In this manner was laid the foundation of the laterday Theatrical Trust. The booking firm was that of Klaw & Erlanger, the former a young Jew from Ken¬ tucky who had studied law, but drifted into theatrical life as an agent; the latter a young Jew from Cleveland with little education but with experience as an advance agent.
The booking system was not of their devising. They borrowed the idea from Harry C. Taylor, who had established a sort of theatrical exchange where producers and local managers could meet, desks being provided them at a small rental, and who took over the booking in the smaller cities, without foreseeing— but probably scorning—the opportunity thus placed in his hands to club the whole theatrical world into submission to his dictates.
With characteristic shrewdness Klaw & Erlanger elaborated the idea they had borrowed from Taylor, opened competition against the latter and enlisted the support of a number of young Jewish advance agents who were beginning to recognize the lucrative oppor¬ tunities which the theatrical profession afforded.
Prominent among their earliest supporters was