The times., 1899-10-29
THE PASSING SHOW

To the Editor of The Times:
1 should be grateful if you would explain, either
by letter or through the columns OF your paper,
the reason for the raise in prices this week at
the National. For I cannot help feeling that
there must be some method in the madness that
prompts man OF public standing 10 lend him
self TO such a high-handed proceeding, and /
confess my inability to see it, Perhaps l am
merely ignorant OF theatrical affairs, but 1t oC-
ours 10 me that Mrs. Leslie Carter has neither
great expenses or a production warrant
for her elevation Of rates. Richard Mansfield,
who did something Of the kind when he brought
"Cyrano de Bergcrac" TO the Columbia, was
carrying with him hardly fewer than a hundred
people, besides unusually heavy investure. Mrs.
Carter has neither. Her company includes not
more than eight players who have anything i'm
portant TO do, while her force Of supernumeraries
IS quite small The presentation cannot be con-
sidered a costly one.
As in the recent case Of AIaude Adams. this
star has been seen In Washington before and at
the usual cost Of seats. When Miss Adams re-
turned an assured success, it was urged for her
that her performance was infinitely better than
il had been at the Lafayette. | don't know that
any such claim has been made for Mrs. Carter.
but, IN the one instance, it did not and, in the
other, could not form an adequate excuse Sup
posing this statement 10 be well founded does it
not seem that the very persons who paid for
the privilege Of Witnessing untoward render
ing should De those who should be taxed least for
the right to see that same rendering in its per
feet i0ml ! viii admit, with the majority Of
other folk, that both Miss Adams and Mrs Carter
are clever women. Perhaps they are worth study.
ing at - a head But even this concession raises
two not uuimport8Ht questions. Is either a more
able actress than Mrs. Fiske, who Is 10 present
Becky Sharp in Washington without monetary
pyrDtcChnics? II managers of theatres are to ask
Il certain amount for every inch that their Of
teriHgs rate above the average, should they not
deduct the same amount when those offerings fall
below par?
At the National-at the Columbia-at the La
faycttc have all chcerfully paid Sl50 for chairs
in which TO watch entertainments that only the
charitable could call mediocre. AT each Of these
three houses we have paid SI.5G for attractions
that played elsewhere At lesser rates. And. ii
NIs. Carter received her - in New York is
IL not also true that The James -Kidder- -Hauford
TriuWyirate left here to appear In the city on
the Hudson at resort in which none save the first
five rows bring over II? As / have said already
ignorance may prompt my remarks the sub
lect, but, to me- the idea of raising prices almost
too high before, merely because Of the probability
that people viii meet the raise seems very like
what inhabitants of the Western country call a
stand and deliver game" The manager Of the
National caters continually to a clientele and it
Is not fair to that clientele 10 overcharge it
whenever an opportunity presents. Personally, /
very tired OF the proceeding. And ! believe
that Washington Is, too. r. DELIVER KENT
This note, which reached The Times only
on Friday, appears to put with extraordin-