MILLIONAIRES' THEATRE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 26, 31 January 1912, Page 10

MILLIONAIRES' THEATRE.

PROJECT ABANDONED. The Millionaires' Theatre, in New York, conceived in high hopes and luxuriously, nursed, has been finally abandoned by its founders, and thus dies a i project which was intended to develop the artistic ideals of America, and incidentally to promote the American drama. The Millionaires' Theatre wae incorporated, with a capital stock of £60,000 and Mr. William Vanderbilt as president, the trustees including Messrs. John Jacob Astor, August Belmont, | Henry C. Fnck, Elbert H. Gary, George J. Gould, Ernest Iselin, Otto H. Kahn, Clarence H. Mackay, J. Pierpont Morgan, James Stillman, Cornelius Vanderbilt, William Vanderbilt, Harry Payne Whitney, and other immensely wealthy and patriotic citizens. The name "Millionaires Theatre" wae coined by the theatre managers, who resented competition at the hands of wealthy i amateurs, and predicted that any idea of developing a national theatre, here on tlie." lines of the famous Theatre Francais' would <iie" (stillborn. This' prophecy I was- almost fulfilled, much to the jubila* I tion, it ia " feared," of the professional I managers, wh6, to quote their ' own | words, are "trying 'to deliver a pleasing [ variety of goods to playgoers at the lowest' prices consistent w,ith quick returns." ' The story of America's national theatre enterprise is divided, into chapters. The size of _ the. building, and the' utter inability of the artistic staff to interest I the public generally m the plays preeentt ed, wore probably the chief reasons for ', the failure of the first enterprise; but the prospect was not abandoned, and last spring another site for a building, less pretentious than the first, was ac-. quired at a cost of £100,000, and this theatre, we were told, would open next autumn. ' But the theatre was never even built. The real difficulty, the London Telegraph correspondent understands, consisted in finding a manager.. Various persons were approached, but they declined' to accept such a responsible task as the founders had in view. In the statement iesued by the founders, no reason is given for the abandonment of the idea. To speak candidly, the Millionaires' Theatre never was a success. Inefficient management when the plan was first launched alienated the support of the public, and gave it a blow from which it never recovered. How much the millionaires lost is not known, but it is a considerable fortune, and artistic ideals are in the same depressed state now as they were before.