The billboard (Dec 1911)

16 X ti e Bill board DECEMBER 16, 1911. W. H. DONALDSON, Publisher. ISSUED WEEKLY,. and entered as Second-class Mall Matter at Post-office, Cincinnati, o. Address all communications" for the Editorial or Business Department to THE BILLBOARD PUBLISHING CO., 416 Eim St, Cincinnati, O., U.S. A. Long Distance Telephone, Main 2760. • Cable address (Registered) "Billyboy." NEW YORK. Boom' 5. Holland Building, 1440 Broadway. Telephone 1630 Bryant. CHICAGO. '1203 Schiller Bids., 04 W. Randolph Street. Telephone Central 6934. , ST. LOUIS. . Boom 803, Missouri Trust Building. ; SAN FRANCISCO. .Kohler and Chase Bldg., Room 007, 29 O'Farrell ". Street. . LONDON, ENGLAND. 170 Temple Chambers. B. C. t PARIS, FRANCE. 121 Rue Montmartre. Telephone 222—61. ADVXSaaSSSa BATES—Twsnty cants per line, agate maasanmant. Whols page, $140: aatf page, (70: quarter page, fts. Ho advsr- ttaenant i-nrmr^'r tnan are Unas accepted. . Suhseription, 14.00 a year; 6 months, Xt.OO; 8 months, #1.00; sajabls in advance. sTe extra obarga to Can ad ian or Foreign snb- BUXBOARD la for sale as all trains news-ataads throughout the United States and Canada, which are aapplied the " less Im Co.. and its branches. It U also on , sate at Brentano'a. 87 Atoms da I Opera, Paris. Whan not on sate, please notify this ..... ... order, oz areaiad as mad* payable to Hilling Company. . The editor can sot undertake to Betted, maanoript; correspondents should, keep Saturday, December 16, 1911. Adventures of Pete Conklin are receiving a good salary, I will not pay you any more." '<Very well." I said. "I will do my regular act, but will not play clown." He said, "Yoang man. If you want to stay with this show you-will have to play clown." He thought he had me. because Texas was not the part of country a man would enjoy being left In. I was a youngster, and did not fear taking a chance. I had saved some money and felt rich. I immediately quit the show. My brother tried to persuade ine to stay, but It was useless. I would not'play clown with- out more pay. I , went to a livery stable to hire a rig to drive to Shrevenort, La. I found the owner a gentleman. I told him my reasons for quitting the show. He did not blame me and promised to help me get to Shrevenort. I noticed a small covered spring wagon in the stable. I Instantly thought if I could buy that wagon, I could start an outside candy- stand and remain with the show. He said he would sell the wagon to me cheap, as he had no use for it there. Every one rode on horse back. So be let me have the wagon, two mules and harness for seventy-five ($75.00) dollars, which was.a bargain. I bought the outfit, and after being bitched up they worked all right. After paying for it I . bad enough money left to buy peanuts, a tub and sugar and some tartaric and one lesion. Talk about a friend, that lemon stock to me to the end. • My candy stand being complete. I drove to the next town all o. k. While tsie tents were being put Tip. .1 found a good location and opened, up. I made a ballyhoo and yelled. "Jjemmo. lemmo." When I attracted a crowd I would mount, a box and sing out. "Here Is your ice cold lemonade, made in the shade, by an old maid. Stick you finger in the glass, and it win freeze fast." The lemonade sold so fast I could hardly wait on the crowd. -I had to hire, a .boy to help; This, boy was Abe Henderson, afterwards a circus proprietor.' The name of the circus being Springer, - Hasten •* Henderson's Show. -One day . while a big crowd was scrambling for the liquid supply, I noticed my water sup- ply had, run out.* There were no wells or. springs near. -1 ran Into the big Show tent to get some water, but eotad not find any. In the excitement of the moment 1 entered the dressing room, where Miss Fannie Jemmerson. our bareback equestrian, was ringing out a ing him Instantly. The crowd that stood near said. "Bill died game." One day our elephants got on the wrong road. The-crowd said that If we did not show, the elephants they would kill ns. The show was nearly over when the elephants arrived, and we were very, glad to see them. While we were showing in Navlzeta, Tex., we were struck by a tornado, which blew our canvas to pieces and upset the eases. The elephants stampeded and some animals got dot. One elephant we never found. He wandered to a plantation twenty miles -from the town, where negroes' were working In the field. When they saw the elephant, they were so badly frightened they yelled, "The devil Is comlngl" The overseer kill the elephant. When Mr. Craven, our elephant trainer, arrived our elephant was dead. The overseer did-not know a show had ever been there and thought be had killed a wild animal. We showed two weeks with- out a stop. . t ■ We had a German musician by the name of Michael Dulce.. He lost his clarinet, and he made more fuss about it than the manager did about losing the elephant. "Mien Gott, what will my wife say when she knows I lose my clarinet," he would say. I said, "Tour clarinet is no good; it was yellow and a Jonah and the cause of all oar trouble. It looked as If I spoke the truth. After the the clarinet was gone, we had nice weather and the business was fine. The manager said he would never hire a man again who had a yellow clarinet. The Dutchman did not like me to guy him about the clarinet. I met this German years afterwards In Philadelphia, where I attended the funeral of an old down. Bobby Williams. The German was In the .band that was to "ley at the funeral. After shaking his hand, I said, "Do you remember the days in Texas?" "Dem wass the days for de show blsnes." "When Joe Baker was de boss canvamnan and Frits Hartman was. the leader. Joe Baker croaked dree (3) guys and burled them in the ring." "Dat will do. Dat will do, don't commence your guying here. If Bobby Williams or Christ Is dead, the band won't play a note," said the musician. I stopped kidding "him and the band played. - The Knight of the Cap and BeUs. the. hero of this story always sent the andleace cot In good humor with his odd Jokes and joke od- dities. jMbbbthh origin of the strawberry lemonade /II has long been shrouded Is mystery like ^k^lv some other beginning. in .history.'." Here Is the true story: In 1857 I was traveling with Mable'a Circus and menagerie. T-waj. acrobat and tumbler at that time, and had-.not begun to. aspire for the cap and.bells. Tony Pastor, was the" clown. We were.going Into Texas 3 .whlch was a very wild state at that time. •We were showing in Alexandria." .La., near the border ..of Texas. The audience attending the show In the after- noon .was"'wild and wooly. Tony said, "If" this Is the .beginning of Texas.- I do not want any of it. -JCew York City for me," At the night performance, they were -worse than in the afternoon.' . A gang of desperadoes from' Texas rode Into the canvas and swore they would kill the best looking man in'the ring. The boys did not' make no to look pretty . that night: They pulled their, guns and fired at the lights and put most of them bat: - They gave their Texas yell and said, 'Go on with your d— .. Yankee' show." We went on with the show ..In. dou&le-cjnick time.. -. - : ; After the .show.. Bob "MCCnrmacfc, our boss canvasman. shouted the - battlecty' of "Hey, Hube." Everv man was on hand, with guy stakes and pitch rorks. . We" gave the Texas . wolves a' good beating and run some Into the river.-.We had fifty picked men. Bob Me- . Cormaek. Joe Raker. Dick Baker. Jim Dewane. Charlie Thomson, etc. They-were known as ' -the "fighting brigade." And as fine a lot of men - as ever- ate In a cook tent.-: Things looked too - tough for; Pastor. Hp quit and made a sneak, and went aboard a New Orleans packet enmnta for Sew Orleans, and then to New York City. ^f^WSWwBre fcft ■ wtthont a clown. Oar next stand-was. In Texas. The manager came" to me ' teHgreat distress, telling me Tony Pastor had J umpe d ..the ;show. And a dress' without a : dowjt'vrould he a serious affair any place, es- pecially In Texas. The manager said, "Now, *.«teri'"yoB are-the. only man tbatican help ns oiifc' - . Yoo axe the one to take Tony Pastor's ' place.!*'.' I said. "I have never, played clown, but I am willing to do the best I can to help you oat."-' "Good.** be mid. My first appearance 'aa clown was made In Texas. In a small cross- road town, Klekspoo. I made a hit and saved the rbo'w. Every one In the show con- gratulated me. The manager was delighted. I was glad I pleased aB. t He said. "Yon play down as wen 'as Toar Pastor.*' "I suppose jon want me, to continue." I said. "Why. of course-I teV'y^j&yL-i t'U i &m* clown as wen ss Tony I expect" Ms "solary.**-! '■***• I can't-pay yon; the " salary l paid Pastor." ha Just beginning, and aa yon "You are NEW SAN FRANCISCO OFFICE The new San Franeisco office of The Billboard, in'charge of Mr. John Hahn, is Room No. 907, Kohler & Chase ^Building, 26 O'Farrell Street, ■ NEW PI TTSBURGH OFFICE The new Pittsburgh office of The Billboard, in charge/of Messrs. Robert A. 'Sinclair and Peter J. Dugan, is Room 626 Wabash Building. Bureaus such as are maintained by The Billboard in New York and Chicago, are now established in San Francisco and Pittsburgh, where professional people in all lines of the amuse- ment business will be welcome to visit, to receive their mail, to *vafl themselves of the accommodations for writing letters, arranging , appointments, etc. ' pair of "pink-tights'. The aniline- dye had left the water a deep pink'color. I did not hesitate, but hastened with the tub to the stand, where I threwr 1 In the tartaric, sugar and lemon, and stirred it up, : and - shouted at the top of my lungs: "Strawberry lemonade." My sale was double" that day. and ever since then yon will not find a well-regulated show, without pink lemonade. j ';-> The clowns with that show were knock-about clowns and were good enough for small country towns. --They were now about to show big cities. . -A talking clown was necessary. In those, days, they wanted to bear a clown tell funny jokes,' spout from' Shakespeare,"- and sing a -comic song. One day the manager came to me and asked, bow I was-doing...-1 - said, "Fine." He said. "If you will come back I will pay you the'salary I paid Pastor and also your regular, salary. .-, Pastor , bad been getting $50 a week ' and - r had been receiving $25. so that made my salary $75. The boys In the show were yelling. "Come back. Peter." I said if he wonld boy my outfit, I would go back into the. ring. He wanted to know my price and I told him $200. Hp paid me the $200. and I went back Into the ring with more sal- ary than I at. first' had asked for. Those were exciting days. Mable's Show was the first big show to exhibit In Texas- and we drew big crowds, and they were very unruly. The men all carried* shot guns. We were Informed that If we did not do an that waa presented on- the bin. we wonld be treated to a: done of lead. If yon, are familiar with the promises of circus posters, yon may wonder bow we escaped. - We had many fanny experiences traveling with a. wagon ■ show., over rongh and blind -prairie roads. We had to find our way .by compass. The towns were thirty to forty miles apart. We made them all and gave two shows a day,- rain or shine. . We snowed In a small town. called Llrk- skniot. It was the toughest town In Texas. The nickname of the town' was. Hell's Half Acre, and it was ant table. The busiest man In the town, was the coroner. He worked six days of the week and often'had overwork for While we were showing there three killed. , One man was killed in the re we were stopping. Oae called the other a coward. "Bill, yon are a coward!'! he said. "I am no coward." he replied. Ti» other said. "If yon are ,not a .coward show your . body?" ,- "He- opened his ehlrt. expos- ing his breast, saying, "Here Is. my body, as big a mark as yon ever fired at" He .pulled his gun, shooting him through the. breast, ktn- Readers' Column Any one knowing the. whereabouts of Marie Honey, last heard of "with, Scblldero A Norton's Shows, please communicate with Ed. C, Brown Box 394, RIchmod, ,Mo. ■ t ■ • Earl Williams—Tour address wanted at once by Wm. Johnson. Winchester, Ky. > ♦ v. .'-...- Any one knowing the whereabouts of' Guy Duncan, the Hypnotist, will confer a favor on both Mr. Duncan and tbe undersigned by send- ing his address to Al Vonarx, Monmouth, 111. ♦'•■•■ Anyone knowing the present address of Mme. La Belle Domino, the Palmist, who until a few months sgo was working the Pennsylvania Cir- cuit of fairs, and who at i»—>*eut, according to latest reports. Is' somewhere 0D the' Pacific Coast,. her Oriental Camp being under tbe per- sonal management of Harry O. Williams, the well known talker, will confer a favor upon a. c. Lyndon. Generol jiellTery.' Philadelphia, Pa., by notifying him of her address. _—••' .. _Sharon, Pa. r Nov. 24. Billboard Publishing Co.. Cincinnati, O,: Dear Sirs—I beg to call your attention to a circular letter which Is being sent out by an agent misrepresenting himself as hooking agent for The Chicago Stock Co. We have no connec- tion with Mm In any way. Nor has the com. nany sny open time. I know" you are against this despicable kind of stealing, -for as the Immortal herd said, "ne who steals my purse steals trash, but he who steals my good name," etc. ■ Thanking yon In advance for any publicity yon will give this misrepresentation. I am * Your s tr uly, OHAS. H. BeSSKAM. Perns Alderman la In the University Hospital. Charlottesville. Vs., baring undergone a very serious operation, lira. Alderman la also In Charlottesville awaiting his recovery.. Mrs. Al- derman Is also in Charlottesville -awaiting his recovery. They would he glad to hear frem an. friends who would care to write. ♦ Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Bob L> Burno, last heard of with Tubby Snyder* Cosmopolitan Snows No. 2. please communicate with Mrs. B. C, Burns, 4614 Josephine St Denver, Colo. • ■ 1 * A letter received from Mamie Texana states that she Is endeavoring to secure a divorce from: her husband, ;Lou(s Young. Miss Texana alleges cruelty.- and states that there are many persons In the profession who have witnessed her husband's mistreatment of her. She ask, that anyone who believes she Is Justified In seek- ing a - divorce to write to her lawyer, Q p Llnvllle, Room 202 National Bank Bldg.. Cedar Baplds. Ia., . . A Reader—The John H. Sparks Show will winter at Salisbury. N. 0. Anyone knowing the present address of Harry Kearly er Lawrence Gillette, last season with Miss Nobody from Stsrland. kindly communicate with Mr. W. Smith. 104 College Ave.. Columbia Mo. ■" * Anyone knowing the present whereabouts of Dr. A. B. Osborn kindly communicate with Mies Kate Arties. Helena, Ark. 05 * . The Honolulu Amusement Co.. Orimemn Theatre, Honolulu. H. T.. wonld like to know the present address of Miss Gladys Dorla. Any Information concerning her will be very much appreciated. <$» Question: Where was Delia May Pox born?— A Header. r A !* w i r: 1,6,18 F <« was bora In St Louis. October IS, 1872. She mude her first appearance on the stage at tbe age of seven as the Midshipmite in a children's company of Pinafore. She Is stni llvlns. <■> A. letter addressed to The Billboard, written by a performer with the Bobby Fountain Show, alleges that Bobby Fountain Piper or Clinton, Mo„ left thirty performers and musicians stranded, and that they only secured a tern- Porary relief by giving a night's performance and dividing the receipts. The letter also aV leges that the management owes large sums to performers fox salaries. J. Bentley Hendershot please send your ad- dress to K. King. 1611 Latrobe St.. Parker*. burg, w. Ta. »m. Mlneola, Tex., Dec. 1, 1811. Editor The Billboard:— As I am a constant reader of The Billboard. I saw In this week's paper where the man- agers of the Grand Western Amusement Co. state that Little George, the Iowa Midget, joined at Wynne wood, Okla.. and was clssed after the first night's performance. I wish to state that such la not true. I lumped from Des Moines, la., to Wynnewood, and they started to say that I would have to do so and so. and as there was a lot of agitation and grief around there. I closed myself after tbe fourth night's performance and Jumped to Mc- Klnney. Tex., and Joined H. W. Campbell's United Shows. I hope that the parties who represent themselves as. managers of the Grand Western Amusement Oo. will be benefited In same way by their misleading statements. If you have the space, would like for the truth to be known to my friends.. LITTLE GEORGE. THE IOWA MIDGET NOT TH I8 W ILLIAMS. New York, Nor. 24. Mil. Editor The Billboard: I have received so many copies of tbe appeal of Miss Myrtle Van Kenren to Carl Williams to return to his wife and child, recently published In The Billboard, that I am moved to ask that yon explain that the Carl Williams men- tioned Is not the Carl Williams, now leader at Miner's Bowery Theatre. New York. Sines the season of 1800-1001 until Its change to a Jewish theatre, three years ago, I was leader at . the. London Theatre, coming down to the Miner house, where I have been for the past three seasons.' Although tbe letter published distinctly states that the Carl Williams sought Is Identified .with western organizations, there are many who appear to believe that I am the person mentioned, though my family baa al- ways been In New York with me. I win greatly appreciate tbe coorteey of tbls explanation. Very truly. CARL WILLIAMS. MANAGER S OLICIT S OPINIONS. ..„ _ „ mv Sullivan, III,, Not. 23, 1811. Editor The Billboard, Cincinnati, O.: Dear Sir—The writer has ' been a steady reader of yonr Interesting paper for thejMist five years, having hardly missed a week. Have gained much valuable Information and pleaanre reading Its pages. I note you publish all sorts of Inquiries, appeals; etc. Wc have a nrope- sltlon—a problem on whleh we would like the unbiased professional opinion of experienced road show managers as may care to respond. II. 5 "'J Q . r '.vv* •**• at to Publish anything of this kind. It may prove -interesting reading to other show managers' and readers. We were booked to play a theatre three nights on TO and 30 per cent basis, we to fnml«h «n the advertising and all the vaudeville enter, tnin.nent given; The local theatre- manage- ment to furnish the house complete and mo- tion pictures. ■ . We were on hand early and did some extra advertising. D'nrlng the day It developed the engine producing eleetrlclty wan dlvabled. the management procured lanterns and sold tickets. We packed the honse In the hope that " the electric light would come on as promised. Wo bad possession of all ticket* taken In at the door.. Of course, the light failed to light. The house management being partners debated whether to refund tickets or cash, and 'finally concluded to let tbe patron's take tbelr choice and some took return tickets for next night others got cash; we got nothing. We .want to .know from a show manager's standpoint should-we have Insisted on-payment of our share of tickets sold and refunding patrons tickets only for next night, 'lours truly. '-. B. F. PALMER. P. S.—If yon see fit to publish this,' no doobt several experienced show managers will re- spond: with their opinion. I shall be glad to read them In your paper and shall watch for them anxiously. . • E. F. P.