Life, 1909-12-23 · page 7 of 28
Life — December 23, 1909 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes **Mr. Erlanger**, a powerful theatrical producer who controlled the Theatrical Trust—a monopolistic syndicate dominating American theater. The text criticizes the Trust's control over independent theaters and playwrights. **The upper cartoon** shows Santa Claus with a child, captioned "I guess Santa Claus only remembers girls with fancy stockings"—likely mocking selective favoritism. **The lower image** appears to be the first published photograph of Santa Claus from Life magazine, as noted in the caption. The main article attacks Erlanger for using the Trust's power to boycott theaters, blacklist actors, and control which plays get produced. A Reverend Mauze from St. Louis had criticized the Trust's "mercenary" control. The satire suggests Erlanger lacks sufficient influence over the Presbyterian Church to silence the criticism—a dig at his limited power in certain domains.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
*ETPE* “'T GUESS SANTA CLAUS ONLY REMEMMERS GIRLS WITH FANCY STOCKINGS.”* Joke on Mr. Erlanger A\ St LOUIS parson named Mauze has been preaching a sermon about the Theatrical Trust. The St. Louis Republic says: Discussing what he termed the slime and stench and stupidity of the present stage, he stigmatized the Theatrical Trust as “mercenary leeches who control and are respon- sible for these conditions.” “Brains,” he declared, “are not an asset of this firm. It has gained its absolute domination of the stage by force and intimidation. Bulldozing local managers, who now simply take the shows sent to them and do their best to draw crowds; boycotting weak newspapers, robbing critics of their livelihood, browbeating playwrights, blacklisting actors, they have frozen out the independent managers with the competitive scheme of old. “The independent manager, or the plain-spoken play- wright, or the fearless actor is more of a rarity than the anti-trust dealers in oil, beef, sugar or coal. The manager, the playwright, or the ‘actor who does not crook his knee to the man who loves to be known as the Napoleon of the stage must pay the penalty of being boycotted. “In this scheme the new playwright is an atom com- pared with the press agent. The thousand ways by which he fools the public has raised the craft of the press agent far above the art of the dramatist. The chorus girl who gets her picture printed often by cutting strange capers and being the talk of the lobster palaces ranks above the actor who is content to stand on his merits in the perform- ance This stuff is put on the stage not because people want it, but because the depraved taste of the theatrical syndi- cate thinks the public ought to demand it that their pockets may be filled. “The chief explanation for the blight which has stricken the dramatic art of our country is the work of the cheap 911 and shori-sighted crew who dominate the drama through the Theatrical Trust, the incompetents who have the arro- gance and effrontery to say that the play is not art, but commerce, with neither education nor morality as its aim.” It is said that Mr. Erlanger was not pleased with these remarks and that when they were called to his attention he indulged in some top-lofty talk about suing the preacher for slander. The Reverend Mr. Mauze evidently belongs to the church militant, for the Erlangerian threats only stirred him up to calling Mr. Erlanger’s attention to the existence might easily be of certain ordinances in St enforced and which would cut off quite a flow of dollars to the Trust treasury. The joke on Mr. Erlanger is that he hasn't enough in- fluence in the Presbyterian Church to drive Mr. Mauze out Louis whic IT GIVES US PLEASURE TO PRESENT OUR READERS WITH THE FIRST PICTURE OF SANTA CLAUS EVER TAKEN FROM LIFE. of his job. He doesn’t advertise in the Presbyterian Church, so he can’t threaten to cut off his advertising. He could not successfully exclude all Presbyterians from his theatres. He couldn’t very well build opposition Presby- terian churches to compete with those already in business. He can't black-list their preachers and deprive them of their means of livelihood. His political alliance with Tam- many leaders can hardly be made effective against the Presbyterian Church. And he can hardly expect the Jewish race in America to boycott the Presbyterian Church on the ground that it is Jew-baiting Mr. Erlanger. comicbooks.com