Variety (December 1915)

18-26 VARIETY silllllllliiilllllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllUllllllllllllilllil [ THE FIRST ISSUE OF VARIETY. Commencing on the opposite page and continuing for 16 pages is what composed the first issue of VARIETY on December 16, 1905. Three hundred and twenty copies of that issue were sold. VARIETY published with a white cover until Jan. 4, 1908, when the present green shade replaced it The green cover for which VARIETY has since been identified with happened through accident Confusion for the colored cover of the Anni versary Number of 1907 resulted in a green tint being substituted in the emergency. The effect was so strik- ing it was continued. The cover design, which practically remains the same now as when first employed, was sketched by Edgar If. Miller, the scenic painter, then on Eighth avenue, New York. Mr. Miller outlined the sketch instantly when the matter was explained to him and had completed the drawing by tbs neat morning, refusing to sccept payment, saying he wanted to "throw it in H as his contribution. Although VARIETY has had over 100 designs submitted to it none has ever even co mm enced to reach Mr. Miller's sketch near enough to be given a second consideration. Mr. Miller at that time and long afterward was famed around Times Square for his striking posters weekly at Hammerstein's, of the programs at that house. VARIETY first published as a five-cent paper and remained such until December 15, 1906, upon the occasion of its First Anniversary Number, when the price was increased to 10 cents, where it remained. The First Anniversary Num- ber contained 64 pages. Guy Rawson and Frances Clare are the senior advertiser in VARIETY, having carried their present advertising space in this paper for upwards of eight years. VARIETY has one "life advertiser," Ed F. Reynard, who would have antedated Rawson and Clare, but about two years sgo Mr. Reynard (though having the privilege of continuing his advertisement during his lifetime—in a preferred position) ordered it out of the paper and has never ordered it back. Mr. Reynard paid $500 for one and one-quarter inches, single column, for life. Previously he had paid $60 yearly for the same space. The $500 amount was reached by the flipping of a coin. Those who know VARIETY will see from the editorial expression on page 3 of the first issue that VARIETY has fairly well fulfilled its early promises. In the ten years from the first issue VARIETY has passed through sbout everything a trade paper could meet with, and a great deal no other trade paper ever dreamed of. The ambition to place VARIETY in the front rank of all American theatrical journals, however, was reached some time ago, and it is now acknowledged to be the leading trade paper of the show business the world over. Of the original staff upon VARIETY there is, excepting the publisher, but one remaining, John J. O'Connor (who signs his reviews as Wynn). Mr. O'Connor was an usher at the Alhambra theatre. New York City, in November, 1905, when engaged as office boy for VARIETY. Deprived of an ordinary school education through circumstances, the then boy displayed an aptitude in everything undertaken that rapidly brought him to the front He's one in a million. This reproduction of the first issue of VARIETY would be incomplete without a tribute to the ability, faithfulness and loy- alty of Johnny O'Connor. i w^^zs m wo\^-3iowi Tniiiiniiiimiiiiiiiiiiijiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim