The New York Clipper (February 1912)

Februaky 17 ':■ - ■'• ' I THE NEW YORK CLIPPEE. 15 ■■ ■■■' •- & Vice-President General Manager Treasurer and Secretary O. \Afll-l_IAIVIS Business Manager ■J 1493-1505 Broadway UILDIIMG - New York City (ESS) UViLl OFFICES of AMERICA O V BOOKING VAUDEVILLE FOR THE Principal Vaudeville Theatres, Parks Fairs, Clubs, Etc. NORTH, SOUTH, EAST and WEST In All Territory East of Cincinnati a time I wrote a burlesque for production In black (ace, my topic being national la theme, the Credit MoWIler scandal, which destroyed the aspirations of James O. Blaine (or toe presidency. It was a magnificent ♦tample of literary ability, this burlesque of mine full of action, witticisms, topical bits and bongs, and loaded with sarcastic "Jabs'* at politics and politicians. I sent the manu- script to Charley Backus, who read it, sub- mitted It to Birch, Wambold and Bernard, and then returned it to me with but a single word of comment—Tank." "Did I toss the dainty thins Into the fire?" "No, sir. • ■Did I rip it tip 7' "No. fir.* "Did I store It away for future ages le enjoy T "Ncin, Mein Herr." I mailed It to my friend. Pony Moore, In London, who, by return mall, thanked me rery much and assured me he would give It consideration. About fifteen years later, while Pony and myself were enjoying a pleasant hour st Gaul's, I happened to remark : "Bay, Pony, do you remember that fine burlesque I tent you, and which you said you would con- •Iderr "Of course I do, and rery well Indeed," be replied. "Well, what became of ltr "I'm considering It yet." The wall of my library holds a large and handsome crayon portrait of myself, made when I was a "corking" good looking young fellow, and every time I see it I am re- minded of an incident which occurred In St. Louis. On the day the Mastodons opened at the Olympic theatre, photographs of the company fn a group and myself alone were made by Fox, a well known photographer of that city. Seven months later, when we again ap- peared In St. Louis, I was lelsur'Iy strolling along Fourth Street when my eye caught sight of a greatly enlarged crayon portrait of myself In the window of Fox. It was su- perb!/ made, and I stepped Inside and In- quired the price. A beautiful little girl, some ten or twelve years of age, said she thought It wns not for sale, as her papa had taken groat cnio In making it, but sue would In- ?ulre, and went upstairs for this purpose. seized the advantage of ths moment, lifted the picture from tli; window and carried it outside. Just as I stepped Into the place the child came down stairs and sa'd em- phatically that It was not for asle at any price. I bid her good-bye, had the picture cnrefully boxed and shipped to roy home. That ]:lght Mr. Fox came to tbn theatre In a towering rage, accused me of stealing the picture, threatening everything he could de- vise from a "punch In the Jaw" to Imprison- ment for life. In all my experience I have never seen a man so thoroughly angry, to ferociously threatening, and yet, la half an hour the matter was amicably settled by paying him fifty dollars, while the beautlul 'Ittle girl mentioned Is now known as Delia Fox. About the best "send off" that ever deco- rated my manly form emanated from this same good old St. Louis, and occurred while I was manager of Haverly's Mastodon Min- strels. A coterie of friends were assembled In the smoking room of the Planters Hotel when a letter was brought to me, and at once recognizing the writing of the address, and oblivious to my surroundings, I kissed the envelope. Just then a dozen hoots and guffaws broke out, and Charley 8pauldlnc said: "Now, look here. Kit, thst won't do. Too spooney for anything. Confess now, your wife didn't write that letter?" "No, she didn't," I replied. "It't from my best girl." We all sat down and chatted a bit when Tat Short said: "It's no use, Kit, you've got to read that letter to us. We want to know all about her." _:. "So yon shall," I answered. "There It is," and I gave the precious missive to Spaulding to read. "I guess not," «ald Spaulding. "We like to chaff a little, but I hope we are gentle- men. The young lady would hardly care to have her letter read by this crowd." "But I Insist upon It." I declared. "There's nothing to be ashamed of, barring the spell- ing, that is a trifle ahaky, I admit Bead it Charley." Thus urged, Spaulding opened the letter and read It. There wore only a few words. First he laughed, then swallowed suspiciously, and as he finished, threw it upon the table and rubbed the back of his hand across his eyes as If troubled with dimness of vision. "Pshaw 1" he exclaimed, "if I had a love letter like that—" and then he waa B'lent. ■Wc ploy," cried one of tho party. •TH read-It to you, boys," snld Spauld- ing. "and I tuiuk you 11 agree with me that It is a model love letter." Ani this Is whi; he read: "Ml OiVRN deer Ta-Pa—I say ml pralrt every nlto and WEN 1 kiss ynre pikshure 1 ask god to bless you. good bl Pa-Pa youre best girl, Elma." _ "Among those preeent" was Tom Garrett, dramatic critic of The Republican, who deco- rated this Incident with laces, frills and Jewels of language until it filled a column, and it promptly went tho rounds of the American press, headed "Kit Clark's Best Girl," while Instantaneous and universal fame became mice. CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO LOS ANGELES The Peer of Independents THE BERT LEVEY CIRCUIT The Largest Chain of Popular Priced Houses in the West HOME OFFICE: NEW ALCAZAR THEATRE BLDG., W.™. Street, s.ar Pow.U SAN FRANCISCO DENVER NEW YORK It was an affecting Incident, to be sure, but was marred by a trifling error because at that time I had no daughter named Elma; In fact, had do daughter of any name, was not married, and of course received no such letter, while Spaulding and Short were not In the party, and. as a climax, no such party had ever assembled. Garrett had Invented the entire outfit, but It waa a fine legend, anyway, went on Its Journey Just the same, and I saw It In scores of newspapers. The entire existence of the circus agent in those days might be correctly described In a single word, hustle, and don't stop for a minute, and If any competition shows up go at It with big guns. Yellow quarter-sheets in vaat quantities flooded the land, and the grade and quantity of general and personal abuse those contained were Invariably red hot and always slatting. I still preserve two examples of such that are, perhaps, the moat disreputable specimens of printed and openly circulated personal villlflcation, scandalous abuse and shameful adjectives that have ever been distributed, and they were written by W. W. Durand and Andrew Halght, both past masters of the art. In an effort to "down" our show. I went after these gentlemen, and when I got through, they and their ahow were wrecked, and the two were in Jail at Rock Island, 111., where, after allowing them a few days to cool off, they were released and advised to "go and sin no more." But the admonition was a failure, for not long afterwards they, with George W. De Haven, organized a "fly-by-night" affair, called the "Great Eastern," etc., etc., a very Inferior little show with a huge and im- pressive title, and meeting the Forepaugh Show, In Indiana, they again began a cam- paign of dirty yellow literature. Once more Instructions came to me to chaso them and never let up. I did so, and followed them for weeks until they were swamped at Ogdensburg, N. Y., and skipped Into Canada, where they were execution proof. And yet, tho crowd, outside of them villainous methods, were a mlghtv fine lot of men. but thev cnt out an Immense amount of hard work tor the opposition agent, and Just made him "bump" every minute, day t'nd nlsht. I was agent for the Forepaugh Show until the Autumn of 1870, when I made a verbal agreement with W. C. Coup to go in advance of the newly organized Barnum Show on Its Inaugural tour In 1871. In November of that year, at the printing office of (Marry A Rellly, No. 10 Spruce Street, New York, I met John O'Brien, a circus owner from Phila- delphia, and during a quiet conversation I made an Insignificant remark that reflected upon the illiteracy of Mr. Forepaugh. O'Brien returned to Philadelphia, met Forepaugh, magnified my remarks to such an extent that Adam sat down and wrote me a letter, which, for villainous abuse, I have never seen equaled. I still preserve this wonderful literary ef- fort, and rofer to It occasionally when I re- ?ulre a stimulant, since a reading does me ar more good than half a dozen hot "sodas." Eliminating a splendid array of cuss words and vile phrases, tho letter reads something like this: "You confounded, low-lived, rotten, lying cur, I hear you are going 'round New York talking scandalous about me. Now, you dirty, lying whelp, If I over bear of such a thing again, you petty loafer, I will come over there and club the dirty life out of you. (Signed) Adam Forepaugh. "P. S.—If you want a situation I w'll give you $125 a week and your expenses tho year round." This offer was accepted by telegraph, as it was more salary than I had ever been paid before, and I remained with Adam Forepaugh seven years longer. In 1884 Haverly's Mastodon Mlnatrols re- turned from England to the happy land of Klaw and Shubcrt, and aboard the ship, be- tween stacks of chips, nausea and deck- chairs, I maintained a series of continuous thinking matinees, and after much mental argument reached the decision that it was about time, after twenty-live years of ma- rauding, to bring my criminal career to an harmonious conclusion. This determination induced me to select a nice girl and morry her, and then settle down In the peaceful Janes of commerce. To give up the active and nervous career of the wandering showman for tho enter., grinding derails of a commercial career was a more difficult task than I had eoncpived, but I always had a mania for "sticking," end eventually became acquainted with "time" and "terms," Bradstrct and I>un, end above all, Hie certain reward of care- fully ncgotinted discounts, short margins end speedy return* Since then I have been happily Interested In the career of an assortment of "kids," ajid once In- a While lay bock In my easy chair and ruminate over the paat and In- variably conclude that If I could again live through the former years I would certainly choose the same career. They were good years to me, filled with happiness, romunce, pleasure, friends, good health and hard work, and tbxso ore the greatest blessings that can came to a human being. PERCY 6. WILLIAMS' GREATER NEW TORE CIRCUIT COLONIAL OBPHETJM CRESCENT GREENPOINT GOTHAM - ALHAMBBA BRONX ' - BTJSHWICK Broadway, at 82d St. Brooklyn Brooklyn Brooklyn East New York - Harlem 149th St., N. Y. Brooklyn, E. D. CLEAN SHOWS IN CLEAN HOUSES EdwardS.Keller PUTNAM BL.DC., 1493 B'WAY Representing Vaudeville's Representatives Also TME WARBURTON, YOIMKERS Vaudeville's Show Room Do You Need Costumes? Let us send you our Illustrated Catalogue No. 14 of New and Second Hand Costumes Scenic and Costume Company DETROIT, LVnOM.