The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1910-10-07

SITUATION
At Least Two Theatrical
Men Willing to Take
Over House and Pay the
Wage Scale.

The suave little gentleman who ran
the Everett Theatre until the stage
workers closed him down over the
stupendous sum of five or six dollars
a show. has made considerable fuss
over the demands of the stage workers.
The main point of his contention has
been that he has made no money out of
the Everett theatre and consequently
could not afford to pay the increased
demands
The Chamber of Commerce. phil
anthropc organization, that works for
extra mail routes, harbor improvements
and the open shop"-regrets very much
the fact that Everett people are com
PEELED to travel to Seattle to see n
first class theatrical a,,raction and
wants to see the matter adjusted.
There is only one way in which the
controversy can be settled satisfactorily
to the stageWorkers- they want their
wage scale recognized The thought
occurred to The Journal man, isn't
there someone that understands the
theatrical business that can take that
house and make enough ont of it 20
Lay the scale asked for?" Because
one man fails in any particular line OF
business it does not necessarily follow
that nobody else can make a success
ont of that same line SO The Jour.
nal man started out. He went to saa
Jack Lucas. the manager of the Acme
theatre and Jos st. Peter. manager of
the Rose.
Both of these men are experienced
theatrical men and both havei made
good in Everett. When the wage scale
demand of the stage workers was pre-
sented to their respective houses it was
paid without question. 1t is true. that
these houses are in different class
from the Everett theatre and appeal
more to the popular taste But bear III
mind that the Acme theatre when these
men took hold of it was a Joke in the
theatrical world. Why You couldn't fill
the house with paper let alone get peo
pile to pay good money to get in. No
trouble to get people out now. That's
what made us think that real, live
manager had something to do with the
size of the box receipts.
So we asked both Lucas and st. Peter
this question: "Tf you could get hold
of the Everett theatre. could you run it
and pay the scale the stage workers
are demanding g?'-Now, we asked this
question of these men singly, but we
got the same answJr from both of
them.
"If | could get a lease from the Ev
erett Improvement Co. without lot of
strings on it-a straight cash consider
aton-Td take that theatre and I'd run
it and pay the stage workers the money
they are asking for. 1t is certain that
the small amount the boys are asking
for could neither make nor break a
theatre manager. The public wants a
faultless stage production-they pay
enough to be- entitled to it-and there
must be precision and harmony be-
hind the scenes. The only way to pro
duce that is to pay the men as near as
YOU can what their services are worth.
A theatre manager has to cater to the
public and it is straight out business
to give the public the consideration
that their patronage entities them to.
We don't like to see a first-class house
like the Everett theatre closed-it's a
bad business advertisement for the
town. Yes, indeed, til take a lease on
the house if I can get anything like
decent terms and I'll pay the money for
my help"
Now, gentlemen of the Chamber of
Commerce. here is an opportunity to re-
lieve the stress of the theatrical situa
ton. You might, gently, but firmly, in
duce Mr.. Willis to separate himself
from that lease to which he clings so
tenaciously and let somebody else have
a try at it. If they couldn't run the
place they could close it again and
things would be no worse than they are
now And it would most thoroughly
demonstrate whether it was mere
matter of few dollars a show or not
that produced the present situation.