Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-12
PLANT TEX LEAVES
YIELDING PROFITS
Carey, Dempsey and Ham,
mond Carrying on Well With
New System.
By EDWARD J. NEIL,
Associated Press Sports Writer.

n YEW YORK, February 12.-From
Florida, land of the waving
VI palms, and from the more pro-
i sale confines of Madison Square
Garden, comes the answer to
the question that only few short
weeks ago COMPOUNDED the finest minds
of the sock market.
They wanted to know who ever could
replace Tex Richard and what would
become of the Garden when the tall
Texan passed away just as he was EN-
barking on the most ambitious promo
ton schedule of his fantastic career.
And with the passing of each day the
answers of three of the men who helped
Tex to his greatest successes became
louder.
Splitting the tasks left them by death,
big Bill Carey, the man who actually
built the Garden and still owns most Of
it, and Jack Dempsey, whose thudding
fists paid off the mortgages, are nurs-
ing into life and health the orphan
infant Richard left on Miami Beach.
With little hope of financial success,
caring only to maintain the prestige OF
Richard and the Garden with as little
loss as possible, Carey and Dempsey
seem we'll on the way to bringing home
a profit from the battle Of the Ever
glades.
Garden Is Packed.
While the right wing gradually is
turning Young Stribling's scrap with
Jack Sharkey into something more than
benefit for the Boston sailor man, the
Garden is steaming along under the
management of the tall West Pointer,
Col. John S. Hammond, toward bigger
dividends than the corporation has ever
known before.
Aided by the shrewd matchmaking
of Tom McArdle, Hammond has pro-
NOTED seven fight cards in the past
eight weeks that have packed the Gar
den to capacity, turned thousands away
and created new attendance records
with each successive show. If the Gar
den could have held them, 10000 would
have seen AL Singer fight Bud Taylor
last Friday night.
The silvery-haired colonel has turned
the trick by replacing the showmanship
that once saturated the Garden with
hard-headed business. He has cut
salary and other expenses an average
OF 100000 year. Boxers are battling
for him for per cent less than ever
before in the Gardens history. Flat
expenses for running the building are
almost per cent less than they were
year ago.
frOntS increase.
There Is only one fly to mar the
colcnel's ointment. One year ago the
price range under Rickard ran between
SIS and S25 for the best seats. Several
shows played to SIS tops. Then Fed
eral tax of rs per cent was imposed on
all tickets over SIS and prices came
tumbling down. The colonel now
charges SIS, sometimes $3.50, for his best
seats, and, despite the reduction, the
Garden profits increased 81 per cent m
December and we're somewhat higher In
January than during the corresponding
periods last year.
And that isn't all the good news in
store for Garden stockholders. Since
the start of the season the two New
York representatives in the National
/ Hockey League have played to 20 per
cent larger houses than last season.
With the Americans fighting for the
lead in the Canadian division and Col.
Hammand'S Rangers in first place IN
the American section, bigger and bet
ter profits seem to be in order straight
through March with both teams in the
Stanley Cup play-on series.