Daily Los Angeles Herald

(The tenor of Communications appearing in this column is not necessarily endorsed by the editor of the HERALD. The writer who desires to be heard in it should always accompany his screed with his full name, not necessarily for publication but as a guarantee of good faith.)

Why Not?

Los Angeles, Sept. 19th.

Last night I attended the performance at the Grand Opera House with my wife, and while we enjoyed the play and considered the acting highly meritorious, we were both annoyed by the Programmes. The "programme" last night was no worthier the name than a poster on the street bill boards, for it did not contain any more. The play was 'Louis XI,' and all that was given on the programme was the dramatic personae on the front and the names of the whole company on the back, together with the announcement that they would appear again to-night. No synopsis of the play was given, nor were the scenes enumerated. All the other space on a 12x9 hand bill was crowded with advertisements, and even side lines were run in. I am a business man and have lived in three Eastern cities and while not what would be called a habitual theatre goer (for I did not rent a box) still I attended whenever I thought the play would be interesting or the acting good. And I know that in the opera houses there they would no more think of putting advertisements on their programmes than they would of adopting another provincial custom on a par with it, namely, painting them on the drop curtain. People generally regard the appearance of a man's business card on a theatre programme, especially when the play is historical or one of Shakespeare's, as an impudent display of bad taste on the part of the person who ordered it. On a negro minstrel programme it might not be out of place, but I doubt whether even then it would pay the advertiser. People who glance at the advertisements quickly forget them, as they are not in a mood to be impressed by them, their attention being absorbed by the surroundings, the people and the play. I mentioned the matter to my wife and asked several ladies if they saved their programmes, but they all replied "No." One lady replied, "I don't care to have my recollections of a fine performance spoiled by what is on the posters that are given, so I cut out what concerns the play and paste it in a scrap book." Another lady with whom I commenced the subject observed, "What an elevated idea it would give friends in the East of Los Angeles to send them a programme of a performance by Sheridan in the Grand Opera House, and in that programme have all else appear as a setting for promiscuous advertisements." "If Los Angeles is to have a Grand Opera House why not have cosmopolitan style to it?"
G.