The Washington times., 1929-02-21
'GLEANINGS
AND

n- Annprw p KEIIRY

LnGV are kOOd GuOhBH 1OL bhob
select task and they make no
bones of whispering that some
of the crack New York musical
outfits were so eager to get
this Job they would play for
nothing, if the union permitted
such a practice. The prestige
of playing the principal social
event of the Pre- 81 d e n ii a
whoopee has it's advertising
value.
However, Mr.. Specht insists
that he was retained and will
be paid by the Hoover-Curtis
Club of New York, and his or
chestra will come to the Capital
on their special train. SOund-
ing out the prospects of getting
theater engagement in Wash
ington for the same inaugural
week, Mr.. Specht discovered he
must overcome the opposition
of the local to this plan, and so
he has abandoned the idea.
Speaking of musicians, the
question arises whether mas
ter of ceremonies for a stage
program should be listed as u
musician or an actor.
1t is C. MacLean Savage, an
actor and member of the Actors
Equity Association, who raises
the point, and wants to know
if the musicians wouldn't raise
hob should an actor suddenly
decide he was an orchestra
director and step down from the
stage to lead the band. 1t is
Mr.. Savage's contention that
the master of ceremonies job
belongs to the actor and he
states his protest at length in
the current number of Equity.
Jobs are scarce for actors and
you can hardly blame them for
battling for every envelope.
The Ambassador Theater
breaks forth into sound next
Sunday, playing "On Trial as
its first talker and following it
up with "The Singing Fool"
Howard Burkhardt, former
manager of the Strand, who
was obliged to relinquish his
duties in November, due to i'll
ness, is back at the managers
desk on Ninth Street. At least
he will be when Acting Manager
Ruhe Bernstein hops the Jim
Corbett special train for the
Sharkey-Stribling fight as it
passes through Washington Sat-
urday.
Fred Hillebrand, who was the
whole show when "Well, Well.
Well" played here at Polls with
Jack Perl as the highly featured
star, failed to get even men
ton when the revised version of
the musical pleasure Bound"
opened in New York Monday
night. In the revision the "hot
chimney's" part was cut to
nothing, which is one way of
punishment for daring to steal
Lne glory 1Eom Cne StdE'
Washington evinces every in
dication of preferring the pro-
ductions of the New York Thea
ter Guild. 1t gave Strange
Interlude" $4,000 for one week.
When the sale for the forth
coming one week engagement at
Polls, beginning March II,
opened officially at the Mrs.
Greene bureau yesterday, ap-
proximately $4,000 was entered
in advance reservations.
a The Theater Guild, incidental
ly, is being pointed out as the
organization which pulled the
prize theatrical "bone" of the
year in booking Strange Inter
lude." Washington, as well as
other cities could have provided
capacity business for a two
weeks engagement but the
booking moguls refused to risk
it. Accordingly the O'Neil play
is routed to the Coast leaving
behind in most cities plenty of
disappointed playgoers. Busi-
ness everywhere is tremendous.
Manager T. D. Bonneville of
Polls is expecting a sunburned
George White to drop in on, him
Sunday afternoon for the Wash
ington opening of Scandals"
If and when Mr.. White arrives
from Florida he will probably
insist on replacing Treasurer
Jimmy Hughes at the ticket
window. It's a little trick that
George learned from AL Jolson
and still gets kick out of.
The box-office men don't think
it so hot and only a few years
back Mr.. White stopped a fast
one with his eye, right here
in Washington, when he tried to
tell one of the pasteboard
moguls how tickets should be
sold.
Mr.. Whites great delight is
topping the Ziegfeld shows for
business. The rivalry between
the two producers is intense and
sometimes a little bitter. For
instance, on one occasion, Mr..
Ziegfeld, who loves to send
kilograms, Western Unioned to
George, Can use you in my
new Follies. Name your fig
ure." Mr.. White presumably
regarding the wire as an indi-
cation that Ziggy rated him
more as an entertainer than a
producer wired back. "Sorry.
Can use you and Billie Burke
In ,anrr ,nnrr 0Cnnndnlr -