Variety (December 1914)

22 VARIETY CHICAGO CRITICS CRITICISED TOO MANY THEATRES? Chicago, Dec. 21. Chicago dramatic critics have been voted fair. They have not been as facetious, as in some cities, nor as caus- tic as in others. There are, among them, however, one or two who are phrase-makers, who would rather turn out a fine phrase than convey Mie truth, even if that phrase might do an injury to a player or a play. But gen- erally speaking, the men and women of the dramatic press have trieJd to tell the truth fearlessly, chopping here and there, letting the chips fall where they might. There is at least one construc- tive writer in the coterie, whose wise words have been heeded on many an occasion, and they have been the means of saving numerous attractions from failure and have bolstered up others. Dean of critics is Amy Leslie (Mrs. Frank Buck), of the Daily News, who knows many players. She has the his- tory of the American stage pretty well in hand, and usually has something in- forming to say. She is a flowery writer, and has a great command of English. She has her friends and they are often treated with much more kindness than they deserve, but this may not be a fault after all. Once in awhile she becomes caustic, and when so, her pen is dipped in vitriol. Next in term of service in Chicago, is Percy Hammond, of the Tribune, one of the most finished writers of the group. He is eminently a phrase-maker, and he makes phrases that cut. He can sum a whole show in one sentence, and give the picture of a player in five words. He began in a humble way on the Evening Post, and was at the same time press agent for one of the big theatres. In due time his brilliant work attracted the attention of the Tribune and he succeeded Burns Man- tle on that paper. He has incurred the enmity of numerous managers and has had many a hard fight with producers and those big in theatricals, but he is a fearless writer—and his paper backs him up (which is a very important point). O. L. Hall of the Daily Journal is one of the fairest and most constructive of all the Chicago dramatic experts. He aims to help, instead of hinder, and only unclean plays ever feel the weight of his anger. He has the faculty of get- ting at the meat in a few words and has a passion for facts. He has a "nose for news," also, and his department is wide- ly read by stage people. Several times he has been called in by managers after his criticisms appeared, and his advice has been accepted in smoothing out certain faults and reconstructing some scenes and acts with beneficial results. He is a compendium of facts concern- ing the stage and its people. On the Examiner is Ashton Stevens, who came from the Pacific Coast where he had made a name for himself as a writer on the stage. He has a style unique and writes entertainingly, al- though his judgment is not always sure. But what he writes is always read with interest and he fills his office with con- siderable dignity. His province seems to be to write something that will be read, rather than something that will be of benefit to players, and this seems to be what a great many newspapers de- mand these days. In recent months Mr. Stevens has tempered his writings quite considerably in accordance with the policy of the Hearst papers, which is to treat every one kindly. Charles W. Collins, of the Evening Post, is one of the most serious of the local scribes and takes himself most seriously. He has studied the drama from all sides, and when he writes he brings the weight of scholarship to his work. He has written, any number of articles on the drama for magazines, and is even the author of a book called "Great Love Stories of the Stage," which has been variously praised and as variously blamed. He has also dab- bled in playwriting a bit, but without signal success. The Hattons (Frederick and Fanny) are recent comers into the dramatic field, but met with success from the start. Mr. Hatton was dramatic editor of the Evening Post, having been ad- vanced from another position to fill the place Percy Hammond left. He, with his wife, who comes from a talent- ed family wrote, "Years of Discretion," IDA GOLD. THE WIDOW, In "THE CANDY SHOP" LaSalle O. H.. Chicago Indefinite a play that won recognition for these writers at one bound. Later they col- laborated on another, "The Call of Youth," which did not strike fire. When James Keeley took over the Chicago Herald James O'Donnell Bennett, the big gun of the dramatic family of Chi- cago, went to Europe, and Keeley look- ed for a successor. He struck upon the odd fancy of having two critics, and called Mr. and Mrs. Hatton to the desk, where they have done some very good work. They are easy writers, finding good in about everything on the stage. The very latest to arrive in the field is Fred McQuigg, of the American, who but ree^njlystepped into the limelight. Mr. McQuigg^is so new, it is difficult to ascertain his place. He writes under the optimistic policy of the paper, how- ever, and does not bear down at all in the way of severity. He sees every- thing through a rainbow, but that is due to orders, probably. His articles are readable, and in due season he will prob- ably be able to fill the shoes of Jack Lait, who was the most famous critic that ever held the desk on this paper. There are several people in town who have done excellent work as assistants There dpesn't seem to be any ques- tion but that there are too many the- atres in America, but there is a ques- tion as to what class of entertainment is over-crowded with theatres. The other side of any theatrical fence says its field is over-built, but the public isn't concerned in personal grievances of theatrical managers and the over-production of "houses" has brought about a better play or bill on the whole for the paying patron. For several years "The Syndicate," as the Klaw & Erlanger firm was called, held the legitimate show busi- ness tightly within its grasp. "The Syndicate" did many things. In print it told the public what it was doing for the drama and in private it told managers what they would have to do to get a route. "The Syndicate" thought its position impregnable, until little Sammy Shubert came along (after getting some money with "The Texas Steer" on the road) and took the Herald Square theatre. That was the beginning of the Shuberts and the ending of the monopolistic reign of Klaw & Erlanger. It was much the same in the legiti- mate as in the other fields. They had ^>een held within a certain limitation no one in show business thought could* be overstepped. Vaudeville commenced building the- atres, pictures built theatres, and in no time at all there were moN theatres in' this country it seemed than saloons or drug stores. How they built theatres is another matter. "Outside capital" is the real reason. A man will take more chances with money which doesn't belong to him than money that does. When the owner of a site or a realty operator could present a glowing prospectus to an investor, then a theatre arose. The owner of the property thought he was fortunate to enter into a twenty-year lease with the last year's rent deposited as a forfeit. The investor was taken around to another theatre to see the crowd clamoring at the door for ad- mission. The over-production resulted in mortgage giving concerns (banks, trust and life insurance companies) putting theatres on the blacklist, until as an example in New York at the present time, witness the Loew Orpheum theatre on 86th street, valued at $600,- 000, without a cent on mortgage against it, and Loew's Delancey Street theatre, valued at $400,000 unencum- bered. The Loew Circuit could ob- tain loans on these properties but nothing in comparison to what they would like. to the regular critics and among these are Sheppard Butler, who formerly sat in for James O'Donnell Bennett on the Herald; Mollie Morris^ (Margaret Mann) does a greaKdeal of the w6fk on the News as aid to Amy Leslie (she has entire charge of the dramatic page); Wallace E. Smith, one of the brightest writers in the city, helps out on the American now and then, and Guy F. Lee, Sunday editor of the Tribune, has also done yeoman service at times. In the legitimate field the building of new theatres did one thing of in- terest. It made the old-fashioned, ramshackle, whether an "up-stairs house" or a shed resembling a theatre, go into the discard. In vaudeville it opened the field for what is known as "small time," and in pictures it split up the business so thoroughly that just now the picture exhibitor making any money out of showing moving pic- tures is a rarity. Two legitimate circuits that stood for years in the east, the Reis and the Cahn circuits, have passed away, the Reis circuit unsuccessfully trying the picture policy against other houses in its towns that were more modern. Some years ago a story relates the sug- gestion was made to Mose Reis to in- corporate his theatre for $500,000 and sell the stock. He spurned the propo- sition. Within the past 18 months he disposed of the leases of nearly his en- tire circuit to their present owners for $10,000. The record for the Cafin cir- cuit is about the same. Both played legitimate attractions and monopolized their neighborhoods in their day. For the over-supply of theatres there is no one to blame but the old time managers. They took no precautions to protect themselves. The old man- agers knew local banks and capitalists were financing new theatres, but they stood still, remarking they would find out the mistake in time. Meanwhile the new theatres went up. A sugges- tion of educating the country in a pub- licity movement to show facts and fig- ures was met by the argument that the moment it was attempted to persuade the local money man not to invest, that was the time he would rush to do il, believing the managers were trying to hold onto a gold mine. But a cam- paign of education could not possibly have increased the number of theatres built within the past four years. The promoter's prospectus appeared to have enticed money from stockings. They gave figures on what a theatre could do, when complete, figuring ca- pacity, and leaving a large balance of profit against all expenses. Added to this were some acknowledged dividend returns in the early days of the rush, and it seemed at one time everybody had gone daffy on theatre building. Ir one medium-sized town out west a vaudeville manager went ahead with his theatre project, after having been advised by wire another deal for the same town hail been closed two weeks before. But this vaudeville manager had local capital in his enterprise, and was risking nothing. The theatre situation will require a long time to adjust itself. There will be little more theatre building, ex- cepting in those towns where a large capacity house appears to have a chance of doing business. The store show and the picture house have had their day. The picture exhibitor will leave many theatres on the market for other policies and the other policies will also be weeded out with many a sad theatre owner finding the last yea/'s deposit did nothing more than pay the first or second year's rent.