Jerome Mining News

LID PUT BACK ON PIKE SHOWS.
St. Louis, Nov. 16.--Efforts of Miss Helen Gould and the National Commission to have the lid put back on the "Pike" have resulted in summary action by the World's Fair authorities to check a tendency upon the part of the "Pike" shows to depart from the standard of morals which has been maintained.

Miss Gould recently attended a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Board of Lady Managers, and as a result the board requested the Fair managers to investigate and censor the "Pike" performers.

Norris B. Gregg, Director of Concession, screwed the lid on several of the shows last night and today. He expelled from the grounds an offensive "barker" in front of "Ancient Rome." Stopped a disrobing act in "Paris," forbade the continuance of "divining pictures" for an amusive nurse at "Mayflower," and stopped the hootchy-kootch dances at "Cairo" and "Constantinople."

Mr. Gregg said:

"The Exposition will not tolerate anything even bordering on immorality in any of the "Pike" shows. It has kept the morals of the "Pike" under stringent limitation from the day the fair opened, and it is not going to permit any eruption of offensiveness in these last few weeks.

"I have given my inspectors strict orders to report any departure from the rules in the "Pike" shows, and in instances where the performances have been found wanting in wholesomeness I have either stopped them outright or had them toned down to meet requirements."

At "Paris" the offending feature in the performance came quickly upon an unsuspecting audience. A young woman came out in an opera cloak and high heeled slippers, smoking a cigarette, and proceeded to disrobe. The act caused many persons to leave the theater, and blushes mounted to many cheeks. In the "Cairo" Theater six girls in the inner theater, to which there is an additional admission of 25 cents, danced the "hoochie-coochie," without restraint. A similar offense was committed at "Constantinople," where another six girls have been dancing the notorious Oriental dance.

The "Girl from Madrid" consisted of two shows, the first a suggestion of the second, for which additional charge was made, the visitor paying 50 cents to see both shows. The first performance consisted of a dance by seven women. The barker made it a point to inform the crowd that the second performance was for men only, thus insinuating that the "lid" would be off. The performance consisted of coarse dances and so-called living pictures, the remarks of the stage lecturer being as offensive as the performance.