Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-07
THEATRICAL GOSSIP.


on the stage today. Dockstader puts brains
into his business and as much art and re-
fnement as black-face comedy will stand
He talks clearly, and his singing of COON
CITIES is art itself. He has lifted the song
Take Your Clothes and Co." out of the
ruck and made it an artistic performance
His monologue without the burn cork and
eXtravagant clothes would be almost as
witty and enjoyable as it is made by him
with them.
Dockstader is a Yankee. When boy, in
the town of Hartford Conn, he played in
amateur minstrel shows, and danced clogs
with Frank Lawton, the whistler. formerly
of Hoyts forces. In 1878 a lot of Hartford
boys organized a minstrel troupe, of which
Dockstader and Lawton We're end men. and
DockStadcr the principal funny man of the
show. One day Harry Bloodgood, the pro-
prictor of a variety show. came to see the
mlnStrel performance. He was in search
OF recruits, and marked down Dockst adler.
Alter the performance he offered him So a
week and expenses to join his variety COM
parry.
Il would have given s. to go with him"
says Dockstader. in telling about it This
was In 1873. and Dockstader was only sew
entecn years of age. After a short season
with BloodgCod Dockstader joined Whit
more * Clark's Ministries. an organization
which toured the New England states and
CARELESS of merit, was paid 81 a week and
was expected to play in the band.
Dockstader left the road and bought a
variety theater in Hartford which he ran
lof hNe months with great success and
then took his brother to California There
he lost his money. and Joined Harry Sar-
gents New Orleans Mnstres, which was
in the habit of giving cook stoves and
watches as premiums to patrons Sargent
took MOdJeska on the road and left his
MINISTRIES stranded in Sacramento Dock
stader was out 5000 by this move and it
took some pretty tall calculations for him
to reach home again. The Dockstader
Brothers did d double "patter and singing
act attired in white duck trousers. dress
coats and high old-gold hats They took
their act over to kcrrigan's Variety Thea
ter in Jersey City, to perfect it. and STAYED
thefe nine months, until Harry Miner en-
gagged them at $50 week when the Lon
don varieties took them away at 500 a
week. During the season of 1SSO-'Sl thew
joined the CarncrJss Minstrel COMPANY
and the next year went with Haverly.
1hey had an act called the "U S. B. M"
or United States Black Mail They dressed
as postmen, and during their song and
dance tossed cards into the pit and up into
the gallery to show how they delivered let
lerS. The following season they went back
years.
Then came the turning point in the career
OF Dochstader. He met Frank Sddell, who
admired Dockstaders minstrelsy and one
day said to him:
why don't you go into the business for
yourself and buy theater?"
~ takes money to buy theaters," an
How muCh!' asked Siddell
'Oh, only about $1,000" answered Dock
stader.
The moneys in the bank" said siddelI
II m going to Europe"
Nhlie he was gone, Dockstader spent
$4,000 in fitting up a house on Broadway
New York city, which was known as Dock
staders thcater. 1t was a success for two
years and in that time made $4,000, then
the bottom dropped out. The piece that
closed Dockstader's minstrel theater was
The Tallapoosa." adapted by Augustus
lhomas. 1t was farce opera with Dock
stader as fresh water admiral In her
sinking, Dockstader quit the theater $4,000
IN debt But up to the last of the season
ne had been very successful and kept New
orkers very much awake
Dockstader was always most prolific in
ideas and when the Jake Sharp Doodle
trial was going on in New York he got
Henry Guy Carleton to write him a skit on
the subject. Dockstader impersonated Ira
Shafer, the 350-pound New York lawyer.
Shafer's chief eXpletive during the trial
was the word 'B'jectT' Dockstader went
out upon the Rialto and hired an unem-
ployed actor to sit in a box When Dock
stader (as ShafeD came on the stage, this
man was to rise and protest in the name
OF the legal profession against the out
Dockstader listened to this with apparent
amaZement and then. turning to the au-
dience, apologized for the interruption and
said:
Ladies and gentlemen, you are the judge
ana jury: the case is in your hands. Shall
L withdraw the piece or go on?'
The audience arose and howled: Go
on Put him out!' Kill him!"
Then policeman slipped in and took
the actor-lawyer away.
When Bishop. the mind reader
the height of his fame, Dockstader bur-
lesqued him. Someone would hide a knife
in the audience and Dockstader would find
hatchet. This he would bury in the skull
of one of the audience, who would arise in
an offended manner and say: This is an
outrage! l shall report it to the manager"
and would march out with the Ratchet
buried IN his skull. OF course he wore a
cork skull.
Eventually New York grew tired Of min
strels and the day came when it was a
difficult thing to keep the house open. 1t
was a matter of jumping into a hack and
hustling around to borrow $500 here and
as much there, to give performance, and
returning the borrowed money after the
show was over. One morning in such trou-
blous times, the ways and means commit
tee met in a back office to plan a days
campaign TO it came agent of a safe
company to induce Dockstad to buy a
safe wherein to keep his money. There
was eighty cents in the crowd. But Dock
stader was game. He looked through the
safe mans catalogue and said:
Il don't see anything here that's good
enough"
We can build you anything you wish,
Mr.. Dockstader," urged the salesman.
But I've got to have it right away"
answered the minstrel, who had an idea.
So he picked out the best safe in the cata-
logue and said he would take it.
But l want you to take three DAYS in
putting it in he said.
Il can put 1t in in two hours" urged the
agent
oh, no. answered Dockstader 1.-The
first day the safe must stand on the side
walk so that 10000 passersby will know
that this house needs a safe big enough to
keep its money in, and the second and
third days We will put it into the house"
The safe stood outside all day with a
suitable placard on it. The next morning
all the theater hands, in overalls, together
with the safe movers, under the direction
of Dockstader. raised and lowered the safe.
pulled and hauled and swore and Broad
way was blocked all day. Capt. Riley of
the police sent word to the theater that
the safe must go in quickly or he would
come over and arrest somebody Dock
stader begged for another day. but it took
a Gordon of police to manage the crowd i'm
trent of the theater. When the crash came
and the theater was closed, the safe man
got back his property and Dockstader was
nothing out.