The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-05-30
Booking Agency Easy.


said certain Inconvenience and disad-
VautaEPS in the old method Of arranging
uEagementS between travelling stars OF
combinations and managers of theatres
throughout the country but Il seems that
booking agency maintained by the man.
ayers and the stars and travelling COM
biuatiOns might easily have been eStab-
lished-a booking agency managed by
SalaTied agents The existing booking
agency has accumulated hundreds 81
thousands Of dollars since the date or its
organize tion-enoTmous and Legitimate
gains
in operation. that It was possible M some
cases for the trust to completely ami
hilate a competitor One Of the easiest
Of the several methods at its command
was to arrange the competitor tour in
such a manner that moro money would
be spent in railroad fares than the COM
pettOrs profit would permit Of Another
that could not yield profit. But the
most decisive way Of all was to refuse
point blank to book any tour
San Francisco Not Controlled.
When knowledge Of its control became
public tine trust was safely intTeHChed.
When its existence first became known
il already controlled many Of the first
class theatres throughout the country
In large territories il soon gained pTaC-
/ teal control Occasionally the trust vas
unable to secure the control Of every
| tITSt-ClaSS theatre IN z great CitN-San
| Francisco. for example In San Francisco
there is tEeatre free to the actor not
! associated with the trust In San Fran
( cisco there Is a theatre free to indepen-
dent actors The trust. however, eudeav-
/ ored to block the way to California 1t
StrOTe TO hold the avenues OF approach
so that it would be impossible for an
independent actor to fill a tour from let
, US say. Chicago to San Francisco. The
! trust made il impossible for the indie
/ pendent actor to play in Kansas CITY,
| Omaha. Denver or salt Lake You can
| readily understand that the expense en-
/ tailed by the journey of large dramatic
| company direct from Chicago to San
| Of success in San Francisco would make
profitable
/ You may ask: Does the trust dictate
| to the most distinguished actors Of this
! country as to what plays they shall Sc
/ lcCt and as TO the manner in which those
/ nlavs shall he acted and produced2 Not
/ at all. We have already seen that the
/ most prominent actors Of this country
| are necessary to the life OF the trust. TIC
| them it is probable that the trust con
| cedes everything in reason. The support
! given the trust by prominent actors en-
| ables the trust to dictate wholly to the
| lesser actors and to those IN process OF
/ to stifIe modest individual enterprise
! whenever it desires TO stifle it.
Grabs Second-Class Theatres.
Until this season the trust controlled
only the first-class theatres in the cities
TIN OughOut the country. Until this sea
son the SeCODo-CldSS theatres were still
| open to independent actors. 1t was pos
SIble to appear in these SeCond-ClasS the
aires, raising the rates to the scale OF
prices charged in the first-class theatres.
| and drawing the same audiences that fro
! ouented the latter
The trust has now seized upon the sec
| ond-ciass theatres They are no longer
! omen to the independent actor. They have
been absorbed by the trust. 4 new COM
bination has given tho trust absolute con-
| troll of the SecOnd-Class theatres as well
as those OF the first class II was the
| only possible way in which the trust
could prevent the tours of an Independent
actor The secOnd-class theatres were
controlled by a smaller trust. with which
the greater trust has now formed a CON-
binatiOu. excluding the independent &C
tor or manager
1t is to be hoped that before long the
American people will understand wha
this theatre trust really is When the
American people do understand. the death
knelI of the trust viii be sounded The
American people have the release Of the
theatre easily in their power IL they wish
TO exercise the power
Cincinnati Is trust-Tidden so far as IT,
theatres are concerned So are Tolet
Washington. Detroit. Cleveland. Toron
Montreal. New Orleans. Buffalo SaCra-
mento. St. Paul. Omaha and many other