The Baltimore County union., 1875-11-27
Letter from. Neau York.
New YoRx, November 23d, 1875.
HOW ACTORS LIVE AND DIE.


There are of the young mea and women who
read your paper at least thousand who have
been and are crazy to get on the stage. They
have heard of the wondrous costumes the actresses
wear, and of the gorgeous salaries they all draw,
and they suppose that the life OF player is one
unending round of pleasure. The few who do
'get on the stage" find the difference between
fancy and fact in a very short time.
1T is the hardest, meanest, most uncertain and
e etchedly paid business in the world. Not one
asor in a thousand makes more than the mersst
subsistence at his best, with the certainty staring
him in the face that at the end-when he can act
no more-of dying in an aims house, or subsist-
| ing Gu the charity of younger ones, who are al
most as poer as himself There are those, OF
| course, who make immense salaries Edwin
Booth, fer instance, never plays for less than
| $500 a night and Sothern, Charlotte Cushman,
| and dozen others command quite as much
| But you can number this class on the fingers Of
| your two hands. These are the exceptions, just
as Stewart and Clahin among merchants
The highest salary paid regular stock actors in
| New ork is Sl00 per week for q season oil nlne
months. Out of this sum the actor has to furnish
his wardrobe which, if pieces change frequently,
| makes terrible hole in it. Then he lies idle
| three months in the year, and what Is worse Tor
| his pocket, the very nature of his employment
| makes frequent expenditure almost unavoidable.
| The most prudent end the year with nothing
| nine-tenths Of them are always in debt. And
there is always ahead of them two ghosts-lack
of engagements and sickness. Out of employ
rnent in his profession, there is nothing under
| heaven for him to do and sickness means starva
ton. a noted English actor named Belmers-s
man who stood first in eccentric comedy in tina
country, and who was the especial pet of the
mobility and geutry;" George Bemore, who
/ L. III r.. aA
week in poor boarding house on Fourth ave
tue, dependent at the last on the charity of hi
felow-actors for the cruel be ate and the medi
Gins he took. Not dollar in the world, and 6
! Wii1and seven children dependent on him il
: LopoSNl
: Y Wdh.ssas not heard of Fog. the pantomimist
q p" "o N not laughed at his wondefIuI anucs, hi
: merry 9aes and quirks, and his endless How
a !un. roolEox! Paralysis struck him at forty
d Two, ana heNoes, with never dollar 10 leav
his ianliy. Oe side OF his face is paray zed, hi
. brain is seftenih-hard work did it-aud h
goes OUT mere nyhing. Another pantomimis
> s'anos ready to tak>his place, ne play goes o.
q -enter Mafht, exit COX. And some day GU
Matfit will go and anoher will take his place.
Young man or young woman, as the case ma
be, II you have any Aspirations for the stage
6 crush them out at once. The life is one in whic
: there are ten thousand blanks TO oae prize, an
: OF the prizes there is not one in thousand ths
Il is worth having. 1t is an ugly, unsatisfactory
e miserable life at the best, and horrible lie fc
3 any one who cannotg get above decent mediocrity
d be shoemaker, tailor, farmer, blacksmith
t or the wife OF one, but never be an actor or a.
g tress. Take the advice of one who knows, an
don't.
: And while am about it may as well So
: something about another class who are popular
+ supposed 10 roll in purple and fine linen, but WI
! don't namely: