The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1910-06-02
THEATRES SHOULD
Be open TO ALL
Jake Wells Opposes His Associates
Who Would Stick to the
Trust.
RICHMOND, vA.-specfal.-

atrlcal Circuit, which controls a num-
Der of amusement places in Virginia
and throughout the South, is working
like a Trojan TO have the Academy of
Music throw open it's doors for the
benefit OF the amusement lovers and
to give to the public the best and
biggest attractions that tour the coun-
try.
In this action Mr.. Wells is finding
the approval Of the public. which
patronizes the theatres, and he is be-
ing commended by them in an effort
to give to the people of Richmond and
to the other cities of the South the
very best attractions that are found
He wants an Open-door for all the
booking concerns, and deprecates the
policy which kept the Academy closed
last season Tor more than a month at
a time.
When seen today and asked regard
ing the general situation and a state
ment touching the approaching sea-
son and his efforts and desire to cater
to the public, he said:
I'm reply to your question as to the
situation of the Academy and what
class of attractions are to be furnish
ed, and whether the house is TO be an
exclusive Klaw & Erlanger, playing
| only such attractions as they see fit to
| book for it, or whether the directors
will declare TO adopt the policy of
what is known as the open door,
| playing any and all meritorious at
| fractions. regardless of any ownership
| or agency thereof, 1 am not in a po-
sition to intelligently answer.
The business of the Leath Com
pany is conducted by a board OF direc-
tors consisting of six. and to do or
undo is a matter requiring a vote of
four of the membership. Owing to
the death Of Mr.. Leath. the director
ship consists of five until such time as
his successor shall be appointed. Mr..
Rosenbaum, of the board of directors,
is in Europe. The other four are Mr..
w. @. Neal, Mr.. Allen Collins. MIR.
Charles /. Mckee and myself, and no
meetings have been held and no bust
ness, other than the ordinary, has
been transacted. Mr.. Neal and in
| friendly manner have discussed the
present situation on several occasions.
and / am quite sure that 1 make no
mistake in asserting that we agree on
the one vital question-that is, better
\ bookings for the theater.
Open TO Good Shows.
| Il personally believe that the the
| alter should be opened TO any and all
| reputable producing managers hav-
/ ing meritorious attractions that the
public of Richmond want to see. /
don't think it is fair to ourselves, in a
/ commercial way, and TO the public in
| an amusement way. to keep thirty or
/ forty of the best attractions now be-
| fore the public out of Richmond.
This opinion is not only shared by me.
/ but by the big majority of theater
owners and operators throughout the
entire country.
In the one and two-night territory,
/ if we succeeded in getting all of the
desirable or properly termed frst-class
attractions controlled by Klaw * Err
| LANCER, Savage, Frohman, Cohan &
| Harris, Shuberts, Belasco, Lieblers,
| Brady, Fiske, Wagenhals & Kemper
and numerous other prominent pro-
ducers, we would not then have any
| too many TO properly fill the Acade-
| myS time, give the public what il
| wants and make money for ourselves.
| States Facts.
| THE Academy, even under the
most favorable conditions, would have
more than enough dark nights. When
! anybody tells you that certain pro-
| ducers control hundreds OF first-class
attractions. they are not telling you
| facts, for there are not more than one
| hundred desirable attractions at $3.50
and 81 prices in the entire theatrical
market.
IF a world of first-class attractions
| existed why was the Academy dark
| two and three consecutive weeks on
several occasions last season? We had
one performance at the Academy last
season from the 22d day of January
| to the LIST day of March. We did not
have a performance from the 1st day
| of December to the 25th day of that
month, and on Christmas Day we had
| Miss Florence Davis.
Nearly every high-class house in
the South either lost money or did
not make cent of profit. I am not
prejudiced in any way against the
syndicate which has heretofore con-
| trolled the high-price theatrical field
nor am l in any way partial or inter-
ested in the business welfare of the
| Shuberts, Leibler & Co. or any of
THE fractional or personal battle
between the different big theatrical
interests does not concern either my
self or associates, and / fail to under
stand why we should be the innocent
| sufferers in a business way on NShiS ac-
count. I regard all of the above-men-
toned people as legitimate producing
managers, and I should certainly be
glad to see them all playing to the
Richmond public at the Academy.
Richmond does not need another
high-class house, as there is ample
meritorious attraction and many a dark
night left on our hands besides. BY the
policy that excludes a big percentage
Leath houses we are counting opposi-
ton both at Richmond and Norfolk in
! the shape of new theaters.
IF one house cannot make a profit
worth while. what will be the result
or TWO or the same cnaracterI ana
! what will be the value of our proper
ties and stock? There are already too
many theaters in the South with insult
ficient attractions.
| Plenty of Theaters.
| What would suit the public better
! would be less action as to the building
of new theaters and more effort in fur
nishing desirable attractions for the
theaters that already exist. None of the
big producers of the country want to
see two high-class theaters in the one,
two and three-nght territory.
'Tt is a hard game to play these
cities now at a profit without any OPP
position, but imagine how two pro-
ducers owning two high-class attrac-
lions would feel about playing in the
city of Richmond at opposition houses
on the same night.
TT is not speaking in any deprecia-
tive manner of the city of Richmond
when 1 say that one high class house
is enough, but that house should have
at its disposal all of the real meri-
torious attractions at high prices, and
eliminate the ordinary ones to the pop
ular price theatres, where they belong
This applies to all cities OF less than
$50. 900 population. AS stated before,
have no feeling against any Interests
| in connection with the producing end
and the position that I take is simply