Evening star., 1928-05-21
Reviews Special Events
In Capital Theatricals

After reading the communications OF
| Mr.. Proctor and Mr.. Draney in recent
| issues of The Star, I want to acknowl-
| edge the corn by admitting that Mr..
| Draney was right in his statement that
Francis Wilson played at the Grand
Opera House in the Winter of 1897-98
in IF l Were King" Il Seen It. and
| for the reasons which he gave. But for
| fear of taking up too much valuable
| space at the time I did not go into all
| the minor details of Francis Wilson s
theatrical history.
Mr.. Proctor refers to "Cyrano de
| Bergerac." He wasn't sure Francis Will
son played 1t. because as he says. "thc
| top of my program is torn off" "Cyrano
| de Bergerac" was played at the Column
| bia Theater by Richard Mansfield and
| that engagement came about in a pc
culiar way and is well worth record
| ing. Like Wilson. Richard Mansfield
was the only star independent enough to
| fight the then embryonic theatrical
| syndicate, and, since the Columbia
| Theater at that time was not In the
! syndicate, we were free to negotiate
with both Wilson and Mansfield. Now
the latter had played his Winter en-
, gagement at the Lafayette Theater to
very bad business, so much so that he
again. He was closing his season in
Detroit on his way back TO New York
The week of April 11-Holy week-was
open at the Columbia with no chance
of filling 1t and rather than have the
house dark" we telegraphed Mr.. A. M.
| Palmer, Mansfelds manager and the
dean of theatrical managers, guarantee
ing him $4,000 for the week mentioned,
eight performances including Thursday
and Saturday matinees. He telegrapheti
acceptance and Mansfield was adver-
| tised In the newspapers in repertoire.
1t was pickup" since he would have
laid off that week. When Palmer no
tilted Mansfield of the contract. Richard
got up on his hind legs and, still chat
| ing at the way Washington had treat
ed him a few months before, sent us
a thOuSand-Wor telegram beseechin2
us to cancel the contract, saying that
we would lose money But we felt that
II we were going to lose money on the
| week 1t would be better than to have
the house dark" or some poor attrac-
ton. So he came down and played to
excellent business the first three nights
and since nothing Nwas advertised for
the Thursday matinee--Holy Thursday.
one of the worst theatrical days of the
year--I suggested Prince Karl" as
the bill During the mornings he was
rehearsing THE First Violin" which
was to open In New York Easter Monday
night, and when he game off the stage
into the lobby and box office. Mr.. Palmer
asked him what he would play for the
Thursday matinee, suggesting Prince
Karl" Mansfield threw up his hands,
exclaiming, mo artist plays two matinees
week" but the contract called for it.
Rather than play two matineeS. he
knocked Off $500 from the guarantee
He played to $1,000 on the week and
said 1t was the best comedy house he
ever played In, but complained that we
did not show him any personal atten-
ton, so much SO that Joe Dillon, his
treasurer, asked me several times to go
back and see him. I did so and
found him most delightful, and at the
end OF the engagement he invited us
to a luncheon at his hotel after the
Saturday night performance. Again
he was delightful host and had the
rarest yintages on the table. That en-
gagement was responsible for the
breaking of all box Office receipts in
Washington up to that time, since the
following season he put on "CyIanO de
Bergerac," the week having already
been booked at the Columbia, with
Margaret Anglin as Roxanne, and it
broke all records everywhere. 1t was
a mammoth production put on at the
Garden Theater in New York. Before
the end of its run Mr.. Palmer invited
me over to see the performance. The
stage of the Columbia was too small
TO put It on properly. and Palmer Of
fered us 5000 II We would cancel the
week~-much more than our share could
possibly be--and let 1t be played at the
NurNt
stage room. as well as larger seating
capacity. We refused. for the reason
that we were trying to make New York
managers see that II the Columbia got
the shows We could do business and
that F street was not suburb OF wash
ington.
Fortune favored us. for at that time
the store next TO the lobby OF the
theater was vacant, which we rented
and by knocking down the rear wall
leading onto the stage We we're enabled
to shift the scenery into 1t and thus put
on a creditable production OF the play
The box Office opened at 9 am. Mon
day and there was constant line
formed buying tickets until O'Clock
extending down Twelfth street to the
Raleigh Hotel. The advance sale that
day was more than $4,000. the total
vi TIC WIN ASAtAAA @ASsN~Ns HAA AAAtNN
could be gotten in The previous rec
ord was held by Sol Smith Russell at
the National being somewhat in excess
OF $4,000 That week removed all
prejudice. or rather ignorance. as to "F''
streets location and We had no difficulty
securing shows thereafter. but were
constantly handicapped by lack of stage
room and lost lots OF shows on account
of It.
In hurrledly writing the first letter,
which would never have been written
had not the statement been made that
"Floradofa" and the Idols Eye" were
played at the National, when as a mat
ter of fact both were played at the
Columbia. and never at the National.
discovered one mistake myself. when
! said John Mccullough died at the
Bellevue Hospital In New York. He died
In the Bloomingdale Hospital for the
Insane iii New York.
w. ]. DWYER
s-1Sea