Variety (Apr 1930)

Wednesday, April 23, 1930 VARIETY 61 KIETY Trade MarU Reslstered FabUslicd Weekly b> VAHIETT, Inc. Blm« Silverman. President 1S4 West 46Ui Street New Tork City SUBSCRIPTION: Annual tlO Forelcn tU aiDKle Copiea » Cent* VOIi. XCIX No. 2 15 YEARS AGO {From Variety and Clipper) David Warfleld refused contracts Joi- pictures totaling ;iOO,000. Joe Lieblang, "the cut rate king," paid A. H. Woods $50,000 for eight weeks of "Song of Songs" at the Eltlnge, taking the house also for that term. Leblang wanted to dem- onstrate that cut rates could make a doublful play prosper. " Piece called for $8,000 a week to break even. iBy pushing sales in his agen- cy, L«blang had already made Uie attraction turn a profit of $2,000 for the first week. Gideon Society and several anti- saloon societies had taken title to a film called "Prohibition" and pro- posed to use it in the coming elec- tion campaign. William J. Byran and Josephus Daniels appeared In a celluloid prolog. Illegitimate stars were being at- tracted to the pictures in increasing nunibers. New names attached to picture contracts included Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Castle, Viola Allen, Florence Reed, Ann Murdock, Walk- er Whiteside; William Courtenay and Charles Richman. Vltagraph was angling for Maude Adams and Margaret Anglln, while George Ar- liss was thinking it over. The Keith peopl; were about to experiment with "family vaude- ville" ovet the summer instead of closing Its New Tork houses. Policy was to go into the Alhambra, Or- pheum. Prospect and Royal, while the Colonial was to close in May. Fred W. Taylor was found guilty in Special Sessions, New York, of fraud, first conviction of a fake dra- matic school, which were multiply- ing because business depi'ession encouraged people to seek new fields of employment. 50 YEARS AGO (From cupper) First mention occurs In the Clip- per of John L. Sullivan. Paddy Ryan and Joe Goss were matched for the world heavyweight title, and while training in Rockaway Goss went to Boston to take a benefit, as was the happy custom, In the Boston Music Hall. During the show he sparred with • half a dozen local favorites. .Clipper ends the account with this comment: "Goss met Sullivan, a young heavyweight of the Hub, In the wind-up, and from all accounts the latter performed in a more satis- factory manner than his antag- oniat.'-' Apropros of the start of the cir- cus season, Clipper publishes the biography of "Dr." G. R. Spalding, famous circus proprietor of the pre- vious generation, relating that it ■was he who in 1850 Invented the quarter pole and the 11-tler seats, "Which for years were standard. Ar- ticle relates that "Dr." Spalding was so called because he was a drug- gist In Albany, N. Y., in 18H7, when he wag forced Into the show busi- ness. He lent a sum of money to Sam Nichols' circus, and when the showman defaulted had to take over the tented property, with the inten- tion of putting It up at auction ■when he could get back to Albany. On the way the outfit made money and Scalding ran it for years. At one time he had three big shows and ■was operating on the rails, on wag- ons and on half a dozen of his own show boats on the wiestorn-rivers. An attempt was made to put "Robinson Crusoe" oh the stage In Boston, but It was a failure. The American Horse Exclians*' ■was founded In New Tork, wh^re it flourished lor many years, by W. K. Vanderbllt, "whose son later on a.s auto speed maniac did his part in ruining the horse hii5:in«»*!P. Inside Stuff-Legit The story last ^\eek on "l.cglt Stars ^Vll.•ihed Up" did not nieniion Jane Cowl as a box office draw, so John Peter Toohey points out. Text of the yarn mentioned that several names might have been overlooked. There ia no question about Miss Cowl's draw, especially out of town. Last season when ti*ying out "Jealous Moon," the gross In Newark was $23,127. "Jenny" got $19,000 last fall before it came to New Tork for a moderate engagement. Same figure applied to "The Road to Rome" when she first appeared in it in Washington. Mrs. Marie O'Connell, who has been suing Earl Carroll for $50,000 on the ground that she enlisted the backing of Mrs. Anna Welghtman Pen- field for 'Floretta" to the extent of $250,000, wants to drop her suit and filed an application for permissidir' to do so in the Supreme Court. Carroll has denied that he had any arranjgement with Mrs. O'Connell as to the financing of the expensive flop which has drawn Mrs. Penfield into litigation with Dorothy Knapp, who claims the wealthy angel and others caused her to be dropped as star. Stadler and Rose, American dancers, were approached by Lee Ephraim at the last minute to augment his show, "liio Rita," In London. Team were to be placed In the cabaert in the ship scene, in the second act. They rehearsed for hours on the eve of the production, when It was found permission for their appearance had to be obtained from the General Theatres Corporation, with which they are under contract. Ephraim approached General Theatres. It blankly refused. Inside is that General Is sore at Ephraim, due to. his charging it $2,500 a week for his touring show "Sunny," booked by General on Ephralm's say-so, and which General figures is not worth the money. Pity Is that Stadler and Rose would probably have grabbed the "Rio Rita" notices, as the show was In dire need of a first rate dance team. Cast of "Strictly Dishonorable" In Chicago friendly again, now that Margaret Perry Isn't playing lead. When the show opened at the AdelphI, Edward Raquello bore the blame for a weak second act until It ■was discovered he couldn't be ardent, with Miss Perry shying at even a stage kiss. In the meantime Raquello had been accumulating most of the com- pany's publicity, particularly played up by the "Times," tab. In a Valen- tino contest. Ill feeling grew and finally fiared up wheii Raquello and Charles Richman playing the judge clashed after a rehearsal at which Antoinette Perry was present. Mary Cullinan replaced Miss Ferry last week and got off to a lauded start, with the entire company working together. Inside Stuff-Pictures The piesiilent of a local (in one city) theatre circuit, sinto pom broke, was approached at one time by a man wljo had investigated the business anajigements of the thcatre.s and Oiseovered that everything was not run according to Hoylo. Said this man to the president "About a luindrod thousand dollars or more a year is being stolen right out of the box office in your various theatres. Everyone is getting away with something. One fallow will take his 60 a week and so on until the ultimate result Is the loss to you of huge sums of money. Now I can show you in detail just who sets the money and how he gets It. So just let met get thesis fellows into a -room, face them with the facts and make them confess. There Is no use in you being cheated In this wholesale fashion." Said the president, "Listen, I know all that. Tou don't have to tell me. But ■what am I going to do about It. All the people In my theatres are either my relatives or my wife's relatives and I would have to sup- port them somehow anyway. The way things are Is the be.<!t because the stockholders have to support them instead of me." Warners had a lO-page special section of the New Tork "American" (Hearst) April 20 for the 'premiere of its new Hollywood theatre on Broadway last night (Tuesday). "Sunday American" has a circulation of around one million. The section carried about $18,000 in advcrti.<=ing, a large amount for that sort of quick snap, with plenty of readable matter and profusely illustrated by Warner execs. Majority of the advertising came from firms concerned with the building and furnishing of the theatre, the Warners taking but one page for the house. An excellent publicity push and, for a picture theatre, attracting more than casual observa- tion. Wai'ners' publicity ofHce is Said to have co-operated with the news- paper in the very good all ai'ound results. Hobart Bosworth, playing his first talking film part in "Devil's Holi- day" for Paramount, recalls that 16 years ago he was party to one of the first film mergers in motion picture history. In 1914 Bosworth was I president of the Bosworth Film Co., making Jack London productions. Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky had just become partners, and wish- ing a further alliance to meet a certlan production total, formed a com- bination with Bosworth. Output of the three producers was releaseJ" under Famous Players-Lasky-Bosworth title. Bosworth has been back at Paramount only twice since completing his contract with Zukor and Lasky. First In 1916 and then in 1926, sup- porting Esther Ralston in "Sawdust Paradise." Despite the numerous new writers who have cropped up In bunches lately, the legit mart is short of substantial comedy sketches. Connolly & Swanstrom's summer musical comedy production is being delayed due to an absence of punch blackouts. It is meeting the same difficulty which befell the lot of the second "Little Show." Latter was held up for months- because they couldn't get strong comedy material, even though they advertised and asked anybody who thought he had a good Idea to mall it to them. Lack of comedy material Is placed at the door of the established writers, who formerly devoted their pens to supply legit comedijes but are now working for films. Pathe grabbed off the only interview with Ruth Hanna McCormick after her Senatorial nomination In Illinois. Mrs. McCormick had at first refused to talk but agreed to have her secretary read a congratulatory letter at the station In Chicago. News got out. Reporters and newsrcel men went to the depot. Meanwhile, Pathe had fixed up a room at the Palmer House, just a few doors from' the nominee's suite. An hour before train time, they explained to her there would be too much noise at the station, and wouldn't she rather do the deed now.and have It over with. Mrs. Mc- Cormick consented. The Actors' Fund of America, which received $200,000 as residuary legatee under the will of Mrs. Stella Cooper Megrue, mother of Rol Cooper Megrue, playwright and playbroker, lost $23,034 additional by a decision of the Appellate Division on Friday from which Justices Finch and Martin dissented. The majority of the court rules that the executors Sidney Struble, John Brennan of Selwyn & Co., and Mrs. May N. Benson, had a right to divide this property among themselves as executors under the third article of Mrs. Megrue's will. This ai-ticle provided that all personal property not otherwise disposed of In the will was to go to the three executors for distribution In their discretion, but they were to "follow as near as possible Instructions In a letter" to be delivered before Mrs. Megrue's death. The letter was never delivered, and when the executors accounted in the Surrogates Court they credited themselves with the property not otherwise dis- tributed, which ranged from a plate worth fifty cents to a bar pin valued at $2,800. The Actors' Fund objected to this item in the account, but Surrogate Foley ruled that no trust was created as to this property, and the ma- jority of the Appellate Division upheld the decision. In case of a reversal the property would have been part of the residue going to the Actors' Fund. Lad who held a nice advance job with a Coast musical, later elbowed out the person who got It for him. The producers who allowed them- selves to be argued out of their first choice have since been kicking themselves. Told to lay oft street car advertising, the new advance man went ahead and had 50 banners made. Upon receiving a hot telegraphic nix, he turned the banners over to a sniper who charged 40 cents each for spotting them around Loa Angeles. During their opening week out of town the producers discovered that a C note, turned over to the ad- vance man to clinch the sub-lease of a Hollywood house, had not been paid in and It looked as though another show was going into the house. There being some confusion as to who held the lease by this time, th6 producers told their advance man to go directly to the owner and give him $500 to clinch the ."ilte. Some kind of conference, but that $500 wasn't laid down and at the showdown with the backer the advance man produced $300 cash and his person.il check for the balance, then stopped payment on the check. Theatre owner was so burned up by the advance man's approach that he demanded and Is receiving $l.i:i."j wf-ekly for a house for which the standard rental is $1,000 and wliifli )i;is rer;«'ntly gone for $3,000 u month. John W. Davis, widely known lawyer and bno time Democratic Presi- dential candidate, has been retained by distributors to argue the appeal from the Thacher decision when It comes up before the U. S. Supreme Court. According to Inside dlstrib sources, Davis and other lawyers feel that they have a good chance of winning the appeal, which would mean ability to revert to the old .Standard Exhibition Contract form and com- pulsory arbitration under Film Board rule. Coast studio exec was In a quandary. He wanted a player for three weeks but the player was holding out for a four-week guarantee. Finally the producer explained. His wife, starring In the picture, was to be- come a mother In six weeks. As he felt she should have at least three weeks' rest before the happy event, he couldn't use the player more than three weeks. Even the arrival of a future producer wouldn't budge the player. Four weeks or nothing; and he got the four weeks. ♦ A long term best seller being given its first talker production on the Coast had every available male lead in Hollywood up for consideration. Contract giving 25 grand flat went to a lead then playing a Hollywood theatre. He dropped out of the legit cast to play the film part, and then lost the part when he was pronounced too "heavy." It cost the studio 25 grand to start shopping for another lead. Two film producers were after Amos 'n' Andy; Radio Pictures and Paramount. The race started some weeks ago when Radio made the first offer of $100,000 guarantee and 50-50 on the net profit of the talker. Negotiations were held up at that time with the proposal of Paramount of $250,000 and the same spilt. When Radio met the other offer. Paramount made no further lild and the ether pair went with Radio. Inside Stuif-Music Alexander Gerry, co-aullior of "rr-nal Law 2010" which he producr-d m the Biltniore last is a younj; aiiornpy. Gave up his pra';tice, turning cases over to ass<jciaf-.« and took liis name oft the door, to enter .«how business. "Hutel Universe," the Guild's new pi-odiu.tion at the Beck, drew a.s sharply diversified opinion.s from t)ie f.rltii-s and first nighters as any •show this .season. fJuild did the unusual by printing exerpts from both the good and bad "notioe.s, spotting them side by side in the dallle.s. Tli" finly efimment made was: "Tlierf «e<-n)s <<• !•<• a difff-r^nre of ojiinlon " l''«;isl will piibll.sh "SonK Without a N'xnif;" \\liirh tunc recently v.(ju a song contest. .Song was written by H^rnlc Jliiffjfll,* who Uus hr<u writing pruffssionally for many years. .Some, importance In Los AnK''les is ail.ic-lKd lo ili'^ i,uiii'"f'!- cf (nj- ployees In local music publlshlriK ofll':''K, hlfrher bj' )-;.iio ti.i.n ;jny- wliere dsn In the country. Itobblns leads with a staff of live. Xexf. Is Famous with four, then Berlin, Sliapiro-lJernstoln, and Witmarks with three enfh. Feist and IJe.Sylva, Brown and Henderson are entrenched with two apiece. .Singles go for Remlck, Jlarrns. and ."nntlev Hio-^. thc latter eoneern li'Hng til'- 'inly itidr p< pd'-rir in the /jcld