The billboard (Feb 1910)

Volnme XXIL Ho. 9. CINCIHIIATI—HEW YORK—CHICAGO FMmuay 26, lAlO Amusement Life „ . and Environmen "Vic" Huco, now manager of the Majestic, at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, tells .of m •xpsriMW* 4arl«v 1*6 palmy circus days. Ha was "doing" one of tlw K«w- BadMid MatM as a Mde-show spieler, whan he met one of hlii friends, who was out with a barn- stormlns troupe, and when approached by Huso, was busily ensaged in setting what, niifht-te oalMl a stage. Vic was; of'eouBN. Ncatvad cordially by the maaasny and was, for old ac- qualntaaoe Hdce. invited out to par- take of ratMidiments. As tha manager left, ha turmd to th* local oananter. who was of the rural sort, and said: "I'll be back In a moment, but while I'm grone you can bring down those borders and trim them.". Vic and his friend had a good time, and when they returned to tha ahow- shop. were surprised to see the carpenter, his.sarisiutt aad twa atraasen playing poker. The naaacer cued around and flanad tlMt.lwtlitav had been done dnr Uig his aheenoo. "What the h t" he reared ont,. "Baw«B*t yon cot the borders trhamed yetr ■■ V. ■ "Not Quite."- replied tha carpsatsr, as .h^r^at'e«t avelMiw of tobaeBO. "We've sot 'em both dowa.her% but rve-aet abeat tiN^My dellare to get before I eas .trim - ~ The manager of The Clansman Comi>any, now at the Grand, use for all his tact, nnesse, diplomacy, etc. In ex^alnlas why he iltted any portion of the heavy reoeipto from the at the La Crosse Theatre. La Crosse, .Wisconsin. . Qeorge H. Brennan. who "presents" the attraction, may receive—and. in- deed, he's almost certain to receive— a copy of the La Croaae Chronicle wherein he win read: "The Clansman was played before a meked audlenoe at the I<a Crosse Theatre last night. It had been booked for an afternoon performance^ but was delayed in transit here. It tdvehad to the very depths." etc. "We're- awdilljr sM we made such wii: t hearts aaA 'mored a 'hlt'dowa there," a meml>er of the company iatd,'"Imt aone of us. somehow.-oaa rememlier anything about It. We were on our way from Waukegan. ni.. to play a matinee in La- Crorae, hut we got stuck In a snowdrift, so at the time we must have been playing before that 'packed audience,* we thought we were at least 100 miles east of the L,a Crosse Theatre. In fact, we never stopped there at alU ao far as we know, but came right on through to St. Paul. "Ouea we're all such hypnoUc artists we hypnotised oarselvM." An anonymous writer, who signs himself Reul>en Bayaeed, impelled by tha tatanst atMSSd ta ttta wwM of white tops through the acUon of the . Mayar of aavaaaah,' Oa;, tnereasing the circus license in that city, barkened himself back to the days of old, an:3 brings forth a little anecdote which Illustrates how a showman "put one over" oa his ad vet e a ri s e . .. "Some thirty odd years ago,*^ say> Reuben, "the Forepaugh Show was billed in Baltimore. Md. At the urgent renueet at the managers of the loca: theatiesb the olty eouaeil met about a week befora the Aow date and raised the circus Ueense from $60 a day to short distance out of the city limit; . 1600. Forepaugh arranged to show _ _ and sold tickets for his show, including railroad tares both ways, at the rscntor price «C admlssl^n-Hmr eants; «lriMraB - m<ar tan years, twenty >va oeats. Re also canceled all eohtraiets for 'supptlea ^th Butlmore partle on the ground that as the city authorities forbid him showing In Baltimore ha: would not need the stuff. He also told the council if there were such bl- preAis In the show business as to Justify them in charging circuses MOO a day theatirfs. ought to pay. ;niora than tM a year. Councn than thought, se^ toe; •ad aeoordingly raised the theatre lleansa to ISOO a year. This raissd ioet a: howl from the theatre maaagere that the eouncll dropped baek to the olc nUs% 9M n year for theatraa and 9M a day tor drsnees." Few of the thousands of persons who dally patronize the comblnatloii vandeytUa and moving picture shows In Brooklyn realize that tt.ima throuch the eSttrt and untiring energy of one man that they have been brought t» their present perfection east of the bridge. It was Ave years ago, almost to a day. that Marcus Loew, at that time a prosperous merchant, was offered the opportunity to. eater the amusement business on a small scale. Although he had never been connected in any way whh such an enterprise, he de- cided that the public needed enter- tainment other than could be pro- cured at the more expensive playhouses. He therefore, in company with & friend, opened the first of what was later known as the Penny Arcades, and from the first it met with approvaL So great was the success of his venture that soon other place s were opened in various parts of the city, and when, after two years, the bWMIMS had grown to large proportions, Mr. I<oew determined to go a step zarthar and Start TandsTltla and maTlng. picture eetahllihmants . T>a;fcst one was opened next door toi'the origtaal Ardtde. But not satisfied with these encouraging results. Mr. Loew branchiad out on a atOl larger scale, and opened his first regular theatre in what was then known as the "Old Cosey Comer" in Brooklyn. His story of the first day's performance and Its later success Is Interesting. "When everything was in readiness," said Mr. Loew, in speaking to a reporter for an evening paper, "we threw open our doors with a flourish, expecting that we would have to turn some of the people away. But after some time the box office only managed to sell one ticket. We waited for some time after that, hoping that more would come In. but I was finally obliged to go to our one patron and tell him that the ticket-seller had no right to admit him, as it was merely a dress rehearsal and offered to refund his money. The 'audience' however, appeared delighted at the prospect of seeing a dress rehearsal and said that he preferred to stay. It was the best advertisement that we could have received, for he went around boosting the show to all Ills friends, and the second day we took in 'the large amount of fl7. "The theatre, however, was a success after that and at the end of the first year we earned $60,000. Those were the days when the ten-cent shows were vety crude and only mediocre talent was engaged. There is a great difference to-day. for. I insist upon gettlnc the best that the theatrical market can ^codaoei no matter what It' his long career of ■'"g'ng romantic rolea has made him romantic or whether he Is naturally oaa M thooa herpes whose mott» Is "all for love." can not be said: but Csil tmu tSMT aC OM Metropolitan Opera Company, has done a mighty unusual thing' for the sake of love and romance—and It's some one's else, not his own. He has almost beggared himself so that his wife may marry another man. He Iws given her his fortune, his home, his Jewels and even his child- ren to take to his rival, although he never has seen the rival and dose net even know who he Is. The tsnor haa told an thU himself, as the visit wfaMi his wife paid him recently. Everybody she cama.,eivar from Germany for money, got a lot back. Bat'Juet what it was all about was a secret. Jom, pressed for his story, handed out for inspection an agreement which he and his wife signed. It made for the wife these provisions: Proceeds of photograph royalties, about $6,000 a year; (16.000 in cash, to be paid at once; S10,000 In cash, to be paid In a month; $1,000 a year to each of the three Jom children; $S,OM Ufa Insurance^ to be kept la Frau Jam's, name: Jewels worth «l0.eoO; hfuse ■ la ' Beil|n worth .Sl,a,O0«: n» obstadsa » ha pjhuad .ta-tlw tniy of Vkan Jam'fe dlvoree: custody or the tero^boya an* glHi an «C tha slagei^ flrlendshlp and good wishes. . Afeaut an Mb tinor TCtalaM af his -worldly possessions, he says, are his dothln* and a beautUUI itag whUh was presented to him by the of ~ of at the ttako that it and then went