The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1884-09-18
IMPECUNIOSITY OF ACTORS.
OF Generous Disposition, Few Save
Any Money.

said an actor to New York Times re-
porter, sis impecuniosity. 1t seems,
for some reason, that he cannot or will
not save his money. Now. I'll tell you
one or two of the reasons why the actor
is impecunious. In the first place, he
will lend money. If he has 81 and a
friend wants to borrow one he lends it.
Then again, after the performance
every night he will 60 to a restaurant,
and beer saloon and eat and drink.
Again, in the daytime he loafs around
town and drinks numerous beers when
the admiring public imagines he is at
home devoting hours of painful, labori-
Gus study to the character which he is
about to delineate. Don't imagine 1
am now speaking of the great artists
like Mr.. Irving and Mr.. Booth. They
could afford to do something in the
way of throwing away money, but they
don't. They are just the men who save
their money and spend their time in
hard study. I am speaking, however,
of the ordinary stock actor.
1.-The nature of an actors life makes
him a bohemian. 1t seems to me that
this is particularly SO since the combi-
nation system came into vogue. Actors
have no longer fixed abode. Nine
months in u year they spend travelling
from one place to another. In every
town they make new acquaintances-
chance friends with whom the passing
hour is much. Carpe diem becomes
their motto, although none of them
know enough about Horace to select
the words. What are they to do with
their afternoons in strange towns? Go
around and see the sights? Pshaw,
Why, not twice in a season does it oc-
cur to actors to take in the sights in
place. And when it does occur to
them what do they do? They make
regular picnic Of it. Carriages are
hired and the whole thing ends with
dinner or luncheon, which simply
uses up more of their cash. What
strikes me as being one of the most
peculiar things about it all is that
actors used to be more impecunious in
former days than they are now. When
the old stock companies were in exist
ence dcad-broke actors were more nu-
merous than they are to-day. You
may say that was because they did not
get rs good salaries, but l doubt wheth-
er that has much to do with it. They
could live much cheaper then, and they
did not have to wear such good clothes
in order to make themselves present.
able to managers. No, I think the
actor is learning more self-rcspect. He
dresses better and comports himself
more like a gentleman, and l believe I
see tendency toward the extinction of
impecuniosity among actors. 1t is true
that to-day there are a great many
dead broke actors to be found around
Union square at the end of the season,
but think they are going to die out,
just as the old race Of Bohemian jour
nalists is dying out"
'How about actresses? Are they as
bad as the men?'
Yes, quite as bad, think. Their
impecuniosity comes in large meas
ure from the same sources. They don't
60 in SO strongly for lending money,
but they spend it recklessly when they
are on the road. They have a great |
trick of getting all sorts of things at
the hotels and have them charged in
their bills, They don't know how much |
they are getting half the time, and
usually are greatly astonished when
their salaries are paid at the end of the |
week. / was out as business manager
of one company in which there was
young lady who was type of THIS
class. Our arrangement was that I |
should pay all hotel bills, keep m ac-
count, and deduct from the salaries at
the end of the week. This young wo-
man was getting a salary of $50 a
week. Her board bills, without extras
would have amounted to about $12 a
week, and yet there was hardly week
when there was more than IS coming
to her on salary day. The trouble was
that she had everything charged to her.
We played in Albany and the weather
was bad. Bless your heart! Miss
Bountiful found that it would be i'm
possible for her to walk to the theatcr
every night, SO she engaged cab to
come and take her every evening regu-
arly. Of course that made nice hole
n her weeks salary. Then, whenever
'he wanted to write letter she would
lave even the postage stamp charged
n her bill. If she was thirsty in the
course of the afternoon she would send
lown to the Office and order refresh
ng drink of some kind. l sat in the
lotel office one afternoon in New Haven
writing some letters, and her bell rang
even times in the course of two hours.
every time the waiter came down after
her call and said: Miss
5ountiful wants thus and so; charge it
o her. The result was that the young
ady had to live with her mother all
hat summer"