The father of Edward Bok passed away when Edward was eighteen years of age, and it was found that the amount of the small insurance left behind would barely cover the funeral expenses.Hence the two boys faced the problem of supporting the mother on their meagre income.They determined to have but one goal: to put their mother back to that life of comfort to which she had been brought up and was formerly accustomed.But that was not possible on their income.It was evident that other employment must be taken on during the evenings.
The city editor of the Brooklyn Eagle had given Edward the assignment of covering the news of the theatres; he was to ascertain "coming attractions" and any other dramatic items of news interest.One Monday evening, when a multiplicity of events crowded the reportorial corps, Edward was delegated to "cover" the Grand Opera House, where Rose Coghlan was to appear in a play that had already been seen in Brooklyn, and called, therefore, for no special dramatic criticism.Yet The Eagle wanted to cover it.It so happened that Edward had made another appointment for that evening which he considered more important, and yet not wishing to disappoint his editor he accepted the assignment.He had seen Miss Coghlan in the play; so he kept his other engagement, and without approaching the theatre he wrote a notice to the effect that Miss Coghlan acted her part, if anything, with greater power than on her previous Brooklyn visit, and so forth, and handed it in to his city editor the next morning on his way to business.
Unfortunately, however, Miss Coghlan had been taken ill just before the raising of the curtain, and, there being no understudy, no performance had been given and the audience dismissed.All this was duly commented upon by the New York morning newspapers.Edward read this bit of news on the ferry-boat, but his notice was in the hands of the city editor.
On reaching home that evening he found a summons from The Eagle, and the next morning he received a rebuke, and was informed that his chances with the paper were over.The ready acknowledgment and evident regret of the crestfallen boy, however, appealed to the editor, and before the end of the week he called the boy to him and promised him another chance, provided the lesson had sunk in.It had, and it left a lasting impression.It was always a cause of profound gratitude with Edward Bok that his first attempt at "faking" occurred so early in his journalistic career that he could take the experience to heart and profit by it.
One evening when Edward was attending a theatrical performance, he noticed the restlessness of the women in the audience between the acts.
In those days it was, even more than at present, the custom for the men to go out between the acts, leaving the women alone.Edward looked at the programme in his hands.It was a large eleven-by-nine sheet, four pages, badly printed, with nothing in it save the cast, a few advertisements, and an announcement of some coming attraction.The boy mechanically folded the programme, turned it long side up and wondered whether a programme of this smaller size, easier to handle, with an attractive cover and some reading-matter, would not be profitable.
When he reached home he made up an eight-page "dummy," pasted an attractive picture on the cover, indicated the material to go inside, and the next morning showed it to the manager of the theatre.The programme as issued was an item of considerable expense to the management; Edward offered to supply his new programme without cost, provided he was given the exclusive right, and the manager at once accepted the offer.Edward then sought a friend, Frederic L.Colver, who had a larger experience in publishing and advertising, with whom he formed a partnership.Deciding that immediately upon the issuance of their first programme the idea was likely to be taken up by the other theatres, Edward proceeded to secure the exclusive rights to them all.
The two young publishers solicited their advertisements on the way to and from business mornings and evenings, and shortly the first smaller-sized theatre programme, now in use in all theatres, appeared.
The venture was successful from the start, returning a comfortable profit each week.Such advertisements as they could not secure for cash they accepted in trade; and this latter arrangement assisted materially in maintaining the households of the two publishers.
Edward's partner now introduced him into a debating society called The Philomathean Society, made up of young men connected with Plymouth Church, of which Henry Ward Beecher was pastor.The debates took the form of a miniature congress, each member representing a State, and it is a curious coincidence that Edward drew, by lot, the representation of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.The members took these debates very seriously; no subject was too large for them to discuss.Edward became intensely interested in the society's doings, and it was not long before he was elected president.
The society derived its revenue from the dues of its members and from an annual concert given under its auspices in Plymouth Church.When the time for the concert under Edward's presidency came around, he decided that the occasion should be unique so as to insure a crowded house.He induced Mr.Beecher to preside; he got General Grant's promise to come and speak; he secured the gratuitous services of Emma C.Thursby, Annie Louise Cary, Clara Louise Kellogg, and Evelyn Lyon Hegeman, all of the first rank of concert-singers of that day, with the result that the church could not accommodate the crowd which naturally was attracted by such a programme.
It now entered into the minds of the two young theatre-programme publishers to extend their publishing interests by issuing an "organ"for their society, and the first issue of The Philomathean Review duly appeared with Mr.Colver as its publisher and Edward Bok as editor.
