The Washington herald., 1914-04-27
Who's Who Among
Women
How Mrs. Josephine Clement At
tackled the Theater Problem.
By MARY ID. MULLETT.

By MARY ID. MULLETT.
Everybody IL trying to get a finger into
the stage pie these days. There are a
dozen dramatic leagues and alliances and
! societies to tell US what plays to see and
which ones to avoid.
There are managers who are trying TO
uplift the stage. There are theaters de-
voted to the same laudable purpose. The
grand New Theater. which had 50 brief
q career in New York, In an example of
how powerful hard" Il Is to do this little
| upllft stunt, even with the backing of
millions In money and the weight OF pres
tige and position.
With all these efforts. more or less I'M
successful In mind. one has TO take on
ones hat to Mrs. Josephine Clement. Of
Boston. She has Probably done more to-
ward a real Improvement in theatrical
conditions than the great New York en-
terprise accomplished. And she has done
IL in a l0-cent theater.
Mrs. Clement is not the kind of woman
you would associate with the Decent
show idea She Is cultivated. She has
position Her husband was the editor OF
a certain paper OF such standing that
merely to be seen reading II was a badge
of responsibility in Boston. To be its edi-
tor. or the wife OF its editor was TO be
on q pinnacle apart.
Yet this is the woman who is running
a Decent show and doing herself honor
in the act. The very name OF her heater
is significant. II Is the "Bijou Dream. -
In that title, Mrs. Clement has undoubt-
eddy expressed the fact that this Is lit
orally little gem OF a dream" she has
cherished q long time.
Lucky Mrs. Clement! who can make
at least one Of her dreams come true
And lucky Bostonians! who have so
clever a townswoman.
The Bijou Dream was started by Mrs
Clement in order to prove that wholesome
amusement could be offered the people
at rates so low that almost anybody
could AFFORD 70 pay them. while at the
same time the enterprise could be made
a paying one.
Mrs. Clement was determined not only
that her show itself should be a good
one. but that her theater should be COM
Portable and pleasant. She has carried
out both these purposes.
The Bijou Dream Is as attractive as II
IT were intended for drama at s. a seat.
The Hobbies are artistic and spacious.
There is a ladies' room where a neat
maid in cap and apron is in constant at
tendance.
There Is a smoking-room for men where
writing desks and telephones and easy
chairs make so irresistible an appeal that
many scores OF business men drop in for
a glimpse Of the show and a comfortable
smoke in the mems room between lunch
con and their return to business.
But the real audiences. to whom Mrs.
Clement makes her greatest appeal. are
those OF the afternoon and the evening
They are the women and children Tin the
afternoon. the men. women. and young
foIL lin hn oil
would be in the regular movie" theaters.
OF course, many OF the moving picture
houses are clean and decent. But Mrs.
Clement has shown that they can be
made much more than that and still have
them a paying proposition.
BY the way. some one asked her not
long ago IL she really could make her
dream pay under the almost de luxe
conditions that exist in her theater.
Would still be running 1t and con-
stantly improving II IL II didn't pay"
was her reply.
As for the show" itself that is quite
as different from the ordinary movie
as the theater is unlike the usual 10-cent
house. She has moving pictures. of
course. But she picks her films with
care. She demands good photography in
the first place. Then she insists on plen-
ty Of action and interest She wants good
fun in some of the reels: but she turns
down those that are horseplay and moth
ing more.
She is as shrewd in choosing the music
that accompanies the pictures as in Sc
lecting the pictures themselves. 1t isn't
highbrow music. since that would bore
part of the audience. But Il isn't a mere
pounding out Of ragtime either.
Mrs. Clement has been wise enough to
take a hint from the huge successes
made bv such men as Elmendorf
Holmes. Newman. and other travel talk
ers." Her program always includes a
ten-minute lecture by a good speaker and
Illustrated with good pictures. These
camera chats" as they are called. are
not always about travel. But they are