The Washington times., 1922-03-19

pushed In through the box OFFICES
window all day.
Success turned the heads Of the
partners. They began to question
whether Grieves was not pLyins
too much money for the ac,s he
was booking. Finally there WIS q
rupture between them and John
packed up his suit case and lsft
for Now York. A new. manager
was installed. The character Of
the performances began to deterio-
rate and the crowds began to drift
away. This kept up for some tire
until at last the ghost refused 20
walk, the doors were closed and the
company disbanded.
A Mr.. Wegeforth. who had been
identified with Buffalo theatricals
for some time. thought he saw his
opportunity to make q gre,.. deal
Of money. FIe leased the .hcator
and rechristened II the Majestic.
The Majestic opened In a blaze Of
glory. with a packed house. The
glory departed. however, AMI soon
empty seats were the rule at most
of the performances. wegeforth
stood 1t al long as he could and
then he placed the business and
Of a revolver In his mouth and
pulled the trigger.
LEASED BY J. L. HERMAN.
James L. Herman. who rrn the
Lyceum Theater. had lost q great
deal Of patronage while G,ieves
was conducting affairs at the Biiou.
After Wegeforth dropped out. Ker-
nan got in touch with tho owners
of the building and leased II for q
number of years. He figure ed It
would pay him to close up the
house and kill off any future op-
position to his theater at Eleventh
street and Pennsylvania avenue.
On ono or two occasions Grieves
drifted into town and tried to get
control Of the house. but failed.
Then some ono who did not like
our old friend, Ira LaMotte, got
him to 30 down there a. manager
Of the theater. Ira stood II as
long as he could. but when even
his carnation began to wilt. he
took his dog and his cane and
went away from there. 1t seemed
as II Mr.. Herman began to develop
a desire to see the Bijou open and
doing business along about this
time. At any rate. It was limited
that Q suitcase would be easy to
obtain. Mr.. Fox. q local business
man. next opened the theater. In
looking around for q manager. ne
met Jack Garrison and told Jack
he was II. Jack took this seriously
and assumed the white mans bur
den.
He got busy and opened the thea
ter with Q bright little stock COM
pany, presenting up-to-dats bur-
lesQue- The shows were really
good. but somehow or another the
crowds refused to como. Mr.. Fox
and Mr.. Garrison held . long con-
versation. and once more the doors
of tho theater wsrs closed to the
public.
Previous 10 that John Grieves
had como to town and upon three
different occasions opened up the
Folly with burlesqus stock. On
each occasion the company had
lasted just one week. At last even
Grieves grow disgusted. He con-
Quoted the MEMBER Of his stock
company to the edge Of the city,
showed them the best walking
route back to New York and took
q Job ~ Waterman 1t the ArcaAs
Market.
NEEDED NEW NAME.
When tho Lyceum Theatsr was
burned down recently, the men,
bers Of the Number 3 burlssqus
wheel found they needed . tenn
porary homo for their road COM
panies. Once moro the lights on
the outside Of the Folly beamsd
forth q welcome but the crowds
refused to come in any great
numbers. Even q band stationed
In the lobby failed to draw thsm
In. Garrison was the manager
the thsater on this occasion also
and rumor has It th1t he was .
very happy young man when the
rebuilding Of the Lyceum Theater
was completed. - .....
And 90 the Folly - now closed.
Perhaps It will open again and
once moro ring with the cheers
of q crowded house AZ some fay-
orite takes his bows and makes
his exit. II has had . long career
Of ups and downs. Successes and
failures have been its portions.
Great actors and actresses have
trod its boards and won the