The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-11-22
BY A. ]. LIEBLING
Times STAFF Writer

Times STAN WIltcf
Copyright. 1882. BY the New York World
Telegram CorporationJ
FOLLY Phil Maher, the BRAIN
y storm comedian, author Of
THE Village Vagrant," Beyond
Pardon" and THE Tinker's Curse"
looked disconsolately out on a
Broadway where talking picture
facades blinked through the rain.
Repertoire, he said. Roper
toire. What does anybody know
about repertoire? Actors today is
suckers. They rehearse four weeks
for show, it closes in four days,
and the producer gets his selling
the rights to the movies.
Forty five weeks a year you
could count on in repertoire.
Fcrty-seven weeks. Why, say,
fifty weeks, steady work was Moth
ing"
Just as Mr.. Maher was about to
name a year when he had worked
f1fty-four weeks, Robert Campbell,
the dignified and carefully enun-
ciatory secretary of the Actors
fund stopped him.
People nowadays have such
wrong impression of repertoire, :"
he said. "They associate it with
hams, with turkey shows. They
do not appreciate that repertoire,
at the turn of the century, was
a great industry"
A turkey show, let it be ex-
planned, originally meant an en-
tertainment put on by stranded
actors on Thanksgiving eve to
raise the price of a dinner.
when a repertoire actor came
to town." interjected Mr.. Maher,
them New York actors would
high hat him and then try to
borrow money"
"The theater was a business in
those days." continued Mr.. Camp
bell. ut was not localized in New
York, either, do you see?
There were, I should estimate,
100 well-established travelling COM
panies, employing 5000 actors,
and men who never played east
OF the Mississippi were powers in
the theater."
"NLD Willis Jackson used to
~ carry $4,000 in cash in a bag
hung from his neck" the Brain
storm Comedian boosted. Look
at Bennett and Moulton. They
had twenty companies playing the
smaller cities where there was real
money. Look at Mabel Page, the
idol of the South"
1.-The business had its unscrupu-
lous aspects" admitted Mr.. Camp
bell" There were, for instance,
the play pirates of Chicago"
Say" said Mr.. Maher, do YOU
remember that fellow and his
office in back of the saloon down
town? Used to send Stenographers
to all the big plays and take 'em
down in shorthand. Sell you a
transcript, with parts, for So.
Only, of course, you had to
change the name"
"The copyright laws were not
strictly enforced in those DAYS"
elucidated Mr.. Campbell. Besides.
1t was impossible to determine
when your play under a false
name was being played in Pella,
Iowa, or Amagansett, L. I.
"Of course, theatregoers ran a
risk Of seeing the same play ten
times sduring a season under diff
ferent names"
"A small company couldn't af-
ford to pay royalties" urged the
Brainstorm Comedian defensively.
Il only bought one of them PLAYS.
though. 1t didn't read very good,
because the girls must've got
mashed on the leading man. so
they didn't catch everything.
gay, we played it up in Low
vile, N. Y, near the Canadian
border, and I had two fellows
named Patterson and Bradley in
the company.
THAT was in the summer. I
used to always take the Phil Ma
her Comedy Company up to the
Thousand islands in the summer.
I'VE would play a different is
land every night. Well, sir, Pat
terson and Bradley got into the
oarroom of the hotel and they
got stiff.
NINE come for the perform
Il ance and we just had to Law
EN- on chairs. So we played the