THEATRE FINANCE

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 48, 25 August 1923, Page 20

THEATRE FINANCE

IZZY SCHLESENGER

FINANCIAL KING OF SOUTH

AFRICA.

I.W.S.—-Theae are the initials _of Schle3enger, finacial magnate, theatrical overlord, and the power behind the Treasury of South Africa, and they B tand for the motto of, not only "Izzy" Schlesenger; but of every self-made man the world, over—"l will slog." Schlesenger is the "big potato" of South Africa, and Schlesenger has a specific interest for Australians, and . comes into the limelight juat now through the contract completed with Harry G. Musgroye and the Tivoli Theatres to merge their combined interests to the extent .of engaging overseas vaudeville artists—the big. wigs of variety—for a Catherine wheel circuit, which will go off first in Engla,nd, refire through the African theatres for. a ten weeks' season,, to be followed by another' ten weeks (or more) in Australia., and will then ricochet on to the United States to the Keith-Or-pheum circuit. .African, Australian, and American artists will have the came advantages, and our own vaudeville turns, "made in ..Australia," will have equal chances ■ -with the. overseas acts. Where previously it was a difficult propo-, 6ition to induce. high-salaried artists to negotiate with Australia for a limited season, losing practically three months in travelling (and theatrical contracts do not cover salaries while in transit) and making-, fares a colpssal outlay for, the management, now Izzy Schlesenger steps into the picture, shoulders some half the burden of the expenses, and breaks the roads for the "wayfaring men" en route, and by his affiliations with America, in conjunction, with Miwgrove, makes these vaudeville contracts cover a- world's tour. ■ , '■';.•,

, Schlesenger's career is .the steady rise of a.star, out of the neb'ulaein the financial ether, 'says., the Sydney. \?Sun." A luminous patch, of organising / genius was in -him.from birth; the rest has *been : giit and a detei-mined carrying, out,of the : slogan, ."I will slog." Izzy started on a ; shoestring, and stands to-day in the : sti-ongest pair of shoes in South 'Africa. The eldest son of a Bowery- banker—who, ' ; no doubt, called himself a bank Ypresi- ■• dent- in New York with that touch of .grandiloquence, that brushes the race— young Schlesenger'ran away from'home 'in his, immature., youth and worked his ;way ..to,. : Cap6tq;wnYon a, tramp'v^aiiii^ ship. ; His. adventurous spirit 'baulked' at ;clerking in a": Bowery*banlj., : and':thougli the family -were nch—rwere :.;they .'not and, Jews?—he lan'dedi'itt^irjca .peniulisss, with .nothing.'; but::sß?cl<>iies he stood -up,'in and. his -mother's watch. ;A. marked;|3Bentim'entalism, which has ;«rpwn^wifch|:tHe«y^s,'prevented . him trom parting'with, this one trophy of .home■;and mother, and he confessed a while-ago to a Sydney man that he had gone ,hungry,:manv. a 'time, bit always to: the' watch.'' ItAvas' his; sinkinV fund of sentuneht.and his Bundy to pro° :gress.' ' \":': ■■' ■■■■■.■,. •" ■ r

-Many.vicissitudes followed his landingi7oung|tzy; picking.up a T living as he,could. Some say. he started as a programme seller in an obscure theatre in ■Capetown, and; irrtKs way his interest in the theatrical business was aroused ' He secured a job filially in an insurance company and" worked the veldt for several years with a buggy and horse, selling insurance to the fanners Eventu--auy. by scraping and by successful investments,, he wa«Yable to start an ip.W. firras f tned to squeeze him out, but the tenacity of :thc man made him hold on and he had won the trust of the homely farmers, with whom he had ate and in whose homes he had slept when «c sold them insurance.' With the vision to realise the ."gilt-eage,-securities of cinemas, he got in „ on: the, ground: floor" when "the movmg picture industry was in' its in- ;; iancy,, an d ls g en i Ußl . f or ; organisation soon _ gave .the managitig control isto his hands. r :T6-day his hobby is makmg .pictures'.in Africa—" King Solomon s" Mines' i s one O f the best-known rZ w StUd!.° > a°ne on the site, of S ? ? a?P rdS "°VeL But thi^i= .only..a hobby, and the actual workino£ all his theatrical enterprises is left to experts. Schlesenger holds the financial reins alone, as he does of all his schemes, making it a personal matter to give attention to all correspondence relating to them.

Theatrical supremacy followed, because the theatres were under his control. Of *h?, fiffcy theatres in South Africa, he holds the controlling interest in fortynine, (rhe odd one in Capetown is run by Leonard -Rayne, a capable all-round actor, who has his own company.) He has had ' affiliations with' Australia before on a more limited scale, and has always- expressed an interest in this country. J. C . \Villiamson,' Ltd., sent over several companies, and at one time a great scheme was on the cards for all imported companies to play Africa on the way; here, but it never developed into a working proposition. * Though, without, doubt, it ii due to the African llieatres, Ltd., contracts that we are enabled to secure such high-grade artists as Lady Forbes Robertson and Irene Vanbrugh. ,- .

; Schlesenger's big idea has always been co-operation. He bought pictures on that plan. Then penetrated into India with them, where his brother Maurice now represents his interests. " The parent comPJjny oi the financier, known as the I. vy. bchlesenger Company, is in the Empire Buildings, Johannesburgs.it includes -the' African theatres, Ltd., African General Insurance Co., African Trust and Realty Co., ' African Canning and backing Co. (the pulp is mostly pineapple), and as a side:issue. I.W.S. run* % -^' iuat to show Schlesenger, sen.. ■th*'; he began, where his father left oft Ihe man himself .has the tough, but good-humoured physiognomy of the typical New Yorker. He is fair," nuggety, and, now in his fifties, inclines- a little to rotundity. He remained unmarried until a couple of years ago, when he toon an , African-born woman tor his wife. He rises sooA after dawn, and'is at work, before the world is well awake. He has a passion for England, where 1 16 spends all his holidays. He stands pre-eminently firm in the cbuntry ot-his adoption, even--to-the extent or being able to .negotiate and guarantee a loan for South Africa with New York, a feat accomplished by him a few years ago. Up to,date he occupies the singular position of a man who has steadily climbed the -ladder-.-bf "financial success ■Without ufßU.ljsy harr never boeu