Variety (Dec 1905)

VARIETY. ii IN THE OLD&N DAYS Reminiscences of the Early Dans ot Varieiy by the Veteran Manaer and Performer, Nick, Norton. NOTE.—There Is probably no one now engaged In Che vaudeville with the ex- ception of Tony Pastor, who posHesses as wide a knowledge of the variety business as 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. NUMBER THREE. My first stage managing experience came after the Toledo engagement, when Ous Lee and myself went to Cleve- land to join the forces of A. Montpelier, who had come up from Cincinnati to open Kelly's Hall as a variety house, changing the name to the Athenaeum. Of course the dignified position of stage manager called for a larger salary and they raised me to $20 weekly. For that I was expected to lay out the show, engage the acts and stage maange the afterpieces. It was hard work; twice as hard as merely doing a special- ty, but the five dollars paid me for it, and more, and for four months I enjoyed my authority and dignity when I lost the job through a most curious circum- stance. Cleveland was at that time the great oil centre. John D. Rockefeller was there at that time laying the foundation lor the Standard Oil Company. Natur- ally all the oil people turned to Cleve- land, and among them was John Steele, better known as "Coal Oil Johnny." Steele was at that time in the height of his spectacular career. The discov- ery of oil in Pennsylvania had raised him suddenly from poverty to affluence and, like all newly rich, he was a spend- thrift. He maintained apartments in the Weddel House in Cleveland the same as he did in other cities, taking them by the year, but he spent a great deal of his time in Cleveland and he liked to mix with the actors. He was always a welcome guest behind the scenes and right royally did he pay for the privi- lege. He was an amateur minstrel himself and it was his delight to load the entire company on four-horse sleighs after a performance and drive into the country to Rocky River, where at the road house there he would set forth an elaborate dinner with anything we wanted to drink. Out and back we would stop at every road house, giving an impromptu minstrel first part, in which he would participate, and the tip was invariably twenty dollars to the proprietor in ad- dition to his bill. These little jaunts would last well on into the next day, but we were always home in time for the following even- ing's performance. On one of these jaunts we got back just in time to dress and ring up the curtain. Steele and his chum, Slocum, came along with us and during the evening they bought cham- pagne by the basket. By eleven o'clock we all were mellow, and as Steele kept urging me to ring down that we might take to the sleighs again, I gave the signal for the "Grand Walk Around," which always closed the show, an hour earlier than usual. The next morning there was a little chat with Mr. Montpelier notable prin-. cipally for its brevity and eloquence of expression, and my relations with the Athenaeum terminated at the expira- tion of my week's notice. Montpelier explained that it was mere- ly a matter of discipline and that he did not altogether blame me, and later on I played for several years under Els management and the incident was re- called as a joke. From Cleveland I went to Buffalo, where I got a chance at Carr's Melode- on. There I met Billy Emmett and after a time we doubled up. We were un- doubtedly the first Dutch rough wooden shoe song and dance team. Emmett being thin and lank, did the girl to my fat Dutchman; a combination afterward followed with such great success by Pete Baker and Tommy Farron. The East had always been the Prom- ised Land, and I made for Philadelphia, concluding that the time was ripe for an invasion. I had expected to find work at Robert Fox's, but to my dismay Martini Chiriski, a noted juggler and wire walker, was filling an engagement there. There was no chance for me, so I took an engagement at J. C. ("Fatty") Stewart's Apollo Hall, a Vine street basement place where the ceiling was so low it was impossible to work on the stage and even from the floor It was hard to find room for my juggling. My salary was small because Stewart knew that I was stuck, but I did not get even that, for Stewart was an in- veterate faro player and as soon as the receipts were in he would streak off to a gambling room and lose the entire amount in the hopeless endeavor to gain back what he had already lost. The result was that the ghost was perma- nently disabled and when at last an opportunity came to go to Baltimore for an engagement at Bob Gardner's Melo- deon. I could not raise the fare. The late "Billy" Barry was then a youngster in the company, and it was to his inventive mind I owed my escape. Our credit was good at the bar and at Barry's suggestion I drew against the bar to the extent of my salary in bar checks and sold these to the waiters at a discount. In this way I got enough for my fare and got out of town, leaving all of my personal effects except the suit I was wearing at the boarding house in lieu of my board money. The Baltimore en- gagement was a good one and in a cou- ple of weeks my effects were redeemed and my chances began to look more rosy. Later on business dropped, and when, on April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth as- sassinated the President, all theatres were closed with no prospect of an early reopening and the management made ihis the excuse for welching on several weeks of arrears of salary. I was broke again and without a sin- gle place of amusement in the entire country doing business. Theatres then were not the important ventures they are to-day. A store with a stage at one end and ordinary kitchen chairs strapped to wooden bars consti- tuted the equipment of many of the places, and I have known a place to be opened within forty-eight hours after some one had decided upon such a ven- ture. If the place failed to pay there was small loss, and since there were no heavy investment charges the managers were not so anxious to keep the place open as they are now. There were from four to eight of these places in every town in addition to the standard place. I recall only eighteen important places open in the season of 1864-65, to wit: Howard Athenaeum Boston, Muss. Bob Butler's Theatre Comlque, 444 Broadway, New York City. Robert Fox'* Casino, Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. Bob Gardner's Melodeon, Baltimore Street, Baltimore, Md. George Lea's Canterbury... .Washington, D. C. Ben Trimble's Varieties Pittsburgh, Pa. Tom Chrr's Melodeon, Main St., Buffalo, N. Y Montpelier's Athenaeum, Superior Street, Cleveland, Ohio. Theatre Comlque (Chas. M. Welch), Detroit, Mich. Charles Chadwick's Varieties, Dearborn Street, Chicago, 111. George Deagle's Varieties St. Louis, Mo. Green Street Varieties (Oapt. John Smith), Albany, N. Y. Pa lure Varieties Cincinnati, Ohio. Haverly's Theatre (J. H. Haverly), Toledo, Ohio. Spaulding and Bidwell'e St. Charles Theatre, New Orleans, Li. Bloom's Varieties (John Bloom), Memphis. Tenn. Tom Poland s Varieties Nat-hvllle, Tenn. Bella Union San F. anclsro, Cal. The list is unimportant as compared with the formidable array of houses to- day, but these were the schools wherein many of the important legitimate actors of to-day and practically every comic opera comedian of importance was trained to his work. Men like Eddie Poy, Ned Harrigan, Francis Wilson, James T. Powers. Peter Dailey and hundreds of others were grounded in these variety houses, and they do credit to their instructors. (To be concluded.) AMATEUR NIGHTS. Keeney's Theatre in Brooklyn install- ed for the first time last Thursday an "amateur night" with prizes amounting to $20 offered as an inducement for the budding genius to compete. Most of the burlesque houses around town have one night a week set apart for the edification and amusement of the audience, particularly the gallery, with the antics of the new beginners, but this is the first time a vaudeville house in New York has attempted it as a feature. It is always the most amus- ing part of the evening's entertainment. COLE AND JOHN30N AMONG THE LADIE8. A march by Cole and Johnson ap- pears in the January number of the Ladies' Home Journal. WAS THERE? Adele Ritchie denies that she has had trouble with William Lykens over the matter of commissions. In her earlier engagements Miss Ritchie paid ten per cent, to Lykens on all engagements, but finding that there was a demand for her act and that she could book direct with the agents who booked for the manag- ers, she dropped Lykens and did most of her business with Morris. She denies that Lykens is after special commis- sions, but it is said that the agent is painting his face in streaks of red and yellow and will soon begin to make war medicine, .alleging a contract for ex- clusive booking. THEY DIDN'T EAT. Truly Shattuck and the "City Girls'* from the "Prince of Pilsen" now play- ing in vaudeville arranged to have their Christmas dinner last Sunday evening after the performance. Invitations were recklessly mailed, and as the girls' din- ner was to have been by subscription from the young ladies themselves, the "invites" caused many hearts to beat high. The girls changed their minds at the last moment but did not recall the invitations, causing those who had in- vented an excuse at home to escape the Sunday meal to wander forth at mid- night for something substantial. EMMA FRANCIS GETS GERMANY. Emma Francis has been booked by M. S. Bentham through Charles Born- haupt for the Wintergarten in Berlin at 5,000 marks a month. From that city she will journey over the Continent. CIRCLE CONCERT8. Commencing to-morrow Percy G. Will- iams will offer Sunday concerts at the Circle Theatre. They will have no con- nection with the shows given through the week, but will be made up of high grade acts. Apparently Mr. Williams finds the need of closer competition to the Majestic on Sunday evenings than he can give with ihe Colonial show. MYERS IN HARTFORD. The Hartford Opera House has en- tered the roll of Connecticut vaudeville playhouses for keeps. Manager H. H. Jennings put in a va- riety bill this week as a sort of stop- gap to cover up a dark stretch. Hart- ford seemed to like the idea, and, so 'tis said, the first two days of the Christ- mas week's business decided Mr. Jen- nings to establish his home as an oppo- sition to the Poli menage in the same burg on a permanent basis. The initial bill displayed the names of John C. Rice and Sallie Cohen, Duffin- * Radcay and Kl?inott Brothers and Nich- olson. DUNBAR TO PATERSON. George F. Dunbar, formerly of Fall River, Mass., has assumed the man- agement of the Family Theatre in Pat- erson, N. J., taking the place of C. W. Morris. Mr. Morris, it is understood, has been forced to give* up the manage- ment of the Paterson house by ill health. He will continue, however, to be the active executive factor in his other house in Gloversville. Albert Sutherland will do the exclu- sive booking for the Paterson house un- der the new arrangement. HAPPY HARRISON. Lee Harrison is carrying a smile now which-may almost be heard. He is go- ing to shake the weekly jumps, where if you don't like a town you must stand it for seven days, to go in the Joe Weber show in January. Lee expects a happy future, however short, for he says: "Now I know I can find my theatre without a guide for a little while, at least." It is rumored that Ida Rene receives $600. and Arthur Prince $700, weekly, while playing the Williams houses. The Scipio Ar«enanti troune of panto- mimists from Europe will arrive here next month, Appearing - a January -'J in Chicago at one of the Kohl & Castle theatres, afterwards going over the ()r- pheuni Circuit befor< prese-titlng them selves in the East.