34 S Sold Venture of John Cort of Seattle, Who Has Had f -X y is Battle With Critics and Old Managers 4 v ; - r ; . rS...--. : " Cy -- f , -, v f;,. . ; a " v- DINING the oilirr nislit wilh James Nefll. when tlie time of Mark coffee and olRarettcs had arrived, the con versation fell Interestingly on theatrical managers. Mrs. Neill was there. So was George Bloomnuest. Also Elspeth Graham Mc Neill, who was George I.. Baker's dressy and attractive secoiid woman in the first Baker Stock Company in Portland. Also one. of the owners of the Seattle Post-In-telllprencer. Also FYank McVlckers. Neill has been a good picker of actors ' and actresses for a long time. His judg ment is excellent. He went up Broad way a. year ago and there was scarcely a theater along the line lut which had (or a star, or a leading man, or a Ieadinjr woman, some one of the people whom Nelll had discovered, whom Nelll had exploited in some one of his companies. look at your Donald Bowles there In Portland now? He was brought forward first by James Neill. Bloomquest is here, as I have said, living at the Neills'. and he will he In the production "The Light Eternal," which Is now being prepared for a road tour by Mr. Neill, Henry L. Miller and the Schuberts. The managers of prominence who take the risks and produce "attractions." leasing theaters for that purpose, on percentage or by renting, and send shows out on the road, are not so many In number when you make the reser atlon that thcjr must be of more than ordinary Importance. Charles Froh man, Charles H. Dillingham, Henry "V. Savage, Henry B. Harris, Edward A. Braden, Daniel V. Arthur. Cohan and Harris, Klaw & Erlanger, David Belasco, Harrison Gray Fiske, Sam and Lee Schu bert. These are the names that first come into your mind when you speak of producing managers. And there are not bo many more when you come to sum them all up. A few actors, like Mansfield and Henry Miller, aspire to and atain management, sometimes to their dismay and destruc tion, sometimes to their temporary ascendancy. Others, like Mr. Conrled, Hammerstcln. Proctor. Hroadhurst. etc., are prodigious In their efforts and labors, but handle artistio amusements of a musical and a theatrical kind that stick around here for the most part. They cater more exclusively to the people who And themselves In New York. Their patrons, like those of the Hippodrome, include the people from all over the XTnited States, but they have to come here to see the shows. The special coterie of managers, the really prominent producing managers to whom I have par ticular reference just now, are the ones who seek to ring up the curtain on their shows in New York, on Broadway if possible, achieve a Broadway run, a metropolitan success, and then put the show out on the great "road." and "get the money" from the Immense plethora of prosperity and wealth in the MiiVlle AVcst. the South, the Far Vest and per haps the East. , One Success to l'lve Failures. The New York success is indispensable if you expect to have a show go big throughout the land they must have this or they must lie themselves into a sem blance of It. They accomplish the lying stunt most of the time. There will be a dozen or more of these lies successfully told with regard to pro ductions that are to visit Portland this year. Some of them have already made their failures here and hereabouts. But they have "rung up" in or near New York, then come to this city to play somewhere within the city limits, (even though it be in Harlem or perhaps In Brooklyn, which places are in reality no nearer Broadway popularity than Is Puyallup, Washington State) and then out they go over the grand circuit, with a show that needs only a genius of a press agent, the reputation of a New York success, the expectancy of being excellent on the Tart of the audience, to make it a howl ing monetary triumph from start to finish. Thus the managers win money with big stars in poor plays, win money with beautiful productions and poor plays, win money with a good play and bad actors, win money when any one element of the show i9 meritorious, in case they ere skHful theatrical advertisers. A xeakx teat success iera is a large fortune for the producing manager, and, if he can land one out of five trials, he counts himself lucky. Dillingham undoubtedly today has landed the largest number of winners. He Ls getting to be almost uncanny in the light and surety of his Judgment. Notice how the other night, after having "Mile. Modiste," that dainty and lovely musical light opera In which Fritzi Scheff scored, brilliantly for 300 nights at the Knickerbocker, he puts on "The Red Mill." with Montgomery and Stone, and it is so undeniably replete with all the good qualities that go to make up the latest and most up-to-date musical comedy of the ultra yet positively un vulgar kind, that It will run right there in the Knickerbocker theater lor two years, beyond the shadow of a doubt. With Klaw & ETlanger's "The Prince of India" just across the street at the Broadway theater, where a fortune has been expended in the making and the producing, Dillingham's superb comicality pulls five times the crowds., Portland Figures In the Itinerary. The conditions under which the man agers work and have their being here, where nearly everything in the theatri cal world of this country practically originates, seem interesting and Impor tant, both on account of the myriads of people who visit this city during; the year and attend the shows, and on account of the immense number of the "attractions' that are sent out during the year and seek the patronage of the townfolk in their native heaths. I know that in Portland there never was a time when theatricals occupied a larger part of the public mind. They are almost as many people in Portland now as there were during the Lewis and Clark Fair. The prosperity of Portland is understood here by all the men who have their eyes open, and who intend to send enterprises out there this year. It ls no longer a place con sidered not on the map. They fre quently now speak of San Francisco as wiped off the map. because they have accepted the terrible earthquake and fire as temporarily eclipsing that city's destiny. They do not reckon on San Francisco this year, nor next year and they are busying themselves with other routes for the most part, know ing that the old habit of two or three week's run In the city of the Golden Gate on the Pacific Coast ca'n no longer be continued. The Northwest, with such points as Denver. Salt Lake, Butte, Spokane, Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle, Tacoma, Portland and thence East again, with perhaps a visit to San Francisco or Oakland, is the itinerary that is con sidered. A legion of theaters have been built here in New York many of them good sized and finely-equipped first-class in most respects. They are owned and leased and managed by various indi viduals who rent them or take shows in on shares. Klaw & Erlanger, in one way or another, or by direct ownership. le&fiA ec sontroi mora Uuui c fitbecjPlaJC t tlae iiuOauu, These twou'-attrao-jj THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, OCTOBER 14, 1906. one firm. The Schuberts control about six. David Belasco has one. Mr. Fiske has one of his own, also. Proctor has several for home use exclusively. There Is a host of vaudeville, bur lesque, indiscriminate and unclassified houses, that can be used for almost anything, even to the minor sort, or the small-priced sort. But the main list of what ls called Broadway houses are reserved nearly all the time for the principal productions of the lead ing producing firms. These prominent producing managers do not form a trust, as such, banded together to keep out everybody else. They simply have so much business on hand with their own productions that they keep the theaters busy all the time,' and could not let in outside producing managers with the latters plays or productions of any kind whatever, if they would. Thus it is that a larger number of productions get openings out of and near New York than in the city on Broadway. Where will It end? AVhere Wil It End? Where the task of theater-building will end. nobody knows. For it is in contestibly a fact that any good show, given anywhere in New York, say be tween Twenty-third and Fiftieth) streets, on the north and the south, and between Fifth and Seventh avenues, to the east and west, will run indefinitely to capacity, and make a fortune for all hands around. To accomplish this you must have a good show good play, good cast, good theater. You must catch the fancy of the public and I believe that this fancy is unerring. You cannot bunco if you wish to catch this fancv. The trouble Is to get the play, to get the people, to get the theater. In the last ten years the managers have been first able In abundance to get the actors (the good cast); they have built the theaters, or have induced capitalists to build the the aters for them. They have used the foreign successes first, persuaded pot boilers to crib from foreign literatures for American versions of plays, fadded such men as Clyde Fitch and lately George Ade. developed a few other play rights like McClellan, etc.: goaded on to distraction and hot-housed the musical comedy verse scribblers and music re varapers and patch-quilt carpenters into an over-luxuriant growth. . ' Plays Wanted. Now they want the plays. This year there seems to be a lull in the building of theaters by Individuals, but more will surely come, and a few of the biggest kind are now in process qf de. velopment. ' ' But the great want, now is for plays. By this I mean the basic substance for any production. It may be the lyrics and the music for a good comic opera, or a really fine musical comedy with burlesque specialties in it. like "The Red Mill." or it may be the vital writing and dramatic substance for a good play, such as the "Hypocrites," Henry Arthur Jones1 good Hons." now receiving paclty" favors of the the nightly "ca- New York public. are the only two unqualified successes of the theatrical year on' Broadway as yet this season. Yes. I know there are many that ap proach success many that claim success, and will be received as great successes on the road. But I am giving you the real truth here. And It is the essential and eternal fact that a really good play with a really good cast will always win big here that renders certain the continuous building of more and more theaters. They must have the theaters to produce the plays. The managers who are here now have scarcely enough theaters to ac commodate themselves, and there are BUSIEST MAN IN TOWN Director John Sainpolls, of the Baker, Doesn't Do a Tiling but Work. BY ARTHUR A. GREENE. IF any man in this town works harder than John Satnpolis, now is the time for him to rise up and declare himself before the Baker stage director walks off with the chromo. It is perhaps not unnatural for the uninitiated to fancy that Sainpolls has what Brander Mat thews would call a "cinch," when they hear stories about the princely salary which he draws. The public sees him play a part in a piece, sometimes a very important one, sometimes one of only secondary consideration. Some weeks he Is not even In the bill. Ergo the out sider argues concerning the "cinch" pos sessed by John Sainpolls. Although there are few better actors in the stock business than he, that portion of his work which the DUblic sees is real ly but a small portion of the task that falls to him. All stock actors work hard. It's nominated in the bond that they must to keep the mill grinding, but the man who both acts and directs the produc tions well, he gets a triple of hard, sweaty toil. For Instance, Sainpolis must not only speak his own lines at the regular per formances, nine of them each week, be sides "getting up" in the play that is to follow, but he .must learn his play, practically by heart, coach the company at rehearsals, design the scenery, prop erties and costumes. If It is a costume play, scour the town for furniture, drap eries, pictures and like fripperies, draft diagrams for the stage carpenters to fol low in building the production, studying new ideas for pleasing the eyes of the patrons, for the public is greedy for change and demands novelty each week. He must make up a "cue-sheet" for the orchestra, indicating the incidental music to he played in each situation in itself no small task and attend to a thousand and one details sufficient to drive an or dinary man into insanity. In addition to his other duties. Mr. Sainpolis is treas urer of the Baker Thea'ter corporation, which office keeps him out of mischief when he might have a few minutes of idleness. As an example of the strenuoslty of his llfet ha gave ma Ibis schedule oX his daily many managers and hangers-on in the game who are scheming and contriving with effective intelligence and persever ance all the time to break into the Great White Way. It is reasonable to presume that these new ones can muster quite as meritorious material as the already es tablished and usurping managers habitual ly set forth. The new ones are not hampered as the old ones are. They are less trammeled in many ways. They are more open to conviction they have less to lose; they are disposed to he more lib eral in their opinions. They are not bound up by the limitations of time. It ls literally true that the greatest trouble the established producing managers have is the unavoidable circumstance that the natural day fixed by the Almighty con tains but 24 hours, if It contained about 40 hours, more could be accomplished and a better or a juster order of things might be ordained. To break into this field and hold one's own to force your presence and your ac tivities upon a set of selfish, brain-tired and not-too-brilllant competitive manag ers whom I have hurriedly described, and who naturally belittle the rights and the attainments of everybody under the sun other than themselves, is a task that might stagger the courage of an Alderney bull or a Norway stallion. But it did not feaze the intrepidity of a Seattle man namely, John Cort. C'ort Jumped Into the Pasture. I make particular reference to him, and send you the pictures of his stars, as his experience here is typical and extremely instructive, for all people who have any interest or sympathy in any branch of the theatrical game. ' He jumped right over the fence into thl pasture, bringing his herd along with him. and he has already succeeded in allottln himself a comfortable section of the terri tory, surrounded himself with what ap pear to be sufficient commercial fence barriers, protecting htm from the on slaughts of rivals who would crush him, and, what is far more, he has won his way to the friendly co-operation of the chief owners of the whole grazing ground. His first power, of course, is the 100 and odd theaters of the Northwest Theatrical Association, to which he books the K and E3 "attractions." Calvin Hellig, of Port land, is president of this association. There Is no other section in America to day where the towns give down more liberally to good shows than the territory covered by this Northwest Association, so it ls a factor not to be Ignored. It Is far better than that. routine: Direct rehearsal, In which he usually has a part of his own to learn, from 10 A. M. until 1 and sometimes 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Spend the rest of the afternoon superintending the work of building the production, painting scen erj', securing properties and costumes, for the next week's bill and attending to business correspondence connected with his department. After dinner he must hurry back to the theater, make up, di rect the performance and play his part. After the performance he goes home to study the next week's play, design the settings, make out music cues and re vise manuscripts. He seldom retires until 3 or 3:30 in the morning, and the next day's programme is very like. the former. This for seven days in the week, except ing on Saturday and Sunday, when there are matinees, and his tasks are heavier. As a rule, however, there are no re hearsals on Sunday, but when it ls a big and difficult piece the rehearsal goes in on Sunday the same as the other days. As if this weren't enough, Mr. Sain polls is at all times working on at least two and sometimes three productions in advance. On Monday morning the scenic artist, stage carpenter and property-man begin on the next week's stage settings and by Friday things have taken on form and void, but it is not until Saturday night at best that they are complete. The director's lieutenants at the Baker. Chief Carpenter McCabe. Artist Shultz and Property Masier Smith, form a fine corps of assistants; Mr. Sainpolis says they're among the best In the country, but the director of necessity must work with them, planning, consulting, advis ing and frequently lending a hand at the manual work of each. A big stock, company, its inside work ings and Us Importance as an industrial factor, are not generally understood. For Instance, the weekly expenditures at the Baker are in excess of- $2400 practically $10,000 a month, and this for nine or ten months in the year. Practically every dollar of this is spent in Portland, mak ing it a "made-in-Oregon" institution not to be sneezed at. This is somewhat of an aside, but. to return to John Sainpolls, whom the pub lic knows only as an actor of exceptional ability and well-deserved popularity: Those who think his an easy life are in profound darkness. I doubt If any jzww Tseuyoc csso zr. jz&s? cvzzEy? It Is fully appreciated by the firm of Klaw and Erlanger. In turn, this firm wishes that Cort may succeed as a pro ducing manager. They help him In get ting time and help him In the acquisition of the naturally accruing favors that are to be had by the right man In the East. But, underneath the outward semblance of hearty approval and co-operation and suave appreciation of efforts, this mass of mercenary diggers and schemers and planners and tricksters would gladly and stealthily cut the throat of every new comer, and, If .truth be told, each other's throats, if need be, whenever they got th chance. It is a cruel and a relentless succession of chance opportunities. The quickest man is often the best man. The longest headed man Is always the best man. The shrewdest man is often overcome by a euddenly shifting combination through which an unforseen change of circum stances alters conditions and the shrewd man is overthrown. I have observed Cort closely with these competitors, and I am not amazed. I am amused and gratified. He comes from 'Seattle. He is a Northwest product. He has come here to New Y'ork not to show the fellows here how to do things, but-to "butt in," as he said himself, and to get his share of what seems to be open to him in the way of the public's patronage. He has gathered together a line of stars and plays, whom he is backing by money controlled exclusively by himself. He has no open partners, but he ls going into the thing so heavily that I know he has raised money somewhere in his Northwest territory. Note the advertis ing he did when he brought out Florence Roberts In the "The Strength of the Weak." He billed the play alone for four weeks previous to the opening to the tune of $HXX) per week in this city. He spent JGO.000 on the Stewart Opera Com pany which is touring the Northwest and has been to Portland. He had a special set of furniture made for Maude Fealy's play. He traveled to Michigan for the purpose, and the stage set made a hit. Thev are very particular here about having the stage settings correct and elaborate. Florence Huberts Discovered. The critics got all ready to write up "The Strength of the Weak" as a new breakfast food. They hailed with glee the advent of so novel a combination as a manager from Seattle, an author from Tacoma. and an actress from San Francisco. But when the clever Flor man or woman In this big town works so many grilling, nerve-racking hours a day as does Sainpolls. He Is something of a public benefactor, too. though he doesn't pose In the part. Through his efforts the best stock company we have ever had is giving clean entertainment to thousands of people each week, surrounded by all that is best In the way of stage accesso ries. There is peace In the company, for Sainpolls is also a diplomat and knows the knack of "getting along." although the task Isn't hard in the present in stance, for the company Is just a big, hard-working, peaceable family. HOW TO SEE FOUR MOONS Experiment Can Be Tried With a Mirror on a Cloudless Xight. A pretty experiment can be made with a hand mirror any night when there is a full moon. Hold the mirror so that the moon's image will be seen In it and you will be surprised to see four moons instead of one. One moon will be very bright but the other three will he in a straight line and quite dull, one dull image on one side of the bright moon and the The aches and pains of Rheumatism are only symptoms which may be scattered or relieved with liniments, plasters, blisters, etc., or quieted with opiates. As soon as the treatment is left off, howeyer, or there is any exposure to dampness, or an attack of indigestion, the nagging; pains, sore muscles and tender places on the flesh return, and the sufferer finds that he has merely checked the symptoms, while the real cause remains in the system. The cause of Rheumatism is a too acid condition of the blood, brought on by indigestion, chronic constipation, weak Kidneys, and a general sluggish condition of the system. Waste matter collects in the system each day which nature intends shall be carried off, but when it is left because of a sluggish condition of the S3'stern it sours and forms uric and other acids. These are taken up by the blood and carried to all parts of the body to produce the pains and aches of Rheumatism. S. S. S. cures Rheumatism by going down into the blood and driving out the cause and making this life stream rich, pure and healthy. When the blood has been purified and built up by S. S. S. the pains and aches pass away, the muscles become soft and elastic and Rheumatism driven from the system. Book on Rheumatism and medU cal advice free. THE SWIFT SPECIFIC GO,, ATLANTA. CA. ence hit the stage they began to draw in their horns. They perceived merit. And Miss Roberts' progress has been quite satisfactory ever since. Indeed Cort, I believe, did a most skillful thing In his talk with the critics. He knows that the plav is not perfect. But he laid all advertising stress t on the play. The critics came to him and said, "llere. man. you have a great woman. The actress is great, but the play is rotten. You think you have a good play. You have not. You have a great actress. That's what you have got. Take a tumble and un derstand yourself." Then they wrote up the actress. They "discovered" her on their own account, and they were able to tell Cort some thing. They felt sorry for him. thinking that he misjudged the play and belittled the actress. He had a great actress and he did not know it. Cort winked to him self in the glass and let the newspaper boys have their way. Thus the critics have made Florence Roberts In the East and In New York. Cort let them have their own way. Ho still features the play with the star on the bills, and the critics do the rest. In February he will submit to the Inevitable decree of the erudite critics and bring out the great Mar that they have written up and recorded, in a new play, that is in reality a good play. Then the critics, and Cort and, possibly, everybody else,, will be happy. Don't you call that clever handling? I do. Cort chuckles and is happy. His best and most effective character istic and the one that will continue to the end to stand him in the best stead, Is his unflagging good nature, his af fability, his knack of making friends with each soul he meets. He is no laggard. He goes right to the point. He is re markable for getting right to the meat of any matter in a word or two. He tamed Florence Roberta with a tele gram of two words. It is notorious that she gave her former managers, Belasco and Mayer, much annoyance at frequent Intervals while on the road on the Pa cific Coast, and hurried the hair of the travelling manager toward grayness by her unreasonableness. Well, she began the same thing when she came under Cort's direction at first. His representa tive on the road with the show, reported to his chief, and Cort wired Miss Roberts the brief dispatch: "Don't butt in." She has not butted since. In three years' work Cort will be ono of the big factors here, . or he will go broke. A. H. BALLARD. other two on the other side. Turn the mirror around slowly, still holding its face to the moon, and the reflections will seem to revorve around a common center. You can make the same experiment with any one of the very bright stars, such as Sirius, Venus or Jupiter, but with these there will be three images Instead of four, as the number seen depends on the breath of the object. The explanation is simple. There are two surfaces in a mirror, one in front and the other where the quicksilver Is. The brightest reflection comes from the object Itself, the others are what ls known as "secondary images' reflected from the front to the back of the mirror and thence to the eye. The magic mirror never fails to exicte a good deal of wonder and is an Interesting experiment as well. Sacking Families to the Front. Louisville Courier-Journal. The oldest royal house in Europe Is that of Mecklenburg, which traces its descent from a gentleman who sacked Rome, A. D. 45. Sometimes there may be American families of distinction who can trace their lines back to gen tlemen who sacked New York life ln surance companies from TS90 to 1S0S. DRIVES OUT RHEUMATISM