Variety (Jun 1930)

Wednesday, June 4, 1930 TIMES SQUARE VARIETY 63 B'way May Be Badly Hurt by New Police Order-Captain's Men' Out One of the first orders of Police Commissioner Edward P. Mulrooney yt&s to abolish the plainclothesmen attached to precincts. They were known as "captain's men." "V^hy the Commissioner did away with this system has not been dis- closed. The men did effective work. Their duties will be assumed by men attached to the inspector's staff. The theatrical district will be se- riously affected by this new order. For several years "West 47th street station's plainclothesmen cleaned Broadway of pests of all kinds. The ■jobless musicians that congregate on Broadway and the general hang- ers-on that oggle at women theatre patrons were kept moving. Theatres Sufferers This order does away with the two. able detectives, Frank Hough- ton and Charles McQuillan, assigned to keep the theatres free of nui- sances, mostly men. The latter pest has been alarmingly on the increase. Captain Armand Hayes, of the West 47th street station, it is said. Is to take up the order with the Commissioner. No other precinct in the city is as much affected as West 47th street. Whether this order will affect the "curfew law" sleuths is not known. The latter also were taken over by the Inspector Of the district. The phony employment agencies 4nd the spurious fur racket that is just oft the Main Stem were kept In check by the captain's men. The entire work will be performed by the inspector's staff, hereafter. Albany Girl Read Ad; Gave Jack Bhie $150 Magistrate August Dreyer In West Side Court tomorrow will hear the case of Edwin Sheres, 29, book- keeper, employed by Jack Blue, and residing at 836 Belmont avenue, Brooklyn. < ■ •• Sheres was arrested on the order of Magistrate George F. Ewald, after he had been summoned by Margherita Padula, 25, professional, and living at the Hotel Wellington, who claims that she paid. Shere.3 $150 for 24 hours of dance instruc- tion. She averred she had received 22 hours of teaching but did not obtain a job. Miss Padula asserted that she was promised a Job at the time she con- tracted. When she paid her money and sought work at the completion of her course and receiving none she demanded the return of her money. It was refused. She obtained the summons. When the Court heard her story he or- dered a complaint lodged against Sheres. A woman attorney engaged by Blue appeared In court-r For a time it appeared that the Court would Issue a warrant for Blue. . The arrest of Sheres precluded this. Miss Padula, from Albany, N. Y., told reporters she had inherited a small Income from her mother when the latter died. She was prominent she said in amateur theatricals in Albany. No Luck "I had visions of becoming a 'Fol- lies' girl. I can dance. I have am- bitions," said the disillusioned Miss Padula. "I have had no luck since I came here. First I met Sam Hoffman, publicity agent, at 1591 Broadway. He was so happy to see me. I told him I was taking lessons. "Margherita," he said, "1 will write a scenario for you. But you must eat fudges and sundaes to take on some weight. • And I did. But I haven't taken on any pound- SRe. He was to make me a film star," said Miss Padula. "And I will write the scenario for.- nothing, Margherita," he also said. •'Thus far I have seen no scenario and Hoffman has $35 of mine. Peo- ple think because I live at The Wel- lington I have money. How fool- ish," wound up Margherita. She told a reporter that the Blue establishment offered her $50 to drop tne court proceedings. Max Weider; assistant district at- torney, win conduct the examina- tion. Sounds Old, but Good Ex-Shubert boy rehearsing his first part In a dramatic' show, was getting the direc- tor's goat. "Hey, you, try and act a lit- tle more rnanly," yelled the di- rector. "Say," replied the ensemble kid, "I wasn't hired for char- acter parts." NEW YORKERS MUGGS FOR IDLE LOTS . Hollywood, June 3. Eastern actors and others asso- ciated with pictures are proving a fruitful field for local real estaters, who have found things tough sled- ding for the past year. Real es- tate, both improved and unim- 'proved, has been almost at a standstill here for a couple of years. Eastern performers, upon arrival here, have been shown around by their friends and immediately be- came a cinch for the lot salesmen. The New Yorkers found it almost impossible to look at Spanish archi- tecture, swimming pools and tennis courts without getting the idea that Brisbane is right about the poten- tial value. But after their first con- tract option passed by without re- newal they got a different slant on the property owning gag. Local real estate men can say $150,000 without blinking an eye. They're all straight men. Anything with a bath and a red tiled roof, as long as it is In or neai' Beverly Hills, Is worth that amount provid- ing the purchasier Is in pictures, comes from. New York and has a contract. Picture people have been taken plenty in the new subdivisions. Most of them are paying on lots that were supposed to double in value shortly after purchase. The truth is that Los Angeles real es- tate has been on the skids. Instead of increasing, for the past three years. Need 7,000,000 People There are at present . 566,000 vacant lots in Los Angeles city and county. They were all supposed to be a great investment. In order to occupy this subdivided territory, the city would require at least a 7,000,- 000 population. According to the re- cent census, the population is close to 1,500,000. Lots purchased four years ago -at $2,000, in order to get the buyer off the nut must sell today at a 50% increa-se, or $3,000. Taxes eat up $1,000 over a four-year period. Recently picture people who have been buying homes on the time pay- ment plan have been giving up the individual home idea, letting their investment drop, and moving into apartments. Their argument is that they are tired of working for the real estaters. Travel Films Make 'Em Restless in Chicago Chicago, June 3. Bus companies here are opening combination waiting rooms and stores in the Loop. Many are pay- ing an extreme heavy rent for main street locations, and are planning on carrying part of the overhead with merchandise. At the same time railroads have given over the battle of the main stems and are centering their ef- forts on Boul. Mich. N. Y. C; Penn.; Grand Trunk, Canadian National and Canadian Pacific, all h.'ive ultra modern ofnce.<! along the slrfft. Orryhound linf>s' new. office on State street is getting a play from floaters. A travel picture at the State-Lake, a few doors north, can jump their biz 4 7e in a week, they declare. Great PZa.stcrn Stage. Inc., have opened a flo.ssy place at 219 Jack.son Blvd., and are .set to fight the rom- bined railroad ticket ofTlfc in the In.xurance building, a few doors east. "POLICY" RAID FUTILE Four Men Taken m Raid Dismissed by Court Four men who were seized In what the police termed the biggest policy raid oft the "Main Stem" were in West Side Court and freed by Magistrate William C. Dodge. Thousands of small slips of papers marked the "Little P-T," two print- ing presses and a box of numbered pills were found In the apartment. The raided premises are on the second floor rear of a tenement, 214 West 50th street. The slips, pills, presses and much stationery were taken to the West 47th street sta- tion. The pri.soners told the cops that they were pressmen on the "Times." Detectives James O'Neil and James Carberry told reporters that the "game" has been operating for several months. They change their address every week. It is com- monly known as a floating "policy game.'! Carberry and O'Neil as- serted that the income for the game for six months had been almost half a million dollars. The defendants gave their names as Patrick Hughes, 35, pressman, 605 57th street, Brooklyn; John F. Seifert, 29, pressman, 97 Brook street, Dumont, N. J.; Carl Carlson, 36, 1944 Brown street, Brooklyn. After the evidence had been sub- mitted the Court announced it was Insufl^cient and dismissed the de- fendants. Theodore Barter Batdes Burglar in His Room To Finish—Cop Got 'im With the- grit of a lion, Theodore Barter, formerly manager of Cha- nin's theatre and residing at 105 West 55th street, recited in West Side Court to Magistrate George F. Ewald how he fought until he was beaten omconsclous by a young and agile Intruder who had robbed him of $77. The burglair, James Deerag, 19, slender jobless, and desperate, gave his address as 125'4 Tremont street, Boston. He was held without bail on the charges of burglary and vio- lation of the Sullivan law. Deerag had a loaded giin when captyred after a stiff battle by Patrolman Anthony Ippollto of the West 47th street station. Shirley Kellogg, who has the apartment . across the hall from Barter's, heard the latter's cries just before he became senseless. She began to shriek. Ippollto heard her screams and saw Deerag with the gun in his hand descending the rear fire-escape. The bluecoat- cov- ered the agile Deerag, who was quickly subdued. Barter had returned to his apart- ment with Sid Mercer, sports writer, from a dinner of theatre treasurers and managers at Long Branch. Mercer had shared Barter's room for a week. It happened that Mer- cer had to "cover" Max Schmeling's training quarters Sunday. He left the apartment at midnight. Shortly after 3 a. m. Deerag en- tered by raising the rear window. Barter did not hear him. Deerag had taken the $77 from Barter's trousers pocket. No Dream Awakened, Barter saw Deerag. "Don't make a move and every- thing will be jake. If you do I'll kill you," warned Deerag, who had the gun against Barter's temple. "I rubbed my eyes. I thought I had been dreaming," asserted Bar- ter. "I realized it was not play. I jumped out of bed and tried to (Continued on page 65) FREE LUNCH DRAW Quality of Booze Now Secondary With Speaks Free lunch is toplinlng over qual- ity of booze these day.H In the Sfx-aks of Times Square, especially the exclusive stag joints. .Stag.-, are only giving spots with a va,ric-ly of tidbits on the lunch countf.-r a play, which has prompted some that never went for the lunch gap before to plunge on the counter eatables and chop on the quality of liquor to counterbalance the otherwi.so rxtra expr-nso. Speaks are now serving every- thing from turkey to lobster on the counters, the latter the under- slz'^d contrabands bootlegged by fi.«hf;rmen for $1 a dozen. Whether 'Speaks' Are Nuisances To Be Decided in Downtown Court Caesar's Cossacks .Hollywood, June 3. Arthur Caesar on horseback usually draws a crowd and yesterday he drew ,a cop. The former Greenwich Villager, who left there by request, was on his way to the . polo lot on a circus trained horse with a Mexican saddle, when the horse started to run. The cop .stopped Caesar, asking him why he was per- mitting the hor.se to r\in away. "He wasn't running away," replied Arthur. "I couldn't concentrate and mu.^t have dreamed the Cossiioks wore after me. So I hollered 'ge- ap.' " COLUMNISTS IN THEATRES ASACTS Loew's and R-K-O Make Offers to Hellinger and Winchell "Jt the Lord would only be good and let me play the Palace" often said Walter Winchell years ago ST he again did three-a-day with one on the Roof at Loew's American, New York. "Why should I become an actor?" asks Mark Hellinger. "Isn't one In the family maybe one too many?" referring to his handsome wife, Gladys Glad, whom Ziegfeld con- fldentlally told his publicity depart- ment Is "the most beautiful girl in the world," a designation now shared by Dorothy Hall. Hellinger's comment is current; Wlnchell's In the long past when his hoofing days in small time vaude sent him to a $25 trade newspaper ad soliciting job as a preference, partly because the audience didn't say yes often 'enough. Dough Now Winchell has a chance to make the Palace, perhaps with the Lord's delayed assistance, but he, coy-like, from his small time days, can't make up his mind, even for $2,000, 14 limes his former salary nine years ago. Hellinger is in doubt only, through the dough. He says Loew's wants to pay him $1,000 for a metropolitan route but that depends upon his success at the State. Mark, purely commercial and maybe not so purely, advances the thought that perhaps $2,000 at the State and $1,500 weekly if thereafter on a route, no matter how short, would Increase his professional prestige with the most beautiful girl, etc., for Gladys also can command plenty of Zleggy's coin if she will just consent to .star In his next "Fol- lies." Rank Charlie Morrison started all of the fuss amongst the columnists by thinking he was kidding Win- chell after Heywood Broun got away with it for. a week at $1,000 in the Palace. When Winchell heard he could get twice as much as Broun and in the same place, it staggered Waller. Ho admits Broun ranks him as a columnist but to rank Broun as an actor or In any other way. Ah! says Walter. These near newspaper hams Will probably take a flianco each, for the money and publicity. Winchell especliiDy hates publicity, though he Is on thf> radio once weekly. But they can't see liim on the radio for nothing while thr-y might see him at the I'alace at $2. It's very diff'Tcnt and Intiicato both ways, but Morri.«on understands—and he undfrrstands Winchell. Mark will t';)l ;\lierr; he g'.-ls those teary tales for almost any day, while Wfni lir-n will explain his de- veloped ."y.'^tem of knowing who's going to merge and who will melt, while witb bis knouledgc of blessed events, \V'ine)ii-ll has created no .srjiall .su^pl' ion about b<rij.vel£. ■ AlU'Scd ".speaks" that operate to the annoyance of adjacent tenants are likely to l>e "bagged" for being pviblic nuisances. AVhether this will bo upheld is to be decided in Spe- cial Sessions. Magistrate George W. fiimpson in West Side Court held John Wal- ters, 42, waiter, of 371 West a6lh street, for trial. Walters was ar- rested by Detective Cornelius Wai- ters, of Chief Inspector John O'Brien's staff. The cop arrested the waiter on the second floor of 127 West 49th street. The place is an alleged "speak." The cop by a ruse got into the place and made an arrest for violation of the Volstead law. "A place selling Intoxicating liq- uor to the annoyance, injury, com- fort or io^)ose and health and safety of the conimiu\lty lu violation of the law Is classed as a i)ublic nui- sance," reads the code. This is a forei-unner of what the ".speaks" o!\n expect, the cop told re- porters. Copper Lands Two Going After Jack & JilFs Safe Latest in cracksmen tools was displayed In West Side Court to Magistrate Henry Goodman when Salvatore Palermo, 32, tailor, of 63 Morrell street, Brooklyn, and Ed- ward Carlton, 23, laborer, 141 West 47th street, were before him on the charge of burglary and having bur- glar tools in their possession. They were held without ball for the Grand Jury. i -Detective Rosenberg of police . headquarters arrested the pair after a stiff battle in a room over Jack & Jill's Re.staurant. They had en- gaged the room several days before. A largo hole had been cut away In the flooring not far from the posi- tion of Jack & Jill's safe. Rosenberg had a tip that the pair were in the room. He entered alone and covered them with his gun. They fought but were quickly sub- dued. Drills, sectional jimmies, bits and a full complement of Ingenious safecrackers' tools were found. The court asked to have the tools dis- played. ■ Rosenborg quotes one of the de- fendants as stating that two other men were. In on the Job, but they were ousted by the defendants. Both have criminal records,' asserted Ro- senberg. Police Conimissloner Mulrooney lauded Rosenberg when he learned of the arrest. Poppy Drive a Bust Sale of popples this year, especially around Times Square, was very no- ticeably off, with the heterogeneous collection of salesmen of artificial flowers In memory of soldier dead,. less Insistent as a result. With the war over 13 years and a poppy drive annually since then It has begun losing Its effect. One salesman said that people for the first time didn't make the apologies of past year.s, pa.ssing them up cold. One of the reasons ascribed for the public Indifference even around such a time as Decoration Day Is that too many drives have become rackets of late years, with no one Ifnowlng which collector Is on the level .and which Isn't. From the way the poppy drive went over this year, It wouldn't be surprising If It was cut out In 1931. Falima Coming Galveston, June 3. There will be a MIhs Turkey and a Ml.ss Kgypt In the International beauty pngeant here In August, ac- cording to Itobert I. Cohen, Jr., chairman-director. He didn't "ay whether they would be In harem costume and veiled or not. '^Variety'' For Sumrher .JL>'K, JII.Y and ACGIST $2 Address "Variety," New York