director of nearly a score of agents who traveled about
with the various companies. He vitalized them with his enthusiasm. In
order to expedite their work, Charles and his brothers rented and
furnished a large house on Twenty-fourth Street near the theater. It was
in reality a sort of club, for a dining-room was maintained, and there
were a number of bedrooms. When the agents came to town they lodged
here. Charles, Gustave, and Daniel also had rooms in this house. A
dressmaking department was established on the premises where many of the
costumes for the road companies were made.

During these days Charles gave frequent evidence of his tact and
persuasiveness. Often when matters of policy had to be fixed and
discussed, the managers of out-of-town theaters would be called to New
York. It was Charles's business to take them in hand and straighten out
their troubles. They would leave, feeling that they had got the best
"time" for their theaters and that they had made a friend in the
optimistic little man who was then giving evidence of that uncanny
instinct for road management that stood him in such good stead later on.

With his usual energy Charles was interested in every phase of the
Madison Square Theater. Frequently, accompanied by Wesley Sisson, who
succeeded Daniel Frohman during the latter's occasional absences from
the theater, he would slip into the balcony and watch rehearsals. He sat
with one leg curled under him, following the scenes with keenest
interest. More than once his sharp, swift criticism helped to smooth
away a rough spot.

He impressed his personality and capacity upon all who came in contact
with him. It was said of him then, as it was said later on, that he
could sit in his little office and make out a forty weeks' tour for a
company without recourse to a map. In fact, he carried the whole
theatrical map of the country under his hat.

* * *

In the strenuous life of those Madison Square days came some of Charles
Frohman's closest and longest friendships.

The first was with Marc Klaw. It grew out of play piracy, the inevitable
result of the theater's successes. Throughout the country local managers
began to steal the Madison Square plays and put them on with
"fly-by-night" companies. Since they were unable to get manuscripts of
the play, the pirates sent stenographers to the theater to copy the
parts. These stenographers had to sit in the dark and write
surreptitiously. In many instances, i