Variety (Jun 1930)

Wednesday, June 26. 1930 VAUDEVILLE VAR^IETY 117 VASTRCASHOWLABORATORY NEW TALENT ON RADIO WANTED BYNBCOFnCE N a 11 oji a 1 Broadcasting Co., through fi. W. Schetiin'5, eiecutlve ot Its Artists* Bureau, Is keen to un- earth new *adlo talent, and re- quested "Variety" to offlclate as ani Intermediary In this talent-discov- ery quest, NBC Is of the opinion that un- knowns are aa likely for ether fame as previously established stage per- sonalities. While not wanting rank amateurs, NBC feels that "Variety" will he rendeslng an Intportant service mutually to the ambltldus performer wanting radio, engage- ments and to the NBC. NBC will arrange for all audi- tions at specified periods and sug- gests that "Variety" establish a bureau to handle such would-be radio artists, if "Variety" cared to be concerned fHth It, or for them to communicate direct to the NBC Artists' Bureau. The latter Is pre- ferable. ROSALIE STEWART IS OFF R-K-0 RADIO HOUR Rosalie Stewart, who has headed the R-K-O radio 'Apartment In charge of that company's programs on NBC, is out. . She was replaced Friday (20) through the appoint- ment of Milton Schw&rzwald, H-K-O's head of music, who will in the future have charge of the build- Ihg. and presentation of the R-K-O radio hours Tuesdays and Thurs- days. Miss Stewart Joined R-K-O a year ago last winter, shortly after Hiram S. Brown and the new Radio regime came in, taking charge of the radio programs that were in- Btltuted. . Criticism has been levelled against the R-K-q hours, both within the trade and" by laymen, with Miss SteWart on one occasion getting a notie from David SamofC, chairman of the Ubard of R-K-O and presi- dent of RCA, asking what was wrong with the R-K-O hour. . Saturday Midnights as Fox Bklyn Tryout Spot starting Saturday night (21), the Pox, Brooklyn, became a. midnight tryout sijot for acts seeking work through the Fanchon & Marco of- fice in New York (formerly Pox Vaude)7 Five acts will be sent into the Brooklyn de luxer for a midnight show every Saturday night. They will be placed with the current P. & M.. Ideas playing the house, with booking bfllcials from the Fox office attending to cover the trying talent. The Brooklyn theatre will bill the last shows on Saturdays as "Mid- night Jamborees," offering added attractions through the plan. Piazza on Vacation Ben Piazza will sti^ on his first vacation the end of this week since he joined the R-K-O executive staff. Most of Piazza's lay-oft will be spent on trains between New York and Los Angeles. Two days across the desert at present for Ben are equal to six months of dieting. PARAMOUNT SHORTS We book them extensively. See us. Willie, West and McGinty just booked for a Paramount Sound Short. JERRY CARGUL 1S60 Broadway, N. Y. City BRYANT 0554-5 GEORGIE PRICE Headllnei^ and Master of Ceremonies at the R. K. O. PALACE, NEW YORK Mr. Price's new method of master Ing ceremonies is fully protected. liTII IVE. PROM tSmENTMER Idea Embraces Vaud, Radio Film, Drama, Music — Mechanical Entertain- ment Can Advance Only Through Performances and Material Creators VAUD COMEBACK AIM HAINST."SUGHTED''IN PUBLIX PRODUCING IDEA Chicago, June 21. Agitation Is growing lii the mid- west against the manner in which the Publix stage .units are reaching the_£maller towns. Coupled with the complaints are demands that the Publix stage shows for Min- neapolis,' Detroit, etc., be produced in Chlcafo. Squawks are that the New York producers, in turning out shows, are guided only by New York and Chi- cago tastes. In many cases they are claimed to be uninformed on show busipess conditions and tastes in the midwest towns. It has been pointed out often that better mate- rial, better suited to the tasted of these audiences, could be sent out of the Chicago office. Other squawk is that since these midwest burgs are on the closing weeks of the Publix eastern tour, there is a letdown in performance, especially in the chorus. Besides, shows reiachlng these towns are often played differently from the way they were routined in New York. Spotting is shifted, numbers cut, props' omitted, it is declared. One Publix unit which carried an elab- orate electrical finale flash, played Omaha, and during the entire we^k, the elaborate lights 'were lowered, but were not lighted. The stagehands explained that the unit's carpenter had been drop- ped in Chi to cut the nut; and that the local hands were not i>ermltted to light the bulbs. .Warners B'klyn Shorts William Demarest, who left pic- tures to return to vaudeville Just before dialog pictures came in, is re-entering pictures In comedy Vitaphone Varieties at Warners' Flatbush studio. First one is "Iiost and Found" with Lillian Bond, Joyce White and Irene Shirley. "Seeing Off Service" at the same studio had Harry McNaughton, Joe Penner, Hazel Forbes and Jessie Busley. "Stepping Out" included Joe Pen- ner, Mary Phillips, lico Donnelly and Sheila Barrett. Higgins on Disks Peter. Hlgglns, R-K-O tenor, un- der a five-year blanket contract to that organization, starts next week as a Victor recording artist. He has not previously recorded. Smith-Dale's. Return Joe Smith and Charles Dale for July 5 at the Palace, New York. Mario and Lazarin will be in the act. Th« gigantio Rockefeller* RCA •muMiitAnt project to be ready for opening in about three years is Men from the inside a develop ment that RCA, NBC, R-K-P and other subsidiariea vlaualixe as necessary for the control and nur turing of talent that will be needed for the varioua mechanical mediums of this family. Itfechahlcal entertainment, it Is IMinted out, can go only aa far as the talent behind it With fans now shopping for all amusements, in- cluding radio. It is going tOi be in- creasingly' necessary in the future to control and develop new talent, Through the variety, musical comedy and dramatic theatres the big 6th avenue temple will contain, RCA and Its children will be con ducting a sort of gigantio labora tory that will supply them directly with talent in all branches, includ- ing playwrights^ librettists, com posers, artists, musicians, come- dians, dancers, etc. At the same time through class operation, these.^ theatres will be looked to for revenue but from present ideas in inside circles it Is presumed'that RCA's interest in the project springs from the thought of a trepiAidous laboratory that would feed talent to their pictures, radio, phonograph recording, music and_ other branches. Vaude First Thought? The variety theatre will be the largest of the four, seating 7,000, with the musical comedy house around 3,200 and the dramatic 1,800 or 2,000. The all-sound picture house will have 6,000 seats. From the gigantic size of the variety house, likely to present shows on a big variety scale, com bined with modem presentation methods. It is seen as a noteworthy developer in Itself of talent that can be used In vaudf, pictures, on the radio and elsewhere by RCA. All officials of RCA andvits. fam ily are displaying reticenc^ - con cemlng. the nnderlylng thought in cbnstkictlon of the $300,000,000 buildings, covering three entire cjty blocks,'this because of a gentle men's agreement that the original announcement sent, out should not be amplified. Through the selection of the larg- est of the four houses for variety shows, the Indication that RCA and its subsidiaries have extreme con fidence In stage entertainment on a classic scale Is accepted as slg nificant Otherwise, It Is claimed, the largest house would not have been picked out for variety. Through the official announce- ment's use of the term variety, in stead of vaude, inner circles see the, possibilities as strong that is the new designation RCA has chosen to supplant vaude. Edith Is Clara's Cousin Edith Bow, Clara's cousin, who does a routine of songs as a flap, goes north on an Intact tour by R-K-O. Stock Gifts in Libson Circuit Return Cash to ex-Keithites CRCtflB GO SLOW ON TRY-OlilS IN SUMMER Early/ Denver Reopening Orpheum, Denver, first of the few R-K-O vaude houses to close down for the summer, having gone dark In April, will be the first to reopen. Date set for resumption of in- tact shows in Aug. 16. Murphy and Deane Apart Murphy and Deane have split as a vaude team after together a num- ber of years. Murphy will do a new act with Helen Devlin (Mrs. Murphy) while Deane goes with Tom Ward, 2-act. Vaude circuits have few showing spots for new material over sum- mer with general trend of bookers to repeat standards rather than ex- periment with new material, ex- cepting' in known tryout houses and the new acts around are laying off on showings in such stands. R-K-O, lioew and Fox are mark- ing time on new material with the breaks if any coming from R-K-O and .with Loew and Fox preferring repeats rather than experimentation with new material. Loew's is booking on week to week basis to provide,an out for additional policy changes In vaude houses that may go pictures foi: suninier, J. H. Lubln, booking chief, la not signing "names" over summer, but has also swung Into the repeat policies of the other cir- cuits. Summer has previously been open season for showing dates. About face attitude of the circuits this season is a new devel6pment. HIPP TOWER DELAYED; R-K-O TENANT INDEF. If It wants' the house, R-K-O is now practically assured of remain- ing in the Hippodrome indefinitely, Including not only the coming sea- son but possiblyan additional year. The Fred F. iTench organization, which purchased' the property with a view to erecting Hippodrome Tower, a skyscraper, have aban- doned plans for breaking of grpund this fall, with no approximate date set when building will start. Fisher Matclies^Meroff Chicago, June 4. -. After letting a one-year option run out, B & K "will give Mark Fisher a new contract as m.c., put- ting the singing baton .waver In the five-year class with Meroff. When it was ' discovered N,B.C. was dickering with Fisher, produc-: tlon department remembered th^ slipup and got busy. Fisher will be re-engaged at around $7^0. He began m.c.'ing for'B & K at the Harding in 1926. Peggy's Rival Poised Dolores Ford, "120,000,000 heir- ess," who has crashed considerable publicity through marrying four times, last to Louis Matthews, a plumber from Richmond, Va., is planning to go into vaude. Without any bookings definitely arranged, she is getting together an act, which when ready, will be shown to booking men in the hopes, of getting time. Type of act not mentioned. Par's Shorts Shorts made at Paramount's New York studio include: "Simply Kill- ing" with Willie and Eugene How- ard; "Strudel and Schnapps, De- tectives" with Smith and Dale; and "Office Blues" with Ginger Rogers and a troupe of Gamby Girls. York and King Short York and King, playing R-K-O vaude, are under contract to make one short for Warners. They will do their old act, "The Tin-Types." They start n^xt week. Owing to their present vaude contracts they will do only one subject. Eddie Darling $150,000 Tink Humphries 125,000 W. S. Butterfield 100,000 John F. Royal 50,000 Myron Robinson 50,000 Phil Stern 60,000 Above are some of the sums re- turned in cash Monday or yesterday (24) to gift holders of stock in one or another of the "Cincinnati Cir- cuitL' known as Ike Libson's. The stock in all instances as above was paid for by the gift holders out of the profits of the theatres, most of which have yielded large annual dividends for many years J. J. Murdock and the K. P. Albee estate were the largest Individual stockholders in the properties, after the Libson group. The circuit, pur- chased by Radio-Keith-Albee for around $10,000,000, was operated by Ike Libsoii before the purchase. Libson is said to have declined to continue as an operator, ti^ough not caring for a division manager's title aftiei: his absolute dictation. R. J. Mcburdy, R-K-b dlVi oigrii at Minneapolis, has been transferred to charge of the Libson circuit that has earned as high as $2,200,000 in one year. Caeey'e Bit, $350,000 Maurice Goodman, "the attorney who represented R-K-O „ In the closing of the deal, was ^ Interested to an amout of 1600,000. Fat Casey received a commission of 6% on the total amount involved, which, minus the chiseling of his commission, must have brought Casey around $360,000. The gifts of "pieces" or stocks In the. different houses were mainly, distributed in the former Keith of-; flce^by J. J. Murdook, then general; manager of the Keith Circuit Kach "piece" was handed out long ago,', before thoughts ..of Wall Street/andi selling. Murdock is Qal^ to. have! protected Royal, one 'of the several: ex-Kelthites on the free list, with Royal having but a nominal iclaln), not ^Mvlng paid enough (ittentlon: to have it placed in proper form. Darling, fonner 'Kelt^ boojcer, re•^ oeived his "piece" from fhe. late E,- P. Albee. .Tjbik Humphries, ■former Chicago gen, mgr. for Keith's^ is an-, other Murdock beneficiary. W.^ S. ; (Continue on page 266) Full Weeks for Bajah Rajah Rabold, mentallst, Is being given full weeks in all split stan^ CHEVALIER FOR PAR. IN BROOKLYN PRICE WAR Under tentative plans Publix will bring 'Maurice Cheyalier . east the last of July or early .In August for appearan<ies on the stajge of the two Pammountsi (New York and Brook- lyn). The French star will first fin-. Ish "The Little Cafe," his next talk- er being produced onfhe'west coast. From all Indications Publix la planning; to round up strong attrao- tlons, particularly for the Brooklyn house, that leading to a report Amos 'n' Andy are being sought for dates following completition of their talk- er for Radio, scheduled to begtif production in July. The l^rooklyn Paramount is in the midst of keen competition, with a price war near- ly started through Pox's cutting of admissions to ai 60c top for adults and ^ec all times for kids. Rudy Vallee goes away on a month's vacation June 26, wth Pubj^ llx planning to ship in big attrac- tions during his absence. Paul Ash goes back to the house a week be- fore Vallee leaves. Dave Rubinoff, conceded as hav- ing draw through his guest con- ductorshlp at the New York hctuse, went in last week. . . TURN TO PACE 75