The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1928-06-09


are beside the occupant of The
seat. The show begins.
Does this act require a baby
spotlight and colored borders?
Then Mr.. Stebbins presses a but
ton and talks his orders into the
microphone. Would this act go
better full stage and with flood
lights? Mr.. Stebbins tries it
both ways and decides. What
kind of a drop for this enter
tainer? Lets cut that business
down to two minutes" says the
managing director as he times
an act inclined to drag. The
performers scowl but hasten to
obey. The Stebbins word is law.
Until the early morning hours
the orchestral, light and scenic
rehearsal is on.
On Saturday morning comes
the full dress rehearsal with
everybody connected with the
show present, just as if the the
alter seats held a capacity audi
ence. Mr.. Stebbins looks this
over from the back row of the
mezzanine. If show appears
all right from that vantage
point then it is satisfactory from
any other seat in the great tenn
pie Of amusement.
What kind of a man is this
busy executive who has put the
huge Fox Theater on a dividend
earning basis :? ] should say on
the sunny side of 40, close to
6 feet, about IT'S pounds, and be-
comingly gray. A fastidious
dresser from his natty silk tie
to his super-silk socks and latest
cut oxfords. If you should peep
into the Stebbins private office
you would observe a portable
dressing cabinet and in it every
thing that the well-dressed man
should wear on every occasion.
A similar cabinet in his Phiia-
delphia office. Al smart appear
ance, not flashy, nor too sub
dued, but rich looking and in
good taste, is the accoutrement
of the managing director as MIR.
Stebbins exemplifies it.
Sunday and Monday Mr.. Steb-
bins spends in Philadelphia.
He puts on the shows for the
Fox theater in that city, a cell
luloid palace equally as vast as
our own cinema edifice. From
Monday to Friday he is assem-
bling his talent and fitting
them into his presentation idea.
He takes ten vaudeville acts for
example and merges them into
a 30-minute entertainment. In
the ordinary two-a-day house
these acts would present a show
lasting two hours.
His plan culls the big mo-
ments out of each act and con-
fines the stage doings to this
high lighted routine. He limits
the number of encores and bows.
There is no manipulation of cur
tains or music to steal encores.
The watchword for a Stebbins'
presentation is action and speed.
You may not like the acts Mr..
Stebbins buys in the amusement
market for you but, good or
bad, they will never be on long
enough to bore you. He has
been known to pay $500 for
an act that worked only six
minutes. But those $50 seconds
were packed with solid enter
tainment and the act bowed off
to riot of applause.
He will take standard over
ture and trick it up with lights
and people and stage action to
accompany the music. "The Pill
grim's Chorus" in the overture
from "Tannhauser" and the ex-
element and blare on the burn
ing of Moscow in the overture
"1812" were Stebbins' conceits.
Fancy an adagio team leading
up to the flaming finale of
1872" Real music lovers might
call it sacrilegious but the
patrons of the Fox theaters as
an entity give it enthusiastic
approval. That is what counts.
For Mr.. Stebbins is an expert
at measuring applause.
You may we'll ask how does
one individual acquire all this
many-sided knowledge of the
theater. Well, for. one thing,
this man as an ambitious youth
took the complete course of an
electrician. He had his long
hours of study and earned his
degree in a projection booth.
He has been usher, assistant
treasurer, doorman, property
man, house manager, exploita-
ton expert, director of motion
pictures, orchestra conductor,
and business executive in the
atrical career that began as a
boy.
1t was at the modest little
Crotona Theater, a Fox prop
erty in New York, that the Steb-
bins theatrical career began.
Rejecting the proffer of the title
assistant manager, he elected to
begin from the ground up and
started as usher. He progressed
through the various positions to
the managers office and then