Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1894-12-06

ia CVnsistihs OF twenty.fon.
sheets. each sheet Axe feet COSTS !, s ~
The bills, as soon as turned IN,
the factory, are distributed by exnrasa
at the orders OF the theatrical 80.
ager, to the various towns at Witt
his company is to appear He knonu
how many each place requires 1Ta.
are so many blank walls. so ~
fences available, and it pays 10 snoa,
just about so much on advertiser, 4
this or that locality. A batch of Hthn
graphs is forwarded to a certain thao
ter in Oshkosh, for example. and -.
theater places them in the hands :.
the local bill-poster whose services /.
regularly employs. The theater nav
for the posting of the bills. rerhars
$50 or $40 week, depending IN ,ba
character Of the shows. For paes
very little advertising would be ,,ona
The advance agent of the co,nnan,
arrives in town a week or ten dar.
ahead of the company. He gives ~
ders to the bill-poster as to what nart.
of the city are to be billed. etc IN
bill-poster controls fences and waps
all over. When new building ooas
up he rents the fence around II H.
business Is to keep an eye on and i
secure all good places for posting nd.
vertisements He has board on
which all the advertising spaces con.
trolled by him are marked, with the
nGATlg oil ~ Es.la
glance how many sheets each one win
hold. Brass pegs show the present Ia.
cations of bills for each theater tba.
employs him. Wooden pegs indicate
the location of job work !. e.. com.
mercial advertisements.
Thus the bill-postar knows Just whs,
space he has available and the loca.
ton of every bill posted. On Wednes
day afternoon he starts into put on,
his work for the following week. On
Friday probably the advance aeen,
comes in and takes down from tho
board memoranda of the locations of
his bills, If he has time he hires A
buggy and drives around to look at
them. In case he finds a damaged
sheet or a date missing he refers the
matter to the bill-poster for correc.
ton. The board described is divided
up into routes, each of which Is given
to man, who does the posting and
is responsible for the work on his
route. 1t is not uncommon for the
bill-poster to own the lumber In the
fences on which his bills are put
For fences and dead walls the bill.
poster usually has contracts by the
year. In payment for the use of small
surfaces in conspicuous places he gives
admission tickets to the theater These
are called billboard tickets. Usually
they are for Monday or Tuesday night,
the desire being to fill the house well
when the company opens. Small 18th.
ographs are made expressly for ex-
posture in the windows of saloons and
shops. Date slips are printed to be
pasted on them. For the exhibition Of
these, which are distributed by the adj
vance agent, admission tickets are
given.
In three or four cities of the United
States. Washington, D. G., is one Of
these-the social purity people have
attacked what they term the indecency
of theatrical posters. Al the national
capital the war was begun against
cigarette pictures. subsequently i
was extended to colored Autographs on
the fences At present in that town
wherever an advertising picture shows
a woman's legs above the knee strip
of white paper is pasted across 1t. The
effect thus produced is sometimes quite
ludicrous. the result being rather to
suggest than to disguise impropriety.
The pastors are put ON by the Dill
poster with the assent of the theaters,
which do not care to antagonize the
social purity folks. II they chose to re-
sist it is probable that the law forbid
ding the display of obscene pictures
could not be made to apply against the
bills.
The writer, when small boy, once
paused on the street to watch Dill
poster at work. The latter was dec
Grating a blank wall with some SNOWY
pictures advertising a comic opera
company. As he performed his task
with busy brush and pail of paste,
bundle of show bills under his arm
the man looked down upon the youth
full spectator and said:
"Young man, don't you 20 to see TINS
here iniquity. Play-actin' is damnatlou
and leads to hell. There's not SOU
among the critters whose picters ! u
a-pastin up that has chance OF ger
tin to heaven. II you don't want 70
share their fate you'll stay away from
the wicked theayter."
Evidently he considered that DIS
business compromised him, but he sac
rifced his feelings for the sake OF eeV
ting living.