Omaha daily bee., 1908-08-30

Moss Empires. The Importance Of this
combine iouanIs best be i'convsyed Of to the
American reader by likening 1t to the
of late years between the war
ring factions in the vaudeville word of
the United States. Inevitably Il will have
the same results. To the American vaude-
vile artist II is interesting and welcome
because II will result in a concentration Of
the booking business and the consequent
possibility of booking for long routes
even as long as two years solid in almost
as few minutes. But should 1t also re-
sult-and 1t is almost sure to do so-in the
death Of competition among managers and
the reduction of salaries to artists It will
not be the unmixed blessing that the sew
eral managers interested would have us
believe. OF late years the salaries of per-
formers, and especially of stars able to
dictate terms, have gone up amazingly in
England, and it is presumed that the first
business of the proposed combinations wi |
be the letting OF wind out of these infla-
tions.
Incidentally the high prices now paid in
the United States to artists and the con-
slant demand there for English artists of
the better class by such managers as
Percy Williams and E. r. Proctor nave
had a whole lot to do with the fattening
of the English artists Saturday evening
envelopes. Every London manager Of i'm
portance has been busily engaged for sew
eral years in keeping such artists as
George Robey, Little Itch. Marie Lloyd
and wllki Bard in England at any price
with varying success, and the stars have
taken advantage Of the state OF affairs.
The result is that they are drawing from
$500 to $50 a week for one performance a
day and have been appearing at three and
I sometimes four houses a night, a thing IN
known and un~pernItted in the United
J States, where the basis of a contract be
I tween manager and artist is the exclusive
services OF the performer.
The new arrangements will throw some.
thing like seventy-eight theaters in Lon
don and tho provinces under the control oil
stoll and his associates. The Moss EN-
pires. of which he is the managing director
and the guiding genius, already holds
sway over twenty-nine, including the Hip
podrome and the big Coliseum in London
The augmented string Of houses will b'
managed from the Moss headquarters il
London and il is possible that some o
] EhtA va w NNANA RhN "a ~ NAAAai
where competition has been most rulnous
%
II l were writing Tor an English public
/ would receive scores OF protesting letter.
II ! were TO assert that the enormous sue
cess Of the Palace Theater Of Varieties I:
London marked a real triumph for Amer
lean vaudeville. Yet such is nevertheless
the fact, for the most successful OF Londol
vaudeville houses is based on American
lines and run with American ideas, Unde
the management OF Alfred Butt Il ha.
served up 10 a waiting English public tn
class of entertainment with which the bss
American vaudeville houses in the large.
American cities have been identified
adapted. Of course, TO English needs an.
tastes. No one will deny the ability o
Mr. Butt, but the fact remains that his in
spiration is to be found on your side o
the water.
The Palace has declared a dividend o
20 per cent, but that fact Is not as remark.
able as the circumstance that the annua
report shows a weekly profit OF almos
5000. II means that almost every sea
in the big theateT, which has a seating
capacity OF almost i.20 has boam occupied
at every performance. For the past
months, OF course. lite big business can b.
traced 10 the presence in the bil OF Mau'
Allan, the American dancer. but the polio!
Of the house has always been 10 present
strong bill regardless Of cost and sucl
American performers as Marie DRESSER
r. G. Knowles and Anna Held have al
ternsted with English and French favor
ties like Albert Chevalier, Gus Ellen
Lotrie Collins, Yyetts Guilbert Arthu