The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-05-25


Mr.. Roosevelt is an inveterate thea
ter-goer, says a writer in the Tneater
Magazine for May. When he can sparo
the time rarely a week passes that the
President does not see play Mrs
Roosevelt and the family generally con-
trive 10 see everything worth seeing,
and frequently attend the theater
without the President, who may be de-
tanned at the White House on some i'm
portant business of state. Says the
writer:
When Secretary Loeb calls up one of
the Washington theaters and says that
the President would like TO see the per-
Torrance, the management at once
sends tickets for a stage box, and then
withdraWs from sale all the tickets in
the box or boxes Immediately adjoining
the Presidents box. These additional
boxes may be sold to persons known
to the management, but they are not on
sale to the general public. If no one Of
sufficient Importance appears to pur-
chase them, they may be given to one
of the secret service men who always
come to the theater with the President.
For, no matter where Mr.. Roosevelt
goes, he is followed by the secret SER
vice men. Personally, he dislikes very
much to have them accompany him to
the theater, but the chief of the secret
service bureau in Washington has very
vivid recollections of tragic catas-
trophe that happened in Washington
theater forty-two years ago.
Tt is, therefore, an utter impossible
ity for any stranger to come very close
to the Presidents box; although. Of
course, any crank could buy seats in
the orchestra near enough to see the
President at close range. But scatter
ed in these seats, directly in front of
the Presidents box, a keen observer
would find seven or eight athletic look
ing men, each of whom had bought his
ticket at the box office, and had speci-
fed the location wanted. These men
are all secret service men, acting with
out even the knowledge of Mr.. Roose.
welt himself. but certain to see that no
suspicious person gets near the Presi-
dents box. In the aisles leading to the
boxes, and even upon the stage itself.
secret service men are stationed. In
two of the washington theaters there
are doors leading from the stage into
the approach behind the Presidents
box, and these doors are carefully
guarded each time the President at
crank can enter the theater from the
stage. Chief Wilkie remembers thar
when the tragedy occurred in Ford's
theater, which cost Lincoln his life, the
assassin was himself an actor, who OBJ
tanned admission behind the scenes,
because of his connection with the pro-
fession, and was enabled to approach
the Presidents. box from the stage
without arousing suspicion. Nothing
of that kind Is ever going to happen
again, If the secret service men can
prevent it by adopting precautions.
When the President goes to the
theater he uses the White House car
-iage. Long before he arrives, how
ever, the secret service men have gath
cred in the lobby, and from the time
the doors are first opened two or three
of the men stand by the ticket taker
and carefully scrutiniZe every person
entering the theater. Even the en-
trance to the gallery is watched, and
any person who may arouse suspicion
is quietly told to go to the office and
get his money back. In this way the
character of the audience is made safe
to reasonable degree. The President
is usually late in coming to the theater,
for his departure is timed accurately.
and he wishes to arrive just after the
curtain has risen. This means about
twenty minutes after in Washington.
BY that time most of the audience is
seated and the crowd in the lobby is
smallest. Very often, however, the
crowd has heard informally that the
President is coming, and waits in the
lobby to see him. When the White
House carriage arrives the secret SER
!
and the President and his party quick
ly enter the theater.
President Roosevelt is partial to
musical comedies. When FRITZ Scheff
played Mile. Modiste" in Washington,
he was present with Mrs. Roosevelt
the opening night, and LIKED it SO much
that he attended the performance a
second time, when the singer returned
to Washington. Mrs. Roosevelt has
seen FRITZ Seheff in Mile. Modesto
three times. When the President saw
her the second time, he sent for her
between the acts. and she met him in
the ante-room behind the stage box.
the stage. She was in the
piquant. short-skirted costume she
wears while singing the drum song,
and had the drum with her at the time.
The President and Mrs. Roosevelt were
much charmed by the little Austrian's
captivating ways.
The President is practically the only
official in Washington who receives
theater courtesies. Unlike Edward |
VII, who always pays for his theater
seats, Mr.. Roosevelt is always "the
guest of the management. It has
been customary for many years for the
White House to give a polite intima-
ton to the theaters whenever the
President desired the courtesies of the
house. 1t is possible that Mr.. Roose-
Welt does not know that his tickets are