r
f
ft-
TS
E
OTHER SIDE OF SIACE LIFt1
A Morninjf in a Building Of Theatri-
cal Offices.
HUSTLINQ FOE A JOB IN GOTHAM
I-'-mplorment for Few of the Men
ana Women Who ;o the
Ronndu of the Various
Asenelea.
NKW TOIlK, t. 20 A morning spent
In one of the big buildings on Broadway
df voted almost exclusively to theatrical of
fices Is like stepping out of the b ntn track
of life Into an entirely new world. In one
of these buildings J0O of tha 3.V) offices are
T1IB CLIMBERS.
rented to theatrical agents and managers.
The people you meet In the building are
also almost exclusively of theatrical types.
There la the old actor. Ha Is usually thin
and his cheekbones are high. Ills hair la
sparse and gray and his clothes are shabby,
but he has an air of elort cheerfulness
which might deceive If you did not notice
occasionally that a shadow passes across
his face.
Following him as contrast came a trio of
young men. From their talk It Is learned
that they began as students In a dramatic
school and then concluded that they couM
not wait for fame In that slow way. They
had been seeking speaking parts for six
weeks and so far had not succeeded.
They confided to the questioner that they
couldn't understand what the public saw
In Hackett, Faveraham and Bellow.
"They're all right In their ways." say these
representatives of tha younger generation.
they're not up to the newest meth-
rfl:"
Tnen In a quiet corner they pool their
lrsues and count how much can be spent
on the noonday meal.
An electric brougham drives up to the
door and from It steps a chorus girl. She
would scorn the suggestion that she had'
come there to seek enployment. But she
Is found later In a dark corner of a big
room filled with noisy applicants.
Coming from opposite directions a man
and woman meet, pass each other, stop
with startled lecognitlon and retrace their
steps. They had played In stock twenty
years ago In the middle west for a whole
season. It was plain that there had been
at least a flicker of sentiment.
She la middle aged and la not the typo
that carries off rouge, peroxide and pod
ding well, but she certainly makes a brave
effort. Hla Urge cheeks, florid flabby
cheeks, and wig. fit amiably Into the llttlo
picture.
He la quite hearty In hla greetings, and
to the rouge comes a little natural color, but
after he has asked concerning her health,
expressed regret for hei "unhappy experi
ence which I read about happened In Da
kota, didn't It?" he excuses himself on
the plea of a pressing business engage-
ment. As she goes down the stairs she
takes one backward glance hurriedly and
sees him meet and greet a pompadoured
young person who has oome from one ef
the offices and Is slipping her hand through
his arm.
Then a group of girls come up the stairs.
They are young and merry and tlelr elotl es
exhibit smartness, cheap murterlal, exag
gerated styles and perfect (It. They giggle
and exchange confidences.
"I went to forty ofllccs yesterday," salil
one.
And another says, "I didn't get around
NOTICE ,
OWN ON THEIR LUCK
mm in s pn asjggjj
IMi U
to but live. Thf-n t met Old Blank ain't
he tlia soft scream? and he (aid he didn't
have anything for us, but he'd take a
bunch to lunch, ao the whole bunch of ua
lunched at his expense and, my, we did
eat! I sars to him that I should think It
would be cheaper getting us positions, but
he says, 'It's cheaper, but It ain't ao much
fun'' 1 nr,aT w,,Rt lhe ,d U3r M,,s
iunr jun nming: ana paying- pui mwq
money for sirloin strak and French fried tT"
Then they giggle In chorus and a third,
who Is tall and lilond and anaemic, suggests
that they go in to a nearby office and sit
down.
"Of course, they won't have anything for
us," she says, "but we can sit there. I
must say they're mighty decent about that.
They're not a bit like they are In some of
the places where they look at you every
little while as If they expected you to
pay room rer.t for a cane-seated chair and
board for a tflass of water."
Through open doors the passerby can see
manugers. moBtly sitting on the rear legs
of their chairs. Their hata are tilted at
the same angle on their bald heads. Many
of them have toothpicks In their mouths
or cigars; all of them have plaid waist
coats. Usually about them In circles and semi
circles are numbers of young women. They
are trying to be merry, to raise a laugh, to
put these men In a mental condition which
A MA NT BIDED
will Insure favorable consideration to re
quests. As you take tha elevator to go to an up
per floor the boy with his hand on the rope
twists It carelessly while he Is summing up
your merlta and demerits.
"Ain't been doin' much today?" he says.
"Nope? It ain't your fault, though. It'a
noor business all along." This Is appar
ently said to make you feel better.' "Trying
'nr the chorus?" he Inquires. "My, but it
iln't what It's cracked up to be. Fifth
floor? Here you be. Four doors to the
eft down the corridor."
In the room designated there la an evl-
Positively
w Money uMtz
on
Checks Cashed
BUT STILL. CHEERFUL.
THE
OMAITA
dent purpose to discourage applicants. A
large placard announces that "amateurs
seeking engagements through his office
must pay a registration fee of J10."
There Is a wide cotinter separating the
office staff from the applteonts. The same
thing happens over and over again. The
smiling cWk leans forward and the appli
cant adopts a similar por.ltlon and there la
a whisper and a negative shake of the
Clerk's head. That Is all.
One of the applicants Is a pretty young
girl aged about R She comes In looking
frightened. Phe slides stealthily to a comer
of the counter and leans over, the color
suffusing her face from chin to brow. Be
fore he grts through you feel as sorry as
she apparently docs for the role of the re
fuser. Bhe says something you are quite
sure It Is an encouraging "Never mind, It
may come tomorrow" and with head a
little lowered goes out again while the
clerk rubs the perspiration from his brow.
"Hate to see the young ones come In," he
vouchsafes when he has sufficiently re
covered his equanimity.
"But don't you ever find places for any
of them?" Is asked.
"Precious few. Tou see, we do such a
rushing business; we don't really touch any
but the biggest people." lie Is Interrupted
by the man across the hall.
"Got anybody here to go on the road with
a vaudeville sketch? Two men and a
young girl. -Must be blonde, young, spuak
a few lines, $26 per.
"Run down stairs after that girl that lust
left,"' Is the answer, and the man disap
pears. "Bee? Oughtn't to give it to her, per
haps, but some way or other she kind of
takes me. I.ooks like sister, I guess. Lord,
keep her from this life!"
The same view of the profession Is taken
In another room, where a pretty young
woman, well gowned and with quick, alert
gestures rises to the knock.
Tm sorry," she begins, "but you see all
our business Is with the other side and we
only touch the biggest people."
Bhe fingers her white ruffled apron nerv
ously, anxious, apparently, to get back to
her typewriter.
"Don't I feel sometimes' as If I would
like to go on the stage? 1 wouldn't go on
the stage for anything In the world. I've"
A masculine voice from the other side of
the wall, "She's got too much goldarned
comrion sense."
"I suppose that Is It," said the senog
rapher placidly. "At any rate, wha'evor
It la I stay here, right here by my desk.
"I can tell you a story and It's true. It'a
about a girl that had a place as typewriter
across the hall, three doors down yeu
notice the place when you go out Just
filled with girls all day and young chaps
that want to play "Hamlet" on Broadway
and are contented to begin with bringing
on a tray with a cup and saucer in some
Kansas City theater.
"Well, thot girl was the haughtiest ever.
She'd lean over that rati and say to the
girls as they came up, 'No, we haven't
anything for you today. Tou can come
around tomorrow If you like,' and then
she'd sort of size them up as If to say,
Tou can't fool me with all your airs. I
know what that hat cost and you live In a
hall bed room.'
"But that girl , nearly every night used
to go to the theater and sit watching the
girls on the stage. Finally she gave up
BUSINESS
her place, and It was less than a month
when she was sitting In that very same
Identical room waiting to ask the new girl
behind the counter If shed got anything
for her.
"Now that's the life of the stage as I
see it. Am I right? Of course I s,m."
Again the masculine voice: "You're per
fectly good, you are."
The elevator boy takes you down a story
this time.
"Tcld you that It wa'n't a good day," lie
says. "I suppose there's a hundred girls
been In this morning, some of 'em beauts,
too, and they ain't got so much as a
promise. Oh, It's a dog s life."
To escape his pessimism you fly Into the
first available room. It Is occupied only by
a highly perfumed, blond youth. He is
fingering a small red book which he has
taken from a pile of two score or more In
front of him. It has "Animals" printed
across tha back.
"My own Idea." he says enthusiastically.
I have a book for everything. One for
animals, trained; men who take hind leg
parts, everything In that line. This book
tells you where every song and dance man
In the country can be found. Perhaps you
did not know that tlure are 6.0oo sons and
dance men In the United States. Fact.
Almost as many acrobats.
"No, we don't have anybody come to this
ofHce except to leave a new address. That's
enough. We place about a thousand vaude
ville people right In this oltlce. Only the
best people, though.
"The work of un offleo like this? We
have twenty-nine theaters on our circuit
and there are from eight to ten acts on
each bill, and a sketch may run a week
and it may run ten. We've got to keep
them fl!lid and change them whtrn ntcea
sary, and with three opposing vaudeville
factions In the field perhaps yju think we
don't do any work.
Then when other people are locking up
their offices and going home to their wives
and the little ones, what da I do? Co horn
like the rest? Not a bit of It.
"I climb Into a clean collar and go down
to Btaten Island or up to The Bronx to see
some new vaudeville sketch put on and
find out how tbe dog likes lt If he don't
bark too loud I suggest that It be tried
somewhere like Troy or Newark and If
thy can stand it. why we probably engage
the owner of It wltn his whole kit."
Right In the mldwt of all the turmoil and
confusion, undisturbed by the frantic un
rest of thousands of applicants for em
ployment in vaudeville, variety and legiti
mate. In a small room, devoid of telephone
and other modern accessories, there is an
elderly gentleman, who fur six years has
1 fcf?
SUNDAY BEE: OCTOBER 27, 107.
Scene on Omaha Street During Horse
lljl
been teaching the playwrights of the coun
try something about the technique of the
drama, by means of correspondence. He
says emphatically:
"It Is In the solitude of the room that one
muBt conquer. Buccess Is an Individual
thing and It must be fought rfor away from
the distractions of the crowd."
The reporter asks how he could apply
that rule to the thousands of earnest seek
ers who fill the halls and corridors of the
building where he sits as serene 'as Jupiter
on Olympus.
He brushes the question aside as of
little moment with the mighty problems
with which he Is struggling.
The elevator boy Is quite contemptuous
of this last visit,
"You can't get Into the chorus by writing
plays," he says. "You've Just got to stick
It out, sit In a corner and wait, the way
the others do. Huh!"
JOKES AND JOKE MAKERS
Varying: Ontpnt of the Foandrlca
and What the Prod act
Brings.
The figures In regard to one man's pro
duction of jokes may seem incredible to
those who have had no opportunity of
verifying the remarkable capacity of the
trained Joke writers. Conviction came to
the writer when he was serving as "c.b"
editor on a magazine that uses Jokes and
skits as "fillers." One day he found In
his manuscript basket an ordinary enve
lope only partly filled with something
which, despite Its small size, was half
an Inch In thickness. The mysterious
contents proved to be a package or deck
of seme fifty neat little oblong papers,
each one of which contained a Joke. Bur
prised at so many coming from one man,
he was Informed that this man sent In a
package like that every week or two, ap
parently always had done so, apparently
always would do so. This was something of
ERECT
FORM 744
I
S an excellent
model for well
developed tig urea.
Us closely stitched
front subduct ab
dominal promt
ti' nu& rounds
the f 1 g u re Inte
graceful lines. Made
of white Imported
t v til. Trimmed
across top with lace
and ribbon. Hose
supporters at front
and hips.
Blzes 19 to 36.
Price $Z0J
NUF0R.M 403
IV ILL fit any
" slender or
average figure.
Long above the
waist which It de
fines very distinctly,
showing a perfectly
strident line down
the front of the
flKiire. Made of
white end diab cou
til. Trimmed with,
lace ami ribbon,
Hoso 8 u p p ortera
front and sldi's.
6!ze is to 20.
Price $1.00
-- - -
NUFORM 447
P OR well devel-
oped figures,
Is a reverse gore
model. Thd gore
lines run back
wards, a construc
tion which restrains
undue development
below the back. Me
dium high bust,
long hips and e.'.tra
long back. Made of
an excellent quality
or white coutll.
elaborately trimmed with
lace and ribbon. Hose sup
porters front and sides.
Sizes It to 3 0.
Price $3.C0
1 n is PMessry'ifW'i l1 " wewri lis iiirMraw-jsM-wiassiM'swM'as--'Tww-o'
v' '- j ; . "'! - - " - ? ' -"w. . - ...,....
;assfirir,"jr' " TW' 4 i " '"- ' '- - -r.' . ' -V " '""
W3
flV1' ' I
ARMOUR'S rAMOUS TEAM DEXJVEB INO
a shock to the cub editor, out. ft was as
nothing when the tact dawned on him that
this remarkable output waa merely the
share allotted to one magazine and that this
same man waa sending out similar packages
with similar regularity to dozens of other
magazine, to say nothing of tha newspa
pers! Perhaps he was a syndicate? No,
there waa only one of him. Then the eub
editor fell to multiplying for the yearly out
put, got fnto five or alx figures and gave
It up.
Incidentally, as time went on the cub
editor learned from experience that prac
tically all acceptable Jokes are found In
these little packages or decks, each Joke
separate unto itself for convenience In
handling, and that only the amateur
crowds his gems of wit upon the tame
sheet of paper. Furthermore, the pro
fessional has made a study of Jokes,
knows how to present his petnt. Is gen
erally honest and always politic and there
fore far less prone to serving up jokes
previously published. As to. prices, Mr.
O'Connell, who may be taken as author
ity, summailzcs conditions as follows:
"While the Joke writers have never had
a union, the papers have never shown any
disposition to cut down the prices. For
the past sixteen 'years the rates have
either remained stationary or have been
raised. In the early 'eighties' things were
different. Then one of the leading comic
papers paid only 2 a oelumn. Now one
would receive $15 for the same amount ef
work. One pays $2.G0 for a Joke; two pay
2; most pay fl; a few go as low as fifty
cents." Arthur BulUvant Hoffman, in the
October Bookman.
Tracedr of tha Golden Gate.
What a melancholy sight the bottom of
Ban Francisco bay must present, says tha
Ban Francisco Call. A diver recently told
of going down to the City of Chester, sunk
many years ago at the mouth of the harbor
by one of tha large China steamers. He de
scended with a stout heart and a mind
The We D Reduso Corset
IS a boo for largs worn -th ideal (annent for over,
developed figures requiring special restraint It hot only
restrains th tendency to ovef fleshiness, but a moulds
th ovei-devcloped proportions into those pleating, graceful
outline, hitherto thought to be attainable only by slighter
figures. The particular feature of tha mode: 1 th apron
over th abdom.a and kips, beoed la such a t as to
gre tit wearer abtolut freedora of movement.
Reduso Style 750 or taU U-Lo.lopj
figure. Made of durable coubl to white or drab. Hose
supporter front sad sides. Sue.
Reduto Style 760wii uff-oVwoW
I 1
yifuras. Made el whs sad
tioat sod aides. Sue, 24
ON SALE EVERYWHERE
WEINUARTEN ROS, MT is.
S77- BWwr
New
i
MEAT TO OMAHA AETATLERS.
Inured to the tragedies of the sea, but when
he saw the two sisters of charity sleeping
quietly In their berts, and near by, a man
on his knees, awaylng back and forth with
the motion of the tide, and a. dim, mys
terious light over all the somber objects, his
heart failed him, and he gave the signal
to be hauled above. The San Rafael Ilea
there, too. Bhe went down In 1901. sent to
the bottom by a collision with another
steamer In tha fog. The relentless tide
runs over her cozy cabins and beautiful
stairway, dank with the passage of time.
And there lie also, caught tn the seaweed,
the City of Rio Janeiro, the Escambia, the
May Flint, and the Caleb Curtis, tha last
a pilot boat sank In the blinding fog. Truly
the bottom of the bay la paved with memo
ries. COINING WINDAND WATER
How Pneknare of 93,anit.Ann Was
Transmitted Tnto it Wad of
$40,700,000.
Common people have a habit of being
purged over such questions as these:
"How Is It possible for one man, endowed
with two hands and one head, to accumu
late a personal fortune of ' $5,000,000 or
$10,000,000, or $50,ono,roo, or such mammoth
stacks of gold as those possessed by the
Rockefellers, Morgans, Ryans, Belmonts
and the other princes of Incomprehensible
fortunes?"
"Where Is the buslnees or trade or pro
fession that would net such g'ganttc
profits? Can such business be honest?"
Once In a while the common people get
a peep under the curtain of high finance
as It Is played tn Wall street, and thereby
obtain definite and conclusive answer to
the puzzling questions.
New York has just had an amazing
gllmpte under the curtain tn the astounding
Investigation Inte the manipulation of pub
Ho street car franchises by a coterie of
fortune princes.
There should be nothing puzzling now
about how Thomas F. Ryan, P. A. Wldener
22 to 36. Price, J 1.
diab coubl. Hum supporter.
w 3$, Price, $3.
Ye
r
I II U I If
J I liV,lM Made
f vr 'a room.
A J rtJ-JT J frontai
y ii ww r
' i f
a ''I kj
'I - I I. I. Ill ' W
Show Week
and Thomas Dolan hav accumulated thetf
powerful kingdom. There Is nothing
strange about the fact that William O.
Whitney and William L. Elklns died leav
ing to their heirs towering monuments of
gold. These five men, out of thin air and)
the public streets of the metropolis, added
$10,000,000 In five transactions to their per
sonal fortunes.
With their associates, political and finan
cial, they plundered th Metropolitan, and
then they worked th double cross on th
Investing public. It was the same old high
finance game, but on a parely Captain Kldd,
scale. In plain language this la what hap
pened: The men purchased two horse car line
on Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth street
for $28,000 and turned them over to th
Metropolitan for bonds and stock which
had a market value of $5,560,000.
They purchased the Fulton street line,
also horse car, for $160,000, and - took
$4,850,000 worth of Metropolitan securities
therefor.
They bought the Thirty-fourth street
trolley line for $100,000 and turned it Into
the Metropolitan for $3,700,000 worth of se
curities. They sold the Lexington avenue and
Pavonla line, which oost $1,609,000 to build,
for $18,500,000 in securities.
The Columbus and Ninth avenue line,
constructed at a cost of less than $500,000,
brought $11,100,000 In securities.
In other words, trading on th franchise
given by the public, these astute money
manipulators traded $2, 25,000 worth of
actual property for $40,700,000 worth of
Metropolitan securities. Chicago Journal.
Pointed Paragraph.
Even a dentist can't quiet hi wife'
Jaw.
He ha no force with men who ha no
faith with himself,
A lazy man and a comfortable bed ara
not easily dlvoroed.
And a woman is always glad when hop
husband ha a holiday so that he can put '
In about eighteen hour doing odd job a
hme. Chicago News.
ERECT
FORM 720
IS a corset
for average
ilgures. Has
medium bust;
and long hip.
Made of whltej
and drab cou
tll. Hose sup
port ers ob
f r o nt and
a I d-es. Trim
med across tor
with lace and)
ribbon.
Sices 18 to SO.
Price $1.03
3
KUICRM 733
IS an excellent
model fop
average figures.
Constructed seo
Uonally, maklnsj
the garment fit a
all points, accentrj
etlng the slender
ness of the wala I
line. Bast moder
ately high, hip
rather long. Made)
Of an Imported
Contll in white on
ly. Trimmed with
lace and rlbboav
Hose supporter
front and aides.
Bites 18 to 80,
Price $2.03
3
NUFORM
406
Is
a sphndlj
eoiset for
medium figures)
pleasingly free
from the bulk
effect common
to pre? louaj
models of thlai
type. Medium)
high bust and)
hip ending in aa
bound apron extension.
white and drat
Hose supporters
d sides. Trimmed
t and ribbon.
I to 80.
ric. JL50