Variety (December 1907)

12 VARIETY EVOLUTION OF THE WHITE RATS By J. C. NUGENT. Since the glory of Rome, when gladi- ators were, and strong men and fools and musicians, down through the field fetes and festivals of the middle ages, smack- ing of cap and bells and mixing in the mind with*the wandering minstrels and Merry Andrews of later European times, even to when, in America, they became the local favorites of various "dumps" and 'dives/' beer halls and museums, the clowns and mountebanks of the earth were ever children, never serious, and never seriously considered. In this, at least, they shared the fate of higher genius; that of giving their who barters loses much of the illusion that allures. And so in demanding and gaining a share of his own prosperity the entertainer lost forever the old, happy irresponsibility and childlike unrestraint. But the new conditions of advancement must be met. The care-free player folk were forced to support homes and educate children; to assume the expense and responsibility of citizenship. The high salary began to appear. Jokers and jesters began to receive recompense exceeding the wage of statesmen—fc fact soon heralded to heaven, so unbelievable it seemed that while serious art went begging, the frothy such beauty and odd, subtle appeal, such breadth of brotherhood and noble aim, that t lie great artists of the world, delighted with its majestic ritual and boundless pos- sibilities, embraced it with all the fervor given by fanatics to a new religion. Small wonder that to this day the new- - omer and outsider cannot understand the enthusiasm with which this race of nomads and wanderers clasped hands in new found brotherhood. The accompanying cut shows a group meeting. Such a group will never meet again In its original conception there was no thought of gain or material advan- tage—no desire to intrude any form of business. It was a social order, aiming at the social and intellectual betterment of the profession. A great man will go out of the world THE HISTORIC "STAR CABINET" OF THE WHITE RATS. The above photo was taken at a meeting held in March, 1900, at the original lodge room in the Savoy Theatre Building, New York. Heading from left to right, those standing are Paul Armstrong, Bert Coote, John Sparks, Maurice Barrymore, Henry Lee, DeWolf Hopper, Chas. T. Aldrich, Otis Harlan and Frank Lalor. Seated are Milton Royle, James J. Corbett, Lew Fields, David Montgomery, Geo. Fuller Golden, A. Von Palm and J. C. Nugent. gift freely to the world, and being them- selves content with careless poverty. But when, after the civil war, New York stretched Harlem wards and Pastor's moved uptown—when the old locale was lost and the fashionable clientele from the residential avenues began to come variety - wards, driving head ushers to Czar-like dignity and the "slapstick" into dis- repute, the clown began to change with the changing times. With the new class of audience and theatre came a new class of entertainer; not only new in a more intellectual en- tertainment, but in an awakened com- mercial instinct. Wherein he lost some- thing. The poet who takes money is only half a poet, after all. The artist merriment of the hour should reap such reward. In the general, unprecedented prosperity, managers grew arbitrary and, in jealous contention for price and place, artists be- came divided against themselves. Then there were farcical contracts and misrep- resentation and warring factions. And a prevalent era of ill-feeling and discontent. It was coming too fast. Out of the multitude came a man. Pre- ceding the managers' organization, and with no anticipation of it, but in response to the gregarious instinct of the fraternity, he sprang into prominence as a leader of singular magnetic quality. He organized the "White Rats," the father of all the present orders, in its inception a cult of when George Fuller Golden dies, and there will be an ache in many a heart wHich knew and loved him. Despite his artistic conquest of three continents, his real worth is little understood, because there are few living in any generation who understand those who rise far above the contem- poraneous level. But, with some more human traits, he combines with the brain of a seer, a poet's soul. And in our chil- dren's time Golden will be eulogized as the greatest man—perhaps the only truly great man—the vaudevilles have ever pro- duced. With the inrush of numbers into the new society came an inrush of riff-raff for whom this exalted altitude had no meaning. Little by little business grievances were intrud- ed, not calmly nor wisely, but intolerantly, and with the ill-advised impetuosity of a class to whom sane business method was a sealed book. Demands for consideration were met by the now organized managers with rare lack of judgment and the feeling of injus'.'ce grew until the thinking ele- ment was no longer in control. The managers who at this stage had had the foresight to organize and make prac- tical a business which was in its nature elusive, transitory and at the mercy of a public fleeting fancy, deserved a world of credit. Vaudeville was now by long odds the most systematically conducted and staple branch of the theatrical business, which is unique in that it deals largely with fictitious values and that the tangible, salable property in sight is but a small per cent, of the cost. These half-dozen men, aided by a corps of the brightest commercial minds of the period, brought vaudeville to an importanee and dignity never known before. But— they forgot the artisT. Percy Williams sounded the keynote years afterward when he said, "Don't organize the artist alone. Organize also the agent, the manager. Or- ganize them all. We are all in the same business." This was great, but late. Not too late, nor is it yet. But it should have been said and done ten years before, and said and done by the manager first. The artist looked to him and needed him, and from him the overtures should have come and would have been fairly met. There was a sufficient thinking element amongst the artists to realize that the business was not for to-day alone. But the manager persisted in the 'em- ployer and employee" fallacy, which pre- supposes a factory that delivers goods bear- ing only the factory name, and in which the workman's identity is lost instead of recognizing that the artist is a producer rather than a workman, that his name remains on the goods until delivered and that tiiat name is at -stake as well as his salary. It is. in fact, his chiefest asset, himself and his lifework in essence. The artists' desire to protect this was resented as an effort to intrude into the executive province; silly antagonisms arose. The artist, too, made the mistake of tak- ing himself too seriously, even sentiment- ally. Despite the earnest efforts of the sensible element on both sides, excitement augmented until the storm broke, resulting not only in great material loss to both, but in a loss of faith, credit and confHcnec which can only be remembered with pain and regret and which is best forgotten. What might be accomplished by evolu- tion is usually rather delayed than hastened by revolution. The long, tedious work of reconstruction was now to be done. Fol- lowing Golden's failing health, Ezra Ken- dall stepped into the breach, and it was largely due to his wonderful tenacity of purpose that the now languishing order lived through the discouraging years that followed. The reaction had biought a lack of enthusiasm which few survived. But with wonderful faith and hope and charity he held the faithful band together. It is notable that both Golden and Ken- dall sacrificed not only fortune and per- sonal prospects, but, temporarily let us hope, health also to the cause they loved. Then came R. C. Mudge and the new White Bats. New in that it is now a (Continued on page 85.)