New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-04-29
Something About the United
Booking Offices and the
Way They Work

THEBE arc eighty-fve drst class
| vaudeville theatres in the United
States. 90 say nothing Of hundreds
upon hundreds of lesser houses those
vicl by reason of adherence to split
seeks and acts Of lesser prominence
.omprisc what is known as the small
tine. They dot every state in the
Union and even sprinkle Canada, and
Il is necessary for each of them 70
Isye is allotment Of new performers
as regularly as Monday afternoon rolls
around
10 supply oil Of these theatres sew
usl thousand vaudeville acts are neces-
AIRY, and TO acquire these acts and
then move them with a minimum Of in
convenience TO all concerned necessi-
ate an elaborate, comprehensive and
snooth working organization. The
vork Of supplying all Of the first class
houses and a good proportion Of the
minor theatres is done right here in
New York -in the United Booking Of
ices In the Palace Theatre Building.
The vaudeville world knows 1t as the
UB.O.
Not only do the vaudeville interests
,ssupy this entire building, but their
ever growing activities long ago neces-
E1ted their spreading to the adjacent
structure. To supply the man in Vancou-
yer and the man in Galveston each with
lis vaudeville show requires an office
force Of hundreds. The United Book
isg 0fhces buzz from in the morning
until IN the afternoon. and thousands
dpersons track in and out OF the build
nc on endless orrands. And the pur-
pose Of this huge organization and
'ndless activity is merely that the
f'1r Flying Flooeys or some other act
nay be No 2 on the bill at the Heilig
Theatre, Portland. Ore, or some other
Place during the week Of May Z, 1914
Or some other week, and that the -Four
flying Fooeys. their agent, the thea
''e manager. his booking representa-
i've and finally the public may be sat
tted that things are as they arc.
The United Booking Offices arc ex-
'sily that-tbe booking Offices united.
here was a time when they were not
snited, and that was the time when
chaos reigned in the vaudeville world.
The man with a theatre in Grand
Lspids made occasional trips TO New
iefk or Chicago 70 secure his acts, but
mere was never any telling when or
'hete he could be found. To obtain a
convenient route for an act-a route
H''hout impossible jumps and devastat-
"g railway fares was practically an
'npossibility. Il was L. +. Albee, now
GENERAL manager Of the Booking Offices.
NO conceived ard carried out the idea
VI simplifying matters for everybody
y consolidating the oflices-of estab-
"'a'ng a central spot where men who
'.ated 10 buy performers could meet
.'ih men who wanted 70 sell them. The
" g. o. has now been an established
'',' Tor about seventeen years.
y Is a corporation, with the shares
s'nsd by the men who own the thea
YES which make il possible. The thea
" owner is fully protected by con-
'@ giving him exclusive territory.
s,'aerally his territory is a city, but in
larger cities there is naturally
VEN Tor more than one vaudeville
s'3e. Greater New York. for example,
/" nearly dozen (the reference is
I" to big time houses only. Any
~ ihtruding upon preoccupied terri
and establishing a rival house
~ ana himself compelled 20 fight not
- single theatre manager. but the