Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 November 1883 — The Inspired Bill-Poster. [ARTICLE]

The Inspired Bill-Poster.

“I pay my bill-poster more than my leading man; he is a more important feature in the success of my show, and lam -willing to bet that my play is billed equal to Barnum’s circus. ” The words I quote literally from a so-called actor, who was gleaming in diamonds on Union Square. One hardly knows whether to laugh at the insult offered a noble profession or resent it. Anyhow, it seems high time to call attention to this nuisance and to point out the remedy It is important that we have more on the inside of the playhouse and less on the outside. I say, take these millions of dollars that are ■' thrown away on dead walls for the diversion of billygoats and small boys annually, and pay the legitimate actor instead of the bill-poster. Why cannot a legitimate show be run in this country as it is on the continent or in the provincial towns of the British empire ? It can be, and it must, sooner or later. ' For the people are already coming to seepretty clearly that the bigger the bills the smaller the play. And this is the remedy I advise: Some years ago, when in Brazil, an American show opened with flaming posters at the capital. “Where is the man who plays the scene on the yellow bill ?” “Oh! wal, that man, he’s sick,” draw led the American. “Produce your doctor’s certificate or return the people their money,” replied the Magistrate; “and consider yourself under arrest for obtaining money under false pretenses.” This is the law and the enforcement of it in Brazil. And I lay it down as the law here, that if any one is induced to go to any theater by the bills, and does not find in that theater all that is advertised on the bills, he can demand and must receive back his money any time. And not only that,, but it is his right, his duty, to have the swindling manager arrested and punished for obtaining money under false pretenses. This is a remedy I earnestly recommend.— Joaquin Miller.