"The International Jew" Study Hour - Episode 34

Feb. 14, 2013

Hadding Scott and Carolyn Yeager  read and comment on Chapter 29: "The Rise of the First Jewish Theatrical Trust."

Jewish immigration to the United States between 1880 -1900, particularly heavy from Russia, coincided with the Jewish intent to monopolize the communication and education industries, including the Theater.  As early as 1896, certain New York Jews had combined forces to create a  “Theatrical Trust” that controlled 37 theaters in strategic cities. At the time of a lawsuit against the Trust in 1907, it was said they controlled 500 of the 600 most prominent theaters! Outside the Trust, the managers and companies were left to make arrangements between each other, which had a disastrous effect on the artistic quality of theater.

The Trust boosted royalties on plays from $50 to $450 and eventually to $1,000 a week. This of itself cut off the material of the stock companies with which the independent managers endeavored to keep open their houses. The artists organized serious opposition to the Trust, but the Trust lawyers sought out their weaknesses, and one by one, they deserted. Finally, only Mrs. Fiske (shown above right in 1896) was left to carry on the fight with her husband, Harrison Grey Fiske, editor of the New York  Dramatic Mirror. Mrs. Fiske said of the Jews of the Trust, “The incompetent men who have seized upon the affairs of the stage in this country have all but killed art, ambition and decency.”

Note: We are using the Noontide Press publication of  The International Jew — The World’s Foremost Problem which can be found online here as a pdf file.