The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-20
JUST BLACKMAIL, AS USUAL
WORLDS ATTACK ON THE "THE-
ATRICAL TRUSTn EXPLAINED.

Copy or . Latter 70 Charles Frohman Demand"
iuE n Theatre and n Company OF stars
Grntisfor n Denent for the "vyorld's Christ.
mas Tree F~und"-Demau Promptly Rejected
The partnership of several theatrical mama
gers which has been called the theatrical
trust or Syndicate" has recently been made the
subject Of a series OF attacks in the World. The
reason for these attacks came TO light yestor-
day. The theatrical managers who have united
their forces to n certain extent in order to ad-
vance their interests are Charles Frohman,
Albert Hayman, Samuel F. Nixon, A. l.. En-
LANCER, Marc Klaw, and J. f.. Zimmerman.
They constitute the so.called trust" The first
of the Worlds attacks on them was printed on
Nov. 30, and said that injunctions had been &C.
cured to prevent the trust" from interfering
with the success of an oporotta given at the Ca
sino and called 1879" This performance
had never met with success.
The attacks continued and grew particularly
violent after tho 9TH Of December. Nobody
knew why, and as the matters Of the Theatrical
trust concern chiefly out-of-town theatres,
the Now York public was not particularly in
terested. although a lot of actors who were
described as victims Of the trust" took tho
trouble to deny 1t.
The motive of these attacks became evident
to Charles Frohman on Dec. 2, and it was soon
made known to the rest of his associates in the
trust" The following letter was received by
Mr.. Frohman on that day:
my DEAR MIR. FRoHMAN: For its Christ.
mas tree fund, and IA order that every
present of some kind. the Horid wishes to
give q monster benefit on the afternoon of the
that Christmas week is usually a dull one in a
theatrical way, the attraction must be unusually
fHT Ford y has sr eonc q SsST tbi, Somewhat a9p tnfs r S%Sitio oGs
plan;
have produced there on the afternoon before
Christmas the pest act of each of four Of tho
most successful. plays In tho city.
'Of course, the ideal programme for a per.
Adams, MT. Drew, Mr.. Goodwin, and one Of
the present Garden attractions. That would, we
think, make the most novel and most successful
cntertainmcnt ever given. but any ono of these
great attractions would be enough to make a
great show. Ifthe programme could not be made
up entirely of your attractions. you would, of
stars should da APPEAR o eDi the biIl. as The No % amount TIne Of
advertising the Uorid would give such a ven
ture would be practically unlimited; As rep;
say that the show would be doomed in the
AS the time before Christmas is very short,
great haste is necessary. l therefore beg of
SOgd i tS IS s,T fnd 6his w matter sou y spo a6 sisr or M %fiifnslq tn
do toward the benefit. Respectfully y yours,
Representing the editorial manager Of the
TporId."
Mr.. Frohman refused this request and tho
attacks were for several days considerably
more venomous than they had been. On Satur.
day the article was apologetio and apparently
the whole business has petered out. There was
nothing in the World Of yesterday about the
trust" Maude Adams, John Drew and Nat
Good win are the principal stars Of the trust"
managers. The Empire and the Knickerbocker
are trust" theatres. 1t was this letter that
made clear after one week Of denunciation the
motives Of the World. and when the offer to
stop the persecution on condition that some OF
the actors and theatres be lent for the use OF
the paper was refused, the attacks were again
resumed. They dragged along until Saturday.
but 1t was too late to blackmail tho managers
into paying for the Worlds Christmas tree
fund.