The age-herald., 1900-02-21
TO BE OPENED WITH
 "THE CHRISTIAN First Performance at New Jefer- son Theatre March [. IS A SPLENDID PLAY HOUSE Takes Rank With the Best in the Unit ed states-Manager Douglass Will
 Try to Prevent Ticket
 Speculation

The new. Jefferson theater,. one of the finest play houses in the. United States, which is nearing completion, will be opened on Wednesday, March [, with "The Christ ian," as the opening attraction.
 The announcement was made last night by Manager Douglas, who says that great surprise is in store for the theater- goers of Birmingham. In making the an- nouncement, MT. Douglas said:
 ''The reason the announcement of the date of the opening of the new theater has not been given out before is due to the fact that the owners had fully determined not to open until the house was absolutely completed in every respect. Up to today some material had not arrived, but It IS now on the ground and I feel perfectly safe in saying that the theater will be com pleted and ready several days before the date set for the opening
 .%The carpenter work is practically com pleted three-fourths of the house has been decarated. tnae marble work will be done by Wednesday night, heat has been on TOT several days and all plumbing is about complete The electric light connexions have been nade for some time past, ana the house will be thoroughly lighted There will be about 200 incandescent lights in the house. The scenery Is well under way. and carpets are about ready to put down. The chairs are all here, and today the man to put them in wiM arrive. So 1t can be easily understood that I am not over-sanguine when I say there is abso- lutely nothing to delay the opening past the time set.
 "I believe this theater will prove a rev. elation to the people of Birmingham. Ev- cry one expects to see theater very much in advance of anything here now. Few, however realize that right here in Birm' fngham has been erected the finest theater in the south and one that compares favor ably with anything in the theatrical line Such, however, is the fact. have been in nearly every theater in the United States and I know that for all round complete ness there are very few, If any, theaters better than The Jefferson
 f "I am not alone in this opinion regarding the new house. I have taken dozens of prominent theatrical people through the
 house and they all agree with me in think
 ing the house very complete and hand some one The workmanship is of the very best and nothing but the very best mate
 rial has been employed. The idea of the owners has been all through to make a
 thoroughly complete and modern theater.
 with such magnificent theatre it fell to my lot to pick out an appropriate opening
 attraction. I fully believe that I have suc- ceeded in getting one that will reflect cred tt on the house. The Christian has been se-
 lected. As is well known ito theatre patrons the play is characterization of Hall Gaines novel of the same name The sale of the
 novel has been very large, but the pcpu- larity of the play has proven even greater. believe the play will prove worthy open ing attraction. Wednesday, March ', will see
 the house regularly employed as theatre,
 and from that time on attractions will be
 played in that house.
 q want to say right here that under no circumstances will any one be allowed to purchase more than ten seats for this open ing. If I can positively help it there will be no theater tickets hawked around the streets for that night. I do not like ticket speculafors and this is one of the means I intend to employ to prevent if possible any tickets being gotten for that purpose. I may say as well that no manager likes a speculator. These people only serve to cre- ate dissatisfaction with theater patrons and
 some persons who are not posted blame
 the management for something they are not
 responsible for. In the case of Paderewski
 tickets there was one man in line who I
 suspected was buying tickets to speculate with and yet he presented list of reputa- ble citizens and stated he wanted tickets for those persons. How could I know
  persons whose names he had down? If limiting the number of seats to ten will prevent speculating for the opening of the Jefferson, then there will be no speculating in those tickets"
 Seats for The Christian will be sold at the box office of OBrien's opera house. That will in all probability be the last the- atrical purpose for which this house which has been the scene of so much in the the
 atrical history of Birmingham, will be
 used"