University of Northern Iowa
Financing the National Theatre
Author(s): James S. Metcalfe
Reviewed work(s):
Source: The North American Review, Vol. 180, No. 579 (Feb., 1905), pp. 198-209
Published by: University of Northern Iowa
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FINANCINGTHENATIONALTHEATRE.
BY JAMES S. METCALFE.
Six million dollars is the sum required sufficiently to endow a
National Theatre and its dependent institutions. But, before ex
plaining why this is the amount required, and before going into
a consideration of how it may be obtained, it will be well to dis
cuss briefly the necessity for such a theatre, and to determine
whether it is a practicable idea or only a dream of visionary
enthusiasts.
The objects of this endowment would be:
1. To construct in New York a theatre-building which shall
be (a) an architectural ornament to the city; (b) safe; (c) com
fortable; and which (d) shall possess on its stage all the modern
accessories for the perfect presentation of any play;
2. Gradually to form and perfect the best and most thoroughly
trained company of English-speaking actors in the world;
3. To acquire gradually a repertory of the standard plays in
English, both classic and modern, and to present them in the best
manner and with the nearest possible approach to artistic perfec
tion;
4. To encourage American literature by giving production to
adequate plays by American authors;
5. To choose, under scholarly advice, the best standard of pro
nunciation of our language, so that the usage of the National
Theatre shall be a recognized authority and the preserver of pure
speech;
6. To establish, in connection with the theatre, a conservatory,
in which shall be taught the elements of acting, including elocu
tion, pantomime, fencing, dancing and kindred necessities of the
art;
7. To establish, in connection with the theatre, a library which
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FINANCING THE NATIONAL THEATRE. 199
shall not only be of value to the theatre in making correct stand
ards in details of scene and costume, but which shall be available
for American dramatists and writers on dramatic subjects;
8. To set a correct and artistic standard which shall be a con
tinual incentive to the improvement of dramatic art in America.
Taking these objects seriatim, the first represents conditions
which should be characteristic of every theatre, but unfortunately
are not; for a National Theatre they would be necessities. It
would be fitting to a permanent and representative theatre that it
should, both inside and out, be impressive and exemplify the
best?not necessarily the most elaborate or costly?architectural
art of our day. Safety and comfort would be essentials, and its
stage would also, of necessity, be equipped and arranged for per
fection in the smallest detail work, as well as for the greatest
impressiveness in spectacle.
The next object, the forming of a perfect company, opens up a
wide vista of argument, and includes the further object of the
establishment of a conservatory, teaching all the things which
aid in the art of expression, such as elocution, pantomime, dancing
and fencing. The formation of the first company of the Na
tional Theatre would have to be from present acting material and
in competition with the purely commercial theatres. These last
would, of course, hold out higher inducements to actors in the
way of immediate pecuniary return. On the other hand, the Na
tional Theatre, with its permanency, its higher ideals, its standard
of fair-dealing and its rewards based only on artistic accomplish
ment, would hold out inducements which would win the alle
giance and the loyalty of true artists and actors of the better class.
Later on, the company would be recruited from the theatre's own
conservatory. Maintained by the endowment, this conservatory
would be under no obligation to accept pupils from mercenary
motives. It would extend its training to persons with the natural
qualifications and dramatic instinct, many of whom are now de
barred from acquiring the education which would make them
finished actors instead of the half-equipped performers we so
often see. It cannot be doubted that a company so recruited
would go on and on toward a higher degree of excellence, until
the object of having in America
"
the best and most thoroughly
trained company of English-speaking actors in the world
"
would
eventually be attained.
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200 THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW.
The repertory of the National Theatre would at first naturally
be drawn from the existing stores of classic and semi-classic
plays. In some quarters, a fear has been expressed that the stage
of the National Theatre would be given over exclusively to Ibsen,
Maeterlinck, Hauptmann, D'Annunzio and other modern writers
who have a limited following of enthusiasts. With Shakespeare
and the classics to draw on, and besides these a long line of minor
dramatic writers reaching down to our own time, it is not to be
believed that a rational management of a National Theatre would
give over its facilities completely, or even to any great extent,
to the adherents of any one class of writers.
Dreariness and unattractiveness are also prophesied as likely
to characterize the repertory of the National Theatre, with its
artistic ambitions. This is as much as to say that what is artis
tic and of high merit would necessarily be disagreeable. It must
be confessed that, if the National Theatre is expected to present
plays which will compete with the horse-play, evanescent jokes
and frequent lubricity of some commercial theatres, the expecta
tion would be disappointed. Outside of scholarly tragedy, which
would interest from the perfection and impressiveness of its
presentation, there are unlimited stores of lighter dramas and
comedies, many of them of contemporary interest, which are
worthy of the highest artistic effort, and which would fall well
within the province of a National Theatre.
The life, manners, tragedy and humor of our own time would
find their way to the stage of the National Theatre through an
other avowed object of its proponents. The encouragement of
the American author, of course as a subsidiary and by no means
exclusive idea, should at times bring to its boards fresh material
of rapidly increasing excellence. The commercial manager is
debarred, by the great cost of their production, from making ex
periments with plays by authors untried in dramatic writing.
Although this is the most remunerative field of literary work, our
best writers do not enter it because of their fear that they cannot
answer the demand of the commercial manager for material
which shall surely appeal to the great multitude. The writer who
is dependent on his pen, and who has a fixed market for his wares,
is not tempted to work on the chance of satisfying such a demand.
The National Theatre would naturally require a technical
library for the use of its own stage-managers, artists, designers,
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FINANCING THE NATIONAL THEATRE. 201
costumers and pupils. There can be little doubt that this would
in time grow to become an institution of great value to every one
in America working for, or interested in, dramatic art. Its value
is so obvious, and its support would come from so many sources,
that it could not help growing into an institution of large im
portance. In fact, it would seem that to-day a public dramatic
library could be easily and successfully established as a separate
enterprise, later on to be connected with the National Theatre
when the latter shall have become a fact instead of a hope.
Two objects remain for comment, and it is a question which is
the more important; these are, first, the creation in the National
Theatre of a standard of acting and theatrical production which
shall be the highest possible, and by example raise the standard
of every other theatre in America; next, the insistence in the
National Theatre on such purity of pronunciation and diction in
the use of our language that its usage shall be authoritative and
preserve our language from the corruptions which assail it on
every side. The stage stands for so much in the teaching of
speech and mariners by example that it seems a high duty of the
American people to establish for it the highest possible standard.
As a teacher in these things it certainly ranks above the churches,
and almost as certainly above the schools, with their varied stand
ards. It is doing its work every week of the year and almost
every day of the week. It should have a fixed standard, derived
from the very best authorities. If we leave this tremendous influ
ence in the hands of the ignorant and the uncultured, we are
neglecting a most potent instrument of national culture and im
provement to let it become an influence against, instead of for,
refinement and good manners.
The above shows in brief detail what a National Theatre seeks
to accomplish. Broadly speaking, does there exist any necessity
for providing the six million dollars which shall make the National
Theatre an actuality ? To any one acquainted with the tendencies
of the commercial theatre, there can be but one reply: that it is
a vital necessity in the life of the American people; that no
where else can a sum so small, compared with other expenditures
for educational purposes, be used with the promise of securing
such far-reaching benefits. Naturally, only a small proportion of
our great population would ever witness its performances, but its
influence would be felt in every theatre in the country, and from
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202 TEE WORTH AMERICAN REVIEW.
them would extend into the every-day life of all the people. No
university and no group of universities, with endowments vastly
exceeding that required for a national theatre, can reach as
speedily and with such immediate educational effect into every
part of our national life. The tendency of the theatre to-day is
downward; downward in its literature, in its morals, in its man
ners, in its arts, and in its speech. We are an easy-going people,
and in our amusements take things as they are provided. To-day,
money-getting is the main motive which animates the purveyors
of our theatrical entertainment. Until there can be set for our
theatres a higher standard than that based chiefly on money-get
ting, we must expect the downward tendency to continue. An en
dowed National Theatre would set that standard.
Why are six million dollars necessary for the endowment of a
National Theatre, when commercial theatres are successfully
capitalized on a much smaller basis? For the simple reason that
the commercial manager is willing to gamble on the chances of
temporary success (and often fails), and the National Theatre
seeks to become a permanent institution. It cannot take the risk
of being destroyed by a failure, or a succession of failures,
especially in the early days of its existence when failures, in the
commercial sense, are naturally to be expected. An endowment
of six million dollars does not in any way mean the expenditure
of that amount. In fact, it would remain virtually untouched in
the hands of its trustees. Kegarded as an investment of somuch
capital, there is no reason to believe that it might not eventually
earn a handsome return. For instance, the net profits of the
Comedie Francaise for 1903 were $130,000.
The amount of six million dollars is reached after careful
computation of what is needed to place a National Theatre on a
secure basis of permanency, and to supply an income to carry it
through its stages of experiment and imperfection. It could not
be expected to come into the world Minerva-like. Complete artis
tic perfection is not achieved instantly, and the first years of the
National Theatre, while showing a vast improvement on present
methods, would, from the very condition of dramatic art as it is,
fall short of the accomplishment it would eventually reach.
The National Theatre would have, first of all, to be adequately
housed and within the reasonable access of its patrons, as well as
in a location where it would be of value as a public ornament.
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FINANCING THE NATIONAL THEATRE. 203
A careful estimate of the cost of site, of the erection of the theatre
itself, of preliminary expenses in the way of administration, and
for interest lost during the process of building, would make the
cost of a well-located, perfectly and artistically constructed
theatre, turned over ready for use, amount to twelve hundred
thousand dollars.
The annual fixed charges of operating such a theatre, regard
less of the salaries of a company and the cost of the actual pro
duction of plays, have been carefully figured on the basis of
similar disbursements in existing theatres, and amount to seventy
thousand dollars a year. This includes such salaries as those of a
director and assistant director, stage-managers, musicians, busi
ness assistants, doorkeepers, ushers, electricians, carpenters,
scene-painters, costumers, wardrobe-keepers, property-men, engi
neers, firemen, stage-hands and watchmen. It is only fair to say
that this expenditure of seventy thousand dollars includes yearly
salaries, and implies that the theatre is playing a full season. In
the beginning of its existence, before its repertory was a large
one, the season would, of necessity, be short, and there would be
some reduction in this amount.
The yearly cost of the conservatory has to be estimated, and it
is believed that twenty thousand dollars is a very generous
amount for this purpose and would secure the highest class of
instruction. That the amount is excessive, rather than scant,
seems reasonable when it is considered that in many cases the
cost of instruction could be reduced by utilizing the services of
highly qualified persons employed in the theatre in other capaci
ties.
The sum of twenty thousand dollars a year is allowed for taxes,
repairs and insurance. On a fire-proof building the insurance
rate would not be high; ordinary repairs would be taken care of
by the salaried mechanics of the theatre, and it would not be
too much to ask the State and City of New York to lighten the
burden of taxation on an institution not run for profit and of
such great educational value to the people at large, as well as of
value in fixing New York's position as the metropolis of Amer
ica.
The expense of maintaining an adequate company must also be,
for the most part, estimated. Eventually, the salaries of the
members of the company of the National Theatre would be based
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204 THE WORTH AMERICAN REVIEW.
on yearly engagements, and a generous estimate makes the salary
list something under one hundred and twenty-five thousand dol
lars a year. This provides for no exaggerated payments to stars.
As the National Theatre would claim its superiority on the excel
lence of its ensemble work, the star would not be essential to its
existence. This does not necessarily mean that the greatest artists
would not be seen upon its boards, but this would be by special
arrangement, which would not be considered in planning the
theatre's business.
The cost of the production of plays would vary in each case
with their character. It goes without saying that the productions
at the National Theatre should be the best that could be given,
in each ease the expenditure not being expenditure simply for
expenditure's sake, but for producing impressiveness, spectacular
effect, artistic detail and historical accuracy, as might be required.
The number of yearly productions would, at first, be limited by
the income from the endowment, unless the patronage of the
public should enable the management to go beyond that limit. As
a tentative proposition, it is supposed that, in the first year of its
existence, the theatre would make four productions, one at a cost
of thirty thousand dollars, one at twelve thousand, one at seven
thousand and one at five, making a total of fifty-four thousand
dollars. In its second year, it would have these four plays in its
repertory and could produce four others, thus from year to year
increasing its repertory, lengthening its season and increasing its
gross income.
We have, then^ as a reasonable and safe basis of annual expendi
ture for the maintenance of a National Theatre, the following
items and total:
Fixed expenditures .$ 70,000
Salaries of company. 125,000
Taxes, insurance and repairs
. 20,000
Expenses of conservatory
. 20,000
Cost of four productions_. 54,000
Total.$289,000
After defraying the cost of land and building, we have left, of
the six million dollars endowment, four million eight hundred
thousand dollars. Invested at four per cent, this would yield
$192,000, leaving $97,000 to be provided for by sales of tickets.
If the endowment fund could be safely invested at 4% per cent.,
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FINANCING THE NATIONAL THEATRE. 205
the amount to be made up by sales of tickets would be reduced to
$73,000.
On the small expectation that the four productions of the first
year would provide a season of only twelve weeks, with total re
ceipts of sixty thousand dollars?very far from an extravagant
estimate?an actual deficit of only thirty-seven thousand dollars
would be carried over. With a repertory of eight plays and a
longer season, the second year should not increase the deficit;
and it would seem very bad management if, out of eight produc
tions, one at least should not be sufficiently successful in the
commercial sense to wipe out the deficiency, allowing the third
season to start with a considerable repertory and the prospect of
a season which should return a profit.
It will not be difficult to criticise these figures; but, wherever
it has been possible, they have been drawn from existing condi
tions; wherever they are only estimates, the estimates have been
made on the safe side. A shrinkage or an excess in one item may
be offset by an excess or a shrinkage in another. In many ways,
economies will be possible which are not shown here, and which
may be practised without in any way interfering with the excel
lence of the general result. In the productions of an endowed
theatre, extravagant display need not be counted on as an attrac
tion, although it will be a necessity to make large expenditures
inmounting some plays, to give their settings the needed impress
iveness.
Having shown briefly what are the objects sought to be achieved
in the endowing of a National Theatre, and what that endowment
should yield to fortify the institution against failure, it may be
well to show why the same results cannot be obtained by the com
mercial theatre. The same complexity which has entered into
modern life in other matters has affected the theatrical art more
strongly than it has other arts. With the same expenditure for
painty and canvas, the painter of to-day can produce, if he has
the genius, as great a picture as could Raphael or Titian. This
also holds good with music and sculpture. But the dramatic
author and the actor find themselves confronted with demands,
in the presentation of their art, which did not exist when
audiences were content to sit in barnlike structures, and see
plays presented amid crude surroundings and in most primitive
settings. The increased requirements of the theatre-going public
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206 TEE WORTH AMERICAN REVIEW.
have made the commercial manager a greater necessity, and the
art itself of less importance, than formerly. The housing and
staging of plays have become almost the most important thing in
their production. Business ability has come to be of even greater
importance than genius. Business competition has made the
business man more powerful than the actor and author combined.
These latter to-day cannot exist without the former; but the
former, if he cannot make terms with the actor and author of the
highest ability, can find others less gifted who suit his commer
cial purpose practically as well. The result is apparent to any
one, especially in America, where the business of managing
theatres and producing plays has become in effect a business
monopoly. Our theatres are increasing in number, in magnifi
cence and in cost. Stage mechanics are improved and elaborated
in possibilities and expense. On the other hand, dramatic authors
and actors and plays of the best class are yearly becoming scarcer
and scarcer. Art does not thrive in the cruel atmosphere of
business and money-getting. We hear that art which is*worth
while will push itself to the front, no matter what the circum
stances. The history of the world shows that, in periods of mili
tary, religious, or commercial activity, this has not been true.
Certainly, it has not been true in the case of dramatic art.
The great question of where to secure the six million dollars to
endow a National Theatre comes next. When one considers the
value of the institution as an educator, and remembers that educa
tion is the great conservator of our nation, one might think that,
with a people which is enormously rich, individually and collect
ively, and which claims to be a practical people, this would be a
question easily answered. The first thought would be that the
Nation or the State would gladly assume the comparatively small
burden. This is as unlikely to occur, as it would be unfortunate
if it did. In our politics, partisanship and demagogism cut too
large a figure to make governmental interference desirable in
matters where education, taste and refinement should be control
ling influences. Joseph Jefferson put this concisely when he said
that it would hardly do to have a National Theatre when we
would have only Republican actors under one administration and
Democratic actors under another.
Those millionaires who have shown themselves ready to supply
endowments in large amounts have been the next source thought
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FINANCING THE NATIONAL THEATRE. 207
of, from which should come this great public benefit. Unfortu
nately, those millionaires who have shown this disposition are
hounded to death and have slight patience to investigate the
merits of new channels of beneficence. But there are other mil
lionaires who could provide this endowment out of hand, and al
most without feeling it One would think that the certainty that
by establishing such an institution he would send his name down
to posterity as its founder, would appeal to some one of these.
Because of early religious training in which the theatre was con
sidered an influence for evil only, and because of a certain un
savoriness which has sometimes attached to the connection of
rich men with the stage, and perhaps because the matter has never
been properly presented to the right man, none of these has yet
made his views heard in the matter.
The six million dollars which will endow this theatre, it should
be remembered, are not to be expended for the purpose of running
a theatre, thus to be scattered and disappear. The only part of
the endowment which would be actually expended is that which
would go into land and building, things which would be valuable
and permanent in themselves. The remainder would be invested
and kept intact, only its income being used for the deficiencies of
the institution. This income would certainly be needed at first,
and it should always be available in case the theatre should fall
into periods of unwise or mistaken management. After the
theatre's early years, when its repertory became large and its
company a thoroughly trained one, there can be no doubt that
what would be the best theatre in America would become self-sus
taining and even profitable. At that time there could be no objec
tion to returning the surplus and unneeded income to those who
had provided the endowment, to their heirs, or to their assigns.
A plan to secure an endowment of the National Theatre must dis
regard the Government and the individual millionaire. But it
seems not impossible that there are in America enough persons of
large means and enlightened patriotism to furnish by association
the insurance fund necessary.
A rough plan has been made of a suitable theatre which shall
contain, in part of its auditorium, fifty comfortable boxes ar
ranged in two tiers, and an estrade containing one hundred
especially roomy chairs, all possessing equally good views of the
stage. These boxes and seats are reached immediately from a
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208 THE ^0RTU AMERICAN REVIEW.
large and impressive foyer reserved exclusively for their occu
pants.
These fifty boxes and one hundred estrade chairs, in a manner
to be discussed further on, would form the basis for the endow
ment of the theatre. In addition to them, there would be from
five hundred to a thousand orchestra chairs, more roomy and
comfortable than those to be found in the commercial theatres;
similar seats in the first gallery, immediately over the upper tier
of boxes; and others in a second gallery. From this generous
seating capacity, it might be thought that the plan calls for an
extremely large, and therefore barnlike, theatre. On the con
trary, a theatre built on this plan would bring the entire audience
close to the stage, making the work of the actors easy, and would
be admirably arranged, in seeing and hearing properties, for the
audience in every part of the house. As an educational scheme,
the National Theatre must furnish good seats at moderate prices
for a large part of its constituency, and this would be very
feasible under the plan proposed. The upper foyer, for box
holders, and the lower one, for the use of the audience from the
other parts of the house, would be foyers in the European sense
of the word, and with convenient access to the auditorium would
attract the entire audience between the acts.
In making boxes and seats a basis for subscription to the
endowment, it is with a thorough understanding that a box at
the opera has uses which could never go with a box at any
theatre. One can sit through frequent repetitions of a musical
work, because the enjoyment of music is a more sensual pleasure
and one which can be enjoyed over and over again. Bearing in
mind that the necessities of a theatre call for runs of plays of
some duration, and that a box-owner would not care to use it
very often during the run of a play, it is proposed, in order to
make the ownership of boxes and estrade chairs attractive, that
they shall be held on the following basis:
1. That the owners shall be entitled to their boxes or chairs on
the occasion of all first presentations;
2. That, at any other time when they shall wish to do so, they
shall have the right to use them for themselves or friends;
3. That when owners shall not indicate that they wish to use
their boxes or chairs, the same shall be placed on sale to the
general public, the proceeds to be set apart and, when the theatre
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FINANCING THE NATIONAL THEATRE. 209
shall have paid its running expenses, to be divided on an Equitable
basis among the subscribers to the endowment.
The crux of this plan to secure an endowment for a National
Theatre lies in the possibility of securing fifty subscriptions of one
hundred thousand dollars each and one hundred subscriptions of
ten thousand dollars each, not an extravagant possibility in this
country of many large fortunes. Each subscription would be
represented by a certificate transferable by assignment or bequest,
those for the larger amount representing the rights to a box, and
for the smaller, to one of the estrade chairs. In addition, these
certificates would represent the owner's right to a pecuniary re
turn on the subscription when the endowed theatre should show
an income exceeding its running expenses and the cost of its pro
ductions.
This return to their subscribers, or their heirs or assigns,
would eventually be a handsome one, but the appeal for subscrip
tions to the endowment must be based on a higher motive than
this expectation. With the endowment rigidly safeguarded, as it
would have to be, subscribers could be sure that their generosity
would insure to the American people, for all time, an educational
institution of the highest value and that it would be an enduring
monument to the public spirit and patriotism of its founders.
According to the census, in one year of the last decade three
hundred million dollars were expended upon schools, colleges
and other educational institutions. One-fiftieth of that amount
would endow a National Theatre. Its education, its influence in
purifying our speech and in refining our manners, would be felt
the country over and for all time, without distinction of creed or
cult. Is that not good education? Is it not education needed
in a country given over to absorption in the pursuit of material
things ? Is it not a practical idea ? And, above all, is it not a
patriotic idea, which should appeal to those who have found in
this country the opportunity to accumulate large fortunes and the
privilege to enjoy them ?
James S. Metcalfe.
vol. glxxx.?no. 579. 14
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