Variety (December 1924)

134. !-*yj--ir jaw^ - -^^ ''-/'., "juws^^i^gnadLP i»«i.'j!inL.':iflBi: i s^m,.jut. r^^^i icmp ^t^ag'inf'ntm^wwr VARIETY - .'VT^ifBir JTr'STBTSaKnt^i***" Wednesday, Pec«mber 31, 1924 ' EAST AND VEST '!*•■ , . lOOntlnued Trom p»s« 10) ^'.« Srace In these lovely creatures; It i commands more than passing atten- tion when thejr stroll down the Ks- , colta, Manila's Broadway or Main ■tr«et; It wins many an encore for their slngins and stage dancing. ,... For these daughters of a roman- tic amour in a remote barrio where 1/ garrison life was lonely (and "sin- y gl* men in barracks do not grow /, to plaster saints") have talien the i^l Manila stage by storm. No longer "'la there rich gold digging for las- fr ales from Australia: Manila's beau- ^'' ties are pretty and something more. '> As to the Spanish mestiza, for ^.t there is that type too, she need not X', blush before her Valencian sister; *. 'she will render her sister's provln- . clal dances with an Incomparable ^v verve and an intuitive talent. Vaudeville's Malayan Star There i» even the vaudeville star . of pure Malayan heritage, a pecu- fy liar and winning little damsel whose manner and physique so contrast with that of her mother as quite to , confound the scrlutlny of one even ^X' •', her own verjr city. (It la the '' American environment, apparently It is the freedom that goes with the Stars and Stripes. The greater stature and more comely physique of Orientals reared in America are repeated in the Philippines in the ' present generation—a biological , truth hardly to have been antici- pated.) la what language, pray, will , chorus girls and stage stars ad- dress their auditors la Manila? ' For down there In the orchestra rows are old-fashioned "Uncle ' Joshes" from neighboring provinces, and back of them the house la fllled with students of a dozen different dialectal regions, students from the universities and high schools, the conunerclal schools and even the seminaries. Here are Chinese mer- chants and there young Spaniards from distant plantations on other Islands. Americans are In many ot tlft boxes, and what may delight the •oldler may not at all please the : civilian. This Gordlan problem of ^tbe footlights Is neatly cut by the ^use of English. The students get It all. the merchants get some, the young Spaniards long ago supplied themselves with Bnglish grammars. Not so long ago Spanish was the medium, not very wfell compre- hended. Oradoally,, however, it be- came necessary for 'the many flrst- rate Spanish actors, men and wom- en, of the Manila stage to acquire English; and they did. English it Is, therefore, varied only by one number. In the vaudeville shows, when a young dalaga appears either in mestiza or hallntawak costume and sings a native kundlman. The kundlman Is a folk song, a folk song perforce, with a plaintive, languid melody that caJIs for a low string ^ aocompaniment. For an encore It ^. can be jazzed Into a remarkable vl- j Vaclty. The lovelorn lass, but now -> weeping at her window because her ^ lorer's faithless guitar tlnkjes far ,/ tfown the street beyond the bamboo |i: shadow In moonlight sUvei-bright {\ •»•' another's welcoming lattice, has :; »rown In a twinkling into a banter- '^ tag and disdainful flapper. J: Plenty of Versatility If versatility Is a part of good act- »f ^' HooA vaudeville ability, the Ma- v> nlla stage has It In abundance. Katy ';' de la Cruz can bring the house down merely by standing and saying noth- Inc and doing very little. But she does that little In a most Inimitable manner, it Isn't common or vulgar In the least; It Just has a flair that CeU 'em. The Manila girl never sacrifices a dainty and thoroughly natural quality that might be de- scribed as good breeding wsre it not shared by all, lyjndr^ss and lady, schoolgirl and stenographer. It is, ■ In fact, an evidence of the old, very , ' old, native culture, which the cradle continues these long centuries since ' custom discarded It. Half a dozen companies made up of such potential talent as has been alluded to are now playing stock la Manila. At the cinemas they do three a day, changing programs ■ twice weekly. This means, of course, . the hardest kind of work. It Is new, .' bowerer, thoroughly an innovation, ■" *Bd for that reason not altogether * Irksome. An hour is the usual r lenirth of a program. The first half Is devoted to vaudeville turns. In- cluding frequently an aria or two from favorite operas, for while the Philippines have bowed to Jazz; they have a heretic leaning toward really fine music. The last half hour is glvtn over to a one-act musical skit •oeclally 4ense«-T-^ften or^glaally written, toe^-tor • \bq pArtidwmr abilities ot the east.' *i1i^ skits •Tldence another unique blinding •f Bast and West; they are a med- _ft harmony, beauty, light, color. song and orchestral effort that, with a haunting and errant gesture of cpwtUl and in6lioa^ oulte enQirais the susceptibilities of the vaude- ville addict The temple bells of Mandalay still ring in the heart of KlpUng; '.'.e worst i>hase of the Bast is Its wan- ton witchery; nay, rather, the best phase of It, to be once experienced and then indulged forever. Don't we all smile cynically enough when someone hlds good- bye and declares he's never coming back again? Usually he can't get back quick enough. Music of Wide Range But, getting bacit to the shoW) fre- quently the skit will include the en- tire score of a musical comedy, an old favorite like "The Wooden Sol- diers," the action cut, but all the music left; and on these occasions the old dromedary professor at the piano, leading an orchestra not to be despised because of Its few pieces, will be at his best. He leaves the desert of coinmonplace jaas, of pop- ular stage tune, for the oasis ot genuine music; the stage responds;; the audience sits forward to recall old memories of first performances seen In New York. It Isn't as good as It was In New York, but It is the best to be bad out where the East calls. Pieces come, too, from the Folies Bergere or from Madrid or Barce- lona: Manila Is polyglot and facile in all tongues. It borrows Its art from a dozen capitals and tags it as Its own. Not many years hence It will have something quite worth while to of- fer In exchange. The flrst scout sent here by Keith's booked "Salming," a girl violinist. As good or better talent was not discovered. It re- mains behind, doing "three a day" and awaiting a fortunate opportu- nity to go some day to America and earn dollars In lieu of pesetas. Opulent America reaches a long arm across wide seas, cradling and encouraging many a stage ambition. south. Dorothy BruntoB and Charles Hesiop are featured. All ot the acts secured In America by Jack Musgrove for Williamson. Talt have made good la this country. ——r- The Six Brown Brothers will open In Melbourne in December under Wllliamson-Talt direction. Walter Weems returns to America this week after a run over the Wil- liamson time. AUSTRALIA (Continued from page 4) modatlon tor 1,500 persons and em- ploys 100 persons to operate the house. "The Ten Commandments" created a sensation when screened for the first tlmti.' The operators of the theatre are R J. and Dan Carroll and 1^. J. Talt. Business stilt capacity, twice dally, at Fuller's, with the SUlTy and Mo revue featured. Dan dun- bar Is one of the mainstays. Mo«n and Morris were the hit of the vaudeville portion; Philmers ojJtened; Renda Rudd, fair; George Edwards, scored; Dan Thomas made hit with dame character. MELBOURNE At His i^ajesty's "Maid of the Mountains" has' been revived by Willlamion-Talt with Gladys Mon- crleff. John D. GHara is playing in "Kempy" at the Royal under the same management. "Tons of Money" is finishing at the Princess under Fuller - Ward management Irene Vanbrugh and Dion Boucl- cault are playing with success in "Arent We All?" at the King's. The Tlvoli is playing this week Maldie Scott, Oswald Williams, Qene Morgan, Vernon Watson, Vic- tor King, Rupert Inglasse, and A'an Cello and Mary. Fuller's has on Its bill this week Maxwell Carew, Carlton Max. Wolfe arid Gale, Will and Linda Nawman and Con Morenl Revue. The new Capitol opened three weeks ago with "The Ten Com- mandments." The new theatre is somdwhat similar to the Sydney Prince Edward. Hal Wright, from America, operates the ciilossal pl|>e orcan. Williams and Taylor, colored act. who arrived with a Wllliamson-Talt vaudeville contract, go Into "Good Morning, Dedrie." Bert Ralston and Havana Band will tour New Zealand next week under Wllllam.son - Talt banner. From New Zealand the band wIU probably return to London via America. Guy Bates Post h.^ arrived here. Under Willlamson-Talt manage- ment Mr. Post will open at the Criterion in December with "The Green Goddess." Nell Carter, from London, wHI be his leading liidy. Van Cello and Mary have arrived to play vaudeville for Williamson- Tah, Archie Martin, head of publicity, Wllliamson-Talt. has left for a tour of. the world la the interests of his ttrta. "The Rise of Rosle OReilly" will be the Christmas attraction at the Opera House under Fuller-Ward. The show has been a big hit down Sir George Tallls, London director for Wllliamson-Talt, has secured many attractions for his firm for the forthcoming season. Dion Boucicault wilt do a cycle of J. M. Barrle's plays In the middle of i»2S. "Rose-Marie," "Stepping Stones," "Madaihe Pompadour." "The Street Singer," "Primrose," "Kid Boots." "The Fake" and "Spring Cl«aalng" are others listed. Guy Bates Post will do "The Bad Man" during his Australian season "Hassan" will be presented with London scenery and costumes dur Ing the new season. Bert Levy returns to America this week after a brilliant suboess on TivoU time., Mr. Levy stated that he may hold down a representatWe position for Wllliamson-Talt In New York. The Canslno Brothers and Co. will be the added attraction In "Wlld- flower," which opens at the Royal next week. The act holds a WU- Uamson-Tait vaudeville contract 365,005 YEARLY (Continued from page S) release the pictures on a very nom- inal distributing fee way, under the usual terms. Miss Swanson. In ad- dition to her |1,00« daUy guarantee, is to be declared In on the profits. Famous has had several of Its executives In Paris to Influence Miss Swanson to stick. R. A. Rowland and Sam Kats were over In behalf ot First Na- tlonaT and they tried to set her name to a contract but the beau- teous Gloria ftldeetepped everything. Schneck Is now there and Sam Goldwyn Is chasing him. so the race Isn't quite over as yet YEAR Di TAUDE (Continued from Pafire 10) vaudeville has not progressed one lota. If anything, there has been a small percentage of back-slipping In thoee vaudeville branches. Small time as exemplified by the Loew Circuit has been too dependent upon pictures to give orerly thought to the vaudeville In the house, still looked upon by the XiO.ew people as secondary, as. ever, to the picture displays. Loew's liais been fortunate or far-sighted so far In procuring an excellent grade of picture re- leases. Loew's has a Ifurge number of "da'ys" to play pictures and con- siderable Influence ' through It but Loew's has also some expert pic- ture pickers—and Loew's will pay for pictures where It will not pay< for vaudeville. That Loew's has been affluent with pictures was demonstrated during November, when In the week Jack Dempsey broke the rec- ord of Loew's Stat^ New York, the house for the same te<*m played Keaton's "Navigator," « comedy plcturo that had lje»n. booked by Loew's on Its ovi'n reliance. Due to Inability to switch the booking of V\« film, the ptcture and Dempsey, both draws, had to double when plther one would have sufficed. Al- though It Is unlikely the picture could have taken the record where- as It is almost a surety Dempsey would have. Within the past three months, however. Loew's has been putting on a better class of feature turn for the circuit mostly acts from the big time that preferred Loew's, apparently, tor Its consecutive work rather than the hasard of the big time bookings. Most of the acts had been on the big time tor a long time and were subject to postpone- ments ot playing In favor of newer, often cheaper, acts. Independents Hopeless The Independents must takb what they can get and they can't get much as at present constituted. Regular turns rPlay the Independ- ents as flll-lns or hideaways, with- out the Independents .offering enough time tor anything ap- proaching a standard act. nor hav- ing enough time to gtre an act ot beyond averagre salary for their circuits sufllolent weeks to make the independents worth whUa, These conditions leave the Inde- pendents In a bad way, tor longe- vity, shows or theatres. ^^RRiat. (b« Independent fleld in vaudeville needs Is an outstanding flgure as Its leader, one who can command and build up through hope of the future. Such a man would not undertake the job at present, not seeing enough In It. A man as well versed and as good a showman as the position requires feels he could employ his time much moro profitably elsewhere, plus money and minus work. One Distinctive Departure One effort ot the year to attract attention as a distinctive departure in vaudeville has been the effort of the Western Vaudeville Managers' Association oC Chicago to erect a Chlcago-to-Coast small time or pop time or Independent circuit. So far this has been partially successful. It's the tougheft kind of « circuit to start and h'old. Engineered by Charles E. Bray. It got a running start Then Bray left the Associa^. tlon to visit abroad. Bray's leaving threw the Coast circuit In the air and hung onto Bray's successpr, 'V^. j. Lydlat. an unusually difficult task to comiJeteL One point Intavor ot the Chlcago- to-Coast circuit Is that the Or- pheum wants It , The Orpheum Circuit Is allied with the Associa- tion, with the Orpheum having Junior houses on the coast that must be kept apart from the big time Orpbeums there. Through this situation the new circuit could be well used as a feeder to the coast Juniors and for that reason espe- cially the Orpheum Circuit doubt- less win give the smaller circuit all of Its support requested. Notwithstanding this strong In- fluence, Mr. Lydlat has tackled a formidable proposition. He must do business for the Association with a string of Independent managers in Isolated spots who have Ideas of their own, most often ideas diamet- rically opposite to those of such a well regulated vaudeville Institution as the association. Double Jointed Proposition Lydiat's proposition to the coast Is double-Jointed; he must flrst get the managers and then hold them. Either Is quite hard enough, but with the resources of the Associa- tion, Its ability to furnish better bills than other agencies could book out ot Chicago and possibly bring better results if given due oppor- tunity, the isolated managers who want to play the cheapest and get the most money from It, no matter what the entertainpient may be, wIU eventually conclude that to deal with an established agency ot the Association's standing is their best guarantee. It Is unlikely In any event the association will merge for the book- ing ot its far western chain with eith(;r the Ackerman A Harris or the Bert X^evey circuits on the coast. From all accounts the Asso-. elation and Orpheum will go it alone on the smaller Chlcafo-to-Coaat time. Other than this one try, the niid- die west and fair west also have been standing still, leaning to pic- tures mostly, with all of the deals, manipulations and nearly all new houses of those sections concerned with the flicker fllm In some way. At the Box Office On the business or box ofilce end for 1024, the Orpheum Circuit stands up and out. Under the di- rection of the new directorate headed by Marcus Helman, the Or- pheum has made renaarkable strides In eliminating dead ones while add- ing live ones, or turning dead cities Into live cities. So much attention has been given by the Orpheum's executives to this weeding out and adding on process that many of the circuit's building projects have been allowed to temporarily lapse. The net result is that the Or- pheum Circuit on Its direct line, taking in all of its properties di- rectly controlled or operated, has made a fine showing. It has eased up the minds of the heavy investors In Orpheum stock and the faith in the present management Is reflected in the rising quotatlors on the New York stodc exchange of late for Orpheum common. Several pending deals f6r Or- pheum to add houses or cities onto Its circuit should shortly eventuate and be reported. Loew Circuit business also has been above: that of last year, al- though it felt the drop in; December like the remainder of the show busi- ness. Loew's statement for the whole year will make a fine show- ing, and the Loew stock responded accordingly in the recent general rise on the Exchange. In and Out in East In the east vaudeville on the big time has had Its In and out weeks. Peculiarly enough, shortly after weeks of the season up to that dat It was contrary to expectation, wi no reason assigned. Nor has it per ceptibly picked up since. Eastern big time has somewhi changed its system on Inner-bfili booking, but without decided et feet upon the playing bills. Sw changes as have been made in th Keith's New York agency have beei for a better communion of bookini interest between the manager am the booker. In Orpheum bookings can b| found a geodly share of the im' provement in Orpheum's box offlo^ takings. More leeway has been giv the bookers with the advent Into authority of the Helman contlngentj; more Judgment in scope of variety Is left to them. QualUy and enter* talnment in Orpheum programs are left to the bookers and the Orphe- um's bills weekly listed In Variety speak tor the confidence In which the Orpheum bookers now perform their work, with the yoke off. Entertainments Fighting Smtiil time vaudeville dois not look as staple as the big thne. Smal| tirte (Including the independent) seetns ever to be fighting within it. self, vaudeville as against pictures, ■rtiere Is no surety whether both will Jointly survive or one overwhelm the other. If» tor no other cause than picture houses taking up vaudeville in a measure as well, will ultimately oblige the combination vaudevtIlO' theatre to find an. of(-set to the slow, but sure. Invasion of com-v petition within Its own confines. Big time vaudeville is staple, but, i of course, no longer must It be ac- cepted that by big time is only' meant the two-a-day houses. More 80 should It at present be considered \ that any house booked by a big time agency is big time, and that makes big time staple through big time having an unlimited supply depot ot' acts. Business may be a little off ' this week, a little better next week, " or the programs may fall a little be- 1 low or go a little above, but the money average on the season ap- pears to. hold up—proof that vaude« f ville is there. J What a Good Bill is 1 In big time acU the tastes still 'J run to the same ending, a good biit ^ —no matter what composes a good bill. With bands, dance and flash acts, the booking situation has not nut' terlally changed. The best have re- mained and the best that come in remains. This even extends to sketches, comedy or dramatic. It they are good and big enough, they can get bookings, but few vaude* vllle producers believe they can turn out sketches of any description that can live on the big time. None dis* agrees with them. Other producers or all have the impression "names" wlU help to head eketches. The only value ot "names^' within two .seasons haa been located by the Orpheum, taken from the picture codonyon the coast They made good out there because their fellow fllm players wanted to see the people of the panto screen act and speak out on the stage, but that they made good en the coast didn't mean a thing in the east. Legpits in vaudeville have grown so common some vaudeville pro- ducers ore now engaging legit "names" to hesiTsketches under a contracted weekly salary, paid when they work. It means the producers must get the sketches booked. It Is no different from the system, at present employed for a legit play, excepting that a sketch can skip weeks, but stlli work, while If the fuH-sKed play cannot find time, K must close. And it xian't find time when It's a flop,^ ' 1 I I ytU^^ mL BUBLESQUE BOUTES (Continued from page 121) Moonlight Maids— 5 Gayety, Bal- timore; 12 Mutual, Washington. Naughty Nifties—5 Mutual. Wash- ington; 12 York; 13 Cumberland; 14 Altoona; 15 Johnstown; 16 Union- town. Red Hot—5 Gayety. Brooklyn; 15 Trocadcro, Philadelphia. Reeves, Al—S Hudson, Union Hill; 12 Gayety, Brooklyn. Round the Town—5 National, Chi- cago; 12 Cadillac. Detroit. Smiles and Kisses — 5 Academy, Pittsburgh; 12 Miles-Royal. Akron. . Snap It Up—5 Empress, Milwau- kee; 12 Nfttlon.al, Chicago. Speedy Steppers—5 Empress, Cin- cinnati; 12 Gayety. Louisville. Step Along-5 Olympic, New York: 12 Star, Brooklyn. Step Lively Girls—S Garden, Bfut- falo; 12 Corinthian. Rochester. Stepping Out—5 Trocadero, Phila- delphia: 12 Olympic, New York. Stolen Sweete-—S Gayety, Scran- ton; It Gayety, Wllkes-Barre. Whis Bang Babies—5 Allentoirn: 6 Sunl)ury; 7 WHIIamnport; 8 LSn- ... . caster; 9-.10 Reading; 12 Gayety. election came a couple of th* poorest Pliri.i^ii.hli. '