The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-07-15
OF PRESS AGENT.
TINES CHANGED FOR THE WORSE
~ HIS PROFESSION.

- '
Ne Longer the 0id-Time Demand for His
Hsip-Pubiieity Not Thoaght So Necessary
to sucecss on the Stage a. Formerly
Causes Of the Decline Of the Press Agent.
The press agent expertly shifted the tooth
pick from one side OF his mouth TO the other
without interrupt nx his flow OF conversation.
For a second It seemed suspended In the air
and moved with his tongue while he talked.
still nothing doing" he said with a sigh,
although July Is half over and II begins 10
look az II the demand for our services isn't
what il used to be, One manager recently
said no always engaged his actors early IN
July because they were always so thin ana
haggard with suspense IL they hadn't got en-
gagements by that time that 1t took EN- a
month or two 10 recover. Now II that's true
OF an actor who has nothing to do but repeat
what other people have written. how much more
important must II he In my business, where
a man not only has to rely on his own brains
but has to work 10 get tho results of his efforts
into the papers afterward? Either OF these
things Is by itself eno,ish work for ono man
but It's the press agents duty always TO COM
bine both branches Of the business, and then
he has to wait around until q month before
the season begins to get a Job az that. ] tell
you II Jars me and anything that jars q press
agent must be serious.
Somehow or other, I've tho feeling that
they don't want Us now In the same old way
that they used to. They don't cry for US. In
the best days Of this 'busIncss. the press agent
used to be ms important "A the star. A
manager engaged his agent before the ink was
dry on his stars contract No man would
think Of sending out a new play or a new actor.
until he had a good press agent TO start ahead
Of him and SOW the necessary seeds Of interest.
But nowadays, you'll ind that the managers
trouble themselves very little about the press
agent They'll always take one In the end,
but they don't pay him much and they're al
ways able to get him at any time without
much trouble.
"Of course they can't get a man to do the
sort of work that was wanted in the old days
There were giants in the business then They
were well paid and they deserved il. and a
man who was a press agent in those days was a
somebody in the theatrical world and stood
n importance somewhere between the man
aeer and the star. He hadn't been reduced
To the ranks Of the also-rans as he Ia to-day.
but he had n right to sit in the manager oflce
( he wanted TO. and the manager was very
clad to have him. That was the press agent
Of twenty years ago. His was a legitimate
business and he had a right to everything that
came N him.
yellow journalism and cheapenina the rates
helped to kill the business, The yellow journals
would print any yarn that was brought to them
and never ask any questions. Tho trick was
so easy that the managers couldn't see the
use Of paying n man to do anything that took
SO little trouble. To have a chorus girl bitten
by a shark at. Coney Island and to supply a
picture OF her and the shark too didn't take
any more work than taking the fable right
into the newspaper Office. The 'yellows we're
always willing and anxious to print il. Jobs
Of this kind got IA cheap as three or five dollars.
and nowadays they don't bring that price.
The yellows all do the press work for the chorus
girls and those a little bit higher up in the pro-
fessiOn without wanting any pay. at all Pick
up one OF them any day and you'll find photo
graphs OF unknown soubrettes, inconspicuous
minor actresses and theatrical nobodies pulled
a. generously "a II they were celebrities. Now
all that II takes TO accomplish this Is to send
the Photographic TO the newspaper offices. Any
office boy can do that and the work really is
The press agent OF former times had TO do
his work ~ a way that appealed to intelligent
and careful men. He had TO add some element
before it could get into a paper where 1t would
do any good But the yellows have never
made any test Of that kind They'll take any
ability demanded In the men who do this kind
Of work for them, the managers. came TO re-
gard the press agent in a wholly different way.
dropped into a place far below that he formerly
held. SO the yellow journals, while they made
his work easy for him at the outset. finally did
more to reduce the value Of the press agents.
services than any other influence and to bring
him down to his present estate.
Il can only. remember one case Of really
fine press work that has come under my OBJ
s~ervation during the past ten years. That
was as good in It's way as anything ever done
In the palmy days OF the profession. 1t estab-
lished here a foreign concert hall singer who
than a dozen others Of her kind II interest had
not constantly been attracted to her In the
Kept the heroine Of various exciting episodes
p Pea r Of probability to &c, into son,ethins
sort Of thing that we ali did in the old days
and IL WAS not regarded as anything more than
the duty Of every press agent He would have
didn't do something Of the kind for everybody
who engaged him, That one year Of press work
gave the actress in. question "A vogue that made
her at once as well known as IL she had acted
One other cause for the decline Of the press
agents power is to be found in the doubtful
value that manassrs ave come to put upon
singer I referred to was made in this country
by the sort OF advertising she received at the
~ ari s1e al Ssr a Mss suited ssse only s1 to i%st p anal uG,1
case. An actress OF dignity would have been
irretrievablv injured by such unworthy means
q exploitation But for the music hall divette
Just the opposite course was followed in
the case of another Actress. who three years
= ago s,s ss'' on me h srp o%n re- Pe. + eSSSSiinilr s'0r Now 20 seS %ane
ayers ara accustomed to say, since this enter
prise proved a complste success, that, it was