Variety (Nov 1928)

Wednesday, November 21, 1928 V A U D E V I L L E VARIETY 35 N. V. A. Iree^^ ft $3 Benefit Notice Ordered Take^^^ - In Keitlis^^^b^^ Art p. Walsh ami Wife Dead from Gas in L A. The big mystery In th® Keith of- fice Is still a big mystery. Who posted the bulletin on the sixth floor call board instructing all enfrarir chised agents to contribute tree tail- ent for. the N. V. A.'s f3 Sunday night feeds? Latest important development, in the case was the order . issued by John Ford, general manager of Keith's, to.take" down the notice. Agents may accept that, gesture as a notice that they do not have co forc^ acts Into the N. V. A.'s $3-a- plate Sundays after eight or nine performances over the week-end and a sleeper Jump . coming in to open Sunday. And that. If he, doesn't there" will be too comeback or reflec tion on his ability to book acts for vaude, or for |3 berteflt ishows ,fi2 times a year. That this is the correct Interpre- . tatip.n has Jbeen intlm^ited by_ Mr Ford. Starting the mystery trorii the be- ginning, the notice posted—by whom no one seems to know-bordered all Keith eigents to round up Sunday night shows for the. N. V, A„ with each agent assigned to a Sunday. T'ntil this year the Sunday night affairs have been promoted by Billy Sullivan, one of the original N. V. A. cheer and tear leaders, and Bob Hall's only real rival, end Bill did all the worrying. Bill: grew eiome- what weary, from reports, so the notice posted four weeks ago looked like his llfesaver. Whatever capacity Bill holds with Keith's besides that of N. V, A. pro- moter and spirit pusher Isn't known, mainly because Bill seldom, If ever, tells wlTiat he's doing for Keith's while working for the N. V. A., A anything. ■ .■ Even in the old days, when E. F. Albee occupied the Keith throne and ren the N. V.Ia. on the side—he made more money for the cliib In the last few years than for Keith'Sr— the agents were never publicly held ^esponslble for the success of the K. V. A.'s 13 dinners. Keith's new regime is as Ignorant tt the financial policy of the N. V. A. Its anyone. Not a Benefit Business But what probably burned the Keith officials more than the notice \va3 the fact that ah unauthorized N. V. A. order to agents waia posted In the Keith office and on the floor- where Keith's business is handled exclusively. As far as. is known, that h«Binesa is booking acts for vaude theatres and not for bene- fits. As all having authority to Issue orders to agents, from Ted Lauder, «p and down, have denied any knowledge of the bulletin's source or who instigated its posting, it Btill remains established that the posting was done by some one with not enough nerve to sigm his name to It. From accounts, Ford is personally directing an irivestigatlon of the af - fair in an effort to determine the author of the notico, V'^ho posted It and why. Until taken down Monday,; the notice had occupied a place oh the 6th floor board for four weeks. That inany agents have contributed shows on successive Sunday nights. They are Charlie Bierbauer, Lew Colder, Charlie Morrison and Tom Kennedy. Kennedy's show went'on last Sunday, the day before the notice was ordered down. One more, day and Kennedy ■would hot have been-held responsi- ble for the la?t fJ. V.. A. show. Prior to staging the performance proper, Kennedy and the preceding trio spent a Week each rounding np a sufficient number of acts and loat considerable time and money In the enforced N. V. A. name, be- sides losing the good will of the '.' fects. ■ ■ ■ =~===U^ntil=Ford's-'9,ttentlGn--wad'-'Called to the presence of the unsigned notice, no one took the trouble to Investigate who posted It, Not one of the agents failed to squawk .plenty In private', yet not one thought It proper to find out who . had ordered them to force 10 or more acta Into an extrii and late performance at no compensation whatsoever to amuse |3 lay guests of the N. V. A. on Sunday nights, and those lay sruests poseibly kept MARY FOY IN CRASH Asleep in Car That Hits PoU Legs Broken. . -Both Mary Foy, the younger sister of. the Foy Family, is at her home in New Rochelle, N. Y., with two broken legs, suffered when a car hit a telegraph pole on the Bo'ston Post road last Wednesday night: The girV also has cither Injuries. Miss Foy was asleep when the craali carhe. She was on her way home at night, after the act had finished its perfprmance, with the car driven by a : young New Ro- 'chelle man, non-proJ It was the second day following before the. doctolrs. could give Mary's legs their surgidal attention Keith's President "Ts^Still irmuto Los Angeles, Nov. 20. Art P. Walsh, 35, blackfAoe coniio, and his wife and partner, Esther, 32, were fbund asphyxiated in . thoir apa'rtmient yesterilay. Possibility of. suicide Was intimated; Three weeks agb in Detroit thoir twp chiidren, ll and .13 years of ago, both died of typhoid. On top. of that, Walsh lost his Job in a cheap Main street theatre. . The position ot the bodies when found indicated that Mrs. Walsli at- tempted to turii' off the gas heater before overcome. ALIrSOUNDERS With But^Year to Live, Tubercular Wife in Ariz. Boasts of Vamping COVERING "RED" GRftNGE But Chi Judge Won't Stand for Pe- . celt in Bastardy Case . . As far..as Broadway knows, the name of the president for Radio- Keith-Orpheum is still unknown. The man with the : only: certa;in ihforrhatlbn oh the subject, David Sai-noff, of R. C. A. , Phqtophone, was-expected . to return yestei-day to New. York from Virginia, where he had been taking a brief respite. it is said that Sarnoff is as an- xious.as anyone of the R-K-O or- ganization to see the president named; In order that the active re- organization of the operative end may be rushed. With the president installed, R-K-O will be in full charge Of Keith's and FBO. Many nanaes continue to be ha;z- arded in the many reports. These are veriest surmises. Maurice Hood- man, counsel for Keith's and an of- ficial of the Lehman Brothers, bankers, were In White Sulphur Springs, .Va., from Thursday Oh last week, probably meeting Sarnbft, but It is. doubtful if they were there more than coincidehtally. With Sarnoff's return ah an- nouncement may be Issued at any time. Otherwise the daily working op oration of Keith^s iand FBO have remained unchanged since last re ports. William LeBaron, the FBO pro ducer on the coast, has been In New York lor a. week Or so. It's under •stood that LeBaron Is installed in his position with authority compar able to Jos., L Schnizer in New York as the gen. mgr. of FBO, both men receiving assurances from Sarnoff regarding their tenure. Courtney-Graham Divorced Detroit, Nov. 20. Mr. and Mrs. Danny Graham were officially dissolved last week when Judge Guy A. Miller of the Circuit court granted a divorce to Edna Courtney Graham, wife of the Chi- cago indie agent. One of the cheif reasons she and her husband did not get along well after their marriage at Santo Fe, New Mex., In the fall of 1919, was that he failed to keep his promise to establish a home tor her. Graham now operates a booking agency In Chicago. His partner is Harry Markham. DETROIT HOUSE EAST Grand Riviera, Detroit, now booked out of Keith's Chicago by Warnie Jones, may b© transferred to the New York office. C. W, Munz, ; owner, has filed a request for the change. Riv is a presentation stand. uslnK three acts in addition to. ni. c. and a stage band. Changed from full to .split, week recehtly., _ The Comnioddre-Hull, New Brit- ain, Conn., whiKjh scrapped, vauilo fpr all-sburid programs thirce weoks ago, is restorlfig yaude next week. It win . play six acts on a split week, in addition to sounders, with vaude booked by Dow Agency.- Cameo,- Jersey .. -City,. is -ariather sounder adding vaude. this week, eight, acts on split, booked'out of the same agency. Keith's Proi Dept. Must Change or Out Keith production department, headed by Macklln Megley, will either undergo "complete change or be scrapped altogether within the next few weeks. Keith's, from reports, is dissatis- fied with the department's efforts to date. ; They realize the short- comings of the department's opera- tions, it Is ssdd. So far the office producers' efforts have been confined mainly to units. ■The single important productlonal affair was a'fiop. That was the Fur Show, a failure as entertain- ment and additionally through its severe commercial aspect; None Of the" units produced has been highly successful. They have been iriediocr© vaude bills flur- rouiidlng a name act. As one Keith official stated, the production department of the fu- ture, if any, will not be a halfway outfit. Otherwise there won't be any. Chicago. Nov. 20. . Settlement of $90D ofT.ered by at- torney for . Harold ':Red'.'.. Crancje. now ptayiiVg picture houses, to Mrs. Ho.lon Morrisey Flo7.;ilc, who charg- es ho la the father.of her 8-month's- oKl d:uit?liter, was later withdrawn when Jud.i^e William Fet.zor re- fusi'd " to' have the court, records read: "Dis;nu'sso.d for want of pi"0H- oeution." . Judge Ketzer Insisted tliiit ."on Rctnemrnt. of ?!J0O'..' be a^lilod. Kollowliiiir falhiro of this move, Attorney i^rvindape for Gninge pro-. .«;ontod petition for a change . of vcnUe on ground that the court wa.s prejiulivea, ami Uio casfe has been rcussignod. to Judge John . Sbarbo .for Nov, 27. . Tlic conference which . brought about .offer of settlement was held in Judge Kctzer's private chambers, attended by Grani^G, Mrs. Flozak, .attornoi:s_.an4_thc.. Ju^fiO;^ an supposed to be secret! Confronted with reports of .the oftCr, Judge Fet- zer later- admitted it was true and explained ho would not permit a settlement in Which the truth wag withheld from public, record. .. Mrs. " Flozalc formci'ly. .was a checkroom girl In a Loop hotel where ..she says she first met Grange. Iler hiisband is a triick driver. Grange Is playing In a Piiblix unit. Chicago, Nov. 20. • From a sanitariuih in Albu- queraiie, N. INf., .Ardelle Town has started .: suit if or separate ; mainte- nance against Floyd; H. 'ro\yn, 'or- cUestra. ieade.r. . Her plea for. tern-, porary .ulin\o.ny and custody 6f tlieir tlu-oe-year-old son has'boen refused by Judge. Joseph .fe.ib.a.tli, . Tlic hus- band Is preparing to enter a cross^ biU for divorce. . ■ Mrs. Town is suffering with tu- berculosis, A physician testified she has only one year to live. The fqliowing letter was used by tlie husband to explain his attitude. It is said to have been written by Mrs. Town to .a girl in Ohica:go: "I ho-vo been here ono. month today. Listen, dear, I. have some scandal to relate to you—fronv the beginning. First, the doctor gave me permission to fro to the dining room aiid there I met; the . cule.st' ielibw. His. father Is. pi-6sidefit of a tire cornpany at . Akron, GhiOr and-Harold is -rfla name. ;^ ' . ''After lunch, wc were .talk- ing. . He said, 'Do ypu ever go -- out-ri<'mff'- -1-told:him .1 hadn't, been able to go as yet. Ho said hie would love to tako mc out some time. - "Well, tills is the excitihff ipart. You see at 9 o'clock wo turn off all: the lights, but . the nurses . never look to see if you arc in bed or not. So I turned off the lights.and was talking to my roommate when I heard someone. I looked up and there was my dear Harold. He had his car and wanted me to go for PHIL BAKER'S CONTRACT Secures Reduced Term and Single Agreement from Shuberts Shuberts and Phil Baker and Sid Silvers have adjusted their contract by compromise, the latter aligning with the producers for only a year and a half, as against their origi- nal three more years to go. Baker and Silvers, while working together and bound by stipulation to con- tlnub their spieclalty Jointly, now hold Individual contracts. They go Into another one of those Shubert "nights," probably the "Nlg'ht in VSHice'' irevue.--^^v^^^"-^ - - The team, for long with Shuberts, were anxious to break away. . LYNN'S MORBID ON STAGE AND SCREEN] Lynn, Mass., Nov.: 20. Continuing the personal censor- ship which Mayor Bauer has instl-' tuted over the local theatres, he has decreed there are to be no more suggestive wisecracks ypon the Lynn stage or screen. His contention that the boys and girls of high school a.ge are one of the largesit theatre going classes Is the basis for this edict. Three years ago Mayor Baiier abolished the censorship system here. Instead placing theatre man- agers upon their honor npt to place objectionable plays upon the stage or screen. Since then he has left them alone until recently when he suppressed "Dancing Daughters," on account of its a<lvertlsing. . He also found fault with the ad- vertising of . "lilt of the Show." After it had been changed, the film was presented. result of this rigid descent out of tho Palace by its oppo.«jltlon, the N. V. A. weekly benefit free show. In this as in other matters agents Btill seem under the lllu.sion that the new regime Is the old regime, and that any order issued to a Keith agent, no matter by whom, ahould be carried out by the agent or IM won't g<> to heaven. LOUIS MOSCONI'S OPERATION It has been found necessary to operate on Louis MosconI (Mosconl Bros.), at the French hbspital. New York, with blood poisoning of the 'foot. The form ef Infection Is known as "gymnasium foot," re suiting from stubbing the too. When the Infection became pro riounced Saturday; Loiils wa.s taken to the hospital. Act was forced to cancel the following day at the Pal- ace. Physicians had corisldorable dlf ficulty In centralizing the poison. Dramatic Actress In Lo.s Angele.s, Nov. 20. Fern Emmett, dramatic stock af:l ressr---Jo in€d--th6--^'^ca,v-CE=. ..^^ (vaUde) at the Orpheum .Sunday after two rehear.sals to sub for Blviry Weaver, called to the bed- Bido of her mother wlio. 1.". dyin« from cancer in Springfield, Mo. Jeanne Eagels in "Rain" Jeanne Eagles la pegged for an- other vaude trip upon completion of her present talker, this time In ftn abbreviated welon "lioin." a ride. . "As the grounds were all dark and he had the llgiits of his car out, no one could see us lo£ure, I had rhy. night gown on anff I slipped on a beautiful robe—It, Is gr^en and gold satin—and . my coat and slippers. We got some gin and ginger ale and he had a glass. We went out on the desert and had one wonder- ful time; you know what I mean . . . Well, dear, I cer- tainly got lit. " "I guess the excitement was . too much for him, as ho didn't come to breakfast or lunch. I certainly vamp these men. Well, .1. certainly had a good time coming to me as I have been In bed for a whole month/' No Excuse Judge Sabath stated that even approach of death Is no excuse for such conduct. Ho suggested that Floyd Town pay only the sani- tarium bills, and Toyvn signed an agreement to pay $10 weekly. Otherwise the week's crop of the- atrical divorces was of the usual sock and blow classification. Gerald Of the mailed fist, the Lynn stage la Goflf of "Manhattan Mary" secured rapidly becoming the butt o« thel^ divorco from .Jeanette Goff, actors. After the local ban "Dane- tjancer for cruelty. He identiflcd Jeanette's temper as exceedingly volcanic, and ll.stcd incldenta. wherein ho claims to have been pushed through a plate glass door, suffered a broken rib and received nunierous punches In tho pan.; Marriage lasted six months, ending In separation Jan. 5, 1927, ' Phil R, Davis represented hubby. . . u 10 .Days Enough Attorney Dayls also has gone to bat for Barbara Lloyd, show girl, against Adolphe Miranda, Son of the former minister to Cuba. Her com- plaint charges that Adolphe re- ceived a cablegram from a girl in Cuba\shortly after their marrlaige, a-skihg him to come back. Barbara says She-; naturally became Inqulsl- tlvo about the cablegram and got a sock In the jaw for her trouble. This marriage started June 14, 1928, and.lii.stcd 10 days. . ; Phyllis Coaklcy, show girl, says (Continued on page 39) ing Daughters" w;a3 recalled to Boston,, where It Is now a big hit. Lynn patrons who missed the film here are flocking to Boston, no doubt largely because of its cen- sorship here. : 2 Comedy Chib Tickets Chicago, Nov. 20. At a meeting of the Chicago Comedy Club nominations fOr of- ficers were selected by . an appoint- ed nominating committee:. Presi- dent, Milton well; v-p, William Diamond; sec-treas, Jacob Ellas; board of governors, Rocco yocco, Max Turner, Maurice L. Greenwald, Milton Bergor, Abe .Glatt, Otto Rockman, Albert Bcilcn. An opposition ticket will be put up. Moran Held Blameless Eddie Moran, vaude, wa.s cxoncr- atod of blamo In .a. $50,000 suit which was diamissod as a result of hi.s accidentally killing a pedestrian whlie drivln'g in Newark. . Moran \» Ji<:}}}nu : Jhe .Q akjOLnd^ggiL causIFig~ tiic mi.shali; ' '■ o isoo ItilOADWAY, NEW == m = CO .MAEKS' REP IN N. Y. M.'U'kfi lirosi of Chicapf. haVo de- Higiiated Irving Yates as their NesV York reprcHcntatlvo to b(X)k acLs for the Marlboro and Granada Theatres in Chi. Murray Bloom, the production manager for tho firm, will h<yjk acta from tlie ChIctt{jo end also. H H ii H •Ji In) ,s » •A o William Morris CALL WARD Can Book twenty Dance Teams. Immediately Communicate with New YorI< Office >i ClUCAOOl nil rCXl,BB 9 H H BLDO. o