The Brunswick news., 1909-08-17
SOUTHERN THEATRICAL MEN TO
AGAIN HOLD CONFERENCE
IN ATLANTA.
Believed They VIII Demand Rights
/ of KIaw & ErIan9er-Purpose of
the Association is to Effect an Or
+; ganization That Will Be a Protec-
| tion to Their Interests.

A conference of practically all the
managers Of high class theatres in
the south will be held in Atlanta next
Wednesday at noon in the assembly
room of the Piedmont hotel
1t will be important, perhaps epoch
making. Unless present portents fail,
it will lead to a throwing off, at
least a 1oosening, of the yoke which
Klaw & Erlanger are said to have held
50 long upon southern playhouses.
This meeting is logically construed to
be the finale of a request which the
southern managers made of Klaw &
Erlanger some weeks ago-that they
be allowed to open their houses to all
high-class productions regardless of
who booked them That request it
will be recalled was denied; it was
sat upon with the full bulk of Klaw
e Changers sitting capacity. The
committee representing the managers
came home from New York, thought
the matter over cOrresponded among
themselves and now they are all to
assemble and talk the matter over.
The purpose of the Association of
Southern Theatre Managers is to ef-
feet an organization that will protect
their interests. Everybody else in the
show business is organized except the
managers. The stage hands are or
ganized; the musicians, the carpen-
ters. the sign painters are organized.
So are the managers of the east and
the west. The southern managers
have awakened to the fact that they
are trying to do business with meth
ods out of date. They have had no
redress against any inconvenience or
even unfairness that a producing cas-
tern manager may see fit to heap
upon them.
For instance, if Klaw & Erlanger
want to book performance in Bruns-
wick for a solid week, booked it
must be, even though the owner of
the theatre should know it wouldn't
pay for mere than a single night.
More than this, it is alleged that
eastern producers have often played
in southern cities to $4,000 or $15,-
900 worth of business. Of that amount
they will pocket so per cent. and
leave the local manager 20 per cent.
These local managers have come
to feel that if they own their houses
or have worked to have them built,
they should have at least some say
so in the sort of attractions sent
them and should not be forced to sit
like a helpless plum pudding for Jack
Horner to pluck from at his will.
Organization, therefore, will 0e the
keynote of the approaching confer
ence, and cut of that organization
momentous results may be expected
to come. All managers of the asso-
ciation are urged to be present, and
all managers of first-class houses,
whether they be association members
or not, are particularly invited. The
association now represents within its
membership so Or 80 per cent. Of the
high class theatres as far north as
Virginia, and as far west as Arkansas.
That represents a strength that is
formidable. In fact, it holds the key
to the theatrical situation in the
south. The managers themselves are
exceedingly reticent, but everybody
knows that they are, about as capable
OF bucking a domineering syndicate
as any set of men in America