CHAPTER XII.
FRANK IS GIVEN A PART.
A few weeks later Frank was startled by a request to take a part himself owing to the illness of one of the actors. The request came from the stage-manager of the “Empire Theater Comedy Company,” which was, in fact, the reorganized “All-Star Combination,” formerly on the road playing a “modernized version” of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” This play was now simply one of the numerous pieces in the repertory of the reorganized company, the donkey and the bloodhounds being relegated to the background for the time being, although the famous “Gold Band” was retained in all its glory.
Barnaby Haley believed in the efficacy of a band of music to draw spectators in small cities and country towns. He rated it next to “paper” in the general run, and even better in some cases.
As for “paper,” three of the pieces in the repertory were “old stand-bys,” and “stock paper” could be obtained for them from any of the big eastern theatrical printing houses.
Haley had retained his grip on the management of the company, although obliged to take in a partner. The partner was the “angel” who saved the company from going to pieces. His name was Zenas Hawkins, a man with theatrical ambitions, who had “money to burn.” Haley was helping him burn it.
Haley realized that “Uncle Tom” had been done to death through the section of the country he was in, and so the reorganized company prepared to put on several other pieces.
Some of those plays they could obtain legitimately. Others were secured from a certain company of “pirates,” located in Chicago, who boasted that they could supply any dramas on the American or English stage.
These plays were secured by the “pirates” with the assistance of expert shorthand writers, who were hired to attend them and take down the lines as spoken by the different actors. From these shorthand notes typewritten manuscript copies of the plays were made, and sold for sums ranging from five to twenty-five dollars, to such unscrupulous managers as cared to purchase and use them.
Of course, this traffic in stolen property was unlawful. The manager who purchased and produced the play was committing a crime, but, until recently, the penalty was simply a fine, usually insignificant when exacted, and the manager could jump on to some other part of the country and go right ahead playing the piece. In nine cases out of ten he would not have money enough to pay the fine, and it cost the rightful owners of the piece more trouble and money to prosecute him than they could afford, as such prosecution seldom or never interfered more than temporarily with the pirating of the play.
Under the amended copyright law of 1895, however, any manager unlawfully presenting a play is liable to a fine of not less than one hundred dollars for the first performance and fifty dollars for each subsequent performance; and offenders who fail to pay the fines imposed may be imprisoned upon order of the court.