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Show JOHN -CORT OGDEN; YESTERDAY Mr.-John Cort, the theatrical mas-"iiafe mas-"iiafe of "Chicago. Portland. ' Seattle. Sail I-ftke and Oden,. wboSo name ha loomed - luto- national prominence, latcly'n account 'of his having led the warfare Against the theatrical ; syndicate, Icnowil an the trust, passed through Ogrjen' yesterday Afternoon. He paused only long enough to confer with Manager Allison at the Ogden. and to assure himself that everything was in readlnesa for the opening of the season there next week. Mr. Cort. who has lost nothing of the broezincKs 6f manner which proclaims pro-claims the real westerner, nald to a reporter this morning, that he felt more than sanguine over thp approaching ap-proaching season, and that he had every reason to feel satisfied with the condition of theatrical affairs, nationally, na-tionally, In which he was Interested. Had his chain of hous remained In the hands of the trust, he said, he could not have looked for more than 17 to 20 first-class attractions for tho coming season. Ry Joining the Independents, Inde-pendents, he had secured 52, most of thp first grade, with 1" more in sight, so that 60 were nspured fr tho Ogden the coming season The first class Mils will be played at $1.50 rates. Stars like Sothern, Marlowe, Maxine Elliott, etc., would ask $2 per ticket, and the popular class, such as the house played last year, would fitlll charge only "What was the real reason that Savage Sav-age withdrew his attractions from the Syndicate?" Mr. Cort was asked. "Simply because It would not allow him the privilege It does Mrs. Flske of choosing where he would play. Ho insisted on his right to select trust houses where he chose, and Independent Independ-ent houses where he chose. They were Inclined to give him this privilege, privi-lege, hut other attractions whom thpy booked "raised a roar,' and they had to withdraw. The Savage attractions, therefore, are all with the Independents Independ-ents from now en." "Assuming that Klaw & Erlanger, tho heads of the, trust, were willing, would the Independents allow traveling travel-ing attractions to book trust houses in one 'city, and Shuberi houses la another?" "Certainly." was the response. "That Is the meaning of the open door policy. Tho time Is bound to come when traveling attractions will have the right to say where they want to play, trust or no trust One may prefer Mr Pyppr's house in Salt Lake and mine In Ocdeti. Another may prefer pre-fer the Colonial in Salt T-ake, and the trust house In Ogden. They should all haVe the right to go where they please. The end of the trust methods is in sight and it "will only be a short time before tho open' door policy prevails everywhere" Asked what he thought of tho announcements an-nouncements made by Klaw & Erlanger Er-langer to the effect that they would build houses in opposition to him in Portland and Seattle. Mr. Cort merely mere-ly laughed, and said that Klaw & Erlanger wptp not. In the habit of putting put-ting their good mney Into losing ventures ven-tures and he bad no fear whatever that they would.be able to Induce local lo-cal capitalists to erect opposition houses. This, h snld. was only ft part I of the game ofhlulT. |