“The International Jew” Study Hour presents: Hadding Scott and Carolyn Yeager read and comment on Chapter 29: “The Rise of the First Jewish Theatrical Trust.”
Jewish immigration to the United States between 1880 -1900, particularly heavy from Russia,
coincided with the Jewish intent to monopolize the communication and
education industries, including the Theater. As early as 1896, certain
New York Jews had combined forces to create a “Theatrical Trust” that
controlled 37 theaters in strategic cities. At the time of a
lawsuit against the Trust in
1907, it was said they controlled 500 of the 600 most prominent
theaters! Outside the Trust, the managers and companies were left to
make arrangements between each other, which had a disastrous effect on
the artistic quality of theater.
The Trust boosted royalties on plays from $50 to $450 and eventually to $1,000 a week.
This of itself cut off the material of the stock companies with which
the independent managers endeavored to keep open their houses. The
artists organized serious opposition to the Trust, but the Trust lawyers
sought out their weaknesses, and one by one, they deserted. Finally,
only
Mrs. Fiske (shown top left in 1896) was left to carry on the fight with her husband,
Harrison Grey Fiske, editor of the
New York Dramatic Mirror.
Mrs. Fiske said of the Jews of the Trust, “The incompetent men who have
seized upon the affairs of the stage in this country have all but
killed art, ambition and decency.”
Note: We are using the Noontide Press publication of
The International Jew — The World’s Foremost Problem which can be found onlin
e here as a pdf file.
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