Variety (July 1924)

'i'^?^'Vi. -:'t^>wr;fr---'.-t.-' w r.i;'Tj;»nrft)n>.- »-'-,-«,ipjf.rK« J.' f^'.y'- 10 VARIETY BURLESQUE '^f^^-^w^'TT^'^^Y^i^'^T^' :'TW!»*«n«'W* "WednMday, July 2, 1924 COLUMBIA CIRCUIT MEETING FOR "CLEAN SHOr TALK? Sam Scribner Sends Out Invitations — No Alibis After Season's Opening—Traveling Managers There Also A meeting of managers of all theatres on the Columbia Circuit and all Columbia producers and their road managers and officials of the Columbia Circuit has been called for July 21, to work out means and ways to further the Columbia slogan of "clf.nn shows" for next season. Constructive criticism and sug- gestion ■will be Invited at the meet- ing. First hand Instruction will be given the local manager.s. produc- ers et al. by the Columbia ofUclals anent the "clean show" policy. No alibis will be accepted when the •eason opens. The meeting la in line with the Columbia policy from now on as laid down In Sam Scribner's letter to managers and producers pub- lished In Variety last week. At the same meeting the Columbia franchise for the new season will be given out, according to report. Scribner's latest letter follows: New York, June 24. Dear sir:—A most important meeting consisting of all the joian- agers of all the theatres presenting "Columbia BuVlesque" will be held at the ofUces of the Columbia Amusement Co. at 11:00 a. m., Mon- day, July 21, All the producers and all of their road managers will at- tend this meeting. The purpose of this meeting will te to discuss from every angle all matters that will benefit the ad- vancement of "Columbia Burlesque." Besides we want the local man- agers to hear first-hand our In- Btructlons re: Clean Show. This will eliminate argument during the ueason. The theatre manager will be able to say to the road mana- ger, "1 sat in the Columbia Amuse- ment Company's office with you and heard the general manager say to all present that such and such line or action would not be permitted on the Columbia Wheel stages." And a general understanding will be had between producing, road and local managers as to the presenta- tion of Clean Shows. It's time that all managers should realize that we must cater to the masses and not the clas.ses. The theatres and shows are getting to t« entirely too expensive and too large to not cater to exactly the same clientele as Keith, Loew or the legitimate theatre. When we get this fart settled firmly in your miiHls, mc^-t of our treulilos will dif.iiipear. If you have any 6iii.'f,'c«iionK for the cleaning up of "Coliimlila Bur- lesriue'' bring them with you. We n»k the If'cal manager not to miss this meeting and we ask the pro- ducer to be here and to bring his ro.'itl manager with him. Very truly yours, COLUMBIA AMUSK.MICNT CO By CAM A. SCIiWNER. Secretary & Oeneral Myr CHORUS SCHOOL WELLS' ROSTER "Red Pepper Revue" Complete Opens Auguct 11 William K. Wells' "Red Pepper Revue" has not only signed Us principals, but has Its company staff under contract, the show open- ing Aug. 11 at the Gaiety, Pitts- burgh (Columbia Circuit). The pcr.sonnel Includes Bkl and Morton Beck, Singer and Edwards, Arthur Page (comedian); William Browning (character); James Holly (straight); Tommy Wardell and Jean LaCoste (soubret); Mabel Haley, formerly of the Four Haleys (eccentric comedienne); Helen Lee and Ruth Rosemond. Louis K. Gilbert will manage, and Fred Jacobs will handle the ad- vance. The stage crew comprises Otto" Kremm, carpenter; Frank Grog, n, electrician; Charles White, assist- ant electrician; George Boyce, property man; James Holly, stage manager, and Fred Edgner, musical director. This is the former White "Scan- dals" show which Wells supplied with most of the scenes. FEATURING 2-MAN ACT Hawthorn* and Cook May Hoad a Scribnar Show Hawthorne and Cook, a standard vaudeville comedy toam, will ap- pear at the head of one of the Co- lumbia Burlesque productions next season. The show will be one of those operated by Bam Scribner. It is understood that the Keith Circuit will release them for bur- lesque providing they can get to- gether on terms with the producer. They are to receive what is be- lieved to be a record salary for a burlesque team, or about $500 weekly. SLmiNG BILLT'8 SHOW "Sliding" Billy Watson has signed Frances Marie Texas, Anna Propp, Mile. Babette, Marie Vernon, Claire Evans, Paul H. West. Frank Mal- lahan, Murray Harris, Oliver D. Grant, Creedon Taye, The Three Eddies and Kinkald Lady Band. Also for manager. Jack McNamara; agent, Harry Abbot; carpenter, Billy Bennington; props, Fred Nolan; electrician, Herman Koch; musical director, Joe Paulson. NEWS OF DAILIES A fire in the projection room at Loew's Victoria, on 125th street, last week was extinguished by fire- men without the patrons in the the- atre knowing anything about it. The damage was slight. HARPER AS STAGER Colored Producer Putting on Two More Columbia Shows Morris Cain (Cain & Davenport), burlesque producer, has signed Leonard Harper to produce his Co- lumbia burlesque attraction, "Harry Steppe's Own Show." Harper Is the colored youth who produced "Hollywood Follies," cur- rent at the Columbia, New York. He has also been engaged by Rube Bernstein to stage the numbers In his "Bathing Beauties" next season. Harper is an ex-vaufievllle dancer, of Harper and Blank. He has pro- duced colored revues and floor shows, but this Is his first attempt at burlesque producing. Kenneth Casey and Herb Steiner will write the book and lyrics for "Harry Steppe's Show." Speaking before the annual con- vention of the New Jersey Motion Picture Theatre Owners* Associa- tion, last Wednesday, in Asbury Park, Frederick C. Breidenbach, mayor of Newark, referred to Sun- ! day motion pictures as "moral as- I sets to any community." 1 Clarence Hettrick, mayor of As- bury Park, asked the delegates to work for the repeal of the State Sunday laws. He said statistics showed less crime in communities where Sunday movies are permit- ted. Sol Lesser, of the West Coast the- atres, has called a convention of the managers of his 140 theatres, to be held in Lios Angeles for four days, beginning July 7. PEEK-A-BOO Beaton, Jon* W. Op«s«d St Oay«t7 ' (ColumbI* WhMl); Billy Oalvln, moatcal director; Ixm BM- DMUi. oompanr manaser; stacad by Allra K. Foatar; mualo by MaWIHe Morris and William Galvln; ooatomad by 'Vanity TISi Ooatuma Company. Klrat comic Harry Lander BwMna comic 'Willie Lander Binclns Btralfht Harry Pateraon Come«lenne Jean White Third oomlc Tom Gordon Acrobatic character Mark Qermalln Ingenue *«"'S^'^"\''?*'' Character man •■•Kd Qu'fi'y Dancer Irving Shelton Boubrette Nellie Nelaon Dancer Dorlne Oloyer Prima donna Nothing doing jjj Jean Dedlnl The pl<!ture studio which Harry O. Hoyt, First National director, de- signed five years ago In Astoria, Long Island City, and which was used by Pyramid Pictures until re- cently, was sold under the hammer last week and bought in by the J. F. and M. B. Construction Co. Plans are under way to enlarge the studio for independent produc- tion with O. S. Lee, former studio manager, in charge. Fox and Krause Inaugurating Plan at Milwaukee Milwaukee. July 1. Charles Fox and Jos< iih Krause, niiinagers of the CJaUty, stock bur- lesque, will open a school for chorus girls about July 20. The girls will be recruited from local shops and stores and will re- ceive a month's Instruction free under members of the Gaiety chorus who are being retained for next season. All girls making good arc assured positions either here or Minneap- olis where the Fox and Krause In- terests control stock houses. The choruses will alternate between the two cities for 40 weeks. About 30 g\T\B win be hired for each of the choruses. 2 NEW E. C. MANAGERS Kansas City, July 1. Two managers, new to Kansas City, will be at the helms of the local burlesque houses when the season opens In August. The Mu- tual Hurlesque circuit, which has sccuied a lease on the Kmpre.^s, will be reinesonted by J. J. Lleberman, who arrived here this week to take over tlie hou.se and get things in order for the new circuit'.? Introduc- tion to the local burlesque fans. Ho has announced that the house will open with the Lew Kelly show. At the Gnyety, where Freddie Waldmann has had charge for a numl^r of years, the coming season will find George Elmore of Brldge- iiort, Conn., occupying the official chair. The Columbia officials have arranged to transfer Mr. Waldmann to the Cleveland house, but at his request he will remain here as trcaf^firer of the Gayety. SUMMER GROSSES Hurti.j & Seamen's "Hollywood Follies" grossed $7,000 at the Co- lumbia, New York, last week. The burle.s(iue opened a summer run at the house following "Let's Go." Jean Bedlni's "Peek-a-Boo" did 17,500 at the Gayety, Boston. ~ MIDNIOHT PRESS SHOW The Columbia gave a midnight performance Thifrsday to local and visiting newspaper men. No tick- ets were sold. The house was turned over by the management to Wella Hawlts, who handled the ar- rangements for the correspondents. ■■ VM 'toibhial gavd a Ihidnlghl show the same nighf,'" p^e«eIM■lng' "Runnin' Wild." Harry Coleman-Marion Murray Act Marion Murray has teamed with Harry Coleman, the burlesque co- median. INCORPORATIONS Albany, June 28. Mermaid Enterprises, Inc., Brook- lyn; pictures; 200 shares non par value; H. W. Pollock, H. L. Jacob- son, Alex Aronson. (Attorneys, Ja- cobson & Pollock, 165 Broadway.) Pogany-Teichner Studios, Inc., New York City; decorating; $20,- 000; Jo.seph Telchner, Ben Pinchot, Willy Pogany. (Attorney, S. A. Fried, 291 Broadway.) Nadia, Incorporated, New York; theatrical entertainments; $20,000; Murray Phillips, W. Dermot Darby, Adele Jasous. (Attorney, Edward Petlgor, 233-239 West 42d st.) Rubenstein & Leiken, Inc., Bronx; summer resorts, moving pictures, etc.; $4,000; Dora Rubenstein, Jacob Rubinstein, Dorothea Leiken. (At- torney, P. J. Knobloch, 41 Ea.st 42d St.) Fillmore Theatre Co., Buffalo. Priscilla Amusement Co., Lewis- ton; cvapital, $10,000. Directors: Alec Martin, Ernest M. Lajounesse. J. Naz Therriault, all of LewLston. Oxford Theatre Realty Corpora- tion, Brooklyn; 100 shares non-par value; Samuel Schwartz, Herbert Muller, Benjamin Shapiro. (Attor- ney, William H. Chorosh, 1451 Broadway.) Robert Campbell, Inc., New York; theatrical; $5,000; Howard Kinsey, George H. Nicolai, Robert Camp- bell. (Attorney, J. I. Goldstein, 220 West 42nd street.) INCREASE OF SHARES The Nation, Inc., New York; from 750 shares non-par value to 2,250 shares, of which 1,500 shares are preferred stock, $100 par value, and 750 shares common stock, non-par value JUDGMENTS Classic Theatre Corp.; N. L. Am- ster; costs, $10. Max Dreyfus; F. O'Byrne, com- missioner; $260. Associated Producers, Inc.; F. B. Warren; $39,658.55. Carle Carlton; L. Movey; $1,064.95. Leslie Carter; B. M. L. Ernst, et al.- $59i;.32. otiifif Morosco; Glmbel Bros., Inc.; $331.04. Jean Bedlni's 1924 edition of "Peek-a-Boo" looks good. It opened on a Baturdify night (June 21), with some invitations out, a capacity house that was friendly to the limit, and received a flock of press notices that eclipsed anything handed out in this sedate burg for burlesque since the days of "Wine, Women and Song." The show was ragged, but pardonably so, and by Wednesday night, with a weather break, it was playing to a turn-away. Bedinl closed his regular sea.son In Boston and sailed immediately for London, bringing back with him 18 girls under bond, exploited aljong the lines of the Tiller and the Sun- shine aggregations. Unfortunately the girls haven't shown much as yet, working lethargically and in- differently, and being no Ziegfeld beauties to boot. Bedini says they will develop Into doggers in- dividually and will prove to be a whale of an asset before he is through with them. He Is also carrying a half dozen jazz pl.Tyers without Harold Stern, under whose name the band Is play- ing. The band shows in ensemble.s and in a couple of flash numbers, and also works effectively in the pit during intermission together with the house orchestra. This runs up the company to 47 he.ids ,and, together with a big production cost for a burlesque show, i.s lauslng Hedlnl to do a George White around the box of- fice. As If shapes up the .show will have to do $8,000 to cause any heart throbs of joy on Bedlni's part, he claims, and tlie railroad's bit will be heavy, judging from the stuff carried, including a bunch of ineffectively used drapes he brought in from England. Back-stage Is handicapped also, as the house carries only a four- man crew, and after Bedini's four- man crew was-added, an'extra crew of nine was put on, giving him a total crew of 17. Part of this is due. of course, to the show being ragged, but mainly beause It is a tricky stage loutlne. The show as It Is running Is al- most etjtirely Harry Lander and Harry I'aterson, the latter doing all the heavy numbers and practically all the straiiijht work. Peterson Is a dog for punishment, has a real voice, a comedy sense, and is a big- ger asset to Bedini than Bedini probably realizes. No prima donna l3 carried by Bedini, as he feels the prim.a donna has hud her day in burlesque. Bedini Is after an out-of-the-or- dinary show, and in some ways he has already attained his goal. He has, for exariple, a series of one- minute dramas, such as the man with the husky voice who asks his wife It her husb.and's home, and she an.«iwers, "No; come on In," and the man who wanted to get hold of a girl for the evening. Most are vet- erans, but they are sure fire and tinged with a bit of blue. But It Is easy these years to call any double entendre doubtful comedy for bur- lesque and to call It delightful and daring humor at $4.40 .a seat. Merely becau."^e burlesque Is be- ing cleaned up does not justify any super-criticism or any campaign to make It like a Sunday schooj can- tata. There was a heavy female con- tingent In the house Wednesday night, and they laughed louder than the men at Lander's lecture on the living pictures, where he mentioned the sea captain who had been away for six years and the wife waiting with her three months' old baby for hlg return. It was done with enough patter In between to make the house grope for It. The enflre show was passed by City Censor John Casey, who is an oM showman and willing to give any .show more than an even break. The only deletions Casey made were on a couple of damns and hells and a warning that bare legs were not to be tried, regardless of summer heat. Lander's best comedy stuff Is the old two men in a camel skin; the wash boiler ad lib stunt, which Is always a riot, and a sleeping car revue type of hoke. He also works In a straight sketch laid on an old Oa DANE AND HOUSES WITH MUTUAL WHEEL St. Louis Mgr. with Columbia's I Record for Some Time Has ] 2 Northwestern theatres ; Oscar Dane, last season manager of the Gayety, St. Louis, has re- slgnedvf'rom the Columbia Circuit and gone over to the Mutual bur* lesque wheel, having leased from Finklestein & Rubin the Palace, Minneapolis, and Empress, St. Paul, which will play Mutual shows next season. Dane Is reported as having be- come dissatisfied with his Columbia affiliation following the criticism ot his showmanship and methods by Sam Scribner, Columbia general manager. Scribner mentioned Dane's house in a circular letter implying that unclean shows were responsible for the let down of busi- ness at the Gayety, which started the season in bang-up style, doing $16,000 weekly and leading the cir- cuit. At that time Dane had no opposition from the Mutual Circuit, which later secured the Garrlck, St. Louis, and cut into Dane's re- ceipts consistently. According to friends of Dane ht bl.imed this upon the Columbia's persistent censorship of his methods and the taming of the shows. The Mutual wheel, according to Dane, used the same methods he originally employed and profited accordingly, for they like their burlesque literally in St. Louis, the town having that reputation among Columbia pro- ducers. Dane claimed Scribrver's letter was an about-face, as he had used Dane's early season grosses as an object lesson in an earlier letter calling attention to the remarkable business being done at the Gayety. I. H. Herk, president of tha Mutual Circuit, had a conference with Dane several weeks ago, the result of which was Dane's an- nouncement he was through with the Columbia' and would take hia two houses over to the Mutual. O'NEAL-COLLINS DEBATE Comedians Held Converse Just Out< j side Columbia's Stag* Door ] Harry O'Neal and Marty Collins rushed Into vocal conflict one after- noon last week while the sun wu , shining overtime. Mr. Collins was about to enter the stage door of the Columbia the- 1 atre to take part in the matine* j performance of "Hollywood Fol- j lies," when Mr. O'Neal jocularly j mentioned the torridness of the day i and Us possible effect upon work- ing actors. It didn't sound Jocular to Collins, who sharply retorted. O'Neal promptly answered, Collins talked back and O'Neal sent his tongue Into high while Collins was already beyond all speed limits. That's the way it ended, although at one time the indications were that neither man would be content with words alone. ' ' GUESTS AT NOLAN'S POINT A number of burlesquers are stopping at Nolan's Point, Lake Hopatcong, N. J., with the list in- cluding Tom McKenna and Violet Hllson (Mrs. McKenna); Mr. and Mrs. John Jess, Bert Baker, Teddy Simmons, Walter Myers and Chas. Kid Koster. RECHANGE NAME _._ From Town and County Players, [Wharf and de.aling with a plctur- Hartford Full Week Hartford, Conn., will be a full week on the Columbia Circuit next season. Negotiations are on now for one of the Poll houses. Hartford was on the Columbia wheel two seasone ago. erty, ready to go next season and Inc., New York City, to ijessy Trim ble, Inc. From B. P. Schulberg Preferred, Inc., New York City, to B. P. Schul- berg Productions, Inc. Negligence Almost Fatal Helen Edwards, 22, actre.<<s, went to sleep early Saturday morning, .neglecting to 'exttnfrulsh the gas. She was found ove«om^i l^uk re- vived. esque sea captain who turns out to be a disguised dope peddler. It looks like an old vaudeville skit, although not familiar to this re- porter. The music la better than aver- age, but with no really outstanding numhpr. Scenlcally Bedini has splashed, and in costumes he has made really a pretentious flash. Bafied on what the show will be when Bedini has two full weeks to ifattsnJIt up. It seems as if he had a real bit of Columbia Wheel prop- good this season up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. An ioleresting bit of controversy arose ^'among the dramatlo critics and the showmen In town as to whether it was an attempt to ape a revue. The critics said it was not real burlesque. Bedini come* back with the statement that bm^ lesque, as it was originally intende^ was travesty In its trend, and "*^ \ here his show is spoken of as ntm being burlesque, it really is In tilt' true sense. «| Thursday night the Jazz ban«5 was broadcast, and Bedini Is '^'JS templating broadcasting the e"'*'^ show, based on the favorable <'0'»J mcnte made'about the productiOl| by the owner of WNAC ^ ,- • = Len lAhlcy. j