Let The House Manager Do It!

Let Him, Did You Say! You Can’t Stop Him, For He’s a Hound For Punishment!

By Morris Jacobs*

I was asked to write a piece for our souvenir book. So what to write? I asked myself: "What’s the best way to get enough votes to elect me to the Board of Governors?" And the answer came in a flash…

Considering the fact that Brother Frank Smith is such a hard worker when it comes to grabbing ads for our book, and selling tickets for our raffle, and the way he perseveres when he wants something done… well, I felt the safest thing for me do is to endear myself to him and say something about managers – especially HOUSE MANAGERS. This I am certain will clinch things for me – and I am already taking bets on it.

For instance:

Who had to take care of the situation when the poor little lady died during the matinee performance at the theatre – the HOUSE MANAGER!

Who had a lighted cigarette flipped into his eye during an intermission – A HOUSE MANAGER!

What happens when a belligerent patron comes to the front door and demands his money back five minutes before the end of the play because he "couldn’t see and hear?" Who has to handle this sort of thing? – the HOUSE MANAGER!

If anyone ever says the House Manager doesn’t have to do a job, that person is berserk. Especially in a spot like this: during a performance one evening one of the better class patrons (a man) became ill during the performance because he had one too many. He elected to get sick right down the back of the lady sitting in front of him… A nice situation, eh? Well, we dragged the guy to the men’s lounge and after proper apologies to the lady – plus a perfect cleaning job on the part of the show’s wardrobe mistress on the woman’s dress, (We also gave her some complimentary tickets to see the play again), the incident was closed. And thus another diplomatic triumph was recorded by a house manager. I could go on like this for pages, but I’m afraid it would imply that the house managers are the only ones who have a job to do. Which, of course, isn’t so. All of us in the Union are trained in our respective tasks and all of us, believe me, are not easily replaced.

I happen to know, incidentally, what our members accomplished during the war in keeping shows moving from town to town what with the desperate railroading snags. I think they did a very wonderful job and proved what good teamwork between advance agent and company manager can really accomplish. But did they ever get the credit they deserved? MAYBE…

I know what money has been saved for the producers because of the little tricks the road agents pull in connection with railroading. I personally feel that our brother members who have to go on the road to earn their livelihood deserve a great vote of thanks for the wonderful job they have always done and will continue to do.

The company managers have their lot to contend with. They are the ones who have to make settlements, meet payrolls, pay railroad fares, take good care of their stage crews and musicians AND ACTORS… all on the move while they are on tour. A couple more hands and hours in the day might help.

And whatever goes for the boys on the road applies to all the boys in New York. I know what it is (and so do the New York Press Agents) to have to coddle some of the actors who enjoy the importance and rank that put them in a position to demand a little extra service…

All in all I think we’ve got a wonderful organization of ladies and gentlemen and I think a lot of my fellow brothers think the same.

Special mention must be made here in connection with our Welfare Fund that means so much to us all. Many organizations ten times the size of ours cannot do what we are ready and willing to do for our own without any red tape to clutter up the works.

I know we’re a fine Union, in a business we all love… because There’s No Business Like Show Business!

*This article originally appeared in ATPAM's 1948 Benefit for Welfare Fund Souvenir Book