Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-16
.THESP|ANS IN STRAITS
Worst Season in Years for the
Theaters.
IN NEW YORK CITY
PEOPLE APPARENTLY TIRED OF
EXoRBITANT PRICES.
The Vaudeville and Moderate-Priced
Houses Are Doing All the
Business This Winter.
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

| Special Correspondence of The Evening Star
NEW YORK. January IA. 1904.
| Its too bad these Kansas farmers don't
do their harvesting at this season." remark
| ed a seedy-iooking man with two days
| growth OF purplish beard. who shivered in
an inadequate rain ulster in front of a the
| atrical agency the other afternoon. Then
some of might make Kansas by quick
| freight and nail jobs
He made the gesture of practiced actor
| to Indicate the throngs of actors and ac-
| tresses cluttering Broadway, all out Of
| work, and with little or no chance OF get
| ting work. There are said to be 5000 I'M
| employed actor folk in the United States
| right now and most of them are in New
| York. Not only that, but the majority OF
| them are on Broadway, gaunt, ungroomed
| and sour Of visage over the worst theatrical
| year yet recorded.
| An actor who until the present season
| did leading Juveniles" with road oompa-
| MES but who has had no engagement at all
| since the setting in of the chill weather,
| walked into the office of a Broadway thea
| ter manager the other morning
Say" said the leading Juvenile" to the
| manager, Il know that you are not In shape
! to give me an enga cement, but can't you
| put me on temporarily Ia front or the
| house?" Front Of the house is theatrical
| slang for Office work. such as helping the
| theater treasurer to count the house,
press agent work. and SO on
| "Ye-eh believe can give you something
/ to do in front of the house., cruelty rephed
| the manager, taking the actor by the arm
and escorting him to the swinging doors.
| dig up a shovel somew here and clean of
| some o. that snow and sluSh. pointing 10
| the sidewalk.
| The actor was game. and he met the
rather unnecessarily mean rebuff more than
1 ha1
| cheap a quality to fade me-" he replied
| Consequently. I'll just go you neat OF
So Whereupon he dug up shovel some.
| where and proceeded to clear away all or
| the snow and slush from the sidewalk IN
| front Of the house." while score or so of
| his actor friends stood about and thought
out humorous things to say to him
The manager proved himself to De not
| mean at heart by handing the needy actor
| SIS note for the job The actor gratefully
| accepted the good pay for his snow shovel
| ing stunt and went OH to eat Ior the nfst
| time In two days." as he frankly owned.
Theaters in Hard Luck, Too.
| To employ tine managers own favorite
| phrase the Theatrical business Is up on a
| kite in New York" this season. The people
| are simply staying away from the theaters,
| for some reason or reasons which the man.
/ ayers And 1t impossible to analyze. The new
| attractions have been fairly good-as good,
l
| during recent years have been. But the
| New York folks appear to be simply tired
/ Of the theaters. The most ingenious at
/ tempts have been made by the managers to
get the beloved public to state just why
| 1t Is not patronizng the shows. One
| manager invited thousand persons Of cul
| ture and superior intelligence. all Of whom
were formerly habitual theater-goers. to Or
| ganize symposium and put In writing
| just what sort of theatrical entertainment
| they wanted and would patronize. And
| whatever you want" said the manager, not
| without sort of nervous pathoS, TN try
| to give you IL you just won't stay away"
The Symposium wasn't much Of q sue
| cess. Those who made reply were, how
| ever. unanimous in declaring that among
| the things they positively did not want were
| alleged dramatizations Of alleged historical
novels. and a majority declared themselves
| a-weary Of the ''show girl and 'tsextet"
| business.
3! But all sorts of stage pieces good bad
| and Indifferent. have fizzled out and died
| gruesome. unnatural deaths in New York
| since the very beginning of the season last
| autumn. It cannot beiblamed on the Chicago
| theater fire, for long before the close of 1909
| some of the most Legitimate and formerly
| well-patroniZed stars Of the profession
| had CLOSED their seasons and announced
| their Intention to rest for the balance of
| the theatrical period of 10000. Attractions
| upon which large amounts of money had
| been spent-in some cases fully one-hfth Of
the amounts were said to have been spent
| in the press agents notices-and which
| opened" In New York with hopeful views
| Of the year-long runs' in the minds of the
were taken off altogether. or received SO
| little announcement that they We're quickly
| shunted to the road Almost any old sort
| of a hodge-podgs Imitation of q comic
| opera, with plenty Of "show girls with
| regulations for having Won millions on the
| stock market, used to be able to run indefi-
| nitely to crowded and aisle-cluttered houses
| in New York. But every one Of the shows
| Of this sort that has opened with fam
| fare of trumpets in New York this season
| has been quickly reegated to 'the prov
| inces.'
| Speculation as to the Cause.
| Money is tight in New York. of course.
| since the tremendous shrinking In values
| due to the stock market manipulation of
| financial Adventures during the latter part
| Of last year, but this fact Is by no means
sufficient to account for the New Workers
| utter indifference to the theaters this sea-
| son.
| The shrewd analysts of the state of
/ mind of this capricious but at the same
| time hard-headed populace offer the
| main reason for the New Workers. neglect
| OF the theaters the high prices charged for
seats and the outrageous abuses of the
| ticket Spectator system. The people OF
| this town, say these analysts, have reached
| the stage Of mental development where they
are able to appraise the value OF theatre
| cal attraction. and they have reached the
| conclusion that they don't get 81 or s. or "a
| or even IS worth at the theaters that have
been charging such prices for the best
seats. They are willing to pay any reason
/ able figure to see theatrical exhibitions of
approved rank and eminence, but they can
no longer ''see'' the proposition of paying
an average of $3.50 or s. a seat for the ordi-
nary run of attractions. One of the best
known of the independent" theatrical man.
ayers of New York has met this feeling,
which is very well known to exist in this
town, by putting the 81. 80 figure on the very
best seats in his theater. and the fact that
he is getting the money'-which few other
New York playhouse managers are-is
sufficient indication that he is On the right
track He is being vociferousy denounced
as "cheap man. and ''piker' by the
other managers, but. all the same, the pros
poets are excellent that many of them Will
fall into the $l.50 line when they open their
houses at the beginning of the next season
The ticket spectators have done irrep-
arabic damage to the theatrical business
Elz.H