Variety (Dec 1929)

I>' 40 VARIETY V A U D E V I L L E Wednesday, December 4, 1929 NBC Taking Acts and Attractions Under Exclusive Booking Deals NBC (artists' bureau) a booking ofTlce of masnltude. RCA subsidiary Is signing under exclusive contracts, ■vritli the word "exclusive" embrac- Inp everything in Indoor show busi- ness. In a concentrated drive on talent, NBC has under exclusive contracts nearly 500 attra,ctIons,;. Includirig bands, singers, opera stars, come- dians, teams, monologistsj Instru- mentalists, etc., and is sewing up people and acta^ when available to It. All amateur talent out except where pronalse is definitely shown, the broadcasting company engag- ing everyone with the view to choosing material suitable for the various flelds into which It Is ex- panding as a booking agency, main- ly vaude and pictures. Approxi- mately half of the artists and acts now under exclusive contract are regarded as the type that can be hooked into either field. In' the case of all talent avail- able to NBC, contracts are Issued only where the broadcasting com- pany feels that such tie-ups can be entirely advantageous to them out? side of radio as well. NBC Is RCA affiliated with R-K- O. both parts of the "radio family." NBC does not book Its material ex- clusively with Keith's, selling talent anywhere. NBC's commission charge in most all cp^es Is 15%, with ex- ceptions at less. .rWhen going und^r the exclusive contracts, artists cannot work for anyone else or accept aiiy outside broadcasting engagements. . liOS Angeles, Dec. 3. Presentations will be eliminated after this week at the RKO, and the departure of Macklln Megley as head of the department. Megley, Terry Brlnker, assistant, with Mildred Weber", stenographer, came front New York last Septem- ber to stage the shows, heriei and In San Francisco. The presentations have meant nothing.. . With two-a-day yande ptilllng out : the Orpheum Friddy the RKO with a flvcract bill and pictures will open Thursday. The Orpheum, San Diego, has the isame opening day. The opening of the Golden Gate, San Francisco, will be switched to Friday as will the Orpheum/ Oak- land. The .State, liong /Beach, booked out the local KeUh offices will continue Its Saturday openings. McDermott's Ist East Unit ^^Xiewls McDermott, brought east nSm Chicago and now a Publix producer, readying his first unit; opening Dec. B In New Hav6h.' Title Is "White Gaps." Cast Includes Bobby Plnkus. Bill and Harriet Hutchlns, Monroe and Grant, Varsity Four, Pauline Gas- klnis and Fred Evans' Ensemble. UOBJ^JlLtf NAMES Two more film names opening in vaude for.^ ICeith'a this week iare Chester Conklini-Hoboken, and L.ina BascLu^tte,' jPa'terson. Bbtti Webei'-Simon. DANCERS . Experienced boys and girls Granted for atag-e work. Thirty weeks guar- an.teed. Take Astoria subway to Washington street. Mr. Cowhlck, be- tween 10 A. M. and 6 P. M, Publix ^Theatres' Corporation, 7th and Pierce streets. Astoria, Long Island. ARTISrS WRITS wvvtlta — |3HONe PHIL A.FREASE 724- •Oi.DBN OATB BUDO. PRANKLW 5975--MN FRANGJCO REPDESENTATIYE Vaude Ousts Presentations In R-K-0 Coast Houses Gourfain. Leaves Capitol Harry Gourfaln, Chicago stage producer brought east by the Cap- itol iheiatre about a month ago,, has. abdicated. He will probably return to ChL As yet Gourfaln has not been re- placed. The. Capitol's producinir Is left as formerly with Arthur Knorr and Chester Hale, as staig^rs. F-H VNIT CIGSES . Log Angeles, Dec. 3. "Blzarrei" Fanchon and Marco unit, closes its road tour thiis week In Philadelphia. It will retuyn to Los Angeles. , ♦'Beach Nights" has been selected to open Fox's. new house in Atlanta, Ga., Christmas Night. Bad Treatment Charged By Agent Against Keith's Claim for commission from the booking of Blackstone, the magician, has been filed with Keith's by Pad- dy Schwartz, ag^nt, who charges the booking office favored an out- side agent, Arthur : Klein, in the transiEiction. Failure of ..the Keith booking office to prote^ > Keitn franchlsed agent against, an out- sider I9 charged by Schwartz. Keith's booked Blackstone at a salary of $2,250 through Klein. Schwartz contends that with au- thorlzatloh from the magician and his personal representative, AI Grossman, he (Schwartz) previous- ly submitted the turn to the book- ers and was turned down. Schwartz avers he offered the act to cKelth's for $2,250 and $2,000. Keith's highest. offer to Schwartz was $1,760, he claims, with Black- stone claiming inability to operate sit that salary. Contention is that when Klein later offered Blackstone at the figure Keith's turned Schwartz down at, it was consid- ered acceptable-by the booking of- fice. . .... ■ ' . •. Before Reora^oization ■ All of the incidents occured pre- vious to the recent change in book- ing headd in Keith's, when George Godfrey was the one-man head of the booking office. Befusal to book the act with a Itelth agep^t and-fol- lowing acceptance from .an outsider was sanctioned by Godfrey, accord- ing to iSchwartz' charge, with' God- frey personally booking Blackstone through Klein. Matter has. been turned over to Sfein Piazza for settlement and Is under lidvlsemeht. Formerljr a Keith's assistant booker, Schwartz left the booking offlc'e .a short time , ago to beicome an agent with a franchise. He has heen with Keith's since an office boy, S^OOO-Seat Indie^ Biggest Indie vaude house-ever, St. George, at St. George, ^ S. L, opens today (Wednesday) under a vaudfllm policy. . Four acts and pic ture. Seats 3,000. Sol Brill, who is.,selUng his chain t<rTbx7T5ullt' the ^C~Gi§org6~lJUt~is not Including the blg-seater In the list of houses going to Fox, It is understood. Arthur Fisher Is booking the St George. 3. Akron's Band Policy Akron, O., Dec Manager Herb. - Jennings, of Keith's, banged over a band policy, replacing vaude, with a hot com' palgn that so far has brought a 25% increase in" gross over tt^e for mer average vaude take. House is ]g^laylng three acts, Chi cago Keith-booked, in front , of the band. After two months In Omaha for Publix, Sam Bramson has returned to Chicago for the William Morris office. Real Small Time Seattle, Dec. S. Circuit of five unwired tanktown houses in this territory was or- ganized by B. J. De Lap for vaude, but flopped after a short time. De Lap was offering acts five nights, to be played in the five houses. Each theatre used one act nightly. PRIVATE PARTY AGENTS GET SOCKED PLENTY The panic Is on among club agentis and has been slhcO the Wall Street break. Dearth of the former private entertainments has the boys worried plenty. The club booking racket, pro- viding pickings for a number of agents specializing in that field, and Bu Slde line life saver for othen?, seems washed up, at least tempo- rarily. Bookings for New Tear's Eve are away below normal. Looks like those with some coin left and a yen to celebrate, will go. for the mob stuff instead of privacy, if celebrat-^ ing at all. The New Tear's Eve parties have been a : bonanza for club bookers, most of . whom had been getting ex- orbitant prices for mediocre enter- tainers and scrub orchestras. " With that a flop so far on book- ings, it's not .unlikely that the club agents will celebrate New Tear's with a general wail, standing in any war spot open to them. , CASEY'S PANSY OFFICE NEW AND PLENTY BIG It seems impossible, but P'at Casey may be accused of going pansy in his new office of the Variety Man- agers' Association at 1600 Broad- way. Casey, staff, personnel and equipment moved In lasV Friday, Pat's only out was that he bad not seen his ofllce himself before that day- ■ \ The suite , occupies the entire ninth floor, taking in much space. It faces BrOadwi^yj 48th street and 7th avenue. In-the rooms are pri- vate offices for Major Donovan, Morton King (V, M. A. attorney); Fran]^ .Tannehlll and Tom Klrby. A. law library is given a room by Itself. Casey's private' office is larger than the; entire V. M; A. suite- at its former Columbia build- ing addreSs. ' The approach to Casey's new front door suggests you are about to enter a. medieval« palace. Massive iron wrought doors. Inside it's even worse, with the cel- lar effect carried to the walls and ceilings, while . a phoney ^fireplace adds to the illusion. 'A long lunch tahle stands in. the center,, but up to Friday someone had forgotten all about chalrs-^and. there was no lunch. All V. M. A. departments will function In the present suite. Pre- viously they were distributed among the Columbia building floors. Midwest Acts Taken ■ Chicago, Dec. 3. johnny^ Collins, ilKO. scout, has signed Don Santos and his band of seven, who played the Palace last week; Ja^ck' McBrlde and his four- foot eirl foil; Mrs. George Prim- rose and her "Spirits of Minstrel- ay" act, .and Princeton and Tale, who: showed at the Englewood last week' ■ All will be given eastern dates. Name- of Princeton.and Tale . will be changed to Jack Princeton and Renee, ' Alonzo and Hoiue Back Middlesex theatre (indie), Mid- dletown, Conn., returns to Keith's for vaude bookings this week, with P. Alonzo also returning as the Conn, stand's direct booker. AIon:zO has an Interest in the Mid- dlesex, it has been in straight pic- tures about a year. He formerly booked the Poll circuit ' through Keith's. . Piainfieid's Vaudfilm Walter Reafte is remodeling Proc- tor's, Plalnfield, N; J., and will in^ stall vaudfilm policy . there when 9.Iterations are completed. House will play five acti on split week booked by Fally Markus, RADIO- KEITH-ORPHEUM CIRoUIT OF THEATRES Vaudeville Exchange General Booking Offices Palace Theatre Building 1564 Broadway R-K-O FILM BOOKING CORP. General Booking Offices. 1560 Broadway NEW YORK COR P DRAT10 N 1566-1564. Broadway, New York Teleplione Exobangroi .Bryant 8300 Cable AddnsBi "BADIOKiaTH" R*0 PRODUCTIONS, INC. Frodacers and DIstribntora, of RADIO PICTURES ^ Launching an Era of Electrical -Entertainment 1560 Broadway NEW YORK CITY .A. 3 Back for "5th" Keith-owned three In Albany, Troy and Schenectady, recently switched to the "sixth floor" side for . bookings, will be returned to the Family Dept. for bookings, due to inability to stands the overhead of the Keith's east's flye-act road shows. . ' • IJpstate trio will go on Jack Hodgdon's book and play the fifth floor type hills. They are the only Keith-owned houses! on that side, Lorraine' Leaves Markus Hitrry liorralne and Fally lyiarkus have parted office company; After- 2,3 years of service by the foi^iner, with Ihe Markus' indie vaude books. Lorraine has shifted his one,'day theisttres- -to—the- -John- A—-Rohblns office. . Milne Returning Los Angeles, Dec. 3. Ed. Milne, Pantages New York representative, after spending four weeks here straightening out af- fairs of hli employer, returns to his hep dquarters the end of this week. He will have only, two houses to bocflc, Toronto and Hamilton. Contracts for these bookings ex- pire Jan. 1. It Is likely then that the Pantages offices will be closed: and Milne will make another con- nection. CONIIN and GLASS . With HANK MILO Week Oec^ ,7» MajestlerSirrt Antonro :- General &xequtive Offices LOEWBUIIDINQ AN N E X 160 WEST 46^"ST* BRYANT 7800 NEW YORK CITY GENIii MARVIN H. SCHENCK GENIiKAL. Mt%NA<iEB nOOKINC ftlANAOER CHICAGO OmCE 600 WOODS THEATRE B'LD'C JOHNNY JONES IN CHARGE JACK WHaS AT THE PALACE, NEW YORK, THIS WF^K? A SENSATIONAL RETURN TO VAUDEVILLE AFTER 104 WEEKS Personal Direction WEEDON & SCHULTZ