Variety (August 1924)

VARIETY VAUDEVILLE Wednesday, August C, l| RADIO ROUTE SET FOR 2-Aa RUNS UNTIL JUNE. IN STATIONS "The Dixie Start*' Get First Booking Direct—Doing Act and Plugging Own Song—Regular Radio Booking-office Looked Forward To '' ^ As far as known around radio circles, the first radio route to be attennpted by recognized entertain- ers will be started Sept. 1 in Chl- caeo, when AI Bernard and Russell Boblnson, known as "the D>xie etatn," Uunch a tour that will keep them occupied "In the air" until the first of June, 1926. Bernard and Russell have the Itin- erary laid out, with the boys taking In all the principal broadcastinir points on the rad'o calendar. The last concert is scheduled for Pitts- burgh. The program as framed by Ber- nard and Robinson calls for a non- sensical little duolog, single and double numbers and some piano stuff by Robinson. While Bernard will do most of the warbling, Robin- son will come in for his share on some of the double numbers. Wherever stops are made the local stars w'll work local tieups and also give their Q-R-S rolls special at- tention. I The boys-are booking direct with the station, all eagerly accepting the proposed visits of the two men who have gained considerable pop- ularity with their broadcast'ng. While there are many songs in the Bernard and Robinson program, they plan to give their own compositions special attention. The New TOrk music publishing houses are Interested <n the trip and Its outcome, especially as to the pub- licity and the cost that will come of the proposed tour. The music publishers are certain that the day is not far-distant when there will be a big radio booking bureau, :with all the expenses as well as salaries guaranteed by the stations or the powers that control them. The Bernard-Robinson tour Is expected to pave the way for the establishment of such a bureau.. A radio circuit is regarded as a (*rtainty, with the cities so arranged that the artists do not have a single layoff week during the entire year. It is understood that the>8tation8, individually and collectively, are not paying for the proposed radio tour of the entertainers, but that it has been arranged by Waterson, Berlin A Snyder company. An effort to get confirmation as to this from Henry Waterson failed, as he is away on a summer vacation and is not expected back in the New York offlces until Labor Day. All the songs, however, are in the W.. B. A S. catalog, and the boys are said to be on the W. B. & S. payroll in addition to copping roy- alty for their records. • HEIMAN TELL S PLANS Orpheum Circuit's President in Loa Angelee. tios Angelee, Aug. 5. Marcus Helman, president of the Orpheum Circuit, when here ^an- nounced that when the new Or- pheum theatre Is completed about Sept. 1, 1925, the present Orpheum will be turned over to the Western Vaudeville Managers' AssoMatlon for booking and Is to be operated along the same lines as the Majeetie, Chicago. Work on the new house, which will be located on the site of the Mission, Broadway near Nlntn street, will begin Sept. IS. Mr. Helman declared that the new W. V. M. A. booking plan for the West is a gigantic one and states that he feels sure California will have a great number of houses playing their shows. He announced that Colonel Chas. R Bray will ar^ rive here about Aug. 22 to inaugur- ate the plans for me establishment of the W. V. M. A. route as well as a booking office. Mr. Helman leaves here Aug. 1 for San Vrancisco and will then re- turn to Chicago. Frank Rivers of the Orpheum forces of Chicago Is his companion on the trip. wotr-imioN SCENIC studio Union Studiee After Them—CuHing In With Low Prices Scenic contrmctora whose organi- sation la 1i part of the scenic artists' union, have declared against low price studios are said to be mostly atlve In supplying productions and drops for vaudeville tCcts. At a recent meeting of the union scenic studio people it was decided to actively combat the non-union shops which ar4 charged with mak- ing inroads on the business of the older establishments. Representa- tives of the union are said to have been assigned to point o)it to the low-priced shops the advantages of joining the union. Should the low price shops hold out as Independents, It is under- stood the union contraetoi's plan to place the matter before labor au- thorities with the object of secur- ing a regulation covering vaudeville theatres forbidding stage hands from handling any settings not hav- ing a union label. MORGANS DISSOLVING Split Professionally and Maritally : This Week " Arthur and Bmtna Morgan are dissolving both professional and marital partnership after this week. Mrs. Morgan has returned to the hcmie of her parents in Philadelphia where she will institute divorce pro- ceedings on grounds of incompati- bility. Morgan confirmed the split, but refused to comment on his wife's, action other than to say she was a wonderful woman, but they just couldn't seem to get along. Morgan will continue the act with another woman partner. SHOWING FIGHT FILMS Dcmpsey-Gibbons Match in Shelby Being Shown at B'klyn House The Dempsey-Gibbons fight pic- tures from Shelby, Mont., held last summer, are being shown at a picture house in the colored dis- trict. A western man is reported to have brought the fight films eastward and offered them to several Broad- way houses. The fransoortatlon and exhibiting.of fight pictures Is a violation of the Interstate Com- merce Act, which left the Broadway exhibitors wondering where they would stand if exhibiting the Shel- by shots. Cherry Sisters WiU Stump for La FoDette Cedar Rapids, Aug. 5. The Cherry Sisters are In the limelight once more. After a short tour In vaudeville they have re-en- tered politics, having pledged their support to stump for La FoUette for President. Effle was recently defeated in the mayoralty election, but le mthed to get a political position somehow. SALARY SUIT Olga and Mishka Appeared in Op- position House at Decatur Chicago, Aug. 5. A. Siegfried, manager of the Bijou, Decatur, III., has instituted suit against Olga and Mishka, for $485.70, which he claims is due him for failure of act to appear at above theatre for a contracted date. The act appeared the following week at an opposition theatre in the same city. Orpheum People Must Pay —Can Charge to Expense Chicago, Aug. 6. Officers of the Orpheum circuit have been informed no more passes will be issued to th'm for any of the Orpheum theatres. In the future they wHI have to buy their seats, but will be allowed to charge them to their expense ac- cot nts. CONET'S TWO HEW OHES Shannon Brothers h%ve broken ground for the erection of a new 2,500-seater and oflSce building di- rectly opposite Henderson's, Coney Island. The policy will be pictures and vaudeville, booked through an in- dependent agency. This will make the second new theatre under way foT Coney Island. The other house is being built at a spot further down by George C. Tilyou and will be booked through the Keith office. JOHir BURKE SI TO REPLACE Engaged by Sam H. Harris 1 "Music Box Revue"-. OlfiGial MLLE. DONATELLA The Tambourine Wlsard, presents "CARNIVAL OF VENICE" A Night in Mardi Orae An act with seven people, eaph «doing their individual specialties. Novelties that cannot be compared. Always booked solid. Now Playing Balaban A Katz Wonder Theatres of Chicago Week, Aug. 5—Tiveli Week, Aug. 11—Riveria ESastern Representative ■ HARRY WEBER Western Representative SIMON AGENCY INDEPENDENTS CANT ORGANIZE Another Attempt to Cor^ ral Agents Fails as Usual The latest attempt to organise In- dependent vaudeville agents into a central body has fallen by the way- BldSf like all previous attempts. Those who had attempted to put deter'^^ci'0'8 the organisation are through on account of getting little co-opera- tion from the bookers, most of whom were long on talk J>ut short on action. A meeting had been scheduled for last Thursday at Jack Under's office. Only a few appeared. The meeting was called off, with the organisers thoroughly disgusted. The independents are tough birds to get together, according to the organizers. It is only during trou- blous times that they can see any= thing In the way of organization. When a house is lifted from their books by another booker they are generally up in ar|[is, and the organl- Puck and White Going on B. & K. Time a| $1,500 Bva Puck and Sammy White will open a three weeks' engagement of the Balaban & Katz houses Sept. 8 at the Chicago, followed by a week eaclr at the Tivoli and Riviera, at a reported salary of $1,500 weekly. They will continue in vaudeville via the Keith Circuit next season. -imnnE bubke masbies Lima, O., Aug. 5. ]|^hen Minnie Burke, 29, was touring the middle west and east three years ago, she played Lima, • and met G. O. Supuls, 42, a local realty broker. A marriage license has been taken^out In Lima by the two, the actress giving her name as Wilheimlna Koerner. Both Miss Burke and Dupuls f have been .rrjnwiedi fcefonc. The wedt. 4ii^ is enpecVerf f take place vtMs Sveek. H. B. WARNEB BOUTED A Keith contract has been given to H. B. Warner with his sketch. He' will appear at the Palace, New York, Labor. Day week, after pre- viously playing the Palace, Chicago, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Late in October Mr. Warner will open in "Silence," legit attraction, at the Gaiety, New York. CABBOLL'S "PICKINGS" Ixm Angeles, Aug. 5. The Harry Carroll revue, sched- uled to take place at the Orange Grove, will be titled "Pickings of 1924." with the sub-line, "First Crop." Negotiatlone are on to secure Will Morrisey and Midgie Miller to head the cast. BUN OF FLAT CONTRACT Joe Laurie, pint sized 4omic who has been featured In "Plain Jane" is not to leave the show as reported. This week he signed a run'of play contract with the musical. Prior to the signing of the new contract Laurie had been opjerating under a two week notice, either way. AFOLLO'S NEW STAGE The Apollo, In Harlem, which is to open with burlesque stock un- d«n thei «lre«ti»w of WnaUy Brothpr". haa instftlledla <ieiw< stagev^tt a.qoHt of $40,000. - .. ' OUT OF "FASSmO SHOW" Charles Kraft has left the re- hearsing "Passing Show," releasing the Shuberts from the team con- tract he and Jack Haley (Kraft and Haley) signed. With h^ departure the team split, Haley remaining under an indi- vidual contract. Kraft is s^ to have left follow- ing a controversy with the pro- ducers of the show. He was the straight man of the pair; Haley the comedian. Johnny Burke, monologlst, at the Palace, New York, has signed by Sam Harris fcr years. Burke will play a fe«<. tlonal weeks of vaudeville and reitlace Frank TInney In the "Music Box Revue." Burke hatf been a si vaudeville singU for several under the direcdon of Alf. Vl] and until recently turned a ear to all production offers. The ann )uncement that will succeed Tinney is official follows the report Harry F9Z being considered by Harris. « Bari TWO SUNDAY I^OWS Minsky Brothers will play Sun- day concerts at their National Win- ter Garden, downtown, and Apollo theatrei, 125th street, beginning Aug. 30, playing six acts and pictures, booked through the Jack LInder Agency. The Apollo will open with stock burlesque Aug. 28. WABWICK'S |1,750 Chicago, Aug. 5. The Robert Warwick sketch, "Bonds That Separate," is at the Palace here this week, preliminary to an Orpheum Circuit tour. Variety reported last week the salary of the act as $1,260, evidently a typographical error, as Warwick is receiving $1,760. 400-Mile Jump . The route of the Sparks Circus Allows a_ 400-mlle jump over Sun- day, from Pembroke, Aug. 16, to Timmlns, Con., Aug. 18. J, With,^)|« *(y)c\mlvn: of, SlRnrkp' ,2^tli we«k I the ,m^ag« ti"! i)>*v«, reached 10,168 miles. zatlon stuff gains new impetus. But in tranquil times fhey forget all about the plan to organise. The promoters of the organization proposed to grant the agents pro- tective measures. One of its feat- ures would have protected an agent booking a house against losing it to another member unless the change was lustifled, and then only after a grievance board had heard both sides. Another plan was to make man- agers post a l)ond covering the ten- ure of booking contracts as insur- ance against switching over to an- other booker without lustiflcation, and protecting the salaries of actors engaged through their offices. Several of the bookers are already working on the latter arrangement after having been previously nipped by houses going under and making the booker carry the hag for the per- formers' salaries, since the original contract had been made with the booker. Undoubtedly there is a crying need for such an organization among the independents, but several who have tried to show them the light have thus far found it a thankless Job. Divorce From Husband in Pa Chicago, Aug. Edith Victoria Randall (on^ of | four Olrton Girls) has entered i for divorce from Frederick Wll Randall, at present appearing revue in Paris, charging des Leon B^^znlak Is the attoriM^l INCORPORATIONS Jkthletie Films, Inc., New T( City; pictures; $1,000; Philip ler, Isaac Sickle. Lilian Silver. 0 torney. Philip Zierler, 1540 Bi way.) Alloy Productions, Inc., New Ti theatrical proprietors and mai and produce musical perforraai $3,000. Directors—Sidney R. Flel David Stutson, Matilda H Subscribers—L^ Kugel, Jack lus, Byron Beasley. (Attorney, h seph B. Blckerton, Jr., 220 W« 42d St.) Caiqeo Operating Co., Inc^ York; repair and operate pi films; 200 shares n. p. v.; Fr«d Wilson, Frederick Katz Freedman. <Attorney, Herbert Greenberg, 32 Broadway.) ' Brock Pemberton, Inc., New Toikl; plays and pictures; 150 shares . ferred stock $100 par value. Il| shares common stock non par Brock Peml>erton, C^iarles H. Winifred O. Golden. (Attoi . O'Brien, MeJevinsky A Drisceii.) Brackett, Hawks, Ryley New York; theatrical enterpri $56,000; Raymond O. Brackett, Wfl Hawks, Thomaa W. Ryley. (At ney. Vine H. Smith, 64 Wall sti Southern Tier -Theatres Co., mira; entertainments; 3,000 b] preferred stock $100 par value; t, shares common stock non par vi' J. John Hassett, Malcolm D. son, George Va& Demark. (Atl neys. Baldwin & Allison, Eli N. Y.) Their First Baby, Inc., New T( theatrical enterprises; $25,000; telle Max, Marie Kautzman, Ei uel Goodman. (Attorney, F. Knorr, Albany. N. Y. - The Foot, Ino, New York theatrical: $10,000; Affle McVI (3eorge Wotherspoon, John B: (Attorney, Jacob L Ooodstela, West 42d St.) Fran-Sel Theatrical Corp., B theatrical; 60 shares no par George D. Seldon. Charles P. chot. Renee Richard. (AUoi Keneflck, Cooke, Mitchell &; ' Marine Trust Bldg., Buffalo.) . Louis De Charon Studios, New York; pictures and V graphs; $26,000; Abraham J. erman, Paul Barmon, Louis Sharon. (Attorney, Philip I. 145 Broadway.) ' - 1 Astor Productions, Brooklyn; tures; $10,000; Henry G. Samuel Carver, AIpl)onse J. . (Attorney, Max Henry Salzen Fulton St., Brooklyn.) Orssolutions Ansonia Amusement Co., Inct, York. Papers filed by company, Broadway. SOUTH DAKOTA Walker Theatre Co., A 8. D.; capital, $160,000; Incori tors, Jennie A. Walker, H. U W' H. E. Walker. ORPHEUrSSTAR BILL Next Week's l^ayout at L. A. Pointed To with Pride Los Angeles, Aug. 6. The Orpheum of this city is point- ing with pride if not ecstasy to the program bill for next week. In its running order are 10 ppaces, 16 spaces, Stan Stanley and Co, Ben Mftott, Bapd. ^ohP, fttfel, Rl|char<l B«fki\ett ,ai)d, Co, 9iU iRot44M|) and one to fla .. - 4 ./ JUDGMENTS Briton N. Buseh; H. Br«il|| *282. , „„ Basil Broadhurst; A. mb Loch Sheldrake Amus. Co., » S. & H. Hahnr $717.49. Perry Bradford; F. Van Inc.; $870.15. Earle Amus. Corp.; N. Y. Tel $68.80. . Que Edwards Sunbonnot Co,v Inc.; H. C. Miner Litho. $787.39. _, _ B'way Brevitiea Prods., ■ same; $39.86. Wilda Bennett; C. K. $1,668.06. „ , I Patroushka, Inc.; N. Y .Tel. « $162.16. V - , .1 Helen Bedini;. V>R. Halsey •» $6,062.71. Satisfied Judgments Earl Carroll; BrlUsh & Co] KInetaiatograph Co., Ltd.; Ji* March 18, 192*i< ' *WilkW- AWUe^A-Ctlrtcession Intfc^ ' IFa»i' Thldihk Oo. tM4e.68; June 6, 1924.