Variety (Jun 1927)

Wednesday, June 1, 1927 EDITORIAL VARIETY 41 JUETY I Tr«d« Mark R«r<it«r«4 yy^»h«d Weekly by VARIETY. Im. Mm* tUTvnnAa, Pr«ald«Bt III WMt StTMt Tork Otv •UBSeJUPTlON: j^bmL* •••••••V^wdys*** It Hagl* CoplM*•••••••••••••••••C«nta INSIPE STUFF ON VAUDE NELUE REVELL IN HOLLYWOOD ^ By NELLIE REVELL Vol lxxxvii No. 7 15 YEARS AGO (From Variety an4 ""Clipper'*) 9h« rhrAlry bctwam th« 8lral»eHB and the "Syndicate^ WM at its beil^t. The Shuberts were reported offering nearly half a miUion dol- lars in bonuMS to Syndleata pro- 4uoora to switch their afAliationa without any result. A. L. Brlantrer wrao in Europe at the moment. 9lM SBvasioB of Bn # l and by American producers started about this time. America had been im- portinuT British plays. Projocts for UmdoA toflhiisd •XMtosr Sff/ ••Maggie Pepper," "Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford." The last nfuned was a oonspicuous l]dt. ,•■ ■■ ' ' Ringlings were reported planning a huge ampitheatre at 240th street, near Broadway, New Yoiic, as a eireus lot <ThIs te Hboiit whore tbs Veladromt Is boW). Clara Morton was about to re- tire from tho Four Mortons and tbs Four Fords, dancinff 9*% hnd Ae- cldsd to separate. Anothsr step to the collapse of tho ono-nlghtors was the discovery that producers were quitting. One router estimated that the material In sight at that time would not bo par osbL of requirements. The Friars held their flrst *Fr|T61" at Berkeley Ljrceum, New The bill at Hammerstein's had 14 nets. Among them were Blossom gs rt sy , OoHmdo VandsiMK and George Ifoore, Rsran and Richfield, Julius Steger. Arthur Deacon^ Mae West and Sthel Qreen. • No wUl Isft by Anna Bva Fay was discovered, following her death, with hsr husband aiid sevoral relatives as heirs to tho estate. This latter is said to conaist of some Utile realty. The late Mrs. Fay'a in- tention, according to friends, was to establish a home for professionals. In the absence of a will, the estate will be apportioned according to orders of tho court, — . One of tho most astonishing vaude switches of this season has been the advancement of Proctor's, Newark, N. J., from a loser to a winner. The house is said to have gone $2,500 weekly Into the red, until H. R. £m\le assumed charge. Under Emde's direction Proctor's commenced a series of ballyhoos. tie-ups and publlolty that turned the house into a winner against heavy competition. In the Siime city William Downs wa« promoted from manager of the local Loew's to the home otiice in New York for similar work at L.oew s. It's said Bmdo's Newark rs^ord has reached tho i>ictQre people with resultant offers. From aecounts th« Newark situation was conveyed to all Keith-Albee and Proctor managers In a circular letter, as an example, it especially dwelling upon what Emde had accomplished, despite the handicap 1a pictures and against names in the opposition houses. A Arm of Broadway producers likes to make it known to vaudevlUians they will not book through a certain agent. They make it so strong the act immediately appreciates it can not mention its agent' name, if handled by that acont When receiViDg the offer tho acts say they will think it over, eonsult the agent* mnA stthor aceopt or mioet on his say so. If accepting, each Week they pay the agent his 10 per cent or more commission and the producing fhrm well knows they do. Tho firm Is so helpless it foregoes its oath never to book through the ag^t on the plea the act didn't give that agent's name. And the a^ent is said to make it plenty expensive in the salary way for the firm, which has to pay top salary for every one it engages through Its general unsavory standing. Actors this Arm needs and some they must have probably get 25 per cent more in salary than the actors or acts would ask elsewhere. Agents and acts working together usually add on that much. Bovsral barred agents in straight vaude circles are also up against the samio thing, with the vaude bookers, but that's another gag. Acts when agents promote them Into money and position take care of their agents with rare exceptions. The exceptions are^arer nowadays than in past years. With the wide open field at present, vaude heads or Broadway producers earry little fear for actors. One of the former vaude agents who doesn't stand at all with the vaude bunch was kicked out when he had a $500 act under his belL He has made more out of that one act alone since leaving the vaude agenting oAoso thnn ho did any week when ho had to split ono-half of his I per cent. Another Indo agency firm who has never squawked about *'a stone wall in picture bookings." has been making more WS^ly than does the big time vaude agency they formerly worked for. It appears to hnvo been tho most expensive verdlet In a working way ever secured by the Keith-Albee office when it defeated Max Hart. Im- mediately the K-A agents got the idea they should have had years before, that they can wake up any morning to find they have no business. This has led to an Inward rovolt amongst nearly all of them, with the revolt asserting itself in several ways.^ While for Hart, though ho contested as a matter of right and principle, he and everyone else know he Is making at the very least twice the money today as an agent as he did In his best years with Keith-Alboo. While driving past the miles of movie mavmatt^' mansions at Santa Moni<-a Sunday I decided to drop in nt TiOuls Mayer's (probably because it was to that place 1 had the invitation). It was "Eastern office" day and I found loads of visitors who had come out to attend the picture sales conventions topping it off by a wo«4t-end in the beach mavie colony. Most by that time had ^rotten over the scare they had sufTored a few days bi'fore when thoir speciai train was halted in the middle of the desert and held up by a gang of villainous-looking cowboys. They eould laugh about it now—but as* cording to private advices they were a pretty scared btinch until it was disclosed that the "cowboys" included Tom Mix, Tim McCoy, Buck Jones, Ken Msynard and most d the other "westerns." But the porters were the most frightened, though, because they had all Just received their tip.s and they wouldn't believe It was a joke until the tmndits returned that "tip money." The one person on board who wasn't scared, they say, was a woman—the ladies' maid. She slapped one cowboy's face so soundly when ho pointed a gun at hor that he has sworn off holding up trains—If there are women abonrd. (From "Clipper") Local travel WAS attoadod w«th some difficulty. New York Athletic Club was holding its game^ at its Mott Haven grounds in a few days nnd informod sport fans the con- venient way to reach the field was to take the boat from Peck Slip to Harlem and ferry thence to Morrlsanin. AltomaU routs wss| mp V. Y. Central. » Centennial exposition In Phila- delphia had boeomo a permanent I exposition in Fairmont Park. But the old fight was resumed to keep it closed Sunday. Puritan element iwA just been victorious. The P. T. Barnum circus and Howe's show were involved in a hot billing war In Worcester, Mass. Circus operation was anything but peaceful in 1878. The American and French circus, playing Patcr- aon, N. J., becams Involved In attachment proceedHHfe and when it got clear after much trouble. Somebody cut the guy ropes as the top was being struck and thsre ^vere narrow escapes In the erowd ha the poles toppled. Gentlemen seemed to prefer blondes In the last century. A number of troups were travelling hnder the name of "Blonde Mln- strelg.** Mmo. Duco*8 was one of the best known. Press Eldrldge was a specialty act In the show, which nad just finished an engagement w New Haven. J. H. Ilaverly opened the Chicago Adelphi, closed for remodelling. The minstrel show had George Wil- son and Matt W^heeler as end men. Billy Rice wa.«* one of the stars and Primrose and West were in the foster. A fsaturs was *aadies' ^'Kht" when smoking was pro- >iibited and no boor was sold in the The great baseball rivalry was between the eastern and western teams. The east crowd had just finished their flrst western tour of the season and had had the better the scores. Boston led the l<-^ue. llartlord w«ai close up. A bit of dreariness in the prevailing report that the Western Vaude- ville Managers* Association, the largest booking agency at one time outside of New York, Is about through. What little it has left in the booking of vaodo BMOnly oonslsts of Orphoun, Junior, houses. Tho tale of the association is a steady decline slnos attompting to book and compete under the methods of Kut Kahl, who In reality has been in entire charge of the association ever since Charlie Bray left it. Ehreryono In tho association at prssent Is s Kut Kahl messenger, under- standing they must do as ordered by tho Kutter or else ! To Kahl's record will stand that ever since he has had full charge of the association and Orpheum, Juniors, he has never built up a town, the deelino usually starting with a new Orpheum house within a month after it opened. Tho Kahl system has been to deluge a failing house with cheaper shows. No attempt ever was made by the Kutter to send a new house along with a better type program If the first policy didn't stand up. However, the Kahl method has been perfect for the opposi- tion wherever tho opposition displayed Showmanship. It's a recurrence almost with the main line Orpheum circuit tho ^past season. It's doubtful if the Orpheum has over two big time money makers on its circuit and those two, Palace, Chicago and Orpheum, Los AngoMl. In Ki^sas City oven tho Malnstreet, an Orpheum pop price house and policy, after an advantageous start with its recent new policy, has started to slip, while tho bip time Orpheum there Is pitiful. The most outstanding set back on the Orpheum time, however, has been tho State-Lake, Chicago, once believed to bo the best vaude theatre as a money maker in America. During its first years the Stato-Lako netted about $750,000 annually. Now it's lnrky if breaking even, for grosses in that house have dropped from around $28,000 weekly to between 117,000 and $18,000 • week, currently. The latter may be credited to Paul Ash. Not only Is Ash responsible for holding thO B. * K. Oriental. Chi- cago, to around $40,000 weekly, but he has never coi^t the Statc-T.ako less tlian $10,000 a week In lowered receipts. Since A.sh has been the Loop's sensation, and that Is over a year, he seemed to pick off the State-Lake patrons. _ The apathy of standard vaudeville acts about changing material Is blamed upon current booking methods by acts playing the Keith-Albee and Orpheum circuits. According to many acts, using the same material they used flvo years a^co. the bookers discourago tho purchase of hew mat*>rlal and productions by their catch penny methods and by xnaking the act take all of the hazards when securing a new turn. After paying an author his advance royalty, purchasing costumes and scenery where necossary and going through tho Usual rehearsal period necessary, the act Is asked to "show" at a cut salary, regardless of tho status of the act In the office. Not only does this apply to acts carrying productions but more particularly to standard two acts, singles and acts in "one" using tho same gags and bits for seasons. According to these artists aftr r broaching the subject to the bookers they were always discouraged If the modernizing entailed any additional salary demands. As the bookers were usually more willing to book tiie old act at the salary set tho acts felt It Was out of their province to worry about material. A recent In.stance is a two-act that played the I'alace with the same routine of talk used for the pn.st four yearn, be- tween musical comedy engagements. No interest was shown when the act offered to do something new at Increased tariff. William H. Crane and his wife have come back home to Hollywood after a month's hand-shaking in New York. It wsis a hard trip for this fine old gentleman who is getting very feeble. No sooner had Mr. Crane landed here than Frederick Ward started oait for n amnmsr i|,t hte ^ Catskill homo. Ed Bn ndcl, former vaudevllllan, was reported In Variety last week fls having surrendered his Paramount picture contract, and intended under other management to go into two-reelers. At first reading It might ha ve been presume d that Erendel was no t a success In pictures. He was. This is how he was handled by Para- mount, on a contract calling for $1,000 weekly with an option for the second year at $1,600. Brendel's flrst with Par waa "ThS Campus Flirt" In which he did vary welL Then for seven months he was kept on "Wings," another Paramount and a speclaL After the seven months when the picture showed in the studio, Brendel was in but 200 feet. Paramount suggests to Brtndel it would lake up the second year's option at $1,000 weekly. Brendoi rstorteU he thought he'd boitor move. AH the humor on a comedy lot Isn't confined to the pictures, and the wisecracking that went on in the semi-gloom at a studio preview I attended recently got many a laugh. For instance: "Have you heard." asked one cutter of another, "of tho Scotchman Who made his daughter get married in Uie backyard?'* "No," said the other, "why did he do that?" **8o when the wedding was over, th» shl s t ^i m oould pick up the rlco.* If Los Angeles had no other claim to distinction, she could demand fame for having added color to the American home. K very where, on the hills and on the mesa, one sees the dazsUng white and the pastel shades of the cunning little bungalows studding the landscape. They are quite inexpensive, too, as eompared with the oast, mwm If yon rent them furnished. One friend has a delightfully furnished bungalow of seven rooms for $125 a month, another has a slightly smaller but equally nice place for flOO a month. In the little bungalow courts, one can get a living room, dining room, bedroom and kitchen tor $60 a month. Of course they are not furnished in antiques, tapestries and Chinese rugs, but they are thoroughly homelike and comfortable. About tho flrst thing peopls ftrom the oast do when th«y alight hsso H. and sign a contract. Is to go and pay something down on a home. Some- times they finish paying for It; sometimes they don't. But there is something about California that stimulates the desire to own a home. Papers here last week contained tho story of a good gagman who hag ivhsro bad gagmsn ought to go Ban Quontln prison. And not tho least interesting part of the story is that the Judge admitted he hated to sentence the young fellow and would not have done it if there had been an alternative. *nPnMro SM yon firom and how did yon got Into this amssr* asksd tho judge as thS man was haled before the bar. "I'm from the east. Judge," the prisoner admitted. 1 came out hero and tried to get a job, but my line was overcrowded so I went into busl« ness as a purvejror Of forMddon waters." "What's that?" said the Judgo. *1 don't get you." "Bootlegging, Judge, bootlegging! I got a good list of clients but even that profession was overcrowded. So then I took up burglary as a sidollno." "Any luckT" Inquhred tho judge, sympathetically. — "WolU your Honor, you oss ms hero—thsy got mo on my Ihrst joh." In case you have noticed the name of Bob Eddy on the new Langdon picture, "Long Pants," and wondered if it's some scion of the old Eddy family of vaudeville, your mind may now rest at sasa. Boh Is ono. of the Eddy fhmlly of acrobats, but his acrobatics aro an montal sow* for ho Is ono of Harry Laagdon's most valued gagmsB. Another old vaudevlBlan out here Vi John Burke of John and May Burke. I encountered him on Hollywood boulevard and left him with the news that he Is working on tho Bennett lot where they are about to give him the lead of a feature comedy. Other old friends otit here Include Phil Barthelmess, the writer; Cissie Fitagerald, Alan Brooks and Bert Levy, the cartoonist, who has boon hero so long that bo has gono native. Last Monday Los Angeles was treated ta so many theatrical open- ings, it didn't know what to do. With Otis Skinner and Al Jolson both having premieres, it was a case of tho Angeleons being ahlo to bo happr with either were the other away. But It ended up by Jolson getting most of the movie crowd while Skinner got the New York expatriates who know and love their theatre but have become coast defenders just the same. At the opening I noticed not just a sprinkling hut a dolngo Of names from tho legitlmato stags and writing world. Roy McCardell has left uS flat and gone back to New Tork after having completed the three pictures he was writing for' Taylor Holmes out of his famous "Jarr Family" sorloa A film comic and his beautiful wife are Just beginning to get on speaking terms again—and It all happone<l this way, it Is said. Not long since the middle-aged maid in the comedian's home resigned and the mistress decided that if she cleanod hsr own hoUSo It might help to keep her slim flgmre slim. So donning an apron and a pair of rubber gloves she began to dust. Just as sho Was going good, the doorbell rang and she answered it. "I cams for Mr. Soandso's dark glasses." said tho prop-hoy at tho door and tried to take her hand when she returned with the glxs^es. By lunch time she had flni.shed her cleaning and was back in her silks and satins, when tho comedian came in. It was the first time he had been home to lunch In six months and the explanation Anally cams out. After much wandering around tho house, he said, casually hut uneasily: "T?y the way, where's the new maid?" "What new maid?" hia wife asked. "Why—why, the prop-boy told me you had a pret—1 mean a new maid." Thon a gr«.at li^ht dawned on hia wifo So that was why he had come Irnme to htnch. And the battle wa.«* o»»l — A motion picture lot is supposed to be the 'nth degree of aophlatlcatkm. Its frequenters to be blase people who think In wisecracks and ars al- ways ••.arching for a new thrill. Maybe so, yet the thing drawing the biggest ciowi at lunch time on the Coidwyn lot when I was ther*-. was—a game of bainyard golf. Yes» horseshoes! Quoitsf