Omaha daily bee., 1908-10-11

in pure Bostonese. Of getting on to his job,
which in his case meant a thorough work
ing knowledge OF the intricacies Of the
thoater from the box office 10 the cosmetic
corner.
So interested did MI. Ames become in
the stock company idea that he had just
purchased a plot Of ground in Boston with
the purpose OF building a theater according
to his own ideas and putting in a stock
company OF his own selection to produce
plays that he believed the public wanted 10
see presented i'm that way when the sum
mons came 20 hang up his plan for the
present and in lieu Of II take over the
dictatorship Of the New theater in collabo-
ration with Lee shubert and John Corbin.
THE founders of the New theater,' Mr..
Ames went on. are active managers in
the sense that they have outlined the plan
and scope of the New theater, while they
have t~actfully eliminated themselves in re-
gard to the thousand and one details Of
the project. The founders are J. ]. Aston,
George +. Baker. Edmund l.. Baylies, Cort-
landt Field Bishop, August Belmont, Paul
D.. Cravath, William b. c.. Field, II. G..
Prick, George ]. Gould, Eliot Gregory,
Archer NJ. Huntington, james II. Hyde,
Otto II. Kahn, w. del. Kountze, Clarence
II. Mackay, J. p. Morgan, James SCllman,
II. NICK. Gwombly, r. b. Van Cort-
landt, Cornelius Vanderbilt, w. X. Wander
bilt, Henry Walters, II. =. Whitney, NJ.
Orme Wilson and H.. w. Winthrop.
There is an impression quite prevalent,
l find, that these gentlemen have banded
themselves together to engage in a sort Of
wildcat scheme without really knowing
what it is all about; that they were merely
rich men seeking to do something philan-
thropic without any definite idea as to
what they wanted or what they could do.
The contrary is the truth.
Before the public knew anything at
all about the New theater enterprise the
founders had very distinct Impressions OF
what they intended to nave and what
they could accomplish. They did have a
splendid purpose and were actuated by
philanthropic sentiment and municipal
pride. They saw no reason why New
York SHOULD not have a 'theater that
would be representative of it in every
sense of the word and they went to work
In the most businesslike way to organize
to that end.
The New theater may turn out to be
as good as they hope and expect or it
AAA@s ANNt = - $50 $3.50 NNs ~ AORAAS .
but their part in it cannot be too highly
/ appreciated. They are willing to put
money in without eXacting interest so
that the enterprise might be relieved of
the bugbear that has handicapped art in
this direction always-the necessity of
making profits. If it had not been for
their unexampled generosity we would
not have got to the point of experiment.
ing, let alone anything else.
In line with this public ~misapprehen
sion is that which regards the New the
alter as a subsidized theater, of which
there are so many in Europe, notably the
Coincide Franchise in Paris and the Hof-
burg in Vienna. There is a very material
difference.
"A subsidized theater has no fear of UNI
paid bills. We will have such a fear, for
we are expected to make good. and If we
do not the New theater enterprise will
have proved a failure. We are relieved
OF the necessity of making profits, but we
must pay our way.
IF, as we hope, we can get good Ameri.
can plays, plays that come up to the re-
quired standard, and find that they are
wanted by the theater-going public, the
weight of our combined approval as direc.
tors will be along that lead, but the stand.
ard is to be high.
The chief novelty Of the New theatei
enterprise is the repertory system, in dis
tinction to the long runs and in conse
quence the limited number of roles that s
leading character has a chance to play II
a season. We intend to have frequen.
changes Of bill, perhaps three a week. Thii
will, in addition to its other merits, hav,
that of affording the opportunity for tn,
limited audience to see occasionally play
which from the point of view Of the boz
office are not a success.
w expect to have a large stock com
pany, perhaps forty active members, capa
BILE of playing a repertoire. l am not sur
as to the number in the European theaters
but ! think there is about that numbe
at the Coincide and at the Vienna Hof
burg. This will give us ample materia
to draw on for every play in the schedule
Many of the stars are playing alon.
certain lines, owing to their popularity 4
those roles, and the astute management
which keeps them in paying parts care
fully selected to display their character
istics. Many Of these are really more ver
I satile than the public imagines, : but the
do not get a chance to show this quality
, Others have been more fortunate.
by the repertoire system the actor wi
have moro time to himself. certainly h
will be free one night a week, which is,
believe, a very good thing for the acting
> No one who is overworked can give his bes
temperamentally. and to avoid overwork
n going to be one of our notices.
L 'The stock company not only gives
star an opportunity TO show his versatility
but It develops it in every member OF tn
cast, however unimportant. That is wha
c made those old companies so wonderful
5 the continually changing bill and the wild
e range in the repertoire, the man VIII
played a leading part one night comm