Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1870-04-28
rHkATnIoAL

~ ~ I--
Some idea Of the cost Of running a
first class theater may be gathered
from the following, which we extract
from one of our New York exchanges:
On the stage of the grand Opera
House some $50 persons appear each
night-in ballet, in acting, in singing,
I'm f~garation. These people are re-
cruited from the highways and by-ways
of tic drama. It isn't acting that
makes a spectacle 60. Its the costuming,
the scenery, the dancing, the music,
dad as 1t may,) the effect. Who cares
whether an impossible character is
taken by an impossible actor OF not.
What does 1t matter to the general har-
mony whether the leading LADY, is duced
bad or good. As long as she walks
through her part respectfully, and looks
pretty THAT Is a requisite) it is enough.
And so Oh with the ballet. Good legs
cover n multitude Of sins. Voluptu-
Gus shapes command admiration and
money. The men Of the chorus or
the mutes may be as homely, or as
stupid, or as slouchy as they please.
Their salary will not be changed one
iota. They r taken In the lump,
and what money there Is Is equally diyi-
ded between them. 1t will no doubt
Appear singular
that all these brilliantly dressed men,
who parade up and down, seemingly
the emperors Of a gorgeous fairy land,
simply receive fifty cents a night for
their pains, and live on heaven knows
what. Or 1t may strike o casual OBJ
server, who looks on at the nymphs Of
the ballet, and fancies them, in their
neat tights and scanty gauzy drapery,
angels from the paradise Of the houris,
as strangely Homogeneous when ne Is
told that they receive from IS to 81 a
week, dress in the day In brown cot
tons, live ON problematical fare, and
reside In ,six-story tenement back
attics. Then, perhaps, the casual OBJ
server will not wonder that so many
choose q path of dishonor, brilliant and
short, and finally 60 to death and the
dogs, or the Morgue and the doctors,
which is very much the same. You
despise these girls when
They Go Wrons.
Give them something-a decent salary,
for instance-and see how quickly they
will turn about. Nobody Is bad for
the sake of being bad. Lift the surface
veil and look underneath; you will
see that civilization and poverty drive
them to this. This is not to say that
some are not good girls. 1t would be
wrong to make too sweeping an ac-
cusatfon. But the cases are rare, and
some day the temptation comes and
the subsequent life Of shame. Then
the world SCOTS at them.
The Pay
among the ballet girls differs very
much. 1t Is only the most useless re-
ceiye what we have stated above. A
good dancer, who knows somewhat Of
her business, receives $40 per week,
and, Is obliged to furnish her skirts,
slippers, hose, etc., large itcms).
Coryphees r paid from $25 to $50 per
week. The
Premiere Danseuses,
such as Brunetti, get a great deal more.
This last Is paid $50 per week. Mile.
Roze Mime. Ajax is employed with
her, husband, the burlesque dancer,
Mons. Ajax, and together they receive
$40 per week. This Is exceedingly
good pay for certainly in their own
country they did not receive one-third
as much. America, however, Is the
Ell Dorado'o Of all these foreigners yet
they abuse and never seem to appre-
ciate Its value until they r gone.
The Francisco Sisters, a pair of very
good dancers from the old "Black
Crook" times, get SO between them.
Operti gets $50, and the remainder Of
such, salaries in the same proportion.
Costa (the ballet dancer) also gets $50.
The chorus men receive $l2 and the
women $15 pcr week.
sEG& Among tho Artists,
George Boniface Gentleman George
and his wife are the best paid. With
q certain class, these people are always
cards. Together they receive $l25 per
week; Geo. Davidge, Jr., $35; Nine.
Ponisi, $50; Lewis Baker, $50; and
the Others range from 800 to $4O per
week. They are sticks, and receive
the salary that might naturally be sup
posed such sticks are worth. Indeed
they are oyerpaid. The stage carpen-
tiers receive 81 80 per night, the boss
carpenter $50 per week, and the stage
manager $75, and considering the
work these last named accomplish, 1t
Is none too much. In tho
.nsyu Front q the House asIsa
the employees are pretty numerous.
The ushers, especially, are In abund-
ance. Their pay Is seven dollars per
week. II NAV be said of them that
they are the most polite set OF nshers
at any theater in this city. Inc LOOT
keeper very severe contrast WIN
the usher-is paid ten dollars per week
for being brutal. Cole, the very afiable
and smart manager, who assumes COM
pIete control of everything, receives q
mccall salary, and, we believe, Is to
Some extent Interested In the produc-
fionr Of the Ttcelre Temptations. Cole,
the Second Assistant Treasurer, Is paid
$50 per week, and "pretty Micnaei
the ticket-seiier, w. De
sides these, there are many people
who, as at all theaters, hang around
and receive money for suppositious
Takinr these In, and Miss
Knapp. the pretty costumer, who gets
$40 per week the expenses Of the
Temptations average about
500 Der nioht, with receipts, on an
average, Of iSl3,@ Per week. IL Is
thus easy to calculate The profts.