Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-25
The Theaters

| TREDERICK BELASCO was noti-
| fed yesterday that orders have
a been sent out from New York
closing the syndicate houses of Cali
fornia to the Belasco stock company.
| This move was taken, 1t is said, be-
cause Mr.. Belasco had given David
Warfield time at the local Belasco
| theater.
Warfield is one of David Belascos
stars. Ever since he passed under
| Belasco management he has Deen
| barred out of trust houses. So far as
| is known, however, this is the hrst
| time the syndicate has gone SO far as
| to extend the embargo beyond its I'M
mediate operation against the creator
of "The Music Master" and his man
ager.
| 1t is possible that this action on the
part of the trust indicates a new line
of attack against the independents:
| When Mrs. Fiske played at the local
| Belasco a few months ago the STOCK
company went on the road, played IN
syndicate houses and even presented
ssThe Girl of the Golden West" a
| Belasco play, from which none Of the
syndicate crowd received cent OF
profit. Since then, however, matters
seem to have changed.
| When the dates of the Warf1eld en-
gagement were decided upon Frederick
| Belasco sought to repeat the carrier
| tour, but on more extended scale. He
| asked for time and 1t was given him.
| Then an inquiry arrived at the BE-
lasco offices. The powerful gentle-
men who preside over the theatrlcal
destinies of the country wanted to
know what the Belasco company pur-
posed to play while 1t was away from
home. Would Mr.. Belasco kindly en-
tighten them?
Mr.. Belasco kindly would and did.
He announced that he expected to
play 1.-THE Devil"
"The Devil" Copyright
| The gentlemen of the syndicate were
very sorry. They had surmtsed as
much, and they begged leave to In
| form Mr. Belasco that as Mr.. Savage,
one of their associates, had seen Tne
Devil first and had copyrighted It by
| the simple expedient of saying THAT
mine; 1 choose it," 1t would be mani
testify impossible for them to permit
| Mr.. Belasco to infringe upon that right
in houses controlled by them, much as
| they disliked to occasion him any In
| convenience.
In response TO this Mr.. Belasco as
sured the distinguished gentlemen of
the syndicate that so long as he
couldn't give them 1.-THE Devil" sit
uation which he regretted exceedingly.
he would substitute Captain swift.
There the matter rested until yester-
1 day, when a further trust made COM
munication arrived on Main street.
This announced SIMPLY that the time
requested by Mr.. Belasco In syndicate
houses would not pc granted him.
At first Fred Belasco. like Hashi-
mura Togo in a certain great emer-
| eency, was CONFUSED for reply" Soon,
however, he remembered that Brother
| David has managed to worry along
| for several years without koWtoW1ng
| to the trust and that he has even been
| able to build a theater or two in New
York city. With this reflection came
hope and with hope a, thought.
Behymer to the Rescue
Mr. Belasco at once called up Len
Behymer on the telephone and asked
whether Mr.. Behymer could arrange
for him a two weeks route in theaters
not controlled by the trust. Mr.. Be
hymer promptly replied that he could.
And then, like the small boy when
out of reach of the drivers whip lash,
| Frederick Belasco, metaphorically
speaking, saucily protruded his
| tongue In the direction of New York.
81 say, Len" he called into the
transmitter. Well do The Devil you
| know, and we ought to do business.
| Just book me in towns where Savage
expects to send a company later and
we'll make good If we have to play In
| q barn or loft"
Jules Eckert Goodman, not content
with 1.-THE New Generation now be-
| ing played with success in Chicago by
Louis Mann, and "The Test" to be
| made known at the Auditorium Mon
| day night, will see a third play from
his pen produced in Washington Oc-
tober 81. 1t is called "The Right to
Live" and after week In Washing
| ton and a similar period in Baltimore
will be given in New York
UPTON Sinclair, author of '"The
| Jungle" and other works of similar
character, has written new play
called prince Hagan." He has sent it
to Lewis S. Stone and it will likely be
given a local hearing within the next
| two months.
Edwin Milton Royle's stirring
| dramatic story Of western life, "The
Squaw Man." with Dustin Farnum in
| the stellar role, comes to the Mason
opera house for the week commencing
next Monday night. The plot con-
Germs the story of a young army officer
in England, who finds that his cousin
has embezzled re mental funds and is
| in danger of exposure. Wishing to
save his cousins wife the humiliation
of the disgrace, he takes the crime
upon himself and flies from England
| to wyoming, where he takes up ranch
ing. He is saved from death at the
hands of a cattle rustler by an Indian
girl, and in gratitude marries her.
In the course of time his cousin is
killed on the hunting field and he
comes into the title and estate. He
will not desert his Indian bride and
has made arrangements to solve the
| difficulty by sending his son to Eng
| land to be educated for the position,
when the wife kills herself.
In the supporting company will be
found Phillips Smalley, Maud Hosford,
Mary B. Conwell, Brinsley Shaw,
Horace Mitchell, George w. Deyo,
Edith Perchet, Katherine Fisher, Ruth
Lloyd and Mitchell Lewis.