Perth Amboy evening news., 1911-10-13

sN ~ NA0s8 xnffEEN kt&N
anyway like The pictorial presentation
OF them does. / go regularly twice
a week and take my boy,
One night / was standing In front
of my 126th street house as the
show was coming out and ] saw a
man, evidently In comfortable cir
cumstances with a boy and girl about
eight and ten years old, respectively. |
/ asked my manager II he bad many
children of that age at the late
show. He said: mo, but want yau
to meet this gentleman I was in
troduced and, OF course, made some
comment on the children. Then he
told me he was a widower and that
both children were in school and Just |
beginning to take up the study OF |
geography. And that he brought /
them there to see the film of the
Martinique disaster. cit was Just
at the time when there was so much /
excitement over the eruption of Mt.
Pelee.) He was interested in 1t him
self and the children simply would
not be left at home, because they
had heard SO much about 1t at school.
Now these are merely examples of
the class of people who are going to
the small-time theatres and 1t also
shows what an educational forcc the
moving picture in the theatre has
come to be. 1t is owing to the grow
ing patronage OF this class thai the
performances have been improved
and prices advanced. This Is sus-
ceptible of still further development
and it will come.
There is one phase of sma1l-time
vaudeville in vicinity of New York. I
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cessitated advanced prices. Not SO
very long ago It was possible to get
q try-out act to play in a small the |
atre for little more than the expense
of getting it there. Big acts were
anxious to have a nearby theatre in !
which to get into shape, round of
the rough corners, find out where |
the laughs were and accustom their
players to their parts. It was al
bonanza for the houses tn Mount
Vernon. Yonkers, Perth Amboy and
many metropolitan houses where !
patrons could see for ten ad TWEEN
ty-fve cents the same acts and per-l
formers that they would have to pay |
a dollar to see a week later at the |
Fifth Avenue. But the scarcity OF
new feature acts has initiated |
against this condition and now the
manager must pay we'll for these
try-outS II he wants them, and he
must get his return somehow. 1t Is
a case OF the tax being handed on
the ultimate
The small-time theatres came into
existence through this scarcity OF
headline features and moving pic
lures made them possible by fur- !
nishing a cheap form OF amusement.
ment, At first they took the form Of
store shows, but when / finally pre- |
vailed upon my associates to put In
moving pictures as an adjunct to
vaudeville and take advantage of a
made-to-order asset, the store shows
were doomed. That class came into
our galleries then.
After a time pictures and vaude- |
vile adjusted themselves into the
satisfactory arrangement now in
vogue. The usual scheme is to give
three shows a day. But my thea
tres give four, starting at eleven and
ending at eleven, the approximate
length of the show being two hours
and three quarters. The proposition |
is this. Here are performers who
need the work and have no easona-
BILE expectancy OF getting the big
time, and here are people who must
be amused and who can not pay Lig |
g nMg ip u sava aFs Ea wi IL t bb5aafb No.
It may be that some people think
that 1t Is for economical reason that |
films are given ais much prominence |
In the Proctor smaIi-tfme houses as
vaudeville acts are. That Is q very
mistaken idea. IN the first place, |
nothing but 'first-run,' films are
used In my houses and they often
cost us as much as the vaudeville
part OF the show. And then after |
careful inquiry and investigation ex-
tending over months ana conducted |
In all my houses, / find that fully
fifty per cent Of the people come
for the pictures. I'll admit thatgl
while / believed that such was the
case In many instances, I had no
idea that the analysts would show
such a large part of the audiences
who came for the sake of the pic
lures. / attribute it to the educa-
tiona1 benefits which the ingenious
modern film manufacturer has been
clever enough to absorb knowledge
through its eyes. / have played
this educational value UP in all my
theatres and / am convinced Of Its
practical pecuniary value.
So much for the small time. There
are several problems of vaudeville
which are interesting, however, and
which apply as we'll to both big and
small time. 1t has often been In
situated that vaudeville and the big
salaries paid are draining the legiti-
mate or it's BEST actors. AS a matter
of fact the contrary is the case. Vau-
deville is the great feeder for the
legitimate. Musical comedy is full
of vaudeville performers. so much
so that several shows this season
seems to be made up entirely Of vau-
deviIle teams and single performers.
Many of the best dramatic players |
come from the ranks of vaudeville
and many also have gone into grand
opera. Two recent examples are Or
vile Harold and Esteile Went
worth.
Vaudeville also feeds the dramatic
! shows with material. There is a
clever song sung by Irene Franklyn
which shows in q humorous but none
the less true way. how a vaudeville
| performer feels When he goes to a
show and finds 1t full OF his own
| gags and lines and situations.
AS far as the differences between
arfcrruarc fupS n zero vuhsrh va1 /