The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1906-04-08

Just Z mite over ten years ago As
Fred Belssco puts Z. one Frank Doa1e-
actor. one OF many good players strand
e II san Francisco AZ that time. sug-
gestel 70 Belssco that il would be good
speculation % take the Alcazar Theater
and run il WIKI a permanent stock
company. Things dramatic were IN
bad way AT the tine san Francisco
vas az but taboo in the itinerary II
rae stars Companies q lesser lights
went broke here with most dlscoUr-
agl1E 1recuelcE- jay Town was the
besI most OF rleu had for Us wlen
Ihey E0- on q here Nor were the
local celte-E OF dramatic activity much
70 beast OF The AlcaEar itself had
been running under the eccentric man
zgement Ct Leonard GroTer-who ran
q when he felr ike II and paid rent Al
the same rate Might b. tel ne about
thzts~ asked ~ Belasco- al sgrtn Al
the -eUorE- I had gone 10 him for t1e
htstorv Of rhe zlczzzr Under MS own
management 4 record II Stock MS
tory. bur The grin was TOO promising
I should be most happy 10 hear q NJ
Growers reign a. the A-cazar ! tod
him Manager Price. IN whose llrCle
sralned-glzss eyrie OF a Office we were
chatting. joined In He also reUe1l-
bere5 Grover 7 don't rhiuk M GRO
Eer would mind being remembered
that way His sins may have Been
many. bur better men are doubtless less
gratefully houore6 n Eis successors
remembrance For one ming he was
The author q the immortal lease q me
Alczzer. rher-bUr NJ 5eizsco cesl
tells of that
Great fellow. Grover. be had for
him -rccul5 TALK the most admir-
irE CAPITALS here---le could make you
believe that yesterday vas next week
Himself too NJ Price added,
ch-ckliEE Grover was . genuine NJ
czEbzr. <al and airy ard genial, and
overrcwtug vI-h schemes He cou4c
paint -1e besE word pictures CT any one
e-e- k-ew-zu6 believe lhem all Poor
fellow he wanted % make money
<esr Thought be couE6 make his Sl4.-
C1t1oe some afternoon down on Pine
street
and he didn't ~. BeIssco regret
ted -Bu- that lease. Price Ever near
q -zz- -ease2 No Most wonderful on
record Actually. Grover got the 81
r.e-E-rel6e-- OF rh5s building % sign 2
lease giving him rLe -hea-er 1or Ger
tain number q years. during which
Grover was 20 have ne -hester a-o Pay
re-- only when II was OPEN
That must have been profitable for
TIE owner 7 laughed
Particularly NJ BelEscO added AS
G-ov- kept Il open fo- 9 couple q
weeks and then closed down for four
opened Up s-sr when Il pleased his good
old heart "a fact
And -la- vas the regime 81 The A.
czza- when Won arrived on the scene-T
Had been for years the present
manager declared. for seven years al
together. and i wasn't good record 70
buck - agatnsL
- he rad told Prank Dozne. " Be
Izsco told ne. II TITS. The 5ogIh co1sec-
u-ive week q TIE Alcazsr stock his
tory. N1- rLar Re was conreuptuous-
o-Iy -rhcpefuL Given any kind OF
chance q return for money and labor
he would ike nothing better. he had
sid
Il Is IN ne blood He had been an
sctcr-ot which more lsrsrs he had but
lately returned from New York where
- had been s-age-UslzE-1g tor Dave
Be-esco and Charles Frohusn for
twelve Years and even a. this tine was
actually conducting The lrst school OF
acting e. The West But NJ DOane
was persuasive and NJ Belasco q VIII
t-E ear Also. there was n Z Mayer.
WHO. marrying e Belasco. had married
ir-0 the atmosphere He liked the
.5es importantly Mayer had what The
c-Lers had no. uoney-z- least we
thought 50 then his broIher-in-IaW
--ozeT now n starting z rhearer-
BIZ I told San Belssco put IL all
the wzvs knew q that you could lose
money = q Llezrer-I know more now
but - wanted 70 20 t1cO IL so did /
or course The expenses q running 2
house were 50 much less then II
v1u-I believe ne we thought i exor-
b.ts-r then Z z really good prsducu0n
cCs- rs. everything Included rent and
all more than $500 z week Now II
we get OF with Ss5o9 week we con-
S.de- ourselves lucky Everything has
gone up Actors have gone up royal
ttes have gone up- musicians have gone
Ur--eEerE--1llg but me price q ac1ls-
son. L happened 700. As Doaue point
&C OK that we were able 70 get good
Ecrcrs sr much smaller salary then
1hsn vas current. because -here were
e many q them stranded here We
had actors that even then commanded
SO z week glad 70 come 70 rs for s5o-
or course they did not stay long after
trey had saved money enough 70 buy
Iheir ricket East
But long enough-
Long enough. res, for Us 70 get the
place well started he went on. and
you'd have been surprised Al the good
ness Il some q or casts To make z
lC-g story short We did take the zIcz-
zzr. beginning as Belssco. Doa1e &
JORDAN. and with = capital OF little
over szssCF pslpsb-e pride vas IN The
next. and The place has been open
ever since
Though you didn't get IL OF
Grover leasc
NO. SIR Dr.. Belssco laughed
But you did not make your fortune
The first few weeks. I believer The
early struggles OF the Aicazsr manage
nent are not unknown. and are q source
OF honorable and most natural pride 10
The sr-uEGlers
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