The Washington herald., 1920-06-13
New York City
By o. o. Mcintyre

chops. They have predicted that
some day some genius would ouiiQ
a theater too large for New York.
The Hippodrorne had a shaky ca
reer before Dillingham; got hosd
of IL and put Mark Leuscher In
charge. Now 1t Is a success.
The Capitol Theater. at Fifty
first street and Broadway. is now
the largest theater in town. 1t
seats 5000 people. and was built
for a combination movie and mu-
sical show palace.
1t started of auspiciously. as
most New York theaters do. The
prices were too high, but the pub
lie went out OF curiosity. But the
public did not go back. Unless one
was up in front, the show looked
like a marionette performance, and
strong voices were mere whispers
in the back part of the house.
Ned weyburn was called in to
put on chorus numbers and. de-
spite his genius, they failed. OPP
cratic stars were called and dog
en- or more various theatrical tricks
tried to WOO back a fickle public.
Then they sent for Samuel Roth
APPEL. Broadway's miracle man. who
was marooned out in Milwaukee
putting a fivver on its mastodonic
feet. Rothapfel is an amazing the
atrical genius. He used to wash
dishes in a depot restaurant in
small Pennsylvania town. and he
has welded a pick in a mine.
But he had his big dreams. and
he was young. He got hold of an
abandoned movie theater and put
it on a paying basis. Soon he had
the biggest in that town-and then
finally he came to New York. where
the Strand-the first of the big
motion picture house successes with
symphony orchestras. 1t was a
success from the start.
Rothapfel got tired of this and
got the site of Hammerstein's Vic
toria and built the Rialto-tnen
came the Rivoli, farther up Broad
way. and both were hugely profit
able. Not satisfied. Rothapfel de-
cided to 60 into the producing game
and present entire motion picture
productions with orchestral trim
mings. This has not as yet proven
successful. But, then. Rothapfel
cannot have all the luck.
So he dropped out of Broadway
awhile and now he has come back
to save the Capital. The first thing
he did was to close the theater
tight for a week. He cut the prices
In two, put on a corking moving
picture show with just a few musi-
cal numbers and a big orchestra,
and the second week the place has
done the biggest business of its
history. How long this will con-
tinue no one knows
With Rothapfel at the helm and
Old Ben Atwell on the publicity
firing line. the Capital has a fight
ing chance. But one thing is GER
tain-New York will not have any
more huge theaters for some time
to come. Just as the little theater
craze spent it's course and sent a
few worried builders into the bank
rupt courts, so did the big theater
craze threaten the bank rolls of a
worried lot of financiers.
The Philip Rhinelander mansion,
later the winter home of the Mar
shall Fields. and one of the show
places of New York, is now an ex-
elusive hat shop. The big house is
in East Fifty-first street and there
is no outward sign that trade has
entrenched itself in this perfumed
section. One enters stately
marble hall. utterly free of busi-
ness paraphernalia There Is a
beautifully carved Francis / stair
way suggesting footsteps of roy
atty. There are lovely Chinese tap
estries and a glimpse OF the spa
cious library overlooking a walled
garden. One waits in the hallway
and then the milliner comes slowly
down the cool marble stairway to
greet you-all suggesting page
from Barrie story. A suggestion
OF Peter Pan in Kensington Gar
den. Then. in a tiny elevator, one
is rushed up to the next fioor-and
still there Is no evidence of busi-
ness.
Only one hat is brought out at a
time. 1t is the kind of exclusive
ness that. when retailed in this
town brings the bacon. They are
all falling for it and the young
lady who runs the establishment Is
getting rich quickly.
l used to know Henry Irving
Dodge back in the Gays when he
shyly knocked at the doors of the
magazine offiC es for admittance. 1t
was before he created his fictional
character Skinner" Now he spendI
mis- time lodging editors. The way
II the world. Dodge had been n
reporter on the Herald and ran a
column on the old Star. People |
thought he was about through. The
IDEA for skinner" lay dormant for
twenty years in its creators brain. |
Dodge Is white haired now He never
lost faith in hinGelf. In tire past |
hve years he has made enough from
his writings anG owing picture |
rights to live on the fat of the land |
ever afterward.
All the hotels of yesteryear are |
going to the scrsp-heap. The Buck
lngham. Holland House. the Knick-
erbocker. the Manhattan and st. |
Denis have passed out. 1t is a |
yreviors mortality late that affects |
New York hotels. The Unsuitable !
steel skyscraper CT commerce Is !
proving fatal to the hotels. Cope |
and Townsend. who got his training |
IT the Palmer House in Chicago and |
has managed a number Of tho sue
,e.sful New York hotels, said at the
closing of one famous hotel last |
week: Hotels, like men, are NOR