The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-10-11
CHANFRAU's VIEWS OF THE STAGE.
He Was Tired of Theatrical Life and Wanted
Rest.
Correspondence Philadelphia Times.

Correspondence Philadelphia Times
A few weeks ago, sitting on pine board in
the midst of field adjoining his home at Long
Branch, he ehatted with the writer of his career
of his intense WEAKNESS and of his desires
Eight years more, " said he, land shall have
been fifty years before the public. But | hope
to heaven, he added not dreaming then of what
was soon to follow, that shall not complete
the period. l hope that 1 shall be out of the
profession before that time comes. I'm getting
on in years and I'm weary of wandering round
and round the country. want my home"
'Well, now that you have been on the stage so
long, would you advise any young man or woman
to adopt the theatrical pIofessionT
81 would not as it is now. 1t is a dogs life,
The hardships of a sailors existence are nothing
to wha>s.n actor must endure. You are on the
march all the time for eight or nine months in
the year You have got TO hold yourself in
readiness to move at the shrek of whistle or
the sound of bell All matters are one to you.
Disease and death may threaten, but still you
must not falter; trains must be caught dates
must be kept Home life is something that the
actor knows only as treasure cherished by
other men. It exists not for him. If he can
manage to gather his family round him and set
tie down beside his own hearthstone, as | have
done here, it is for few weeks only. Then at
the sound of the old bell he must pick UP his
household idols, nail up his door and march,
march, march the weary round of the months
once more. He goes way his
wife perhaps goes another and his children
90 a third. One may not see any of
the others again until the summer returns. At
most, all that can be hoped for is a chance
meeting and again when business engage
ments bring one within reach of the other. My
wife and travel together now. We could make
money apart, but have waived all that
'Do you grow weary of hotel lifeF'
'Wearyl That does not half express it.
Many of the hotels in which must go are
denominations. have time and time again gone
away hungry from hotel tables because the stuff
set before me was unfit to eat. The hotels in
the big cities are all right but no one can tell
what sort of place he will get into in the little
towns. But it is not the physical discomforts
that are the most painful There are mental
sufferings that are keener than those"
81 do not understand
"Weu, it is a painful subject to touch upon
You know that prejudice always is strongest and
lasts longest in country towns. we actors know
and feel that. The people in the little places
sometimes forget that the theatrical profession
like all others, is made up of the good and the
bad. They make no distinction of class. They
treat us all alike. and that is as if we were pick
pockets; yes, as if we We're pickpoekets When
we strike a town of this sort the women of the
company sometimes lock themselves up in their
rooms aud have a good cry. And the same feel
ing often obtains possession of the men, too
and l many time feel like remaining in my
apartments and never leaving them. except
to go down to the theater But the
whole system that now prevails in theatrical
its own weight Under it now the smallest
country towns have greater number of attrac-
tions than cities like New York or Philadelphia
If star goes to either of these cities he will re
main a-week at least But little town may
have Edwin Booth and Joe Jefferson and Maggie
Mitchell and Madame Janauschek one night
after the other. 1t is too much for the commu-
nifty, and the business doesn't pay the star. Be
sides the ombination system Of supplanting
the stock company has destroyed the school of
acting and lessoned the number of capable
artists. There never was time when actors
and actresses with a knowledge of their business
were so few and they are in position to demand
almost their own terms.
But is it really true that supporting actors
receive the salaries that they said to get!'
'"Their salaries are certainly very high. A hun
bred dollars a week for leading man is very
binary. Leading women get 500 and $3.50 q
week. The cost OF keeping up a good company,
if the cast of play is large, is great that the
salaries Of the support, and other expenses, fire
quently eat up all the receipts and leave the star
with nothing at all. IL we don't quickly get
back to the stock company, and so have a school
in which actors may be bred, it is simply ques
ton of time until there are no capable actors at
all l, like other actors, am showered with let
tiers by young men who want to go on the stage.
| tell them, when l answer the letters at all,
that there is no place for them in travelling
company. Now under the old stock system,
they would be given small parts probably, and
so be brought up by degrees to thorough
knowledge of their art When l made my hit
as Nose, in A Glance at New York | was Lead
ing light comedian at Mitchell's Theater. in New
York city, and had the munifcens salary of SIS
a week"