Variety (Feb 1929)

86 VARIETY V A U D E V I L L E Wednesdajf, FeHruary 13, 1929 Beneht Evil in Keith s Expected Placed on Saiie Level Very Soon Future stiitu.s pC live ent'orced ben- efit oviVin tbft KoiLh booking ofllcei affoctink tlie health.of.aotora as \vclj as sLi-ajning" the morale of acts, and agents, wjll be ,settled once and for ail upon the return to New Yorlc of. Hiram S. Brown, R-K^O president • Oeoree .Godfrey, Keith's booking hetid,: has had the hiatter under ad- .vlsement. Results of his investiga- tion will be turned over to Brown: From authentic accounts the e|v-. forced- benefit thing, unless for ex- fremely worthy causes or if pr6mot- ed: by actors for other and needier actors, will., be declared out in Keith's . It is also understood an order .w.iU te Issued forbidding outside organi- zations to promote benefits, on Keith's booking floor or to post no- tices on the booking .departmient't' private bulletin board..' ... Aimed at N. V. A. This order seems aimed at the N. V. A,, which has been passing out commands to Keith's bookers ■without interference. Most of the N. v. A. free ahdw stuff in the Keith. ofUce, has been pulled by E^Hl Sulli- van, the N. V, A.'s ainbassadOr-to Keith's. It is further reported that Sulli- van, now occupying free desk space: In Keith's, with tha;t. office .alreday overcrowded with its own members will be ordered to pay rent. Sulli- van was on the Keith pay roll as an 'JELLYBEAN'JOHNSON .Featnrinir Ills Orlffliml ALLIGATOR CRAWL Lo8 Angeles "EXAMINER" lald; . " 'Jolly Bean' .Johnson, n colored boy. Bang nnd dniv:(kl, not in the uaiial way, but with n vetigcancet. lie worked with his feet, hands, head and back, or any port of hiB anntoniy that was nenroat tho floor. His closing spasm brought do\Tn tho house." Rep.: LYONS & LYONS 'l"weiily-Uve Yture' HcrvU'e to Theatre . Mnnagvr). The Gus Sun Booking Exchange Co. ItcKent Theatre Bldg. ■ SPIIINOFIELD. OHIO F^rnislilne uveir one liuntlrcd theatren iviili Tunde'vllTe throuRli our comblnert offices; and oVor elirlity with murticnl sliows. Cun always use first class standard nets. OFFICES New Vork. Chicago, Cleveland,: Detroit, BulTnlo, rittsburgh, Kansas City, • St. I.OOlB N. V. A, worker under E. F, Albee's, orders, but was taken off the swin- dle, sheet when Albee went out. S.ul-. livan is not on the present N. V. A. pay roll. Koitli'.s well-trained agents, ac- customed to kicking in under Albee. have learned, wUhout asking, that the N. V. A.'s f3 Sunday feeds/at- tended mainly by lay people nor concerned with the actor's welfaro but willing to be entertained each Sunday by unpaid actors for the $3 tap, also remaining away from the; Palace that evening to play the N. V. A. club, are not compulsory affairs. Any benefit order posted dh the bulletin board by Sullivan carries no ofllcial weight, they understarid. W. E.'s Pubficity Head Talks ivn Trade Papers "Every industry needs a strong, prosperous trade press,"- stated P.. L; Thompsbh, director of publicity alid advertising for Western Elec- tric at the A. M. P. A. Thursday afternoon in a plea for certified A. B, C. circulation among the picr ture trade papers^ Thompson,, also president of the Audit Bureau of Oirculatiori, .added that "Trade pa- pers should be free. A subsidized trade pregs reflects weakness in the industry it. represents." These stiate'ments emanated from a desire to impress his audience with the: value of. reader Interest in a publication. And further ex planatlon of this view was that In most instances national organiza tionig realjaed that it was a matter of the greatest Importance that trade papers should be free from the influence of individual sources and that these organs of the trade should be able to express honest or, at any rate, their own uncplored views on conditions without being subjected to threats, pressure or in- fluence of any iklnd. In his more detailed views on the subject. In an Interview, Thomp- son said that these principles re- garding the merits of trade publi- cations had been acknowledged In many other industries, the leaders having recognized the danger of a trade or lay press: which might be influenced by any one faction. A. M. P. A. may take Joint quar- ters with the Motion Picture Sales- men and the T. p. R. O. A. In one of the centrally located hotels, ac- cording to plans how under dis- cussion. Details are being arranged. 31 Assistant Agents Are Allotted on Keith floor The 31 "assistant agents," or as- sociates, allotted to keith*s 25 en- franchised- agehta, or office heads, have been, apportioned^ according to the past business records of the agencies. The amount of each agent's past business has decided the niimber of assistants he shall have on the booking .floors. Pat Gasey , Agency and Harry Weber, top the list with three as- sistants each, two for the sixth floor books and one oh the fifth. Casey office is reported consider- ably ahead of Weber In the voluine of past bookings, Next In line, with two assistants each, are Jack Bell, M. S. Bentham, Jack Curtis; Marty Forkins, Max Hayes, Charles Morrison,. Han-y Romm. , . Godfrey has limited 11 others to one assistant apiece, while the re- rhainlh'g five have been ordered to go It alone on both floors. Of the 31 assistants, 9 are .con- fined to the fifth floor books, 11 to the sixth, and 11 will be permitted on both floors. The. both floor agents are ^privileged through being the only, assistants In their respective offices. • . . Office heads may book on both floors at will; Loew's^ Syracuse, Restoring Acts For Combination Vaudflm Bits JURY UPHOLDS AGENT Awards Judgmenf Against Pardon for Unplayed Engagement Warner-Stanley Agency's to Houses-^10 at Keith's CHEERIO JACK FORESTER with Georges Carpentier Now Alhambra, London Club Acts' Club For some time the acts making a continual practice of playing olub and society dates' have had their own organization, but comes a new one in the Entertainment Managers' Association. Tom Kelly is presi- dent and Dan Harrington secretary; Al Skea, treasurer. The E. M. A. has decided to ii'on out complaints by club acts. A unique test case, and a prece dent in the show businiess, resulted in the court's opinion, before a jury, that a vaudeville agent or per sonal representative who renders services for an act may recover for the value thereof, regardless of whether or not the act goes through with the bookings. Specifically^ Irving Cooper, who sued Eddie Pardo for securing a 20-within-25 weeks Loew contract which Pardb and Co. neveir played, was awarded $1,143 by a Jury before Judge Noonan In tho City Court, Pardo's defense was that he didn't authorize Cooper to represent him and that Cooper did not render managerial services to entitle him to five per cent, of the $850 and $1,000 Loew. salary. Cooper could not sue as an agent because ad- mittedly he is not licensed as such, acting as a pei'sonal representative and artist's manager. Julius Kehdler, representing Coo- per, convinced the Jury that his client had secured the Loew's State, New York, break-In date for Pardo; renderedf^certain advisory services; enlisted the reviewing of the act by managers, etc., and that Cooper was in the same category of a realty brokei:, entitling him to commission for negotiating a contract even though Pardo never fulfilled it. Pardo at that tfnie had a Shubert show in the offing and never opened for Loew's. Since then, action dates back to August, 1926, Pardo has re turned to vaudeville. Ten Stanley and Fabian theatres remain In the Keith office, with Harold Kemp, Warner-Stanley's di- rect booker, booking eight. Kemp's eight arc Paterson, Eliza- beth, Passaic, Hoboken, Urilon City, Central, Jersey City, Earle and Nixon, Philadelphia. Davis (two- a-day), Plttsburgti, and Erie, Pa., are still on Keith's own books. Paterson, Elizabeth, Passaic, Ho- boken, Union City and Jersey City are six Fabian locations, under con- tract to the Fabians as operator and with Fabian reported as still unwilling to withdraw them from Keith's to join the Warner-Stanley office. Fabian, is reported a greater bar to his string joining Warners than the contract controversy now going on between Keith and Warner at- torneys. The foijr towns besides Fabian's six . renialrtlng In the Keith office may be forced to stick under contracts binding them to. the latter. Though, the Fabian theatres aria In the Warner-Stanley chain, the Fabians have their sole opera tlon for 10 years, still holding 25 pep cent of their Stanley stock. W-S Agency's. 10 Houses Meanwhile the' Warner-Stanley office . In the Bond building, Under Lew' Golder, Is operating with 10 theatres on Its books. The four full week picture houses are Mast baum and Stanley, Philadelphia;. Stanley, Jersey City, and Branfbrd, Newark. Vaude splits booked by Warner Stanley are Broadway and Logan, Philly; Stanley, Enright and Schenley, Pittsburgh, and Utlca, N. T. • Dave Beehlcr continues in the Keith office, along with Kemp, as supervisor of the Fabian houses. A board of five is reported to have been formed. for the purpose of handling all affairs pertaining to the Warner-Stanley agency and houses. The members, from ac- -counts, are Abe Sablosky, Harry Warner, Irving Rossheim, Spyros Skouras and Cy Fablanv CARVING INDIAN'S ACT Chick Hawk, Seneca Indian artist and sculptor, is staging an Indian fantasy with 10 people! for an an- ticipated RKG appearance. In the act will be Chief White Hawk. The chief is the Indian who ob tained considet-able publicity in his romance with an eastern girl not long ago which assumed an unusual angle when tiie Hawk carved his initials on the girl's breast. This was done, he explained, according to an anciei.t rite. Mlko Appel PrcAontH nrondwny's I^eAdlns Juvohlle JOHNNY ELLIOTT AND IIIS CO-EDS Offering "THE DANCE DOCTOR'V AN1> AXj von TII^EIC AND ABE TIlAl,llEIHEK NOW UEADLININO MR. 1»ANTAGES' XHEAXBES BILLY DE WOLFE Spokane, Wash.:—Billy De Wolfe is about the most supple person ever seen on the local stage. Now Featured with "MELODY MANSION" Sackett for L. & L. in L. A. Los Angeles, Feb. 12. George C. Sackett, for mahy years with the OrpheUrn circuit, has taken charge of Lyons & Lyons local office in the Pantages building Ben Light,, musical director, and Abe Sugarman, last with Harms in California territory, are assistants. Sackett succeeds William. Row land. . BEEG'S PUBIIX EOUTE Alphonse Berg and wife, after ; year's absence from New York, re turned last week and left Feb. for the west to open a Publix tour with their fashion act. Bergs first went to Australia then Egypt and wound up playing In England. More Bands Vogue for bands, which is still on has the Keith bookers scurrying for material, whether doubling from nlte clubs, ballrooms or hotels. Mai Hallett is slated for Sonie Keitn bookings, doubling from the Arcadia ballroom. Rudy Vallee and his Connecticut Yankees, formerly known as his Yale Collegians, are also set for RKO dates around New Yorki doubling frorti the New Ve- nice. Syracuse, N. T.; Feb. 12. Commencing this week Loew's In this city will play a combination vaudflim program of pictures and five acts ou each half. This Is a restoration of vaude to the local Loew house. It .played pictures and presentations when opening iabout two years ago, but later went into a picture policy only. Of late months with all of the downtown houses wired and playing sound pictures, Keith's has been the only on^ to play humans in per- son on a stage. This has given a Keith's an edge on its grosses. Oft- times Keith's for days and weeks . has had, no stage opposition ieven in the legit. With the new policy Loew's gets another resident manager, Harry Weiss, who married a Syracuse girl (Miriam Joel) here some years ago. Weiss comes from Loew's at Norfolk. Prejviously he was a Loew house man at Birmingham,.and also at the State, New York.' J, P. Mc- Carthy, whom he succeeds, will re-.^ place Colby Harriman at Washing- ton, Harriman joining the Loew New York oflftce staff. E. A. Vinson of . New York Is spe- cially assigned here to Loew's for exploitation oh the new policy. Opening bill Includes Conrad and Eddy, Milo?, and Keller Sisters and Lynch, booked by the Loew-office in New York. Lay Offs Ruled Out Chicago, Feb. 12. The usual mob of layoffs and bull sessions in the Woods theatre build- ing lobby disappeared suddenly and permanently last Week. Banned from the loi»by by a new ruling, the boys are . shivering on the sidewalk. A special guard has been detailed to keep them out. Street Fixing Costly With the highway in front of the house Impassable and the recoti- structlon. work to continue sonie time, the Queensboro theatre, Elm- Hurst,, has eliminated its split vaude during the week, running only pic- tures \yith five acts Sundays. The Queens highway Is being im- proved by the city. MCRBAT GORDON "Sez": ' Early to' bed and early to rise gets .you. to the theatre first to rehearse "SUNNY BOY." Murray Jl'mmy GORDON and WALKER Ihtomiptc4 by FRANCINE Watch Her Grow . If she grows much bigger, she'll look 11 ko & ^1 rl 8.ct HEADLINING LOEW THEATRES Tills Week (Feb. 11). AtliMita (Not the ^Tenltentiary"), Capitol Theatri' >- Dir. <;HARI.ES -YATES - GRANLUND'S BEEAK-IN After being offered to RKO, with the price considered too high, N. T. GranIund's_ ;."Ni ght., - Club , . Revue'' gets its first fling for "Loew Fob? 18 at Loew's Oriental, Brooklyn. Granlund was a former, Loew publicity man and radio announcer. Date is a tryout. le Maire's Pardo Unit Rufus Le Maire is producing a vaudo band unit to be headed by Eddie Pardo. Unit will Include bits from Le Maire's last "AfTairs.'' GOLDEE'S WASHUP Artie Pearce, assistant to Lew Goider a.s a Keith agent, will join the Jack Curtis agency under Keith's "assistant agent" claiasifica- tion. The Golder. office, •with Golder inactive as an agent since becoming genei-al manager of the Warner-Stanley ofiice, has been or- dered to liquidate by "the end 6t this season," but Ls. practically dis- solved with Golder out. Al Stednian's New Partner Al Stedman, fotmerly of Al and Fanny Stedman, has formed a new vaudeall iance-'wlth" Rlta^Shlrleyr^^-- FOR DROPS 36 in. wide at 75c a yd. and up A full line of gold and ellver oro- cades, metal cloths, gold and silver trimmings. rhlneBtones, spang 1 b. tights, opera hose, etc., etc., for stage costumes. Samples upon request. J. J. Wyle & Bros., Inc. (SncceBBors t<i SleRmnii & Well) 18-20 East 27th Street NEW YO R K , _ CARL RITCHIE TAP AND ECCENTRIC DANCER. 30Mi CONSECUTIVE WEHK WITH XEONORA'S iSTErrEllS