ThePosterThat Putthe Ban on

Rector ' s

?.. jf. ,Advertising a Lively Farce, j

It Was Displayed on the?Billboards All Over theCountry Strangers in.New York Got a WrongImpression as to the Char-acter of the Great Hotel,and Its Failure Followed.

ON the 29th of --.May Rector' 3.the company which conducted ;

the Hotel Rector at Broadway and

Forty-fourth street, New York City,

was forced into bankruptcy.

Within a few hcur3 after the publi-

cation of the news the failure of'thebig, luxuriously appointed hotel wasthe principal topic of conversation onthat part of Broadway known as the

Great White Way. For Rector's has

been a Broadway institution for morethan a decade.

. Why did it fail? was the question

on many lips. The answer was onalmost as many. The reason for the

poor business of the hotel had been an iopen secret for months?almost since

the opening of the hotel two and ahalf years ago.

The Hotel Rector, a fourteen-story

hostelry representing an investment

of over $3,oijo,ouu, was ruined by a

play. Of course there were minor [contributing causes, but it is an actual... . ...\u25a0'.. ,\u25a0.-... ' ;fact that the poor business done by ithe hotel was caused by Paul M. Pot-

ter's play, "The Girl From Rector's." ;For nearly ten years the restaurant j

conducted on Broadway near Forty-jsecond street by Charles li. Rector iwas the leading restaurant on Broad- jway. In fact, it even rivalled Sherry's jand Delmonico's, and its popularity ?was so great and its profits so large jthat its proprietor decided to build 'a

larger restaurant in connection with

a hotel. He obtained a six-year lease ;on the corner lot adjoining hi% res-,taurant site, which he had purchased. ;He bad D. H. Burnham, one of the!foremost architects in America, pre-

pare .plans for a fourteen-story struc-ture, the last word in hotel architec-ture. On all sides it was predicted

that the new Hotel; Rector would bethe gayest and most popular hotel onBroadway. That was in 1903.

ii

In the same year Paul M. Potter,the famous playright. adapted a jFrench farce from the pen of Pierre',Veber. which ran more than one thou- .sand nights in Pari* under the name j

;of "Loute." It was a very spicy French ;farce,, and in casting about for \u25a0\u25a0 an jAmerican name Potter hit upon the'title "The Girl from Rector's." . As,Rector's restaurant had a national...... .......... 1reputation this title ,was looked upon .ja3;a 'great stroke of; genius by Al.'Woods, the producer of the play. Thejprincipal character in the play?Loute jSedame?was "the.girl from Rector's." jAlthough a wife she was in love with;Richard O'Shaughnessy. a>. sporty;youth with no respect for the mar-riage tie. The play opened in the \!bachelor apartments of O'Shaugh-J\'i-s>4:- ;'?-.' ?' ? ' -."I

!nessy in New .York, where Loute. the :I girl from Rector's, is making herjhome, ? " '?' -\-j« The other scenes were laid nearJ Battle Creek, Mich., and led up to thejclimax in "French Charley's." a road-I house in the suburbs of Battle Creek.

! Though married only an hour.jO'Shaugnessy meets Loute there.IFour couples go to bed in the scene,| and when an alarm brings them from/ their rooms there is an elaborate dis-jplay of night dresses, flesh coloredj'tights, bare feet and pajamas.

"The Girl from Rectors* was first; produced in Trenton, N. J., where itjwas advertised as "a spicy salad with

J very little dressing." The police

jstopped it after one performance and|it came to Weber's Theatre on BroadIway, New York,With the reputation

Iof.being the naughtiest play ever pro-jduced. The police were on hand on !the,, opening night \u25a0 but it'-. did not jjshock them sufficiently to, cause any Iarrests. However, it did Rector's anjincalculable amount of-harm/ IfsuchIwomen as Loute Sedame came from( Rector's it must be a pretty place! thought thousands, unfamiliar withIRector's,. who. saw the piece.ii Of course many people who saw the|play on Broadway knew it had abso-]lutely no connection with Rector's res-Itaurant, but when it was played on| the road it began to do real damage.It was unusually popular outside ofNew York. Several road companies

itoured the country?stock companies« played it to crowded houses in scoresiof ; cities. Within \a year?beforejCharles Rector tore down his restau-jrant and erected his new hotel?thea-tregoers all over America were famil-

iiar . with "The Girl from Rector's."?Thousands who< had :not seen it knew ijof?it by -reputation. Gaudy posters" v of}!a girl in short skirts astride a bottlejof champagne or a lobster and labelled !"The Girl from Rector's," helped to'

\ give -the !public the impression that 1iRector's was about the gayest," giggliest.'| naughtiest place in little old-NewYork. ~

On the . last day of 1910 the NewHotel Rector opened its doors. .A gor-geous hotel; was disclosed. 1 ,Charles E.Rector.* one of the most popular men ;en Broadway and a man of twenty-five ?years' experience in the -hotel -and* res- ;taurant business, was in charge." as-sisted, by 'Fred. C. King, formerly of

' '£hei - Plaza. New York- City. - Charles [Peraudin, who presided over thekitchen at the old Rector's, was incharge of the cuisine.*' No ;?hotel" everopened with brighter prospects.

But the public stayed away. To besure the restaurant did a fair business,and in course of time the bar and grill

Dtcame-oue of the : most popular ren-Jdezyous for actors 'on Broadway. But!there was no demand for rooms.- Outof town visitors had Ino desire \u25a0 to;stop jat ? "Rector's"', and write home to? their jwives ::and " business acquaintanceswhere . they, -were.-, Rector' s^f-knit; of>New - York, at *' least?meant

, some-,thing naughty, to put it mildly. Per-Jhaps a "wife would forgive her hus-:band , for dining there once?but to;stop there overnight?if he did, he had |better .never come'home. > !'. \u25a0 """'-\u25a0 ''\u25a0'"". ? -' - \:..<: ,;\u25a0 \u25a0.. ".. 'i "- -V; . J

Charles; Rector everything /he]

could to get business. Certainly there jwas »no better cuisine, no handsomer jsurroundings. He cut prices, but still:the public stayed away. '/twoyears and five,months he kept up the'losing fight. Then on the 29th of May:he

, was forced into bankruptcy by

lurec creditors to wuoiu $442,787 wasowed. The Rector Hotel Company,*,

; owner of: the building, has taken pos-jsession - of the;- building,:! and. Charles'iRector, after ' sinking 'in - this \u25a0 venturemost ?of a fortune of 'over; a milliongathered in twenty-five years as a

Irestaurant man, is out of business andill at his. Seabright. N. J., home. ?/';\u25a0-/ There are % some who say,; the /steps'i; to? the jmain restaurant /on': Broadway

[ were responsible for the poor business j[done by the ;hotel. Some who say that \u25a0George Rector's separation from ; his

[father, caused many \ people to ; stayaway. 'A score of other minor jreasons

;are {given;:but there ;. is ho'- doubt that

! "The Girl;from Rector's" wrecked one;'of the finest hotels - ever erected In;!New York besides reducing a '"million'^aire to comparative poverty.

This is a reproduction of the poster advertising **The Girl From Rector's," whichwas displayed all over the United States and gave residents ofKansas City an JPittsburgh very fallacious ideas of the New York hotel.

STATEMENT BY WILLIAM A.MILL!GAS.

Mr. MilHgan itas the active mana-ger "of the Hotel Hector lor Mr.Charles E. Hector, He is how Mr.Hector's business representative.

The reputation of a hotel is veryranch like the *reputation of awoman?easily attacked and" ex-tremely difficult to defend. ThereIs no doubt that the play, "TheGirl from Rector's,"' was a verydamaging element to the successof the Hotel Rector. It pare thou-sands of people a faulty impressionof the hotel and it kept thousandsof out-of-town visitors from patron-izing us. Mr. Rector had hundredsof letters from friends urging himto protest against Hie use of: hisname, but his well-known affilia-tions with the theatrical professiondeterred him from, doing so. Henow realizes the mistakes of thiscourse. All our efforts to overcomethe effect of the notoriety given thehotel by that play have been futile.

ALMOSTCONFESSIONS

MarieCahill

Born inBrooklyn and Not Ashamed of It?Grown Up, She Became Mrs. Mooseof Musical Comedy?Married?and Happy?The First to Put Skirtson Chorus Girls* and Enjoys Sword-fishing.

.",» ' . -'- "..."" ..'" ". .'"'" ??'--. '

JUST imagine a blue-eyed angel, child in a., pinafore without.;: pins gamboling - over the greensward of; Prospect Park,?*" ?Brooklyn, with a lemon lollipop in one cheek and a rasp-

berry lollipop inthe other, trying to sing "Here We Go 'Roundthe Mulberry Bush," with no bush in sight. 'And think of me now. . - --..: - The lollipop! and ;I were introduced to Brooklyn about thename time. Dear old Brooklyn! home of the Superbas and JohnMcCooey, of the rubber plant and Tim-Woodruff's waistcoats!

'Brooklyn, the place of muh birth v ,Say what you; like about Brooklyn, Fulton street isn't as.

!crooked as Pearl and Bay Ridge isn't as crowded as; Harlem.

\u25a0 }Certain sweet lollipoppy high notes as I sang /'Here We Go

? 'Round the Mulberry '?: Bush" attracted, attention in the park.A kind lady said, "You have talent, child." "No, ma'am," Ireplied "Ihave a tummy ; ache." 5

i.C The next day I decided to become a prima donna and haveunexpected troubles with my pharynx and my larynx and my

'epiglottis and keep a nine-dollar atomizer hidden in the worksof my; piano arid have, a leading throat specialist explore thea-h-h-h region back of my wisdom teeth and charge me twenty

dollars every time be felt in doubt.* ' '?:7; Arid I crossed the bridge../ -

Iprima donnaed first on Broadway, in your fair city, at $12a week - for one continuous night. Not one unjust or severecriticism appeared in any paper the next daynot one. . Thefact is, I?cr ?wasn't exactly mentioned.. J-

The' stories |; told of the large and appreciative audience, ofthe ticket scalpers on the sidewalk, of a woman who mislaid herpocketbook, and some other important dramatic incidents; butit must have been pure spite that made each and every criticomit the shining name of Marie Cahill on the night ofher debut.vJ A bas! Littledid they know that Iwould live to see the day

when I would be the Mrs. Moose of musical comedy.

\u25a0 7 What with playing leading roles and rolling leading plays Ir have found time !to inaugurate certain reforms on the stage.

Reformers of the stage usually workfrom the outside, sometimesas far outside as Patchogue. L. 1.,or Boonton, N. J., but I did myreforming right under the flies.

I was the first star to conclude that musical comedy couldworry along without the "all together now, boys" chorus man-Having danced him off through the wings, I examined the pat-terns for the chorus girls' costumes. I found these costumeswere dainty little things, almost big enough to support a hookand eye. They didn't interfere with dancing a bit.

Still, it occurred to me that, owing to the prevalence ofbronchitis and rheumatism and considering the fact that audi-ences usually have their clothes on. chorus girls might with acertain degree of safety wear at least a garment or two.

Thereupon I put skirts on the chorus, thus flying in the faceof fate, as represented by the front row, but establishing aprecedent. It's the precedent that counts.

;\u25a0\u25a0 -Encores for hosierynever filled a bpx office and no matterhow fine it is just lingerie has never been booked for a hundred

! nights. ;:; . .\u25a0 '- - - '.'/ \u25a0ft** for clean shows, although I don't mind if they're a bit,

skittishwhoa, Nell!A. Imade my real first appearance inDaly's after-it had become

a moving picture house. One season I played the Bijou whenyou couldn't tell it from; a clothing store. When Wallack'swasn't expected to survive its relapse I played there.? As to myself personally littleneed be said. lam romanticallyfond of spaghetti, either with a fork or a spoon, and I have caughtsword and machete fish and malaria, having proper bait for each.

The only way to go for swordfish is with a hatpin. The codeduello says, "When the swordfish feints thrust the hatpin be-tween its life gill and the fourth scale from the right. If theswordfish throws up its fin it's finished."

Once, off Block Island, in a contest with a fish with as finea sword as any officer in the Twelfth Regiment' carries, I made

ta lunge and lost a handbag overboard. The bag contained myvisiting cards, a ball of silk yarn, some chewing gum and threedollars in small change. I also lost the swordfish and returned

.disheartened. v .The next day Iwent out again in a cozy catboat, determined

to get my cards back, never minding the change.After a run of ten knots I engaged a large adult fish. The

contest was ofshort duration and the fish was mine.That night when the swordfish's interior had been brought

to view Ifound my cards neatly stacked up in one section. Thechange had been spent at the beach. ; The yarn, by the skilfuluse of the fish's teeth working in harmony with the gills, had,with a constant weaving motion, knitted a fichu of exquisitepattern, into which my name \u25a0 had been worked in delicateseaweed. ,-'._, '-- '-1 ".

Iasked the fishermen if this was uncommon and they assuredv me that while they had never seen a pattern of just that kindthey came across watered silk every day when girls from theeight-dollar-a-day hotels were out " ,

-'In conclusion let me say that lam married. My husband'sname is Daniel V. Arthur. A woman should never forget herhusband's name, no matter- what happens. ?;-" -.Fierce Mrs. Spider Eat

j Her Husband.!JX GRUESOME light is shed upon the*"? habits of!the female spider by J.

jHenri Fabre, thejyecerable dean of en-jtomologists, in his new book, "The Life

;of a Spider." Nobody loves a spider,. and no one is likely to think any better;of it after reading this book.

I The \ male snider ;? lives In terror; he

1 has -no- rights at all. When he goes

; forth to woo he literally takes his lifelin his hands?or feet. Should he ap-proach/the female -spider, who is al-xways bigger, uglier and more ferociousjthan 'he, at an inopportune moment

J she/eats him on , the spot. , Should fhe? be/more; fortunate and his .attentions

:be : accepted oy * her, / their union isfraught with terror and dread, for it isonly a brief season of bliss * /lick is.certain to end in the, female fallingupon the male and devouring him.

Savage as she is to her mate thespider is assiduous in the performanceof/ her ; duties sto her young. Some ofthem make/silken bags in which tocarry/about their eggs, and many ofthem carry their babies about on theirbacks. But Mother Spider has no realmaternal affection, tor it"/'her bag;, ofeggs be; taken away and something elsebe substituted therefor she will carry itabout/with equal care;. And when herbabies are torn from her she displaysneither anger nor grief. Or the youngof other spiders may be substituted forher.own and she will not notice thechange.