Variety (Dec 1929)

VARIETY VAUDEVILLE Wednesday, Deceinber 18/1928. FID GORDON M\CT0ft/4 Ea PALACE ^ MONDAY. Hoy. tr FiDJQRDOR MAX W»j./-^- Wiyi-Sr Foareli Just finished successful tour for Moss' Empire Immediately bookeii by general theatres for Palladium Andafter for entire drcuit LOEWS 25-50% COIN LEAP FOR PLUG MONTH lioew's will Increase Its "budget for all vatide bills from 25 to 50% next month when the circuit stages its "January Festival" celebration for. extra biz and attention; This goes for both the vaude and picture theatres and is in addition to Loew's increased advertising and. exploitation appropriation for the month. Average cost of the five act lioew vaude bills In New York houses is around $2,500. Road average is $3,- 000. Manhattan average Is exr ceeded only at the State, New York, aiid Metropolitan, Brooklyn, where the clrcultls strongest shows are played. ' ^ Booking ofliceMs now setting the. expensive Januiary bills with pei*-. mission to considerably exceed the normal budget. Number of alcts to bill may be lncrea,sed in some spots along, with the elevation In quality, These eicpensive bills are antici- pated to partly pay for themselves with the added exploitation in back bf them. • '.Also, it is hoped, they will build good wilL LEE STEWART Europenn R»pr«MnUtiv«t FOSTERS* AGENCY Loews New Kind of Vaude WiD Be Presentation Unit Changed To Variety, Not ed PUBtlX PRODUCERS A GET CHANCE AT SHORTS All Publlx unit producers will be given a chance to direct film shorts starting after New Tears. Pro ducers will be- asked to submit ideas which will be passed upon by A. J. 'Balaban, head of the pro- duction and short departments. First experimental idea has been turned out by Frank Cambria; who has already completed two subjects with a third In the oflfihg. Louis McDermott, recently brought east from. Chicago, by Publix, will make a short around the middlie of Janu ary. McDermott's Idea i? based around a song and wiU bo designed for atmospherib novelty. Other Publix producers slated for shorts include Jack Partington, Charles Nlggemeyer, and Boris Petroflf. Another short angle now being discussed is the revived id<ea 6f reproduction on .film intact of the Pu'blix stage units. Latest batch of shorts scheduled at the Astoria studios Include Billy House, Agnes DeMille, Jimmy Barry, George Dewey Washington. Marie Gamby) Gamberelli, a Schwab and Mandel subject, be turned out before Jan. 1. Will BILLY ARD £LSA NEWELL Songs by Ned Joyce Heaney "Two of vaudeville's most de- lightful and expert clowns. The Helen Morgan bi^sihess must be seen to be believed."^—Gene Turner, N. T. VTBLEGRAM." Week Dec. 14) RKO, Rochester. Direction JACK CURTIS—BER- NARD BURKE. AIR LEAPS COMMON jy/lany Acts Now Jumping by Plane J=;or Publicity—1- Turn Makes 6;, Jumping.acts by airplane for pub- licity purposes, with-the .theatres paying the fare, is . coming into; gen' eral.uise. Acts capable of backing up the ex ploitation and willing to chance the air route are propositioned by the stand; ahead and brought into town with much bfill^liQO. Women are especially attun^-.t<»^';t^ sort of space, ,■- ■■ Newspapiersi have indicated they are;ag^ie^able to co-operatis a,nd con- sider/the • entrance of an act into town by air legitimate news. Fre quency with which several man- agers have used 'plane jumps to gain attentloh has hot dampened the dailies* ijedslon. In a lew instances acts have bought their own air tickets for" the personal plug^ but most of the air rides for Taudevillians are at the managers' expense. One turn re cently made six consecutive jumps by plane, all paid for by the the- atreis concerned* First prominent use by an act of a plane for publicity use was .that of Muriel Kaye, dancer, in Texas about two years, agbi She had a plane, pilot, and press agent. ONLY ONE MORAN WITH MACK, SAYS (XO.MORAN Hollywood, Dec. 17. George Mbrah, who recently walk- ed out on Charles Mack on eye of starting "Two Black Crows of A.. B. F." for Paramount, states that he is . the only George Moran or 'Mpran" to work with Mack in the past 13 years. Moran states. that when he and Mack first Joined, he was asked to use the name of Swoir, whleh was that of ^^ack's previous partner. Moran says that he refused and for one year they worked under the team name of Swan and Mack. At that time Miax Hart suggested the name pf Moran and Mack, used .by the team ever since: Moran says that about a year ago he changed his name legally froin George Searcy to George Moran and that . at the sime. time the nanie of Mack' vra^ made legal from Mack's own, name which was Charles E. Selders. Moran states that only time Bert Swor has appeared, with Mack is at present In the Paramount pic-, ture. Moran through his attorney, E. E; McCuUough, will bring suit to re- strain Swor or Mack or both from using the Moran name "on either stiage, screen or radio. RKO's Tues. Switch With New Year's Eye falling on a Tuesday this year, all RKO split 'week houdes In New York will change shows on that day instead of Wednesday. Switch, okayed by Joe Plunkett, is with the idea of grab- bihg off extra ihldnight perform- ances. Houses Included are the 81st St., Regent; Hamilton, Coliseuni, Royal, Franklin, Chester, Fordham, • 58th St. and 86th St. Other RKO grinds will give extra shows but without interruption and at no increase In scale. . ' RKO OBCHESTBA CHECK Milton Schwarzwald, RKO's gen- eral musical director, is on an or- chestra check-up tour of all circuit houses through midwest; and Canadian territory. Schwarzwald will cover Chicago, Milwaukee and surrounding vlclni ties before going to Winnipeg. He then hops to Minneapolis for the opening of the RKO Seventh Ave nue Dec. 21. TAN6UAY HEABLININO Los Angeles, Dec, 17. ---Strand.- Iiong-^ Beach,—Cal.i -has switched from musical tab and pic tures to vaudfilm. Evar Tanguay heads the first bill. Three acts will be used with Jean Meiklepohn booking the house. Back In Vauda Phil Baker leaves the" cast of "Pleasure Bound" Dec. 27 and shortly thereafter opens for RKO. Sue House for $1,000 Lyons and Lyons, through Attor ney Jiillus Kendler, has filed suit in Municipal - Court, New York, against Billy House, vaude comic, now with R-K-O, for 11*000 agents' fees claimed to have accrued throiigh House's earnings between March 23 and Oct. 12 of this year. Agents maintain that they held a contract with House whereby they were to act as his managers. AKRON—A FULL WEEK ' Akron, O., Dec. 17. Keith's drops its band policy this Saturday (Dec. 21) to return, to vaudfilm. Five act bills, booked out bf New York, will play a full week. Presentation policy supplanted three weeks ago, a band and m.c supporting three acts sent in from Chicago; PIANISTE'S ONE WEEK Otnaha, Dec. 17, Margaret. ShotWell, the highly publicized pianiste, plays the Or pheum (Keith) next week at a liet of $800. Miss Shotwell is a home town girl. Local date is the only Keith en- gagement set for the girl. ILL AND INJURED Jack King, son of Floyd King, formeip owner Cole and Grentry cir cuses,""seribusly"ill~6f"l)neumbnlti^n Fort Dodge, la, Mrs. Fred Meredith (Meredith and Snoozer, Jr.), taken ill while play ing the State-Lake, Chicago. May submit to an operation. Nellie Gray (Gray and Grateaw) Is confined in ward J.B. 1, Garfield hospital, Washington, D. C. Write to the 111 and Injured TEXAS FRIDAYS Interstate Starts^ Dec. 27—Dallas Mgrs. Say Wednesdays Are Hurt Dallas, Dec. 17. Beginning Dec, 27, the Interstate Majestic will' go to Friday openings, the same as Publlx. This leaves no Saturday openings In town. Managers along Elm street are complaining that Friday, openings hurt Monday business. RKO Wl Contnme Idea Contests—One a Montli Due to the results .obtained In the managerialnational exploitation idea, contest conducted during November, RKO will arrange similar contests, under present plans, for every month in the year. Three, four, or more, prizes^ are to be awarded. . Four prizes given for national ex ploitation Idea go to Mickey Ross, Orpheumt, Sioux City; Jack E^d- wards, Orpheum, Salt Lake City; William La* Portes, Erlanger, Phil adelpiila, and James J*. Brennan, Capitol, Trenton, N. J. Gross' fir.st prize idea was a pop- ular, working girls' contest to se- lect the most liked working, girl, $100 in gold and a radio going to l^ocal winners. Edwards' stunt was arrangements with interurban rail- road ticket agents in Salt Lake City selling RKO tickets along with railroad ducats. This month the hou£ e managers are competing in a contest to In- crestse matinee business. As reported the Loew's booking office intent of playing a prjesenta^^ tion unit In lis yaudevllle housea goes beyond the inere playing, with the first show of that kind booked for Baltimore, to break in,, week' Dec 21. . ' It now goes into the experimental class through Loew's trying to re- fashion the presedtatlon Into a vaude stagd unit: .without added weekly cost.! Three of the presenta- tion's tun^B, considered suitable, for that purpose, but unsuited for a vaude stage, have been dropped out, with three regular acts substituted. As framed at present jthe "^aude- pres.entation will hold '^Collins and PetersonK patti. Spear, Jolly and Smith* Rodian Trio, Horton Spurr. With these Will travel 12 chorus girls and the.briglhal presentation's* production. The pit band will go on the stage and.most of the*acts, pos- sibly all, wIU appear before it In the vaudeville .'houses. Vic Hyde is staging, the unit show. The" vaude-presentatlon will run from .60 to 70 nalnutes. During it the chorus lliie will appear at three different times, .this taking up from seven to .10 minutes of the running time. In the line up are two two-men acts of different styles,. one single girl and one single man, with the trio, adagio, having two girls in it, other than the 12 girls of the chorus. 32 Weeks Following Baltimore the unit will take up the Loew circuit at the cus-* ternary opening stand, Richmond, playing 14 weeks- before it comes into New York for Loew's city time. U*nits approved by Loew's booking hesCds will b^ able to play around 32 weeks, without repeats. This will be divided between 2Q weeks in Loew's vaude'and 12 in Loew's pres- entation housesf. With this hybrid show, a new kind for vaudevllie and first presented in this way by Loew's for Vaude- ville theatres, Loew's backers are of the opinion that they are giving vaude a new kind • of entertainment, away from stereo* typed vaude. They • have, con- fidence in the try but state they will judge solely by audience reception. The bookers believe the public may want a difl^erent kind of variety served In a different way, but they hold no faith In the "new faces and managerlal"4)unk. The' Loew booking booker's are not going to Baltimore until the close of the opening, week, to. allow the show to hecome set before view- ing it. CALIOART BROS. 7AN. 17 Callgary Bros., pantomlne team, will make their first American ap- pearance In New York at the Capitol (pictures), Jan. 17. Act Is begin- ning a BO-week'tour of the Loew circuit. Booked through Ned Dobson. of the Jerry CarglU office. SIOUX CITY CHANGE Sioux City, IDec, 17. . Orpheum has changed policy, yaudfilms Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Last half pictures only. Verdict on Rasch Act Arbitrary decision in the dis pwe -of^6?defi^Sciruifz^vs.""Pa^^ Schwartz over commission on a date played at the Palace, New York, by the Albertina Rasch Dancers awards the commission to Weeden-Schultz . It was contended Schwartz un- knowingly booked the act before the Rasch girls had secured the neces sary release from Weeden»Schultz, Its previous Keith agents. Ben Pi azza made the ruling. 17 Loew Musicians Back Return of 17 musicians to Loew theatres in New York and Brook- lyn, following their ousting when the houses went sound, took place recently. Contractual rights of an agreement entered Into by the cir- cuit with the musicians were re- spected by the houses after the matter had been placed before the Variety Managers' Association. At the time the contract was signed it was agreed that certain circuits employ a certain number of musicians •. in each house. The v. M. A. upheld the conten- tion of Local 802 that 17 men be re- tained for the remainder of the season. : SALARY STRAIN Los Angeles, Dec. 17. "Rio Rita'' is playing the Or- pheum, San Diego, Cal., with vaude out for the week. Kelao Brothers' unit, booked into the Orpheum, was switched to the Strand, Long Beach, Cal. Top for a vaude bill at the Strand is $2,300 with the Kelso contract calling for $3,281. San Diego house made up the difference. ^^Bernard'^Squirea-for Uoew Bobby Bernard and 'Louise Squires, formerly with Bert Gor-^ don, open as a new act for Loew's at the Bay Ridge, Dec. 18. Leonard's Loew Route Eddie LeonarcT goes over from Keith's to Loew's. Opens for the latter circuit Dec. 21 at the State, New York.