Jersey Journal/1881/Battle of the Theatres

The Battle of the Theatres. Both the Theatre Comique and the Jersey City Opera House were opened last night. The troubles at the former house have been patched up, and Mr. Lindauer, one of the lessees, goes on with the business. Robert W. Butler, the other lessee, has leased the Jersey City Opera House and opened business there. So far as the principals are concerned there is only a manly rivalry between them, but their understrappers were zealous all day yesterday in tripping up each other. This zeal took the direction of endeavors to cut off each other in the matter of distributing "dodgers," or circular advertisements of the two theatres. These little papers are called dodgers because most people dodge when the distributor hands them one on the streets. But then the people would be dodgers and the dodgers would be the dodged! Anyhow, that is what they are called, and Lindauer's men and boys took Opera House dodgers from Butler's men end boys, and Butler's men and boys did a like service for Lindauer's people. One of these little games was played in front of the Theatre Comique, where a boy named Perlmutter was distributing Opera House bills, John McCullough, one of Lindauer's men, took the dodgers from the boy, threatened him and drove him away. McCullough was arrested, and was fined $10 this morning by Justice Petoubet. It was made clear that the principals did not countenance such business.