The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-12-28
BROOKS & DECISIONS AFFAIRS.
A $4,000 Attachment for LithOgraph Work
A Review of Their Business Methods.

The probabilities are that all the companies
and enterprises belonging to the theatrical firm
of Brooks & Dickson will be disbanded, al
though Restoris tour will be continued, and
other managers may be found to take charge of
the other travelling companies. dispatch from
New York last night announces that the SUI
preme Court has granted an attachment against
all the firms property to satisfy claim of $l5,-
900 of the Strobridge Lithographing Company, of
Cincinnati. The 'Charbonniere" company alb
ruptly closed their Chicago engagement on Fri
day night, the ostensible reason being that Mrs.
D. P. Bowers was sick. The real reason. how
ever, was that salaries were unpaid, ard Mrs.
Bowers and the others refused to go
further without their money. The people
nearly all returned to New York.
The Chicago News, in reviewing the troubles
of Brooks & Dixon, makes caustic criticism of
the methods they employed. 1t is partially de-
served, but the writer evidently forgets that the
firm did not pretend to be anything else than
theatrical spectators. They produced English
melodramas in this country because there was a
demand for them, and they made an immense
amount of money by them, They lost the most
of it, however, by trying to maintain theater
an opera company and dramatic company, all
purely American enterprises. The article in
question is as follows:
"While the immediate cause of the failure and
petition for dissolution of the firm Of Brooks 81
Dickson may be the general business depression
throughout the country, those who desire to
know the true reason will have to look deeper
The career of the firm has been a mushroom
growth from the start They invested little If
any pecuniary capital in their wide scheme of
theatrical manaQpmeOt
and knowledge of dramatic work They went
into 1t as spectators, and as spectators they
have failed. One has only to name the four
leading attractions of their present season to il
lustrate how little they know Of theatrical
management in America. They fail with Nine.
Ristbri, La Charbonniere,' In the Ranks and
'Romany Rye upon their hands And why
should they not fail Nine. Ristori is the only
one of these attractions which possessed any
claim upon the American mind. She herself is
great artist, whose power age has weak
ened but not destroyed Her acting is
of the eternal kind, because it
is art. Her star is waning, and only the fame of
her great past secured her engagement from be-
ing a complete fzzle with the novelty loving
public. Brooks & Dickson had not enough hard
horse sense to recognize this fact They knew
that she had once been Juror, and hoped she
would be so again. She did the best she could
to help them out by mastering English, but the
result proved that this only made partial amends
for her lack of youth. In the Ranks and
RomaLy Rye never had any more right on the
American stage than The Danites' or one of
Harrigan & Harris plays would have in England.
Both are essentially English plays, successful on
the London and provincial stage by the sheer
force of their local cooring and British tone.
The insular atmosphere in these plays is so thick
that it chokes the average American audience
just as q London fog chokes the travelling Yam
kee. The characters. scenes and incidents of
In the Ranks and 'Romany Rye belong on
the other side of the water, and only expensive
stage mechanism and beautiful scenery gave
them an ephemeral popularity here. Neither
possessed such straight, strong plot as to over
come the lack of American sympathy with the
types Of humanity involved in its unravelng.
Brooks 81 Dickson invested in these plays with
out understanding that feature which could
make play enormous success in London
might be positive Getriment in the United
States. They showed ignorance of American
TASTE and they have paid the penalty. La
Charbonniere,' the newest venture of the two
SPECTATORS, is the leas adapted to the American
palate. Its motive is wholly French, and intol-
cradle to the average American idea OF the
The plot that tries to justify the love of young
girl, however pure and beautiful, coming
between husband and wife, can excite no sym
pathy here. And if, in addition to this inhe-
rent weakness, the play dallies along with
inconsequental details, and only presents bar
rem limitations of French characters in stupid
English, why should it succeedl Its failure was
foredoomed, and if Brooks g. Dickson had had
an ounce Of theatrical gumption they would
have known it in spite of It's long run in Paris p"