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THE NON-SYNDICATE SYNDICATE (participants denied it was a trust)
Klaw Erlanger Theatrical Consortium
In 1886 Marc Klaw, a former advance man, and Abe Erlanger, theatrical producer and manager,
formed a partnership to book theater performances. A decade later, another theater owner and booking agent, Al Hayman,
suggested a plan by which he would team up with Klaw and Erlanger Charles Frohman, Samuel
Nixon, and Fred Zimmerman--to produce a more reliable and profitable climate for their combined theaters.
They consistently denied that it was a trust but the
theater syndicate plan was leaked to newspapers in
1896. Though theater owners across the country came to feel forced to cooperate with what became known as the Syndicate, two,
Harry Powers and Will J. Davis, were delivered to the Chicago market in exchange for a piece
of the pie. Their power and authority within the organization, however, were probably commensurate with their ownership proportion.
By the early 1900s, the Syndicate controlled bookings at playhouses across the country, as well as performers and productions.
Some Syndicate measures involved common-sense
business practices that were good for the industry
had they been implemented fairly and with diplomacy
and flexibility. Instead, the Syndicate, represented
primarily by Erlanger and Hayman, was autocratic and
bullying, too often taking an our-way-or-take-a-hike
posture that enraged large segments of the industry,
particularly performers, laying the foundation for
legal troubles and the Syndicate's inevitable
demise. The Shubert brothers, Lee, Samuel, and
Jacob, decided to produce their own shows rather
than settling for what the Syndicate deigned to give
them. Shubert productions appeared primarily at
Shubert theaters, but not exclusively; nor did the
Shuberts demand that productions by others could
only play at Shubert theaters if Shubert was their
exclusive venue. The Shuberts found a cache of stars
who had been treated shabbily by the Syndicate,
happy to lend their skills to a less heavy-handed
organization. One of those was the popular Sarah
Bernhardt, who became a strong endorser for Shubert
productions.
By 1909 so many performers had jumped ship for the
Shubert team that the Syndicate was hard put to keep
shows running in its theaters. Further problems came
from negative attitudes created by the Iroquois
Theater fire and the public's impatience with
monopolies. Lastly, the Syndicate business model was based on large scale extravaganzas and was not able to adapt to the more modest vaudeville format.
During its go-go years, Syndicate productions
included Ben Hur,
The Ziegfield Follies, and The Jazz Singer. They also purchased costumes and sets for
productions that had been successful in Europe,
particularly from the Drury Lane
playhouse in London. These included Beauty and the Beast,Mother Goose,and Mr. Bluebeard.
1858 – 1936
When he couldn't find clients, attorney Marc Klaw
became an advance man for traveling theater
companies. With Abe Erlanger, he entered The
Syndicate with control of theaters in the South and
East regions. Check out this discussion by a great-grandson of Marc Klaw, John Tenney.
It contains an error about the Iroquois (no doors were
chained) but is remarkably detailed and a fun read. Tenney states that the Syndicate paid only minimal
restitution to Iroquois victims. If so, that is new
news. Every book and newspaper story, period or
contemporary, emphatically states that the only restitution was paid by Fuller Construction thus, ANY
restitution paid by the Syndicate has heretofore not
been revealed.
1848 – 1918
Samuel Nirdlinger used the last
name Nixon for business purposes. He was born
in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and left the Midwest to take
a job in a Philadelphia theater. Nixon and
Zimmerman began leasing theaters and graduated to
ownership. To The Syndicate, they brought
control of numerous theaters in large cities, as
well as expertise in managing theaters. His son, Fred Nirdlinger,
became a producer and agent until 1931 when murdered by his wife - who
was acquitted. His son, Samuel Nirdlinger, assumed control of the
Erlanger theater business.
1856 – 1915
When the Lusitania sank, one of
its wealthy and influential passengers was Charles
Frohman. As Marc Klaw was the salve to the
abrasiveness of his partner Abe Erlanger, Frohman
was the more personable side of the Frohman-Hayman
team. While Al Hayman concentrated on
financial activities, Charles Frohman concentrated
on production.
1844 – 1919
1903 – 1907 newspapers commonly referred to
Will J. Davisc as a member of the Syndicate, but it was such an
overstatement that it may have earned a chuckle from
actual members. I feel sure, however, that if not an
actuality, it was Will's aspiration. Davis spent
most of 1874 – 1890 as an advance man for
Jack Haverly so may have become acquainted with Klaw, Erlanger, and
Zimmerman long before he and Al Hayman co-owned the
Columbia Theater in 1890. The Syndicate needed a team in Chicago, and
Davis and Powers may have been the best candidates
available, although neither had the aggressiveness
of an Erlanger or Hayman. By most measurements, the
Syndicate's Illinois Theater completed two years
prior was well enough managed to justify confidence
in Davis managing the Iroquois as well.
1859 – 1930
Abe Erlanger's energy, ambition, and combativeness
were his most frequently mentioned positive
characteristics. The negatives filled newspaper
columns. As a boy in a struggling immigrant family
in Cleveland, Ohio, he had a variety of jobs,
including selling opera glasses and ushering at a
theater. Later he went to work as an advance man for
road companies and worked his way up to managing
theater houses. A discussion of Erlanger's early
life (see link at left) offers a glimpse at a small
man driven to win at almost any cost.
K&E's accountant, Meyer W. Livingston, was a close friend
of Abe's but at his death it was Sam Harris of Cohan &
Harris who
stepped in to help his widow.
1843 – 1925
Beginning his career as an
usher in a Cleveland theater, John Frederick
Zimmerman Sr. went on to spend time as an advance
man for road companies. Eventually, he teamed
up with Samuel Nixon to lease and own Philadelphia
theaters. They served up Philadelphia to The
Syndicate, as well as theaters in West Virginia and
Ohio.
1847 – 1917
A native of Wheeling, West Virginia, Raphael Al
Hayman learned the theater business as a protégé
managing theaters and road companies for M. B.
Leavitt in San Francisco, Australia, Mexico, and
Central America. His first big success came when he
and Charles Frohman produced Shenandoah.
He entered The Syndicate with control of West coast
theater bookings.
Like Erlanger, Hayman has been thoroughly demonized
for a century. He may have been as ruthless as
reputed, but it should also be noted that he raised
large sums for the Actor's Retirement Home and the
United Hebrew Charities.
1859 – 1941
In terms of day-to-day hands-on management of a theater
house,
Harry Powers had the most deeply vertical experience of the
Syndicate members. He started at Hooley's as a young
man and stayed there throughout his career,
eventually purchasing the theater and naming it
Powers Theater. In later years he purchased the Illinois and Blackstone theaters
in Chicago, and became a co-partner with Abe Erlanger in the Erlanger Theater.
In 1896 Will Davis and
Al Hayman had taken ownership of the newly constructed Century
Theater in St. Louis, naming it the
Hayman and Davis Century Theater. It was located in
the Century Block and managed by James J. Brady. In 1897
Davis defended the theater syndicate in an interview with the
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, denying that it was a trust (monopoly)*. Word of the planned syndicate had
leaked to the press a month earlier.
In January 1899, halfway through the Century Theater lease, Davis and Hayman sold
it, reporting that their interest in a St. Louis theater had
been based on a mistaken assumption that the city's population
(575,238) and interest in theater could sustain the two-week
run's needed by the syndicate for profitable scheduling of its
large-scale productions.
Syndicate opposition
Condemnation of Syndicate's practices appeared quickly but in insufficient numbers to deter K&E. Prominent among the
opposition was David Belasco, Joseph Jefferson, Richard Mansfield, Fanny Davenport, Nat Goodwin and James O'Neill. Francis Wilson and Mrs. Fiske
were among the most vocal detractors, their struggles described in Wilson's autobiography, Francis Wilson's Life of Himself, 1924 and Frank Carlos Griffith's biography about Mrs. Fiske,
Mrs. Fiske, 1912.
Discrepancies and addendum
* Davis's hair-splitting remarks in 1897 were in keeping with sentiments during the McKinley era that some trusts were bad and others good.
The Sherman Act passed seven years earlier had raised public awareness and anger but proved flawed when it reached the courts, making enforcement
difficult. With the election of Theodore Roosevelt in 1901, followed by president Taft, the law's limitations would be overcome and dozens
of monopolies were ended.
Stage property reduced to
glass chips to avoid import duties
Theater syndicate had big
plans for Chicago corner
Fairy tales on Broadway
1903 style
Other discussions you might find interesting
irqothertheaters irqcourt
Story 2661
A note about sourcing. When this
project began, I failed to anticipate the day might come when a
more scholarly approach would be called for. When my
mistake was recognized I faced a decision: go back and spend years creating source lists for every page, or go
forward and try to cover more of the people and circumstances
involved in the disaster. Were I twenty years younger, I'd
have gone back, but in recognition that this project will end when I do, I chose to go forward.
These pages will provide enough information, it is hoped, to
provide subsequent researchers with additional information.
I would like to
hear from you if you have additional info about an Iroquois victim, or find an error,
and you're invited to visit the
comments page to share stories and observations about the Iroquois Theater fire.
