, 1884-01-25
ACTORS WAGES.
Enormous Prices Paid to Players
What operate Artists Get
No Artistic standard OF Priee---A
Player Worth All He Can
Get---The Dress
InIquity.
Now York World.


New York World
"How much money can a successful artist
make q weekfr
"Well," said the dramatic agent, "there il
no limit to the amount that successful artist
can make, but success runs all the way from
Ltlian Russell, who gets about $3.50 a week,
to Adelina Patti, who makes $40. 900 a week.
Success has a very wide margin"
well, can't you average it'll What is a
good leading lady-I believe that's what you
call 'em-worthf'
She's worth all she cnn get. as a rule. She
ranges from $50 to $3.50. Miss Weaver, OF
Booths company, let US say, gets s75 a week,
and Miss Sara Jewett, at Stetson's gets $780,
week. They are both leading, but when it
comes to money, one leads the other"
when Jeweti started out with Edgar she
was to get 5000. You see, a woman ia worth
to d manager all that she will draw. The
question of intrinsic worth doesn't enter into
Its calculations Some OF them are called
gems and diamonds of the purest water by
you newspaper people, but that's pure
rhetoric. A diamond has a fixed value, but
there Is nothing in the world that auctuates
20 much as a woman's commercial value on
the stage. pve known It to go up 200 per
cent. In a night, and I've known it to fall of
that amount in a week"
"From What causesln
Accidents. TIN ability didn't vary, but
the demand did. She gets cast In a play
that doesn't fit her; she makes two or three
mistakes; she Is mismAnaged, and down she
goes. The fact Is there Is nothing In the
world 50 Fictitious as the price of an artist,
and 1t never bears any relation to her ability.
What does it bear relation tor
ITO her face, her vogue, her celebrity, the
amount Of space she occupies in the papers
and the kind of personal agent she hires,
Look at Kate C~laxton. She is ono Of the
best paying attraction now on the stage. But
she does not rank at all as an actress. A
fire made her. Look at Rose Eytinge, con-
coded by managers and critics to be one Of
if not the best general leading women we
have got She cannot play to even good
business In New York. Look at Ellen Terry.
There are half a score OF managers here
willing TO star her at her own terms, but
there is Ada Rehan, at Days, who can do
the same business and is younger and fresher,
who gets q hundred a week. When Prescott
got through playing Emilia to Salvinis
Othello she wanted $500 a week. But down
went her price as Salvini faded from view"
What do you estimate Langtry's ability
to bef@
ats a pretty hard thing to estimate"
"oh, well, 1 mean how does she rank as an
actress alongside Of Clara Morris and Rose
Eytinge and Miss Wainwright
I'm my opinion she does not rank ut all"
well, she makes more money than all Of
them"
There is Mr.. Charles CoRhlan, who has
received the highest salary ever paid TO u
leading member OF a stock c~ompany-let US
shy double that which anybody else has re-
ceiyed. Do you think he possesses double the
amount of abilityf' You see these things
cannot be scheduled on an artistic basis.
They are purely commercial matters. l
have seen a girl who was getting s15 a week
make a great hit in a small part, get a lot Of
good notices in the press the next morning,
and then demand s75 a week and get 1t. 1
have seen women who could not get $40 n
week in any company strike somebody with
a play, and somebody else with a little capt.
tai, start out on the road, and after hammer
ing away for awhile, make several thousand
dollars. But these are rare exceptions.
There's not one woman in 800 who ever
makes money for herself. As a rule actresses
are worse managers, even for themselves,
than actors are"
"To come back to salaries, do not ordi-
nary theatrical salaries run from $40 to SIS a
weekf'
YES, for people can be easily got. The
more reputation the more salary"
"Do you mean good or bad reputation"
"Well, commercially, that's OF compare
lively little consequence. The more the press
assailed Langtry the more money she made.
As a rule, a divorce suit Is equivalent to an
advance Of rs per cent. In salaries mean
for women When Emma Abbott started
out she shook a Plymouth church flag, but
her manager commenced to work the
Abbott kiss and the more the western
papers talked about 1t the more the people
wanted to see her. She used to get 81, 900 q
year when she started. II you want her to
sing at a concert now, you viii have to pay
her 500, but she doesn't begin to sing as well
as when she started"
Speaking Of singers, / suppose they reach
much higher figures than actors"
Yes, on salaries. The largest srrs eyer
paid to a single company in this country
have been paid by Mr.. Henry E. Abbey"
ADo you know the salaries paid to the
operate ~artistsf'
II can approximate it. You take your
pencil:
There's Patti gets $1,000 a night and, ac-
cording to contract, is to sing twice a week
II wanted. Nilsson, let us say, gets g., 900 a
night and Sembrich 81, 60; Gerster, 81. 200 a
night. You amt find anything like this on
the dramatic salary list. The other artists In
Mr.. Abbey's or Mr.. Mapleson's company get
INAlb pJ viz OhN fOA amy VI
gets, let us say. 5000; Trebeli, 5000: Cam
panini, 5000; Stagno, 5000. Valleria,
$4,000, and Fursch-Mndi, IS, 100"
"Do these artists become independently
AS a rule, successful singers do. In that
respect they are different from actors. and
more provident. An actress rarely saves
money. A singer nearly always does. A
singer Is subject to more contingencies and
has to be more particular. She knows that
she Is liable to lose her voice or her figure.
and when one or the other goer she has to
take to teaching
But how can an impresario make any
money at such salariesf7
h"Impresarios, as a general thing, have two
factors to deal with. The dramatic manager
only has one. He deals with the public, but
the impresaroi deals with the public and the
stockholders he goes into his fight with a
guarantee. Between the two of them he al
ways hopes to come out with reputation and
some money"
]But seldom doesP'
@Alasl Seldom IL a word that fails TO ex-
press the situation. The amount OF money
made by Italian opera in America would not
pay PATHS salary for n month";
1But somebody pays"
down and the stockholders pay-or promise
to pay"
"Please to come back to salaries. How
much does a leading man like Mr.. Lewis Nor
rison geti"
H ranges from s150 a week to $500. and
Plympton the same. But the maxium de-
ponds on how much they are wanted