Variety (Dec 1905)

VARIETY. " SklQle." the younoest Critic in the World, Expresses His Opinion of the Bill at . flurtlQ & Seamon's. Likes Everything but the OiiiQer Ale. ("Skigie" Is a boy, seven years old. Hav- ing been a constant attendant at vaudeville theatres since the age of three, he has a decided opinion. "Skigie's" views are not printed to be taken seriously, but rather to enable the artist to determine the impres- sion he or his work leaves on the Infantile mind. What "Stogie" says is taken down verbatim, without the change of- a word or syllable.) "They had a dan- dy moving picture there. ('The Train Wreckers'; Hurtig & Seamon's, Sunday afternoon, December 11.) They put logs on the track and the girl took off a red dress and kept wav- ing it until the train stopped and then all the people got off and shook her hand and then the train goes on and then the train robbers get sore and put the girl on the track and then go away on a hand-car and then the girl is picked up by the fireman, I guess, and then the engine starts after the robbers. They catch up and shoot them and all get killed. It was a peach pic- ture all right but it always takes so long before the moving pictures come. "The first act was all right. (The Maxsmith Duo.) Two fellows stand on ladders without holding and tries to light a cigar. They try to get together and then cakewalk and then he takes off everything from the ladder except a stick and dances 'Yankee Doodle.' It vas all right. "I liked the last act. (Harper, Des- mond and Bailey.) Two girls and a colored man. One is white (mulatto). They danced and sang but I forget the songs they sang. "The two children were all right. (The Two Pucks.) They came out in Scotch dresses and sang and danced. That's all I liked in the show. "1 liked that fellow that talked about the Rough Riders and his horses. (Pete Baker.) I can't tell what he said, J forget and that's all I liked in the show. And I liked that other sketch of the Brooklyn Bridge. (Charles Sabine and company.) It's a good sketch. Three boys and a girl and a man. They bide behind barrels and then they hit the man in the eye. You see the houses on the other side In Brooklyn and there's a moon. Tommy has no home so they sleep on barrels. "That other sketch was fair. (Billee Taylor, 'Wanted: A Stenographer.') One of the girls had a wig with blond hair and the fellow gets a watch with dyn- amite in it and tells the girl to run be- cause when it is eleven o'clock the old man is going to get it. That's ail I liked. "Those musicians were good. (Water- bury Brothers and Tenney.) He comes in on a trunk with a sail on and takes two bottles for a looking glass (binocu- lars) and then he takes a sprinkler and then a blower and then he blows the j trunk away. That colored fellow puts 12 up so high the short man can't reach it and then he says 'I win' because he can reach a higher note on his trom- bone than the other fellow can. "That crazy sketch was all right but the girl hollered so loud. (Atlanta Spencer and company, 'Mr. and Mrs. Nagg.') I liked the whole show. "I had some ginger ale during inter- mission and it was rotten." If you don't like something and want to tell about, it, send it here if you think it will interest others. Variety does not assume paternity for any opinions ex- pressed in this column. Items will be printed (if not libelous) whetheY we agree with the statements or not. It is desired to make this tLe artists' forum. IN THE OLDE.N DAYS Reminiscences of the Early Days ot Variety by the Veteran Manaer and Professor, NiGk, Norton. NUMBER ONE. NOTE.—There is probably no one now engaged in the vaudeville with the ex- ception of Tony Pastor, who possesses as wide a knowledge of the variety business than Nick Norton, who gave up profes- sional work to associate himself with the managerial end and who for several years has been a valued member of the Hyde & Behman forces. Mr. Norton has kind- ly consented to give some of his recollec- tions for the benefit of Variety. The series will be continued in subsequent issues. A picture of Mr. Norton appears in the upper left hand corner of the title page. Sir.—Permit me in congratulating you upon the idea of Variety, and while wishing you the greatest of success, to use your journal for advancing a propo- sition to the variety actors of America. Briefly it is that we organize ourselves into an order similar to the Internation- al Actors' Association of Europe, a body that has done more than anything else to give us a reputable standing in so- ciety and mutual protection for the good performer and the good manager. In short it ensures what President Roose- velt terms "a square deal." This society shall admit only per- formers of recognized merit and good character. There shall be regular as- sessments and initiation fee to insure a fund, and the best qualified members shall be elected to the executive offices. Its operation would be manifold. For instance, if a performer has grievance against a manager, or vice versa, the matter is brought before the executive board. If they cannot bring about an agreement, it shall then go to a com- mittee of members and managers, equal in number, whose decision shall be final. You can see, I hope, how this method would settle many cases amicably that, if brought to court, would cost greatly and arouse animosities that might never be overcome. Furthermore, with a benefit fund, per- formers could be aided at times when a little help means a great deal. Surviv- ors of deceased performers could be as- sisted—indeed, there is no end to the efficacy of such an order. With its benefits the order must also have a penalizing plan to expel or pun- ish members who violate contracts or otherwise act in a manner unbecoming to a society of ladies and gentlemen. These ideas are not experimental. They have been developed In the European society and the same can be done here. Yours truly, WILLY ZIMMERMANN. Editor Variety. Sir—Why is it that the managers al- ways howl for new acts and new faces and novelty, when it is right at hand if they would take the time to investigate? After being away from New York a year it would seem likely that upon return- ing with an entire change of act the manager would at least give considera tlon instead of that old gag. Why Is it? Do you know? J. ROYER WEST. ««1 *I guess all of us boys were attracted to the theatre," said Mr. Norton in his office in Hyde & Behman's Adams Street Theatre in Brooklyn the other afternoon. "I was intended for a printer and had been apprenticed to the De- troit Tribune. That was in 1859, and among the other 'devils' were three of the MacConnell boys, including Will MacConnell, who died the other day, Charles and Joseph. Joe died shortly after the war from a disease contracted in the army, but Charles is still alive and in the drug business. He was with Haverly in the days of the latter's start- ling success, but is practically out of theatricals.now. "As there were but four matinees a year In those days, Christmas, New Years, the Fourth of July and Thanks- giving, it was easy enough to fill a job in the theatre as assistant flyman, and after a day in the office I would go over to the Metropolitan Theatre and put in an evening pulling on the ropes. "It was not a variety house but a stock, playing all of the stock stars who traveled about the country. After a while I got so that they would let me come downstairs and fill out in the farces used as afterpieces, and it was a natural result that I decided to become a specialist. "The banjo was my first love, and for six months I strummed away under a local teacher. Then I decided that sing- ing should be added to my accomplish- ments, and for three years my teacher labored with me. At the end of that time he gave up in disgust and advised me to try something in which I should not be called upon to sing. "The first thing I saw was a trapeze act, and I decided that Fate had placed me on earth to become a trapeze per- former, largely because a trapeze per- former is not called upon to sing. I rigged up the swings in the flies over the paint frame and put in every minute I could on the bars. I was getting so that I could make Jthe leaps very well when one morning I slipped and landed on the paint table. "I landed on top of the sheet iron stove in the centre of the table used to keep the glue liquid. There was no fire in the stove, but the impact was suf- ficient to smash it and to add to my dis- comfiture I overturned the huge pans of paint. When I struggled to my feet Joseph's coat of many colors was a som- bre hued garment in comparison. I slipped out of the theatre unperceived and so escaped the scene painter's wrath, but that ended my aspiration to- ward aerial flights. "Then came Silas D. Baldwin, who in the summer traveled with Robinson & Lake's Circus (the original of the fa- mous John Robinson show) and from the wings I watched his juggling. "That is what I want, I told myself. I do not have to sing and I stay on the floor. "I began to practice, and from Henri Augoust (father of the famous Augoust family) I learned other tricks. The fore- man of the printing office objected to my practicing with types and other fur- nishings of the shop, and before my time was out he informed me that he thought I never would make a good printer and that he had his doubts about the juggling, but thought I had better take chances with the latter. "My chance came in '63 at a benefit to Tom Vance, a popular comedian, and brought a traveling engagement A theatrical man by the name of McMurty came along with a band of Indians for the old Barnum Museum. He was ahead of his engagement and he and the pro- prietor of the theatre formed che scheme of taking the troupe through Michigan playing the fairs. "In addition to McMurty and his In- dians there was a man to act as door- keeper and myself. We played in a tent through the day and in the evening at whatever corresponded to the town hall. "The programme was a lengthy one, being opened by the Indians in a war dance. My juggling was the second number, and for the third feature there was another dance. I came on after this in light and heavy balancing, and after that there was a third dance. "This gave me time to change to a Dutch costume, and in spite of what my teacher had told me I came out and sang 'Fighting Mit Siegel,' then a popu- lar comic war song. A dance followed this, and then I came on in cork and sang. There was more dancing and I came on to do the 'Essence.' "During the next dance McMurty (who sold tickets) relieved the door- keeper, who blacked up and went on with me in a banjo specialty, and after another dance by the Indians, we two did an afterpiece, 'Stocks Up and Stocks Down,' which is still in use; being the one in which a chair turned down af- fords a safe or risky support, according to which end you sit upon. "The tour of the troupe came to an abrupt close at Pontiac, Mich. The day performance had been concluded, and the tent was already at the railroad sta- tion. The Indians were to give a per- formance in the evening, however, in the Opera House. "After supper, the Indians secured a supply of liquor somewhere, and, pos- sibly with a view to preventing the per- formance, threw the benches out of the Opera House and wrecked the stage. "I carried my box of traps down to the train, checked that and the canvas to Detroit, and so ended my first theatri- cal tour. "For tins I drew $15 a week and my board, and that was not such a small salary for those days at that. I remem- ber paying John T. Kelly $35, in a later day, though I paid him $600 lately. (To be Continued.