Perth Amboy evening news., 1911-10-13

younger &&HksTbthtn ~ tEAkFeEk111
takes tt for granted that they are
new, theirs Ia not one Of them which
IL not at least ten years old.
A managers succpss depends upon
bis foresight aud the man Who sees
Just a bit beyond the vision OF amuse.
men1seekers, who anticipates the
trend Of theatrical taste and has the
courage OF hts convictions Is the sue
cessfnI manager, even though he
has to walt for time to Justify his
judgment and his Investment ! have
had to walt a decade for iustfhca-
tion or the faith which built Proc
tors Pleasure Palace, now the Fifty
Eighth st. Theatre. There is not
a feature of the Folies Bergerg, the
Jardin de Paris or any other New
York, London or Paris music hall
which was not Incorporated in that
venture.
There was a palm garden from
which a patron could see the stage
and all other parts of the house as
we'll. There was the dining feature
and, in conjunction, the cabaret
show, q big tank in which could be
shown the spectacular aquatic scenes
current in the London Hippodrome.
and a stage upon which five separate
and distinct acts ere run at nee.
Spectacles. such as the Battle of San
Juan, were staged there. which we're
sights not exceeded by any of those
at the H%ippodrome or by Kiralfy in
his most pretentious efforts. Lock-
harris Elephants and Sandow and
such features were imported espe-
cially for 1t, and its success was for
a time phenomenal. The reason 1t did
not last was because ! was ten years
ahead Of the times. Hammerstein
reaped the benefit of my experience,
but New York was not ready for the
idea even then. and / was on the
wrong side OF the town and he was
where l should have been.
Another development which | see
coming ts, bigger and longer acts
In the high priced vaudeville houses.
The time will come when we will not
be startled at q production extending
than an hour In time. / re-
member wildly the success which
attended David Beaasco's first vent
ure I'M vaudeville. Madame Butterfly
at my Fifth Avenue Theatre, and
hOW OA Inc OPCnAu6 ul6Htt Will tAC
audience profoundly moved. well
known critic, with tears In his eyes,
went w to two girls who had the
audacity to giggle and shook them.
That production raj an hour and five
minutes and had a run OF three
months. The big production of Jesse
Lasky. The Barnyard Romeo, and
the big shows surrounding Harry
Lauder, Julian Eltinge and Marie
Lloyd have pointed the way, and
when the american public has had
time to get used to It. we VIII see
more OF them.
OF course 1t will have the effect
of increasing the cost Of the shows
and it Will mean advancing the adj
mission price-probably to two dol
lars. The experiment vas tried in
vaudeville this year, and success
fully.
So much for high priced vaude-
Vile. Small-time vaudeville Is on a
different plane. Its development has
been rapid and bound up with the
moving picture vogue In a peculiar
way. At present It sexists,sthe result
of much experiment, as q judicious
tOElQlldliQ vi DQtAs tih0 q pOAl0tb
blend OF tobacco.
In New York the small-time thea
tres came as the result OF a condi-
tfon which could exist no Longer.
There were too many first class
houses playing to a high priced eli
entele and not eaoagh hsadiainara to,
them the first chance, and the combi-
nation which has been evolved has
given drnmatics an entirely new and
distinctive form of expression. do
not wish to take undue credit for
the success of their development, but
the responsibility Of the introduce
tfon of the films was put absolutely
up to me after I had suggested and
advocated the move for nearly a
year. The vaudeville situation was
langufshing with too many houses
and Too little talent and it was the
pictures pulled ussout.
The whole plan and anpeal of the
small-time house is different from
that OF high priced vaudeville. 1t is
a case of the show being the thing
and not the name OF reputation of q
single performer. The plan which !
have adopted is to furnish a SPLEEN
did theatre, keep 1t as well as any
~two-dollar house, gfyer a show that
will satisfy people and which viii
make them want to come back, not
because they saw such and such a
star, but because the show itself
pleases them. In that way Is built
upka steady patronage.
The small-time house originally
drew the patronage of the Italian
woman, with her baby in her arms,
the workingman and the children.
The moving picture craze for a time
threatened to surp the field of vau-
deville, but gradually, by experiment,
a satisfactory combination was
reached, which in form represents
what small-time performances will
be, no matter how improved or adj
veneed In cost. The tendency of all
these houses is to Increase the
amount paid for the show and. in
consequence, the admission price
must be put up to meet the increased
cost and the additional value.
But local managers have found
and the public is coming to realize
that there is as much amusement to
be derived from these theatres for
the class of people who attend two
dollar performances as for the class
for which the smaIl-time theatre was
designed. And once you show this
class that they can get as much real
amusement there as they would pay
the higher price to see in q Broad
way production, and once they are
convinced that the shows are clean