Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-07-28
GOLDEN STARS.
The Friendly Rivalry Existing Between
Actors as to WhU Can Gain the
Most Money.
Earnings of the Principal Players
Lolita at the Head Of the List, Mary
Anderson Next.

There will be no great difference says the
New York Journal, between the atricsl sal
aries for this season. There il, of course, a
constant tendency 10 go higher all the time.
In ten years salaries have pretty nigh
trebled all round. Mr.. Jrmes OrNeil, who
came to the Union Square from San Fran
cisco in 1876, was then glad enough TO re-
eeive S125 a week, Now Mr.. Stetson pays
him 10 he ID the Mcute Cristo Company S400
a week, and this salary may yet go higher.
There is pride among actors about their
salaries. So far WAS this feeling carried that
Mr.. Harry Pitt said some tine since ihst
there was a theaier in this country which
made a double set OF contracts with is pee
pie, ore to snow and the other 10 work under,
10 that men appear-d TO be getting $500 a
week who IN reality only received 800. Bot
this WISE, 10 doubt, an exsggeratiop, and at
any rate ictors are very proud OF getting
more tina 1 their brethren in come other thea
TER and never cease TO talk of i. Mckee
Rankiu, when he was wanted Tor the Union
Square Company as leading mas, asked tie
tremendous eaiary d 5000 j week because
Mr.. Steison paid ONeil $500. and il was a
geest saiisfaclinn TO have the biggest salary
- America, which hitherto ONeIl had en-
ioy,d.. IL is q friendly rivalry enough, but
there is deep satisfaction for the man who
wilma the best. Hitherto nothing like either
S400 or $500 had besn paid to any but abso.
lutte stars.
While go much is said about actors and
their earnings, very little is known OF the
actual earnings of the stare. When they
come 10 after a long season, the principal
dramatic paper usually says something about
the vast sums they have made. But beyond
this one organ DothiDg definite is ever given,
and that is not even absolutely reiisble, for
even the NEST prominent stars are given 10
gross exaggeration about their business. 1t
may safely be said that there is not a dra-
matte agent In existence who tells the truth
about receipts. Mise Lotta's brother, a young
dude-like person, who now occasionally at
tends to her business, said at the end OF her
last SEASON that her profits were S95, 600 dur
ing the season. This lie, OF course, absolutely
impossible. 1t would represent, as a rule,
the entire capacity of most OF the theaters
she played in, and she bad naturally 10 give
a good portion Of the receipts to the theaters
in which she played, and she had besides 10
pay her company, a very inexpensive one.
She acted for about thirty week. last season,
and she made for her own individual share
some 10000 for the season. Il is a curious
fact that the longer Lolita acts the more
money she is enabled TO make in any given
time. Seven or eight years ago she thought
S35 900 or $40, 900 8 formidable profit &c
mas in a seasoo.
Mr.. John Mccullough, despite the illness
and depression which took possession of him
last season, and from which he appears tC
have July recovered, thought as late as five
years ago that if he could mske SOS, 900 in
season he would be a fortunate and content
ed IN An. | do not think that at any tim'
since have his profits in one season been les
than $4,000, aud he has caught himsel
sometimes signing for more. He arrived o,
Monday from the West, and looked the pic
ture oil bodily health. His manager, H. NJ
Conner, says that he confidently anticipate
makiUg for Mr.. Mccullough from $4,000 Il
$4,000 this coming 81 ason.
Barrett has had a harder time than any o
them getting tee public 10 Acknowledge tina
he ia a good actor. For year after year b
barely made a living, and had to pinch an,
scrspe TO get along. Managers often toul
him Though charity because thew wanted Il
keep him frcm breaking up. He went o.
pushing the assertion down the people
thIoats that be was sn ACTOR, and within tn
past three years they came 10 believe il
There is 90 doubt that Barrett mas done
gUUd deaf more than Ed lin Both did in Ia
whole course OF his lie. He is ever willin
to bring out a good play; ever ready TO as
slst another who has braios. B,rrell CT
now make from SIS. 600 10 $4,000 iu a season
bOuSiCtull anu w BLACK nave DGSu IN IN
habit OF demanding ce~rtainties Of $500
. Boucicauli now plays on regular percentage
and seems to have been somewhat uufortu
nate OF late. La the city Mr.. Wallsck, wher
he is popular and well liked, may go over {
the Grand Opera or Mckee RAnkin's ne,
theater on his old terms. Wsllack mad
2 $4,000 by starring las; season-Boucicau
only ST. 900.
The new actors DO not seem 10 be thos
who succeed beet. Look at Maggie Mitchell
perennial, fresh end fascinating. Her "FaI
chon" has the same old power in nearl
every portion OF the country. Curious, thes
. fluctuations of public taste. A few veal
since she seemed 10 be on decline, and
was reported that she was going TO lose a
the money she had 30 laboriously earned,
it was invested in Loug Branch property.
: piece that cost her 10000 did go, and it wi
then worth $40, 900. But all the rest WI
= saved, and that same year when she went OIL
she found the old popularity returned, az
3 since then has been makiug more mone
: thar ever in her palmiest days. Las, sessc
her pre- fits were a rifle less than $4,000.
Oliver Doud Byron lives ffug lily, and h,
an assed a block of houses in Brooklyn,
lot Of land at Monmouth beach, and, alt
e gether, is one Of the most fortunate sol
1 Byron can make and often does make SIS, OF
a year.
: Mary Anderson's receipts for the first fe
! years she was on the stage doubled evel
season. The FIRST year she played she g
about $500 for her services-not bad, CO
r sidering that she was utterly unkuowu-ar
g last year she melted S43,0 900 as her share
the business done.
e There are numbers Of other stars OF n
quite SO much prominence. Booth does n
count because he wss not 10 the countT IL
= SEASON. Denman Thompson, who was one
o the most successful stars We had, declined
d late because be had no new play. Mr.. NJ.
y Curtis was a sudden growth. He had 4
% conception OF a new type Of character 10 Il
9 drummer three years ago, aud now he c.
make his S50,0 900 d year.
"a