The evening times., 1898-07-29
WILL PRAISE You ron PAY.
The Social Advertising Agent VIII
Make You Famous.

make ON F0mOuH.
/ am proud to be able to offer a sugges-
tion to the impecunsous. says London
journal. Not to the impecunious who
envisage existence 50 casually and airily
IN the East END. but to those more hard
oppressed unfortunates who haunt May
fair staircases and whose means of sup
port are as hypothetical as their pedi-
gree Is authentic. Do we not know them
well, men and women with suave man.
ners, making pathetic efforts to be In
the movement. harassed by a hundred
cares. with unpaid-for coats and dresses
upon their backs, and a perpetual forced
smile upon their lips? When their af-
fairs come to crisis, these needy folk
take desperate measures. The men some
times become wine merchants agents or
tobacconists' touts, take positions as ma
5or-domo to the newly rich. intimidate
their friends on the subject of coal or life
:nsurances. and think themselves fortu-
nate il they secure the post of paid Sec
retary to a club. AS for the women
well, what do they not do nowadays?
They open bonnet shops. go out to do
massage. and chaperon cocaine mansacs.
They take up palmistry. clairvoyance.
and lead ladies bands" i even know
a weil-born woman who has seriously
started on the career of a professional
conjurer!
y Now. many of these younger scions OF
decaying families are charming enough.
They are well-mannered, excellent talk
ers. and have the entry into real society
In London and in the counties. They
would not be asked out If they were not
amusing: and their versatfon-their
eyer-fiowing. omniscient talks listened
to when more prosperous and stolid folk
can hardly get a hearing. They have
known everybody and been everywhere,
and they are nearly always amateurs Of
the arts and dilettanti of music litera-
ture and the drama. Now. II man can
make a comfortable living by recon-
mending wine or cigars to his friends and
acquaintances. why should ne not do the
same for the actor-manager and the hap
less author? Why not turn what Is some
times described as an honest penny by
pressing comedies and romances. farces
and biographies, instead OF cigarettes or
Chateau Latte? For everybody knows
and no one better than a manager or a
publisher-that, while the minority may
be swayed by the views of the critic who
knows whether a play or a book Is art
and literature or artifice and claptarp.
the ma jority are guided by whether they
like" or don't like thing, and by
what other people say of 1t.
So here We have a new field OF enter
prise for men and women who can COM
mand a hearing at the dinner table, and
who are listened to with Difference by the
boudoir fire on autumn evenings. 1t Is
open to anyone with brains and position
to make the reputation of that Interesting
specimen of human horticulture. bud
ding author. of that astronomical atom.
the rising star actress. Since We must all
talk. and the age, moreover, Is nothing IL
not material-why should not the social
advertising agent be handsomely paid for
his pains? If the man about town or the
club woman can make the vogue of
Smiths new play or Browns new novel,
will there not be strenuous competition on
the part of the publishers and managers
to secure their services? They would
have. of course. their retaining fee exact
ly like any distinguished queens Counsel
or persuasive attorney general The re-
sources of their eloquence. the weight of
their special pleading. would all be en-
ployed on behalf of their clients, and
soon, no doubt should my idea take root.
it will be considered no more derogatory
for a man to defend a writer's abomi-
nable style than it would be to appear
on his side should he be tried for the
possibly more serious crimes of murder or
forgery.