The Washington herald., 1913-02-09
Height of Dramatic Season Washington Enjoying Best Aa
Dramatic Interest CenterS
at Chase's This Week.
Lucia di Lammermoor, with Tetrazzini in Title
Role, Promises to Be Most Brilliant Operatic
Event Held in This City for Years.

| The story of how James MONTGOMERY
came TO write his comedy success Ready
Money" which will be seen in the Be-
lasco Theater this week, sounds as i'm
possible as the plot Of a dime novel.
Before he wrote Ready Money" Mr..
Montgomery was earning $40 per as an
actor. He had about as much standing
in the theatrical world as a door-mat
| thief In the underworld. One day he
| sidled up to a Los Angeles stock man
ager and persuaded him to listen to YER
| bal synopsis of a stage story he had
| been mentally incubating. After he got
through outlining his scenario the man.
ager signed a contract with him to de-
liver the play when ever he might want
II for $500; after which young Mont
gomery promptly thrust the matter from
his mind, feeling perfectly sure that no
stock manager would have an enlarge
ment of the heart sufficient to cause him
10 part with $500 for an untried play.
! One day some months later. while in
New York, Mr. Montgomery received a
| telegram from the manager with whom
he was under contract informing him
that Ready Money was announced for
production in two weeks.
Not even the synopsis was on paper
but Montgomery was game" He Jump
ed on the first train bound for Los An
geles. and wrote two acts Of the piece
en- route Three days before the open
ing the third act was still unwritten,
however. Mr.. Montgomery went to his
room in the hotel. ordered two pots OF
coffee. and a quart Of wine. He packed
Turkish towel with ice and wound II
around his head. After drinking the
champagne to stimulate his brain he
drank the coffee to keep him awake. and
before he left the room Ready Money
had been completed. This was on Fri
day. On Monday the piece was produced
and scored such a hit that II. H Frazee
Immediately secured II for production in
the larger cities. II was produced in
London and New York simultaneously.
and Mr.. Montgomery's fortune was made.
BY a peculiar turn of the booking wheel
which gives TO the theatrical clientele
of the nation different attractions for
its amusement, George c'Honey Boy'O
Evans, the minstrel favorite. and Ray
mond Hitchcock. who for a brief period
acted as substitute for the diminutfve
paragon Of minstrelry, will appear In
Washington at rival payhouses this week,
the former coming to the Columbia with
his troupe of blackface favorites, and
the latter heading the company at the
National in The Red Widow
Although much has been said and writ
ten about the famous histrions who rose
to stardom from the realm OF mlnstrelsy.
few among the hundreds OF thousands of
theatergoers of the nation are cognizant
OF the fact that Hitchcock entertained in
burnt cork, and, it is asseverated. Che
says so HIMSELF, that he was a cork
ing" good minstrelman. II all cana
about in this way.
When Cohan and Harris organized their
mammoth minstrel troupe. they selected
George Evans, the happy Honey Boy"
as its star. although in its personnel were
included George Thatcher, Julian Ell
tinge, Earl Benham, Eddie Leonard, and
many others famous In the histrionic !
realm AS a compliment to the Honey |
Boy and also because they realized the |
advertising value Of having some catchy |
name for the troupe, they named the |
monopoly of blackface favorites The |
Honey Boy NIinstrels.''
Business sagacity has been admitted in |
the past TO have been one of the lead |
ing assets of Cohan and Harris in its |
triumphal march from a small beginning |
to large success, and that they might |
be protected il anything should happen |
to the Honey Boy" they insured his |
life each season for $4,000 cash. Great |
was evinced by the insurance
firm when the Honey Boy" had an at
tack Of appendicitis in Utica, n. Y, four
years ago-the second one of the produc-
tion-and Cohan and Harris almost were
s10o, 900 richer so near to deaths door
was the little minstrel favorite.
Realizing that the box-office receipts
would fall down unless some prominent
theatrical star was rushed to the front
to I'LL the hole in the ranks of the
Ministries caused by the sickness OF
Evans, Cohan and Harris Immediately
ordered Hitchcock from another produc-
ton to replace him. The versatility OF
the latter was manifested. as although
he had never before appeared before
the public except straight" he with
only one rehearsal, took the place OF the
Honey Boy"
Hitchcock was a tremendous success
from the first, and the receipts climbed
at an accelerated rate because of the
of the public to see the famous
in blackface. 1t was with
great regret that, after the recovery Of
the Honey Boy" Hitchcock relinquish-
ed his former place as star OF the
Honey Boy minstrels to the happy
Honey Boy" They will meet here this
week-rivals-and friends.