St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-03-16

of the neatly uniformed column which rep
resented the City Of Churches in the great
pageant at Washington last week. He is now
doing the next best thing with his most am
bilious, and what he believes to be his best
work. He is make present of 100. 900 cop
les of it to the committee who have charge
of the Barthold statue pedestal fund and
who appear to badly need gift OF some kind
Congress has failed to appropriate the $780,
600 asked for. The colossal lady is to be here
in May next, and if the pedestal commit
tee do not hurry up she will have to borrow
some Chicago girls shoes TO put her weary
feet in. If the committeeman can manage
to sell hundred thousand copies OF Harry
Kennedy's national anthem at so cents each,
they will have made a big stride toward pro-
curing foothod for the superb offering OF
the municipality of Paris to the United States.
The disgraceful indifference of wealthy New
Workers and rich men elsewhere, in a mat
ter which concerns the whole nation, as we'll
as the locality to be Immediately benefited,
will soon be keenly felt, both here and
abroad, and then, perhaps, the purse strings
will begin to loosen when it is too late to
convince the Parisians that their gift is not
accepted in the sorriest and most sordid
spirit.
Knowing that Harry Kennedy had recently
refused some very liberal engagements on
the stage, l asked him if the business of pop
ular song-making was very profitable. He
puckered up his mouth as if he were about
to holc conversation with one of his own
lay figures and gave long low whistle: "Hit
them just once" he replied with enthusiasm,
''and you'll find out. How much do you
think made out of the cradle?" he asked.
said had not the remotest idea and he
rather took my breath away when he replied
II netted $40, 600 on that song. I bought
my first brown stone house out of it, and I
lived in clover while it retained its hold on
the popular ear. Fl. P banks who wrote
Silver Threads Among the Gold, sold it
for $35, and the man who bought it
MADE THIRTY-FIvE THOUSAND DOLLARS
out of it to my certain knowledge. The
secret of the business is this: To make
money at song writing you must be your own
music publisher That / have always done
and / have no cause to complain, 1t is
rather curious, but [ can somehow always
tell when l am going to hit the popular taste.
You have got to watch it closely, and if you
can ring in little bit of real pathos without
appearing to strain after it you are nearly
always sure to catch on. 1t is my experience
that the American people are wonderfully
sensitive to the pathetic, but it must be the
genuine article.''
In the course of conversation Harry Ken
nedy told me that he had completed the first
act of an American comic opera, the first
scene of which is laid on Governo r's Island.
He introduces all his people, chorus included,
within the first fifteen minutes. The idea is
quaint and the opening and closing chorus is
admirably conceived. He expects to finish
it by the commencement of next season and
it would be unfair under the circumstance
to reveal any more concerning it.
V.
The town is alive with theatrical gossip, as
the close of the season which has, outside of
New York and Brooklyn been one of the
most disastrous in the history of traveling
combinations, draws nigh. All the employed
and unemployed gentlemen, with very long
ulsters and very shiny hats who hang around
Union square on these opening DAYS of early
spring, are talking of the recent breakup
on the road of one of the most popu-
lar combinations of this or any other
season. The cause was not bad business or
heavy expenses. One of the leaders in it.
whose presence was essential in every play in
the repertoire of the company, went off la
Joe Emmett. Every effort was made to put
the brakes on him, but in vain Prospec-
lively profitable engagements were cancelled,
the members Of the company were paid up
in full and, much to the disgust of every
body concerned but one, they were disband-
ed with at least two good months of work
lost to them and the prospect of passing
many weary weeks without salary.
In this case there was, however, no disgrace
full public exhibition of weakness, and out
side theatrical circles the cause of this disas-
ter is unknown. Nor, in justice to the good
fellow who "slipped up'' without max
ing an exhibition of his weakness: should
it be.
New York politicians are waiting with
bated breath for a sign from the sphinx at
Washington, and Wall street is anxiously
looking out for Jay Gould's return from his
Southern yachting trip. DIoGENEs.