Variety (February 1911)

VARI1TY niETY PubUehed Weekly by VABIETY PUBLISHING GO. Times Square, N«w York City. SINE SILVERMAN Proprietor. CHICAGO. 1ST Dearborn It. WALTER K. HILL. LONDON. 411 Strand. JESSE) J. FRBBMAN. SAN FRANCISCO. 901 Market St LBSTBU J. FOUNTAIN. PARIS, •• bio. Ruo Solot Dldler. EDWARD O. KHNDRHW. BERLIN, ISA Unter den Lladea. ADVERTISEMENTS. Rate card may be found In adrertleing sec- tion of tbla taauo. Advertlalns copy for current laaue muit reach Now York office by 6 p. m. Wedneaday. Advertisement! by mall muat be accompa- nied by remittance, payable to Variety Pub- lishing Company. SUBSCRIPTION RATES. Annual M Foreign I Single coplea, 10 cento Entered aa aecond-claaa matter at New York. J /Vol. XXI. February 4 No. 9 44 The biggest yaps in the country live right in New York" is the opinion, formed by experience, of the genteel confidence man who sometimes pur- sues his labor under another name. It may be true. The wiser the man, the easier the mark. The condition may be reached by self-assurance or a belief that the armor of knowledge of everything there is to the game is impregnable against the attack of even the best. And the self-assurance is the soft spot that the smooth worker walks through. But of all the show business, who can believe that the manager is the yap? ' It doesn't sound plausible. There are but few managers who don't know every twist and turn—can al- most detect the signs of the bunk be- fore the bunk takes shape. Just as many in their day were at the bunk end, during the beginning. * Yet anyone traveling around the New York vaudeville theatres the past few weeks would have had a feeling akin to pity for the poor manager. It seemed as though he was being bunked. Perhaps he was. Anyway, if he were not bunked, then he a lowed that impression to sail forth 3 "The Claque" is the new form of vaudevile bunco. It's not new, but it's "getting over" now, and why it is getting over seems to be a little problem that even those who know of the "claque" have not solved. "The claque" could not survive without the knowledge if not the connivance of the manager. When tickets for a vaudeville theatre are offered to stran- gers on the street with the only con- dition that they "see the show and Plug for ," that is quite apt to reach the ears of the managers. (Others hear of it.) That Is per- haps one reason the manager does not mind the claque. It brings a part if not all or more of the salary back into the box office for "pluggers." "The Claque" Is not new over here. In the legitimate It has been a nui- sance for some years at premieres of musical productions, with hand-clap- pers supplied by music publishing firms. In vaudeville at times with- in several years past musical publish- ers have also tried the claque as a means of "pushing" a song. They met with Indifferent success. The man- agers frowned upon it. Now, while the claque has become somewhat more systematized, there is little difference In result. The music publisher as an economical measure lined up his forces behind the railing, they entering upon admission tickets. The present day claque Is more mod- ern. It is distributed throughout the theatre. The "wise" man has his hand-clappers up stairs, in the bal- cony and in the orchestra. He knows concentration of sound may be detect- ed. Perhaps the purchase of from twenty-five to fifty coupon seats at every performance has been the Item to lead the New York manager to overlook the claque: The total of that Is much more than ten admis- sion tickets for each night show. For a couple of seasons the claque thing died away. In the meantime theatrical weeklies, other weeklies and dally newspapers commenced a mad race for vaudeville patronage, through "advertising." Advertising" did not always mean display type. There were—and are—promises of "reading notices guarantees of "good reviews" for acts, and other vaunted publicity, until the publicity promoters, like some agents, commenced to greed for the money there seemed to be in con- ning the artist. Seldom a real vaude- ville artist "fell for the con." It was newcomers, and climbers; those who longed to be away up, but had little confidence in their ability to get them there. Managers got the advertising bug. They were not promised "good re- views," but Just told that if they ad- vertised, their houses would have to be enlarged to hold the crowds. One daily newspaper in New York selected a certain vaudeville theatre as the shining mark. First securing a con- tract for $30,000 worth of advertis- ing for the season, It told the man- ager to sit tight and watch out; send for the police to keep the crowds in order and we'll do the rest. They changed the advertisement every day, the paper printed the picture of the theatre, wrote editorials about it and its manager; told the people to patron- ize the house; that vaudeville was a healthful enjoyment—and the man- ager kept on watching. Before the daily paper had stopped tclUnp him what a great manager he was and informing the public what a great vaudeville theatre he had, the adver- tising contract ran out—the season was over. That theatre had lost $65,000. $30,000 of it went to the daily newspaper, and of that $30,000 spent In advertising, not one-half had been returned over the average re- ceipts the theatre played to before the advertising campaign was com- menced. The theatre Is still playing vaudeville, but refused to accept an encore on the advertising proposition. That for the manager's side of that. The other day a man gave a very young boy this sentence, without punctuation, to phrase. It read, "That that is Is that that is not is not." The sentence is older, perhaps, than the claque, which originated abroad, where it is a recognized institution, at so much per. The advertising men found another way to increase their revenues. They called upon the actor, told him that he or she was great, so great in fact it was a shame that so and so with but one half if even that much talent should be getting twice as much money. Was it not a pity, If not a shame and some other things. It was. Everybody agreed. Then advertise. To advertise is the way to show your drawing powers. We'll make 'em sit up. Follow us. Send for the police reserves again and tell your friends to buy their tickets early. What mat- ter a little ad. If your salary goes kiting to the skies? Sometimes it was the weather that kept away the people, again the show that was put around the advertised one wouldn't draw "pa- per." or it rained. Somehow some- thing always happened. One one-time advertiser last season played to the poorest week's business the house ever had. Within two weeks another one-time advertiser created a new rec- ord for the theatre he appeared in for low receipts. Another opened Monday to a matinee $60 less than the Monday before. Another, with the "paper" out of the house Monday nlcjht. was not playing to $250 cash in a theatre that could hold $1,800. "Advertising" commenced to slop over. Facts are facts, and no one can get away from them. The advertis- ing men needed to bolster up their promises. Ah, the claque! That will do the business. We will make them believe It. Like all human na- ture, when a claque is working stead- ily, the subject forgets the mechani- cal end to which he or she was a party and acknowledges the noise Is normal, arriving in a natural way. Manufactured applause! The Idea! Tlut the manager. 'Tis not a bad little scheme, says tne manager. Let them all advertise, for they must men- tlon that chey will appear at my the- atre. How much did you say you want- ed? How much are you going to spend to advertise your opening at my house? Well. I'll think it over. And when the manager is through, he has the sum total of the full salary corn- In? hark Into the box office for a claque, and another amount more than equal to the salary spent to ad- vertise the act and theatre. Tt does nolthcr from results—hut the manager l.nows best. This Is where the out-of-town man- acer comes In. He doesn't come In for they don't let him, but help* a nice little fellow, there's no objection to the poor skate booking acts at the New York price. A manager or two from out of town plays the act. Some- how it doesn't go as well as they said it did In New York. Other man- agers become skeptical and the act joins a show or "flops to the opposi- tion." It was the "opposition" In the first place that made many salaries in vaudeville possible, but whisper, don't tell anyone we told you that, because of course it can't be so since we've said It, for we are only angry through not having had enough advertising. It's just as well for us to mention that to relieve you from repeating It. Thus the manager In the first place permits It in the second place to aid himself. The newspaper Is willing, not being over particular how it gets the money if It only does get it, and the other fellows sit back to wonder, whether these New York managers are being gulled or are gullible, or wheth- er this claque stuff is going oyer. The claque doesn't get over. After being In vaudeville for a time, wheth- er an act is good or bad, comes to you by instinct—If you have any instinct. The applause of an audience may in- fluence, but It does not deceive. The vaudeville manager watches the act. He may wear ear muffs. When that act is through if he is a manager with the powers of observation that his training should have brought, he can tell within $50 of what the act Is worth. Forty-nine out of fifty experts will not be $60 away on the figure set. The act may ask a little more and get It. If it asks too much more, it will not. And the sentence, when punctuated, reads: "That that Is, Is; that that is not, Is not." We think the claque Is an Improper thing in vaudeville. It Is not good for vaudeville. It disgusts the pub- lic, makes them tired of watching a show the same as first nlghters at a production hiss those who make boards out of their hands. It Is not good for the acts, and it fools no one ex- cepting those who like to be fooled through vanity or those who are mak- ing money out of the fooling. As regards the advertising, to those who believe that a criticism is of value, get the very best you can for your money. There are all kinds on sale. Be self-made, In the show busi- ness as elsewhere. The manager knows his business; the actor under- stands his. Not In the past ten years has the vaudeville business been as poor as this season. As the claque is here, and the manager has new ideas, we are going to offer a little advice to the actor. Don't believe anyone who tells you he can Increase your salary, unless it is an npent. Don't believe that a flaque will help you, that advertis- ing will help you. that a pood notice will help you or had notices harm you If yon hmon't got "the act."