Variety (July 1923)

•^■» rrrww^'-- ■ Thursday, July 19. 1923 VARIETY it -*rAn«e but piychologlcally true -IVtof it is that women, too, epjoy CZ,ing their vulnerability explolltd S the 8tage. The cast headed by ^iMter Clute. Is excellent, and In -iiways does Justlo* to the clever Sne^and laughable situations. Next-to-closlnjr "POt >vas held by Hob Albright, who didn't seem to be ^Is to get started with his cus- tMuary vigor, but who finally hit his ItHde and knocked them for a row of encores. Albright is making a nilgtake In yodeling to the tune of the new "honeymoon" song he in- ^)duces. The number la not made ter the Tyrolean falsetto stuff, and It sounds worse than flat. "Okla- homa Bob" didn't cause much ex- citement until he pulled the Eddie i,eonard "Ida" imitation and then introduced two little > dark-brown ■truttin' fools, who stepped the crowd practically out of their seats. Adelaide and Hughes Justified to II great extent their billing as "America's Representative Danc- ^fs." - As far as grace and show- Btanship go they are unbeatable, mid that's about all any^ dancers need. "The Elopement of the Toys," their feature, had the audience rav- fng with admiration and appreo-la- tion. •The Ragged Edge," feature pic- tttft. ^ . •«>..':« 125TH ST. ■ A good bill and, for the hot : weather, a* good audience at this . Itotise Tuesday. The vaudeville pro- f- gram was opened by Paulette and Bay. two men, etraight and comic, cii the Roman rings. Their athletic : work was above the average, slowed up by the old-time style of the com- edy, bumping Into the uprights of - the rigging, tripping over the guj* wires, etc. Clinton and Rooney were No. 2 and with their songs •And clever dancing landed a solid bit. .Julia has a couple of wardrobe ..changes out of the ordinary and in - very good taste. , Cliff Green (New Acts). No. 3. ^ was followed by Sampsell. Leonardt and Co. (a pianist) (New Acts). A surprise act was slipped in here . as an added attraction in the per- '\.aon of Sol Levoy, who in a period ,!of three years was promoted from illustrated song singer at the Har- lem opera honae to manager of that theatre. He held that position until the Keith people turned the house over to Shubert vaudeville, and in that time attracted quite a local following, who have followed him over to the Proctor house, where he 4» again singing illustrated songs. •*~So cordial has been his reception that he will be retained over the summer. Lew Cooper put over a hit of goodly proportions with his blackface monolog and aongs, but he resorted to the old-time song plugging with a plant in the box, which fact lowered his average and really did not get him much. It's not a worth-while idea. (. The Eight Mascots, an English girl dancing act (New ActR), held the audience in, and a Famous pic- ture, "A Man of Action," closed the •how. tion of Charles ritt. McCait. liini- self. will play the character lead and Maude Eburne will probabt>' ap- pear in an eccentric comedy role. Samuel Godfrey, for several years and at present director of the Albee Stock,^Providence, will become di- rector of the Boston Stock, which plays in the St. James at the end of his engagement with the Albee company next fall Walter S. Baldwin is in New York City this week looking over stock plays and players. Another repre- sentative in the city for the same purpose is P. James Carroll, of tJangor, Me. John Gordon, stage director of the St. John Summer Stock Co. at the Opera House, St. John, N. B.. has been retained as dlrecto;- for the regular stock company, opening Aug. 27. Joe ^ Pay ton's travelling dramatic and repertoire company will begin a four-week engagement at the Strand. Hoboken, Aug. 6. prior to beginning their road tour on Labor Day. The Myrtle Harder stock, now In New Brunswick, N. J., opens Its road season Labor Day in Hudson. N. Y. It will appear in "Lawful Larceny," "The Man Who Came Back" and "Gold Diggers." Cecil Spooner will abandon the speaking stage next season to ap- pear in pictures made from the melodramas and written and pro- duced by her husband. Charles E. Blaney. * Robert Sherman opened a third stock, this one at the Palace in Danville, ill. The opening bill is "Why Men Leave Home." Louis Pin^ky is local manager. It r- "■ ■^here is a very small percentage of stock houses playing road attrac- tions; many still playing them arc endeavoring to change to permanent rep companies. )k ■ Mr. R. Franklin, late manager of the Opera House. St. John. N. B.. has gone to Ottawa. Canada, to take over the Family theatre, which will play vaudeville next season. STOCKS ' "^- (Continued from page 18) newspaper notices from the Fall River dallies. Praise Is "given to the new members of the company. ;Jane Aubrey, Will Howard, Clar- ence Chase, and John Lyons. El- mer Thompson i« the company manager. Corse Payton has gone and gotten ft bankroll again. It has proved ■ufficlent to enable him to contract placing a dra'matic stock company in the Academy of Music, Brooklyn. On a percentage basis, beginning August 20. For his opening bill Payton will present "Buddies." The other Leonard Wood com- pany opened July 2 at the Fulton, Lancaster, Pa., with "Why Men Leave Home." Mr. Wood Is per- sonally supervising this company. Ben Dillon and Al Franks will return to Portland next month to head a musical comedy stock com- pany scheduled to open at the Baker theatre. Clarlbel Fontaine has been en- gaged for the balance of the stock season at the Opera House, Bethle- hem, Pa., by H. W. Highberger. The Jack X. Lewis Players, for- merly of Newark. N. J., playing in Roanoke, will return to Roanoke, opening September 1. Ada Humbert, who has been on a six weeks' trip to the Pacific coast, returned to New Y'ork July 16. It is reported that Vaughn Glaser has re-leased the Uptown theatre, Toronto, for one'year. A benefit realizing over $300 was held at the Harder-Hall stock com- pany at Bayonne for Frank Arm- •trong, director of the company, Who was taken serIou.sly ill about three weeks ago and ordered to I^ave for the Pacific Coast by his physician. Three theatres operated with dramatic stock policies by Charles E. and Harry Clay Blaney In Greater New York will reopen with the same policy In effect on Labor Day. The houses are the Prospect, Bronx; Fifth Avenue, and Gotham. Brooklyn. Holbrook Bllnn, star of "The Bad Man." closed his remarkable run of 14 weeks at the Majestic-, Los An- teles, Saturday night. Ivan Miller, who was brought here from the East, made his Initial bow Sunday ^o Los Angeles audiences In "A —Man <^f Action." , S«m Taylor has organized tlic Yonlicis (N. Y.) Stock Co. It will jp«n at the Warburton Sept. 3. Kenneth Fox and Shirley Booth will DO the leads. Nan Bernard, Frank McDonald, Clifford Dunston and Mrr and Mrs. Joseph Btephani also. William McCart's "Sign Here* is to be tried out In one of the Harder- Hall stock housei under the Ulrec- BROADWAY STORY (Continued from page 1) Broadway theatres will be ofToiing special showings from Labor Day on. Those already contracted for are the Times square. Lyric, Astor and Apollo, with the 44th Street likely to aKso be rented. With no August bookings in sight both the Apollo and Sam H. Harris will light up with pictures, the latter house j^etting "The Green Goddess" start- ing Aug. 12. and "Ashes of Venge- ance" going into the Apollo which again" went dark la.st Saturday upon the closlnj of "Go Go." The pre-season openings will In- clude two sets of conflicts. The first set is "Two Fellows and a Girl," suddenly entered at the Vandcrbilt tonight (Thursday), and "In Love with Love." They are respectively presented by George M. Cohan and Willi.im Harris, Jr. The 'Love" i.s opening out of town next week and is listed to come to the Rifz Aug. 6, althnngh tlio date may be niovod forward. Cohan has anoth(r new play rated to conflict. It is called "So Thi.s is Broadway" a sort of companion title to 't'o This is Lon- don. ' W. A. Brady has "80 Tlii.'« is New York" aIUi the latter nnan- agcr ru.shing the .«!how fr>v a first presrntation. The Study play Is said to havo 23 scones. Ncithor Cohan or Prady intended entrring Broadway early this season. Tlie cunflicts alons causing the changed schedules. Business went oft slightly laat week from the totals of the week of the Fourth. The variation, how- ever, was mostly reected In the dif- ference in takings occasioned by the holiday prices and the good weather break enjoyed on that day. One musical, however, suddenly dove $4,000, with no explanation given for that freak. Another musical which was trav- eling alofvg at remarkable business until the first heat wave, has never been able to recover. The loss In pac« is blamed on a jump in scale from $2.50 to $3. At the latter price the piece Is grossing between 115,500 and $16.0(JO. whereas at the lower scale it was getting between $19,000 and $20,000 weekly right along. Agency sales proved that when I he prices for the attraction were lifted the nightly ticket sale dropped over SO per cent. The early section of last week was away off summer form, but rose to capacity for the leaders l>Vlday night. The WiUard-Plrpo fight in Jersey ac- counted for some drop Thursday ^nd a musical claimed to have Im- proved $400 over that performance on Friday night. "Vanities of 1928" at the Earl Carroll held to fairly good busi- ness, though under capacity. The newi>.st summer revue grossed a little over $18,000*, while the house capacity at $3.50 top. is about $24.- 000. Expectation Is for the show to continue into the fall and the man- agement plans raising the scale to $4 ut that time. "Fashions of 1923" which is framed for about six weeks nt the Lyceum po.stponed its premiere from Monday until Wednesday (last night). It Is the charging $2.50 top. the lowest scale for a summer revue on Broadway. "Not So Fast," has one more week to go at the Morosco. the house then going dark for three weeks. ,"You and I" will withdraw from the Belmont this week, being the only closing listed. The attraction was carded for several weeks more, but vacations were asked by the players before the road season. "Zander the Great" will hold on at the Empire through August. There was some doubt about sticking after this month, but the pace has been a paying 6ne, not considering rent and cut rate sales have counted much in its favor. "Dew Drop Inn" Is announced in reopen at the-Astor. July 30. and will remain four weeks. The house goes under the direction of Uni- versal for a special picture show- ing. "Polly Preferred" is also carded to reopen, It being an- nounced for resumption at the Little. "Polly" rated highly during the season, but collapsed during the heat wave. Cut Rates Steadily Decrease With but 19 attractions current on Broadway at this time, all of them are either In the buy or the cut rate classification, with none of them being listed on both sides of the fence. In the cut rates there has been a steady decline In the number of shows that are being offered at bargain prices until at this time there are bUt a half dozen listed. On the other hand there are 13 shows held by the brokers as outright buys, rather an unheard of nuaober for this time of the year. One of the two new attractions opening this week has already set itself with the brokers. It Is the Georgo M. .Cohan piece. "Two Fel- lows and a Girl." which Is due to open at the Vanderbllt tonight (Thursday). The brokers are tak- ing, 1:50 seats a night for the first four weeks, with a 20 per cent, re- turn permitted. For "Fashions of 1924" no buy Is set as yet. the brokers awaiting the verdict on the prndurtion that will come after the opening. The early part of the week there was considerable slumping at all of the hits, because of the warm weather, with the balcony sections being mostly affected. The brokers carry the upstairs stuff for some of the bigger musical hits, but man- aged to return on this section and ridded themselves of the lower floor .spjitH over their own counters. The shown that have buys run ning are: "Seventh Heaven" (Booth), "Vanities of 1923' (Car- roll). "Wildflower" (Casino). "Ad- rienne" (Cohan). "Merton of the Movies" <Cort), "Rain" (Maxlne Elliott), "Aren't We All" (Gaiety), ".Scandal.s" (Globe), "Mu«ic Box Krvuc" <.M«»f»i« 1*0»>T "Koines' (New Amstordam). "Helen of Troy. New York' (Sohvyii). "Two Fellow.s and a Girl" (VandprbJlt). and "The I'ass- in.T Show' (Winter Garden). In the cut rates the btraggling half doz»»n were: "You and I" (Bel- mont). "Zand«r the fJreat" < Em- pire), "The Devil's Disciple* <Gar- rl.k). "Not So )«'aRt" (Moroi^^o). ".\bl«'H Iri.«h Hose" (Republic), and Thf \-''f'A" •Timf« .Sq). V FIFTEEN YEARS AGO (Continued from page 11) tillo dat^s. t.eo Ditrlchstein proposed a vaudeville sjcctch called "Button Button."'M. ^$. Bentham was mixed up in it, of course. , Air flights were so new an American syndicate was prepared tq guar- antee Henry Farman, French flier, $20,000 for five flights in the United States. This was net. the syndicate paying fares and other expenses m America, as well as oc^an transportation for Farman and three men, besides apparatus. . ? ., , William Morris announ^d his policy for the New York American, opening in October with Harry Lauder fo» six weeks. The top price woirld be $1. Capacity was increased to 3.,000 at a cost of between 130,000 and $40,000. ' ^ * ' ^" : ; > . Hyde ^ Behman, Brooklyn, retired from vaudeville, due to the invasion by William Morris of the Baby Borough with his Fulton street house. Two-a-day was dropped at the Adams street house (Olympic), and that ended the connection of Nick Norton. The veteran manager and per- former (he had been a juggler) subsoQUently entered the U. B. O. Family Department. , Valerie Bergere married her leading man. Napoleon Dalgaut. whlls abroad. . . . Georgo M. Cohan, in "The Yankee Prince," flnlshed «. long run at the Knickerbocker. Daisy W^ood. billed "the last of th> Lloyds" (A>llce and Marie), was rigned by William Morris, l^faude and Sydney Wood of the same family had been booked prevloukly. . . . Gertrude Hoffman had pro- duced a dance sensation called "Salome" on Hammersteln'a Roof. Paper for th.* George Evans (''Honey Boy") Minstrels made its appear• ance on Broadway. They proposed to circus the all-star cast, com^is- ing Evans. George Thatcher. Eddie Leonard and Julian Eltinge, doing "high yaller." Gus HIM was succeeded as treasurer of the Columbia Amusement Co. by L. Lawrence Weber. Hill had carried on a factional warfare for iome time against the rest of the board, but this stopped argument. Another change was the creation of the post of general manager for Sam Scribner. • Following the retirement of Sullivan and Kraus from the Western burlesque wheel, all the Western executives were In New York, but what Ihey were planning to offset the lose was not disclosed. Dave Kraus was ill and had disposed of the Dewey and Gotham to WIMiam Fpz. Sub- sequently, it developed that the Eastern (present Columbia) wheel had secured a lease on the former Tony Pastor theatre In Tammany Hall (now Olymi^ic). and this made the situation worse for the Western contingsnt. Maybe this Is where the bathing beauty had Its genesis. Down at Brighton Beach they were looking for a feature that ir ould draw and itlll be proof against the restriction that all performers should wear street clothes. They decided that bathing suits were street wear at the sea side, and put on a bathing girl revue that went llko wildfire. The Flying Banvardd figured they could declare themselves in and get away with their acrobatic act, but the cops balked at this. A circus act was a clccus act, no matter what It had on, was the blue-coat logic. Joe Howard announced his forthcoming retirement from tm stags. Summer par^s felt the need of a novelty. Several started booking in burlesque shows and living pictur«)s. among them White City and Forest E*ark, Chicago. The Shubertfl ta!d out a program of revues for the Casino for the follow season solid. . . . The Film Service Association of picture renters held a special convention at the Prince Qeorge Hotel. New York. The big Eastern renters controlled the session, defeating the radical el#ii> ment at all points. * Summer parks as a f jrm of entertainment were beginning to sUp. One Western author'ty stated that up to the middle of July he did not believe a single Western park had made money. There was complaint also among performers of defaulted contracts on the pari of the manager. y JOYS AND GLOOMS OF BROADWAY (Continued from page 11) ■•."•♦ weeks ago and was Immediately ^igncd to play the lead In the "Vightlnt Blooa' series f t Uoiversal. Jane and Katherine Lee sailed cfn the pnlatiad French liner "Paris" Wednesday fo.* a six weeks' cngagement'in England. The Great Sir Joseph Ginsburg. world's premier entertainer, la now in Chicago as guest pf his friend and protector, Willie Howard. The Great Sir Joseph was losing some of his good looks, which have won him un- bounded admiration, since his hair was turning gray, and he was partially bald; so Willie, ever thoughtful, had his hair hennaed a brilliant red. which takes years off Ginsburg's looks. Ginsburg was the Innocent party to an unfortunate affair on the way to Chicago Willie Howard, ever solicitous of his friend's comfort, and wish- ing to have an artist of Ginsburg's supremo ability have the accommoda- tions he deserved, bought a drawing room for him. Two of the girls in the show dropped in foi* a moment for a chat with the Great One. It was discovered by Howard and the train conductor, and the latter Informed Ginsburg the penalty for this crlmo was to shovel coal Into the engine box for three hours. In spite of Ginsburg's protests he had meant no harm, and in spite of Willie's pleading with the conductor, the Great Sir Joseph paid the penalty by shoveling coal and ruining his new suit, which Willie also had bought for him—on Eighth avenue. Harry Latx Alamac Hotel at Lake Hoptacong. near New York, hss been "discovered" by movie and stage stars, and many Broadwayltes spend their week-ends there. They find that It Is cheaper than stayin^ln town, or visiting the beach resorts. The place is Ideal for entertainment and rest, without crowding. Last Saturday, Bob Nelson and the Trado Twins of the Winter Garden motored up afte** (he show at night, 44 miles. Among the guests of the hotel during the past two seasons hav% been Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Morosco, Mr. and Mrs. Jake Lubin, Moe Schenck, Raymond Hitchcock, Jane and Katherine Lee. Zena Kcefe. Pansy Maness. Bufter Collier "Bujjs" Baer, Eddie Cantorf Hope Hampton, Blanche Mehaffy. Mrs. Rodolph Valentino, Johnny Hines, Grace Dr.rmond, Nina Whltmore. Edytho Baker, Bernard Granville, George Walsh, Doraldlna. IJenny Davis. Helen Shipman, Alice Malson, Janet Stone. Ann Forrest and many others, ... • , : The hotel can be reached by train in a little over an hour. \ ^j .«, . Janet Stone, Wayburn.pupil and <lancer Ip "Lady Butf^rfly' last sea- son, ha.s been signed by Dillingham, probably for tJiC new Fred StonT" show. B!an<;])e Mflia(T»*y l*»avefl for the Coast In a few days to start work for Hal Koach. Betty Dudley is out thcrtj now working for Fox. Lillian Woods, betto,* known as ' Cutie,' has been «ni?aged by Betty i;:owne as danrer at her restaurant. - P.illie Dove, signed by Mrlro. paid a nrief visit to New York this week and wenr b;Mi< to the Coast to iT»nme woii<._ . . .