FINANCIAL FLOP

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 September 1934, Page 8

FINANCIAL FLOP

LONDON’S GREAT RODEO. One of the greatest finaficial flops in thefthistory of the show business in England closed at the White City, London, recently. The Rodeo, it can now be revealed, has cost its promoters thousands of pounds. lAt many performances the cowboy competitors were often earning more in prizes than the total gate money paid by spectators. Although the show was the finest exhibition of hard riding London has seen for years, it did not seem to catch on with the public. So 130 cowboys and cowgirls, members of Tex Austin’s troupe, sailed from Britain bitterly disappointed. Mr. G. L. Schein, the “brain trust” lawyer and personal counsel of Tex Ausfih, the famous cowboy promoter, estimated that the total Rodeo losses would exceed £60,000. In 1924 the Rodeo paid the British Government £22,954 entertainment tax, and played to millions of people. “We thought it would be equally successful,” he said to the “Sunday Chronicle.” “But some weeks we were only averaging about £5OO a show. The prize-money varies; sometimes it was as much as £630 daily.” The following figures, roughly estimated by Mr. Schein, show the amazing losses faced by the American sponsors and them associates. Ninety thousand pounds has been invested on the whole venture. Some period .before the wind-up only £11,500 had been retrieved in gate money. The latest figures are naturally higher, but they have not yet been estimated. Against this meagre return are heavy expenses. Five thousand pounds has been guaranteed to the White City for the whole period and a percentage on the gross. Ten thousand pounds has been deposited in the National City Bank, ’New York, against prize money. Three thousand pounds has been spent in the construction of pens and other necessary arrangements for the 400 head of stock. Twelve thousand five hundred pounds has been paid to the Cunard and other British lines for the transport of cowboys and cowgirls from Canada and the States to England. Four hundred pounds Was paid in Weekly fodder bills. Then there Were staff, hotel, and other expenses. Tex Austin is angry and dismayed over what he considers the raw deal the Rodeo has had. “We were beaten by organised opposition,” he said. “The power our opponents wielded in high places was frightening. We were helpless before them. From start to finish I encountered official opposition of a nature that can only be called ‘inspired.’ ”