Showman (1937)

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SHOWMAN easily ingratiate himself with audiences. A set-up— but it didn't work. I broke him in for his lecture tour at Middle town, Conn., with the mayor of the city and a brass band meeting him at the station and escorting him to the hall. It has always been my theory— and it had never failed me before— that the combination of a silk hat and a Sousa march will draw a crowd in any city in America for no reason at all. And here I had Hero No. 2 of the biggest story of the year. Yet the inhabitants of Middle town, acting on some mysterious common impulse, snubbed Henson as completely as if his buildup had consisted of merely a sandwich-man. Receipts that afternoon were $13.80. For the evening performance they climbed to $23. Obviously, we needed some big stunt to get Henson out of Peary's shadow and in the limelight on his own. Henson himself supplied that with the big argument he got into with Peary about who had exclusive rights to Henson's pictures of the expedition which we used as stereopticon slides— including the crucial shot of Peary, himself, and the three Eskimos at the Pole. In the process of the argument Henson had a good many pointed things to say about the inner workings of polar expeditions and why Peary had picked him instead of a white man as his companion for the final dash. At the same time he was turning into a fine performer on the platform, really giving his scanty audiences a great show for their money. But the far 251