Variety (Nov 1928)

34 VARIETY V A U D E VJ L L E Wednesday, November 14, 1928 No Restriction So Far on Keith Acts for Any Talking Shorts . Wliile no rcstriVtiott orders have been issued regarding the. making of talking, shorts by Keith acts, it is reported several agents h£vyc cau- tioned their acts not to sign with film' companies other than RCA Photophone pending the outcome of the ;R-KrO fornlation. If individual notices have been sent out by agents^ keith's or Keith booking . otTlcials say they are not aware of it. Agents have expressed World's Master Juggler This Week ith's Palace New York Touring Keith-Orpheum Circuit an opinion tiiat their aols will be "wiser" to lay off sound bookings until further notice; Keith's has not iss.ued any order having to do with talking picture work by Keith vaude acts, nor will th^ acts be affected or their value to Keith's lowered in any way if making talking shorts, for' other companies, it was stated. iDoubtlcssly the R-K-O merger will eventually mean picture work by acts while playing Keith vaude, confined to Photophone. For the present, according to Keith's, pic- ture work by Keith acts is not re^ stricted to any one company as far as Keith's is concerned. The action by Keith agents may be one reason for tlie reported shortage of talent for tg,lking shorts. Another reason has beorf a ifailure on both sides to agree on salaries, with, no standard scale yet reached by aijy of the pictux-e companies. That situation- has not affected name acts a^ greatly as standard but lesser Unowh turns.. Yorke U Cowaa's Ass't In ParV Short Dept. .. H, Emerson Yoi-ke, former ^ re- cording executive for tlie Bruns- wick records, is now with Jimmy Cowan in the Paramount talking short department. Yorke will have cliairge of talent bookings arid ac- tual laboratory recording and pro- duction, as a.6sistant to Cowan. Paramount sonrie months ago an- nexed Ralph Townsend and Ernie Zatorsky as chief and assistant technical directors at their Long Island studios. Both Townsend and Zatorsky were in technical .charge for Bt^unswlck; Frank Tours, musical conductor; of the Beatrice Lillie-Noel Coward revue, "This Year of. Grace," joins Paramount soon to handle the'miir sic^l end of Paramount's talker productions. Joseph Saritley, who produced PuTjlix units for the Para- mount theatres, is now in the talker field, and will stage tabloid come- dies for Paramount sound films. Downey and Talkers Morten Downey is about to en- gage for three years with Para- mount for talkers. He was to have gone with FBO for one or two full length pictures, partially engaged by Bob, Kane. Kane released Dow- ney w;hen Par made overtures, and Downey wishing to go with Para- mount through his friendship with Adolph Zukor. The contract with options will carry Downey for three years on the Tar talking programs. May Woods and Brothers As Agents-Producers May Woods and her brothers, Pat and Joe, are opening an agency and producing office In New York for vaudeville. The agency will op- erate under a Panta^es floor fran- chisie, with the productions geneir- ally plaqed. All of the Woods' have long been known , in vaude circles. . Miss Woods has beien for some time In charge of the Keith fifth floor book- ing department, until her resigna- tion when Joseph P. Kennedy came into charge of Keith's. Pat and Joe had been Keith big time book- ers, with Pat handlingr the bills for several important , metropolitan Keith houses. • Joe left the. Keith oflace a couple of years ago to be- come associated with Daye Gordon, brother pf Max. Gordon,^ in an agency. With the Woods' leaving Keith's, the Gordon and Woods agency faded into an act produfction efifort. In the new venture by the Woods', Joe has dissolved with Gordon, Goirdon continuing the production business with Eddie Sobol at- tached'. May Woods May Woods, as the mothering guardian ot her family of .vaude- ville bookers, ^rew up in the Keith bfUce. For yeard Miss Woods was the very .efflcierit secretary to E..F. Albee. Through that position and her faculty of absorbing knowledge, she' wa.s given the .command of the fifth, floor booking division, an im- portant post and one Miss Woods capably directed. Set down as of "the Albee side" when Kennedy walked in. May, with beveral others, found it ex- pedient to resign; Meanwhile all of those obliged to leave the Keith office under the conditions after, their many years of faithful serv- ice to Albee, found themselves flat on the lot, no place to go and with , no protection from the man who had sold out for (4,600,000 in cashi, besides the many millions he had niade from that Keith vaudeville the Woods' and the others had greatly aided in building up. Following the vacation over the summer and with plenty of time to think it all over. Miss Woods, still standing right wltH yaudvillians, as do her brothers, is now again mak- ing her living, this time for her- self; with those many years of tire- less and unrewarded effort for. an- other behind her. REPRINTED FROM NEW YORK "TIMES'' MONDAY, NOV. 12 JACK BENNY AMUSES AT PALACE THEATRE He Inaugurates the Change of Bills From Monday to Sunday There PROGRAM WELL BALANCED The most engaging .of the week's new personalities is Jack Bonny, who contrives, with a disarming effort- lessness, to be inordinately amusing. McKeoti Leaving Keith-s On Coast; Troubles iios Angeles, Nov. 13. James McKeon hais resigned as the locial representative for Keith's He has been looking after the Or- pheum theatres here, under Harry Singer, general western rep for Keith's. McKeon has been with Keith or Orpheum for several years. It is said the resignation came of his own volition, caused mainly, from re- port, .through accumulating alimony alleged to be due by his former wife, Claire Miller, who divorced him some time ago. to marry a Bos- tonlan. Through S9me error at the time of the divorce, a loophole was left for the ex-frau to later wedge in ail alimony clalihi which she has 'fi*equently dohe, ^Ith "much annoy- ance to McKeon. ^Edwards' Chancy Song Los Angeles, Nov. 13. Gus". Edwards htui written "Ijon Chaney'lV* get yer If you don't watch out," to be used as a feature song in his M-G-M colortonei song revue. The show, in natural colors anil i:>nchronlzed In sound, .Is called, "Gus Edwards' Christmas Party." The composer win appear in it. NVA Shut Sundays in Chi Chicago, Nov. 13. With the ousting of attendants at the'NVA Club, including a spe^ cial'elevator man, the club will bo closed on Sundays after 6 p. m. No one but actual tenants in the Woods building will be allowed In the-bu Ildlng^atter that. h.o.urt^=_^:_^ Mystery Around Unsigned Order For Free Shows at N.V.A. $3 Dinners . The big mystery In and around the Keith office remained unsolved up to yesterday (Tuesday). It con- cerns the uhslgrned bulletin oh the 6th floor call board Instructing agents to provide free talent for the N. V. A.'s Sunday night vaude shows. The fact that no one seenis to know who posted the order and why is where the mystery comes in. It. has be^n established that the bulletin is not official and. was tacked up; by some one without au- thority to order agents to book acts for anything but theatres. Nevertheless three agencies, ac- cepting the notice as from above, have kicked in with complete shows on as many succejsslve Sun- days. Thiey afe Charlie Bierbauer, Lew Goldberg and Charlie Mor- rison, in that order. Tom Ken- nedy 13 slated to round up next. Sunday's program, but it looks like Tom and his acts won't have to worry unless the mystery -13 cleared up. " ■ According to the plan butiined by the bull<ftin, each enfranchised agency Is. allotted a Sunday. The fact that the agency's name is flashed oh ..the screen before the show, with the agency called all- giving, is supposed to be the break for the agents.; If some of his acts don't show up and. the show flops, it's no break at all. Wh^sre the acts come in for returns Is Included in the mystery. The club affair includes a dinner; Feed and bii? vaude bill for. $3 a plate. The club gets the $3, the ageiit gets his name on the screen and the acts get nothing. A Racket Until this season the N. .V, A, Sunday nights have been ohei-man rackets operated by Bill Siillivap, Bob Hall's only riva.1 In publicly The World's Worst In Acts Located Even being the worl<i's woirst has its compensations. George, Jeg^el is niaking a talker for Tlffany-Stahl entitled "Lucky Boy" and commis- sioned Abe Meyer, the agent, to get him the worst .two acts he can find in New York for an amateur night scene in the picture. Patty and Fields, sister act, and Joe Sevely were booked to do their very best worst as part of the pseudo-amateur night talent in the flicker. ' NEVnXE-EBEKT SPLIT Neville and Ebert are dissolving their vaude partnership after Ave J'ear^. Neville will form a new alliance with Leo Tracy and continue in the same act, with Harry Ebert's plans indefinite. exhibiting "the good old N. V. A. spirit.?' Bill has been quoted on various occasionis as remarking that it's plenty tough to convince 10 acts to do their Albee duty every Sunday night. When the conipulsory Sunday night thing was called to the atten- tion of jphn Ford, general manager of. Keith's, he 13 reported to have stated that he has no sympathy for such tactics; also that he was not notified that this order had been posted or who posted it. ' Ted Lauder, from accounts, was equally at loss for an explanation. With Lauder a booking official arid E. F; Albee's son-in'-lav/, and through his close association with N. V. A. affairs In the past, it was-, expected he might know why "the agents have been made responsible for the Sunday nights.' Agents Object The agents are openly objecting to the 'compulsory charity. Their claim is that it breeds bad will be- tween actor and agent when an act is forced into an extra performance Immediately, after eight or nine shows over the week-end and a sleep Jump coming in to open Sunday. .More than once it has been necessary to threaten . acts with loss of bookings in order to .insure their overtime. N. V. A. ap- pearance on Sundays. Unless the source of the order and tlie reason or reasons .for its enforcement are revealed, there is a likelihood the agents will be noti- fied that they are not compelled to contribute talent to the N. Y.' A.'s ■ $3 weekly feeds and may dp so only when they so desire. Walter Nilsson "World's Master Unicyclist" O-H-OOOI Teatared . Fanchon ft Mar«o "Cp In the Air Id«a" "A Really Great Dance Act" KRAMER ""PAUUNE • fn "CLASSICS IN RHYTHM" NOW PANTAGES CIRCUIT K-A O PIrectioii: XXI DAWS.ON-^irENN'EStiY-UROWN Critics say: "Kramer and Pauline can rlehtfuUy challenge any couple for Btaere personallly, cleanllnoss of work and Industry. This smlUngr fflrl and boy are hard at dancing every second of the minutes they are out, and ofter team and single work that Is rare for quality. They have many new. Unusual steps." DORA WINNEB in Their "CRISP REVUE" K.-A.-O. Circalt Personal Rep.: FRANK EVANS STATE, NEW YORK > NEXT WEEK (NOV. U9> HARRY HOWARD BORN TO BE LAUGHED AT