The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-01-09
THE WORLDS THEATERS.
Their Comparative Size, Earnings, In
come and Fires

Their Comparative Size, Earnings, In
come and Fires.
The greatest theater proprietor in the
world is the Car of Russia. No theatre
cal manager pays so much money for
the privilege Of owning places of
amusement. He owns no fewer than
seven big theaters in st. Petersburg
and Moscow. Next to the Gear the larg-
est theatrical patron in the world Is
Emperor William who assists two
theaters in Berlin and three in the
provinces, which together cost him
about f150000 per annum.
These statements are made on the
authority Of Edwin Q. Sachs, who, with
corps Of assistants, has spent much of
the past eight years in collecting data.
He Classics the theaters Of Europe in
to three groups--Court theaters, nation
al and government theaters municipal
theaters, and subscription theaters with
or without subsidy. or these the pri-
vate theater is, Of course, the only one
conducted purely on a business and
speculative basis OF these, England Is
essentially the home, for here there Is
as yet no form of subsidy whatever.
Mr.. Sachs has devoted considerable
time to securing diagrams of all the
principal theaters of the world, and
these diagrams give an excellent idea
of the comparative size of the latest
European places of amusement. With
in the National Opera house, Paris,
D'Oyly Cartes theater and the Shake
speare Memorial theater could be cozily
slowed away on the stage and audi
torium, and there would be ample room
for the Court theater, Sloane square, in
the grand staircase, and probably the
Duke of York's into the principal foyer.
The theater maintaining the largest
permanent staff in Europe is the Wien
ma Opera house, where there are 756
persons in permanent employ, of whom
800 are performers. The Emperor of
Austria gives the two Court theaters
at Vienna about 100000 per annum.
The French government contributes
the same amount to four Paris the
aters uerA
The most wonderful example of local
substituting of theaters Is probably that
at Worms, in South Germany. AT a
time when this was only a town of 49,,
oG0 inhabitants, G12.000 per annum was
raised by voluntary contributions, the
district council subscribed $4,000, and
the Municipal Savings bank loaned
C 500 at a nominal rate of interest. The
balance of the G25000 was made up at
the bazaars. etc The contributions
thus amounted to over e1 per head,
On the subjSot of seating capacity |
and cost Of contribution of the great |
theaters of Europe Mr.. Sachs gives
some wonderful tables. The great Paris /
Opera house holds an audience of 2,166, ,
and cost e1,500,0000.
The new theater at Wolverhampton
holds exactly the same audience, and
cost G13,000. The Budapest Opera house .
cost g266,000 for an audience of 1850, I
and the Vienna Hofburg theater $500,
900 for an audience of 1,755.
OF recent London theaters, Her Ma
jestys theater is put down at 100000. I
D'Oyly Carte's, now the Palace Varl-
ETY., is supposed to have cost the most
money, !. e., over G15000O.
Drury Lane is supposed to hold $500,
Covent Garden $500, and the Palace,
lust referred to, was built to accom-
modate 1852.
On the subject of theater fires Mr.
Sachs records no fewer than LOO catas-
trophies DCIWGGu anu 1901. l. bC
statistics show that the outbreak gen
orally occurs on the stage: that nearly
half take place during the night after
the performance, while only about
seventh of the number happen while
the audience is in the building,
January is the heaviest month for
fires in the playhouse. Their number is
on the increase, for there were 800 in
the decade, as compared with 3O9 of the
previous decade, but the number of the
aters is, of course, rapidly growing.
London heads the list of theater fires
with thirty-five in twenty-seven build
ngs, but the loss of life has been nom
nal New York has had forty-one fires;
Paris thirty-one.
The heaviest loss of life at any one
theater fire in England was at Exeter,
where there were about 100 Deaths
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