The Washington times., 1928-08-02


Heeney fight on everything ex-
cept the Republican Administers
ton. After pocketing i million
and three-qs1arters dollars IN
staging recent fights this master
Snowman loses $15O, 900 and
turns fretful face toward any
body who can get + paragraph
printed to explain that the radio,
the champion, the month of July
and everything under the sun
but himself is responsible.
This fight promoter should
take some lessons on Broadway.
The business Of theatrical pro-
duction should be good school
for this ballyhoo wizard.
s'The first class Broadway
Snowman is fortified BY expert
ence against failure, and never
issues alibis. When ! listened
to Richards bIeating after the
recent flop, palpably registered
for the benefit Of his board ok
directors. the promoter, in my
eyes. became very little fellow
instead Of the big boxing shot
beyond compare. He reminded
me Of d fluent company man
ager once had who explained
bad business away BY saying
that the tide was to blame.
"The weather was hot. The
.:a. 80. h;s,h " II o'clock The
populace was bathing, hence the
poor attendance The real fatait,
Of course, was that the show
didn't appeal TO that particular
community.
ssRickard had q bad show
Thursday night. Il was oTic Of
The most poorly cast boxing
shows ever staged for big money.
HIS subsequent squaWk was re-
narkabIe to most Of US along
broadway. Richard needs to
re chastised. | would recon-
mend 1 spanking while some
me stood &c q blackboard WlIn
pointer indicating 3 primary
principle Of show business
Thou Shalt Not Squawk.
II blew more than . halt
million dollars III my last three
PRODUCTIONS. I'm investing all-
other half million IN three
more. / made enough on one
NAV for twenty flops. And
there were circumstances over
which had no control thai
caused some of these losses.
sRickard pays about as much
to advertise championship
firht with i million dollar gate
as we pay to advertise n
week show which can gross
about S35, 900 or $40, 900. And
he gets more than 5000 times
the free space IN the papers Of
the country that Broadway can
dare hope for. None can dis
pute this. And Richards actual
cash investment in q big fight
is about what we throw into
one big musical production.
have production In re-
hearsal which will cost me more
than SOC, 900, the sum that
Richard placed in escrow for
T1nney. In escrow, mind you.
There's no escrow about scenery
and costumes, and switchboards
and baggage cars. If my show
is mild success, / may get my
money back. If it's smash,
I'll make . million or two.
But if it flops, you'll hear
stories from the Hammerstein
office that another production
Is in rehearsal. That's all"
The free balIyhoo which the
Richard enterprises secures is
q sore spot with the big theater
producers. They claim the pro-
moter has invariably secured
more lineage than his shows de-
serve and to the detriment Of
their counter attractions.
Arthur Hammerstein ran
up against one Of Richards
fight crowds at the Sesoui Cen
teniaI show in PhiIadeIphia.
He picked the week of Septem-
Der 20. 1926. to open aWild
Rose. at the Forrest Theater.
II was q very pretentious oper-
eta with Lew Fields, Santley
and Sawyer, Gus Shy and Inez
Courtney as stars OF his east
and q small fortune poured into
scenery and costumes. PhiIadel-
phia was TANNED with fight
visitor; but they had no time
for the theater. Tie new Ham
nerstein show was passed up by
most of the Tunney-Dempsey
tourists. The night of the bait
tie found most Of the seats in
the Forrest Theater vacant.
wa one Of the chaperones