The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-11-24
/HUsEMKN1A

-, theatrical entertainment given by Mr..
.n THOMPSON at the Lyceum Theatre.
S-,ha, the long and remarkable career OF
49, wbitcomb" IL about to close here, II may
y, "a altogether out OF place 10 refer to the
.llv remarkable management which has
800 10 make that piece n success and has
r.I neglected and ILL starred house out OF
i,s run of luck.
ma history Of the Lyccum Theatre IL ds-
-.Ione So continuous. indeed were ts mis-
,a-,unes that the theatrical guild (which has
~, outsrown its early superstitions and still
s,,ls borscshocs over all lite domestic entrances
..Je,i,sl regarded ii very much ma school boys
.aeard A graveyard at night. In vain were
,orseshoes nailed over every door that II had.
m ink could not be kept out Its big portal
,meant 10 be- but Just failing to be. n porte
.oele,sJ always seemed to yawn voraciously
18th ns own emptiness and poked its ugly
,.vs into Fourteenth street as II looking for a
nav manager with moro money than brains.
An the early capitalists who laid hold OF Il
,.emed possessed Of m insane desiret TO rebuild
me Mace. Manager Grau. II will be remom-
berod came there with something like n hun
s,od thousand dollars that he had made with
Ris,ori. and with R superb opera bouffe COM
nsnv. lie dumped the whole sum into the the
moving that hc had remodellcd the house for
somebody Else.
Then Fcchtcr came at Il fresh and with his
Sat on. He Quilted the place completely.
sehonberg. who had advanced theories of
scenery and things put in new stage. The
proscenium was cut away. A new and beautiful
ryle Of ornamcntaton. quite Ms costly as IL was
novel made the audience room look like
toudorr and conservatory combined But the
naop,e would not 40 TO the Lyceum to see the
uperb romanticsm of Fechter any more than
hcy would 20 10 see the most sumptuous and
,udacious opera boufIe company. Seebach. the
most poetic histriono that ever came TO us from
Germany had to abandon tho place and go TO
NE Stadt Theatre TO induce even her own people
boone and see her.
Then the establishment sunk into that kind OF
teputs which sleek stal-fed dtbutantes give
place by PLAYING Jia in The Hunchback"
abl Cauii. in il TO their friends But the inter-
vs between each private triumph Of this kind
were SO great that the musty and cavernous air
oihe temple prevailed in spite OF the cart loads
tlaowcrs that came with each new Julia.
Nobody save Aimee could quite exercise the
evil spiritot the place. she even proferring some
ether house and il finally remained for the
Count Joanncs 90 stalk in and defy criticism
and 10 luck together for n brief season with
bnvalo that compelled attention.
Such ia outline is the history Of the Lyceum
Theatre
|, has long been an accepted theory among
managers and actors that the New York arnuse-
ment public allowed lis tastes TO conform to the
channels % o.. city. They run, 1t was said in
one great longitudinal avenue. and theatre to
succeed must lug Broadway
i.r.r . IL 1,
tlolel that notion. but for a long time the
Lyceum Theatre lent ii an air Of truth.
II Wa deserted temple when Josh Whit
comb and his manager came to 1t and rather
uno-entatilusly commenced business there.
believe that manager was warned What
b did worth noting.
He dsreg0rdcl the warning. Practically he
nid. I've got q good entertainment. When
The people find il out they'll come to see 1t. IL
give It In barn. I'll hire the place, and wait
Ill they lnd i OUT"
This seems simple thing to do. But it re-
cures two mighty levers.
Money and paticnce-which together make
power
Isupposc the manager had both. In fact the
result proves IT, ITe must have spent money
ihi. in doing that. he added pluck to power.
Por the nrst four weeks very few people came
To see Josh Whhcomh." ! don't believe the
audiences any more than paid the gas bills and
the orchostra-but Of that I'm not sure.
Certain it is that everything ,cds paid
promptly.
1t looked as IL the people had not forgotten
that It was the LyccUm Theatre and preferred
10 avoid Il.
There was n young man In the box Office
Hill. / believe his name is-who said: IAN
'vn fstf "a .,tf.. taft
wait here TN they find IL out
Theu he went and leased the place for six
months.
There wasn't anything heroic in this. 1t was
Tie simplest # business transactions. He had
ath iu bic commodity and he backed il and
wait q. That h Ml
What WIS the result
Attto end Of twelve weeks he turned them
away, boz. ny unable to furnish seats for them.
lie Aal taken down all the ho.scshoes and
tul W sas ets in their place.
Slowly 'Ae people outgrcw their superstition
and sureyihc neglected theatre became q popu-
ar resort
There is lesson here that Is worth needing
4 usloo obvious 10 be pointed out. But what
q ol oli saws cluster round IL Something
"'a' Brag and Holdfast comes inyoluntarily
Nhe tongue, and a. rule managers are not
to0d at holding fast They have all the noble
'ualles Of sages and heroes. but ordinarily
A's the common virtue Of brave business
nan who when he has good thing. knows 1t,
h'nout asking the public.
hsacurlous fact that the representations Of
'merlI9rious public entertainment store up
VoSer Ike revolving wheel. After the dra-
mAue Wheel has run ahundred nights. itmoves
"N own momentum. and II Is not easy to
noph
IN o'her words, the public do not always Sit
upon play the nrst night. Their inquest some
nues takes forty nights. II took Edwin
Soo,l hundred nights to make them compre-
SEM that his Hamlet had anything unique or
worthy init.
nuu Theodore Thomas must have been
sunlred months patiently working for the
e,%n''on that he got at last. but was entitled
LOOKING now at the season just closing at the
,Vun cannot help feeling that It is a fine
s -aup' o' seIfreliant faith putting merit on
'0ss ana holding It there In spite Of all dis
s,,u'ag'meni until it was able not only to stand
~ohe but 20 run.
"1ud II not be good thing for the drama at
s' u we had moro Of this spirit?
"m M present week Josh IYhHcon,J will
A.. MS peculiar entertainments. He goes