Billboard advertising (July-Dec 1895)

BILLBOARD ADVERTISING is the Official Organ of the KENTUCKY Bill Posters' Association. BILLBOARD ADVERTISING Is the Official Organ of the Associated Bill Posters' Association. PICTORIAL IN ORDER TO PRODUCE PROFITABLE PUBLICITY MUST BE: ^- % S^[ RIKIKG, because in these days no design of a tame, ordinary, or me- diocre character will catch the eye pr excite the interest of the public. 2* — A.F*T in design, because in this wise only can its legend be indelibly impressed upon the memory of the beholder. • **•— ARTIST/Q that is to say, well drawn, nicely finished, and carefully printed, for in no other way can a good impression be created. If you desire your posters to combine all of these qualities, have them made by HE >NALDSON L/THO. Co.. — CINCINNATI, O. BILL POSTING, 7c. per sheet, 30 days. IN THE BUSINESS FOR THIRTY YEARS nnMiiimimiuiiimiiii M || 0. P. FAIRCHILD & CO., DISTRIBUTING, $1.50 to $3.00 per 1000. "* CITY BILL POSTERS, DISTRIBUTORS, # AND GENERAL ADVERTISERS, iVo. 2© Bast jPiftA Street, COVIKGTOK, KY. -COVINGTON, KY. is situated opposite Cincinnati, O.; has a population of 60,000, and has the best electric car system of eight different routes in the world, which carry passengers to all parts of the crty and vicinity, to the Ludlow Lagoon, which covers 80 acres of water and which is visited by thousands of strangers every day in the summer season; it also carries passengers to the Latonia Bace Course, one of the finest tracks in the country. The Latonia Jackey Club has two meetings each year, Spring and Pall, thirty days each. It is also visited by thousands of strangers at every meeting. There are three railroads into the city, the L. & N., K. C, and C. & O. We have boards all along the lines. 8®-Send for one of our New Lists illboards for Stands. UTH0GRAPHIN6, 3c.perLitho. WE POST. Covington, Ky., Ludlow, Ky., Mill- dale, Ky., "West Covington, Ky., Eosedale, Ky., Central Covington, K*., Bromley. Ky. Estimates and Lists of Boards famished on application. WE DO WINDOW WOEK, SAMPLE DISTBIBUTING, CABD TACKING, Etc. We employ nothing but Sellable Men. NO BOYS. CARD TACKING, $2.00 per 100. mm A Monthly Resume Of All That Is New, Bright And ImrestinoOnThe Boards. Vol. IV, No. 4. CINCINNATI, DECEMBER 1, 1895. PRICE 35 CENTS. PER YEAR. J1.00. The Unexpected Witness. BY CHARI.ES H. DAY. HE arranging for the billing of the town for the attraction I represented brought me to the bill post- er's office, and while I was awaiting the coming of the boss of the shop I occu- pied the chair at his desk, with the inten- tion of improving the time by inditing a few letters, but this in- tention was frustrated by the running conversation which was going on between the men of the paste and brush who were laying out their work to fit the stands on their respective routes. ■First their talk amused me, and then a story told by one of their number in- tensely interested me. My attention was first attracted by their shrewd com- ments upon the local managers and their methods, and the current plays and the merits of the players. There was not so much elegance of language in their opin- ions, but there was a deal of frankness, expressed with aptness and good reason, which proved to me at least that they knew pretty well what they were talking about, and were keen critics of the drama. For a while they talked of the bitter feuds and wars of rival bill posters in the larger cities, but, as this subject elicited some feeling, it was dropped at the com- mand of the foreman, who exclaimed with some asperity: "You fellows just cork up on them chestnuts; fights don't go in this office." All the bundles being made up for the routes and put away, the foreman, sitting on the folding table, after prefacing his tale with some reminiscences of the past, in the days when the bill posters dealt directly with the traveling shows instead of the local managers, he started off with a story which seemed to hold the rapt attention of every one present. The foreman of the bill posters was one of those few individuals gifted with the ability of telling a story effectively and inspiring confidence in the listener that lie knew whereof he was relating and was doing no damage to the truth. Without hesitating for a word or a pause to test his memory of events long passed, he took us hurriedly forward to a dramatic climax. This is the way that he told his story : "Nick Forrester was one the few suc- cessful touring theatrical managers of his time, and in his day made two or three fortunes, none of which, I am sorry to say, he was able to keep, as he died poor. Nick's popularity was to be accounted for in several ways: he was a genial, whole- souled fellow, made many friends on the managers of to-day would stick up their noses at that in these times, but it was just business, and it scored for the box- office every time. "Now it is not about'either of the Forresters that I am going to tell you as they only figure in the story incident- ally as it were. Now in his best days Nick played this town many times, and ■'/ COULD SEE HIM PLAINLY." road, and his wife, the leading lady, was a universal favorite. "The support of the Forresters was always good, the plays well mounted, and being a billcr and advertiser, the Forrest- ers prospered. One of Nick's best holds was to make an announcement in front of the curtain, and the Forresters were that popular that they always got a call every night, in fact, several of them, and then it was that Nick announced the next night's bill and sounded his trumpet I suppose Uiat some of the swell, high-toned we were all glad to see him in this office, for he was the man to say " Cigars" every time he came in, and never went away without asking you if you had a mouth on you and if you would like to moisten your lips. : " It is hardly necessary to say that the Forresters had a nice lot of people in their company. They were all way up in G, and very much attached to the show and the management. One young fellow in particular was getting along right well with smart parts, and was cut out for an Al actor. Nick saw this, and cut it to him as fat as he could without robbing himself of leading business. " It is one of the strangest things in the world that I can't recall that young actor's name, but I never was good at names, even when my memory was better than it is now, and I have been thinking of a good many things since war times, as you can see by the bare condition of the top of my head. "But a name don't matter so much and will have to let that go. Well everytime the Forresters came to this town, they themselves and. this young actor I am telling you about, stopped at the United States Hotel. That's gone too", along with a good many relics of other days It was rather a high-toned tavern at that time- but somewhat ancient; afterwards it was removed to save the bedbugs and cock- roaches the trouble of vacating it on ac- count of a lack of patronage. "The hotel was kept right up to the mark in old man Stevens' time, and he put his table against the newer houses and won every time. He was a feeder himself, and knew how to cater to the inner man. Nick Forrester and Stevens were great cronies, and best of all, to tell you what kind of a man that man was, he paid to see the show, and he would not accept a pass from any manager. He ought to have been exhibited in a museum or have been presented with a gold medal. "Old man Stevens had a daughter, the belle of this town, and the prettiest woman I ever saw in private or public life, and when this young actor I have been telling you about met her, why he was clean j;one, dead in love with her, and as for Sarah—Sallie everybody called her—why, she just reciprocated the ad- miration. "Forrester came to this town several times, and the actor and the landlord's daughter enjoyed the visits very much. "Of course so pretty a girl as Sallie had a great many admirers, but to none did she look upon with such favor as the bright young actor. "But the head clerk in the hotel did not like this a little bit, as he wanted Sallie for himself. That the way of the world, when the right man wants the girl the wrong man wants her too. You have all read just such cases in stories, and seen such things in plays, and what I can't tell you about this situation you can just im- agine. "You see this hotel clerk was a cold- blooded, calculating chap, and he was figuring it just in this way, and after I