The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-29

v si-
 New York, January Especial )-Only few years ago this city had no west side theatre farther up town than Forty second street. The latest theatrical crea- tion, The Washington, Is five miles fur- ther north and another is planned above that point. This will give one an idea of the growth of the theatrical business
 Hereafter the residents of Washington Heights will not have to go to Harlem and downtown to seek theatrical amuse- ment, for the new Washington theatre on West One-hundred and Forty ninth street Is open.
 This new playhouse, which Is the farth- est north on tho westsides of Manhattan island, was erected at an approximate cost of S15O,0O0 by the Phoenix Amusement company The syndicate which built 1t is represented by Solomon Brill and in cludes among It's members William Fox who is also interested in, the City theatre, which Timothy D. Sullivan and his asos- ciates completed on East fourteentn street.
 It has been decided by the management of this new theatre to devote it to high class vaudeville. A vaudeville contest has been arranged by Manager Percy Williams for Nat Goodwin, Adeline Genee, Valeska Suratt and Eva Tanguay Manager Williams has these performers booked for weeks on his circuit and he intends to offer gold medal to the. one attracting the most patronage. Manager Williams says 1t Is going to be interesting to watch the con test because a comparison will be brought ot as to the relative drawing powers of Legitimate stars in vaudeville and reg ular vaudeville stars A few days ago when the executives of the New theatre cast about to find a plausible excuse which they might an- nounce publicly for taking ''The Blue Bird' from the Majestic theatre. they succeeded in stirring up a large sized ac- tive hornets nest. The, outcome was that groups of players In '.rhe Blue Bird" company held indignation meetings, the |,net result of which is a letter of protest Issued by Robert Cummings, one of the principal members of the organization. Tn the newspaper announcements giving the news of the withdrawal of The Blue Bird" from the Majestic. it was stated that this decision had been reached in order to add another act and reproduce the play onathe stage of the New theatre. Then followed this paragraph:
 "Rehearsals will be, begun shortly, and any changes made Tn the caSt VIII tenu to strengthen the performance"
 It was to this sentence that the players especially objected, because 1t carried with it the insinuation that the present cast Is not satisfactory.
 This, according to Cummings letter, Is manifestly unfair to the thoroughly com
 petent company, which is now appearing in '.The Blue Bird" and which created its various roles in this country.
 In less than two years the New theatre has suffered losses, said to total nearly $400. GOO. es
 It has been reported that J. Pierpont Morgan has begun to take more active interest in the affairs of the institution. and that after he learned the amount of the losses and was brought face to face with the fact that failure had followed failure. called his fellow members to- gether and administered verbal spank ing. "IHtt4 fH.-
 Winthrop Ames, administrative director of the theatre, has also rendered his res ignation, it is said, but of his own voli- ..ori. Mir Anies has accomplished all that might have been done under the handicap of him. If he retires 1t will be with the respect and esteem of all the founders and the public. It was a unique affair-that magic show given by the society of American Magicians at the Carnegie lyceum. Mag