In search of the Sons of Barnum

Great press agents have all been touched by madness. This letter by Richard Maney, one of the great Broadway publicists, was sent to George Bernard Shaw has a resonance in the 21st century.

“There are over sixty theatrical press agents in New York, most of the fine sober and reliable as so many Congressmen. This, I think, is the unfortunate. In achieving respectability and recognition, the theatre has lost something. It was a more fascinating profession when its agents were outlaw. There’s too much decorum in the world, too little fun. Humour, along with those who practice it, is about to go the way of glass blowing and the antimacassar. Humour smacks of dissent. By current standards, dissent is a synonym for treason the humorists and the hellions are hiding under culverts. When conformity becomes the law of the land, their heads will be the first to roll. “

Currently we are surrounded by money men who would prefer ultimate control rather than turning to wheezes of the creative mind. Lets hope the book will provoke a rebellion.