Variety (Feb 1930)

•♦VARIETY»S»' LONDON OFFICE 8 St. Mania's Place, Trafalgar Square FOREIGN SHOW NEWS CABLE ADDRESS: VARIETY, LONDON Temple Bar 5041-5042 Baccara, Dizzy French Gambling Craze, Spells Heavy Grief to Actors iParis, Feb. 4. The new, dizzy gambling gapie of baccara, a bane to Europe's profes- sional element and special grief for the Americans playing here, has reached such a state, that perform- ers' contracts now include a clause forbidding/ play for stakes of anj' ■ ■ kind.: ■ ■ " — , llorace . Heidt's contract.: for • Monte Carlo provides specifically that none of the boys shall enter the. casing at any time. In another case,: that of a dancing team, the ■w-oman requires that all contracts for the Riviera resorts shall for- mally bar the main of the act from baccara. Bitter experience in the past has fdrged'her. ttf" this action.^ .Many times the rhan of the pair . has drawn salary for the act and has seen it disappear across the ' card tables. In. the resorts everybody gambles every night and all night. There ■ isn't any other evening diversion. In some of the resorts managers of cjasihos are perfectly willing to advance salaries to actors, being reasonably sure that they will have won the money back at baccara, the fastest card game ever devised, be- fore the end of the engagement. . The game is ballyhooed llkei, a niatloilal industry, with stories of . large fortunes made out of a' small criglnal stake and the passion for play' has spread like a. get-rich- qulck fever. It is the greatest play on'human cupidity ever staged on such a scale. Variety's Paris office actually Icn'ows a score of cases of American professionals, going completely liroke ..In the vain (quest for quick fortune, bne turn is forced to rem^n in X^ngland where there are no ca- sinos because the man of the act has dissipated the joint salary time and time again in France, in spite of pi-omfses to give lip the game. NO PARIS SPENDING Evbn- American Buyers-Ignore GaietyV Hasten Home Paris, Feb. 4. Even the advent of many buyers from the States failed to bolster up the. generally poor theatre and caba'ri^t takings. American, business , people are closing -up business, that brings them here and getting back to the States promptly, due to the uncer- tainties in the future of American businiess at home. Enroute to Los Angeles, Feb. 1. My dear Ed: Were you not on the train with me I never would have thought of sending this to Variety. But hav ing as a fellow passenger* the editor of the country^s champ dream sheet I caniiot refrain from calling your attention to the imagination of one of your hokum correspondents, to wit, that paragraph which says that I took legal action to stop one black faced comedian by the name of Fisher from giving Imitations of me In Paris. Why stop one in Paris when- I haven't stopped hundreds in Amer ica? Have never heard of Fisher nor . do I care If he imitates me in Europe or his home town. Tou also state that I am booked for $1,200 a concert abroad. Maybe if you owned the theatre that's as much as you'd pay me, or less.: But as the gentle men who want me to play in" Eng- land, France and Germany are evi- dently good showmen, or nuts, they have offered nie ?;16,000 per week But, as yet, my dear Ed^ 1 have not; accepted nor signed any contracts in any shape''or form. I have another picture to make for Warners, with whom I am on the friendliest terms, and don't know when Mr. Scheiick .will want me to start on my first United Artist picture which George Cohan is writing. Nor do I know when I shall be through with that. picture. Hoping j'ou will print the afore- said, i remain, very truly yours, Al JxAson, S.—Tou can charge'me space for this, as you personally heard my concert in New Orleans, and you know I can afford to pay. Hoping the market didn't hurt you as badly , as it did . me, A. J. P. P. S.—If you. don't charge me for the space, that's oke, too.^A. J, RICH HAYES BESUMES London, Feb. 4. Rich Hayes went back to work ^ yesterday (Monday) after spending several months in a sanitarium. He has apparently fully recovered. Jugieler opened at the Holborn Empire (vaude) and did very well for himself. JOLSON COPY MUST DO WHITEFACE, OPEN SHOW Paris, Feb.^ 4. Bob Fisher, $60 daily Jolson copy iact, booked at the Empii'e for a fortnight, is opening Friday, Feb. 7. He refused to accept the ihe- atre's : 'postponement of booking owing to Jblson himself coming into- the Empire early in April at $16,000 ar week, insisting his contract be observed. ; Thereupon the management re- plied they'll permit Fisher to play, b!ut. with the warning his hanie will be billed very small and he will open the bill at 8:30. He'll be permitted to ging only one sonjg' and none of Jolson's numbers, and must work whiteface. -To date there has been no reply from Fisher. WILLMAHONEY in Earl Carroll's "Sketch Book," 44tli St.JTheatre, New York The New York "American" said:" "Earl Corrojl's 'Sketch Book' has as its star Will MahOhey,. always a sure-fire comedian; He won; much laughter and applause and proved to be as popular as ever." : ■ Direction RALPH G. FARNUM . 1560 Broadway TEST OF VAUDE ANTI JEWISH THEATRE RIOT STHiS BUCHAREST Bucharest, Feb. 4; Jews of Bucharest are boycotting the National Theatre and' studio as a result of students' demonstration against Leria Caier, talented actress and guest star, at the house in Rob- ert De Fler's and Caillavet's French pilay, here called "Die Liebe Er- wateht." Riot was staged because Miss Caler is a Jewess, although her tal- ent as an actress is acknowledged. The play was presented as part of a DieFler memorial, the French dramatist having always been a great friend of the Roumanian people. Being a French work, the entire French embassy attended officially, but the party was forced to retire as a formal protest against the demonstration, which included throwing of ill-smelling bombs. The police refused to interfere, and the audience itself ejected the disorderly students. Jewish resentr ment is heightened against the the- atre management by the cancella- tion of Miss Caler's contract and the aban.donment of the play after Livius Rebreaun, manager of the house, was advised by Home Min- iister loanitszescu to Withdraw the piece, at the SJime time refusing pb- lice protection. French Minister Pauxs presented a protest to the Roumanian premier and the play was resumed three days later. During the interval Vic- tor Eftimlus had .been appointed manager of the National, although it was he whom the newspapers ac- cused of inspiring the student out- break. Upon circulation of reports that the students intended to repeat their riots, Eftimlus took the play off again Instead of calling for po- lice protection. Now the prospect is that the play will become a problem in Franco- Roumanian relations, as the author DeFlers is an eminent French au- thor and was a lifelong friend of the Roumanian people. ' Jewish nationals are demanding the removal of Eftimius as Xutional theatre's manager. ZEITUN'S RIGHTS Parfs, Feb. 4. American and English rights to Maurice Rostand's "The Man Whom I Killed," current at the Theatre des Mathurins, have been bought by Pa,rnell Zeitlin, of London. Alfred Savoir has a 25% interest In the play against Rostand's 7b%. London, Feb. 4. Gulliver Is'making determined, ef- forts to book the strongest pos- sible shows for the Victoria" Palace for the next few weeks, that term being set as the final test of vaude- ville at the famous old stand. Vaudeville is oh trial to determine whether that poli.cy can be made to pay In revival of, the quality of shows that made It years ago. ' If takings respond during the test and if the improvement shows signs of sustaining itself, the policy Win be continued indefinitely. Otherwise the . house will revert to revue productions. LONDONICE SKATE FAD ABSORBS MORE DANCES London, Feb. 4. London's craze for ice skating con tinues. unabated. Latest to go for the new idea Is the Charter House club, former London club that went bust in Baker street. This spot reopened after two years with $360,000 capital, mostly pro- vided by Scotch operators under the chairmanship of Lord St. John Bletso and James Mackle Milne, the Scottish Ice manufacturer, who has several ice rinks In Scotland. The club has a spacious- dance fioor and will use an enormous rlhk with Ice manufactured artificially. This equipment will be in operation this month. Establishment Is de- signed for year 'round play, a big swimming pool being projected sim- ilar to the Lido, Paris. People In the new scheme declare that dance hall without the ice rink adjunct will .be a thing of the past withini a year. London dancing schools are greatly perturbed at the growth of the rink, which threatens the whole business; * All • interests concerned dancing and dance halls operation, are meeting this week to, frame some plan to meet the situation. English ex-Premier As Big Stage Draw London, Feb. 4. Coliseum's biggest attraction this week is Stanley Baldwin; late prime minister and .leader of the Con- servative Party in British politics. Baldwin appears on the stage tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, for one performance only, at 11 o'clock, and will talk of his party's policies until 1. Whole house sold out in advance. -^-^rPH^^TEEVOEr-ILL^^^ Paris, Feb, 4. Maj, Keith Trevor, husbancL of Jane Marnac, who owns the Apollo theatre here where she stars In "Shanghai Gesture," Is reported critically ill with pneumonia in a London nursing home. Miss Mamac left the show to join her husband in London, LOVE CONQUERS ALL Argontinlta Torn Between Dough and Hot Toreador Boy Friend Paris, Feb. 4. Cliff Fischer aged 10 years last week. CiifC's of the Morris agency here, and it was his job to deliver Argen- tinita, Spanish" dancer, with a fan- dango temperament: and a toreador hero boy friend, on the lie de France for New York in time to open with Lew Lesliels "International Reyue." Argehtfnita said she wouldn't sail at all, so bound up in the bull ring sheik was she, and anyhow she didn't propose to move until the last minute. So .I^bu Wolfson had to go to Havre to get the., actual sailing time to the minute., Still Argentlnita's heart. bled at the parting a,nd she couldn't be pacified, until she had made Henri Lartigue of the Paris Morris office give up oae grand in hand paid and commit himself to advance payment of $10,000 when she joined in New York;— On—that- basis -she-took-her. grieving heart to New York, prov- ing that love conquers all. LONDON^ 1110% FEMHEPUY TOO FINE London, Feb. 4. "Nine to Six," modern play With society and economic problem an- gles written by a woman, staged by a woman and having a cast of 16 women and no men,-was splen- didly received at; the Apollo this week. . It Is presented by Mrs. .Charles, Cochran. Show people think the play l3> a bit too fine for broad; general ap- peal and the boxbfllce possibilities that go therewith,, aiid it looks like one of those semi-failures. GABY WAR STORY VEXES CONTINENTALMANAGERS Prague, Feb. 4. Showmen and editors of Czecho- slovakia are. Vexed' over the sup- posed hoax perpetrated by Hedwlga Navratlls who poses as the late Gaby Deslys' double and got cir- culated the story that the dead co- medienne Impersonated her on; war missions Into Austria. The story got Hedwiga a con- tract at the Alhambra a,t $80 a day. Now the Czech managers are pro- posing to boycott the Hungarian actress. She Is about 45 and this episode mar\cs her return to the stage after 17 years of absence. She is dancing and doing a sketch called "MadhoUse"' besides a film crtory. The woman Is slender and good looking. She speaks fiuent French, but iier German is bad, heavily flavored by the Czech accent. One episode in her film that goes with the show deals with the woman's supposed relations with a Latin king, resulting in one of these Solomon judgments. Which brings In a political reference conr cei-nlng Czechoslovakia at the Hague debt conference. Navratlls' publicity reacted favor- ably for Gaby Deslys''memory lend- ing her the aspect of a war heroine and it is still likely a rhovement win go through to honor her with a monument in Paris. Gemier Quits Odeon Paris, Feb. 4. Flrmln-Gemier, one of the fore most actors In France and since 1922 managing the Odeon, has re- signed, owing Jto Illness, and Is re- tiring to the Riviera for convales- cence under the doctor's orders. His Odeon concession still has five years to run. It Is a govern- ment theatre. Paul Abran, Gemler's assistant, remains as sole director. Gemier remains a director in the in- ternational theatre scheme for bringing foreign dramatic compa- nies to Paris, possibly using the Trocadero auditorium this summer. The plan is still in effect. Mgr. Hartung Broke Berlin, Feb. 4. Hartung, manager of the Renais- sance theatre, has gone into bank- ruptcy and the house is being taken over by Max. Relnhar'dt on a sub- scription combination. Hartung probably will be retained aS; artistic.director. House has been on the edge,. of disaster and the move occasioned no surprise. Situ- ation is typical of the sorry state- of legit in Berlin.. Like Act They Kid London, Feb. 4. Audience kidded Herbert Clifton at the Palladium (vaude) last night (Monday). Btit In a nice way as such things go. Female impersonators are not usually favored over here, but Clif- ton clicked notwithstanding on sheer cleverness. __Gjje.§taj>g_^ Troupe, new Chinese turn, ■ closed the ^ sKbw~"anc[''"hgld solidly. Musketeers" In London London, Feb. 4. The next Drury Lane attraction will be "The Three Musketeers" with Dennis King in his original role. Paris, Feb. 4. Strike of all the theatres In France, which was voted and , set as to date' of lockout, has been avoided by "a compromise- on. the goyerhnient'a tax' program. . Finance Minister Henri Cheron returned , a few days ago froni the London naval conference and as- sured Max Matirey, president of the ^Syndicate, legit inanagers, th9,t re- lief on theatre taxes would ' be given. Terms of the compromise provide for (as reported two weeks ago In Variety), a cut of the war tax from 7% to 5%, which the of- ficial estimated would represent ar' saving to the theatres of 30,000,000 francs a year. This tender cuts the legs out from under, the strike proposal, whlck was designed entirely as a demon- stration to. force the government's hand; Already Maurey has accepted the -program offered by Mi Cheron, with the .understanding ;that the 10% poor tax continues; Another thing that probably In- fluenced the theatre men was that all . the publicity they had put put In advance^ stressing the denial of recreation if the theatres closed, got very meager response fro.m the general public which seemed to be Indifferent to the prospect, or at least gave no evidence of Interest. Huxley Novel Dull Play London, Feb. 4. "This Way to Paradise," adapta- tion of Aldous Huxley's novel, "Point. Counter-Point," was re- vealed at Dalys as a dull, talky play, so devoid of action and-sus- pense that even a murder scene In- spired only scoffing giggles from the audience. Probably last a fortnight. "Cinders^' Endina London, Feb. 4. UMlster -Cinders" flnlshe3_at the_ Hippodrome In six we^ks, followed by a 12-week season of the C6- Optlmlsts, Williamsons not bein^ ready with a new offering. INDEX Forelgrn 2-7 Pictures 8-31 Picture Reviews 19-24 Film House ..Reviews.. .. 41-43 Vaudeville .............. 34-40 Vaude Reviews ......... 42 New Acts ........,,. '; .. , 43 Bills ......... ......>»... 44-45 Times Square .......... 46-47 Editorial 60 Women's Page 48-49 Legitimate .. 51-56 Music .; ;. 58-59 Obituary . 61 Correspondence ........ CO Inside-r-Picturc3 ......... 20 Inside—Legit CO Talking Shorts 19 Literati 52 Legit Reviews 65-56 "-Forelgn=-Film^'ew3rT.TT=-^^j^7:^^. Burlesque 40 Radio 68-59 News of Dailies 4^ Outdoors 57 Letter List , 63 Sports 46 Night Club:; 58