The herald., 1897-02-21

The relations existing between the
newspapers apd the managers of thea
ters has been the subject of considerable
discussion from time to time, on account
of the divided duty that falls to the lot
of the newspaper to perform.
On the one hand the theatrical man
ayers are, as a rule, extremely sensitive
to the utterance of anything in the col
umns of newspaper that may have the
effect of causing the slightest loss Of
patronage and consequent diminution
of their receipts. Some of them go so
far as to expect that in return for ad-
vertising they should also be exempt
from unfavorable criticism upon any of
their productions.
On the o,ner hand the readers of the
papers look for the facts about the en-
tertainments for attending which they
are asked to contribute their hard dol
lars. The public is quick to distinguish
the genuineness of criticism and its
worth, ending by rejecting the counter
felt Consequently it would seem
simple matter for the newspaper man
ayers to come to the conclusion that the
public demands should be satisfied, even
if at the cost of wounding occasionally
the tender feelings of an artist or of
manager
AS a matter of fact, however, the con-
trary policy is more often pursued, with
the result that dramatic criticism has,
outside of the big cities, fallen into the
hands of the reporters; while the active
and energetic press agent in the en-
ploy of the theater manages to procure
the insertion of any amount OF flolld
descriptive writing about the plays and
the players, and as this descriptive writ
ing is uniformly. in the nature. of pane
gyric it is naturally of no real value TO
the public.
Under the caption of THE Stage AMI
the Provincial Press a writer in the
Dramatic Mirror, Alfred Bradley by
name, says some things upon the above
topic worth reading and considering, we
quote portions of his article, as follows:
why is it that the provincial press
will insist upon viewing the drama
much from the same standpoint as 1t
does the petty trades? 1 have been
travelling in this country ahead of Vari-
Gus companies for the past ten years
and, while l have noticed some little I'M
provement in few of the larger cities,
no change for the better has taken place
in those towns known in theatrical par
lance as one night stands.
THE attitude assumed by the papers
toward the local opera house seems to be
this: The opera house is money MAX
ing institution CD, like the butcher shop
and the dry goods store Advertisements
are received and in consideration OF a
considerably higher rate than is paid
by others. and the donation Of passes for
the entire editorial and business staff
of the paper notices are published in ad-
vance, describing the coming perform
ance, and, of course, invariably attest
ing to its merit. These notices are rare
ly, if ever, written by the newspaper
staff, but are supplied by the local man
agement, and published without any
investigation as to their truth. The
length or number of these notices is
regulated not by the respective import
ance of the various attractions, but by
contract-so many per week of a stipu-
lated number of lines. In the larger cit-
les, or week stands such notices are
invariably regulated by the amount of
extra advertising in which the attrac-
tion shares the cost, which, of course,
enables the sorriest fake organization
to get as much recognition as company
oragniZed on the most artistic and legit-
imafe plane and in many cases much
more. The amount of money the man
ager of an attraction can eXpend musr,
of course, be in proportion to his prob
able receipts. and where the policy Of
and production, he has not SO much
margin with which to boom his enter
prise as his brother manager, who has
an Indifferent organization and travels
with the idea that the public enjoys be-
Ing humbugged.
"The mere fact that there is in nearly
every small town a handsome, costly
opera house, and several in each of the
week stands together with schools of
elocution and dramatic societies, testi-
f1es that the provincial cities have as
many patrons of the drama in proper
tion S their metropolitan sisters. MI
Lyman p. Glover. the able critic of the
Chicago Herald estimates that there is
an average of one person In every fam
lily who is some way or other interested
in the drama as an institution and he is
probably rather under the mark than
over It.
Nov, why the provincial press cannot
see the matter in its real light, or a t least
be influenced by the example of their
powerful contemporaries like the New
York Herald, is puzzle. Ii emulates
them fast enough in such matters as
baseball, pugilism, horse racing, fash
ions, scandals and yet it ignores the
grand institution of the theater, which
1t knows well enough takes precedence
over them all, and has, if properly di-
rected, a power for good second only to
that OF the church. It's attention to the
drama however, is limited to a COM
mercial puff now and then upon which
the public has come to place about =
much reliance as 1t does upon the cure
an claims of the patent medicines"
Los ANGELES THEATER.- -"Chim-
mie Fadden," with Charles Hopper in
the title part, will open next Thursday,
and Will fill out three nights a matt
nee.
The following advance notice of the
piece is furnished by the management
for publication:
"The play is founded on the dialect
stories written by Edward ". Town
send story of life on the Bowery and in
the upper walks of society. The story
in brief is that Fadden, an honest and
rather rough species of man, meets with
Miss Fanny, the daughter Of million
aire, who is Summing and after he
has saved her from Insult on the Bowery
he is taken to her fathers house as
servant His experiences there are
comical in the extreme, but a friend of
his tries to burglarize the house. ana
through an error Chimmie fails into the
hands Of the police, but finally escapes
and gets ready to marry { French maid,
styled by him de Duchess.
The first act is played with scenery
modelled from a photograph of a section
of the Bowery. and it is typical of that
locality. While fun is the predominant
ing element, little scenes of love are said