Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-02-28
Theatrical Advertising Ingeniously
Disguised as News.
HOW THE PUBLIC Is GU1LED.
An Aninsa Dealer Rsvsnssd Upon Baxnam-
ssrah Bernhardt - . Self Boozner-The
Tights Humbag Expossd-Lssssr wallach
and HE Theorise.


With a menagerie at his command in the win
ter quarters a, Bridgeport, . lion can At any
time be loosed, an elephant inoited to rampage
| or some other beast impelled to commotion sufii-
| cient to demand publication a. naws Last
| year, when the whole outfit had been brought
| to the city and placed in readiness for exhibit
| tion. word was sent down 10 the newspaper
| offices one morning that an elephant had
kicked up tremendous rumpus. The re-
! porters who went to investigate saw as docile
an elephant M ever was, but his inclas,re was
| shattered. a dos lay dead and an eloquent man
was there to describe the wild scene of brute
rage and humun terror. OF course, there was
| no evidence in rebuttal and no legal rea-
| son to doubt the truthfulness OF the wit
uess During the present week. however, a
dealer In animals has worked q curious revenge
upon Barnum. He imports aud sells all sorts
OF dumb creatures TO showmen. Barnum used
70 be one OF his heavy customers, but )f late has
dealt directly with a German concern So thn
dealer has diverted attention from anything
! that Barnnin may DO, in the way ,f sxtrsn.1us
advertising, by having a baby elephant make
ms WY into the upper story OF An adjaaent
| residence, wedge himself into a narrow ball
way, remain there several days, and finally 5e
taken out by means Of q temporary bridge,
with several accidents accompanying the pro-
cess. SO unusual and interesting was the
matter that the principal morning papers gave
an Illustrated column apiece to il several lays
in succession. Nobody il doing any detective
phant got into the predicnment Anyway, the
esta bliehment Is immensely exploited, and Bar
mum isn't In IL at o time when he ought to be-
SARAH As sELr-BooaER.
The eminent Sarah Bernhardt has put in en-
industrious week ct extra publicity. Sarah has
lot her big dog follow her into . stage scene,
whence he had 10 be led away by her own
hands. She has revived the diamond robbery
device in a new yersion--that is. she has had
mysterious interviews with Detective Byrnes
and has declined TO explain them thus leading
up TO sensational surmises Besides these
things she has been partner with Fanny Dav-
export in public contention over the merits
OF their respective Cicopatras. Sarah is
great ocfress and Il great self-boomer
THE TIGHTS HUMBUG.
But native actress Of minor degree has done
rather a clover thing. too. This was Lille
Vanc. She took an engagement to play a part
in farcicsl piece. and one of the episodes re-
CURED her to emerge into view clad IN the
were to be abashed and amazed by her skirt
less condition and the curtain was to fall
almost instantly. This scene had been given
In town during two months of the play at an
other theater and with no particular comment
upon it; but il seems to have been desired by
Lila to impress herself upon public attention
In tights. She is a notably pretty girl and
clever in her acting. She has demon stra ted
that she Ia also ingenious. A few DAYS before
The production she vowed to reporter that she
would never, never wear the tights which the
directions in her part demanded. Instead. she
would put on top boots, or something else that
would he princcly enough, without reducing
her legs to bare outlines in public. Then the
manager, Of course. declared that she would
have to wea: the tights or resign her engage
WRtI ha nh ~.
audience was alert to the extraneous interest of
the occasion. Lila dashed out at the right
time aud WAS cos!umed obediently, but when
the merry audience insisted npOn recalling
her to the stage she declined until the uproa.
had nearly spent itself and then came out with
q cloak drsping her persou completely.
NOT FOR MoDEsrYs SAKE.
1t WIS a wsll-planued and neatly executed
piece of humbug, but there was one simple rea-
son why it did not deceive expert observers.
Dark tights matching the res. of the costume in
colo: are inconspicuous and do MOI suggest
nudity at all. Lila knew that fact of coIlrse
as all actresses do. But did she seek that refuge
Of modest,? Oh, no. Her tights were of that
highest yet bright shade OF lavender which
passes on the stage for flesh color and were in
radical contrast to the dark purple double. and
cloak. which set them forth as wildly as though
something had suddenly rendered set of con-
cealRg skirts transparent
TIE SCHEME DIDN'T WORK.
The waste baskets in the office Of big news
papers are the receptaces of most of the
schemes Of publicity invented by actors. but
here il an instance where. by mischance, the
matter deserves to get into print-in q way
fairly well-kno~n actress wrote out rumo-
TINT she had been privately married to Wall
street broker, and, after this had been dupli-
Gated by the hand of a friend, she inclosed il
to all the New York morning dailies. At tho
same time, and as an essential part of the lob
she wrote with her own pen an equal
Of the story. Doth sets OF communion
tions were carefully placed in envelopes
but an accident happened in tho mailing Of
them. The first lot should have been dropped
into the post office one afternoon just before
the actress started for Philadelphia, but the
servant forgot all about them until late that
night. Next day sho sent the second batch to
the editors by messenger, according to the di-
rectiOn which her mistress had left. The up
shot was that the anonymous accounts of the
marriage did not reach the offices unit. the
same day that the denials arrived. and SO the
actress was exposed as q violent contradictor
of something that had not been published at all.
wALLAcx's DECLINE.
There Is not one fashionable theater In New
York-because there are many. This was not
30 until late years, and now il is called to mind
because Theodore Moss is accused Of wrong
doing as business manager Of the late Lester
Wallack. The accusation implies that Wallack's
decline in public favor, his appeal to charity
by means OF great testimonial entertainment,
and finally his death in comparative poverty.
while Moss became very rich, were proofs that
tho shrewd manager took advantage OF the
spendt thrift habits OF the actor. Without going
into the merits Of the case, which have already
been discussed, the truth may be stated as to
the diminishment and final extinction of the
Wallaek vogue. Twenty years ago the ultra
fashionable people of New York recognized
only one theater as fashionable and that was
wallsck's. They would 60 to the opera at
the Academy Of Music, but for dramatic
entertainment they approved only the things
done ON Wallacks stage. Then came Augustin
Days incursion into the modish field, followed
By A. u. Palmsrs equally successful appeal for
similar support at the Union Square; then by
and Daniel Frohman's at the Lyceum. One
after another these managers gained distinctly
fashionable favor. At the same time public
liking for light operas was cultivated ct the
Casino all the year round, and ut several other
theaters by spell. So our ''exclusive" cotsries
gradually learned to countenance different
theaters and to disregard more and more the
traditionalsuperiorityo of Wallack' productions.
THEORY AND poLLARs.
For years Lester Wallack stuck persistently
and hopefully to the theory, which Is even now
heard reminiscently, that performances ON his
America. But the hard logic OF dollars be-
came ct length convincing, and even the old
comedies. revived however carefully, did not
draw remunerative audiences. Even then
Wallack would not personally acknowledRe his
obsolete condition. He built his new theater