Life, 1905-01-19 · page 21 of 38
Life — January 19, 1905 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page documents a legal dispute between *Life* magazine and **Abraham L. Erlanger**, a prominent Broadway theater producer and member of the "Theatrical Trust"—a monopolistic theater cartel controlling most American theaters. The main article describes Erlanger's alleged intimidation of the magazine's writer outside a courtroom, threatening physical violence ("I'll beat your face to a pulp") if they continued publishing his name. *Life* uses this incident to expose what it sees as Erlanger's autocratic abuse of power—acceptable within his theatrical empire but illegitimate in the public sphere. The satire targets theatrical monopolists who wielded disproportionate influence but expected immunity from press criticism. A secondary element addresses accusations that *Life's* criticism was antisemitic, which the editors deny, claiming they've opposed the Trust's methods, not its Jewish members' faith. The cartoons and brief jokes below appear tangential to this main controversy.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LTRES Fighting the public’s battles is a voluntary duty on ion; itis not a grateful one nor In the present case the fed with the approval the part of a public is it always apprec ated. publishers of Lure are satis sciences and with the endorsement of their own ¢ given to them by a learned judge and by twelve ot New York's best cit An incident in connection with the trial may be of interest to Live's readers, and certainly goes to up- hold Lure’s contention concerning the unfitness of the men who control most of the theatres of America. The jury had just left the court room and several of those in attendance on the trial were svanding in the corridor immediately outside of the court room Among these was the writer of the present article. Mr, Abraham L. Erlanger, one of the plaintiffs, approa door. y audi- him and ina ve ble voice made the following picturesque statement ; “Mr. Metcalfe, [ want you to understand that if you ever mention my name m your paper again, ll beat your ace toa pulp.” This was repeated, and then to it Mr. 1 added this furth “TM beat your fa anger interesting information : stoa pulp. aven't got ograph of vourself, you'd better get one, {ff vou be- phi cause when [ get through with vou, vou won't know vourscli. I. Abraham 1. others of his kind who are inclined to take the law into their own hands, that no ruffianly threats : begs to inform Mr. crlanger, an ising are going to deter this journal from exer rights and doing what it considers its duty readers and the public If in doing this, it be necessary to mention the name of Mr. EF ROADWAY Gottrocks. MANHATTAN ter with him? “He money to retire o that he’s care of i y v A Common Case. ‘Too bad started in to make and made so much yot to work overtime to ta Hopeless. fiv ISITOR AT INSANE ASYLUM: What is behind that iron door 75 any other public or notorious character, it will not hesitate to do so. Furthermore, it would become Mr, Erlanger to go off by himself and indulge in a little quiet thought. Among the people in his employ and with whom he does business he may use such methods and such violenc But he must remem- s they will endure, ber that in the larger world where his autocratic and tyrannical powers are not recognized, he is only a very ordinary individual and is amenable to the And he should aiso remember that no matter how successful laws of the community in which he lives. his methods have heen in the theatrical business. they will not prevail here and he cannot put Live out of b An effort the 1 Trust by + r that in 1 ctuated been made to make it appe: Theatric ter of Live's criticisms of the ind its methods, this journal has been a acial er anti-Semitic prejudice. That phase of the question has been repeatedly discussed in these We think it! contention has not been against the unworthy mem- ums, been made clear that our arded aith, imated to us that the course of this Lire has never re: tatives of the Jewish bers of the Trust as Jews. them as worthy represe It has been journal in tl ter has not been a cause of of- fence to the better class of Jews in this community. Lire begs the pardon of its readers for devoting The un- se much space to a person Eke Mr, Erlanger, incident: we have mentioned, however, is an usual one in the older and more civilized parts of this country, and in so far as it is an assault on the editorial freedom of this journal it is deemed to be Metcalfe. of interest to its readers. Finance " and *' Tne Si the same time. about old Why, what's the mat- ? Be I see in the suit by nd Erlanger Lire for one hundred thousand dollars, in which s rendered vor of I enough o a verdict: w: FE, that the jury was ou minutes. Griccs: What caused the delay? with the big padlock on it ? | ; gi Ault alata (EATS A COMPARATIVE EXHIGITION, there now tried Gvarp: That's where we keep the dangerous characters. to read UBURBAN life is so popular that it is really more expensive than living in the ci now becoming The man in “ Frenzied comicbooks.com