Variety (Jun 1930)

50 VARIETY V A U D E V I L L E Wednesday, June 4, 1930 Television May Be Palace s Sole Headliner, Pushing Out Big Time Vaude from New York Schenectady, X. T., June 3. Television as perfectod by Gen- eral Electric may become the head- liner in several R-K-O viiudfllms theatres, when Television is ready for release. That date is proble- matical. It is admitted here, as has been reported, that G. E.'s Television debut will be exclusively, for R-K-O/ an amiiation of G. E. through the Radio Corp. ' While a.headlining feature of the R-K-O houses, likely starting .at the Palace, New York, if .not ia a group of the R-K-O theatres simul- taneously as is possible, the theatre exhibition of the newest air enter-i tainment transmission will be popu- larized at the same time. Among the aftermath talk of the recent Television demonstration in this city is that the first theatre exhibition of Television will be made on a mammoth scale to denote lis pb^slbility. This display will take place, it is said, at the R-K-O the- atres Included as a sort of semi- private showing. Another report is that R-K-O may first employ its wide screen at about the same time. WOLFE, JR., BOOKER, AGAIN N. V. A. POSTED Palace for Film Runs An impression has been formed in Broadway show circles since an- nounced that the General Electric's ^levision is first contemplated for its auxiliat-y's (R-K-O) theatres, that with its advent In those houses big time vaudeville may pass out of the R-K-O Palace, New York, and America. Lately wired. It has been stated, that the wired Palace Intends to play sound news reels. While this is logical,the;, Schenectady report ' h!j^ led, tQ a.,belief the Palace, New Yqrk, an,d some (jither R^K-.O houses may have been equipped, for th^ T^evision disp.lay as well. As the single.big tlnje.vaude h.o.use left. In this co.untry,. with the other, Qliicago Palace (R-K-O) changing t9 vaudfilm^ ,last. Saturday (-31), U has been recognised by th$ R-K-O operatives .that .the big. timer on Broadway is actually a burden upon the entire clixuit. As the. only one of, it? class, :lt necessitates unusual v(iude bills at an enormous salary overhead weekly, demanding a $2 and %Z admission scale for the house to break. Costly in Other Ways The remainder of the R-K-O vaude 'Circuit has felt the effect of the' salary list at the New York Palace, that extending to all acts playing the R-K-O circuit in a way only vaudeville people understand. Another aspect of a Palace dis^- continuance of big time is that R-K-O' upon the new Columbia on the opposite'; Corner (B'way and 47th) being'turned over to it about LttUb'r Day, could utilize that theatre for pictures and vaude, if it cared tt> c'dntiriue the R-K-O'brand of vaude 6n Broadway, while the pVesent Pal'- dee could then hecorri^ the Special oi-' riih picture house for Radio Pio« tUWi, with Television as a per- manent feature in the form of a sliort act. '. Radio Pictures now has the Dil- lingham's Globe, across the street, for its run talkers, holding the the- atre'under a limited lease. R-K-O lately played its $2 pictures at the Carroll for a short while. V.M.A. notified the N.V.A. yester- day (Tuesday) to restore the name of Frank Wolfe, Jr., indie booker of Philly, to the bulletin board in the New York club as a warning for acts. This is the second posting of Wolfe's name at the N.V.A. for al- leged unethical booking practices. Wolfe failed to keep his promise to the. V.iVC.A. to be good. Un- answered complaints against Wolfe fire-on file at the V.M.A.'s joint com- plaint bureau, with the latter'a at-! tempt to bring about arbitrary settlement having ■ failed. When Wolfe's name was posted at the N.V.A. last December, the Philly bookei; regained his status by set- tling all complaints against him. When Wolfe promised there would be no recurrence of his booking stunts that caused the trouble, the name was removed. This time the V.M.A. warns all acts that if playing ifor Wolfe they will do so at their own risk, and that If getting into difficulties through a date played for him, re- course through the V.M.A. will be closed; '7oe Jefferson's 'Rip Van Winkle,' Mrs. Leslie Carter's' 'DuBarry"' and other famous sta^fe characters that noted dramatic stars have, created have'been aiifgfhiented by CHARLES ALTHOFF in 'THE YANKEE F^^DOLER.' , "The character has become a stage classic, and Mr. Althoff has achieved an artistic, triumph."— Press' comment.' • Address VARIETY, New York. PEGGY EAMES LOOKS TOO YOUNG FOR N. Y. Peggy Eames, one of the former Our Gang" picture kids, now play- ing vaude, was cancelled by the majiagement after two days of a fourTday, . .booking at the R-K-O 8?th Street New York, last week, because the girL doesn't look as old a3 her Australian birth certificate sfiys she Is. Herman Whitman, manager of the 86th and also the, 68th St., where Misd Eames' was also prematurely dropped from a -bill about three months ago; stated no official com- plaint had been received but that general opinion was her appearance belied her alleged age. Miss Eames was • born in Aus- tralia and the birth record in her possession is from that continent. One report that may have 'entered into the 86th St. action was that Miss Eames has a sister around the age of IG, which Is the age given in her own birth certificate.- The 86th St. let-out goes for the balance of the New York theatres, the R-K-O booking ofl^ce declared. Miss Eames hereafter will be played outside New York.City. Scarcity of Bookings For Cobred Acts Feh With hdie Spots Out Reported hard times among Xew York vaudeville circles has hit .the Negro players harder than it has their ofay brothers and sisters. The acts In particular have been the worst sufferers due to the slump in indie bookings. While the major circuits take care of many colored acts the ma- jority are forced to rely on the scattered indie placements. The TOBA, always a haven In any old storm, has not been able to take care of the supply of acts seeking Immediate booking. The colored acts-are always hope- ful of playing the white houses as the m,oney. is better ^nd, the en- gagements, .considered. far- more beneficiaL ' . . . .>.• In other, yeaps the night clubs took ckte" ot mahy NTegto enter- tainers but the pte^erif season wdrk h£ijg been scarcer in that division. Almost daily oh6 'can' count hun- dreds of unbooked 'acts passirtg the Lafayette in 'Harlem, hopeful that something will come along. Johnny Collins on Coast Johnny Collins loft Now York Monday for Hollywood. He has re- 'idvered fi-om a long siege of illness that called for quite a battle on his part. He had stalled a i)hysical ex- amination for years. l>Oj}s a vaude booker and later an agent in New York, Collins will go Into the agenc.v end. His partners will be Bill Duffy and probably Joe Sullivan. Imhot Daily on WJJD Roger Imhof, long in vaude, has gone radio. . Inihof, known to the air as Rory-o|-Rork, is now in Chi cago, where he started on WJJD June 2. Imhof has quite a task ahead, as his contract calls for a daily period of 15 minutes, with the comedian to write and broadcast a complete new skit each day. He Is heard nightly at 7 p. m Chicago time. Imhof has been appearing in vaude in a comedy skit with Mar ccHe Coroon. "Goldbergs" in Vaude Wiu nci s has booked "Rise of the Goldbergs" weekly NBC comedy radio feature, for two weeks of vaude. Four people. Act opens June 13 in Jersey City. ''Variety*' For Summer JCNE,'JOI,Y and Al'fiU.ST $2 Address "Variety," -New York Films Split Partners A film contract split Wallace and Cappo, through Joe Cappo going for a year with Warners. Joe Wallace has aligned with Kitty 'W'hite and gang as m. c. Pitsy Katz Talking Hollywood, June 3. Pltsj- Kalz, who started his screen career In a trailer, has a role now. He will be in "Way for Sailor." Jenie Jacobs, Wm. S. Heimessy and 3 Other Agents Reinstated by R-K-O WB NO-COMMISH AGENCY GOES TO MAIN OFFICE Warners vaude„ booking office, be- coming a non-commission agency as an innovation for big circuit booking and going under supervision of Walter Meyers, new head of all booking and casting for Warners, will move from the Bond building to the main Warner office In New York this'wefrk. : Harolct Kemp, head 'Warner vaude boolcer under ^feyers' direction, goes to th.e ne'sy quarters without change In . status,, with $teve Trilling, jjookec, .also, going over and un- chan|re!d !|s . to rating. ; Lew Golder, whose contract with WarnejTS .is for gener*! management bf the vaude booking office, was said throyjgh his friendship for the War- pers to, have agreed^-to the. change in which. Meyers became booking supervisor. Golder.is,with, the firm in no formal capacity, having been told to pick his own spot. He prob- ably vyill locate in the picture end. Mae West Quits Mae West has cancelled further vaude time around New York. J. H. Lubin III J. H. Lubin, Loew's, is confined to his home In West 7Gth street. New York. , . Doctors ordered ,a minor opera- tion, performed last week, and complete rest. ■ • ' Hcidt BVay Holdover Costs Unit Bklyn Week Through holdover of Horace Heidt and Band at the Paramount for a second week, the unit around Heldt will skip Brooklyn, first time that house has been missed by any Pub- lix stage show, even when kept on Broadway two weeks. As a result of the routing by which Heidt goes to Jersey City Friday (6) direct from the Par- amount, the unit, "Coney Island," misses New York In order to fill the open week at Brooklyn. This will also be the first Instance where a unit comes from Boston direct to Brqoklyn, with. the Broadway de luxen. skipped. Eor-tjxp Brooklyn engagrement the title of "Coney island". will be changed for that week only to "Sea Breezes" because of the nearness to Coney Island Itself. ' Heidt, it Is understood, parses up Brooklyn In part because he was formerly at the Fox.there, opposi- tion to Paramount. Through switching of, "Coney Is- land'! unit to Brooklyn, '.'Lanterns," which was in Boston last week, lays off the current week. It comes into the Paramount on Broadway Friday when Heidt moVes to Jersey. This week for Brooklyn due to Heidt holdover a special unit has been prod.uced around Rudy Vallee entitle.d ""\fagabond Knights." That presentation breaks up tomorrow night (Thursday) with "Coney Is- land" cpming'in and the gap on the road ,tour filled by Heidt's switch to Jersey City. Booking office scouts with noth- ing to do but meddle with stage routines and make it generally un- pleasant for acts have, been de- clared out by Charlie Freeman. All future R-K-O scout work, prin- cipally Involving ■ the viewing of new acts, will be handled by the bookers themselves. Freeman decided the nose-pok- ing scout system Inherited from an- other regime belongs in the junk yard, with other past passe and harmful vaude booking policies. Some time ago compla'ints from acts and agents began to pile up in the R-K-O office. These said the scouts assigned only to search for new material were causing trouble between acts and . their agents by attempting direct dealings with the former and ba-ting displeasure of acts by electing themselves authors and producers. Numerous complaints wero that the scouts had made personal back- stage calls on acts for the purpose of inducing them to cut their sa- laries without consulting the agents of the acts. To persuade them to cut, the scouts made promises that neither the R-K-O nor any other booking office could po!jsi;)ly Cullfll. The agents were complaining that edbyR-K-0 u.nd.erc.oyer dealings of scouts tended, to weaken the acts' trust in their own agents, causing trouble all around. No Finds peddling with acts in. the New York houses and orderihg script changes was apparently' done by the scouts in spare moments, but with the scouts officially under direct or- ders from the booking office. It was notable that in the year or so of operation by the scouts, nothing outstanding in the way of new acts or material was discovered and brought into the R-K-O office through the scouting channel. The scout jobs, at best, were temporary stop-off places for ex-bookers on their way out. Freeman's contention is that suf- ficient scouring of the field for new faces and acts should be intrusted to the agents, with the agents' real value judged after all by the bookr ing office by their ability to uncover new material and bring it into the offices. Agents know among themselves that an agent who fails to expand and is content to go along with the same names on his list will alw.ays be lost in the end. , Jenie Jacobs, William S. Hon- nessy, Claude Bostock, Milt Lewis and Maurice Rose were reinstated yesterday (3) as R-K-O booking fioor agents by Chai-li© Freeman. Each received back an individual franchise excepting Lewis and Rose, who will double as an agency firm! These agents with others were relieved of their R-K-O agency privileges late in the winter, while Fi-eeman was on a coast trip. He was then the western division booker of R-K-O, with George God- frey the eastern booker. It was said upon Freeman's return to New York that he was not altogether pleased with the dismissals, through some of thfr removed agents having proven material diggers for the R-K-O theatres. Principally among the new ma- terial agents was the Jacobs agency. It had to its credit a. considerable list of headliners. A headliner and proven drawing card Miss Jacobs had recruited for R-K-O vaude just previous to losing her franchise was Beatrice Lillie, who later played a return date at the New York Palace. Many of the estab- lished standard acts like York and King were also on the Jacobs' agency books. Sentiment in Show Business A touch of sentiment besides is behind the reinstatement of young ■Willie Hennessy, son of Dan Hen- nessy. Of the many veterans of vaudeville. Freeman apparently was the single one to give recognition to Dan through his boy. The younger Hennessy has been rated as a good agent and his suspension as an R-K-O agent was another of the surprises of the February ex- pelled list. Dan Hennessy was the organizer of the United Booking Offices, later the B. F. Keith Agency and now R-K-O. He was brought on from Cleveland by the late B. F. Keith, after Hennessy had built qiiite a rep so far away from New "tork in the managerial division of vaude- (Continued from Page 5-3) . OHIORADIOAO PANICS CANTON Canton, Jiine 3. A radio act. Gene and Glenn, from WTAM, Cleveland, drove into Can- ton at the head of a parade and be- fore the week was over broke all records for the Palace theatre. These two boys, well known in this territory as Jake and Lena, re- ceived a reception that far sur- passed anything ever given any ce- lebrity in this city. A corps of motorcycle police from Canton met Gene and Glenn 14 miles out, where a parade of 160 autos had formed and escorted them to Can- ton. On a platform erected in front of the Palace Mayor Herman R. Wit- ter and a comimittee of business men welcomed them to the city. The'Mayor presented the'toys'with the key and George Walker, presi- dent of the chamber of commerce, and other civic lights, made ad- dresses' of welcome. The chamber of commerce gave tlie boys a dinner during the week, at which the Mayor, acted as toastmaster. Four, five and even six shows a day were not enough to take care* of the crowds. Tieups of all kinds in exploitation. One could see Gene and Glenn on everything from doughnuts to wash- ing machines, and at no expense to the theatre. "While here Frank N. Phelps, in charge of Canton territory for "War- ner Brothers, arranged for Gene and Glenn to play Lorraine, O., with Mansfield to follow. Negotiations were started to have the act play the Warner theatre'^ in Ohio and Pennsylvania when they return from their vacation wi'- September. Eddie Dowling's Return Kddle Dowling's return vaude booking.*; commence July 9 for I'- K-O in Boston, with five week.- t i follow, Dowling's return, arr.iut:-'! through Harry Fitzgerald, is * single.