The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-04-07

was rather surprised himself al the num-
erous requests for his appearance after
/ his recent return. At first he was per
fectly willing to lecture for the price he
had obtained previously. $3.50 a night A
fortnight or so after he arrived Ia New
York, however, he suddenly awoke TO the
| fact that he was not getting 'alI that
was coming TO him"
Look here" he said to one OF the man
ayers with whom he had done business:
IF people want to hear me so much,
ought to get more pay. oughtn't j? p
And at once he raised the fee to $500
for big towns. but continued to appear in
smaller places for $3.50 He is booked with
out trouble on that basis Some OF the
engagements he makes for himself; others
he accepts from iyceum bureaus. Occa-
sionally. for a cause that appeals 10 him.
he talks for nothing
Another phase of the lyceum business
that the commander has brought striking
~ 10 the attention of the agents is the
attitude Of the casual showgoer toward
the lecturer. When Peary gets a good
audience, he is invariably under the aus
f-N~e VI otAAAN 44AoAANuAA1Ai u zDN4Etgs a
week or two ago, local theatrical man
ager decided that the Arctic explorers
popularity would warrant his engage
ment for series of lectures at q thea
ter. The commander fixed a price. and
the arrangement was made. Advertise
nents were placed IN the newspapers.
The series was 10 be managed just as
though it had been a comic opera.
But the house was not half hlled for the
first appearance. The manager had no
profits after paying the lecturer and the
expenses He FASTENED 10 obtain a re-
lease from his Recommendations diff
Guilty since the lecturer liked the empty
benches no better than did the man
ager.
All OF which shows that people viii
not go 10 hear lecture offhand. com
mented the lyceum bureau man. Il don't
believe the people who read advertise
ments Of theaters are the same people
who attend lyceum courses. II they are.
they reserve their lecture patronage for
such events as are coupled with charity"
He described the methods in vogue IN
New York. Many of the requests for lee
turers and other entertainers. he said
come to him over the telephone, and stiu
more by mail. The applicants were gem
orally secretaries OF hospitals. church as
soclations, literary circles. Sunday school
organizations. and the like They must
get some money for their pet cause. What
lecturer could they have. and when2 At
what price? The manager would furnish
the list of available attractions. selecting
such as he thought fit for the occasion.
after consulting the schedules prepared
on large sheets for each Of his lecturers
or performers
No Speculation, Only sure Profits.
IN a large majority OF cases he said.
we sell the lecture outright. Suppose
We get $500 for one that costs Us $3.50.
including all expenses That's a small
profit We can do much better. and rare
Is do worse, with an attraction Of that
class We play safe. The occasions on
which this bureau has taken a chance in
the last ten years could almost be
counted on my fingers Whether we send
the attraction to Harlem or California.
unless we are sure there is a consider !
able sum 10 be made by taking the risk. !
We Try to sell 1t outright for the night
to somebody
Most of our business is done by cor
respondence. so We need no staff 20 /
speak of. II We undertake a specially inn 1
poTtant tour we sometimes hire a tray 1
cling manager 20 accompany the Iectur- /
er, provided we are looking for large pro ]
fits on the percentage basis. But We don't 4
always have a representative on the trim /
even in that event. Fortunately. lee /
turers Of standing are reliable men 10
deal with, and we can trust to them 10
collect the money and give as our share I
In short, it must be an extremely i'm 4
pOrtant venture that will make us in /
vest IN travelling agent"
The manager recalled with a shudder /
his own strenuous experiences in touring /
the country with a lecturer under con
tract TO make 200 appearances on 200 !
week-nights Not a date was
missed. though special trains were twice /
necessary to jump from one town TO an
other.
1T was as hard work as I ever did
and / hope I'll not have TO repeat it,"
said the speaker, weary at the men,
Dry why, we had TO send our laundry
ahead from town TO town. so az to have
It ready when We got TO a place. 1t was
a case OF continual calculating as 10 how
soon We should ship the bundles. At anv
gwen time our personal belongings were
scattered about IN packages in three or
four towns, often in as many States.
Catching trains for ourselves was easy
IN comparison with mapping out the wan
derings Of our shirts"