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THE MUSICAL CRITIC AND TRADE REVIEW.
March 20th, 1882.
a doubt the most bewilderingly paralyzing and at that time consisted of Brander Mathews, Ste-
idiotic that mankind haa any record of. His rooms phen Fiske, Hugh Craig, William Humphreys, A.
in town, his house at Tarrytown, were all part of E. Lancaster, W. E. Nickerson, Gotthold Carl-
this deliberate scheme."
berg, a female journalist whose name I forget, and
"Well, the efforts of this mastodon journalist myself. Besides these, he had a small army of con-
produced some effect?"
tributors and correspondents in and out of town,
"Yes; they afforded as much enjoyment to the and in other rooms a corps of bookkeepers, clerks
public as one of Barnum's circus parades, or any and lackeys. The same plan was carried out in
other form of cheap pageantry. Freund used to his private apartments in town, where he combined
set forth his scheme in this way: 'What the Ameri- a private editorial room, a dining-room, a parlor,
cans want is impudence, show, cheek, brass. They and a rendezvous for certain female admirers,
will pay the largest price to the man who deceives and in which he mingled love and literature with
them most. They like to be taken in. I shall a picturesque grace which, I believe, has never
open a large private establishment on the banks before been equalled. It was in these rooms that
HE other day, at a symphony rehearsal at
of the Hudson, for the purpose of impressing the he first met James Steele Mackaye. I was the
Steinway Hall, I met the genial and talka-
people whom I wish to use. If you want to borrow one who introduced them. It was the meeting tive Lafe Harrison.
$5,000 of a man, the proper way to do is to ask of the anaconda and the ferret. Mackaye The rehearsal was just over and I merely
him to your house to dinner, till him full of expen- quick, impulsive and nervous, evidently study- dropped into room 7 to see how John Lavine was
sive wines, show him your stables and your coach- ing the points of his new acquaintance's getting on.
man in livery, and then borrow the money, a very character; and Freund, sleek, sleepy and slimy,
Says I to Lafe, "Look here, these concerts of
small proportion of which will be sufficient to pay saying to himself, 'Young man, I will coat
Dr. Damrosch must pay very well. They are
for the show you have given him. The same man, you all over with saliva and swallow you so easily
always crowded; both rehearsals and concerts are
if asked in a prosaic way for $5,000 in his office, that you won't know it until it is done.' And he
filled up to seating capacity."
would at once refuse it. Once start an establish- not only salivated Mackaye, but when Mackaye
"Yes," answered Harrison; "they are the only
ment or newspaper on this American basis, and it took his 'Iron Will' Theatrical Combination on the
concerts that pay now. 1 mean concerts like
continues to run by a law of its own. For instance, road, Freund accompanied him for the ostensible
these, gotten up by subscription. The others do
when I open my house and get my carpets, serv- purpose of 'booming' up its affairs, and salivated
not pay."
ants and horses, I can obtain any amount of wines, the whole combination, swallowed them bodily,
I think Lafe is right.
or brie a brnc, or furniture, on five years' time by and then returned to New York alone, placid and
It appears to me that all the efforts of the best
asking the person to dine with me who is to give sleek and slimy as ever, though his abdomen did
managers do not pay, as a rule.
me the credit. Just so with a newspaper. I bring protrude more than usual. And everybody asked,
Lavine one evening a few weeks ago told me the
out a forty-page sheet with a tremendous show of "What has become of Mackaye and his combina-
same thing, and my own observations prove it.
news and advertisements, and immediately every tion?' But nobody knew until Freund had as-
* * *
organ man, and every piauo man, and every cellu- similated the whole affair and was ready for a new
I believe it was Henry Wolfsohn, Joseffy's
loid man will drop into my bag without a flutter.' case of salivation."
When he changed his Manic Trade Review from a "What is your opinion, Mr. Wheeler, of what manager, who used the expression, "Combina-
semi-monthly to a weekly, with an extensive dra Freund is fond of calling his personal, or animal tions are what the people want."
Wolfsohn is a very successful and experienced
matic department, he pursued the same plan. He magnetism?"
manager.
He is the first man who has taken
impressed well-known literary men into his ser-
"I should prefer to call it abdominal magnetism,
vice by the most grandiloquent promises of reward. for I have observed that it is the man with a capa- Joseffy on the road and made the venture pay.
For instance, he telegraphed me once when I was cious stomach that is best able to impress his fel- I was with a friend when we met Wolfsohn, and
on The Star, offering me $1,000 in, cash for a series low men when $5,000 is to be borrowed. Freund's used the above language.
"Why I could jam houses out West if I had a
of ten articles."
abdomen is a tremendous factor in his schemes."
combination."
"Did you get the $1,000 in cash?"
At this point Mr. James Steele Mackaye, the
"No. When we met to talk over the matter, he Delsarte disciple, and Mr. Frank Carpenter, the Wolfsohn has some excellent schemes on hand.
offered me his notes for the amount, saying that I artist, appeared, and the conversation was post- A young flutist living in this city asked Wolf-
sohn the other day where Wilhelmj is at present.
could get them discounted at the Bank of the Me- poned until a more convenient season.
"In Australia," said Wolfsuhn.
tropolis. But the Bank of the Metropolis took a
"Doyou still manage him?" was the eager ques-
different view of the matter, and I finally agreed to
tion of the terrestrial youth.
write the articles for him for $50 each instead of
The absurdity of the question was intensified
$100, and to this day he owes me for the last
by
the effort the man made to justify it. Wolf-
article."
sohn says he often meets animals like Wittgarstein
WHEKE
IS
EDWIN
J.
BUTLER.—Can
any
of
our
"You may be thankful, Mr. Wheeler, that you
readers furnish us with the address of Mr. Edwin or Rindsvich. I think that is what he called him.
got off so easily."
J. Butler, late of Boston or Charlestown,Mass., and
"When he organized his paper on a dramatic, as formerly of Ottawa, Canada, where he was musi-
•well as musical basis, he employed ten editors, a cal director of the Ottawa Ladies' College?
The managers, advance agents, libretto furn-
larger editorial staff than on any daily paper, and
ishers, etc., are found at all the musical enter-
BLANCHE ROOSEVELT'S WEAKNESS.—Miss Blanche
paid, or agreed to pay them, double the salaries Roosevelt
is reported as finishing her "Reminis- tainments, and, together with the critics and
they would receive anywhere else. He provided cences of a Poet's Home Life." The poet is chronic deadheads that do not know why they
his editors with escritoires, Turkey rugs, and gild- Longfellow, and when Miss Roosevelt visited him attend, fill up quite a large space of a large hall.
ed pens, and then brought in all the men whom he at Nahant, in 1880, she put down many things I never made an attempt to ascertain how many
him in her little note-book. These domestic
wished to overpower with a sense of his magnifi- about
matters she now proposes to disclose to a curious tickets were placed on the "free list" of Maple-
cence, leading them up and down the room, some- literary public. Whether she can write better son's operas.
thing after the manner of the showman before his than she can sing remains to be seen; but the book
The number must be somewhere among the
wild beast cages, and pointing out his editors as will hardly be a fair criterion of her literary ability, hundreds. A great many of these tickets are
Longfellow will correct its grammar and or- sent or given to men who are necessarily adjuncts
they sat at their work surrounded by more than as
thography before it goes to the printers.
Oriental magnificence. And such was the weak-
to the performances.
ness of poor human nature, that he would generally GERSTER'S ILLNESS.—Mme. Gerster, of the Stra- Such are the critics especially; then the men
catch his visitor for a full page advertisement be- kosch Company, was taken so seriously ill in Chi- who in various capacities have a kind of business
fore he got out of the room. Whereupon the sleek cago, on March 10, that she was unable to fill her relation with the management; then those who
Milwaukee engagement. She improved rapidly,
and eloquent Mr. Freund would invariably turn however, and was able to appear in St. Louis the confer favors upon the management.
around to his editorial staff as his visitor was about following Monday night.
But a large class are "friends," and these
to leave the room, and with a wink of his eye,
"friends"
are a dead loss to the management.
THROUGH THE SOUTH.—Miss Letitia Louise Fritch
would say: 'Boys, you see how the thing works.' and Mr. Louis Blumenberg, violoncellist, are at The courtesy ot the profession and such as
The candor of Freund in such matters contributed present in South Carolina and Georgia. These ar- exists between managers makes an exchange of
to his downfall, for he was so impressed with his tists have been engaged for a series of concerts in compliments necessary, and this also adds to the
own cleverness, and his vanity was so great, that he Columbia and Charleston, S. C, and Augusta, free-list.
could not refrain from calling the attention of peo- Savannah, and Atlanta, Ga.
I noticed quite a large complement of free-list
TERESINA SINGER'S SUCCESS.—Teresina Singer has attendants at the first "Fidelio" performance.
ple to his trickery, so long as he thought himself
made an immense success in Palermo in "Aida" They just lined the outer circle and occupied
able to keep out of trouble in the matter."
and "Robert le Diable." She has been secured as
"Let me see," continued Mr. Wheeler, throwing the star for the coming winter season at St. Peters- many reserved seats.
back his head and chuckling. "Hia editorial staft burg, Russia.
At the Philharmonic concerts there are not so
T
TALK OF THE DAY