailed last week to confer with Louis N. Parker wl^ .vill make the El^I'sh adaptation. She will return on the "Leviathan" Sept. IS. The piece is slated for an October premiere. It Is a drgma. At the opening of Bail Carroll's "Vanities of 19:^3" all the prodncers of shows of aimilar calibre were in front, among them George White. "Vanities' advertises m^inees on Thur.sday and Saturday, on which ilays While's "Scandals" also plays matlnee.«<. Whether or not the flash Ceorge got at Carroll's show has anything to do with it, is no^ known. I'Ut it is a fact that hi) ads in the dailie^ were altered next day, making hia mid-week matinee on Wednesday and leaving Thur.sday for the Car- roll show. The rehicJe for "Fashions of 1»24." which will debut at the Lyceum <n Monday, is "llobohcmla." a play t^f I'plon Sinclair, which was pre- .».entcd In Greenwi<-h Village several seasoivs ago. The adftptatlon, made home time ago, is by Harry B. SmUh. who also wrote tiie lyrics to Ted Snyderia score. "Fashions" will have the lowest admission .scale of the summer revues, playing regularly to a |2.rjO lop. The pr»nucro performance will be lopped at 15. • An actor appearing in the cast of the aamn pr<i(1uctIon for the past five F< iisons has always finished with a comfortable bank roll in his pos»ei>siwn. JJach summer he returned to Broadway with his earnings and Invested jn some venture which took nil and left hini nothing. This summer's activities were in the bootlepging field with the bank- jtoii a disappearance exctptiunally rapid follow ing a raid on a speak ea.«!y pp rated by the actor in tbe theatre district. Jack Curley may abandon all of his interfsts in spoMs to tjUe up pin- duction for tho legitimate stage. One of thf beat known manag«r.s of ► itorls in the country. Mr Curley meanwhile has toured several troupes. Jfii List theatrical venture was with the Valei.tinos. Now he has a for- eign play for Broadway presentation under advis«>ment. Poor old Shelby. Mont., whose bid for fimi** as the siene of a worlds Yieaxywcight championship battle was i flop, is now to be the locale of a rctr\*\ in .i comedy by F. Fere: ion. The comedy, according to the fUthoi', liHH to <le with "flippeja, .»«»pper", flappeia aiui oil wells.' benr« the radiophones than aguir A Broadway theatre owner la desirous of placing a musical show in his hou.se which has never heretofore adhered to a musical policy. He was offered a rental for four jiveeks by a new producing firm which planned to install its initial production there. The cash was offei-ed i:i advance with the theatre owner turning it down. He informed the producers as he was putting a musical show in for tlae tlrst time and that It was their Initial production he wrvuld allow them to come in on sharing terms without any .•jdvance or guarantee. The offer was accepted. Young men connected with t^s Berkeley Playhouee at the Uni- versity of California are putting on a series of plays at La JoUa. San Diego, under the name of the Lf Jolla Sunsmer Playhouse Players. The cooapany has produced .'*Thi Importance of Being Ernest." **A. Successful Calamity" and "A Tailor- made Mtn." Included in the com- pany are Paul Wright, son of Harold Bell Wright, novelist; Don Blanch^ ard and John Eldridge. The Players, Utica's < N. T.) Little Theatre organization, will have fivs events on its new season's program. The Players will do a three-act play, "Egypt's Eyes." on Nov! 27 as tb« first number, and will close with'sa operetta A^il 24. Two evenings st competition plays' and a perfor» mance by some out-of-town dra^ matic organization awe listed. ■;/.. Percy Hammond remains with the New To»k "Tribune" ais its dramatic critic, an<f. under a now contract tj»e New York "Times' wa.s reported to have placed an offer before Hammond, who came to the New York 'Trib" a couple of years ago from the Chicago "Tribune." >The loeal 'Trib' must have heard about its competitor's bid, for Percy is said to now hold a contract as a dramatic reviewer that will return to him at the least 125,000 annually; perhaps more, through receiving a share from his syndicated writings. Although George Jessel has been with "The Pas.«ing Show" at the Winter Garden. New York, since its opening, he has not as yet seen the second act of that production. Jessei appears only In the first part of the 5how. When washed up he rushes down to the Apollo on 42d street and watches the remainder of "Helen of Troy, New.York." He holds an interest in the show. Jessel saw the first act of "Helen,"' though catrhing it at a matinee. .St. John Ervine. the Britfsh playwright, known over here for his "John Ferquson" and other plays which the Theatre Guild ftas produced, writes of an interestin^j I^ndon experience in a British literary paper. He points to disprove any possibility bf the* radio competing with the t'heatre and cites an instance of a dramatic reading from Shakespeare. He states that sitting at his home and listening via the ether the effect on him was absolutely null. There was no tension or dramatic fjripping to the Shakespearean recital. To further convince himself, Ervine continues, he hurried back to the broadcasting station from where the recital was emanating, and no sooner was he in the visible presence of the actors than the change was marked by a sudden difference. Viewing (he dramatics and being keen to each incidental bit of bus^iess corollary to the lines he was enthralled and gripped. No sooner did he p.-i.^s out of direct hearing and again resort to .k^»... .1..... :.. ^ji charm was lost. •* , Tbe University of Louisville P'lajr* ''' ers. having hal a successful B«ase», are beginning to make plans f«r th ir appearance at the State Fair In September. During the past sea- son the players, under the direction of Boyd Martin, presfnted "Shs Stoops to Conquer." "Little Women,* "Mamma's Affairs.'* "Pillars of Se-*-^ clety" and "Only 38." A players group for the iresents* tion of stancard dramas has beta organized by members of the First Congregational church of Kansas City, Dr. Charles F. Aked. pastor. The novelty of this action on the part of these church people will be watched with interest, as it wiU '•* a precedent in this part of theWus- try. although similar groups have been formed by members of Con- gregational churches in Seattle and Evanston. Ill, "A Pleasant Sunday Aiternoon Discussion Group" to read r iid con- sider plays for possible presenta- tion will be the first developement of the "Plymouth Players." which is the name selected. It is >xpected that general discussion will be ixtf' ticlpated in by the church menib«I» In accorr. with the plan of Dr. Ake^' who.se o./nion Is tliat the inn* having originated in the rluach is due to be readopted by religious worshipers. It Is also planned to present some of the dramatic Old Testament tales by the youngtf members of the church and .Sunday school, as one of the players' activ- ities. B. W^ Grover is general secretary of ♦he new organisation.