The sun., 1909-02-07
EARsRSTBOOSYERS
MEN WHO GET THEATRICAL
NEWS IN TABLOID FORM.
Rural Dramatic Correspondents Usefui
n Obscure AdJmets OF the show
Business They Range From farmers
to .Judges-wome Among Them.

mural DfbnhuC GorfDSponuouts hsotut
10 Obscure AdJunets OF the show
Business -They Range From farmers
to Judges-women Among Them.
The various theatrical, weeklies con-
tain out Of town correspondence columns
In which appear items like this:
NEWTON, Okla, Oct. io.-"The Denver
Express" played here to good business on
October q, 9. r. o. The Opera House
will be closed for q week and then open
with The Kings Jester"
The people who write this tabloid forrn
Of dramatic news range from porters to
Judges. While these two extxsmes are
uncommon, clerks, bookkeepers, printers.
proofreaders, bakers masons, tinsmlths
and undertakers are reckoned by the
score. Doctors sometimes act as dra-
matic correspondents Then again the
country editor sometimes turns his pen
aside from society notes to the drama;
but this Ia not generally the case.
Even farmers occasionally find leisure
after hard days work In the Geld 10
represent one OF the limelight organs in
the capacity OF critic. One Of them
In Iowa. q jolly old soul who invariably
drives to the local opera house six miles
away In q hay wagon. not only takes the
whole family but picks up enough
nelshbors to make full load. Once or
twice, he says. there would not have been
any audience II he had not brought II
along with him.
The publication which has this face
tious correspondent among it's contribu-
tors employs two cowboys, one Of them
an ex-member Of Roosevelt's Rough
Riders. Then again II has a military
gentleman In old Kentucky who dryly
apologies for being only a Major In a
State OF Colonies and keeps New York
In touch with Bluegrass histrionics.
Suoh modesty might seem to argue
a little ecoentrioity In the Major, but It
was nothing compared with the pecu-
liarities OF another correspondent who
persisted In writing on heavy butchers 6
wrapping paper regardless OF repeated
requests to discontinue the practice until
he was finally informed that the excess
postage would be charged to him, He
is not the only dramatic correspondent,
however, who had deviatsd from the
customary rules Of careful sorlbes. There
are others who comply with the general
obeervances in the nero matter Of writin z
paper but err In othor wavs.
A man in Wyoming delights in irrele-
want gossip When the fit is on he fills
his letters with a general account OF the
towns events. Once he wrote ten pa ge
description OF picnic and dismissed the
play by asking what chance would 0
big show have coming on the night Of the
firemen's parade7'
Another correspondent. on the other
hand. wrote no moro than two or three
lines, hut the production made such q
III with him that he said we had ter
rb,e rainstorn. but every horse and urn-
brolla turned out TO IN the house
It isn't every oompsny that makes
rood like this In the estimation ~
the faithful observers far removed from
the Great White Way. and a correspondent
never fails in such cases TO sound note
OF indignant protest. This herrered
not long ago whom man wrote from
the northern part OF New York State
declaring that the -comrsny must have
taken US for RuteF who didn't fpov
much. the show was so lad" PeoT'c
in the rural dist,ic do not like 10 &c
fooled any more than the oitv dweller,
and when a comp,nv fails to keen it,
promise loud wall Of disillusioned faith
rends the air. This time IL comes from
Arkansas The writer says,
The - Gaiety COMPANY advertised
twenty people. but the show had only -four
males and two females They werc moth
ing but transformers, and disgusted large
audience at - Opera House.
When a company does not put In on
appearance at the time II Is booked. as is
sometimes the case with hy by night
troupes that never know where the rail-
road fare to the next town Ia coming from,
the correspondent duly reports the
matter In his letter, The following ex-
PLANTATION was once received at the Office
Of theatrical weekly:
- Bellrineers we're due here three
weeks ago. but they haven't come vet.
They lose by not coming. as this Is one OF
the best theatrical centres In this part OF
the state. They must have been lost In the
shufYie. The only way I can account for
their not showing up Is that a cyclone
passed near US about that time. and per.
haps II took them along.
He probably was dry humorist who
was trying to help other people out by
making excuses for their failings. This
might be true in HIS case. but there Ia some
doubt as TO the humorous intentions OF
another contributor who wrote out every
week detailed story Of the plays he saw
including such standbys as Camille,
aEAat WINE" and AUnole Tom n Cabin
Many correspondents ride hobbies
closely connected with the stage. Out
in Ohio is a photographer who always
oorrals members Of a company before IL
leaves town and takes their photographs
for his private gallery,
Another correspondent. living In Salt
Lake City. collects photographs Of GER
tain we'll known actress. His collecting
Is confined 70 pictures OF this one woman.
U,hapavar aho plava In Salt aka Citv bar