New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-03-31

fare wbul ers, pearl white and rouge viii mitigate Of
correct any amount Of facial ugliness but where's the
eo.x cite that shall strajghien bsndy.lessl
In a,bsater where a drama unfamiliar 10 the COM
papy is produced every night as in case OF a ne"
:" ,a," who plays hS own pieces, day 9 WORK OF an
actor may be set dow as follows; 10 stuay learn
by heart, o part no! exceeding ak ieng'ns
Length" IL forty-swo nes), attend rehearsal from
ten to enc or two, aud act at night in one or more
piecss That il, six lengths new study, rehearsal anu
playing at night lie what may be required Of an actor
far dayswork without giving occasion for gTumbing
at The managers There are many actors who, upon
an urgent occasion, win study from ten to hheen
eDgbs in day. besides attending 10 their other du-
ties This however is never required except in case
of sudden sickness of another performer or some Sim
liar extraordinary event.
in provincial thea'ers the actors are worked much
harder than In New-York, and paid much less The
starring 81 stem universally prevails, which nscessi-
taes constant succession Of new plays, most Of which
bave 10 be studied from night 10 night as play is not
op acted two nights in suecesson In small cities. In
NewYorb, on the contrary, play is seldom brought
GU, without opportunity for slow and careful study
and fiequent rebearsals, and when the piece has a
several weeks In the of "The American Cousin"
which was play ed a, Laura Keenes Thsster for
hundred and forty nights there several members
Of the company who being in the piece not only
bad study, bushsd absolutely nothing whatever 70
do for several months. The salaries Of these persons
we're paid with the others every Saturday, some of
lem drawing hundred dollars week each. This,
however, was sn extreme Gaze, that might not happen
more han once in lifetime.
Actors are usually engaged for certain lines OF bu-
spefs" that is each engages to perform only such
Sly Of characters he is best qualified TO personate
Unless engagements were made with certain definite
understanding on this point, il is probable that when
The msnseer came to distribute the characters OF the
play for his opening night, he would discover that all
bic men would insist on being Romeos,' and that no
wona would consent that any other than she herself
should be the Juliet Of the evening, and 30, the cub
ordinate characters finding no representatives alto
gether the play would be in bad way. This difficulty
is obyiated as before stated by engaging each actor
for certain style Of characters, the remuneration OF
course varying with the different degrees OF artistic
ability and excellence required. The principal lines
of business" in q legitimate theater are technically
named as follows:
Leading man, Heavy man, Juvenile man, Light
comedian, LIT Walking gen leman, I'd walking gentle
man, Ist Old man. Cd old man. ls. Low comedian, I'd
low comedian, Respectable utility, General utility,
Leading womsn Heavy woman, let old woman, I'd
old woman, Juvenile woman, Walking lady, Cham
bermaid.
The requirements Of the Leading man. the Light
comedian the Old men, and the Low comedians, need
no explanation the names being suggestive OF their va
rious duties The Heavy man" il not recc'red to
rival Daniel Lambert in physical ponderosity-but he
il 90 called from having much Of the dsagroeabie duty
OF the drama to do-he plays all the villains of the
pieces, and consequently has much heavy work on his
hands in the shape of curses, threats OF vengeance
bowls for "R-rr.rrrevenge," and the utterance OF
large assortment Of maledictions Impressions, and
anatbemas and also tremendous sight Of violent daty
fer the knees in the way Of dying agonies, and pro-
legged mortal struggles.
The Juvenile man plays the lovers In heroic
pieces, and the Walking gentlemen enact small
speaking parts that require certain amount Of stage
experience. Respectable utility" men othe servants
and other insignificant parts Of few Lines, and the
General utility" supposed to be ready TO under
abe any very subordinate clarActor5i whom not en-
poyed in removing placing chairs and tables for the
proper disposition Of the scenes-they generally do
their acting in groups or squsds-doing duty as villa
gers citizens soldiers MODS, whatever other style
of crowd may be called for by the exgences of the
play.
On the female side Of the house, the business is dis
tIibuted in like manner, the "Chambermaid answer
iDs 10 the 4" lst Low comedy man. and claiming the
broadly funny parts in all the plays.
TIE remuneration of actors comes next into consld-
Grafton AT the acale has wide range from three dol
lars week. up to NO hundred dollars night. This
ast cum was for years the demand of Mr. Edwin For
rest Other stars are generally content with certain
sharing tems" that s the gross receips after GER
tain specific amount has been deducted for the expenses
of the theater s equally divided between the Star aud
The Manager Thus for example if the expenses Of the
house are three hundred dollars per night and the re-
cepts four hundred dollars the lucky Star and the for
tunate Manager pocket fifty dollars each per night This
i. the farest basis which TO conduct the starring sys
tenn because by this plan the salaries of all the stock
COMPANY are assured first and the profit 10 the Star
depends on his own power Of attracting the public to
the theater
In New.York the salaries paid to stock actors are
higher or the average than those in any other city in
the United States. The managers ignore, TO great
extent the technical lines Of business, and engage
the best artists that can be had and then have plays
specially written in which each Of their leading actors
shall have part suited to his peculiar powers. While
this plan secures to the New-York public the finest act
ing that can be seen in the country also entails upon
the managers a salary list of Dimensions that would
swamp provincial theater in q single week. The
leading actors, as Messrs. Lester, BroughGm, Blake
ard Walcot, at Wallacks Thester; Messrs Jefferson,
Jordsn and Pearson, at the Winter Gardens messrs.
Marx Smith, and Vincent, at Laura Keenes Thea!er,
receive from fifty dollars to hundred dollars per
week. The other salaries vary from fifteen dollars TO
forty dollars per week. Salaries for about
hall, or perhaps twothirds Of what paid to men