Variety (Jul 1928)

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Wednesday, July 4, 1928 FOREIG N VARIETY Sayag Displays Further Bias and Unfairness Toward Americans . Paris,. July 3. When Variety's story- of Edmund gayag's unfair treatment of Amer- ican artists, printed. June 20, was seen by that Impresario, h© became *hraged, going' backstage at the Am- ibassadeurs and canceling an addi- tional two. weeks he ha;d given the American chorus. • Sayag canvased every member of his company peevishly demanding lo know hovr Variety had learned of the treatment he has been giving American performers. Sayag is evidently under the Im- i)ression that his high-handed busi- ness methods are a secret. He flhally made up his mind that Fred Wariiig waS responsible and that started ,anotlier row with the War- ing band whose engagement at the Ambassiadeiirs has been very un- happy. . Still another cause of strained feeling was the firing of Edith Mar- tin, American chorus girl,' who slapped stage manager Dorchamp when lie arbitrarily assessed^ her 100 francs for being late, Shfe denied 'she was late and states she was in the theatre at the time. Dorchamp slapped her back. The girl was immediately flred and fined an ad- ditional 100 francs for slapping Dorchamp. Marion Harris'at Kit Cat. London, July 3. Marion Harris follows Sophie Tucker, at the Kit Cat Club open- ing July 16. She will double in^vaudpville. Friends Say Hopwood Committed Suicide PariSj July 3, Friends of Avery Hopwood, the playwright, are. adva,ncing the theory that his death by drowning while swimming near Nice was sui- cide. ■ .'.■;■':' Hopwood had lately been ■writing pessimistic letters. to ; friends say- ing he was fed up ipn <i'Verylhing and unable to get a thrill. His estrangement from his mother also worried hiih as he previously had always depended upon her. H^opwood's. eccentricities •were pronounced and his impulsiveness well known< Discounting the sui- cide angle is his long standing habit of going bathing immediately after eating. At Blackpool, England,! whore "The, Gold Diggers" was pro- duced over a year ago, Hopwood walked into the sea after dinner arid with difficulty was .brotight to shore. .Otis Skihner and Dudley Field Malone have taken charge of the body of the. playwright until his mother cah .be located. , . THOMAS VAUGHAN BEAD London, July 3. Thomas , Vaughan, 58, London representative for Gilbert Miller, Gladys Cooper and Gerald DuMaix- rier, died June 27. Just a Piano Player Just a piano player, and col- ored at that, got his pay, $10 at a farewell party In the gov- ernor's room of the Hotel Penn- sylvania, New York, , Friday night. That $10 was all he did get, notwithstanding the pian- ist, Donald Hayward, saved the millionaire; a Mr, Davenport, $1,000.,. , When the party ended in the hotel's largest, room, the host gave this piano player what both thought 'was a $10 bill. As he was waiting for the ele- vator in the hall, Donald thought he would see if the bill looked on the level. When he sa-yr the figures, 1,000, the boy nearly turned white. ■ Returning to the room ho sought Davenport, explained, arid handed him the $1,000 cer- tificate that its owner would never have known about Since he .was to sail the same night,' with that big boy but one Pf his .roll. ' . Taking the $1,000, the host gave tlte, boy his correct change for . the evening, $10, remarkT ing something about liow care- less hie was. The kid' never gayie it an- other" thought until mention-- ing the circumstances the fol- lowing day to Bill Pierce, who. had gotten him the one-night .'job; ^ ^" ROTITE "ABIE" FOR YEAR .'' London, July 3. .;" ; Clayton and Waller have routed "Abie's Irish Rose" for a solid year starting July 13 in Portsmouth. The show was not a London success. Joe Greenwald will be featured. Mae West Tells Everything (Contirtued from page 1) when Mark was consulted he went into a rage. "No it is not royalties that count but lirinciple. I will not let her get away with all the glory and not leave me even the little bit of credit that I have asked. I will tell you all the truth, show you all the proofs so that you can print e'very- thing and anything about it,'' he said. ; "i wrote a one. act playlet called "The Frame Up" In 1915, a story of Chatham Square, Niew York, of 30 years agoi. It was played all over the country , in a burlesque show called "The Passing Review" in 1921. Sometime later some one of- fered to buy'my playlet for .a mo- tion picture but I thought then in- stead of selling it I would make It Into a .three act play." At this point Mark called a man Into the. office who had been with him in Chicago when he decided to elaborate his act into a play. Then he continued. "I wrote a play called Chatham Square and at different times was going to have Brandell, Millet Lewis and Lew Cantor produce it. Finally when I was going to get Florence Nash to play the lead, Robert Sterl- ing, a friend of mine, met James Timoney and made an appointment through him to have Mae West see me about the part. ^. J'She said Jf she jC50.uld re write jjie play so the role would suit her, sh6 would do it. I let her do it as long as 1 got half the royalties. "Then we organized Chatham Square, Inc., to produce the play but she insisted that the play be named 'Diamond Lil' in order to push hie out and I had to agree bh 'Suggested by Mark Linder,' . In- stead of co-outhorship. But with all due r-espect to Miss West for writing 'Diamond Lil* M^irk Linder wrote Chatham Square, from which it was taken." "Mae West is not oven a member of the corporation," said Jack. "I hired her and have her contr.act, I have the personal contract with the Chanins and Shuberts for the the- atre and I own.the play. These are the Lindcrs' facts. Mae West's Facts Mac West had entirely different ones wlicn confronted with their statemeuts ln^her=drcssing^room at= the Royolo. "Mark Lindor did not write a line of 'Diamond Lil' said Mi.sa West. "To prove it I'll bring him In here and a.sk him." Mark Linder ap- peared. "Did you write one line of the dialog of 'Diamond Lir "? asked Mae. "No, no dialog. I said you rewrote tiie play," Mark replied. "Is there a situation in 'Diamond Lil' that was in your play ?'- shouted Mae. "Atmosphere and locale, atmos- phere and locale,'' yelled back Mark,. '*It is all mine." "AtriQosphere .. and locale! You can't copyright atmosphere- and lo- cale. There are any. number of Bowery sketches with that same, at- mosphere. I own the copywright to 'Diamond: Lil' and I wrote every line of it. There isn't a name in 'Dia- mond Lir that was in your play except' that Of Chick Clarke and I think I'll take that out. There isn't a situation or anything else left of your play," retorted Mae. "I am not here to be cross ex- amined," Mark exploded. "I told this reporter the truth and that's what I want printed. I won't stay here to be insUlted," he added. Timondy's Suggestion At this juncture James .Timoney interrupted to say that everything should, be kept quiet and out of 'print. But Mae Went on, "Did you hire a single actor for this play?" "Yes, the singing waiters, Jojo ahd all of them," cried Mark. Here .Jojo was brought in to say that Miss West had engaged him. "You can take all my credit; you can say anything you want but I will hot stay here to be insulted," said.:. Marie, and took .his departure. Then Mae went on. with her story. "When the Linders gave me. 'Chatham Square' to rewrite I was going to go to Cleveland -with 'Sex.' i couldn't do anything with their play and kept it for a long time. Ma,rk kept calling up all the time and I kept puttiriig him off. "Fipally my mother says, 'Mae, why don't you do something with that play thej^ are bothering yoii with?' I said, 'I ca,n't use it but I'll write a play of my own . about thij Bowery.' "So I wrote 'Diamond Lil.' I brought it to the Linders and said, 'here, I wrote a play, but, I can't use yours.' "Jack wanted to produce it but wanted Mark's name on it as Mark had gone ail around telling every- one tliat I was rewriting his play. I thought, 'all right, I'll give him a break; if he had riot brought his =play" tame r might-^be 4n-©leveland-.^^ 1 am always goot natured. All right, Mark was goin.? to give me half the royalties of 'Chatham Square' so I'll give him half the royalties of 'Dia- mond Lil,' i said to Jack. "And that was how things were arranged. He has half the royal- ties of my play and I have half the royalties of 'Chatham Square,' which is a.nother play entirely, and as yet has never been produced. /"The Linders got a break when they got hooked up with me. I am the one who brings people to this theatre. Tlie atmosphere and locale: they yell about have nothing to do v/ith it; I was all ready to change the locale from the Bowery, to the Barbary Coast if the public didn't like- tiie Bowery after we opened, and. now Mark Linder has grabbed off . my- Barbary Coast Idea and is writing a play about It. Passea kept Out Swells •"The Linders have hever been producers and don't know anything about showmanship. They got a break in me and want to cling to me. I have had the riiost terrible time with them. "It is considered the swanky thing to do to come to See me but the .society crowds that I draw could hardly get in the theatre because the Linders were •writing out so many passes for their friends. had to put a stop to that and to everything else. ' "Do yoU suppose If Mark Linder had written 'Dianiond LlI' he would have given in to me? I should say not. Tomorrow 'atmosphere and locale suggested by Mark Linder' will go on the program. I will stop all this talk because I -wrote 'Dia- mond iiil' and I guess I know that I have a certain style of writing a play around myself. I went to jail developing that style of 'writing, didn't I?" As for the Linders' assertion that they paid for her meals and board, Mae said that when she first walked into.. their office ^ she had . $20,000 worth of bracelets on her arms. ''The Linders just want to stick their names on everything because they never got such a break before and after 1 get rid of them they'll never do another good thing. "They don't know what it is all about afl you can see from that talk of atmosphere and locale being the riiain thing in a play." And thus Mae ended her tale. . Jack Linder is a vaudeville agent. His brother, Mark, la an actor. James Timoney is an attorney and business representative for Miss West. They are believed to be equally sharing in this shOw as both did with Miss West's "Sex" play, which got her into jail as she men- tioned. Tommy Guinah's "10% Tommy Guinan tuned in on the West-Linder controversy as holder of 10 per cent, interest in "Diamond -LH:^==Tommy^=ha^ =been-^=ln-=on==thc=: .show for sometime but kept it dark until now. Other stockholders are said to be Charles Linder, M. Beauchalls, Ilobert Sterling and Frank Belmont, Tommy Guinan stepped in Sat- urday as an ambassador of peace and will renriain on the ground to roferee any further contests. Chatter in Paris Paris, Jiine -2. 'Tls terrace timo in Pari.s, and how. Nightly the restaurants having tables and chairs on the siilowalk are besieged.by not only thivnatives. but all of the foreign pcipulaoo as well. Dinner is served in tixe cool eyeriing breezes, and those who care to, remain for coffee and cordials uritil Well on in the. night. Each year as the time arrives for this, outdoor sport so does a fiock of sidewalk pests who claim to be entertainers. Everything from fire- eaters to dramatic sopranos move up aind down in front of the ter- races trying to edge their w.a.y into a franCi There is one mug in Montparnasse who must have an asbestos throat. Each evening at about nine, the most popular hour, he comes around with a small can of gasoline and three or four wires with sponges fastened on the ends. He dips a sponge in the gas and asks a cus- todier for a light. The; leather . lunged hound. then thrusts the thing down iiis throat five Or six timeia before It is even- tually extiriguished. This goes on for a half houip or longer , unless he provokes the disgust of too many people and the gendarmes are sent for. ■ ■ • ■ In front of the Cafe de la Paix where the whole World passes by, comes a stoop shouldered, bewigged old lady who can still warble a few notes. If you are in a receptive mood and the garcon notices that you tender her a franc or so he will move over and tell you that she was the leading musical comedy star of the French capitar in her day. Wrestlers, men swinging chairs around their heads which they are hold^ing by their" teeth, jugglers, sleight of hand merchants; in fact, tricksters of every sort pass by just like they had planried the show In advance. They never interfere with each other and always give the fel- low in front a chance to get all of the tips that are coming his way. any such thing in half, a dozoa years. Thaw .and the Prince . An irony of fate took place the other eve in one of Paris' leading restaurants. Harry Thaw, who islipped one over on the newspaper men when. he sneaked back to town after a few days in Vienna, sat down at a table next to Prince Gborge of England, who also was tryirig to remain incognito. Thaw looked up, and when , he spied the handsome youth who out- does his brother, the Prince of Wales, in good looks, inquired as to who the handsome boy was. The head waiter came around^ took a look and walked away, the captain and several other attendants did like- wise arid when it seemed as though Hatry was not going to learn who the lad was, an American leaned over his shoulder and said:"Why that's Prince George, sent over by the King to see that you do not have a- good time here." Harry left the place immediately. Fred Almy, of Lady Michclham fame arid more recently known for his episode with the prohibltlpn en- forcement men. in New" York Har- bor when he tried to tell the cop- pers that the case of booze resting In front of his stateroom belonged to a couple of theatrical producers. Is back in town again with his man- nequin wife. Fred does not. relish any more publicity so he picked out the quietest and most exclusive hotel in town instead of going to his apartment. But we found him. Giggolo Cleanup. Another of the gay VlUe's secrets is that 71 of the giggolo, bad boy, glpper lads have been ruri out of town within, the last fortnight. Chief pt Police Chlappe, whose wife was formerly married to an Amer- ican and who they say inspires the "big cheese," Is pulling a New York "cleanup." He has rid the boulevards of the large percentage of female peddlers and now he has =.gone-^tOr.=worlton:^tha-bad boy.Sr Helen Ford came to town .singing the praises of Italy and all the rare old "gems" to be found tluiro. ,She said .she couldn't .sec Paris at all after the colorful country of Venice and thereabouts. Helen deplored the road .show condltion.s at home. She said she thought there woul'ln't be Pola on. Film Making . Poia Negri and her Prince Mdlyant motoried up to Paris after crossing on the lie de . France becavise the "ocean grey hound"; was so. fatiguing. Pola Stays tha.t the Artiericari movie star is a simp to make four or more; pictures \a year, and that but two .can be made, successfully. She says that Paramount would not.grant her th-2 conditions' she wanted to sign , another contract so. she has Ci>m- rl'.;<ely flni.shed with tnem and Is ne- gotiating with another American, firm and an English concern. She wants to ■■ make , one picture in Eu- rope and another in America each year from now on. ; . ' The French war picture,. "La Grande Epreuve," which did well In the. Paramount theatre here and recomimended by many to be the best cinema turned out thus far by iPrench talent is On Its way to Ne'vr York. The coppers here , are learning I<]riglish so that they can talk 'with us Americans during the - tourist season. Fannie Ward told the ship news men here upon her arrival that she felt "Just like a kid out of school" and one of them printed it, Soph's Revue London, J'uly S. A; six weeks' provincial tour Is Sophie Tucker's, next undertaking after which it is expected Aridre Charlott will be ready to star .her in a re'yue in which Jack Buchanan w-ill bo '. financially interested.. Sopli has spent the past 11 weeks in town playing four and five daily. Sir Walter Divorced London, July 3. Sir Walter Gibbons, obtained .a divor-ce from his second wife on June ,29. Charge was adultery. - Gibbons voluntarily offered his wife an allowance as she Is 'without funds. / ' LESLIE FABEB IN FILH London, July 8. Leslie Faber, English stage actor, has been engaged by Rex Ingram for "Three Passions" based on a Cosmo Hariiliton story. It Is now in production as a United Artists picture at Nice. Meg Lemonnier in "Broadway" Paris, July 3. Meg Lemonnier will play Billie Moore in "Broadway." Wyn Is pre- senting it at the Theatre de la Madeleine in October.. "Marjolaine" Departing London, July .3. Afteir just two weeks, "Marjo- laine" has posted notice and will blow in another fortnight. The Tiller Dancing Schools of America, Inc. 226 West 72d Street, NEW YORK MART ROAD. President I>hone Endlcott aSlC'fi N«w fMfiHMR Now Formln*