The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1899-08-01
TO ATTRACT AUDIENCES.
Clever Dodges of Theatrical Managers
That Proved Successful.

In the feverish endeayor.to obtain
that publicity which is vital to the
success of theatrical undertaking,
some very curious expedients have
been hit upon lg ingenious managers,
of which the following are perhaps
the more conspicuous:
When the well-known melodrama
celled "The Mystery Of Hanson
Cab" was first produced in the me-
tropolis, Londoners were astonished
to behold driven through the streets
very smart hanson, in which there
reposed youth, dressed in evening
clothes, and palld apparently with
the hues Of death. A large blood stain
on his shirt front added to the horror
of the picture, but the astonishment
provoked by the apparition was toned
down when the CHASTITY occupant Of
the vehicle suddenly leaned forward
and began scattering handbills an
nouncing the play, with vigor hard
ly to be expected in a corpse. This
curious dodge, it may be added,
worked like magic, for it was the talk
of the town for many weeks, and at
tracted thousands to the theater at
which the piece was being given.
Even more sensational was the fol-
lowing: During the run of play in
Melbourne, in which play there was a
vivid representation of a convict pris-
on, the streets were paraded every day
by gang of men dressed as convicts,
under the guardianship of a couple of
stalwart warders, armed "cap a pie"
in the approved prison fashion: To
heighten the sensation, the convicts
would sometimes make attempts to
escape, causing an enormous crowd to
collect. On the arrival of the genuine
police, explanations would, of course,
follow, and the gang would go on its
way again, having given the play the
most striking advertisement that
could be conceived.
A Brooklyn impresario, finding
that a "tank" drama produced at his
theater was going rather badly, con-
ceived the idea of inducing his lead
ing lady, an excellent swimmer, to
dive off the bridge one afternoon, at
tired in her ordinary walking dress, so
as to give the impression that she was
seeking to commit suicide. The trick
worked most admirably, and for sew
eral days afterwards the papers were
full of the business, whilst the sup
posed melancholy heroine was be-
sieged by callers and reporters
anxious to know her reason for wish
ing to quit life. She then declared
that her sadness was due to the fact
that the theater was so unsuccessful;
but it need hardly be said that such
want of success vanished from that
time, for, during the rest of the run,
the playhouse was crowded nightly
with audiences wild to see the rescued
suicide.
When Charles Reade's famous
drama called Drink" was produced
in a western city of America the man
agement arranged that a man, attired
in rags, should post himself every
evening in a prominent part of the
town and feign to be hopelessly in
toxicated. Whenever he turned
round, however, the passers-by had an
opportunityof reading a notice, print
ed on a board suspended from his
shoulders, running thus:
81 am a Terrible Example of the
Curse of Drink Now being per-
formed Every Evening at - The
ter. Come Early"
So cleverly did this individual sim
ulate intoxication that several times
he would have been arrested by the
police but for the display of the warn
ing board in question Tit