Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1940-11-16
Genial Uncle Dick Sutton Was Best Beloved of
Many Bright Stars und Managers Who IrouPed Through Butte
Was fTh C h r Circuit When m Was Kin ing Man b P

bumped into the hardest kind Of luck.
The panic Of 1893 wrecked all kinds
OF amusement enterprises, and for
50 days the show went around the
/ country losing from SIS to $500
day. It took just five years for Sutton
to recover, but his pleasure today Is
to cite the fact that he has paid up
every dollar Of the indebtedness.
las a local manager Uncle Dick
has handled opera houses in Butte
for seven years.
a permanent residence has q good
story attached to 1t.
Just before coming north after
three seasons in the south, Uncle
Tom was put on and two parties in
Butte secured a contract for the play
to come here to open new opera
house, The Columbia, at the corner
of Montana and Mercury streets. The
show arrived on time but when the
manager started TO hunt up the new
theater he found Barney Quinn'S
livery stable located on the site and
it's there yet. He finally found the
two would-be managers and found
their sole property consisted Of an Inn
mense dog.
Refused to Quit
The trip had been a long and costly
one but the failure OF the local men
to provide a house didn't jar the vet
eran Snowman who offered to take
the dog and call the deal square as
he could use him in the Tom show. /.
The owner refused, however, and the
show was left here with no dates.
The play was finally put on at
the old Casino for three weeks. Three
days after the close of that engage +
ment Mr. Sutton leased rooms in the
Caplice building at Park and Montana
streets and converted 1t into the Union +
Family theater which was the origin
of the Sutton's Family theater. In that
theater the name of Dick P Sutton
became familiar all through the inter-
mountain country.
"a farmer showed up in one small
town and, seeking Sutton, declared he
had a horse which was the greatest
freak in the country. Those tales were
old, but the manager was IN such q
strait that he was forced to grab at
anything. The farmer insisted that
his horse had two Pronounced humps,
as emphatic as those of dromedary
was stronger than any two horses in
the country.
Sutton finally drove out to the
farm and found the horse to be really
a freak in the way of size and humps.
He was afraid to ask the owner a
price for fear he would want the whole
show but he made up his mind to
get that horse.
After dickering around for a time
the farmer finally set the price at
SIS. Sutton came near dying for want
tell the farmer that he couldn't think
Of paying such a 0rice for such a
horse and concluded that $3.50 was I
about the proper figure. The haggiing
resulted in Dick paying SO for the
horse.
THE animal was put into the side
show and on account Of his great
strength was always used to pull the
wagons out of the ruts of the country
roads.
Horse Was A. w. o. L.
"One day Sutton and his blower
talked for nearly an hour to a crowd [
assembled to see the balloon ascen-
sion and when the doors opened the
side canvas was packed with a crowd
anxious to see the dromedary horse.
between whose humps a man could
hide.
Sutton went into the big tent after
he crowd got started in, but later was
sent for with message to the effect
show. BY the time he got through the {
,rowd the people were roaring their {
iisapprovaL
THE manager wanted to know what {
he matter was and was informed
hat there was no horse to be found.
Some of the employees had started {
1ut with the animal to haul water {
and hadn't returned. 1t was seven I
niles to the water, and the horse had {
)een gone only half an hour, so that {
here wasn't any possible chance to !
ret him back in time.
There was too much money in the S
how to return the admission price, {
% they brought out the man with the
,igar boxes and faxed up a side-show
which concluded with