Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1898-12-14
A POPULATE RESORT.
The Orpheum of Kansas City Ranks
First with the Best People OF
That Place.

The history of the Orpheum, to-day
probably the most popular theater in
Kansas City, affords an interesting
study. Last January the Walter Or
pheum company of San Francisco,
conducting the Orpheums at Los An
geles and San Francisco, secured a
long lease on the Ninth Street thea
ter, and opened it under the name OF
the Orpheum, as a high class vaude-
vile theater.
Refined vaudeville was a thing
which was t that time unknown in
Kansas City, and it was considered
that a theater in which the perform
ance consist ted of "a number of acts
OF different kinds was a veriety the
ater, and therefore not entitled to the
patronage of people who cared for
their regulations. Manager Martin
Lehman, who came from Los Angeles,
Cal, to take charge of the new
house, set about at once to remove
this false impression. His task was
not an easy one, as the Ninth Street
theater had been SO long devoted to
cheap attra ctions that the public was
slow about patronizing it in any way.
1T cost many an effort to get the
people of the city to understand that
not only a thoroughly respectable,
but a highly meritorious performance
was being given, and that, too, at
prices which seemed rfdiculously
cheap. In a few months all Kansas
City understood that a visit to the
Orpheum was a thing to be looked
forward to with pleasure, and the
patronage of the house has grown at
rate which has astonished even
those who were most sanguine of its
success.
Manager Lehman is not content
with merely giving the public as good
am entertainment as can be found in
any other theater in the city, but he
endeavors to and succeeds in giving
1t better one than can be seen in
any of the other houses. An exami-
nation of the bills which are present.
ed each week will convince any one
familiar with the affairs in the the
etrical world that such is the case.
The Orpheum in Kansas City has
the advantage of being connected
with other houses by the same name
which are located in San Francisco,
Los Angeles, Denver and Omaha, all
being under ONE management. The
Orpheum company is recognized to-
day as the strongest comb ina ton Of
In the world. Performers are gath
cred from every part of the globe.
and expense is the last thing to be
considered in securing new features.
Am example of the enterprise of this
company is to be found in the fact
that it brought to San Francisco
from Buda Pesth, Hungary. the Kna-
ben Kapelle or Boys Hunga rian
band. Before these little musicians
had made one note of music in Amer
lea the Orpheum company had spent
$40, 900 in securing them and trans
porting them to this country. There
is not a civilized country in which the
agents of the Orpheum company are
not constantly at work engaging per-
formers who can present novel and
entertaining acts, and there is no
thea trical circuit in which so many
OF these acts are presented for the
first time in America.
What is true of foreign is also true
OF American alttra ctions. The Orphe-
ums are members of circuit which
includes all the leading vaudeville
houses from Chicago and ST. Louis to
the Pacific coast, and artists who
have the merit are engaged for an en-
tire season, playing one or two weeks
at each theater. In the bills at the
Orpheum will be found not only all
that is best in the way of acrobatic
feats, educated animals, singing,
dancing, instrumental music and gro
tesque comedy, but what is called the
Legitimate stage" is compelled to
give up many of its foremost actors,
who appear in scenes from plays or
in short sketches, amusing, pathetic
or tragic. A few of these names will
suffice to show the class of actors
who appear. Among them are Robert
Downing, the great traged;an; Clara
Norris, the thrilling emotional act
ress; Felix Morris, the distinguished
character actor; Mr.. and Mrs. Edwin
Milton Royle, the well-known stars,
and many others of like prominence.
In arranging his programme Mama
ger Lehman gives the public some
thing of everything each week, and
the fact that the Orpheum has be-
come the popular resort of the ladies
and children of the best families Of
Kansas City attests it's merits and its
TezDecta hilitv