10, 1884, but ran only three
weeks. Once more Charles faced a loss, but he met this as he met the
misfortunes of later years, with smiling equanimity.

Now came a characteristic act. He was still in the employ of the Madison
Square Theater and had a guarantee of one hundred dollars a week.
Although he had devoted considerable time to his two previous
productions, he was an invaluable asset to the establishment. He now
felt that the time had come for him to choose between remaining at the
Madison Square under a guarantee and striking out for himself on the
precarious sea of independent theatrical management. He chose the
latter, and launched a third enterprise.

In his wanderings about New York theaters Charles saw a serious-eyed
young actress named Minnie Maddern. He said to Daniel:

"I have great confidence in that young woman. Will you help me put her
out in a piece?"

"All right," replied his brother.

The net result was Miss Maddern in "Caprice."

In view of subsequent stage history this company was somewhat historic.
Miss Maddern's salary was seventy-five dollars a week. Her leading man,
who had been a general-utility actor at the Lyceum, and who also
received seventy-five dollars a week, was Henry Miller. A handsome young
lad named Cyril Scott played a very small part and got fifteen dollars a
week. The total week's salary of the company amounted to only six
hundred and ninety dollars.

"Caprice" opened at Indianapolis November 6, 1884, and subsequently
played Chicago, St. Louis, Evansville, Dayton, and Baltimore, with a
week at the Grand Opera House in New York, where its season closed. It
made no money, but it did a great deal toward advancing the career of
Miss Maddern, who afterward became known to millions of theater-goers as
Mrs. Fiske.

Charles had now made three productions on his own hook and began to
impress his courage and his personality on the theatrical world. He had
definitely committed himself to a career of independent management, and
from this time on he went it alone.

V

Booking-Agent and Broadway Producer

The season of 1883-84 had seen Charles Frohman launched as independent
manager. He had at its conclusion cut his managerial teeth on the last
of three productions which, while not financially successful, had shown
the remarkable quality of his ability. People now began to talk about
the nervy, energetic young man who could go from failure to failure with
a smile on hi