St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-04-08


--viorm speaker by one or two motives; first
to see man whose life in other fields has
been famous or notorious, or to hear man
whom the world recognizes as great humor-
ist, like Mark Twain, or great orator like
Colonel Ingerso.
John B. Cough was actor rather than an
orator. He was one of the most superficial of
men intellectually, vet he could tell story
and act it. in a way that would have given
him equal fame as comedian; and by the
energy of his defamation, and enthusiasm
with which he had power to fill his audi
enees, he could work them up to the highest
pitch of excitement, or move them to tears.
We're another like him to appear, he could
achieve even greater success, for that
church-going constituency, who regard the
theatre wicked are notayerse to acting like
Coughs, that is staged in the garb of propriety
and with the name of a high purpose behind
it.
gentleman, himself well-known lecturer
and who has studied this question closely for
years, but does not wish me to use his name
in this connection, says: But few people,
outside of the business, have any idea of the
number of men engaged the year round as
lecturers, or the perfection of the machinery
through which these lecturers are brought
before their audiences. They have something
like this, but in much smaller way in Eng
land and her Australasian colonies, but the
lecture system, as we understand it, is thing
unknown on the continent of Europe
From the same authority 1 learned that
there are scores of local ''lyceum bureaus" to
be found in all our large cities, that the bust
ness for the whole country is done by four
large, we'll organized and splendidy equipped
concerns. These are the ltedpath of Boston,
with branch in Chicago; the Slayton of
Chicago with branch in New York; the Star
Bureau of New York, and Major Ponds bureau
in the same city. These four concerns have
national reputation, and to use their phrase
ology, ''thev handle such attractions only as
have national interest"
Before speaking more fully of Lecturers and
Lyceums in the broader sense, it may be well
to glance at the smaller agencies that are to
De found in all our cities and which are ready
Din the shortest notice to supply 'talent" for
one night or for a regular course, for the
public hall or for the club house and the par
lor. In all the small towns clustering about
our larger cities, there are literary social
associations that give public entertainments,
for the sake of the amusement they afford, or
in order to replenish their treasures. The
same is true of many of the city and country
churches in the winter season, SO that there
is constant demand for illustrated lectures,
often with the addition of music or for enter
tainments OF more varied character, in
which a number of attractions appear
The committee, representing the commun-
70 n cd tl,o 10 I,o
benefited financially, calls on the manager of
the lyceum or entertainment bureau in the
nearest city, or communicates with him by
correspondence. and agree with him upon the
time, the talent to be supplied and the
terms. With such people the lecturer, who
requires the whole evening to himself, is not
popular, they want variety, and the lyceum
manager finds it to his advantage to supply
it. musical quartette," each usually ga
distinguished soloist, or "a musical phenome-
non on many instruments, ''a story teller"
''a reader" with a ventriloquist or sleght of
hand performer make up the talent furnished
by the bureau for from fifty to one hundred
or more dollars a night. The bureau mana
ger pays his artists from five to twenty dol
lars a night net depending on their popular
ity, but he always manages it so that not less
than ten per cent of the receipts come to
himself As he may have from one to ten or
more parties out every night in season. the
profits of a properly managed local bureau
are not insignificant Track is kept of the
talent, and some of these people are ''booked"
for weeks or months ahead, and very often
ability developed through the lyceums, finds
larger field on the recognized stage.
Americans are not only the best story tellers
in the world, but they delight in stories more
than any other people. This fact is SO we'll
understood by those journalists who keep
abreast of the times, that stories, humorous
graphic or dramatic, find place in our most
crowded newspapers. Indeed, every separate
report in q newspaper has come to be known
as "a story" The public entertainers have
awaited themselves of this taste, and the con-
sequence is an eyer-ncreasing supply of
''story tellers,' good, bad and Indifferent,
principally the latter, who are ready to mar
ket their mimctic and narrative powers. A
few of these platform story tellers, like Alfred
E. Pearsau and Marshall z. Wilder. are men
of marked ability. but it must be confessed
the great majority are a delusion and snare.
and might be eliminated from the crudest
programme to its great advantage.
But while the entertainment bureaus fire.
quently employ lecturer and the great lee
ure bureaus frequently send cut a combina-
ton their methods and the fields of their
enterprise are entirely different. Each annu-
ally sends out volumnous and handsomely
printed catalogues of their attractions, with
the prices and press puffs attached. "Old
favorites" can always find a profitable mar
ket but no matter the talent. in the lyceum,
as in the library price popularity counts for
everything, nor is this popularity an invari-
able indication of the genius of the enter
tainer.