Variety (Feb 1929)

84 VARIETY V A U D E V ILL E Wednesday, February 13, 1929 Chirping Tintypes in Wired Vaudilm Houses Have Failed To Dent Vaude in Indie Held i I lit I is ?i ■■•v-i m i ■i 4 t • ;i,> m m la .'13 Mil m Despite early season alarms that talket" and: sound policies would spell the deathknell of independent Vaude bookers, a mldseason survey ehows it was just Another one of those false alarm bugaboos. itiess than 25 per cent of the 200 Independent stands booked out of N^w York have been wired. Half of the wired houses have restored vaude after exporimenting and find- ing that the chlrptng tinytpes were not •sufficient to keep the weekly Intake up to par. ' " : y/ith plenty of acts around to •draw from, the bookers are ttuying most at unprecedented low prices and are also getting standards with ari' open wieek now and then for buy. This Kpea particnlarly for f ash acts where jproduc^rs have to keep the mob playing in order to hold them 1 ogether. Producers of flashes or production acts are tak- ing all. kinds of chops from inde- pendent bookers. Fally Markus maintains suprem- acy in the indie field with 78 houses on his books, which practically averages up to his last season's rating. Jack Linder Is next with 68, although a majoril^ of these are one and twdr-night stands. Ar Ihur Fischer rates next with 20 houses,' mostly split weeks which on the remunerative intake w;o,uld place him ahead of Linder, while Dows hold 12, of wbich six are split weeks and the others one and two'dfiiyers. Walter Plinimer maintains, for mer stride with 12 houses and has been seemingly content to. hold ' present list without angling for ' others. Joiin Robblns holds 8. John Coutts hias passed up the direct booking angle and is operating his shows on percentage basis In 12 up per New York 'and New Jersey stands. Fox's Group . The proposed Fox takeover of a group of Greater N. Y. Independent chains,- figured to change the stiand-' Ings of the indie bookings, es- pecially Markus and Fisher, has not materializod. If consummated later It Is not figured to affect present average, Markus is currently book- ing, two of the Fox Circuit houses, Folly, Brooklyn, and Fox^Sj Ellza- "ibeth, N. J., with general Impression that If Fox should go through on the takeover, Markus wiU still re- tain the outside houses unless Jack Loeb, Fox booker, enlarges his present .staff booking, the regular Fox houses. 1'\\<2 big fellows in the independent field are not worrying about either the talker invasion or the merger gag. Most claim that as soon as they lose a house to sounders an- other comes In for vaude to coun terbalance. The Face of B.B.B. B, B. B. (Bobby Bermah) • m; c. at Goffee Dan's, X.os An-, geles, spent 14 days before the camera, playing a part.in Fan- nie Brice's first talker, "My Man" for Warner Bros. -When the picture reached the screen there was only a momentary- shot of Berrnan, who Immer dlatcly sait down and wrote a. poem titled "The Face on the Cutting Rooin Floor." : That^s ^yhere '.his 14 days of work went. No "Outside Booking" Penmtted by Keith's About 15 Sr. Orpheums With Loew Opposition Keith agents and assistaiits will; under no circumstances, be per- mitted to book a:n aict on the out- side: In return Keith's will not buy acts on the outside. The outside question was brought up and made final by George God- frey at last week's meeting; of Keith agents. Keith's barrier against its bookr ers doing business with ; non-fran- chised agents was raised earlier, shortly iafter the start of the Ken- nedy-Murdock regime, when Ken- nedy found It necessary to go out- side the Keith office for much need- ed acts. . With the Keith agentsfV situation how settled and the agents back in fair shape, it Is expected by God frey that It should not be necessary to go out of bounds for attractions That ruling will exist as long as the Keith agents are capa,ble of deliver Ing. . .From reports, an outside booking by a Keith agent will be regarded as great an offense as "business" between agent and bpoker. The same penalty probably will be im- posed. The Orpbeuna senior circuit Is due for complete reorganliatlon with the idea In mind to establlah a con- secutive routo of respectable size, something kelth's hasn't got at th^ present time. . The first move in that direction was the Joining of the Palace, Chi- cago, Grpheum's ace stand, with the rest of the circuit. The Palace, under Bill McCaffery In the past* was individually booked, usually following Minneapolis or Milwaukee as a one week stand. . Orpheum houses classed as "senior" through comparative im- portance now number about 16, all fairly capable of supporting a sim- ilar type of blgr time show. At present a route of more than a month Is a rare happening, due to the lack of continuity In the manner in which they are booked. It has been proposed to establish a consecutive route of IB weeks or moire, starting at the Palace, Chi cago, and playing west. Under the sanie proposal the State-Irfike, Chi cago, one of Keith's best money spots and: now repeating acts two or three weeks, after the Palace, Chicago, would be booked Individ^ ually but of Chi with a choice of all acts coming east after completing the senior Orpheum tour. In any event the presently short Orpheum -route will be lengthened At the same time, It Is reported, several changes will be made In the Orpheum's booking staff, now head ed by Bill McCaffery under George Godfrey's supervision. Right now Keith's is completely outdistanced by Loew's In the mat ter of consecutive time. The Loew circuit has been perfected to such an extent that all of Its 40 vaude theatres and 26 to 30 v/eeks are playable by a majority of acts bpoked for any of the houses. Once out of New York an act Is assured of important tlnie In the Loew houses. Gypping Hash Acts of No Merit Ordered Off Keith s Route Sheets BETTER ON WAIL STBEET Al Gamble, known as "the "lightning calculator," has quit the stage to use his noodle swiftness as a marglti clerk In Wall street. . Oambld, in vaude for years, is now with Harris, Wlhthrop & Co., 11 Wall street. Rosalie Stewart Joins Keith's Production DepL Rosalie Stewart joins Keith's pro- duction department this week under the title of "isupervlsor of special attractions." Keith's expects Miss Stewart to show the production department some of the things she has learnad about vaudeville producing from long past experience In both ivaude and legit. It w^as stated at Keith's that Max Gordout nominal head of the de partment, will remain in charge. : Macklln Megley, more active than Gordon as a Keith staff, producer remains. RGBINSON'S BOUNCERS Cashed Bad Checks for Harlem's "Banker," Diamond I SHOW AT SARANAC Pros Entertain Vets at Sunrnount Hospital Di-sabled veterans at U. S. V. Hos- pital 96, Sunrnount, N. Y., were en- tertained last week by a vaudeville revue presented for their diversion by ^ vaudevillians themselves, under treatment at'Saranac. • Among the vaudevillians partici pating In tlie pntertalnment were George Harmon. liuss. Kelley, Frank C : rfield, Adele WiL-ion, Xela "Mad- cup" Edwards and sister, Lillian, Frances Chaiiii)i('KMe and Dick Kuni. Andrew Maloney acted as m. c. and Lawrence McCarthy ac conipanied. 1500 BROAPWAT, NEW yOlXK t h H S 1 o m William Morris CALL BOARD Flying Acts AND Acts Suitable for PARKS and FAIRS July, August and September Coinniunlrat« with New TiorU onice KEITH'S FOURTH RADIO Eight Acts on Air Tuesday Night Over WEAF R-K-O's fourth exploitation bx:oad- cast over WEAF, on the air last (Tuesday) night from 11 to 12 o'clock, included eight acts. : . The gratis participants, pro- gramed by George Godfrey, and the time allotted each, were: Roger Wolfe Kahn band, 12 mina.; Ruby Norton, 5 mins;; Bert Lytell, 5 mins.; Rosamund Johnson Chorus, 6 mins.; Joe Browning, 5 mins.: Williams Sisters, 3 mins.; Franlc Fay and Ba'rbara Stanwyck, 10 mins., and Stella Mayhew, 4 mins. The Kahn band's 12. mins. were split among three appearances- opening,'closing and In the middle FORUM Feb. 7 Editor, Variety, Read in Variety today about my wife, Ann Codee. It said she had trouble about a spot on the bill In Cleveland, and John Royal cancelled the act. , ■ . Who ever sends your news from Cleveland had Jietter get things right before sehdihg It to print, for it may get him in trouble some day, so I want to advise you as an old friend, to tell the poor iaap In Cleve land to be more, careful. There was no trouble between Miss Codee and John Royal. There was a unit on the bill than ran one hour and 40 minutes, and the Ann Codee act had nothing to gain by going on after all those people were .finished, or havine to go on real early. After talking things over very sensibly with John Royal he let us out of the bill, with th*e under- standing that we would play Cleve- land later, where he could get full value out of. our act. I proposed leaving the bill, and John Royal did not cancel the act. FRANK ORTH. BELLE BAKEE'S SON IN FILMS . Belle Baker Is to l»e starred In three talking pictures by Small ,& Asher. First Is to be made lil the east, wltli the remaining two due for coast production! Miss Baker:s (Mrs. Maury Abra- hams) son will also be in her first film. EXTERIOR DOUBLE Los Angeles, Feb. 12 I'nivcrsul is constructing an exact exterior duplicate of the. Palace the- atre. Xew York, to bo used for scones in "Broadwiiy." pi CHICAGO I iUI Bt'TLER UI.DO Fairbanks Twins in Films Los Angeles, Feb, 12. Fairbanks Twins have been book- ed "by "Warncr"Brothcrs=for-a^f eat ure picture to be made a.t local studios. The girls are due to arrive here Feb. 15 from New York, lUiokllVg was . arivmged by Ibe l'.'\'il Lyons :unV Lyons otU''o. Evelyn Wilson for "Scandals" Evelyn Wilson, fornu'vly Wilson and Waahbm'n, and liitoly appoaring in the picture b(ni>^(»s. will be in the next "i^pntulMls." Bill (Bbjangles) Robinson gave the iolks up -In Harlem food for gossip when he had John Diamond 46, Harlem's "banker," arrested on the charge of having two phoney checks cashed by him (Bojangles) One.check was for $1,000 and the other $500. Both bounched back, although Bill always thought Dia mond a rich man. Diamond has been having a tough tlhie lately. He got jammed on a court charge for possessing chance slips, and was recently. convicted, although .put on $1,500 ball. On the Robinson charge last week Diamond was held over for grand jury action,, his bail of $1,500 being continued; Radio Program Booker Engaging of talent for R-KrO's Tuesday night broadcasts will be under the personal direction of George Godfrey, Keith's booking head.. Godfrey will handle the weekly programs himself, with the aid of Charles Blerbauer, assistant. Godfrey may eventually appoint a special booker to handle the weekly headache. $6,000 for Lombardo's Bd. Wholesale toss out of flash acts from the Keith vaudeville books will be followed by a drastic cut In the number played In the future by Keith's. About 40 flash acts, pen- ciled In by bookers since removed from their Jobs, will not be-played. A general order froin George God- frey to bookers advises tbem to fur- ther confine- bills to as few flash acts as possible,' and then only to flashes meeting qualifications. The flash act, particularly in the Keith office, has long served as the most convenient niedium for "busi- . ness" between agents and bookers. Nine out of 10 operate with an ex- tremely low salary list, though this doesn't always show, in the act's combined salary. In most instances the combined figure: has had to take care of booker and agent as well as the producer and people. The high salaries paid to cheap. flash acts and, in turn* the low sal- aries given the people playing In theni, has been a laugh around vaudeville for two or three years. Amounts passed between agents and bookers representative of prof- its derived from $700 and; $800 flashes ran into the thousands. In the merry-go-round, the theatre and ^ booking office carried the bag. . Chicago Producer Soon after coming east recently a Chicago producer specializing in inexpensive flashes—Inexpensive to himself mostlyopenly bragged about his "business" with New York bookers. He went as far as men— tloning dollars and cents. In fact ithis was said to have been the pro- ducer's alibi to kid his partners. ■ The average flash today has reached such a statis tbat its chief virtue is In appearance. Beyond that it isn't worth Its salary. While it will serve, to dress .up a show, what it lacks In entertainment more than overshadows . the looks. Produced cheaply and short lived. It Is a good bet for a producer. For the same ' reasons, arid for the double reason, that It seldom? ch- tertains. It Is no bargain for a theatre. For the $500 or $600, minimum for a presentable flash, a booker can buy a high class single or a first rate comedy act. Instead of that, when buying a flash, arid for the same money, the booker usually Is sold some scenery and. the cheapest talent money can buy. Adagio teams worth a dime a dozen alone will, \yhen supported by some flash trap- pings bring $500 or more. Godfrey's order affecting flashes Is stringent. Two or three flash actia on a five-act bill Is a thing of the ^ast. In the future their number will be limited to ho more than one. It probably will mean the extinc- tion of the fairly nice looking but non-entertaining shoe-string pro- Rochester. Feb. 10, Editor Variety: I wLsh you to correct immediately a statisment made in-Variety. In the review of The American, Variety said that Smith and Gallagher's act. The Faker," was 'originally owned by Brown and Whlttaker, "The Faker" was originally writ ten expressly for me and produced for nie by my dear friend, Majc Gordon, Who used to be In vaude vllle, I believe. If something isn't done about this, I'll do something—I don't know what—but I'll do it, Depressingly, ROBERT JEMMETT KEANE. Chicago, Feb. 12. Guy Lombardo 5ind band are book- ed by B. & K. for the Chicago I' ihemTe Feb. 15;' foi^prie All billing In cdnnectlon with this [booking credits the Gi'anada cafe I and Al Quodback, who has Liom- bardo under contract. Lombardo is getting $6,000 for the week, SCHMEUNa SHORT Max Sehmellng; German heavy weight threat, goes with Warners [ for a bag-punching Vltaphone short. He will also talk In Dutch. Jimmy (Freak Act) O'Nell has Schmeling tied up for vaude and films. Detroit. Feb. 7. Editor Variety: In this Issue was an article that the Hotel Davis In Chicago held my trunks, etc. • Whoever volun- teered this Information got the de-. tail s mixe d. , _ The incident referred to was as follows: Two members of my com pany living In an apartment on Delaware avenue, left their win- dows open one zero night and the pipes burst. The apartment house held their trunlcs for payment, which they had no right to do. I was called In and succeeded net only In getting the trunks out but a liox of cigars as well. . GEOROFl JE^fiKL When You're Not 18 in Galena Kansas City, Feb. 12. You ought to be glad you don't have to live In Galena, Mo. Town just passed a bill prohibiting any- -O-'IO. under J.8 ,frpm leaving home after 8 v. m^~unlesa aecom panlod by parents. On top of that there's another city council ordinance . banning dance hall dancing, (he result of several recent disturbances. Buddy Doyle, Understudy IJiuldy Doyle h.'ts sif;ne<1 with Ziepfeld ail Eddie Cantor's ,under stiidy in "Whoopee." duction. 2-A-DAY OFF FRISCO Orpheum's Passing Will Not Be Re- placed—Vaude at Gorden Gate I»03 Angeles, Feb. 12. ..When the prpheum. San Fran- cisco, passes to Erlanger April 6, Orpheum vaude in that city wlH be. confined to the Golden Gate, vaud- fllm... Keith's has no intention of build- ing a nevy two-a-day house to rer place the:old one. . Another town off big time. Lauder Retires E, G. (Ted) Lauder, wlio re- signed two weeks ago as Koith'."! booking manager, has retired from show business without revealing future plans. "-=^IiatideT';^hD^ls=E;^l'\^ Albce-3=so in-law, was with Keith's for II years. He was one of the few ton, mountiM s of the Albee repln»e to de- part with plenty of friends. Ted Lewis' Talker's Start J.os Angeles, Feb. 12. Ted Lewis is due at Warner P.ios; studio to start en his- picture, "Is 1'J\-f>rybody TTai>py," .M!tn«h 1.