Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-10-12
Theater Managers Chased Them OF
Their Sidewalks.
PASSING OF A GREAT NUISANCE
Melodrama Becomes a Favorite
With New York Public.
VAUDEVILLE IS WANING
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.

| "a lew recent manifestations IN TINS MAJOR
theatrical armament are worthy bit of
! comment.
In the first place. those brazen rufians.
the ticket spectators, have been all but
wiped out The job of extinguishing them
was accomplished in something less than
a fortnight. The New Yorker who wants
to see s1.50 or 81 show will no longer have
| to pay upwards of s. for a seat. The spec
\ ulators were assaulted hammer and tongs
| all down the line. Conscientious and mus
| GUAR managers Of Broadway theaters
| reached the conclusion-and 1t was high
\ 1me-that the highwaymen with punches
of iengthwise folded bills and bundles of
| coupon seats between their fingers We're
injuring the theatrical business, and they
acted simultaneously. Taking it for grant
| ed, as the law gave them the right to do.
| that they had control over the pavement
| in front Of their places of amusement, they
| began to punch the heads of the mauling
| bawling spectators without fear or favor.
| When they were hailed to the police courts
for battery they were promptly discharged
by the magistrates. who themselves have
probably been bullyragged and man-handled
| and tossed around by the ucket-chaffering
| rowdies of the curb.
| Then the manageable decent, self-re-
Specting managers, that is to Say-covered
| the fronts of their theaters with huge
signs, warning intending patrons of their
| establishments that tickets purchased from
ticket spectators would positively not be
accepted at the doors. They went farther.
They employed private detectives of great
physical energy to warn persons engaged
in dickering with the spectators that I'M
der no circumstances would seats thus pur-
chased be honored by the ticket-takers,
and when. as frequently happened, the spec
ulatorS thus thwarted, undertook to make
careless remarks to the detectives, the lat
ter calmly proceeded to kick them up or
down the block until the exercise palled
upon them.
No Redress From the Magistrates.
The spectators found that they could
obtain absolutely no redress at the hands
of the unsympathetic magistrates. The pri-
vate detectives, acting under the managers
instructions, at length refused to permit
the spectators, or any of the same,
to stand anywhere in front of the theaters
even if they took the middle of the car
track for it. and those who resisted were
slugged with great gusto and impartially
by men to whom this kind of work is mere
recreation. And the result of this perfect
ly delightful. long-deferred crusade was
that the spectators were compelled to
Cave in" They turned in thousands of
dollars worth of seats for redemption at
the box offices, and the great bulk Of them
have been eliminated The only survivors
are those who are VIGOROUSLY in cahoats
with the managers of theaters, in front of
which, they ply their miserable vocation,
and still defy the aroused opinion of habit
ual theater-goers There are only five of
these theaters. The public well knows that
their managers act in concert with the
ticket Spectators and the sign is already
on it that these theaters are going to suf
fer severe shrinkage in their business until
the spectators are booted off their curbs.
Theatergoers living in other cities where
the nuisance has never prevailed can
scarcely imagine what an utter abomna
ton the ticket SPECTATORS in front of New
York theaterS have been for years past.
Their long immunity at the hands of the
managers, the police authorities and the
public finally served to convert them into
organized body of plug uglies and Hoo
ligans of the most dangerous description.
They would surround understood men pass
ing into theaters and endeavor to hector
and bulldoze them into buying seats at
orbtant prices, and when these victims
declined to buy they got their toes fiat
tened by the heels of the blackguardly
spectators boots and their clothing
mauled. and ripped and We're abused in
general just as if they had been repubii-
canish-looking strangers at Tammany
picnic.
Terry McGOvern Too Much for Them.
Little Terry McGovern, by the way, the
unconquered featherweight pugilist, found
himself the unrecognized storm center of
a little game like this In front of one of
the Broadway theaters one night last win
ter, and the things that he did to seven
ticket spectators on that occasion were
more worth witnessing than any theatre
cal performance that ever was The abuse
which the spectators heaped upon wo-
men passing into the theaters was of such
character that description of it would
be unprintable. They not only often tore
the clothing from the backs of unescorted
women, but they offered them the most
monStrouS insults. The subjugation of
these wretched DULLES and curmudgeons
Is the best thing that ever happened for
the theatrical interests of this great source
of American theatricalS.
Another manifestation to which many of
the managers Of the high-priced houses
are inclining their ears is the huge bust
ness which is being done by the theaters
that only charge dollar for the best seats
and the correspondingly light business that
81 and $3.50 for the orchestra chairs The
writer devoted two nights last week to
swiftly touring the theaters at which the
main productions Of the season are being
given. Not solitary one Of the 81 or 50 so
houses held better than a fair audience,
while every one of the dollar-limit theaters
first-rate actors and singers were being
given, was packed to the doors and the
ushers standing 'em on their heads in the
aisles. as the managers put It A sudden
drop In the prices of orchestra seats may
be looked for this winter. and some of the
most astute managers perceive the dawning
Of the time when the 81 show will be the
universal rule in New York One of the
most notable actors in America gave ii
as his deliberate opinion not long ago that
there never was a theatrical performance
on earth worth more than 81 to see and
this same actor has for years been the
star of a company that exacts almost "Ir-
wing rates" for its performances
Have Enough of Vaudeville,
1t is worth while observing that the New
York theatergoing public seems to have
had enough of vaudeville. This year the
vaudeville theaters OF Manhattan are moth
ing like so prosperous as In other years.
and some Of them are abandoning yaude-
Vile for stock companies and other make
shifts, while others are contemplating SIM
liar moves. Time was when the continu-
Gus performance and "two-a-day'' yaude-
vile shows were damned all the time but
their managers now seem to be content to
get even sparsely filled houses. The utter
sameness of the vaudeville shows probably
accounts for the deterioration in public IA
vor OF that form Of amusement People
over here have been saying for several
years past. as they used to say Of the cir
Gus, that If you see one vaudeville show
You see all of EN-" and those holding this
view have switched their patronage TO the
Legitimate" shows in such numbers that
so far as this community Is Concerned
vaudeville appears to be passing rapjdiv
Another fact has at length been horne sn