The Billboard 1906-04-28: Vol 18 Iss 17 (1906-04-28)

APRIL 28, 1906. The Billboard THE OUTER LOBBY still more unique and equally successful in ippeal to admiration, on account of Its povelty, is the gentlemen's smoking room, purposely bears a strong resemblance to smoking room of an ocean liner. Furshed in black English oak with port holes, skylights, lockers, binnacle, ship's bell and life-boats and all wk, the nautical parapher nalia that can be crowded into such a space, it presente a most pleasing appearance, and with its ecomfortable lounging chairs, is a Mecca not only for the sight-seer but for those who enjoy a qulet smoke amid restful and luxurious surroundings. Both of these rest rooms are open to the inspection of visitors, are ushered by uniformed attendants if they express a desire to avail themselves of this privilege. It is confidently believed by the writer that in respect to these charming rooms as in many other particulars, the Majestic is far in advance of any other theatre yet constructed in the United States. SERVICE AND MILITARY DISCIPLINE That an establishment so large requires not only an extensive of employees and to everyone. But the management has not the usual requirements. Here for the first me in this country at least, a theatre has placed upon a military basis in the matof service. <A skilled military officer rank as captain is in general charge of all the loyees, with order to enforce the strictest iscipline. The door-keepers, ushers, maids, room brigade, scrubwomen and cleaners, conting a force as large as that made use by a big hotel, are instructed and drilled iceasingly, each in the assigned duty. Uni is, personal appearance and conduct form he subject of daily inspection and criticism, and at the frequent fire drilis all the stage and house employees are taught the exact duty to perform in case of an alarm. In ted In this manner to obey orders unhesias if they were soldiers in battle, the Majestic employees are quite as well prepared by an emergency as any set of men could t one of the number fails in po and elaborate but superior attendants must be in point of* fact, Stopped short with ( s obvious ceeeseterge = En” « each is tatingly, be and if liteness or falls short in his duty to patrons of the theatre, it is not for lack of persistent training ‘o the corps of lady's maids, members of hich may be found in all lobbies and waiting . to the number of a dozen or more, the duty is assigned of assisting the lady patrons of the theatre with their wraps, or in other way that ministers to their conve nience and comfort. It is not necessary to search for a lonesome maid in some secluded check room after the usual fashion. They are «most aS Dumerous as the ushers, thus realizthe Intention of the management to carry the matter of perfected service in a theatre to @ point never before attained. From the uniformed carriage man to the smal] buttons one ing who enact the role of pages and make themselves generally useful, this army of servitors and employees is impressed at all times with ‘he one duty of insuring the safety and promoting the comfort of visitors. The slightest infraction of the rules or neglect of duty leads instantly to reprimand or dismissal; and, if this perfected system of management, under military rule, does not lead to the best results ever yet attained in the conduct of a theatre, the opinions of expert observers will go for naught. THE ART GALLERY The chief glory of the Majestic Theatre, snong its nevel and decorative features, is the srt gallery, a designation which is justly appied to the main foyer in which hang twelve jmasterpleces collected with great care by Reinhardt & Co. on a carte blanche order from the management of the Majestic Theatre to secure ® representative collection of modern paintings. Unlike the paintings usually hung in theatres, these are works of art, including a typical Bougureau, a Roybet, a Ridgway Knight, and others of interest alike to the x nnolsseur and the novice who is inflaenced by considerations of beauty and artistic grace. The introduction of such art specimens as GALLERY OF PAINTINGS these In the foyer of a vaudeville theatre is an innovation which demonstrates how rapidly this form of entertainment has apprecited in character and in public esteem. It indicates, as all the belongings of the Majestic Theatre lo, that the management is now quite sure of its public, which comes from classes appre Clative of beauty and = art. On any other theory than this the Majestic Theatre. with its matchless equipment, would managerial error That it is not a : finds proof In the handsome patronage it has enjoyed since the opening on Jan. 1, 1906. The owners of the Majestic Theatre also man the Chicago Opera House, The Haymarket the Olympic, and are allied with many other important interests of a like nature The principal one is the Western V Managers’ Association, of whic ls president, Geo, Castle, secretary treas urer, and John J. Murdock, general manager. The offices of the association occupy the en tire second and third floors of the Majestic Building, and, like the theatre, are modern in every respect as to furnishings and conve niences, having a special Postal telegraph wire and a private telephone exchange with con nections from stage and all offices. The desks, chairs and woodwork are of San Domingo mahongany, the carpets of a special pattern heavy Axminster in a dark red shade with a black Grecian border; these furnishings blend harmoniously with the Nile green tint of the walls and the pale tan of the ceilings The two floors of offices are more elaborate than those of any other theatrical exchange in America. Here the theatres throughout for parks fairs without number. The association offices present, during the day, be a ie nd tin seca and bookings are the and made for ninety-three west and south. and private entertainments a very busy scene with the coming and going of artists, visitors and fellow association mem bers from ut of town whose interests are looked after and conserved in the most thor ough manne The association is to be commended for the great good it has done and is doing for man ager, artist and the public. THE LADIES’ REST ROOM, MA | comedy. try manager actually issued a notice warning his patrons against going to see her. Ellen Tree (Mrs. Charles Kean) was we first to put on Hamlet’s doublet and hose; Mrs, Glover won Edmund Kean’s approval by her playing of the part; and Mme. Sarah Bernhardt, as our readers will remember, gave a pieturesque and clever rendering of Hamlet, ilthough it was not to be compared with many of her brilliant assumptions. Charlotte Crampton was noted for her clever acting of masculine parts, which would have been even more convincing if she had not been such a tiny woman. “There is a woman,’ Macready «nce said, referring to her, ‘“‘who would startle the world if she were but two inches taller."’ She was such a magnificent swordswoman that few men cared to try their skill against her on the stage; and she was undoubtedly a genius in her way, with a courage commensurate with her skill. She was one of finest personators of Richurd Ill. ever seen on the stage; her Shylock was among the most brilliant pieces of actng in her day: and she was almost equally clever as Iago, Romeo and Don Caesar de Bazan; and yet, when Charlotte Crampton challenged criticism with Hamlet. she failed :tgnally as her rival, Charlotte Cushman, had done. Probably the most successful of all lady Hamlets was Anna Dickinson, who made con as number siderable reputation Melnotte. | Hamlet,’’ she said; suecess Yet in my Homlet is eminently Macbeth of women ‘*‘none, I opinion, Claude tried any of ca and have believe, with the character suited for a woman's pabilities. Hamlet was very young—a mere boy, in fact. Besides, a fine actress is likely to bring out the wonderful womandelicacy of Hamlet’s character than a young actor."’ And she supported her by giving an attractive and clever renthe part. -ollege more like very views dering of THE AUTOR’S EMOTIONS was quate “It is superb,”’ Clyde Fitch enjoying a musical he said to one of the JESTIC THEATRE, CHICAGO. A QUINCY PLAYWRIGHT Though world has actresses the parts, and few have many of the cleverest known have essayed male especially the character of Hamlet, been successful. Even Sarah tragic actress of all Hamlet, largely owing ture of her garments, Siddons, probably the greatest time, was a failure as to the non-descript nawhich were neither masculine nor feminine, and which made it almost impossible to forget that her Hamlet was a woman and not a man, says Tit-Bits. Charlotte Cushman was, perhaps, the most brilliant player of male parts of her, or, indeed, of any other, generation; she was equally brilliant and convincing as Romeo, Cardinal Wolsey or Claude MeMotte, but when she made the crucial experiment of playing the Melancholy Dane even she proved unequal to the task. In fact, her Hamlet was so badly re ceived in Dublin that she then and there made up her mind never to play it again. And yet her Remeo was such a triumph of acting that James Sheridan Knowles, the great dramatist and critic, was completely carried away by it. Of ber acting of the passage where Romeo flings himself upon the ground, “taking the measure of an unmade grave,’’ he says: “It was a scene of topmost passion—not simulated passion; no such thing—real, palpably real; the genuine heart storm was in its wildest fitfulness of fury, and I listened and gazed and held my breath, while my bleod ran bot and cold. 1 am sure it must have been the case with everyone in the house, but I was all absorbed In Romeo till a thunder of applause recalled me to myself.”’ And of ber assumption of the difficult part of Claude Melnotte in The Lady of Lyons, Justin McCarthy says: “I have seen Claude Melnotte played by many great actors, from Macready to Irving, but Miss Cushman eclipsed them all. She created for me the only human, the only possible, and. the anly endurable Claude Melnotte I have ever seen.’’ Miss Julia Seaman, a once popular actress, was so severely criticised when she played Hamlet some years ago that she turned on her critics and assailed them in a very vigorous manner; the late Miss Marriott, who had one of the most beautiful voices ever beard on any stage, was more fortunate, although it was one of ber least successful assumptions; and in the ‘50s an American actress, Miss Percy Knowles, made such an unfortunate exhibition of herself as the melancholy one that a coun authors. But that smile, replied: “You are not complimenting me. complimenting the manager. 1 confess I don’t recogniez my own boek at all. Mr. Fitch laughed. “Take that in good part,’’ he said. ‘“‘You are coining money. Then take it as a friend of mine in London did. At a musical comedy, from my seat in the stalls, I noticed a young man !n one of the boxes laughing upreariously. My companion was a critic. I said to him: ‘““*That chap in the box seems to be enjoying himself."’ ‘“*‘He’s the author,’ said my friend. “*Well, then,’ said I, ‘I think he ought to have better taste than to laugh to loud.’ “ ‘Oh,’ said the critic, ‘he is the author, he never heard these jokes before. put in by the comedian.’ "’ THE BURLESQUE SITUATION It is rumored that the two burlesque wheels are endeavoring to patch up their differences and to forget, in a measure, the unpleasantries of the past few seasons in an effort to reduce the business of that branch of amusements to a more economical basis. Proceedings of last year would seemingly forbid any such combination, but the cost of opposition, it is said, has worked wonders toward amelioration, so that neither side is impervious to a _ proposition that might cut a figure in the eliminatfon of the heavy expenses competition has brought about. There was a number of conferences in New York last week between heads of both wheels, and it is intimated that there is a possibility of a working combination being formed. In the larger cities, where both wheels have had terminals the cost of extra billing and extra attractions has eaten considerably into handsome profits. Each strove to outdo its rival, and the cost was great. Now each has considered the matter and is favorable to a combination, but it seems that neither is willing to make the necessary concessions. The outcome will be watched with interest. There is no doubt but what the wheels could enter into a working agreement that would render necessary a vast amount of extra work. Of course, each side remembers the recent disturbances, but should all parties be made to see matters in the more fascinating light of commercial: gain bm — be effected a combination that would greatly benefit all rtiles concerned. “= gentleman, with a sour You are but They were IN THE FOYER SOUTH AFRICAN LETTER Editor The Billboard, — Cincinnati, O. Dear Sir—Thanks for recent copy, ‘tis Al; yea, sumptuous. Having spent much of my time in foreign travel, especially Central Africa, I have not had all the pleasures of home life at all times. 1 see many amusement papers of all sorts, but your journal crowns them all. Am glad to note the photos and write-ups of so many of our most talented entertainers, yet the field is a wide one and not half occupied. Many of our cities are longing for a new tenor, as the former routing of music and plays are in part becoming la monotone. Despite the earnest and highly forts of our best troupes, 1 sincerely believe that a well-trained troupe of my Kongo Cannibals would prove a new feature for our stage. These people inhabit approximately 1,000 square miles in the natural wilds of the upper Congo which is one of the richests parts of the earth. talented ef I have lived and traveled among them for seven years as missionary, navigator, scientist, explorer and geographer, and lost some thirty of my comrades, and as far as I really know since friend Stanley's death I am the only oldtimer of our day that’s on top now. On and along the west coast I find the negro who is very similar to our American negroes. On going inland some three hundred miles farther, I find a very different people known as the Batebra or eel traders. Two to three hundred miles farther we came to another very different and little known people, who are commonly known as the Yansil tribes, and are very numerous, possibly numbering ferty million. They are a peculiar people and are natural entertainers, and by far the most social and best built people of all Africa. Habitually, they are temperate and a kind people, though in some exceptional cases very cannibalistic. Their plays vary very much from those in civilization, but the element or nucleus is there, and strong, too, owing to their swell make-ups and natural talent. But little training would prepare them for the stage. Their plays would necessarily bave to be written to ‘“‘suit the critter’ in part. But they would get there all right. Now, dear Mr. Editor, many of your readers take a six to eight months’ layoff in the summer. While they are busy they make a bit of cash and later they spend it, and it strikes your writer that a company of ten to twenty of your readers might like a trip up the Nile, overland and down the Congo nearly one thousand miles. This would be a glorious trip of some eight months at least, and gives a new lease on life and affords many valuable new ideas. A large lot of curios may be secured and brought home. Tourists may have a picnic and enjoy eating elephant and hippo. the best of all. Each boy or girl should take a gun, for sport is plenty. If such a company can be raised, I would be glad to get in touch with them. CAPT. JOHN H. CAMP, care The Billboard. WOMEN HAMLETS The discussion of Irving’s successful presentment of Hamlet reminds one that the role has been essayed by many clever actresses with results little removed from failure, says the Westminster Gazette. Even the great Siddons’ appearance as the melancholy Dane, though described as a strong and subtle study, was but a qualified success, thanks largely to her nondescript garments, which were neither masculine nor feminine. Charlotte Crampton was magnificent as Richard II. and Shylock, but her Hamlet was quite the least impressive of the “Little Siddons’’ male assumptions. Anna Dickinson, however, who failed as Annie Boleyn, scored a unique triumph as Hamlet, a part which she considered ‘‘eminently suited for a woman's capabilities;’’ and among other women who have played the part with varying degrees of success are Charlotte Cushman—who was so badly received in Dublin that she never repeated the performance—Miss Marriott, Madame Sara Bernhardt and Mrs. Bandmann-Palmer. THE STEEL CURTAIN,