Variety (June 1924)

•'iS^ • ■■■, i«l^-. .-, ■. ■ ^ , \, ,:<v. VAUDEVILLE y . VARIETY -ri'- ^ $3,500 AND $3,000 SINGLE AQ SALARIES |Y ORHiEIM CiR(M CREATE MUCH TALK Elsie Janis and Fannie Brice Get High Amovnts— - Madge Kennedy Dickering for $3,000—Revue ylr Productions at $3,500 Also i' . '- T«U( of tb« Orph«uin Circuit pay- ing Elsie Janis tS.SO<> weekly for a tour next season. Fanie Brice (1,000 ' • week, aiul dickering with Madse Kennedy at 13.000. also has created ' much talk in vaudeville and legit circles. The Misses Janls and Brice are single women (appearing alone). Mlas Kennedy is reported preparing • sketch. I Act-produCtlons with several peo- ^'Ple are also said to have agreed f!"with the Orpbeum at $3,500 weekly ^'°for next season. The Orpheum Circuit from ac- counts Is making a special play for «taamc" headlines for its big city H- Wla commencing with the new sea- «'''.' Isham Jones, Alice Brady and '"' Corbett and Norton are among some ^'of the turns reported already con- ^'traded for. ^-' A feature of the Fannie Brice con- I tract with the Orpheum people is I'said to be a clause holding her at ^ the 13.000 weekly salary for two f- weeks In each of the larger Orpheum ''^'houses she plays, opening the Or- ^pheum tour at the Palace, Chicago. ^ lor two weeks. Miss Brice's accept- I; once of the Orpheum route disproves ^ the announcement Flo aUefeld in- '{ tends to star her in a production. . ■ Miss Janis is now in London, and :■ opening in her own entertainment ^ at the Queens theatre there. She L la expected to return to New York v late in the summer. Jil' Miss Kennedy recently left "Pop- *^ py" on Broadway. Among the act-productions en- i.' faged for the Orpheum are the Gua ' Kdwards and Rooney and Bent f> ravues. L Some of the turns under engage- ^'' Aient for the summer over the Or- '-' pheum time will play altout six . weeks, with two each in San Pran- ;•:; Cisco and Los Angeles. nSS WALUNG OVEN A JAIL KNTENCE Vaudeville Violinist Pleaded . Guilty of Bank Robbery-^ ' * Two Confederates Bakerafleld, CaI., Judo t. Eleanor Walllog. at on* tim* a ' vaiideTlUe actress doing a TloUn ■psclalty, who turned bandit, has ' ^en sentenced to serve an Indeter- " nlnate term in Saa Qoentia penl- t tentiary for bank robbery. She Is only tO. When arranged ' for sentence before Superior Court ■>'■• Judge Pealra, Miss WalUng wm '"^ cool and collected, acting la the ' came manner as she did on March IS when she and two men com- >^ panlona robbod the State Bank at '■ Taft of $5,700. Upon being brought to trial Miss WalUng pleaded guilty and told of the part in tha robbery by the two men. The penal code of this State specifies that any robbery commit- ted by armed persona is first de- ^ gree robbery. Upon conviction auch ,; a robber is to serve not less than . dve years. An endeavor was made ^ to have the girl put on probation, but the code denied it to those plead- ing guilty or convicted of first-de- gree robbery, likewise a suspended sentence. According to the court the length of Miss Walllng's term will depend on the State Board of Prison Direc- tors. She will probably be held here until the trial of her two confeder- ates, Bill Crockett and Scotty Tay- lor, take place. TEX ELLIS POUin) DEAD Chicago, June 3. .i_ An overdose of morphine and , bootleg liquor claimed Tex Bill*., vaudeville, sintrle, as a victim. El- lis was found dead In a room In the Union Hotel. He was 30 years old, •nd a native of Texarkana, Tex. It was expected by the local au- thorities that relatives will claim CORN-FED WIVES CHASE GIRLS OUT OF TOWN ''Make It Peppy" Certainly Did Jazz Up Yulan, N. Y.—Gen- eral Free for All Producers of touring tab shows with their frocks, frills and girls will do well to sidestep Yulan, N. T.. should It appear on their route sheet. This admonition comes from the choristers of "Make It Peppy," which booked In at the Casino for three days last week. They were literally run out Af town before concluding the engagement by cornfed wives of farmers and mill workers who considered the slrenlc charm of the choristers was occupy- ing too much attention of their niale mates. At the Friday evening show a dele- gation of 2S wivee attended the per- formance. After the show they stampeded backstage precincts and told the girls they'd stand for no painted, prancing dames looking at their meal ticketa Some of the choristers resented the remarks. After a general free-for-all Sammy Weslyn, manager and producer of the tab, and Fritc Voegtlin. manager of the Casino, capitulated to the wishes of the married group and agreed to move out the show. Hereafter the rural sheiks will have to depend oa the movies and the Sunday supplements for thoir feminine pulchritude. AGENT BOOKING MODELS Switches from Vaudeville—More Luorativo Booking models for artists and cloak and dress concerns has proved so lucrative for a woman who haa achieved success in the vaude book- ing line, sho haa given up every- thing elM and now books models only. From iMT offloM in the Btrand Theatre Building she meota de- mands that call out about 109 mod- els a week, at from |5« to |7>. tak- ing down her osual eommlsslon from the girls and a fee from the em pi oyer*. SAMKT WABKOr DT COUST Sammy Warren (Warren and Oreenfleld) was arrested and ar- raigned In the Domaatlo Relations Court, Brooklyn, oa a charge of falling to pay bis wUe. Roee, $10 a week, from whom he has been separated about a year. The wife alleges the paymenU are aoTeral hundred doUara la arrears. Warren was arrested at the stage door of the Woodrow, Brooklyn, and as he didn't appear for the Orat half. Jack Smith and Rhea Qreen substituted. Warren will have a hearing later in the week. MBS. GABTEB ABSEHT Mrs. Leslie Carter's sketch. "Allxe of Tartary," did not play the Palace, Monday afternoon, owing to the absence of Charlaa Henderson, the leading man. It was said he was 111, but there were also rumors of a difference of opinion between the star and Henderson. Edwsrd Arnold, of "The Nervous Wreck" (an E>iulty-closed show), was expected to be up In the role In time for the showing of the sketch about midweek. the body, which is being hel<l. .. ,, of spiritualism. HOUDINI FOB CHAUTAUQUAS Harry Houdinl will lecture be- fore the Chautauquas in Aufirust and continue for nine weeks. Dur- ing this jierlod Houdini, lecturing nightly, will tour the country from coast to coast. The contract calls for $3,000 weekly and all transpor- tation. It Is understood he will lecture on his investigations along the line DANCER LOSES SUIT Denied Annulment—^"Bad Bargain' Not Suffieient Grounds EUsle Johns, dancer, has lost her suit for an annulment of her mar- riage to Walter St. CHalr, of £lm- hurst. L. L. as a result of the deci- sion handed down by Justice Nor- mas S. Dike In the Supreme Court, Queens. Mrs. St. Clair said she was the victim of a fraud. She thought her husband was telling her the truth when, during his courting, he said he was a prosperous business man. He-spent money lavishly until he married Mlsa Johns. Then, she as- serts, he admitted he was living on a nominal salary and owed various creditors for practically all of the money he had spent on her. Justice Dike held that "a bad bar- gain'* at the matrimonial counter Is not. In Itself, sufficient grounds for an annulment. PBIE8T CLOSED ACT Fltchburg, Mass.. June 3. The Rev. Anthebne Mollard, a Catholic priest, saw a troupe of players perform on Sunday after- noon and decided that the poor quality of the several numbers shown was sufltclent to v.-arrant him advising the troupe to leave the city. Mnay acts heve been closed here, after one i>erformance, as "in- ferior." Victor Horbert Memorial The Amerlcar. Society of Com- posers, Authors and Publishers will shortly start actively on cre- ating a fMMd fer the erection of a suitable memorial to the late Victor Herbert. It will be a national movement and not merely local or to be supported by the profession. It is aimed tor mav subscription to honor the memory of one of the greatest light opera composers of recent years. • The proposed site is Central Park, New Tork. ZEENO, Tlffi HYPNOTIST, CHASED AROIMD TREES Unruly Bunch of Boys at New- ark Valley, N. Y., Busted Up Professor's Sbow SAKKcXEE MABBIIS Sam McKee, vaudeville editor of "The Morning Telegraph," married Alice Braham, daughter of Dave Brabam, the composer, on Tuesday of last week and sailed for the Bermudas. Sam Is the father of the McKee boys In the Keith booking olBcea. TOO MUCH FOB e. d S. The $3,000 weekly asked by Galla- gher and Shean of big time vaude- ville for a re-entry into the twice daily after the 'G. V. Follies" closes, has been glanced -at askance by the big time managers. SAETLET-SAWTEB-BEVUE Jos. Santley and Ivy Sawyer with eight people have a turn that may get into (be PaUbce, New Tork, June 10. Abe Jacobs Badly Hurt Chicago, June I. Abe Jaoobak formerly etage man- ager at the Majestic, was seriously Injured In a taTl<'a*> aocldent Sun- day, auffertng a broken collart>one and arm. Bingbamton. N. Y. June S. A group of skeptical young men at Newark Valley, near here, and lu the opera house, there, busted up the performance of Prof. Zeleno, hypnotist. After accomplishing it without undue trouble, they chased the professor over the village, try- ing to hit him with some of the eggs left as he dodged around the tresa ulong the roadways. The professor finally dodged Into a house, where he had asked for shelter. Once inside, the professor wanted to phone for the chief of police. He waa Informed the chief was the entire force and had no phone. Advised to leave by the rear door, the professor made the attempt, but was qpain spied and did more d jdg- (Contlnued on page 37) 30 YEARS AN ACROBAT; BROKE LEG OFF LADMR True Rice In Hospital—Laughs at His Book, "How to Build a Sun Porch" Mlneola, L. I.. June 4. "Yes, that's Tom Rice, the acro« bat, right over there in the ham< mock. He's a good actor but he got a bad break trying to build a sun porch. "Certainly, he told us so, that he haa been an acrobat for SO years, taking all kinds of falls without even getting dust on his pants. "Then, one day he bought a~ house at Malverne, a pretty little place near here. Mr. Rice engaged a ladder by the week and started to build a sun porch, to Improve the value of the property It.OOO and save tit a carpenter would have charged. "While on the ladder Mr. Rice thought he would do a little song and dance while haonmerlng, Just to show the neighbors he could work without mnsle. "An auto passing tooted lu horn and Mr. Rice turned to take a bow. He fell off the ladder and broke his leg above the knee. Tee, that's the knee holding up the weights at- tached to It. "Oh, certainly he's a good aero- (CoatlnueC oa page 41) t'i'A. ELEPHANT STEPPED ON MABTA Marta Farra, the Italian strong girl. Is laying off, due to three frac- tured rit>s sustained when an ele- phant stepped on her. Sylvia Clark In Short Films Chicago, June t. Sylvia Clark haa been signed by Fox for ten weeks over the summer to make a number of two-reelers. I • i n.* *-• •»'««• LUCIEN CRINER Trumpeter and Slide Cometlst, with ———_ Ace Brigode and His 14 Virginians At Monte Carlo, New York Criner la the "Hot" Brass Man with the Famous Ace Brigode and His 14 Virginians and one of the Integral units which has eatabllshed this organisation amonn the elite In dance music orchestras on Broadway. Production m.-iuM'-era can Judge for themselves nightly at Billy Oat- (Bgher's Monte CarlOk , "THAT QTJAETET" BESUMES "That. Quartet" (Harry Sylves- ter, George Jones. Audrey Prlnifle and Frank Morrell) la playing the I^anklln. Their last previous appearance in New York was in 190t. at Hammer- Bteln'fi Victoria. Vorrell has Just l«tt t^ hPMttH, 'A Junior Orpheum Claaing June IS Chicago, Jvae t. The Orpheum, Jr., honaeai, la and around Chicago, are elated to cloee June IS. The Chicago heueea Inelude the American, Kedale, I4n«ola aa4 Bn gel wood. The Majeatk:. Palace and Rlalte. the latter a Loew house, will remala open throughout the summer. PHIL BAKER'S WIFE RECEIVED SOME WARM LOVE LETTERS Part of Husband** Succe«sful DefeiMe to Wife's Alimony Request for $350 Wedcly—Court De- cided Vivian Baker Can Support Herself Vivian Baker (Vivian Vernon), showgirl in the Ziegfald "Pollles," had her prayer for tSBO temporary alimony and $5,000 counsel fees. In her separation suit against Phil Raker, accordion comedian of the "Music Box Revue," denied In the New York Supreme Court Monday by Justice McCook. The court ruled "there Is no rea- sonable probability of plalntiflt'a suo OSS In her action, and that her Individual earnings are adequate to her support and to the prosecu- tion of such action." By atlpulatlon, Mrs. Baker, who is still under 21, did not bother hav- ing a legal guardian appointed. Miss Vernon alleged her hus- band's Income is 11,000 a week, he stating It was only t400 In the show, of which tm la net. With (Continued on page 87) NEW STAOEBS OF LEGIT New blood and facee are making headway among the fleld of produ- cers. Sammy Lee, who put on the numbers In "VanlUes," wUI do Uke- wise with the next "Muele Box Revue." Barl Lindsay, whose dance num- bers are one of the outstanding feat- ures of "Keep Kool," has an offer to stage four different new musicals and also to put on a revue abroad. BBEITBABT ON PEBCENTAOE Breitbart, the strong nuin, opened a four-weeks' engagement at the Grand Street theatre -this week, under a contract that will give him 25 per cent, of the first tlO.OOO weekly and 36 per cent of the gruse above that sum. The house Is on the populous east side of downtown New York.