Page 27

THE SHO
GREAT ADVANCEMENT IN
VAUDEVILLE BUSINESS
te of Illinois Alone Boasts of More Houses Today Than
Entire Country Did Quarter Century Ago.
BY CHARLES MORELAND.
The Infancy of Vaudeville.      period. The necessary agent has come
to dispatch business for house manager
Today I met one of the old school  and artist alike. The field is so large
Taudeville artists of twenty-five years  that every town boasts of a vaudeville
, Not having seen this member of  house, and today vaudeville is a busi-
the fast dy-   ness pure and simple for the artist, man-
ing old guard,  ager and agent. Vaudeville is a sys-
our conversa-  tematized affair as well as any other
tion naturally  business, and the agent who has come
drifted  back  to stay is a necessity as much as the
to the olden   broker in real estate or any other bust-
days of the ness that requires an experienced mid-
business.      dleman. And the sooner the artist un-
We   talked   derstands that in this the age of special-
of New York    izing the agent must and will always
. city, the cra-  be the factor between manager and
dle of variety,  actor, the better it will be for both.
the heyday of
Harry Miner,
Tony  Pastor,             MorelandNotes.
Hyde   a n d     Sam   Morris has returned to vaude-
Behman, Dick   ville in a new vehicle, a sketch entitled
Fit z ge r-    "The Umbrella Mender." Morris will be
ald, Bob War-   assisted by Jessie Mosely and George
ring, Pete     Cole. The tryout was at the Columbia
Curley, Fred    theater this week, and Sam says it is
La   Vantine,  goingbig.
Jim  A r m-      Van Hoven, the Mad Magician, laid
and many others; in short, to    off in Chicago last week. He plays the
0, a iunks that had spread and thinned  Mary Anderson theaterinaLouisvillethis
trs.sgh ,the tpast twenty-five years.  week, with Evansville and Interstate
ose were the times when but one time to follow.
:et was in the business, and he was  illy dBaker and the Pony-Boy Girls
aekFit'zgerald, who did most of the returned to the city owing to an acci-
Joking of what we now term "the big  dent to one of the girls of the company.
; he."                              They lay off this week, but open on the
, The London Burlesque House on the  W. V. M. A. time Monday next.
lowry in those days was the Criterion  George Crotty, the blackface mono-
.iety House, where the ambitious   logist, singer and dancer, works the
oungsters were tried out. Every Mon-  first half of the week at the Century
C iy afternoon the acts were given a  theater, Mishawaka, Ind., and closes
tance to show what they could do, and  the week at Goshen, Ind., at the Irwin
in that day most all the Variety Man-  Opera house.
igers of New York and Dick Fitzgerald,  Carter & Claire, the singing and talk-
lieeagent, were in the audience, and ing act, were seen at a local house this
then an artist or act passed their criti- week, and I was gratified to note they
I inspection the performer's future  were the hit of the bill. These boys
ras assured. But should an act or per-  will be heard from soon in the big time,
ormer fail to please the magnates, that  and from what I saw of them I pre-
at ls his or her finish, as far as New  dict they will go big.
ork work was concerned. It was at   Senator Francis Murphy, the mono-
shouse that such publicfavoritesas  logist, is booked solid, and will conse-
P Kelly,Wheatly & Trainor, (Lew)  quently  work   steadily  the  winter
ifakins & Collins, Emerson & West,  through.  Mr. Murphy will play the
lirnelloBros.,BobbyGaylorandLeon-  Coney Holmes Interstate time.
rditJones and many others first found  Charles Mack & Company arrived in
avor with the puble through the fore-  the city last week. The sketch entitled
Cight of Fitzgerald and the managers.  "Come Back to Erin," used by Mack,
In Chicago, King and Castle were the  has been a knockout everywhere.
)ioneer agents, with offices on Madison  Doc. Howard O'Neil, the university
reet, between Clark and LaSalle. After  monologist, who was obliged to lay off
e dissolution of their partnership,  at Rock Island, is rapidly recovering
sorge Castle opened independent offices  under the care of Dr. F. W. Brown, a
1 Clark street opposite the entrance to  noted throat specialist, and resumed
he Olympic, and for a long time after- his tour over Western time at Water-
lard was the only agent in the west  loo, Ia., October 25.
¶ho booked Variety.                 Paulus, the little corporal, will soon
The local houses of those days were  play the bigetime in anewat by Dave
keAcademy of I\usic, managed by Bil-  Wolf, entitled "At the Links."  Mr.
11Emmetta where Variety as given be-  Paulus will have the assistance of Ar-
h>.1eeihe acts of tethrillers that were  thur Clippinger in the playlet, and an-
I that day all the rage. The other  nounces that the title has nothing in
W7:uses where Variety reigned were the  common with any sausage works as the
\xtheater on Desplaines street, after-  name would imply.
lards known as the Lyceum; Jerry    Jones, Williams & Company, present-
Ionroe's theater, State street, between  ing  the  English  playlet,  "Crushed
insik and Taylor; Garden theater, State,  Strawberries," write that they are hav-
teen Van Buren and Harrison, man-  ing much success on the Coney Holmes
T ed by King and Long; also the Cri-  time, after which they play the Web-
leion theater, managed by Charles En-  ster circuit for twenty weeks, finishing
rad the Park theater, built by King  at Vancouver, April, 1910; they then sail
ndLong in the year of '82, and nu-  for Australia, their home, the first time
Arous concert halls, where specialties  home in eight years. Billy Williams,
'er used. The jumps out of Chicago  their brother, leaves London about the
St. Louis, Kansas City, Quincy,  same time for home.
Cairo, Louisville, Joplin, Mo., St.  Lottie Gilson, best remembered  as
aoicinnati Peoria, Detroit, Toledo, "The Little Magnet," who a few years
11aCleveland, Terre Haute, Dan-  ago was a headline act, is playing the
L afayette. Omaha. St. Joe, and  local houses around Chicago. Lottie's
lanalis. The majority of these  singing is as good as ever, and I won-
Ck independently.                 der why she can't get the big time, as
't of the Variety houses of these  she would make a hit on any bill.
t contained winerooms and bar-      Joe Withers writes me that he has
ms Performers were booked for     tendered his resignation to the Melroy
Iror two weeks, according to the  Twins and "Kid Kidders" and will close
tarythey commanded. If the artist  with that troupe at Bloomington this
Imanded $50 per week and booked  week. He will use a new act written
SIwo weeks Ie was given $80 for the  by himself entitled "The Lost Locket,"
thwesPor$40per week. Sometimes  assisted by Cecil Lorraine and Carmyne
theacts were good ones they stayed  Jefferson.
Onter according to their expenditure  Kelly Brothers, singing and dancing
er thebar of the place. When a per-  act, open on the Western Vaudeville
er al edhiscontractouthealways    time next week and have booking for
atofechmmendation to the manage-  several weeks.
eItOf the next house to be played.  R. J. Lindsey, blackface monologist,
ioPerformers-had to depend on one  arrived in town after several weeks over
teher o boost their-acts to the man-  the Paul Goudron time, and Is flirting
and referred house managers to    with the agents for bookings.
en the bill of that week with whom  Risley & Reno, Chinese pantomimists,
oereacquainted and had worked.  have arrived in the city and are soon to
lidthenti agents were not needed,  play the Orpheum time.
arthaist was a much different fel- Edmonds & Boyle did not play Dan-
Ilthan today. There was more so-  ville as they expected, but were can-
hilty and more friendship  The ar-  celled at the last minute. In conse-
Outhat day lived from  hand to   quence, they lose the week.
tat crd livedt fr hadt    qunethylstewek
end cared nought for the little    Shaw & Sargent report that their Ital-
oda one sees amongst the profession  ian act, "Pasqualina," was a riot at Ra-
ea. In those times the spirit of  cine, Wis., last week. They play the
be eeme to be the principal reason  Castle theater, Bloomington, Ill., this
eing Inthe profession, and artists  week, and Joliet next week, with the
s etoriously bad business people   Western time to follow.
ad emore like Bohemians who    Harrison Greene and Kathryn Parker
St helped one another.          open next week on the Interstate time
it inehas certainly changed things at Lexington, Ky.. with all this agen-
at  tY-five years. Today  cy's other time to follow.
stanofin  aneboasts of more      Ada Rogers, formerly of the Rogers
S     <intr had t that  Sisters' misial act, has arrived in the
W WORLD
27
Secure our Acts through the
Asociated Vaudeville Artists of
Managers Chicagoandbeprotected.
OnED. STOUJT, Bus.Rep.
E164E.RandolphSt.  Room7
Attnio        Phone Main 1887  CHICAGO
WesternBureau
WM. MORRIS, Inc.
J. C. MATTHEWS, Western Rep.
167 Dearborn Street      CHICAGO
Phones Randolph 3301-2-3
Bookindmore first class Theatres In
the MiddlIe West than ALL OTHER
AGENCIEShCOMBINED. Arewehook-
Itd your Theatre? If not, why not?
Write us.
city from the east to play the Western
Vaudeville Association time.
Manager Seigfried, of the Bijou, De-
catur, Ill., was in town last week look-
ing after the winter's bookings for his
house.
Walter Barnes Leivas Company are in
town. Adolph Meyers will pilot the act
over the Western Vaudeville Associa-
tion time.
Murray X. Hill, who has just closed
with one of Jake Sternad's acts, will
play dates single with his monologue at
Bush Temple next week.
Nick Santoro, best remembered as the
scrappy little pugilist who met all com-
ers in his class with much credit to
himself, now has a vaudeville act writ-
ten by J. Brandon Walsh, entitled "The
Grand Wind-Up." The papers all seem
to think the act the classic amongst
fighting playlets, and at Streator, Ill.,
last week, Mr. Santoro and his com-
pany, including James M. Cassidy and
Adelaide Carter received  an  ovation
which would have been a pleasure to the
most noted star. From the press no-
tices, this act will have no trouble in
getting all the bookings it can handle,
and will certainly play repeats. Next
week, Kensington, Ill., the big time to
follow.
Lenard & Drake, who are at Shindler's
theater this week, have a new act which
is a great improvement on the old one
used by the team. Lenard's imitation
of the dry cocktail used in the old act
is still meeting with favor. The team
went big Tuesday night and the new
act will be a big success wherever they
show.
Thomas & Payne, colored singing and
dancing comedians, are playing the
Western Vaudeville Association time.
Shannon & Straw, the comedy sketch
team, just arrived in town from Grand
Rapids, and report big success.
The Majestic Quartette arrived in
town Monday and are preparing to play
the Pantages time soon.
The La Moine Trio, who have been
playing the county fairs, will open un-
der the roofs as soon as one of the
members recovers from a slight illness.
Colonel Owens, with Texas Cleo, his
trained horse, arrived from the Michi-
gan time.
Alonzo Mosher, contortionist, is in
Chicago, after playing Gus Sun's time.
Musical Schneider keeps filling the lo-
cal theaters with melody.
George Thompson, singing imperson-
ator, is working the Acme theater this
week.
Maud Tanner, the soubrette, has plen-
ty of local time and likes it.
Frank X. Cummings is now working
single in a comedy singing and dancing
act. His wife, Kitty King, is not work-
ing at present.   Mr. Cummings just
closed with one of the Rowland& Clif-
ford attractions.
Kida Wilson and wife, the "King Pins
of Unionism," are working the Doutrick
time. The Kid manages to keep on the
job.
The Levigne Sisters are playing the
Quin Opera house, Goshen, Ind., the first
half of the week., with Mishawaka to
follow, the last half.
Van Avery arrived from Cedar Rap-
ids Monday; rests this week; opens at
Davenport, Ia., Monday next; then the
Interstate time.
Roy Lee Wells arrived from Marion,
Ind., Monday. Wells is booked solid
until January. The wife and baby are
very well.
Webb-Romalo Trio, novelty acrobats,
are filling in a few weeks in the city
before going on the big eastern time.
John W. Considine, of the Sullivan-
Considine office, is hunting in Oregon.
The People's theater will have vaude-
ville between the acts beginning Mon-
day next.   Paul Goudron booked the
vaudevillians.
Perry & Whte, the premier sketch ar-
tists, are the big hit at Des Moines,
Ia., this week. This act is one of the
best acts of its kind and is dressed in
a manner fitting a high-class number.
The big time audiences have taken to
Perry & White like a duck to water.
Richards & Richards, singing, talking
and banjo players, arrived in town Mon-
day from the Suillivan-Considine time.
Grace Robinson, singing and acro-
batic girl, is playing at the Garrick the-
ater, Burlington, Ia.; Ottumwa to fol-
low.
William Henderson has made applica-
tion for an employment license. His
bond was approved until Arthur Bur-
rage Farwell protested. It is now a
question whether it will be issued or
not. Lots of worse chaps than Bill in
show business.
Riesner & Gores, singing and talking
sketch, arrived from the west hunting
for time.
Harry Robinson, brother of Ethel
Robinson, of the Western Vaudeville
Association, tendered his resignation
last Saturday, and stepped out.
Sam Liebert & Company are playing
the Kedzie theater this week with a
sketch entitled "To the End of the
World with You." It's a knockout.
WANTED ATONCE-lady Piano Player.
Onethatcan sing and play for M. P. Show.
Address stating wages,
CARMICHAEL&WHEELER,       CANDO, N. D.
Daly   &   O'Brien,  the  tanglefoot
dancers and talking comedians, are
working at the Gaiety, South Chicago,
this week.
Pongo & Leo, comedy revolving pole,
open at St. Joe, Mo., Monday for a two
weeks' fair date; Des Moines to follow.
The Muliners are playing the Cali-
fornia theater, booked by the Morris of-
fice. The act is going nicely.
Lambs' Mannikins are playing the
Julian this week, and report that it has
been a very pleasant week and hope they
gain as many friends at the President
next week.
The Original Quaker City Quartette
played the Wilson Avenue theater last
week and met with big success through
the introduction of a new Swedish
character. The boys play the American
Music Hall next week.
Otto & West open at the Mable thea-
ter November 1 in a new act entitled
"Who Discovered the Pole'?"
Jessie Russell & Company, who have
been playing the Charles Doutrick time
with a new electrical novelty dance, has
arrived in the city for a needed rest.
Emily Pag, the petite singing comed-
ienne, is booked solid for the winter.
Emily does a neat act and should be
kept working all the time.
Billy Moore, singing and talking
comedian, has arrived in town from
over the Pantages time. Bill says he
saw more performers here in an hour
than during all the time he was west.
William Sanguine & Company will be
seen shortly in a new comedy sketch
yet unnamed.
Will and May Reno, In the comedy
sketch "The Rube and the Show Girl,"
are at the Vaudette, Evanston, this
week.
The Mallard Brothers are playing a
new act entitled "Back to the Old Dig-
gings." Chuck has a new banjo which
he says cost him many a thirsty day.
Turno & Honegger Trio, pantomimists,
hand balancers, jugglers and contor-
tionists, and lots more, are laying off
this week, but play the Ashland next
week.
H. P. Joseph, the singing and dancing
comedian who came to the Haymarket
from Detroit, is making the audiences
sit up and take notice.
Ben Harney, of Harney & Hames, is
sojourning in the city. Just came In
from Streator, Ill., to see the old bunch.
Al. Case, the fat musical artist, Is
keeping on the job. Al has not lost a
week for some time.
Jessie Rapier, of Rapier & Rapier,
while doing her dancing specialty last
Week, fell and fractured her wrist,
which necessitated their closing the act
until Miss Rapier recovers.
Woman Displays Films.
Miss Frieda Kiug, representing A.
Schultze, a prominent foreign film firm,
with   headquarters  in  Turin,   who
recently arrived in America to study
conditions in the moving picture field
here, gave an exhibitionof independent
and trust films before the members of
the Young Women's Christian associa-
tion, at 238 Michigan avenue, Saturday
evening, October 24. Some very In-
teresting historical, scenic and humor-
ous films were shown and Miss Kiug,
secured these films through the courtesy
of the Carl Laemmle company and the
Chicago Film exchange. Miss King was
assisted in this exhibition by W. R.
Sims, of the Chicago i11m exchange.
Stock Melodrama Begun.
CLEVELAND, 0., Oct. 26.-Henry
Belmars has leased the Coliseum the-
ater on East Fifty-fifth street, and will
open on Nov. 1st.    Stock melodrama
will be the policy of the theater.-
YOUNG.
The Viascope
Special
FIRE PROOF!
NOISELESSI
FLICKERLESS! NO VIBRATION!
Guaranteed Forever Against
Defective Workmanship or Material
Viascope Manufacturing Co.
Room6,112E.RandolhSt.,    CHICAGO