Variety (February 1924)

Thursday, February 7, 1924 EDITORIAL VARIETY VARIETY Trad* Mark Raalstarad PnblUlird Werklj l>j VAJUE1V, 1m. Slma Silverman. PraaldeDt 1(4 Waat 4(1 ta street Naw York City SUB8CKIUTION: Annual 17 ' Forel«n II Blngi. Copiea 20 Centa Vol. 1 XXIII. No. i ■: VARIETY'S OFFICES Cable Addressee: Variety, New York - Variety London NEW YORK CITY 154 West 46th Street CHICAGO State-Lake Theatre Building LOS ANGELES Grauman's Metropolitan I heatre Building SAN FRANCISCO Claua Sprcckles Bldg. b "Doubling" a Confession? The big time vaudeville heads have in the past issued Instructions to the booking men of the circuits that acts shall not "double."' '•Doubling 1 ' is an act playing two or more theatres in the same week. Notwithstanding, '"doubling" continues. Is it a confession of weakness by the big time? Weakness in feature attractions or comedy acts? Certainly, doubling is not beneficial to the theatres where it occurs, any more so thu.. the quick return date. Frequently It may be • matter of convenience, but who will admit it is good business. In New York, where the advntisements of the more prominent vaude- ville houses appear together, it ean/t help the box office when the patrons read names twice in the same department, besides seeing the names weekly as they rotate around the metropolitan houses. Or the re- turn dates that the Palace, New York, and Palace, Chicago (differently booked) receive so often Or the bills in the vaudeville houses of lesser Importance that are noi daily-paper advertised. There's talk of the big time merging into small time; that there Is only i.nfr time-universal. Rubbish! of all the explanations in the federal court and the definitions of big time, not one said big time Is u. bill of all tandard acts, ploying twice daily as a rule. An act becomes standard ■ulien it is in demand for twice daily bookings. Big time will survive because it can't be anything else to command a certain patronage, and a profitable [»atronage it has proven for many tears. WASHINGTON, D. C. Evans Bu Iciirg, New Vork Ave. LONDON 8 St Martin's PI., Trafalgar Sq- The Kenyan theatre property, Pittsburgh, consisting of the Ken- yon theatre, at present tb> largeM movie house on the north side, 1,600 seats and two store rooms, has been sold" by the Thomas Kenyan est'ite to Mark Brower for $190,000. The buyer las been the lessee of 'lie theatre f-r the past six ye »r.:. Magistrate McAndrews in the West Side Court exonerated James H. Burt, 21, assistant manager of Loew's 83rd Street, who was charged with possession of a re- volver without a permit. Burt tes- tified that ■ the revolver had been found under a seat by a patron aid turned In to him at the box office. He had placed It on his desk and was about to telephone- the police when the gun dropped to the floor, wounding him In the right leg. "The Bat," which followed "Abie's Irish Rose" into the Lyceum, Colum- bus, with the hopes of paralleling the record made by the latter of 14 weeks' run, may be taken off, after being on two weeks. Fred Wallace, of the Wagenhals and Kemper staff, put the show out as a private ven- ture. In ■ decision handed down last Friday, the Appellate Division de- clined to sustain the claim of the Fox Film Corporation that Its al- leged promise to pay Mrs. Ruby Graves Locklear, widow of Dare- devil Lieutenant Locklear, Ave per- oent of the profits from distribu- tion of "The Skywayman" could not be enforced. Report has It that William Hodge is considering a revival of "The Man From Home." "Old Heidelberg" will probably be the Shuberts next production. Frank Smithson, stage director, submitted a peace plan In the Bok $100,000 prize contest. It Is not the successful plan. Smithson, however. Insists he has a practical Idea for a "Universal Peace Society," as he terms it, and will proceed interest- ing; state officials and people In the public eye with a view toward get- ting his scheme into practical oper- ation. It has nothing to do with the League of Nations' proposal, which Is the basis of the successful but as yet anonymously authored plan. "Doubling" and. "return dales" do. not help big time, however. There 5.houId be a sufficient supply to provide an ever-changing program, the esscr.ro of vaudeville or variety; the catering to one clientele that must be held with additions to it counted as so much gained. The men who made vaudeville know it, and they prove they know it every time occasion demands. Its the same a: present as 20 .or 30 years :i?o; the vaudeville- box office is right in the lap of the vaudeville book- trig offl e; any time, any circuit, picture annex or no pictures... |f vaudeville feeds musical shows, that is the fault of .vaudeville, not the musicals. Vaudeville lets the acts go out and pays more for them coming back. Arid for what ? A new collection ot evening clothes? ... That may be why it is necessary to double arid'play returns. There i?; that public, though and they should be given a' thought once' in a while. The neighbors talk Butchering Independent Vaudeville Independent vaudeville should be preserved, not butchered. Yet to place the blame for the current goings on in that lightweight division would be to either stamp moet of the independent agent9 and bookers as unscrupulous or the independent managers as incompetent. To tell all of those who are doing the very things that they should not for the preservation of their business that the present procedure is work- in's? entirely 'or the benefit of the regularly organized Vaudeville circuits might and very likely would be met by an I don't care reply. But that Is what the independent vaudevillian is doing. He Is In brie? working for the man stronger than himself, although he claims to be "independent" and looks forward to a future In the Independent field. The Independents around New York that you can stick yolir finger on and trust may be counted on the remainder of the fingers of the very same hand. By independent time, as understood in vaudeville, is Included that mis- cellaneous or nondescript collection of detached theatres and agents, also bookers. There are various reasons why they are independent or so classed. Some of the houses only can secure booking from Independents; others don't want to be otherwise booked, having no regard for a contract, while others don't want to tie up or be tied down. The latter are experi- menting. In the heterogenous mass of nondescripts appear* to be a collection of irresponstbles, to place it that politely. Some of the independent agents are no better than the managers they represent; some are not as good, while there are "managers" among the Independents who would be more successful at running anything else, according to their methods and ideas of the "show business." It's • grave question whether the decent independents can survive the others, taking in by this the decent independent bookers, managers and agents of the eastern seaboard, those who try to operate In the proper manner. As you go west the grade of independent betters, may be there are not so many. The reason for that Charles Francis Byrne, the Bal- timorean who played the role of Captain do Boots In "Our American Cousin." at Ford's, Washington, the night of April 14, 1865, when Presi- dent Abraham Lincoln was shot, celebrated hie 79th birthday anni- versary at his home in Philadelphia, Feb. L ._ ^^ Byrne, one of the two surviving members of the comfwny at Ford's that night, foresook the stage after the tragedy and returned to Bal- timore. He never re-appeared on the stage. Ws don't want to make a bad mess worse* but It's time to call attention to the independent field. It needs a head. Many who could have done something with this outside vaudeville market passed up the opportunity, probably by some because they didn't think the possible gain worth the time or bother and by others through being fairly well acquainted with the grade of the average independent, bo;h on the booking and man- agerial end. The independents evidently don't want to get together; perhaps they could not If they would. But the better calibered bookers, managers and. agents looking to the Independent field will have to do something pretty soon or those others will butcher It right out of existence; right into, what may be left of It, regular vaudeville, on Its 9mall time side. THE DRAPED PROSCENIUM Sorrow over the passing of Woodrow Wilson need not be confined to any trade or calling, nor need there be specific cause for mourning a historic giant who has gone onward to immortality. But the theatre as an institution and every individual who draws his breath within its atmosphere may well lay *n added rose upon the grave which the world will heap with a grateful profusion of floral tributes. For Woodrow Wilson, friend of all the world, the man who echoed against the heavens for all time the sentiment that peace was a great consummation but right was sven greater, was an especial, personal friend of the stage. During the bitter days of the grim war, he was a steady attendant at the lighter amusements. Each Monday -found him in his box at Keith's. The players gloried in his presence, and he smiled upon them. He viewed the art of entertain- ment as an essential for the morale of our expeditionary and home forces, and he by his own attendance stamped it as an inspiration for his own so sorely tried spirits. After the war, when he was broken in health, he modestly declined to use the box he had so long occupied as President, but came each Monday with Mrs. Wilson and sat in extra seats behind the las* row. No good play visited Washington that Mr. Wilson did not attend when physically able. And he was not afraid to applaud and to voice his approval by let- ters and by public pronouncements. A sincere patron of the stage arts in every admirable mani- festation, a willing helper of the stage erafts whenever they were maligned or misunderstood, a figure almost divine who lent the glamor of his person to heighten the effulgence of an institution so frequently shadowed by the intolerance of the soulless, a President and Commander-in-Chief who enlisted the forces of amusement as a unit of the nation in fighting the great fight for international peace and liberty, Woodrow Wilson has glorified the history of the theatre as he has glori- fied the history of his country; and his world.. The proscenium arch of mirth and make-believe is. drapad. iri.crepe over his loss, which is its loss even more poignantly than it is that of the myriad other -worthy temples for which he strove, for which he gave the inspired spirit of his great... soul, for which he died. INSIDE STUFF ON VAUDEVILLE It seems the recent threatened separation of Joe Howard and Ethelyn Clark will not down, although Miss Clark Issued a statement that the separation was but temporary with Mable McCane called In to fill the fleeting four weeks. MISS McCane does not relish that version, even though Miss Clark In her statement spoke highly of Miss McCane. Miss McCane Is stating she Is not a relief player; that she had no intention of appearing with joe Howard for but four weeks; that she dissolved her own single act with a piano player, at Easton, Pa., she had first received a 'phone call to Join Howard, nfter having insisted upon and had been assured by the Keith -booking office Howard wanted her to replace Miss Clark In the turn. There was no time limit, said Miss McCane, and through the various people she demanded make the understanding positive there ceuld have been no error on anyone's part as to her exact position. J Miss McCane doesn't appear interested other than to have her part In the matter made plain, very plain, says Miss McCane, the change in plans by Howard and Clark, whereby they continue together having caused her loss of work besides much annoyance. Just to what extent the Hip's new policy has dented the business of the Broadway houses no one can state. Several of the picture and pop price vaudeville theatres within Times Square will admit something of a loss they blame on the Hip's big start, while there Is a suspicion among the legits any falling off upstairs might be traced to the Hip. The Hip dldtiot do any sensational business last week, following the holidays, but Its business was large enough with Its twice dally shows In a 6,700-capaclty theatre to threaten anything around. An actor who had saved $2S,000 placed his savings Into the show th.it paid him a weekly salary. The show Is now In the storehouse. The actor was approached by a manager and the bank roll was handed over to put in the show, with the assurance "If anything happens to show, you'll get your money back and with a better show." After the show was In the storehouse the actor called upon the manager at his New York office. He was not In. The actor Is still Calling. It was not a Shubcrt. Having recently returned to this country, after a European tour, a vaudeville dance team are desirous of getting married. There la an obstacle in the way—a husband. He started a large damage suit for alienation of affections against his wife's partner, but later abandoned this In favor of a lump sum for the woman's freedom. She has tried to obtain a Chicago divorce without success. The husband Is also a dancer. The wife has offered $500 for her freedom, but It has been refused, the aggrieved husband demanding $1,000. Jules C. Rablner was sentenced last week In General Sessions, New York, to not less than six months nor over three years for victimising customers In a bucket shop office chain promoted by him. Rablner Is said to have stolen between $400,000 and $500,000. He was formerly a vaude- ville agent with Edw. S. Keller, a relative. Rablner confessed to swindling Even the way several of the nondescripts have of handling their own acts, of fooling other acts, or double crossing and deceit, must of neces- sity In time frighten off the only acts that might help to lift up the inde- pendent time. If this can't be prevented there's going to be an end of the eastern Inde- pendents In vaudeville. One way that should be tried is for a com- mittee of the better independents to go before the license commissioner of Nw York, explain the situation, and ask that only those seeking an agency license shall be granted one after the ai-nlicant has been unequivocally endorsed by responsible people in the show business. License Commissioner Glatzmeyer Is quite apt to see the justice of this; he Is somewhat familiar with theatrical: and he natui 'lly does not wish Irrc^ponsibles doing business under his licenses. Acting Mayor Hulbcrt has written Loney Haskell to put In a good wont while traveling over the vaudeville circuits for New York City. The Mayor asked the monologist to tell the people to visit New York during the National Democratic Convention. Rube Bernstein and Harry Fitzgerald are Indefatigable kldtlera between themselves (Rubo bars nobody), but last Saturday they got steamed up t'> athletic competition. It started out to be a sort of pentathlon, but ended in two events. First was a handball contest, reported to have been won by Bernstein with the score of 20 to 9. Rube claims after reaching the generation mark tho bystanders Started counting down on him with an idea of making it 9 all. Later they argue I themselves into a wresting contest. I'itz says he won, but Bernstein sahl Harry had the same score as In the handball game. The festtv.'tles took plsee in the Friars gymnasium. "But;.-." Bacr is getting coin two ways. Just at present ' BugV Is mak ing more coin talking than writing. A booker of talkers heard ''Bugs" one night and suggested he could talk hlmeelf imo a lot of real dough ■ $:'00 per. nut ''.Bum'" soya h* •.ill not play return engagements.