The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-03-02
LITE ToPros IBoUr owl.

crime he win b greatly missed in the Tender
lotn, where he has practiced politics and scat
tered humor for many years. Mr.. Berliner has
never been ahabitious for himself. His special
ty has been the training Of unknowns. These
unknowns have usually been classified By
Mr.. Berliner after election AZ ALSO rans;' but
he has always been prompt TO assert that they
got the worth Of their money in experience.
Several years ago Mr.. Borliner bacFed an I'M
known for the Assembly. He coached him in
his speeches. and he instructed HIM in the gen.
tic art OF Handwriting. Then he started out
to make a house to house canvass for his candi-
date among the colored voters in his district.
One Of the characteristics of the prospective
the fact that he smokes very good cigars and
o SS stG pSsts E iart &h s@pSMly y. o b. shi% in .t his ya OTt
on bis canvass he had bis own r eood c staFs1iH IN his his
allied with cigars which when lighted sent out
ton Prom the Board OF Health. Mr.. Berliner
distributed, these cheap cigars on his rounds In
them hypnotized themselves into the belief that
MT. gerliner;, UnioEtunateiy for This economi.
and when ne turned up at tho FIFTH Avenue Ho;:
tel that evening. he gave away half q dtzen Of
after these smudses had been lighted the hotel
detective complained Of the odor. Berliner's
purchased these cheap cigars for the voters.
II sun printed the story. and every colored
voter In the district revolted. Berliner's man
was b aten. and Berliner himself was sad. As
q slight recompense for these bad cigars he has
voter In his district as soon as he gets settled in
the Canary Islands.
Some fncts about the champagne business in
this town which were surprising to the men who
heard them were told by an agent for one of the
best known brands Of that wine, In q lawyers
office.
at is a fact" ne said, that the sale of cham.
payne was satisfactory last year. but the ex.
pense Of disposing of this wine was increased so
enormously that the margin OF profit now Is
very small. For instance, a recent big dinner
was given in this city at which the guests were
the very class Of men among whom It wns to
our advantage to push our wines. After sew
eral conferences. the men in charge Of the dinner
agreed to servo only three brands of champagne
II the agents representing them would send q
check for ST. 900 TO the association. We agreed
to the terms, and in behalf of my house I sent
them a check for my third Of the 81 900. It
was, OF course, an advertisement for our wines.
dinner. do you supposei just Us, and you can
figure the profit OF them yourselves. Now let
have in my Office a File Of letters a foot high
from men as conspicuous in social life in this
as saying that there is a letter from him among
them. because there isn't-and each writer asks
for a bonus of some sort because he is willing to
ing to give. OF course, It Is understood that the
butler in serving it should mention the brand.
What is more. have occasionally sent a case of
champagne in answer to such a note il /
thought that the advertisement would be worth
II. So you sec all is not profit in my business
by a long shot.
When Josef Holman was a boy wonder, en-
wed by boys and girls who were p!odding over
tvc-finger exercises in the winter of 1888, his
portraits stood on MANY a piano, and his face
was as familiar as that of any celebrity of the
day. He was an unaffected boy, and there
was no indication that the attention which he
received had turned his youthful head. He
was grave and seldom smiled. His short legs
dang!ed from the piano stool when he turned to
acknowledge applause with a duck Of his head.
and the memory of him as he was then has been
cherished by many a little maid who has since
heightened her skirts. The picture of Josef Hof-
ment to these young women. for the boy won
der is ten years older, and in appearance he is,
e,%ixt 81 and and 'P betWes sa"'rg The ssp, TopeR IT. m1 5sse
lovers have lost little Josef Hofmann, and
they are not prepared to, accept the young man
as 4 substitute. One of the best known pianists
in New York now was in his day a boy wonder
in England and in this country. When he
of little assistance, and he had to begin all
over again to make u name for himself, and
associate him With the youngster of more than
twenty years ago.
Some idea of the scale on which opera
will be given at the Metropolitan next winter
may be gathered from the fact that Maurice
Grau has already made contracts by which he is
responsible for $s2O.O0O. That does not, of
course. include many expenses that will subse.
quently arise, but only contracts made many
months In advance. Mr.. Grau has computed
that it will be necessary for every performance
to represent $4,000 in order to enable him to
get through the season successfully. There
are many audiences that represent $4,000 dur.
ing a season. but they are not so common as
some persons suppose. A season OF sixty eight
performances here in New York with an aver
age attendance amounting to $4,000 would
show that New York had spent somewhat
more than 400. 900 for the seventeen weeks of
opera. But there is the road tour OF the com
pany. as well as the sunday night concerts. to
bring the sum up to the amount necessary to
scenery at the theatre, for which $50. 900 has
been subscribed by the stockholders. and 1t is
will prove an economy for the management.
The singers are presumably asking a little bit
more than they have ever dons before, as has
been their custom in previous seasons. 1t
was chiefly n question OF salary that delayed
Nine. Melba's, final engagement, and her terms
are considerably higher than they were last year.
Nine. Media was not so overwhelming an attrac-
ton of that season as the public supposed. The
formances represented an advance of only about
81. 900 each, The average receipts of the Dam
rosch q Ellis season were about $4,000 a night,
and tho season resulted in n profit of between
$25, 600 and S3O,OOO to the firm. But the com
pany was not expensive compared 70 the regu-
lar metropolitan organization.
A Fifth avenue photographer has lately COM
pletcd a system by which his pictures OF babies
have become famous. He has discarded all the
familiar expedients of his profession to per.
"uade very young children to submit to the