The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-04-25
WHAT JOHN STETSON WAS.
/ Most PICTURESQUE Figure in the
Amusement World.

Amusement World.
&Born With Shoestring," He Leaves Mil
lions to His Young Widow-His Varied
Enterprises, His Treatment of Show
People, and Stories of the Boston Man
ager.
Probably the most picturesque figure
in theatrical affairs in this country was
John Stetson of Boston, whose varied
career was ended by death on Saturday
morning, says the New York Sun.
81 started life with shoestring, and
I've got the shoestring yet" was Johns
homely statement of the fact that from
dingy poverty he had risen to affiuenoe.
The dispatches from Boston say that
the estate of this unusually snrewo
Yankee will amount to from ss,ooo'ooo
to SS, 000. 900. AS boy he drudgeo lor
pittance. Grown to manhood, he al
lowed no sentimental consideration TO
stand in the way of his money getting.
3, The Brahmins of Beacon street and the
exclusive circles of the Back Bay IN BIS
hon neyer cot.oned to Stetson. After he
had become in devious ways the owner
of fat accounts in dozen of Boston's
leading financial institutions, and had
taken unto himself young and comedy
wife. fresh from the sawdust arena, John
made break into Back Bay society.
He reared upon the most commanding
place on Commonwealth avenue row of
brown-stone fronts. On the corner lot
the then solid citizen let architect, build
er, and furnisher have full sway.
There John Stetson, once double
Cross sprinter, at one time the recipient of
revenues from queer sources, and always
q sneerer at aristocracy, erected his man
zion. John sold the other houses in the
row to solid merchants, presumably sub
stantial bankers, and other men of
apparent means. But he maintained as
q residence the palace which overlooks
the plaza on which the statue of Left
Ericsson commands attention. Weavers
of carpets, designers of furniture, carvers,
decorators, and vendors of bric-a-brac got
carte blanche when the Stetsonian order
went forth to fit up residence among
the blue bioods of the Back Bay.
In that magnificent home, bluff,
homely John Stetson and his attractive
wife, without chick or child, lived their
lives until the visitor most feared by the
head of the house made his appearance
on Saturday last at the hour when John
Stetson usually ''opened a bottle" when
down town. Residents of the Back Bay,
with few, very few, exceptions, never
darkened the doors OF the Stetson man.
sion. Ex-Gov. Ames was one of the few.
TIE biggest dry goods merchant in Boston
was another. In the hallway of the
Stetson house stands a magnificent
bronze, life-size figure, 1.-The Dancing
Girl" That was gift to the man of
few friends from ex-Gov. Ames. At one
time the bronze added attractiveness to
the furnishings of saloon which con-
.ributed to Stetson's income.
Passing over Stetson's earlier career
cation office Of a paper on which he
held mortgage, it is in
beresting to note just how this unique
figure made his way in commercial and
theatrical enterprises. 1t has long been
q saying In Boston:
"If John Stetson backs that scheme, !
want slice of it."
Stetson, after the war, ran minstrel
show, then got possession of that oldtime
variety show house, the Adelphi, in Bos-
ton, back of the present emporium of
Jordan, Marsh & Co. At the Adelphi,
Stetson's abilities as a driver of men and
performers were first made
known. Woe, indeed, was the lot of the
performer who went on at the Adelphi
and failed to come up to Manager Stet-
sons expectations. Two weeks notice
was not necessary in those days. If the
gallery or the pit shouted disapproyal
the alert Stetson coinoided with the yer.
dot, and he gave the order:
"Pay that stiff off damned quick and
throw him out of the stage door,"
Then John got into the management of
the old Howard Athe naeum, probably III
lUS QEy one OIL Inc p6Sb paying variety
houses in America. There he made his
first big money as manager. 1t was
early in the '70's. big money for good
jurns'' was Stetson' s motto, but no con-
;ideration for failure could be expected
rom him. His subsequent ownership of
more pretentious play houses, including
he Globe of Boston, is a matter of his
.ory. His management of Booths Thea
re and the Fifth Avenue in New York,
ls well as other houses of amusement are
equally well known. AS speculator in
productions and as hacker of stars or
he was wonderfully shrewd,
md in the main successful.
Leading men, first ladies, chorus girls,
musical directors, and all associated with
The stage, stood, as a rule, in terror of
5he Boston man. He had none of that
dne regard for the artistic which ID sup
posed to sway some of the latter day i'm
pressarios. To Stetson men and women
On or about the stage, especially IF under
bis control, were cattle, devoid of sense,
oereft Of feeling, land entitled to draw
alary as thief might get away with