National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1884-09-08
A VERY BUSYPERSON
HOW A THEATRICAL MANAGER CoSTRIyES
TO PUT IN HIS TIME.
The WAY Companies Arc Houed-The Labor
Of Laying Out Route for Travelling Com
blnations--whAt II Costs to Amuse the
Public aud Do Il Wen.

blnations--WhAt II Costs to Amuse the
Public aud DO Il Well.
although the theatrical season has not
yet fairly begun, can fiattcr myself that
tho hardest part Of my years work Is
nearly over" said j. w. Collier, the busy
manager Of the Union Square thcater in
Now York 10 a reporter. You look sur
prised," he continued, "but really tho
most annoying and wearisome Of my
labors is the laying out Of routes, tho
booking Of time or dates Of playing, tho
engagement of actors and actresses. tho
ordering Of printing, and tho getting up
of scenery and properties Now just let
me give you some idea Of the amount OF
labor involved in booking dates. Mr.
Shook md will have five companies
travelling throughout tho soason-two
with storm Beaten" two with tho
Lights of London, and one with 'Rubio
Denston, which was played at
Niblos rs The Blue and the
Gray. Some of the companies
play in sixty different towns and some in
over hundred. II we take seventy. We
as the average, which Is rather under than
| over tho truth, my companies will mako
375 stands. Before date can DO booked
in any ono Of these places lettor has to
be written TO the manager of tho thoater
there, asking him what open time no has.
| If his reply names q date when c1mpa-
ny can DO in his neighborhood, another
letter has to DO written offering to play on
certain terms, and If ho accepts, then
third letter inclosing duplicate contracts
must bo forwarded. Thus, you see,
IL everything goes rs smoothly rs posi-
bio, these letters and two contracts must
DO sent out by me to every town played
In. But, unfortunately IL is very seldom
that no hitch occurs. Worry often IL hap
pens that eight or ten letters pass before
u contract is finally settled.
you must have u pretty accurate
knowledge of the geography of the coun-
try" suggested tho reporter.
"Yos, and where / am deficient my
travelling managers como TO my aid.
Thore is scarcely town of over 10000
pei IN which one of my companies
has not played, and one season. when /
WAS giving The Bankers Daughter in
small towns, we performed in over POS
different places in ono season, never stay
ing more than two nights in one town,
and that only very rarely. On that trip
we took in towns OF not more than 5000
inhabitants"
How do you proceed to lay out q
route2"
Each of mycompanies has certain part
of the country to cover. When | was
last season, running four Lights of Lon
dom they were divided into to eastern,
western, central, and southern. Having
settled about the position of tho country
| s,l. l., Al. r.
thing is to secure dates in the principal
cities, or ono-woek stands, in such order
as to mako the railway Jumps as short
and convenient as possible. Whom the
cities have boon secured, the one, two
and three night stands, or the 'hlling-in,
as we may term then, are selected. We
keep record of the business done In
each place, 10 that we can form an est J.
mate Of tho probable receipts Of town
and can judge of tho character of tho en-
tertainment best suited to il. Some
towns are good for comedy and bad
, for tragedy, or emotional plays
while others entirely reverse these condi-
tions. Then, too, we have to know ant
} bear in mind the sizes of stages and tn,
possibility or otherwise Of putting up oul
scenery. Many stages arc too small t,
take even tho plainest set wo got Ut
even a single desired date will oftei
cause great Inconvenience, compellin
, us to ask every other manager for tw
weeks head to shift his date other for
ward or backward, or to make us ski,
. the town altogether, or pass it and subso
! quently return at an immensely increased
cost in railroad fares"
! what amountdo you spend annually il
railroadng?"
THAT is something that have nevo
figured out exactly, but l can give yol
the basis for pretty close calculation
My average fares for each company will
be about Sl25 week. For the five com
panios, playing on an average thrifty sevoi
weeks each, this amounted to over 500, 00C
But that sum docs not include tho OK
. penses of the homo company, which gen
e orally travels for eight or ten week prio
to their playing at this thcater, or TIN
=. freight on printing shipped in advance q
each company to every stand at which
plays, or my own expenses on tho frequen
trips | AM compelled to mako. Altogether
the amount we annually pay to railroad
must DO considerably over 100000"
"How many people will be under you
:. management during the coming season /?
b in all snearly 800, and the weekly OK
! penscs will DO fully $4,000. The salaric
, of actors range ali the way from SIS /
y over 5000. With each of the storm
4 Beaten and Lights companies is n ca
) for scenery, built by the Pennsylvaui
n railroad according to my design. Fac
car IL over sixty feet long and contain
y two low trucks, on which the scenes ar
), packed. When tho car arrives in tow
s these trucks are pulled out and hauled t
II the theater, and after the Performance
+ are reloaded and once more put in the car
:, BY this arrangement vast saving o
v time, labor, aud wear and tear is avoided
!, Indeed, If it were not for this plan,
); would be impossible to present such heav,
y pieces in one-night stands. The Lighti
:. requires eleven complete scenes, an
!. though Storm Beaten has not a
!; many, the elaborate character Of SO,
II eral OF the sets caused almost as muc
y stuff TO be carried. With each car got
i every property required in the represen
s tation, except ordinary furniture procur
10 able in every theater, including calciuI
!; lights and machinery for producing tn
" Gurors-b orcslis effects, so that i give iu,
- rs perfect presentation in every particu
lar at, say PEN Yam, as did at tho Unio
l. Square theater. Each company also il
3; cludes ono or two stage carpenters and
property man. The Storm Beaten cas-
with the necessary chorus, numbers cot
siderably over thirty, and the Lights
:, but little less cXacting. Each of the car
- with its scenery, properties, &c, is insure
I, for $1,000"
o THE matter Of printing is one of III
r, most serious with which manager has
deal. Ho has constantly to bo getting u
n new ideas aud devices, or he will be- 10
~ very seriously in tho lurch by more actiy
l. competition In each play great variet
y ofwiudow and wall paper has to be got "a
l. Some arc single sheets, and some immen,
!. stands which consist Of from twenty -for
y TO fifty sheets of paper each, sOmetim,
II costing rs much as SO or "a stan,
Many cities will take twenty such stand
!, besides vast quantity OF threo-sho,
y hilla mud Minlnw lithnrrnnhs IN ~