Show amateur nights fast dying out most amusing feature of theater will soon be but fragrant memory st louis one of the most cherished institutions of the stage Is pass tag and it la only a matter of time until it Is in the discard amateur night that most amusing feature of the theater will soon be a fragrant memory a memory redolent with the aroma of sizzling hams who indulgently permitted themselves to be put on the pan for the of an audience that laughed with devilish glee at the crude antics of those who would be actors and were willing to pay the price of public harassment to attain the goal amateur night Is an institution as old as the theater itself As its name suggests it affords an opportunity for those who have ambitions for alie stage to display their still a none too sympathetic audience sitting as judge and jury and by its ote of ap poal or denoting the degree of success with which alie neophyte has put 0 er his acif for some there were resounding branoa and tumultuous ap lause and for others a silence that damned the announcers speech the scene at all amateur nights are the same the regular program la curtailed and some one steps out of the wings to the center of the stage iiii speech Is always the same ladles and gentlemen e have a little something extra on the program tonight something that we think you will appreciate tte will aik vou to alve as close attention as possible as we shall tal e a ote at the end of the performance to see what you like the best llast on the program tonight la little margaret brisk step out margaret I 1 thank you he retires and little margaret skips toward the footlights margaret it appears Is a mothers darling who Is supposed to have a rare voice so in child soprano she sings about lit tie birdies in the trecer and for an encore she takes it whether she beirns it or not she vocalizes again on the influence a full bloom moon has on the spooning propensities of the sterner of the sex wide variety of acts five or six other acts follow in sue cession rimer the demon hoofer from the levee district does a buck and wing the sisters do a double cecella at the plino molly with her mandolin the both try to sing too tom and terry do n turn blang act and narrowly escape death as they eay a giant swing in midair arthur tremont Is a versatile chap he sings tenor he plays the sao phone he juggles six balls and he can clog dance ar thu Is pretta much of a vaudeville show in himself silvester and his crooning doura conclude the bill an ambitious gang of who mav be coni mended for laudable zeal but not foi the harmony they dispense the announcer again steps out of the wings and raises his hand for st lence he requests all the performers to come back on the stage and they obediently line up in a semicircle semi circle be hind him he Is speaking ladles and gentlemen well you have seen the adya and girls perform and now we will see who gets the big prize I 1 will pass behind the perform ers and I 1 will ask you to show bi your applause whom you think Is best only he doean doesn t eay whom who Is better picking the winners ne places his hand on little varga head A burst of margaret smiles and sticks her thumb in her mouth mother in the front row Is gesturing wildly for her not to swallow it elmer apparently dlan t register much with his or mabe he dlan t bring many of his friends to the theater he doben t do so well the sisters Ilkew le get a lukewarm reception and they make a sudden shift roni dental display to sullen glaes gla es tom and jerry are remembered for thit remarkable swing li midair and get a big hand arthur tremont the boy with the aurli blond hair and the ascot tic boea oer big clearly out distancing sylvester ind his crooning troubadours dours vl 0 are odiously piqued nt hp of the avd lence to appreciate preci ate their syncopation unable to decide the announcer Is speaking again ladles and gentlemen T el I 1 cant quite decide who atna the big prize seems ilka margaret and toni and jerry and arthur tremont are th favorites so ask you to tote on these three he places his hand on margarets head the audience Is more this time and ehe gets just a ripple of applause tom and jerry also fall to make their first quota and arthur tremont wins in a walk arthur tremont get the big prize says the announcer icho wins the second prize he points to margaret A few friends remain faithful but she loses to tom and jerry the announcer tells the audience as much and every body Is with the exception ol 01 margarets mother who quite volubly insists that her daughter get square deal or something of the sort reason for elimination such Is amateur night and if st louis showmen are to be believed such nights are passing from the anea ter never to return the reabon tor their demise Is simple if one may take the word of the musical and stage director of one of the theaters there Is no longer an excuse for amateur actors to make a public show of themselves in order to get a hear ing he davs the reason Is fouad in the motion picture theaters which within the last two years have en barged their field to include much mor alian alie mere cinema presentations tal e st loula for example nally all the motion picture houses in the city were just that theaters in which motion pictures were shown with an orchestra to furnish incidental music but a great change has come over the profession As soon as n theater ceases to be more than a mere neighborhood playhouse it goes in tor stage production stage management a problem the best of theatrical talent Is ob tanned for these shows stars from the legitimate willingly go to the movie houses because they make more money even though they have to work harder stage management strange at it may sound has been a big problem tor motion picture theater manager for some time and the field has by no means been expanded to its limit all of which being true the qu atlon Is what does that have to do with tha passing of aTiat eur night he answers the question readily because of the tact that all the large motion theaters arc mak ing presentations they are nat aurally trying to recruit as much of their talent as possible right at home reasons it no other would prompt such action the result Is that in our theater for instance J hold semi weekly auditions at which local performers erh are given ample on to show just what they can do on the the same Is done in the city the united states bureau of mines Is making a mole of the copper in austry of tills country and canada |