Morning journal and courier., 1881-11-11
Stage-Struck Women.
Purses Filled at the Expense of Amateu,
 Actors.

From the New York world.l
 A young lady who has taken part in pri vate theatricals for years and who is tor mented by desire to go on the stage recent ly went to manager of 8 theater who, with untiring kindness, has been refusing her op portunities for chance to distinguish her self at his theater, and showed him an adver- tisement which she had clipped from a news paper, and which had called for Ia lady tt take a leading position on the stage" It an nounced instruction free" The advertiser lid not make himself known but gave an ad iress to which letters should be sent. The manager, being familiar with the ways ot vomankind and knowing therefore that the, advertisement would be answered by h1s visitor whichever course he advised, told her to send letter to the address given, and, il case the reply was favorable, to do nothing until he had been consulted and have an op portunity to inquire about the advertiser He has not been called on to do so.
 Many similar advertisements appear. Speak ing to the proprietor of dramatic agency he said yesterday: ''In most cases they are simply traps for ambitious amateurs Ii does sometimes happen, but not often, that @ manager wants an amateur actress to take a certain part and that there IS no application on the books of any agency which fulflls thf requirements. Then he inserts, or we do for him, and receive say thousand replies. which shows that those whose advertisements are not legitimate have big field for their operations.
 sThe number of amateur actresses who want to go upon the stage is enormous. Many ot them belong to respectable families, and 1t is those that the men speak of wish to catch They say to the amateur that it is impossible for her to appear first in a city theatre and persuade her to contribute towards the ex peuse of organizing snap company to play outside of New York. They get $500 or 1900 or $1 900 out of these amateurs and then leave her. Sometimes, after the com pany gets stranded, the amateur comes back without her trunk or her jewelry. As to le ultimate advertisements manager may not De able to find professional actress who can lfford the costumes necessary to part. Then he gets some rich amateur if he can, lets her lress magnifcently, and act as her natural endowments permit her, and everybody IS happy-he especially, because he has to pay her little or no salary. That last reason Is one why amateurs are not much liked ln the profession they do not always need money, and they take the bread out of the mouth of the professional actresses"
 sE7ery theatre, especially those with stock company, receives so many apphca tions from amateurs, said manager, that there IS no need of advertising. As for ad- yertisements of this class, they come from men-whether professionals or not, l don't know-who try to make money out Of anna eeurs. For instance, they say to @ young adv who has money and who wants to make her appearance on the stage that it will cost | S2, GOO, $1 ,OOO. $900 or $500 to organize a company and hire theatre, and they get a troupe together and hire theatre for a night at Paterson, Newark or some other place, where the company gen erally comes to grief. The amount they make by commission and out of the expenses vari according to the green ness of their subject. They might in ordl nary cases make $50 or $200 out of $500, ! while S65O or 5000 went for expenses, and if the subject was very green they might be | able to 20 away with the 5000. Some anna teurs do not care at all about the money. | In one theater half the actresses are anna teurs and belong to good New York families. .sOne lady know of who acts occasionally and spends a good deal of money that way. | Last season her losses were $16,000, but she did not mind it and her agent bought himself a nice little place in the country. Another lady tried to make arrangements to play at matinees here, and the gentleman who &C., companied her offered to pay any amount re quired, as he is able to do. have seen her act and she acts badly and wants to play lead | ing parts, such as Camille. We would not have her here, but of course there are thea ters in the city where her services would be accepted on the terms she proposes. On the
 other hand, know of young lady belong ing to a good> family, but in reduced cir
 cumstances, who wants to go on the stage to increase her income, and there are many
 such cases. As to the Instruction free part of the advertisement, the man l may mean it, or he may hope to get his ac-
 counts even by the sale of books or by gratuity when position IS secured for the pupil. Some instructors advertise
 engagements guaranteed but, except in
 the case of the leading teachers, whom every body knows and who have influence with | managers this is not to be relied upon, for 1n most cases the engagement would have to | be paid for. Tho professional actors found in snap companies join them because they
 think they might as well take the risk of hav- ing to walk back to the city as remain here idle"