The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-10-20
NEW YORK THEATERs.
How They We're Built aud Are Managed
The Evolution of TheatricaIs.

The spoils of the Pacific railroad built
Booths Theater. An English estate put up
the Park Theater. The Gilsey estate turned
all the tobacco profits into the New Fifth
avenue Theater. Poor old Woods Museum
was transformed into Daly's Theater. The
very negro minstrels began to riot in money,
and took down churches to put up theater
buildings like Harrigan & Harris. Being in
doubt about piece OF property. on Union
Square, Shook made theater of it-first for
his own amusement and next for profits.
Fechter had big theater built for him on
Fourteenth street. Haverly rushed out of
the sporting into the theatrical line, and of
course gravitated to New York, and soon had
three or four theaters running at once, be-
sides his preposterous minstrel shows where
noise superseded humor. Then the old
Opera-house would not do AMI a million or
more has been put into an extravagant struc-
ture for up town.
Wallack S theater, at the corner of Thir-
teenth street and Broadway, had hardly been
occupied when it was discovered to be lag
ging behind the march of improvements, and
an enormously costly thing was put up at
Thirtieth street, still incom plete. Then
rushed in the day of cheap prices, and the
Grand Opera-house made two Bowery mill
strel managers rich. Booths Theater had
not begun to come down when the great
French Operahouse was seen going up near
ly across the way. Now Mr.. James Barton
theater by subscriptions, opposite the Vic
toria Hotel. Whatever actors have made
little money, like Mckee Rankin or Billy
Florence, are trying to get some builder in
New York to make theater for them. Mr..
Harriott, husband of Clara Norris recently
told me that he counted on one evening in
New York forty-two places of amusement
open, of which twenty-six were theaters
legitimately.
All the evils of bribery and corruption
have attended this centralizing of the infu-
ence of the stage in city where money alto
gether outruns taste, character or literary
patriotism The critics came to be great
men, and they were watched when they came
in to see a new piece as if they were king
and court, because on next days notice de-
pended, perhaps the success or failure of the
piece-success only meaning the drawing of
audiences without regard to true influence.
John Mccullough once told me that when
Salvini first came here to play, William
Winter, the critic-the best of them, not
withstanding his want of masculinity and, [
will also add, an honest man pecuniarily-was
watched by every manager and interested
party. And" said McCullough, che could
have had So 900 or So, 000 if he had as much
as winked, for his favorable opinion" In
the case of some other critics scandals
happened which pestered the newspapers
for some time, it being apparent
that critics were borrowing money from
managers; and in one case have heard So
called critic went to the box-office with a
forged piece of paper and had it cashed, and
was not prosecuted for forgery, because the
theater was making SO much money that
it could hardly afford another newspaper
fight.
You can understand why Edwin Booth
who has cultivation and sincerity of pur-
pose, should demand that his name be taken
from theater which was prostituted by the
money-making managers who followed him
to do every sort of trick to draw cash through
the use of his name. 1t takes a fact a long
while to get around the world; and years
after Booth left the theater people were 60
ing to it under the impression that he was
to be seen there every night. The newspa-
pers concluded that they must have a hand
in this harvest of theatrical money. Some
criminal reporter would start
dramatic newspaper for the pur-
pose of getting the advertisements
of the theaters and the actors who wanted a
New York brand on them, Exploded negro
called, for the purpose of bleeding, among
other things the trade they had not pros
pered in. Theatrical advertising became so
extensive that it was heavy drag on every
new theater. The weekly papers wanted adj
vertisements like the dailies. The dailies put
up their prices because they would not be
classed with papers that did not help draw
the audiences.
Next came the peddling in foreign plays.
Travelling agents. whose former salaries had
been $50 a week and their road bills chal-
| lenged appeared with a new melo-drama
from London, full of blood-hounds, gypsies,
convcts, insane asvlums, midnight burglars,
and whatever Pierce Egan or George Rey-
nolds had written in their voluminous day,
| unaware of the millions that were in it. He
| brew dry goods drummers suddenly turned
| up as the owners of the last London success,
| for which they charged $500 a night to any
| theater nothing furnished. All this truck
was displayed in New York to general class
of audiences that knew about nothing but
Dress and then were started in caravan
around the country to bleed the people.
Then came the importing of actors from all
sorts of countries, chiefly from England.
Some Young cad or cockney, who had proba-
bly been bribing a British manager to keep
him on the stage awhile till he could make
a strike, turned up In this country as the
most distinguished in the West End of Lon
don, and demanded his 5000 week. In this
way he came here four or five years ago with
salary of probably 500. Next we under
stood that he was getting $780, and then he
changed theaters and got $780, Hearing this,
Charles Thorne burst into tears, and said he
would leave the STAGE so his managers moved
him up to $3.50.
In course of time the publisher of the Bos-
ton Paul Pry and minstrel manager moved
to New York and we heard of him paying
Thorne $500 week. The prosperity was too
great for Thorne, and after few perform
ances he seemed to collapse from within, and
tumbled into compost But he had hardly
died when back came Coghlan, under the
same illiterate manager; and now we are told
that he gets 800 for every performance, or
500 a week and is slowly freezing out the
house. l went to see him play Money
last week, and l thought never saw play
! so we'll entitled. The actor was working for
his big salary. The manager was looking at
the empty seats, wondering where the money
was. The small audience had been chiefly
attracted by the high figure understood to
be paid; but the play was mixture of cold
! ness and coarseness that at the end of every
act sent out the men for something warming.