, 1902-11-21
ELEYATING THE STAGE
(From the Public Ledger.)

On Saturday night last Mr.. Benjamin
Franklin Keith invited many of his
friends and patrons to a view of his
new Chestnut Street Theatre. Than
this there may be more spacious and,
INTELLECTUALLY, imposing temples OF
amusement, as, for instance, the Paris
Opera House. That grand edi1ce was
not, however, erected by private en-
terprise, as was Mr.. Keith's, but by
the subvention of the French Empire
under Napoleon III.
With that single exception, the PUB
Lie LEDGER knows of no theatre which
in magnifcence of design and ele-
gance of construction, or in safety, dig
nifty, beauty and luxuriousness, excels
that of the new Chestnut street house.
The site itself was an unusually ex-
pensive one, and it is evident that the
question of cost was hardly considered
in the matter of constructions; the
only object of the owner evidently be-
ing to make the theatre as appropriate
and beautiful as a temple of the drama
should be. This is but one of the five
~playhouses which are the property of
Mr.. Keith. Together they represent
in value an enormous sum.
Mr.. Keith was not born of a theatre
cal family, nor of a wealthy one. His
forbears. were "of humble, industrious
and 'God-fearing Puritan New England
-41zIx - -x~l h. I;paeoIf hnonn hiG anfiXa
career at an early g upon a farm.
To-day he is a man of large wealth,
of honorable distinction and the build
er of his own fortune, the captain of
his own signal achievements.
The secret of his extraordinary sue
cess is worth considering, since it is
more a public than a personal matter.
To make it plain, we need not go back
to Mr.. Keith's earlier ventures as a
manage in Boston and Providence; it
was revealed by him to the public when
in 1889 he opened his first theatre in
this city. 1t was not in any fashionable
part of the town., it was north of Mar
ket street" and in a neighborhood not
considered most attractive to even the
residents of that unaristocratic section.
But Keith's Theatre was not long in
making an honorable and a profitable
name for itself in all parts of Philadel-
phia. It's audiences, which at first were
no larger than those of the other va
riety houses, gradually and surely be-
n n loroar thon anU of IFS p0mnpfitOrS-
and eventually they outgrew the ca
pacity of the house. Among them,
night after night, were to be seen a
large proportion of the most exclusively
fashionable and refined playgoers of the
city, with plentiful numbers of women
and children.
Prior to the time that Mr.. Keith open
ed his Eighth street house there was
q single vaudeville theatre in PHI
instincts .agh'sAregy tafe) his wife.
mother, sister or children. There were
as able n brilliant performers at some
of them as there were at Keith's, but
with a difference. In the other houses
co%arseness and vulgarity, the sugges-
tive word or pose, the story which had
better been left untold even in the
stable yard, or the song based on shock
ing innuendo, or the dance that shamed
propriety and decency, were not unex-
pected, so s~elf-respecting men did not
TAX their women folk nor their chill
dren to such forbidding performances.
A. 4Io14 Io1- 41-1 $500
ences fell off, While those of Keith's
increased in numbers and character.
There is one inexorable rule at all of
Keith's houses which applies equally to
the most and the least DISTINGUISHED
performer. 1t is that the manager shall
know before the actor or actress goes
on the stage what he or she is going to
say and do. If the suggestive, the
coarse or vulgar line, word or act is
there, the manager cuts it out. There
is no room on any of Mr.. Keith's stages
for the spoken or acted indecency; the
performances may sometimes lack alb
eolute briliancy, but they never insult
nor shame the sensibilities of refined
men and women.
The PUBLIC LEDGER knows of no other
manager of vaudeville theatres who
has built on the favor of playgoers
costly, beautiful temples in four or
five different cities as Mr.. Keith has
done. The secret of his success lies
no deeper, is no more obscure, than
the Punishment by him from his
stage of every form of indecent
Or vulgar speech or act. On Saturday
night there were present at the new
Chestnut street house very many of the
most prominent, the most estimable and
Hannct noEnod nitiuornn- ---