4f How the Town Looks' AT 4 A PORTLANDER AFTER It X BY A. H. BALLARD. KEW YORK, Oct. 1. (Special Corre spondence of The Sunday Oregonian.) New York. That's all. Skyscrapers, humidity and trim an kles. Cabs, cars and cash. Restaurants, roysterers and revels. Awkward autos. antedeluvian actors and anemic blondes. A million females in translucent shirtwaists paired with a million males In George-M-Cohan suits. Triumvirates of alliterative tintin nabulation descriptive of today's Lit tle Old New York might be built with out number. They would all express the first and strongest impressions that the town makes upon the person who has returned home after many days. It Is, altogether, not counting cats. upwards of four million souls money, and the lack of it. actuating their very fiber. Carlyle calculated that In London the millions were mostly fools. He would have said that in New York now thy are all fools. The biggest surprise that I have had Is to realize that I am not the prize fool of the place. Its immensity, its wealth, its enormous and diversified activities, I supposed had, during the 10 or 15 years of my absence from Park Row. reached proportions that would daze me. Its people and its gi gantic structures I presumed would paralyze my wandering senses. But I fail to daze or become par alyzed. I find this burg the same as ever, only taller and larger, and moved up town about ten blocks in the cen ter. New Yorkers are a little harder worked. somewhat more bloodless, quicker in slang, keener in the ac quisition of a dollar, outwardly more gorgeous. Just as unmindful of dis comforts In habitation, just as fun loving, quite as bustling and burn-the-candle-at-both-ends-ish as ever. They seethe in the heat, work like the devil. dress clean, swagger and strut on the highways, pinch at home, and cry after the lights are out. just as they used to do in the '80s, and will ever continue to do as long as life has cities to curse It and bless it- The very rich and the very poor are the unhappiest, and the middle classes are the happiest, just as they always are in urban settlements. It seems to me that New York preaches a sermon that is intensely worth while. It tells the philosophy of America as no other place tells it. It proclaims the virtues and the short comings of the American In unmis takable terms, in glowing language to the sympathetic observer. If seems to me the most interesting and in structive city on earth. Heaven we'll all know about, so that we can make comparisons later rif we continue to do what the Portland plutocrats de sire. I remember that I once took es pecial delight in England in feeling and thinking and quietly declaring at frequent and opportune moments that I was an American. They have such a con Btrained and provincial conception over there of what an American is. It is a fact that the majority of them hold the opinion that nearly every Ameri can says "I guess" in each sentence he utters, and that the particularly dis tinguishing characteristic of an Amer ican is that he habitually scratches a match on the seat of his trousers. It always, at length, is up to every American on Albion's shores to dem JENCE -re onstrate that his accomplishments and his attainments have passed beyond the "guess" and the vesta-igniting stage. t . 1. 1 1 1. . .s . ... in aceart. ing on the street, in clubs, on many I occasions, that in Portland they buy more New York newspapers each day than did San Francisco before its fall. That proves to me that Portland keeps a sharp eye on the doings of this me tropolis that its people come here often, that they are eager to read about what is going on generally here, that in a way they recognize this city as the representative of their Ameri canism, and the center from which em anates the original impulses that give color and verve and vitality to the fundamental currents of American IKe. Of course in some respects New York is narrow, conceited, dictatorial and disdainful of outside merits. I met Murray and Slack the other day on the street, and I saw "John Lynch (a schoolmate of mine, who is now the president of the great Terminal Ware house Company), and they both greet ed me with about the same phraseol ogy.i The popular pair of comedians whom I know only as clever people of the theatrical world, and the vastly successful young man whom I have known from boyhood, in an instant after telling me that they were glad to see me, repeated the chestnut so ever lastingly dear to the hearts of the real Manhattanese, "It's true, old man, when you leave New. York you're camp Ins out." That is the view that every plodder who has attained any appreciable progress whatever will take. That is the opinion you will And expressed by every one who has succeeded in pushing his head the least bit of a ways above the average line between success and failure. The tremendous hordes of struggling masses. the terrible gluts of humanity in the overcrowded districts, we must leave to the delving sociologists. I came here to see and describe the scenes of my novitiate In journalism, and to pay particular attention to the beauti ful and entrancing spectacle provided by the playhouses. Yet I must request your indulgence a. bit, that you may allow me to let loose some of the thoughts and de ductions that this wonderful place puts In my brain in consequence of simple contact. I am somewhat in the position of a newcomer who enters an artist's 6tudio. The artist has been painting a picture, ' and even a less lettered man than the artist may see something about the picture that was not discernible to the artist himself, who has been watching and studying his work for so long a time continuously. Thus New York, from which I have been absent months un countable, strikes me as an old friend whose features are the same, and still not the same, and I can note the trend of the days, the ravages of time, the creations of the hour, the flow of the current, the evident goal toward which the metropolitan life is tending, as per haps one . who has uninterruptedly mingled here cannot. The theatrical world is so large now. that I will have to give it to you in bunches. The best way seems to be to take the various enterprises, the various featured people, the various stars of the theatrical firmament, and deal with them according as they are scheduled to be handled and brought out and paraded over the country by the several larger producing managers. Some new plays have been already put forward, but nothing as yet that may be chronicled as a decided or spectacular hit. Two old successes are the strongest factors in the public mind yet this year, in so far as the New York public and immense floating population (which in eludes liberal samples from all the states of the Union to the tune of about 300,000 per day) go. ' These two successes are "Mademoiselle Modiste." that exquisitely refined and ar tistic opera bouffe in which Fritzi Scheff has starred for 300 nights at the Knicker- bocker. and which now goes on the road and will visit Portland at the Heilig. and David Warneld in bis absolutely match- 5S -,S -Sf i A" ? K-s v ,-;x -y- less character , Impersonation of "The 1 Music Master." Such people in the dramatic producing business as Klaw & Erlanger.' Charles Frohman. Henry W. Savage. Liebler & Co.. John Cort. Wagenhals & Kemper, Charles Dillingham. Henry B. Harris. David Belasco, Harrison Grey Fiske. the Schubert Bros., etc.. although their un dertakings vary in 'amount and quality, certainly mark out the natural lines of classification which I must follow in de scribing the happenings and portraying faithfully the theatrical picture that is now being painted here, and which will be exhibited as the year waxes to its fullness, all over the United States, in cluding that nestling spot of picturesque beauty and refined appreciation Portland. Oregon. The theatrical managers and owners whom I have mentioned are. of course, not by any means the only ones. They represent, however, the hub of the plays and the amusements that are to be offered to the American public of the better class this year. In other lines there is a .vast amount of praiseworthy activity in melodrama, in vaudeville, in burlesque, in the multitude of conglom erate aggregations that 811 the second rate houses throughout the land. I should say .that three-quarters of all the the atrical stuff that is put forward is abso lutely meretricious, even among the con tines of the best and most pretentious Even Charles Frohman does not put on a good and lasting play once out of four times trying. And. as Rose Stahl says in "The Chorus Lady." "I am not a member of the anvil chorus, and I am mentioning no names; but there are peo ple in this chorus who, if they were where they should be. would be making beds." This remark applies to 80 per cent of the actor folk who infest Broadway, some of whom obtain positions, but the majority of whom either starve most of the year, or do worse, i mean to say. that we look to Frohman, to Dillingham, to Belasco (and. let me whisper, to Cort also now) for something that will catch on and stay in our minds. They are clever and brainy, and either have or can command money. They have organiza tions, business organizations, here that must be seen to be appreciated. The ma chinery of business works in a well-oiled way. and they grind out stars and sue cessful productions each year, not by manic, bless you. but by the most pains ' v - " I -II ;: yJJ , . rX I f 'Si , K f 4 . s V sV V s f t ss ss as 1 "ft ' 'J f. A ' s 3b, " ik i i s t taking drudgery and careful calculations. backed up by an amount of finesse and machiavellian diplomacy of managerial intercommunication and allied interests that would startle and astonish the lay man unacquainted with the ways and methods of the inner theatrical world. To sum up. William Winter is the ablest writer in the theatrical situation. Many of the other writers are considered grandmothers and neophytes given a dan gerous amount of power, and a few of the younger ones, barring their newness. a rs -nnsirlerai nrnmisln Da vid Belasco is held to be the wonder that he is both I as a play stealer and a piece of pure magic as a stage carpenter. Charles Fronman is counted the standard for the exploita tion of plays and players that will stand the test of time. Dillingham is growing fast into one of the biggest factors. (He has signed Mrs. Leslie Carter for five years. She got married and had to quit her David Belasco, who trained her. you know.) I hereby and herewith predict that John Cort. now a novelty in New York, butting into the Great White Way pungently and incisively with Florence Roberts and other stars, whom he Is con ducting to undoubted triumph, has the spunk, the courage, the popularity and the skill, not to mention the utterly es sential daredevil effrontery, to ride over opposition and win by sheer force of his own personality and grit. I predict that in less than three years he will be one of the heaviest guns here. Klaw & Er langer, with their untold riches, and the power of their huge list of theater book ings, dominate by actual direction or in duced and collateral interests, more than half the monetary and' tactical maneuver ings of American theatrical circles. Their "Prince of India." which opens at the Broadway Theater, is the largest and most spectacularly Impressive melodrama that America has yet seen. Music, spec tacle, marvelous story, staged by Ben Teal and his co-prestldigltators. financed by Klaw & Erlanger after their fortunes made by "Ben Hur." what may you ex pect? I shall be there and tell you about it. It won't blind me. The magazines are going to explode, all of them, in their descriptions of It. It . is so magnificenf. Money has not been lavished upon it. That is not the word. Aoney has been spilled upon it just as you would upset a pot of coffee. That's what's the matter with the New Amsterdam Theater about i.'-'siift.:s7 ! r 4 (S. A Jit ' ? X-s v which they have made so loud a noise the ornamentation everywhere in evi dence is so previous, so insistent, so over whelming that it surfeits you- like the ceaseless caresses of a maiden scorned They might just as well have studded it with gold pieces to show that they had the money. In the list of openings thus far. Lillian Russell's new play, "Barbara's Millions," has not been well received in Chicago, but when it comes here in a few weeks, in case they do not withdraw it. New York may like it better. The critics in Chicago think that it is one of Paul Pot ter's worst, but Miss Russell Is im mensely liked here. She is a wonderful singer, and the sweetest-looking thing God ever made, and she keeps her youth. If it gets out to Portland. Cathrine Countiss. who is leading woman in the cast, will help Lillian draw diseriminat Ing theater-goers to the Heilig. There have been a few sporadic indica tions of permanence in ventures that have already showed their heads. "His House in Order," John Drew at the Em pire, is Pinero's latest, and not his best. "The Little Cherub." at the Criterion, is the tuhefullest musical comedy that is now ringing in people's ears. A couple of swirlers have been received enthusiastic ally at the Casino. Savage's "The Man From Now." clever cast, beautiful pro duction, Harry Bulger the star, musical flip-flap, Forodora imitation, patch-quilt musical comedy, now running at the New Amsterdam, will go on the road and you will see it. It is worth the price for Bul ger's drollery and the costumes alone. Even the broiling heat and the su persaturated atmosphere that has made the theaters veritable Turkish baths do not deter the people from cram ming the houses of amusement full, nearly everywhere to capacity every night. It is a glorious outlook for the managers, in so far as willingness to go and sample their goods is con cerned. The New York public itself, augmented by the prodigious transient element, simply is amiable to an as tounding degree. They will go and look at almost anything. But the wise owners who risk their money know that it is only the good and .the really meritorious that will "go over," as they call real success, and earn the big money both here and on the road. The arbiters, the generals, who are r i - my running this campaign to entertain the busy, the complaisant, the rich and prosperous American public. those keen-witted men who plan and scheme here in New York, and risk millions each year to provide amusement and attractive "shows." bidding for the pacronage of this great land of the trusts and home of the wage-earners these artistic business gamblers in the most enticing game among the later avocations that have attracted capi tal, are all agreed on one point. Some of the biggest of them have told me in so many words: "We can stage the play. We have an abundance of actors and actresses. It is not the stars you want now it is not the name of the man or the woman you want. It is the play. The play must be right first and then we are fixed well to sup ply the rest." This season, so far. the play has not yet arrived. The managers are looking for it. They snub the would be neophytes. They do not admit on Skillful Stagedriver With One Arm Hood River-Mt. Hood Jehu Surprises Travelers by His Driving- JOHN FREDENBURG. who drives the stage from Hood River to the Mount Hood Postoffice. a distance of about 15 miles, is said to be the most remarkable stage-driver in the United States. He has but one arm, his left, and can hardly lift it on a level with his face, .lie right arm was amputated some years ago. His right leg also is disabled, being shortened about eight inches. Yet with his crippled left arm Fredenburg can drive either two or four horses as skillfully as most men can with two good arms. Travelers who taice the stage at Hood River are amazed and somewhat alarmed when they see the man who is to drive' the team over the narrow grades that follow the bluffs above Hood River, but their fears are quickly set at rest when Fredenburg gathers the reins and starts out. But their wonder increases. Innumera ble packages have been crammed into the stage, from a spool of thread for some woman along the road to a roast of mut ton all of which he delivers without a mistake. After leaving 'the boundary of the Hood River free delivery route, the stage-driver becomes the mall carrier, and deposits its mail in boxes along the road The forests and fields are abundantly supplied xrita vegetation of vari ous kinds, not alone to beautify the land, but to furnish the ingredients for making a remedy for every ill and ailment of mankind. Medicines made from the roots herbs and barks, which nature has placed at the disposal of man, act better in every way than do strong mineral mixtures and concoc tions the products of the chemist's shop. Mineral medicines work danger ously on the delicate parts of the system, especially the stomach and bowels, by eating out the lining membrane, producing chronic dyspepsia and often entirely ruining the health. S. S. S. enjoys the distinction of being the only purely vegetable remedy on the market. It is made entirely of gentle acting, healing, purifying roots, herbs and barks, possessing properties that build up and invigorate all parts of the system, ia addition to removing all impurities and poisons from the blood. S. S. S. cures Rheumatism, Catarrh. Scrofula, Sores and Ulcers, Skin Diseases, Contagious Blood Poison and all disorders of the blood by cleansing the circulation of the cause, and it cures safely as well as permanently. It is as safe for children and old people as for those in the prime of life, and is the one blood medicine that may be used without fear of bad after-effects. Book on the blood sent free to all who write. THE SWFT SPECIFIC CO., ATLANTA. CA. AS LASTSmo the housetops anything whatever of their affairs or their needs. But they are all looking for the play that the public will cotton to. all the same. They have found out that in the end the piay's the thing. They say that Z-iza." "Sappho." the flaunting of lust and irregular relations on the stage, is not whJt the public wants now. Th:y are always busy in estimating the public pulse. They want plays that go back to nature, and let us see again that truth and purity and sweet ness and kindness may brush away the bother of life and deliver us from the woes that civilization thrusts upon us. They want 'a play that makes one laugh through the tears, and every one is yearning for the ideal of a good woman in whom the American gentle man can find an excuse for the resusci tation of his inborn chivalry. ' Vou. Mr. Greene, in Portland: you. Mr. Sayre. and you. Mr. Blethen. in Seattle, take a tumble and write that play. A. H. BALLARD. He drives his wagon close to the miny mail boxes set in front of the farm houses and there deposits the papers and letters. He delivers The Oregonian in upper Hood River Valley one day ahead of the rural free delivery carriers out of Hood River. After delivering the Innumerable paes ages and mail along the road. Fredenburg arrives at the Mount Hood Postoffice about 5 P. M. Up to this time he has been stage driver, express agent and mail carrier, but that is not all. He runs a large ranch in the Upper Hood River Val ley, where his parents live and which ae is having cleared. .He has more energy than two or three men notwithstanding his crippled condition. He is cheerful and accommodating to the public and is very popular. He is said to be paying court to a charming young widow. Shah's Marked-Down Present. Indianapolis News. The Shah of Persia has an extraordinary museum in Teheran, his capital. It is sup posed to contain his presents from for eign potentates, but the exhibits include a hand glass marked "Price 3s," and some fans ticketed "fid." jjg0 PUfSRYlXGETME