The times., 1898-07-03
THE HAMMER ERsTE|N BENEFIT
The Greatest Affair Ever Given
in This Country.
THE WAR TAX ON THEATERs
metropolitan Openings Al nOunced.
Bright Verse by Theatrical Peo-
pIe-StriiNinG Humor i'm Profess
sionaI Advertisements other
Items of Interest.

Probably never in the history of the {
American Stage has there been given
testimonial Of fbe magnitude and great
ness of thaI rendered Oscar Hammer
stein on last Wednesday night al five of |
Gotham's biggest amusement places
Not only was the affair remarkable in I
its enterprise and the returns made but |
the attention of theatrical wiseacres
everywhere has5been claimed by the un-
usual and universal generosity shown in |
the arrangements. The moment that |
the entertainment was suggested every
thing that could be required was vulun- /
teered. Theaters. printing. lights. news
paper advertising and other commodi- I
ties were offered free of any charge !
whatever. Withic~a week over a thou |
sand players Of the first order had ten
dered their services, and managers who |
had been at sWord's points for some years |
acted on the same committees in con-
ducting the affair. The one petty bit of
/ meaningless meanness brought out by
| the whole thing was in the refusal of the
| Lambs Club to appear because the bene-
fit had been arranged BY a daily journal
| for which IL felt some antipathy. But
| then no one ever accused the Lambs OF
/ possessing any spare manhood in their
/ systems.
! OI course Tor tniS WOndeTiui entnuS-
! iasm there was some motive and that mo-
! tive was simply Mr.. Hammerstein's per-
| sonal popularity. For there is not an
| other manager in the country so well
| known. and there is certainly not another
| one so generally respected. During his
! long term OF labor he has shown con-
/ sistently his candor, his honesty, his en-
| ergy, and his ambitious purpose. During
the palmy days his was always the rcadi-
! est hand to help a fellow creature and il
was only seemly that when misfortune
! had oYertaken him and serious financial
! cmbarrassments threatened to sweep him
off his feet his friends should rally round
/ him in an effort 10 secure a cum of suf-
| hcieut size to give him another start"
MIR. Hammerstein's fame is by no
| means purely local. Every city that can
! boast an amusement-loving population
must know Of his work and himself. It
has been said that he built half the the
| aters in New York. Certain Il is that he
has, at one time or another, managed
| the most important ones. Roster and
Bial's Music Hall and the Harlem Ope-
ra House were both I'm his hands and.
his reforms ia the first building did as
/ much 10 perpetuate hIgh-class vaude-
vile throughout the country as any
thing else. Some years ago Mr. Ham
merstein sunk all his other interests in
erecting this c0untry's most magnificent
y -
under one roof he had three ;heaters
running at time, and here he labored
for advanced art as few men have, The
costliness of the building. the heavy ex-
penses. some mistakes in manag cement.
and the fact that the scheme was ahead
of its time. served to make The enter
prise a failure. Over 81. coo coo was lost
and Mr.. Hammerstein became bankrupt
His genius as an Inventor has often
! brought the manager 20 this city cor
| varying periods and the Patent Office has
many models of his talent. The --latest.
neckue, which can be ref3ided forty
times without washing has Just been en-
, tered. Mr.. Hammerstein is also a COM
poser of merit, many Of his operas hav-
ing elected fnaeh praise
Wednesdays testimonial Included en-
tertainments in the Gar-en Theater
Madison Square jAmphitheater, Madison
Square Roof Garden. the Harlem Opera
House and the Harlem Music Hall 4.
the iirst-na med place Of amusement a
minstrel performance Was given that
5 fully equaled that of the Lambs In the
9 program was George Primrose William
H. West. George Thatcher. Willis p.
SWeatnam, Frank Cushman, the German
Brothers. Hughey Dougherty Isad0re
e Witrnark PAUL Steindorfr, Rose Cosn-
i Ian, Alice Shaw, Andrew Mack. Clara
. Lipman, Joseph Herbert, Dan DAILY,
I Madge LessiHg. Maud Hollins. Seryais
G Leroy, Edouard Jose NJ. MedYedeT.
d Henry +. Dixey Louis Mann. Alexander
n Clark, Nina Ainscloa, Marie Dressler,
a Louis Harrison. Belle Thorne Della
L Fox, Julius Steger. Willie Collier Mamie
7 Chail. Signors Melini, Dali and Diana, OF
y the Italian Opera Company, in a scene
from "Cavaileria Rusticana. and Wal
2 ter Jones, Marshal P. Wilder, Lee Iar-
l, rison and others. in Richard Carries bur
, lesque Weighed on Yeast"
The people seen in the Amphithaatel
6 were Gustave Kerker, kid" Mccoy, Ed
win Bennetto. Burke and Andrus. jaime.
: J. Corbett, the Seymours. the Martels
RONALD Brothers, Bob Fitzsimmons
:, Goggin and Davis. Ernest Hogan, Charles
. B. Hanford and the Twelfth Regimen
: Band. There was also a cake walk il
e which 100 of the best-known people in tn
- country took part, and bicycle race
;, participated in by thirty stellar come
dians.
On the roof the performance was givel
!, by the Columbia Phonograph Band
- Harry Kelly Trixie FerganZa, Lone,
- Haskell, Lafayette, Alice Atherton, Rutl
: White. Amorita and Rices Sailor Bal
n let, Matthews and Buiger, May Howard
a George W. Monroe, Arthur Deacon, Al
- II. Wilson, Jennie Yeamans Jane
:, Thornton. May Belfort, Gus Williams
> Marguerite Sylvia, Tony Pastor, Bessi
= Bonehill. the Rogers Brothers. Joseph
n inc Gassman, and the managers of tn
= Biograph.
"a The presentations in Harlem were c
; equal excellence and all drew immens
&c houses Something like $50, 900 will b
: netted for Mr.. Hammerstein, and Me-
- York has surpassed even the big benef
+ recently given to an old English favorit
= in London.
k Perhaps the most ridiculous of the man
re absurd things in the recently-passed wa
J. revenue bill is the tax on theaters. Nc
1t only Is the thing manifestly unjust. br
le it is lily digested and badly arranged
is Places of amusement are now rated to th
V. fullest extent-far beyond what the
r. should be-and further progress in ths
d. line is nothing less than shameful. Tn
Id stage is an educational institution an
should be regarded and respected as sucl
D. Managers are as patriotic as other peop
is and willing to do all in their power for tt
e. Government. but this last burden seen
le a bit too much.
n Besides this fact the makers of the me-
le law seem to have had neither knowledg
ar of what they were doing or commo
sense BY the bill the most insignifcar
Id house in the country Is taxed as niue
TX as the most prominent. In other words
H. a rural theater with annual gross rev(
n. nues of $4,000, the profits from whic
ss may not be more than 81 900, must pay
)b the Government as much as a metropol
lg tan house, the revenue from which ma
exceed 100000 a year. The whole thin
y; is absurd on the face Of it.
IN Maud Haslarn received letter la.