Page 12

I 2
COL. HOPKINS, VETERAN
SHOWMAN, PASSES AWAY
Man Who Had Great Influence in Shaping Theatrical History
in The West Expires in St. Louis.-Other News.
BY BASIL WEBB.
ST. LOUIS , Oct. 27-The tteatrical
colons'of sc. Louis has been cast into a
ta .      uinn b  the death of that
grand old vet-
eran actor Col.
John D. Hop-
kins.  For the
past few weeks
hie  had  been
lying  at  the
Jewish   hospi-
tal in this city
In  a   critical,
condition  and
last  Saturday
his friends and
anctors  began
realize that
w-             Lo   end  was
m ar and at 4
p. mn. Sunday
I passed away
f'r the   long
r"t. For the
1ast two years
t        Ie had suffer-
ed from per-
nicious  anae-
mia and from
The Late        acute kidney
John D. Hopkins.    trouble but he
had bravely rallied several times and
Cwl. Hopkins always stated that he
was in Ford's Theater tise night that
President Lincoln was assassinated, and
further that he was speaking to Wilkes
Booth, the assassin, just an hour be-
fore the tragedy occurred.
The deceased was a member of the
Masonic order and by his own request
his body has been turned over to the
local Masons who will transfer it to
his own lodge in New York for the final
obsequies.
On Monday night, meetings were held
by all the local theatrical guilds, in-
cluding the I. A. T. S. E., the T. M.
A., and the Billers and Billposters; to
pass resolutions concerning the death
of Col. Hopkins and for the purpose of
condolence. On Monday at noon the
managers of the various St. Louis the-
aters met at Dan Fishell's office in the
Garrick Theater for a similar purpose.
Col. Hopkins powerfully influenced
theatrical destinies in the Mississippi
Valley in the last 25 years by introduc-
ing  the 10-20-30-cent policy, which
Keith had originated in the East some
years before that.
Hopkins was the first and most suc-
cessful imitator of the Keith scheme.
He started as understudy for Keith at
the Old People's Theater in Chicago and
against Charlie Van Studdiford would
be brought up at Clayton this week. It
is reported that Miss Van Studdiford's
attorneys brought a motion that the
casesould be tried before Judge Wur-
'lemon in camera, buLt it is further an-
neunced titat the court would not ac-
s:cpt this suggestion of the attorneys
and litigants and that the popular
prima donna would have to take the
wvitness s tand in front of tlae usual
divorce-day array ofspectators. Up to
the present time, howvever, no0 s teps
have been taken to have the case dock-
eted and it is rumored that unless Miss
Van Studdiford has the case brou ght
up this week tloat it will be dismissed.
St. Louis has been definitely added
to the list of cities to be visited by the
Metropolitan Grand Opera Company.
Andreas Dippel the manager of the
company announces by his present ar-
rangement he will be able to play a
nine months' season instead of a five
months' season as heretofore.
Jessie Bell who was lately associated
with the Vanity Fair Company is lying
at the City Hospital ill with diphtheria.
Vhile the company was playing at the
Standard Theater in this city her son
Hubert V. Bell was taken sick with
diphtheria while stopping at Rillings
Hotel. He was promptly moved to the
City Hospital and when the company
left town Miss Bell stayed behind. At
first she was refused admission at the
hospital to see her son but finally her
pleas prevailed and while visiting her
son she contracted the disease and now
she is lying seriously ill but a few
cots from her son who is rapidly re-
covering.
West End Heights, one of the popu-
lar summer gardens in this city is to
be sold under the hammer to satisfy
a deed of trust held on the property
and equipment by Louis Obert, presi-
THE SHOW WORLD
/ ~ A'
~m.c.A
D'Urbano and His Band, Now Making a Successful Tour of the United States.
he himself expected to have lasted
longer. Neither his wife or daughters
were present at the last as the daugh-
ters Eman and Ethel Hopkins left two
weeks ago to rejoin their company at
Spokane, Wash., despite their own
wishes but at the urgent request of
their father. And on Saturday night
Mrs. Hopkins received a telephone mes-
sage from Chicago to say that her
mother Mrs. Mt. E. Belt was seriously
ill and the late Col. Hopkins insisted
that she go at once to her mother. Up
to the end Col. Hopkins was full of
his grim kind of humor and on Satur-
day he offered to bet one of his friends
Fifty to Five and put the money up
that he would be dead on the following
day.
Shortly before going to the hospital
Col. Hopkins announced that his age
was 69 but it is tse opinion of most of
his friends that lito was considerably
older than this.
Col. Hopkins enjoyed a long and
varied career in the show business. He
was interested in the East in theatrical
affairs before the war in Providence, R.
I., and it was not till 1880 that he came
West. His first venture in this city
was at the old Pope's Theater which
was on the site at present occupied by
the Century Theater. He inaugurated
a new style of entertainment by pre-
senting drama with vaudeville numbers
between the acts. He also did away
with the orchestra and substituted a
piano in its place. Later on he met
with better success when he ran this
kind of "continuous" show at the Grand
Opera House. He was also associated
with theaters and stock companies in
the various large cities of the West.
After the cyclone in St. Louis in con-
junction with Anton C. Stuever he op-
erated Forest Park Highlands in this
city and later this company obtained
possession of parks in Memphis, Louis-
ville and Kansas City. He made a lot
of money touring the country with Hop-
kin's Transoceanic Company.
In his earlier career Col. Hopkins was
associated with P. T. Barnum and he
always claimed that he made a great
financial start by selling biographies
of that master showman.
Near-Tragedy in Omaha.
OMAHA, Oct. 25.-The Orpheum
theater came within an ace of being the
scene of a shooting affair on Sunday
night, Oct. 24. Seated in the rear row
of the parquet was a man with another
man's wife. At intervals another man,
raised it to one of the best paying prop-
erties in Chicago.
From Chicago he came to St. Louis,
and began the 10-20-30-cent game at the
Old Pope Theater with phenomenal suc-
cess.
He made Sunday theater-going re-
spectable and a habit with people, who,
before Isis coming would never have
thoughtof goingto a show onthatday.
In tlis way hoe laid the foundation for
the highly profitable Sunday theatrical
business which the Imperial, Grand
Opera House and Havlin's have enjoyed
for years and enjoy now, so that the
Sunday revenue often pays the bills
for the week, and the rest is "velvet."
He was also the founder of the sum-
mer garden business in St. Louis, and
built up both the Suburban Garden and
Forest Park Highland, on what he was
pleased to term  a "shoe-string,"  His
10-20-30-cent was a "continuous" show,
drama and vaudeville between the acts,
and it was through the latter that he
made his great reputation as a vaude-
ville impressarioe. For the drama he
cared but little, and it made no differ-
ence to him, if Jessaline Rogers had to
study 25,000 words every week in a
new piece or Ralph Stuart "kicked" be-
cause his salary was inadequate to the
measure of applause he was getting
from the audience. Vaudevillewas the
main point with him, and he "coined"
va udeville performers from  the ranks
of    the  legitimate, as  the  literateur
coins words afser he has exhausted
those in the dictionary. Pauline Hall
was one whom     Col. Hopkins trans-
planted from opera to the vaudeville
stage.
The remains were sent overthe Wa-
bash from this city today, and the fu-
neral train is scheduled to arrive in
Jersey City, Thursday at 5 p.m. Inter-
ment will be in the old cemetery at
Noosup, Conn., in a grave beside that
of the  aged showman's mother.   The
burial will be under the auspices of the
Masonic fraternity.
Grace Van Staddiford is playing a
week's engagement atthe Century The-
ater and it has been expected that the
case for divorce which she is bringing
the woman's husband, would walk rap-
idly up behind the pair enjoying the
show, fumble at his hip-pocket, and
then retreat hastily, taking a door-check
from the door-keepex. This was re-
peated many times, the excited individ-
ual leaving the theater for a time but
always coming back hurriedly, appar-
dent of the Obert Brewing Company.
The management of tie resort were be-
set by financial difficulties last season
and were unable to meet their obliga-
tions. West End Heights is situated
just west of Forest Park Highlands and
las always been handicapped by insuf-
ficient street car service, since it has
always seemed that the Transit Com-
pony gave the Highlands toe best of
the deal. During the Worlds Fair at
St. Louis this resort made a lot of
money but the next season business fell
off till the management secured the ser-
vice of Ethel Fuller as star at the dra-
matic theater. For two seasons Miss
Fuller worked wonders there and things
looked prosperous. In 1907 during the
middle of the season Miss Fuller had
a little trouble with the management
and she cancelled her contract.  Miss
Tabis Magrane  was engaged in her
place and the season ended with the
matagement aying broken about even.
Next year Dave Russell assumed man-
agement  of the theater and hired a
more or less satisfactory stock com-
pany  but everything was against him,
the Oberts who controlled the park
were extremely adverse tospendingany
moneyand t strtreet carfacilties were
bad  and  the  consequence  was  that
money waslost. Last season theOberts
made asenseless contract with the Op-
penheimer Bros. who attempted to put
on Weber and Field productions with
aninferior companyin aninferior man-
nor   the   consequence   was  that the
Oberts were extremely heavy losers.
This laststraw broke the camel's back
and now the park is to be sold to the
highest bidder. With anyone who has
any knowledge of the show business to
ru n the garden there is no doubt but
that it might be a great money maker.
Benjamin Schurmacher, attorney, who
is trustee in the deed of trust was or-
dered to foreclose the mortgage.   He
has advertised a sale of the property
at public vendue. This report flies
partly within the city and partly in the
county. The city portion will be auc-
tioned November 12 at the St. Louis
Court House, and the county portion
on November 12, at Clayton.
ently watching the couple In the rear
seats. The door-keeper at the Orpheum
says he noticed the man's crazy actions
and felt that something out of the or-
dinary was brewing.
Next morning's paper told how the
Orpheum escaped a nasty scene. The
mysterious man left the theater before
The Downs Obsequies.
TORONTO. Can., Oct. 2.-The fu-
neral sernces    ,  th  ate Martin J
Downs    were             St. Fau
church     ti
city, last 1ai'.-
da.     The a
termen Av,                 W
nade    at
Michael's cei
ecery.   The
were four ca'                   4
riage loads
floral tribute
The    funer4
services   Wer
ta r ge la da tt
tended and aIaI-
ty carriages
accompanio
the remaans t
the  b   as
grounds. T 1-7
were made aup
of Toronto'
most    repreo
sentative  tlo      _________
atrical men.
Among     those    Martiu.Ownls-
present at the
funeral services were General Agent E
C. Knupp    and wife, John D. Carey,
Harry B. Potter, F. J. Walker and Wife
of Erie, Pa., John E. Ogden, S. Waxel'
baum of Erie, Pa., and l. J. Dowling of
the Centropolis Hotel, Kansas City, 110
The deceased is survived by a widow,
a son and five stepchildren. It is un-
derstood that Mr. Downs left a will,
but up to the time of filing this dis-
patch the same has not been probated;
It is generally believed, however, that
the Cole Brothers' Shows will continue
next season under the management Of
the son, James Downs.
John E. Ogden, manager of the Cole
Brothers' Show Annex, visited relatives
in Chicago last Saturday, fllwingi
return from Toronto, Can., where he at-
tended the funeral services of the late
Martin J. Downs. He left this City
Sunday for his home in Norfolk, VS
where he will spend the winter month
Mr. Ogden has acted as manager of side
shows for Downs for the past eight
years.
the performtince was over and laid In
waiting for the couple in the mouthOf
a dark alley. Without warning he dar
ed out and opened fire from an auto'
matic revolver, four shots taking effect
in the luckless man who waS with the
woman.-SMITH.
I I mn
hitlaw'Oc
013
October'
Cook Brings Wealth,
CLEVELAND, O., Oct.27. s::t
interesting the way in which i
M. Gray got control of the lecture
of Dr. Cook, the arcticeporer. Gray
chanced to be dining with Mr. Bril1
Dr. Cook's backer, on the nigbthe
news of Cook's return was receiveI
Gray realized the Possibilities of
a lecture tour andumade ggesti
Bradley, as a result of whiiekBrade
cabled Cook to make no arra~geets
foraetour    ithoutconsulting hieith
Bradley's endorsement, Gray was able
to close a contract with Dr. Cook It1
said that Gray and his paraserore
gathering in about $2,00  daily  nie
.Sa. 1,01ais. 51,5 rWeltaes'aidoiI
been   $15,000  for  a   single ag bae
YOUNG.                         nht,
Hackett's Mother Dies
Mrs. Clara C. Hackett, motherao
James K. Hackett, the actor, died i
New   York Wednesday, accordin do
telegram received at Powers' ntheatr
where Mr. Hackett has been playicatr
Mrs. Hackett was 70 years old,nd
until last year was in the habitao
traveling around the country with her
son.   At one time she was a popula
actress. She was the widow of Janer
Henry Hackett, who had been regarded
as America's greatest Falstaff,
On the receipt of the news James X
Hackett left for New York. The mat.
inee   performance   of "Samson" s
abandoned. Powers' theater was closed
until Friday evening.
Acrobats in Town.
Warren and Francis, novelty acro-
batic song and dance artists, after a
successful trip through the middlewest
have returned to Chicago to slend a
week arranging for their winter's book.
Ing.  The team    has made good and is
getting good time.
7.