Show I 1LAGING AN AMERICAN SHOW IN PARIS 4 3PAHISIAA EDITORS MADE 2IAD WIrn JOY 1 By a Free Excursion = The Hundreds of Official Impositions and Xn tional Suites Thai an American Advance Agent Had to cmtend WIth BY T C CRAWFORD r Copyright 1S94 bysS McClure Limited Lim-ited In 1889 I went to Paris as the president i presi-dent of a syndicate formed for the purpose pur-pose of giving an American show Known as The Wild West in the city nf Paris during the Exposition year If the difficulties encountered had been even partially foreseen it is very doubtful doubt-ful whether the attempt to give this snow dn Paris then or at any other time wuUd have been made i Tie French municipal regulations provide that every show or theatrical enterprise of any character shall pay over each day 11 per cent of its gross receipts for the benefit of the poor The Bureau des Bienfaisamces which re I engineer corps of the French army There are o few houses there which were built before the zone was declared and they are allowed to stand But since the day the land was set aside for military mili-tary purposes it is not possible to obtain ob-tain permission to construct anything higher than six feet on this land On account ac-count of this military law the land had relatively but little value and was chiefly occupied by small sin s-in the cultivation of garden stuff r nd who live in little dog kennels of houses which never rise above > the gven height for if they did they would be instantly torn down by the miliary authorities I It took over two months to obtin th permission of the military authorities to occupy this land even with the consent con-sent of the tenants M Freychiet refused re-fused five times my petition Then he sent me word by one of his staff officers offi-cers to not trouble the wir lppartm with any more such requests 1 told the officer that we never took No in America Amer-ica I then succeeded inenlisting till good offices of General SatLsswr the military governor of Paris who said that the military zone was a humbug it was no longer necessary as a protection protec-tion to Paris and the engineer corps should be made to give way as it was the Exposition year and make un exception ex-ception in favor of these good Ameri 4 L tAr4 v t I t 1 11ltlitMUp v ri GOOD BYE OLD FRAXCE I chives this enormous tax from the gross aeceipts of aU theatrical enterprises is one of the richest charitable institutions institu-tions in the world and like all instituj J tions of this class overloaded with wealth it Is so fettered with red tape i I that it does comparatively little good j In addition to this poor tax there is a I window tax which was very large im frha case of the outdoor American show jEl > i show when finally placed occu lt J a vacant space of land between isht and ten acres in size The winj jow tax charged against the enterprise enter-prise involved a tax upon as many A windows as could be counted in build lrgs of normal size and in Paris they > rt nearly all of one size that could S Siavt been built upon the land itself j Then there were taxes for water for sweeping the sidewalks and last of all the patents I Th > > patents is an < old tax that comes dropping in on you at the close of the season when you probably fancy that you have paid all your just dues and havte nothing more to expect The pat ntu is a tax which represents the act I ial amount of money taken in by a i theatrical enterprise if every seat were i lIed by cash paying visitors The tax J5 S < nt comes in and counts the seats I nultiplies them by the prices and pre snts the amount to you in the form of a bill which has to be paid at once without any question Tor a republic France has one of the mi st paternal of governments From tht first you are in the hands of the authorities and the number of permissions permiss-ions that are necessary to be obtained before < any foreign show can address SLjelf to the French public is absolutely appalling I worked twelve hours 31 day traveling constantly in a cab from place to place for three months in ob 1 aiiiing the permissions that were absolutely ab-solutely vital t > giving the show Towards To-wards the last great risks had to betaken be-taken for the reason that the delay ia I obtaining these permissions was EO great that if we had waited for the last t f them it would not have been possible pos-sible to have opened the show before midsummer It was arranged to open it on the 19th of May and it was n > t until the 17th of May that the last permission was obtained although I began early in January of that year HARD S ARCH FOR SUITABLE j GROUNDS The lirst greatest difficulty was to I Jfod a piece of land large enough for our exhibition which should not be at ith same time too far from the center of Paris At first a conditional per f ration was obtained to going into the great Bois du Boulonge Park but while the location was beautiful just this side of the fine stretch where the Long chouiips I races are given yet it was fju i that the city tramways came no Ticrer than a quarter of a mile and that it would have been perfectly hope 8 li > to have given night entertainments 1 depeafiing nnot people who could afford cabs The tramways people promised to extend ther lines but under very rig rou and expensive conditions But I this plan was soon brought to naught I by the fact that the owner of a private estat in the park Sir Richard Wallace objected and without his permission nothing could be done This permission permis-sion was difficult to obtain because he was always traveling and his private secretary never knew where he was He was sure however that his master would rsver consent and so that place was dropped I TWO MONTHS REQUIRED TO GET I 4 USE OF SOME GROUND 1 k lt finally oecanie clear that the only I < VPla C e possible to be had was upon the 3 iHtary zone wiiich encircles Paris and I lows the line of the old walls which flltary encircled the city This tract I ckr Hand about an eighth of a mile in I wftdth is under the direct control c2 the I k iJ cans who were doing their best to contribute con-tribute to the success of this exposition period It was through his kind offices alone tha the permission was finally given and then his permission to erect a grand stand was only conceded when a bonded assurance was given that this grand stand should be pulled down within twentyfour hours notice if the i military authorities demanded I I SMALL TENANTS WHO ARE MODELS MOD-ELS OF CAUTION I While this was removed the one great obstacle the difficulties were by no means overcome Small agriculturists had to be every one of them dispossessed dispos-sessed The leases were accomplished for comparatively moderate sums in the early history of this enterprise but toward to-ward the last the news leaked out i through some war department clerk I and the prices demanded for the rent I of the land was large enough to constitute consti-tute absolute blackmail In these days I traveled about with a French home daffairs who drew I contracts instantly following verbal agreements antI we always paid over the money and took receipts and in this way avoided many a nice quarrel Checks were almost unknown in the transaction of business in France and it was necessary to go about with a comparatively large sum of money in making these leases The small leaseholders lease-holders could not resist the sight of cash down and many a dispute was i settled by the mere sight of the price I offered in the form of crisp notes on the bank funds The leases which were i made were miracles of caution and I care I was obliged to give bonds to re H t I The French People Were Mucli Taken Tak-en With the American Style of Bills i I I store the land to a perfect condition in case the agricultural soil on it should be at all disturbed Although the average tenant received two or three times the amount of the ordinary rent of the land for several years there was not the slightest sign of liberality lib-erality in the form of any concession Agricultural land is a marketable article arti-cle in France A certain grade of agricultural agri-cultural soil Is worth so many francs a square yard The land is surveyed before It Is given to you and you Accept I Ac-cept It with the declaration that tJiefe is a certain depth of soil on the land When you gp away you must leave the same depth or pay difference PERMITS UPON PERMITS REQUIRED RE-QUIRED It was further found necessary to oi temporarily close a street lying between be-tween two pieces of land which were finally obtained after as much diplomacy I diplo-macy and work as would be necessary to negotiate a commercial treaty To close this street and to obtain permission permis-sion to give the show it was necessary to go before the municipal council of Neuilly whloh governed this parO of the suburbs of Paris where the location had been made This permission was obtained without much difficulty After this it was necessary to have the I permission of the prefect of the department I depart-ment of the Seine the minister of the interior the military governor of Paris and the preEect of police The commlssaire of Neullly was the direct representative of the prefect of police and when every permission had been obtained wften I the street had been closed and final consent Vo the minister minis-ter of the interior to keep it so closed had been obtained after the public protested pro-tested against the closure then there was an awful moment waiting for the permission of the prefect of police Nearly 100000 had been expended up to that time in the construction of grand stands enclosures laying out walks and parks and in gathering together to-gether tlhe maoliiiiery men and animals of the spectacle The permission to open the gates < t0 lih e public could not be obtained until tjie prefect had himself him-self inspected with his own engineers every feature of the grand stand itself and in fact the whole establishment from beginning to end During the fortyeight hours preceding the opening open-ing day we added strengthenng supports sup-ports to tlhe grand stand which were wholly unnecessary and which cost some thousands of dollars in the way of extra expenditures before he Would permit the show to go on CROWDS OF PEOPLE AFTER DAMAGES In those early days of settlement and confusion I was threatened and persecuted with all kinds of small suits I know of nothing better however than the suit which was threatenedfor personal damages to a lady in tine neigihborihood which grew out of closing clos-ing the street A blackeyed brownhaired very selfpossessed French woman about 30 years of age entered my office one morning and saM I have called to ask you to pay me 250 francs Have you any bill with you madame mad-ame ameNo No I have not but I have a claim which I think you will consider just Will you kindly tell me what is your claim I am married i Yes r i I am your neighbor Si madame i My house faces on the street which I you have closed Yes madame I My husband is lame Well He is clerk In the war department In Paris Well He has been In the habit of coming home every day to his lunch The tramway brings him to the city gate so that he has just live minutes left to come to lUbe ihouse Since the street is closed lie is obliged to come around the square the other way On account of his lameness he is unable to do it in time x He is obliged to buy his lunches in town The price of his lunches fofe the six months that you foavJ ± cosed > tlh street is 250francs I compromised this case for something some-thing less but from previous experiences experi-ences in similar cases I knew that if I went into a French court with it I would have been obliged to pay Every kind of damage suit no matter how petty in character was always construed con-strued against the foreigner by the French courts A French workman around the stables who had been warned to keep away from a icertain vicious horse paid no attention to the horse and was kicked He recovered relatively heavy damages as a result of the accident growing out of his own disobedience I Another damage suit came from a lady who got a bit of paint on the elbow el-bow of her dress from one of the seats in the tribune She recovered the full value of her dress In fact French courts appear to hold always Chat a French citizen should have anything that She should ask from the hands of a foreigner I VEXED WITH TAXES There was a great uproar and a scandal because we compromised on the taxes which called for 11 per cent of the gross receipts I went before the municipal council of Neuilly before the show had landed 5n France and sought to compromise this question of taxes The council having never had any experience with shows of this size had no understanding of the magnitude magni-tude of tlhe enterprise They confounded confound-ed it with the little perambulating shows that go around on wheels in France and when I asked to compromise compro-mise the taxes they said they could not afford to unless I Would guarantee some very large sum I asked how large a sum and they said at least 40000 francs After some hesitation and negotiation I accepted this Proposition proposi-tion and my friends in the common council commiserated me saying I was sure to be landed in bankruptcy The receipts the first month were sufficiently sufficient-ly large to pay the 40000 francs from the 11 per cent of the gross receipts so the other five months were practically practi-cally free from the tax The newspapers newspa-pers attacked the council and said they had all been bribed to sell out Tlhe real fact of the case was that the council coun-cil made what they thought was a very bad bargain > I HOW SHOWS ARE ADVERTISED IN FRANCE i Every form of advertising is on a different dif-ferent basis than with us Bill posting post-ing which is always a great feature of American show advertising had always al-ways been done upon a much more limited lim-ited scale The places for the display of posters is comparatively limited as surface of buildings used by us was absolutely ab-solutely forbidden by the French authorities au-thorities The kiosk in the streets and certain wellknown and permitted billboards bill-boards are the sole places where display dis-play advertising can be made Each one of the large sheets has to be stamped with a revenue stamp In fact every lithograph displayed ha to pay a tax This added to the large price asked for the use of the boards made this feature cost much more than in this country It brought in however very profitable returns as the French people were much taken with the American Amer-ican style of bills The newspaper advertising was altogether al-together on a different footing than with us Every line of any kind relating relat-ing to such an enterprise in a newspaper newspa-per has to be paid for Every form of dramatic criticism costs so much a line You buy your favorable notices only unfavorable notices are given to you and you get plenty of those the moment mo-ment you refuse to pay The French press is a very compact organization No outside enterprise could hope to succeed in France without the aid of the newspapers and their rates are much higher to foreigners than to their own people I was fortunate enough to have the assistance however of Monsieur Mon-sieur Fernand Xau one of the leading journalists In Paris and at nresent the director and chief ot one of the very best newspapers Through his kind offices of-fices I was enabled to contract with all the leading newspapers upon fairly decent terms I ontracted for so much space in the advertising columns and < vmanv lines ofconiment each month These lines of comment ran through the various features of French journalism journal-ism It could be either a theatrical note an editorial paragraph a local item story poem or a political article twisted to fit the show I could write it myself or they could write it for me just as I preferred It was a perfect matter of indifference what terms of exaggeration were used so long as they were paid for In1 these inspired paragraphs para-graphs the Indians were made to be the heroes of society and were mad u ptflIR iES v iF i j V lllnclc ilL the Face WIth Rage the subject of many a fantastic histori ette Many of the poems and songs of the day which were afterwards sung in the music halls of Paris came from the various bureaus of socalled publicity 1 pub-licity I was even offered the use of the Havas agency which corresponds to our Associated Press in i this country fpr the telegraphing of Iaragr phs of possible interest to other countries This Was all a matter of commerce and yet French newspapers on top of these business bus-iness contracts expect the greatest amount of generosity in the way of free tickets and where they were dealt with liberally would sometimes gush a little over the rigid form of their contracts con-tracts butnot very often j THE FRENCH EDITORS SNARED WITH A BIT OF HOSPITALITY being conducted I The French newspapers ducted upon so commercial a basis where every department the paper is absolutely for sale were wholly un prepared pre-pared for a little entertainment which I gave to the representatives of these papers upon the arrival of the showoff show-off the coast of France j I attached no particular importance toMt at the time but the effect of this most ordinary form of American advertising created a profound sensation in Paris and I received re-ceived from it a larger return than from any other form of advertising employed em-ployed I sent out invitations to the representatives of the leading newspapers news-papers that is those < with whom we had contracts to go drten with me to i Havre to meet tfe P tKan Monarch upon its arrival Twenty French journalists jour-nalists accepted the invitation and it was the first time any of them had been invited to take any such trip so the very best men were sent out I engaged en-gaged two cars for their comfort ordered or-dered a lunch with two cases of wine and boxes of cigars for the journey These preparations were very modest and only in keeping with the usual custom cus-tom in our country where writers are invited to go out of their way to write up a special enterprise The hotel at Havre had quarters reserved for them and naturally these expenses were charged to the advertising account of the show Toward the close of the day there was no news of the ship and I knew it would be very difficult to hold twenty newspaper men together in a provincial town like Havre unless I could create a diversion So I went out and chartered a tug for SO for the afternoon af-ternoon and invited them to go with me and hunt for the incsmirig ship I think fully half of these men had never been out of Paris in their life before be-fore except for some days occasion This proposition was hailed as a most desperate venture conceivable by the mind of man They accepted with the delight of children climbed on board with All aboard for China Goodbye Good-bye old France and with predictions that we would all turn pirates and never nev-er come back The humble little French tug steamed directly out to sea and within an hour we were out of sight of land Now the adventure was assuming assum-ing terrible proportions and as there was a fairly good sea on half of the party collapsed entirely Just before night we came up to the Persian Monarch Mon-arch and this success of the trip redeemed re-deemed everything The Indians gathered gath-ered on the deck and gave their war songs nnd dances which were responded respond-ed to by hoots and yells by the excited journalists Such articles never seen before or since in the French newspapers news-papers followed this trip My two cars were swelled up to a special train The modest lunch and refreshments were exaggerated up to the proportions of a Gargantuan banquet The Figaro in its account said champagne ran from faucets overhanging each railway station sta-tion and that the country people massed in blocks to see the Russian prince who was traveling with his friends At Havre it said the entire town was leased for the day and that anything that any of the visitors sought to buy from a drink up to a diamond was placed at his disposal The little tug was lifted up to the size of a great ocean yacht especially chartered for a voyage of discovery and the scenes about the ship were pictured with an extravagance and abandon quite in keeping with the character of the descriptive de-scriptive writers who would come tome to-me at different times during the day for special information I shall never forget how manyasked me whether the ship came to France by the Isthmus of Suez or the other way i Naturally no purse is long enough to retain all of the French newspapers as there are many of them with Columns absolutely worthless for any purpose The papers outside of your line of contracts con-tracts amuse themselves by attacking me in every possible way There was not a day that stories of smallpox and contagious discase were not charged up to members of this company in these delightful little newspapers There was no crime too great to charge against the management and no epidemic too foul not to have been brought in the train of our people The health authorities author-ities were constantly ransacking the establishment es-tablishment under the spur of these villainous attacks any one of which could have been shut off for the small sum of 15 francs RAGE AT SEEING FRENCH MONEY I FALL INTO AMERICAN BOXES The ocalhatrcdofforelgri strtcesiri France ia hard to IgiiseSiri is explain I have seen people coming into the show who would grow black in the face with rage at th sijjht of French money being dropped into American boxes The show was a success and very popular yet it seemed to infuriate the average French visitor that they had to pay to see it I heard over and over again common French people say as they glared at the rows of five franc pieces standing on the front of the gatekeepers treas ury boxes Look at that heap of French money those American thieves are carrying off with them I never seemed to occur to them that every franc taken in was not so much clear profit and that it was just so much money that a to be carried out of France In the days of modern prosperity pros-perity the little unpaid newspapers used to publish among their various romances concerning the American show that its managers had chartered ships for the purpose of carrying off the vast sums which came into their gates and they intended to do up everybody in France pay no more bills than they could help and at last leaving the poor members of the show as paupers on the shores of France These publications had just one result re-sult and that was to bring up at once every man who had any kind of bill against the show and insist upon its immediate payment It seemed to be impossibly to impress upon the mind of the average French tradesman that the show with its large exdenditures and its permanent home which had cost over half a million of francs was anything more than a collection of gypsies who might gather together at any moment their booty and bolt Of course in the numerous bills presented pre-sented in those days there were many that were unjust and practically swindles Resistance to their payment simply meant a visit from a very formal for-mal person known in Francs as a Hussler He corresponds to our sheriff irly has much more arbitrary powers In claims against foreigners he can seize their effects withont the formality of a previous judgment He can set up that they are birds of passage pas-sage and the French court always reaches out without any further inquiry in-quiry It was not an uncommon occurrence to have the receipts seized and the only way to evade the officer of justice was to deposit actual cash not a check with the special court provided for such claims the exact amount of money involved I the claim was for 5000 francs 5000 francs had to be carried in a bag to the court and left there until the case was decided de-cided And then there were endless formulas to be gone through to secure the restoration of your money in case the claim was cut down or in still rarer cases where the judgment was in the foreigners favor i foreigers I A RIOT ORGANIZED BY FRENCH I RIVALS The theatrical people of Paris entered enter-ed into a little conspiracy to make it pleasant for us on the opening night The military authorities were very friendly after General Saussieer began be-gan to help me and that was the only disinterested friendship that I found in connection with this enterprise There never was any time when an attempt was made on the part of any French officer or soldier to obtain money from me and there was throughout the greatest kindness courtesy and support Without With-out such support the enterprise would have been a disastrous failure Upon the night of the first evening performance perform-ance a hundred or more French hoodlums hood-lums had been engaged by the downtown down-town theatrical managers to make a riot after the show was over and demand de-mand their money back A riot meant trOUbleOIu tholIceadwhaLpu1iant trouble for the police would certainly result in having the establishment closed up A military friend heard of this scheme and had fifty or Sixty soldiers specially detailed for service that night in the camp This was not known to the wouldbe rioters They began their uproar about fifteen ff teen minutes after the show was over shouting and singing La Galette This is a Parisian argot for money among the lower classes and this fur ious cry meant Give us our money back When thejnob had gotten well together and at the very apex of its fury of its demonstration there came out of the dark a compact line of French soldiers wjth a sturdy French sergeant at their head who simply said Get out scum of the earth Then the bayonets fell just behind them with great precision as the soldiers sold-iers advanced sharply The rioters fled without protest and that was the last ever heard of La Galette because Parjc now understood that this enterprise enter-prise was under the protection of tho military authorities and so except from the ravages of tax and bill collectors col-lectors it was very well protected MORE TROUBLE T THE SMALL TENANTS There was trouble throughout however how-ever with the local tenants from whom we had sublet They went into perfect ecstacies of agony every time they saw the money piling nip in front of the door because they had not ask more money for their wretched little lease and sought by every possibl means to thrust their hands into our treasury They were very ingenious in devising means to this end They would keep coming up constantly and insist upon our giving various kinds > f bonds to guarantee that we would restore re-store their land to the same condition that i was before it was leased to us for ten times its value I was bitter enough to have to pay all these things when there was an entirely en-tirely good revenue at the gate but when the show was oer then 1herl was a dreary day of reckoning with the lease holder5 Official committees came on to the land and with long ri vining rods of steel went about measuring meas-uring the exact depthof the soil and where there was any change it had to be made good before a signature of satisfaction could be received Ever atom of dirt displaced by the making of a path had to b returned to Its natural place and where the depth was made less by the packing down bv the feet of visitors the original depth had to be made good and before T finally escaped from the clutches or my French friends I was obliged to disburse upwards of 20000 francs more after the display was over and the exhibition ex-hibition had come to Sin end Nothing but the closest kind of business busi-ness care and the crowds of the opposition oppo-sition year saved the enterprise from a financial wreck and gave it a modern success I is possible to do business successfully in France but one must first learn thoroughly their way of doing do-ing No verbal agreement is worth anything Everything must be in black and white and every possible contingency foreseen in the original agreement drawn No foreigner cane can-e ect to do any business in France successfully unless he knows the language lan-guage thoroughly aid can understand every form of commercial dialect If he has to depend upon an interpreter he is a lost man from the start French people ore the most successful in business in the world They can always be made to hold to their agre ments when once they are officially recorded re-corded but where there is any margin left for possible liberality of construction construc-tion in these agreements the foreigner will soil always be the victim on Fraack |