With the backing of financier E. H. Harriman, he owned and operated the Lake Contrary Amusement Park in St. Joseph, Missouri.
In his youth he worked as an usher in theaters in Chicago before moving to Kansas City, Missouri where he became the head of the newly developed sheet music department of the George B. Peck Dry Goods Company.
He soon after started a side business of his own, working as a talent agent in Kansas City.
[1] He opened offices in Chicago where he worked as a booking agent; not only for his theaters but for other vaudeville venues.
He forged several partnerships, which preceded the formation of the Western Vaudeville Managers' Association (WVMA).