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February 10, 1910 FAMOUS SINGER TO BE HERE TOMORROW.
George Hamlin to Perform at the Willis Wood. 
GEO. HAMLIN.
The students' seats are placed on sale the morning of the concert. All inquiries should be addressed to Miss Myrtle Irene Mitchell at the Willis Wood theater.Labels: Carl Busch, music, theater, visitors February 8, 1910 JOSEPH STEIBEL RESIGNS.
Popular Assistant Manager Quits on Account of Ill Health.
Joseph Stiebel, the well known and popular assistant manager of the Orphem theater, has resigned, but will remain with the theater until a successor is named. For four years Mr. Stiebel has been with the Orpheum and he made a host of friends during that time. He has been under the doctor's care for more than a week and as soon as his successor is chosen will go to Excelsior Springs for a several weeks' stay.
"My health has not been the best for some time," said Mr. Stiebel yesterday, "and I felt I owed it to myself to take a vacation and get my strength back. I was unable to leave the house two days last week and the doctor says it is necessary for me to get away from hard work for a while and rest up."
No successor has been secured for Mr. Stiebel and he will remain with the Orpheum until the place is filled.Labels: Excelsior Springs, Joe Steibel, theater February 4, 1910 NEW VAUDEVILLE HOME.
Hippodrome Will Have Theater Large Enough for Traveling Shows.
Extensive improvements will be made at the Hippodrome, beginning next Monday, and to be completed in ten days. The picture theater in the southwest corner of the building and the Vienna garden immediately south will be thrown into one theater, with a stage as large as any in the city, with possibly one or two exceptions. The theater will seat 1,200 people and will be the permanent home of traveling attractions, such as big vaudeville shows, Yiddish companies and theatrical attractions of all kinds. The marked success of the recent Yiddish productions was a demand for a regular theater in that part of the city, as Twelfth and Charlotte is in the center of a populous neighborhood and is ten blocks from the downtown theater district.
The Hippodrome theater will be ready within ten days.Labels: Charlotte street, hippodrome, Jews, theater, Twelfth street, vaudeville February 1, 1910
TO HURRY NEW THEATER.
Work on Empress Starts Today; To Be Finished May 1.
"We will start the foundation of the Empress theater today," said Fred Lincoln of Chicago, representative of the Sullivan-Considine circuit, which is to erect a new play house at Twelfth and McGee streets. "We expect to put three gangs of men at work on the building, working in 8-hour shifts and will have it ready for occupancy by May 1. Lee DeCamp of Cincinnati, the architect, will be here today. The house will cost about $100,000."Labels: architects, Chicago, McGee street, theater, Twelfth street January 30, 1910 TINGE OF JEALOUSY IN ELTINGE GOING ALONE.
His "Hands" at the Theater and "Loud" Type for Lauder on Bill- ings Cause Separation Here.
Julian Eltinge and Harry Lauder came to the parting of the ways yesterday. Last night they bade one another adieu and probably will not be seen in the same company again. Mr. Lauder departed for Chicago on a late train and Mr. Eltinge will leave some time today for Excelsior Springs where he will endeavor to take off a few pounds of surplus flesh, after which he will go to New Orleans.
There has been more or less professional jealousy between Messrs. Lauder and Eltinge ever since they were together, the name of Lauder growing larger on the billings, although friends of Mr. Eltinge say that he was the man who got the greater number of "hands" during the performances. This piqued Mr. Eltinge and a couple of weeks ago stories began floating East to the effect that he had severed his connection with the Lauder company. Ted Marks, the advance man and the representative of the Morris interests, was kept busy denying these stories.
The final breach came in Kansas City. Mr. Lauder thought that Kansas City theatergoers did not appreciate his "art" as much as the people in other cities and that Mr. Eltinge got entirely too much attention. Mr. Eltinge saw his name in small type. He believed that he was doing the work that carried the show along. There was but one thing for Mr. Morris to do. That was to separate them.
Both are under contract with him, so now he is taking a chance that they will make more money for him playing individually in different sections of the country than they will together. In any event it will give the theatrical people an opportunity to determine for themselves just how strong Mr. Eltinge is with the masses.Labels: Excelsior Springs, New Orleans, theater, visitors January 30, 1910 TO BUILD THEATER HERE.
Morris Says Kansas City Will Have Independent Vaudeville.
"We are here." This was the positive declaration of William Morris, of William Morris, Inc., of New York city, last night, in speaking of the probability of his company establishing a vaudeville house in Kansas City.
"Walter Holt Seeley, our architect," continued Mr. Morris, "will be here from San Francisco in a week or ten days, and he will overlook such sites as are submitted to him and also examine all propositions for theatrical buildings which may be made in the near future.
"Our company has been reaching Westward and we are coming to Kansas City. We need Kansas City worse than it needs us. We need it to break a jump and we believe the people of Kansas City need us because we will give them a class of vaudeville such as no one else is able to furnish.
"We have been looking over the Kansas City field for some time and it is only because of other business that we have not established a house here. We are going to have a theater which will be convenient to every street car line in the city and then when we put on our bills I know that we will get the patronage that we deserve."Labels: New York, theater January 23, 1910 NELSON HERE THIS WEEK.
Durable Dane Will Referee Matches at Century.
Battling Nelson, lightweight champion of the world, will spend the coming week in Kansas City with a friend who is in the company at the Century theater. Nelson was with the show for a time, and he cancelled his theatrical engagements to accept several offers to fight lightweights in different parts of the country.
While resting in Kansas City this week he will referee wrestling bouts at the Century and visit Kansas City friends.Labels: sports, theater, visitors January 21, 1910 WHEN ELMAN WAS POOR.
Charles Grossman Was a Childhood Playmate of the Violinist. 
CHARLES GROSSMAN.
"I am two years older than Elman," said Mr. Grossman yesterday. "I well recall the time when I first heard little Mischa play his father's violin at the age of 4 years. In my childish way I thought to have him punished and I told his father he was playing the instrument, which was about the only thing of value in the Elman home. The father was at first angry, but soon recognized the hitherto unsuspected skill of his son. He had no means to educate him, however, but my father gave him his first start by placing him under teachers in our home town of Tolnoe. Later he was sent to Schapola where a Jewish millionaire named Bodsky became interested in him and sent him to Odessa, where Professor Auer of the St. Petersburg conservatory took him up. the story of his phenomenal rise is history, but I know that he will be glad to see his playmate of the old days. He was the guest of my brothers in New York, one of whom is a rabbi and the other an attorney. I hope to have Elman as my guest next week.
"Incidentally I do not see why Elman should be called the Russian violinist. He is a Jew and though the czar himself has given him a medal and other honors Russia is the prosecutor of this race, and Elman himself was not allowed by law to live in St. Petersburg until he had secured the august permission of the czar."
Young Grossman himself bids fair to attain a high degree of success in his chosen profession and may yet be a dramatist who will shed luster on the Jewish race, as he is already the author of many successful plays.Labels: Charlotte street, immigrants, Jews, music, race, theater January 17, 1910 KANSAS CITY GIRLS FOR PICKLE FACTORY.
Plant Will Be Only Stage Affair, But Beauties Will Handle Real Pickles.
"Working in a pickle factory" will no longer be a joke with a score of pretty young women from various walks of life in Kansas City who will hold forth at the Orpheum theater this week as employes of a pickle factory in Helen Grantley's sketch, "The Agitator," the top liner on the bill. They will handle real pickles and after a week's training and rehearsals and their participation in the show this week it is predicted they will have no difficulty in getting work as experts in the business, should they so desire.
The sketch is based in part on the female suffrage movement. The scene in which the young women work is one in which Miss Grantley makes her plea for a strike. Of course the girls follow their leader, the strike is called and after the usual trials and tribulations of strikers, is won. The sketch created somewhat of a sensation in New York, the play there being made more realistic by the fact that the girls who counterfeited the pickle trimmers were really striking shirt waist makers.
Miss Grantley came here with her company a week ago ahead of her billing so that she might rehearse the score of young women supers, some of whom will be carried with the company at the close of the week.
An advertisement brought half a hundred replies and out of this number Miss Grantley selected a score of girls. Among those selected were stenographers, two high school girls who were "just dying" to go on the stage even if they had to work in a "pickle factory," a telephone girl who had often wished that she might appear behind the footlights, three art students who wanted the work for the "atmosphere," later to be transferred to canvas, and a couple of girls who had not worked anywhere, but who sought this as a stepping stone to the stage.
It was an ungainly and awkward squad, as they lined up for the first rehearsal. Only one of the girls had ever been back of the scenes, and she was fairly lionized by the others. The turn was not a difficult one, and after the story of the play was told, the girls quickly appreciated the points which it was desired to emphasize.
"A trained chorus direct from New York City could not have done any better," declared Miss Grantley last evening. "They still have another rehearsal, but they are letter perfect now and I am sure that some of them will come with me when I leave the city."Labels: employment, New York, suffrage, theater, visitors, women January 11, 1910 THE FROZEN APE.
Moving Picture Comedy at the Subway.
An unique moving picture comedy, "The Frozen Ape," at the Subway theater today and tomorrow, offers side-splitting merriment for fun-lovers. A scientist goes into the arctic regions to discover things and makes a find that astonishes the world. It is an ape, frozen into the side of an icy glacier. He sends the ape, packed in a box, to his friend, Professor Knowall. The expressman leaves the box in his wagon in front of Professor Knowall's home. Two boys, building a bonfire, need more wood. They push the box into the fire. The heat thaws the frozen ape, who gets out. Then funny things begin to happen.Labels: moving pictures, theater January 10, 1910 SON OF ACTRESS IS BURNED.
Father Dead, Mother Away, Boy Hurt Fatally Playing Indian.
While playing with some other boys in a vacant foundry at Nicholson and Prospect avenues yesterday morning at 11:30 o'clock, Eddie Campbell, aged 8 years, was so badly burned that he died four hours later at the University hospital.
The lad was attempting to make an Indian fire with some logs, and as the timber would not ignite readily he poured some kerosene on the heated portion. An explosion followed and young Campbell's clothes caught on fire. His playmates made frantic efforts to extinguish the flames, but did not succeed until after the boy had sustained fatal injuries. The body was taken to Stewart's undertaking rooms.
Eddie Campbell had been living with an uncle, Albert Campbell, at 728 North Chestnut street, for some time. His father is dead and his mother, Stella S. Campbell, who is an actress, is touring Michigan.Labels: Chestnut street, children, death, explosion, Fire, Nicholson avenue, Prospect avenue, theater, undertakers, University hospital January 5, 1909 GEORGE ADE AWAITS THE PROPER GIRL.
SAYS "HAVEN'T FOUND RIGHT ONE," WHEN ASKED WHY HE DOESN'T WED.
Sight of Jeffries Recalls the Days When He Was a Newspaper Man. 
GEORGE ADE, HUMORIST FROM INDIANA.
Now, girls, take notice. George Ade is looking for a wife.
George -- you all know George -- does not say so in as many plain, everyday words, but he intimates his inclination to move up that way, as the lady said when she jabbed the fat man with her hatpin in the aisle of a Vine street car.
But before you put in your application, don't get the idea that life with the humorist, as his wife, would be a never-ending scream of comedy. Professional humorists are a glum lot, and Ade is not more joyous than a bowl of glue. A professional humorist has to think it all you -- you'd never believe it, reading it over afterwards -- and the thinking process, to a humorist, comes hard. For George Ade, it has put a sprinkle of gray hairs all over his head, tracing what once was black with a presage of an early winter.
LOOKS REAL, SMILING.
Of course, you'll all want to know how he looks. Mr. Ade is a man of undoubted length of legs. He has a considerable breadth of shoulder when his overcoat is on, not much to go wild over when it is off. He has a countenance turned to the cynical cast when he doesn't smile, looking lie a chap that would, or might, at least pinch your arm if you didn't move over. His visage is thin and his nose is long, coming to a little hook at thee ends, like a pod of a kidney bean. When he smiles he looks read.
Mr. Ade was in Kansas City yesterday. He didn't come right out and say that he was in the matrimonial market. He, being a humorist, wouldn't be taken seriously if he did. In answer to the question, "Mr. Ade, why don't you marry?" he said: "Because I haven't found the right one."
So now, as the man with a house to build says, he is open to proposals.
Mr. Ade looks young, younger than he would have looked by this time if he had kept on doing prize fights for the Chicago paper with which he was connected ten years ago, when fame came along one day and put the shining mark upon him. The sight of the Hon. James J. Jeffries in the grill room of the Hotel Baltimore yesterday afternoon brought it all back to him.
JEALOUSY NOTICED.
"There's a crowd of gaping men around Jeffries down there," said he, "unable to breathe for admiration and awe." It may be excused the humorist if there was a tinge of professional jealousy in the tone. "It makes me think of the time, away back in '92, when I was writing newspaper stories about such fellows. I wasn't the sporting editor. Oh, no, I was just a reporter."
Mr. Ade is resting from the humorist business just now. He isn't even writing a play. Just taking things easy, and kind of hanging around, waiting for the right girl. No photographs exchanged.
When Mr. Ade talks, he talks English. It's only when he writes that he is picturesque. Yesterday afternoon he went to the Orpheum theater and sat through the programme, not even smiling when a big man in a little play took what he meant to be a humorous shot at him. Mr. Ade looks real good when he his dressed up. Tramping through the snow yesterday he wore a long ulster, buttoned to the chin, the high collar almost covering his ears. He carries a bit of a stick with a silver knob, with all the abandon and familiarity of an actor.
MODERN TRAGEDY.
Mr. Ade says the great American tragedy will be written about modern conditions. "There's lots of good stuff being written now," said he, "and lots of good stuff being staged. Some of this season's new pieces are exceptionally good."
Mr. Ade registers from Brook, Ind. "I live there in the summer and fall," he said, "and in winter I lock up the place and live in a trunk."Labels: Hotel Baltimore, theater, visitors January 1, 1910 DREAMS OF HIS MISSING SON.
Stone Mason Believes This Story Will Bring Back Show Boy.
After six years of fruitless effort on the part of Guss Solomon, a stone mason living at 805 East Eighth street, to find his son, who disappeared from their home in St. Louis during the world's fair, visions of the lost boy have appeared to him in dreams the last four nights, and it is his belief that the boy will be returned to him through this story:
"We were living in St. Louis during the fair," said Mr. Solomon, "and my boy, then 11 years old, was employed in the picture show in the entrance of the Broken Heart saloon on Broadway. Near the close of the fair he came to me one day and asked permission to leave the next day with a show which had been playing at the fair grounds. I told him that he better stay with his mother and me and took him up to town and bought him a new suit of clothes.
Around 8 o'clock that morning he went out to play with some of the boys in the neighborhood, and I never heard of him since. The show he desired to leave with went East that same night, but I was unable to trace it. I wrote to the chief of police in all the large Eastern cities, but they were unable to find any clew. The boy, if still alive, would be about 16 years old. He was rather tall and slim for his age was light complexioned.Labels: children, Eighth street, missing, runaway, St Louis, theater December 29, 1909 A TIRED MAN IN A BOX.
Even "Girl From Rector's" Couldn't Keep Him Awake.
For a time the stage of the Willis Wood theater had a rival in real life in a box. For a time it looked to many of the auditors as if the real show was not on the stage.
Shortly after the curtain rose in the first act Miss Millington, the "Girl From Rector's" happened to glance up at the upper left hand box. The eyes of the audience followed hers, and the smile that flitted over her face was contagious.
In the box a man of about 30 years, whose dress proclaimed him to be from the cattle raising sections of the Southwest, leaned over the railing. Slowly his head swayed. As his chin dropped on the bosom those on that side of the house heard the proverbial "wood sawing" sound. Catching himself, the tired auditor looked about the house and then slowly his head drooped again.
A messenger was sent to the front and an usher quietly slipped into the box. The man slept no more.Labels: theater December 27, 1909 WAS ONCE A SHEEP HERDER.
Chassino, Master of Shadowgraphy, Adept With Hands and Feet.
One of the most delightful parlor amusements for winter evenings is the making of shadows or silhouettes upon screens with the aid of a lamp or candle. Men upon the stage have attained fame and fortune by their expertness in casting shadows. Proficiency, however, comes only through long practice and the application of originality and imagination.
Chassino, a Frenchman, who stands in the front rank of shadowgraphers of the world and who closed a week's engagement at the Orpheum theater last night, says that he was obliged to work ten years before he was able to secure contracts in the theaters. An ordinary sheep herder on the hills and in the valleys of France was Chassino when he first saw a shadowgrapher at a church festival. So infatuated was he with the art that he immediately commenced making shadows for his own amusement.
Gradually becoming adept, he appeared at a village social, but it was ten years later when he found his art remunerative. Now he is able to command fancy salaries and has an act always welcomed in the largest vaudeville houses of both Europe and America.
Chassino not only casts shadows of various kinds of animals and human faces with his hands on the canvas, but he is the only artist known who can shadowgraph with his feet. With the aid of his pedal extremities he is able to make shadows representing clearly and plainly various designs of vases and fancy pottery.
Probably the most remarkable feature of his work in this line is the enacting of a whole scene in which three characters are seen in an interesting comedy sketch, which invariably brings rounds of applause. The scene has every appearance of a motion picture and when it is exposed that Chassino does the whole stunt with just his two hands wonderment in in evidence all over the house.
In an interview Chassino said:
"The novice at making shadows always experiences great difficulty in mastering the simplicities of the art. It is hard to learn how much one can do with just one finger when making silhouettes. The beginner should first learn how to cast the likeness of a rabbit and then a wolf, both of which are easier than most any other kind of animals. To learn how to use the feet in this work is impossible for most folks, because one must have specially designed feet, if I may use such an expression. My feet are lithe and easily convertible into most any shape and hence I am able to use them in my profession to a good advantage. In fact, my feet earn me several hundred dollars a week."Labels: theater, visitors December 25, 1909 AN OLD TIME CELEBRATION.
Prisoners at the Municipal Farm Experienced Real Joy.
Two oranges, two bananas, half a pound of assorted nuts, one dozen cream cakes, a bunch of grapes, and one-half pound box of candy, all inclosed in a neatly decorated basket, is what the Christmas season brought each prisoner at the municipal farm, a mile and a half southeast of Leeds, last night.
A large Christmas tree, decorated in tinsel and Christmas bells, just like the Sunday school trees, was fitted up in the big farm house last night. A real live Santa Claus, with his customary tonsorial makeup, dressed in a red and white suit, presided over the tree and distributed the Christmas baskets.
Tonight for entertainment will be proved for the prisoners. Among the numbers on the programme will be "Semi Dempsy," a one-act comedy with three characters; "Pills of Merriment," a two-act farce introducing six characters; "The Oklahoma Traveler," a burlesque by Dowd McDonald, Dood and Jones, a negro team, and songs and dancing. A stage with elaborate settings, spot lights, hand-painted scenery, and all necessary adjuncts was constructed by the prisoners.Labels: food, holidays, Leeds, theater December 23, 1909 CENTRAL HIGH STUDENTS PRESENT "THE RIVALS."
Large Audience Enjoys Comedy as Staged by Dramatic Club -- Cast Scores Distinct Success.
With "The Rivals," by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, as a vehicle, the members of the Dramatic Club of the Central high school trod the boards behind the footlights last evening with a good deal of ease and a large degree of success. The play was well staged, well costumed, the youthful Thespians well trained for their parts and the assembly hall of the high school building well filled for the occasion. The high school orchestra, under the direction of Professor Thomas of the musical department of the schools, deserves special mention.
"The Rivals" is well adapted to the work of amateurs and sparkles with humor and wit from beginning to end. The young people didn't lose much, if any, of this and sometimes in true professional style not only emphasized the points of the jokes in the play but saw to it that the lines immediately following were not lost.
The cast was selected on the merit basis. Preliminaries were held at different times during the fall term and those excelling took part in the final exhibition. Special mention should be made of the work of David Hawkins, William H. Powell, Charles H. Davis, Miss Lola Earle Eaton and Miss Gertrude Wood. However, all did good work and deserve much credit.Labels: schools, theater December 19, 1909 HURRIES FROM GRAVE TO LAUGH ON STAGE.
GIRL WIFE SINGS SCOTTISH DIT- TIES, CHOKING SOBS.
As Orchestra Plays "Hearts and Flowers" for Next Sketch the "Two Macks" Mourn Death of "Danny," Their First Born.
Unknown to the audience of the Gayety theater yesterday afternoon, while the orchestra playing the gladsome tunes suggestive of love and happiness, a drama was being enacted in the dressing rooms behind the scenes. In her room sat a wife of one year, her head buried in her arms and tears streaming down her face. Between sobs she could be heard to say: "My baby, my little boy."
Beside this woman sat a young man, barely out of his teens, trying in his way to console the heartbroken girl. Tears glistened in his eyes. His face was contorted with pain and anguish. He was the picture of despair.
The young man was Douglas McKenzie, 20 years old, of Dundee, Scotland. The girl was Mabel McKenzie, 18 years of age, his wife. The two are known to the stage world as the "Two Macks," and they have been playing a comic sketch in Scotch the last week at the Gayety. The two sat in the dressing room in their plaids and kilts, the same that they had appeared in a few minutes before on the stage.
The orchestra suddenly ceased its playing. The lights were turned low. The next sketch was a love scene and the orchestra in a low key softly began, "Hearts and Flowers." The young wife raised her head and listened. With her sleeve she brushed away the tears.
"I wonder if Danny is in heaven -- I know he is," she said, smiling. "I suppose the angels are now playing the same tune."
Danny was the name of their little boy, only a few weeks old, whom they had buried but two hours before. One year ago Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie were married in Scotland. They came to this country on their honeymoon trip and got a place on the vaudeville stage. They made a tour of Texas and Oklahoma. Two months ago they reached Kansas City.
A baby was born, Danny, they called him. There were doctor bills to pay and room rent. Last Thursday the little boy died. They had no money to pay for its burial. for two days the little body was kept in their rooms at the Wyandotte hotel, the undertakers refusing to take it until the burial expenses were advanced.
Yesterday morning Mr. McKenzie told Tom Hodgeman, manager of the Gayety, of his plight. Mr. Hodgeman immediately went to all the playhouses in the city. He told the young man's story to the actors. When he returned from his trip Mr. Hodgeman had $80, enough to pay the funeral expenses.
HURRY TO THEATER.
Yesterday afternoon the little body was buried. From the cemetery where they had laid to rest their first born the young pair hurried to the theater. They arrived barely in time to dress in Scotch costume for their sketch. The "Two Macks" came out on the stage. They danced the Scotch dances and sang the light and frivolous Scotch ditties. They smiled, they laughed and they joked. Little did the audience realize that behind the mask of happiness were two bleeding hearts, a man and wife who had just come from the cemetery after burying their baby boy.
The curtain was rung down and the two went to their rooms. Mrs. McKenzie broke down in tears. During the long minutes she had been on the stage playing the part of a Scotch lassie the minutes had been torture. "Danny" was dead. He was her first born.Labels: children, death, hotels, immigrants, music, oklahoma, Texas, theater December 18, 1909 DOG MIND-READER IS FOOTBALL ENTHUSIAST.
REMEMBERS SCORE OF THANKS- GIVING GAME HERE.
Master Lives on the Money Earned by Pet He Bought for Price of a Drink Eighteen Years Ago in Paris.
Pilu is a ragged little black-and-white dog, an Irish terrier, blind in one eye and deaf in one ear. He is eighteen years old. He was purchased from a drunken Englishman in Paris for a drink of whisky. Sig. D. Ancilotti bought him at this low price when Pilu was a clumsy little puppy and little did the purchaser know then that he was making his whole fortune out of his kindly impulse to take a fluffy, whining cur from a drunkard. But he was.
Pilu today earns more money than a dozen laborers working ten hours a day could earn. Pilu is the only mind-reading dog in the world and the large audiences that are frequenting the Orpheum this week are being boggled by the truly marvelous feats performed by the canine. The act is an absolute novelty to vaudeville and is so entertaining that the animal and its master are invariably fatigued ere they finish answering the repeated encores.
Pilu performs his tricks with the aid of a low, horizontal bar on which are hung a series of cards numbered from one to ten. A fence of green cord is strung around the poles and inside this fence, up and down the length of the pole, the dog mind-reader walks stiffly and tells you what you are thinking about.
Pilu is very fat and has a stub of a tail which wiggles as he walks. Now and then he looks at Ancilotti and smiles, slipping out a great length of pink tongue with a knowing leer.
THINGS PILU DOES.
Pilu tells how many babies there are in the family of the police headquarters man and he gives the ages of several persons in the audience.
Last night this wonderful dog attempted a new one when some football fan asked Ancilotti if his pet could remember the final score of the Missouri-Kansas football game.
"Certainly," responded the master. "Pilu, what was the score of the Missouri-Kansas football game?"
Pilu cocked his head over to one side and ran out a length or two of the pink tongue, batted his blind eye and marched twice up and down the length of the pole. Then he put up his fuzzy paw and knocked down the cards thus, 1-2-6. And that, it pleasant to recollect for the Tiger, was the score of that memorable conflict on the local gridior last Thanksgiving.
M. Ancilotti protested that he had not known the score and to show his good faith, went off the stage with a number written by a spsectator and shouted over the scene:
"Allons, Pilu. Allons."
"Allons," in French, spoken to a wooly old mongrel, means, "get on your job." And, Pilu got on the job by knocking down the figures 2, 5 and 8 -- 258, which was the number that had been written by the auditor.
Of course everybody watches Ancilotti closely in the hopes of catching him giving the dog signals, but no one has yet announced a solution of the mystery as to how the animal knows what to do so unerringly.
"My dog never makes a meestake," he shouted toward the close of his act. "To show you, here is a newspaper. Now, Pilu, how many letters are there in the name of this paper?" Pilu promptly knocked down a 2 and a 0, meaning twenty. Once more the mindreading wonder was correct, for Ancilotti held a copy of The Kansas City Journal, in which title there are twenty letters.
PILU WELL LOVED.
When the show was over Pilu trotted down to his dressing room to Mme Ancilotti to be kissed and patted. He was well hugged. He ought to be. For years he has been earning the living of all three of the Ancilottis.
Sig. Ancilotti says that it required ten years of hard, persistent training to teach Pilu the science of mind-reading, but he would not intimate his method of training. He insists that the dog possesses not a dog mind, nor a human mind, but a superhuman mind and that he has no set of signals by which he aids the animal in its tests. The king of Italy shares Ancilotti's opinion as to the superhuman qualities of the dog's mind, for he has presented the shaggy little fellow with a handsome gold watch, believing that he could and should know the time of day.
Pilu will tour America until July and then will be taken to London, where he will make his farewell appearance on the stage. Old age forces an early retirement and Ancilotti already has his eyes cast wistfully on another dog with which he hopes to continue his harvest of gold.Labels: animals, sports, theater, vaudeville, visitors December 18, 1909 CLOWN BAND AND ORGAN FOR CHILDREN.
LOTS OF MUSIC AND FUN AT MAYOR'S CHRISTMAS TREE.
A. Judah, Manager of the Grand, Has a Surprise in Store and It May Be City's Poor Good Boys and Girls Will See Theater.
A mammoth organ is to be installed in Convention hall to furnish music for the thousands of little children who will be given presents from the mayor's Christmas tree. The Clown band of the Eagles also will furnish instrumental cheer. The musicians will be dressed in grotesque costumes. A. Judah, manager of the Grand, also has a surprise in the amusement line in store for the tots, and he might repeat this year his generosity of last year by inviting the children who seldom see the inside of a place of amusement to his theater for a performance and a liberal candy distribution.
"I'm always the happiest when I am doing something for girls and boys that the sun of plenty does not shine upon," said Mr. Judah at yesterday's meeting of the Mayor's Christmas Tree Association. Then he chipped in $25 to the fund, which has now reached the encouraging sum of $3,124.10.
"We'll double that amount when we hear from the people we have asked subscriptions from," declared A. E. Hutchings, who, with other warm-hearted and self-sacrificing men and women, are giving their time and means to provide Christmas cheer and joy for the thousands of poor children in Kansas City. And these faithful workers are going right ahead with their commendable work, regardless of envious and malicious ones who belittle the association by referring to it as the "Public Tree."Labels: A Judah, charity, Convention Hall, holidays, lodges, music, organizations, theater December 16, 1909 AN ORPHEUM ACTOR INJURED.
Fred Lindsay, Australian Bushman, Suffers Cut on Right Hand.
Just as his act at the Orpheum was closing last night, Fred Lindsay, the Australian bushman, who does an interesting whip-cracking act, met with an accident which resulted in a long cut on the back of his right hand, the one he used in the act.
The accident was caused by his whip catching on some scenery and being deflected back. Lindsay's hand was immediately treated by a physician who was unable to state whether the accident would interfere with his work or not.Labels: accident, theater, visitors December 13, 1909 ACTOR AUSTRALIAN BUSHMAN.
Tells of Miraculous Escape While Fighting Boers in Africa.
Few men have led a more exciting career than Fred Lindsay, Australian bushman, Boer war veteran, big game hunter and expert whip, who is at the Orpheum this week.
Mr. Lindsay also has hunted in Africa. Last fall he gave Mr. Roosevelt pointers on big game hunting, and invited to president to hunt on the Lindsay preserves in Africa.
Mr. Lindsay fought with the British against the Boers. In an engagement on the east coast, according to his own story, he came nearest facing death of the many times in his career,
"My regiment had been ordered up from Beira, a Portuguese town," said he. "This is notorioulsy a death hole, and it proved such for both men and horses. After the relief of Mafeking I went to Rustenberg, getting into action among the hills with about 300 men. We were soon completely surrounded by General Delarey with 1,000 men, and, as the Australians were in a bad position, every horse was shot in less than five minutes.
"My sergeant, two corporals and a private were killed next to me. I escaped miraculously. The spur was shot off my boot. Captain Fitzclarence, of Mafeking fame, rescued us as darkness came.
"The next two days resulted in the hemming in of the whole of the small force of 300 men by Delarey at Elands river, with fourteen field guns and two pompoms, the position taken being that of a small exposed kopje, with a little stream running at the foot.
"For twelve days this gallant little band held out against the whole forces of the Boers, who outnumbered us. At the end of that time we were relieved by General Kitchener with 24,000 men.
"Every drop of water had to be fought for every night at dusk, the carta coming back from the stream with water spurting through bullet holes that the boys plugged up with grass and mud till they reached the summit of the hill.
"Every man worked hard with bayonet, knife and even his finger nails to dig a hole in the stony ground deep enough to afford him shelter from the rain of bullets. the animals were tied in lines and it was no unusual thing for a shell to carry off seven or eight of them at a time. Eventually every one of them was killed.
"A little touch of humor relieved the awful tragedies everywhere about us, and that was when several wagons loaded with cases of champagne, canned soups and other luxuries, presented by Lord Rothschild, got into the danger zone.
"Every time the parcel was hit with a shell it was a good excuse for the boys to jump in and divide it among them, so that many a poor chap whose mouth was swollen for lack of a drop of water got many a good pull at a magnum of sparkling French wine."Labels: President Roosevelt, theater, visitors December 13, 1909 ORPHANS TO BE AT MATINEE.
Benefactor Ill, Boys Will Depend on Charity for Christmas.
The boys of the Kansas City Orphans' home will be the guests of Oscar Sachs at the matinee at the Orpheum tomorrow afternoon. The boys will be chaperoned by Mrs. Lee Lyson, Mrs. Ferdinand Heim, Mrs. Oscar Sachs, Mrs. J. W. Wagner, Mrs. S. Harzfeld and Mrs. A. D. Cottingham. Mrs. John C. Tarsney, the benefactor of the home, has been ill for some time and so the boys expect that good people will take an interest in them and remember them on Christmas. About 130 orphans are cared for at the home, which is in the charge of sisters of the order of St. Vincent de Paul.Labels: charity, holidays, nuns, orphans, theater December 5, 1909 CAMPAIGN TO RESCUE CHILDREN FROM WORK.
COMPLAINT MADE THAT STORE EMPLOYS TWO, 4 YEARS OLD.
Picture Shows Where Girls, Under 16, Play and Sing and Will Be In- vestigated by Dr. Mathias, Chief Probation Officer.
Parents who permit their children to sing in picture shows in violation of the law, or to participate in any entertainment for which they receive pay, according to Dr. E. L. Mathias, chief probation officer, will be prosecuted in the juvenile court.
Heretofore prosecution of child labor cases has been almost entirely on the initiative of the local and state factory inspectors. But complaints have been made recently to the juvenile officers that the practice has not been entirely stopped. An investigation is to be made to find out whether the parents and theaters are obeying the law.
The law forbids children under 14 years of age to engage in any "gainful occupation." Children under 16 can not work for wages without first receiving a permit from the local factory inspector.
This does not forbid parents to allow their children to participate in church entertainments and the like, where they receive no pay.
COMPLAINT AGAINST STORE.
Complaint was made yesterday of a large department store, which is giving a Santa Claus entertainment. Two children, 4 years of age, take minor parts and their parents are paid for their time. With W. J. Morgan, factory inspector, a juvenile officer yesterday went to the store to investigate the complaint, and will report Monday in juvenile court to Judge E. E. Porterfield.
Several picture shows are reported to have employed girls under 16 years of age, without official permits, to play the piano and sing. These cases are to be investigated immediately.
"The child labor law, if anything, is not severe enough," said Dr. Mathias. "It should not only require children to remain in school until they have reached a certain age, but it should keep them in school until they have passed through the graded school into the high school.
"The trouble with the present law is that it is founded on the law of averages. The average boy or girl completes the grammar school at 14 years of age. But think of those who do not go beyond the third or fourth grade. Many children have not reached the high school at 14.
SHOULD HELP ABNORMAL.
"If there is any change in this law it should be re-framed for the benefit of the abnormal, or the child below the average. Every child should be compelled to stay in school until he or she had reached the high school. The child might be 16 or 18 years of age before he is graduated and permitted to go to work, but he would be a much better citizen than if allowed to quit at 14.
"Take for instance the foreigners who are rapidly migrating to Kansas City and other American towns. Many of them have been brought up to believe that a wife or a child is an asset, the same as the old slave holders used to think. Hardly before the child is able to walk and talk the father puts it to work. The boy gets a place in a shoe-shining parlor or holding the horse of some delivery man. The pay is $1 or $2 a week, which is given the parent.
"These foreigners average about one child a year. The more children, they know, the greater their income. If it were not for the child labor laws, these children would be permitted to grow up in ignorance, and their little bodies stunted from doing heavy work before they had gained physical strength."Labels: children, Dr Mathias, employment, immigrants, Judge Porterfield, juvenile court, theater November 23, 1909 SETBACK FOR NEGRO THEATER.
Permit Denied Promoters Who In- tended Remodeling Synagogue.
A permit was denied yesterday to the promoters of a proposed negro theater at Eleventh and Oak streets. It was the intention to remodel the old Jewish synagogue. Matt Shinnick, in charge in the absence of John T. Neill, superintendent of buildings, said no plans were submitted.
One of the main objections to the remodeling of the old synagogue is the stairway entrance from the street. The steps are only ten inches wide, and the incline is steep.Labels: Eleventh street, Oak street, race, real estate, theater November 20, 1909 NEGRO THEATER MANAGER LOOKED FOR NO PROTEST.
Louis Woods Says His Company In- vested $5,000 in Contracts for Rebuilding Synagogue.
Louis Woods of 722 Charlotte street, owner of the Kansas City Son, a negro weekly paper, a negro who leased the Jewish Synagogue at Eleventh and Oak streets to open a theater for negroes, said last night that he was surprised at the opposition the proposed theater has received.
"For years I have been giving this matter much needed thought," he said. "I have seen white play houses in Kansas City prosper and added to every year. I noticed another thing -- that few negroes attend a white theater unless a negro troupe happened to be there. Then the first and second balconies are packed with negroes who pay nearly as much as those on the lower floor. It struck me that as all negro shows that come to Kansas City are liberally patronized by negroes, they might as do as well by a theater managed by a person of their own color.
"I talked with Sam Conkey, advance man for the Cole and Johnson show, with Bob Motts, proprietor of the Pekin, a negro theater in Chicago, and with Sir Green, supreme chancellor commander of the negro Knights of Pythias who just has completed a $100,000 negro theater in New Orleans. We combined on the project. It was our intention to have a chain of negro play houses over the country. We have been looking at a proposition in St. Louis.
"We had no idea that there would be any objection to our going by ourselves. White people usually want the negro to keep to himself, but just as soon as he attempts to do so, they object. We had no idea that we would meet the color objection with this theater.
"The theater was to be an investment. We examined the lease and found it without restrictions as to color. The building and the location were so well adapted to our needs that we put money into the business. We have let several contracts and have spent about $5,000.
"Had we known that our going there would have been offensive, it would have caused us to look for another location. So far as I am concerned I do not wish to raise any strife. I was born and reared in Missouri and expect to live and die here."
When it was known a negro theater was to be near them business men on East Eleventh street got up a petition remonstrating against the lease. It was signed by nearly every business firm near the theater.
A. P. Nichols, a real estate agent, has charge of the synagogue property for the owner who lives in Omaha. The principal objectors are D. O. Smart and the North-Mehornay Furniture Company. Mr. Smart has under erection a five-story building west of the proposed negro theater. There are many retail firms along East Eleventh street, members of all of which are opposing the lease to a negro theater.Labels: business, Charlotte street, Chicago, Eleventh street, New Orleans, newspapers, Oak street, Omaha, race, real estate, St Louis, theater November 19, 1909 PICTURE MACHINE LETS GO.
Only Four in the Audience When Explosion Took Place.
Frank Tierney, of 320 West Thirteenth street, was burned about the face and hands in an attempt to extinguish a fire that started from the explosion of a moving picture machine at the cozy theater, 1300 Main street, yesterday afternoon. There were four persons in the audience at the time.
Tierney was attended by Dr. Hamilton and sent to his home. The damage to the theater was slight.Labels: doctors, explosion, Fire, Main street, moving pictures, theater, Thirteenth street November 8, 1909 WRONG MAN SIGNED PLEDGE.
How Joe Donnegan Was Euchred by Friend Who Drank.
Joe Donnegan, theatrical manager and hotel man, is pledged to abstain from the use of alcoholics for five years. When Joe, who does not drink anyhow, discovered that he had taken the pledge, he was wroth. Not that he delights in supping from the cup when it is red, or blowing the froth from more plebeian beverages, but that he was euchred into signing the pledge when, at the time, he thought he was merely a witness to such a transaction for a friend.
A couple of weeks ago Donnegan induced a friend who had been looking long on the cup to accompany him to a notary, there to take a pledge of total abstinence from liquor for five years. It was hard work for Joe, but he finally gained his point. The friend insisted on two last drinks, and these he was permitted to have.
Joe walked into a saloon recently and there, just able to hold on to the bar, was his friend who had taken the pledge.
"You are a fine specimen of manhood," declared Donnegan, as he grabbed his friend by the shoulders and shook him. "I thought you took the pledge not to take a drink for five years, and here I find you so drunk you can hardly stand up."
"You're mishtaken, that's all," replied the friend, at the same time pulling a sheet of paper from his coat pocket. "You see you took the pledge. See your name. I am witness to it, and you dassent take a drink, so be careful now and don't violate your pledge. What'll you have?"Labels: alcohol, saloon, theater November 6, 1909 'RED MILL' KIDDIES 'STOLEN.'
Loaded Into Auto and Taken to Ban- quet at the Elks' Club.
When the "Red Mill" company, which is to play at the Grand next week, came through Kansas City on its way to Leavenworth at 9 o'clock yesterday morning, seven of its members, consisting of the six children who appear as the Dutch kiddies and Jocko, the monkey, who has a place on the programme, were kidnaped for a few hours, loaded into the automobile of City Treasurer William Baehr, which was in waiting, and transported to the Elks' Club. There a breakfast was served, a separate table being provided for the monk. After breakfast the little show folk were shown the sights of the city.
The "Red Mill" company played at the Soldiers' home last night and the kiddies were there in time for the performance. The feature of their day's outing was a ride to Leavenworth in the motor car.Labels: automobiles, children, kidnapping, Leavenworth, lodges, theater, visitors November 5, 1909 LAST OF WALLACE CRUSADE.
Nearly 4,000 Indictments Dismissed by Prosecutor Conkling.
Nearly 4,000 indictments, returned by the grand jury last year during the Sunday closing crusade of William H. Wallace, then judge of the criminal court, were dismissed yesterday by Prosecuting Attorney Virgil Conkling. These are the last of 7,000 indictments by the Wallace grand jury.
When Judge Ralph S. Latshaw succeeded Judge Wallace on the criminal bench he instructed the prosecuting attorney, I. B. Kimbrell, to examine all the indictments and to file complaints where he thought he could secure a conviction. One dozen cases were tried, but all were acquitted, and about 2,000 dismissed.
When Prosecuting Attorney Virgil Conkling went into office the first of the year 1,500 more cases were dismissed.
The 7,000 true bills returned were against about 1,000 persons. Against some, principally theater managers, there were from 200 to 300 in each instance.
The Blue Law crusade started by Judge Wallace was directed largely against Sunday shows. At odd times his deputies would arrest cigar dealers, druggists and others who kept open on Sunday.Labels: cigars, criminal court, druggists, Judge Latshaw, Judge Wallace, Prosecutor Conkling, Prosecutor Kimbrell, theater November 3, 1909 NEW THEATER OPENS SUNDAY.
Musical Comedy, Vaudeville With Burlesque Tinge at the Gayety.
The new Gayety theater will open Sunday afternoon with a matinee by the "College Girls" Company. The house is to be devoted to musical comedy and vaudeville with a burlesque tinge. It is owned by the Kansas City Theater Company of New York and will be managed by Thomas Hodgeman, the present manager of the Majestic theater.
The new theater is at Twelfth and Wyandotte streets and has several innovations. The dressing rooms are all outside the theater proper. On the Twelfth street and Wyandotte street sides business houses will occupy the fronts with the exception of the main entrance on Wyandotte street. The theater is surrounded on four sides by open spaces, which provide four exits from the ground floor and two each from the other two floors, in addition to two emergency exits from each of the top floors.
The interior is finished in "art noveau," the colors being gold and yellow. With the exception of the chairs the theater is entirely fireproof. It will have a seating capacity of 1,650. There are three floors, with 550 chairs on the orchestra floor, 400 on the balcony floor, 600 on the gallery floor and 100 in the twelve boxes. The stage will be protected by an ornamental asbestos curtain.
The auditorium of the theater is 72 by 108 feet, of which 40 by 70 feet is taken up by the stage. Inclines instead of stairs will be used to gain access to the first two floors.Labels: burlesque, New York, theater, Twelfth street, vaudeville, Wyandotte street November 1, 1909 LIVE ON SPECIAL TRAIN.
Geo. M. Cohan and Company Solve Problem of Travel Accommodation.
George M. Cohan has solved to his satisfaction as well as that of the members of his company the problem of living accommodations while making their tour of the country. It is by living in their special train which is sidetracks as soon as they reach a town. Each member of the company has a compartment.
The train consists, in addition to Cohan's private car, of two specially constructed sleeping coaches, a diner and three baggage cars. His automobile is stored in one of the baggage cars and the others are used for stage wardrobes and scenery.
The special train arrived at the Union depot yesterday afternoon from Memphis.
In Kansas City Cohan himself is stopping at the Baltimore.Labels: Hotel Baltimore, railroad, theater, Union depot, visitors October 28, 1909 FIRE WARDEN CLOSES NATIONAL THEATER.
BEGINS CRUSADE AGAINST UN- SAFE MOVING PICTURE SHOWS.
Every Place in City, and Theaters, to Be Closed Unless Public Is Protected Against Fire.
Following the closing yesterday by the Fire Warden Edward Trickett of the National theater, 1112 Grand avenue, every other theater and picture show in the city will be inspected and if found in unsafe condition will immediately be ordered to quit.
The fire warden served notice at 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon on the manager of the National. No shows will be permitted to be given until all improvements ordered by Mr. Trickett have been made and the playhouse placed in a safe condition.
"It is the picture shows that are not complying with the ordinance relative to protection against fire," said Mr. Trickett last night. "Of the fifty that are running in this city one-third are unsafe."
Two weeks ago Mr. Trickett served every theater and picture show house in the city with a written notice, calling the attention of the managers to the rubbish and paper that had been allowed to gather under stages and auditoriums.
ALL MUST CLEAN UP.
"If some one would drop a lighted match in this rubbish a disastrous fire would result with a large loss of life," said Mr. Trickett.
"There are eight theaters in the city. I am not prepared to say how many are violating the city ordinance. Further than to say that every manager would better order a general cleaning and inspection of his fire protection appliances, I will make no comment.
Beginning immediately, Mr. Trickett will visit every show house in the city. The wiring will be inspected and all safety appliances. Mr. Trickett will go from gallery to cellar, and if the house is found lacking in the smallest detail, it will be ordered closed.
"The theaters and picture shows have been given ample warning,"said Mr. Trickett. "Notices were sent out two weeks ago and the attention of the managers called to the city ordinances.
"I have been trying especially to get the National cleaned up. The manager has made promises and done no more. This is the third time in two years that this theater has been closed. This time it will not be allowed to open until the rubbish is cleaned up and it is made safe in every particular."
Mr. Trickett charges that the wiring in the National is defective, and the room in which the moving picture machine is kept is liable to catch fire. He found paper and rubbish under the stage and in the basement under the auditorium.Labels: Fire, Grand avenue, moving pictures, theater October 18, 1909 UNCONSCIOUS ON STREET.
Henry Sustzo Picked Up in Front of Willis Wood Theater.
A man giving his name as Henry Sustzo, proprietor of a restaurant at 920 Paseo, was found unconscious early yesterday morning in front of the Willis Wood theater and sent to the Emergency hospital.
The physicians worked on him until 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon before restoring him to consciousness. He was dazed and could not give a coherent account of what happened to him.
The physicians say he will be able to leave the hospital this morning.Labels: emergency hospital, Paseo, restaurants, theater September 29, 1909 FAINTS AS "CHECKERS" WINS.
Strain of Racing Scene Too Much for Girl in Audience.
Just as "Checkers," the gambler hero, cashed in his ticket for $5,000 on the horse Remorse, through which he is to win the hand of Pert, his Arkansas sweetheart, Miss Lulu Johnson, 2331 Belleview avenue, clutched at the occupants of the seats alongside her at the Grand theater last night.
The house was excited and calls brought the curtain up several times and the persons clutched by Miss Johnson did not for the moment pay any attention to her.
It was not until the lights in the auditorium were flashed back on that the people around Miss Johnson realized that the excitement had been too much for her nerves and that she had fainted.
It took but a moment for half a dozen pairs of masculine hands to pick up the limp form of the girl and pass her over the backs of the seats to the aisle and then carry her to the foyer. Here she was placed on one of the big couches which was rolled up alongside the window.
Physicians were secured a few moments later and she recovered consciousness. She rested on the couch until after the theater closed and then was assisted home by friends.
Miss Johnson is 18 years old and has big black eyes and dark hair. She told the doctors that she was subject to attack of "nerves," but had not fainted before. the excitement of the horse race, which was also the race for the girl, was too great for her, she said.Labels: Belleview avenue, theater September 27, 1909 NEW INSTRUMENT TO HER.
Fiddler's "Ma" Begged Him to Learn to Play on "Comedy."
"Mother was an old-fashioned darkey with the ideas which prevailed before the war," said Harry Fiddler of the team of Fiddler and Shelton, negro entertainers at the Orphem last week.
"She was a devout Baptist of hard-shell kind and tried to bring me up in that belief, as well as in the ways with which had been taught her by the family of white folks to whom she once belonged. Moreover, it was her opinion that a good darkey could not be other than a barber, a porter or a groom.
"I was of a different opinion, however. I wanted to be an actor and go upon the stage. This inclination on my part got me many a good licking, my mother remarking: "Yo's the debbil's own; he shore g'wine get you yit.' The lickings didn't affect me a bit. I practiced all the time.
"When I wasn't doing that I was hanging around the stage door, importuning managers to give me a chance. One day it came. Billy Kersand's minstrel troupe came to town. He wanted a man to take the place of one who had quit the troupe. I heard him ask the house manager if he knew of anyone. I pleaded for a chance.
"The manager took me back on the stage, saw my work, and said I would do. I was to receive $25 per week. 'If you make good, I'll give you a contract for the season,' he said.
"Oh, I made good, all right," chuckled Fiddler. "I got my money Saturday night, and as we were not to leave until Sunday night, I went home and handed mother my salary. It was the first money I had ever earned.
" 'Whah you git dis money, chil'?' she asked.
" 'At the theater,' I replied.
" 'How you git it?'
" ' Danced for it.'
" 'Fifteen dollars for dancing?' incredulously, for this was more money than father earned each week.
" 'Yep,' I replied. But mother couldn't see it that way. Something was wrong. She picked up a hickory club lying in the corner, and, advancing toward me, once more asked:
" 'Look me in both eyes, chil'. Whah yuh git dis money?'
" 'Got it for dancing in Billy Kersands's minstrels. Why, that isn't anything, mother. Billy Kersands gets $250 a week for fifteen minutes' work each night,' said I.
" 'What he do?' she asked.
" 'He plays comedy parts,' I replied.
" 'An' he gits $250 a week fo' playin' dat?' she asked. Turning to my aunt, who was present during the conversation, mother exclaimed:
" 'Yah hear dat, M'riar? Didn't I tole you dat boy was de debbil's own. I dun beg him all his life to learn to play on dat instrument.' "Labels: music, race, theater, visitors September 21, 1909 LOTTA DIDN'T WANT POLICEMAN IN FAMILY.
CAPTAIN BRANHAM NEPHEW OF FAMOUS COMEDIENNE.
Retirement of "Long John" Recalls Time He Had Meat Shop on Main Street -- Former Town Marshal.
When "Long John" Branham leaves the police department at the end of the present month Lieutenant Michael Halligan will be the oldest man in point of continuous service on the force. Captain Branham and Halligan joined the force the same day in 1881.
Captain Branham had been town marshal before that, but had resigned to be an officer at the workhouse. After getting through at the workhouse he decided to be a policeman again, and joined during a shake-up.
T. B. Bullene was mayor. John Dunlap and H. H. Craig, now living in Corpus Christi, Tex., were the police commissioners. Governor Marmaduke was shaking things up and eighteen vacancies were created.
Captain Branham, "Mike" Halligan and T. S. Boulware were picked out. Boulware is now with the gas company, and as late as last spring was mentioned for the post of chief of police.
LOTTA IS HIS AUNT.
Halligan is still young enough for his work. He is a giant in stature, broad of shoulder. Captain Branham stood six feet, six inches tall in his day, but now that he is 63 years of age he is not so tall and he is well enough off to care little for working longer.
Besides he has an aunt of whom he always was very fond and who cannot but like him. This is Lotta, the idol of the theater-goers a generation ago.
Lotta, or Lotta Crabtree in private life, is "Uncle John's" age almost to a day, and she is easily worth $500,000. She owns the pile of rock on Admiral boulevard facing the Midland office building. That is the last of her Kansas City holdings, though she made a fortune out of other lots she bought and sold here.
"Uncle John," as she tenderly called Captain Branham, had not a little to do with getting her to invest in real estate here. Lotta is rich, lives like a princess, has a town, a country and a seaside home, so Captain John need not worry, even if he lost the little fortune he has saved.
CAPTAIN JOHN'S MEAT SHOP.
What he saved did not come out of the meat shop he ran where a Main street tailor shop is now. That was when Kump's hall was on the location now occupied by a clothing store, and when they had no doors on most of the saloons.
Branham's meat store was the one price emporium of "Kansas, the Gate City of the West," and old-timers still remember it. Captain John says he never will forget it, for it broke him. He came to Kansas City with $10,000.
As a policeman he was always liked. At 63 he does not like so much strenuosity, and he is in a position where he does not have to like it. Lotta never wanted her nephew to be a policeman, anyway.
QUIT OF HIS OWN VOLITION.
Captain Branham confirmed the report as printed in Monday morning's Journal that he had tendered his resignation to the board of police commissioners to take effect October 1. He denied, however, that his resignation was asked by the commissioners.
"I have been on the department so many years that I want to take a rest," he said. "I have no one to support, and feel that I'm entitled to a respite. I quit of my own volition."
It is likely that no one will be appointed to take Captain Branham's place. Since Captain Patrick Clark's appointment last winter there has been an extra captain on the force. Lieutenant George Sherer will command No. 3 district, where he has been stationed for the last three months.Labels: history, No 3 police station, police, real estate, theater September 18, 1909 MARRIES A MILLIONAIRE.
Miss Florence Oakley Received Stage Training in Kansas City.
A romance which began over a year ago in the Auditorium theater, Los Angeles, Cal., culminated Thursday at San Rafael, just out of San Francisco, when Miss Florence Oakley, leading woman at the Liberty theater, Oakland, was married to Percival Pryor.
Miss Oakley is a Kansas City girl, and off the stage was known as Miss Florence McKim. Mr. Pryor is the only son of Judge J. H. Pryor, a millionaire of Pasadena, Cal.
While the engagement has been announced for some time, the young couple slipped away form the theater in Oakland in the afternoon and drove to San Rafael in a motor car where they were married. Mr. Pryor is 24 years old and his bride 20.
When Florence McKim, now Mrs. Pryor, was but 10 years old she appeared here in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and made such a hit that she attracted the attention of Miss Georgia Brown, who has a dramatic school. From that time until her first engagement with the Carlton Macy stock company of Cleveland, O., she was a protege of Miss Brown. The young woman had talent and her rise was rapid. While under contract with David Belasco in New York and waiting to be placed, Miss Oakley received an offer of $225 a week from the Blackwood Stock company of Los Angeles to become a leading woman and accepted. It was her guiding star that sent her there, as through that engagement she met, loved, became engaged to and now has married the only son of a millionaire, and "Father" is said to be very fond of her.
"Florence was a dear little girl and a born actress," said Miss Georgia Brown, her instructor, last night.Labels: California, New York, romance, schools, theater, wedding, women September 17, 1909
PUBLIC MUST BE PROTECTED.
Fire Warden Tells 32 of 40 Moving Picture Shows Inspected to Bet- ter Safeguard Patrons.
In a report to the fire and water board yesterday, Edward Trickett, fire marshal, stated that he had made an inspection of over forty moving picture shows, and that he had to caution the management of thirty-two of them to better protect their patrons from danger of fire.
The marshal says that the ordinances for the regulation of moving picture shows are lax, and he recommends more stringent laws.
He says that the operating machines should be encased in iron booths, and that all operators should undergo an examination as to their efficiency and general knowledge of electrical devices.
Such a precaution, he adds, would be advantageous both to the patrons and owners of the show.Labels: Fire, moving pictures, theater September 8, 1909 CONSULAR AGENT OBJECTS TO PENCIL WRITTEN NOTE.
Turns Down Clint Wilson, Who Was Seeking Information, and Gets Stinging Reply.
Clint Wilson's experience, with Charles D. Taylor, United Stated consular agent at Guaymas, Mexico, has not increased his respect for the consular service.
Mr. Wilson has several thousand dollars to invest. Some time ago he concluded to investigate the culture of the maguay plant, which is raised in Old Mexico and the extreme southern part of Arizona and New Mexico in the arid lands.
"Recently," said Mr. Wilson yesterday, "I was told that the maguay plant was being cultivated about Guaymas, Mex., and someone advised me to write to Consular Agent Taylor for full particulars."
He went on to say that he wrote hurriedly to Mr. Taylor on a piece of neat tablet paper, but wrote with a lead pencil. Yesterday he received the following reply from the consular agent:
"American Consular Agent, Guaymas, Mex., September 1, 1909.
Mr. Wilson -- Sir: Your pencil note of August 26 has had my notation. Judging from your use of a lead pencil, and the grade of paper you have selected, I imagine that the matter is of slight importance, therefore, I cannot give it the consideration which matters of importance would deserve. Would refer you to the publication, "Modern Mexico," published in New York City. Hurriedly, CHARLES D. TAYLOR, Consular Agent."
Later in the afternoon Mr. Wilson sought out the same tablet on which he had written his previous letter and penciled the following:
"Judging from the tone of your letter of September 1 you are unfit to represent an American citizen.
"Say, Taylor, the government pays for your paper, and, incidentally, I help pay your salary -- and for the paper, too. I had about concluded to lay your communication before our worthy president but will refrain from doing so until I hear from you again. I never knock unless I have to, but I am from Missouri and you'll have to show me.
"Will you kindly write on the subjects asked for in my last letter? And, say, don't let the quality of this paper or the lead pencil bother you or disturb your aesthetic equilibrium. It is the same kind of paper I used before and the same pencil -- only it has been sharpened. Don't let anything deter you from giving me a courteous reply.
"In closing, I wish to inform you that there are many good citizens of the United States who cannot afford monogram paper and a stenographer. But many of these good citizens have the coin and some of them have lots of it. Before going further in this matter I await a decent reply from you. I will not sign this "Hurriedly," as I am not in a hurry as you seem to have been. Respectfully, CLINT WILSON."
Mr. Wilson said he intended to place his money in the hands of the consular agent for investment, as the country's representative there.
Until a year ago Mr. Wilson was manager of the Majestic theater.Labels: business, Mexico, theater September 7, 1909 DEATH ENTERS THEATER AS ORCHESTRA PLAYS.
HEART DISEASE CLAIMS E. L. DORSEY AT THE ORPHEUM.
Faints in Seat and Expires When Carried Into Foyer -- Had Been Having "Jolly" Day With Daughter.
As the orchestra of the Orpheum theater was closing the last strains of the overture from Mignon, E. L. Dorsey, a traveling salesman, leaned on the shoulder of his daughter, Miss Leonora, and with a single gasp lost consciousness. Doctors, who were summoned from the audience and reached his side by the time he was carried into the foyer, pronounced him dead.
His heart action had stopped, they declared, when he collapsed in his seat.
The collapse of Mr. Dorsey caused consternation among the occupants of the nearby seats, but ushers quickly carried him into the foyer and a request was made from the stage for a physician for a man who had fainted. This allayed the excitement and few in the audience realized that a death had occurred in their midst.
AT THEATER WITH DAUGHTER.
Mr. Dorsey was a salesman in the employ of the Burnham, Hana, Munger Dry Goods Company. He lived in Norborne, Mo., and traveled in the northern part of the state. He met his daughter Leonora, 18 years old, at the depot yesterday morning by appointment. They were to spend yesterday and today in Kansas City and then he was to have taken her to the Missouri Valley College at Marshall, Mo. A daughter of Virgil Conkling was to have accompanied them.
Mr. Dorsey secured seats close to the front at the Orpheum, and with his daughter reached the theater before the members of the orchestra took their places. It was while the last notes of the overture from Mignon were being played that Mr. Dorsey collapsed.
"I always like this selection," Mr. Dorsey told his daughter just a few moments before he fainted, "but it is seldom that I have the pleasure of listening to it."
EXPECTED A JOLLY TIME.
Attaches of the theater supported Miss Dorsey when she realized that her father was dead. She was taken to the Savoy hotel, where Miss Conkling and other friends were summoned to her side. Mr. Dorsey's body was removed to Stine's undertaking rooms.
"Father suffered from heart trouble occasionally, but he did not give it much thought, and none of us ever thought it was serious," said Miss Dorsey. "He was in fine spirits this morning and enjoyed a hearty lunch. We expected to have the jolliest sort of time here before Miss Conkling and I left for school."
Friends wired Mrs. Dorsey at Norborne, Mo. Besides the widow and daughter, Mr. Dorsey leaves a son, Edward, 10 years old.
Mrs. Dorsey and her son arrived last night and were taken to the Savoy hotel and later with Miss Leonora Dorsey to the home of friends. The body will be sent to Norborne, Mo., for burial today.Labels: death, music, Savoy, theater, undertakers |
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