The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-08-13
THEATRICAL PAUPERS.
Hundreds of ctors and Actresses Re-
duced to the Verge of Starvation.


duced to the Verge of Starvation.
NEW York. Aug. 12.-Under the super
vision of Albert Ellery Berg, the dramatic
critic, a series of interesting Investigations
have been made this summer of the condl-
ton of the members of the theatrical pro-
! fession. The results of the work are ex-
! tremely disappointing to all lovers OIL the
| stage. 1t appears that during at least
| three months Of each year tbree-fourihs OF
the professionals are either idle or gaining
a bare subsistence in other industries and
that the other fourth find employment In
| such huge spectacles as Nero" in Staten
Island and "The Fall of Babylon" in On
cinnati; in Summer snaps" and In the
numerous low concert halls, dime museums
/ and music gardens of the larger cities.
All Of taese classes we're carefully invest
| gated by MIR. Berg and his colleagues
/ Nearly every case presented the most
/ pitiable features. A majority of the pro-
fession lived with, or rather upon, parents,
relatives and friends But few were con-
| tent with tie enforced dleness and tried to
make livelihood during the dull season;
| Among the vacations temporarily pursued
were waiting IN restaurants aud saloons
| bartendng, horSccgr driving and con
ductoring, running privilege at ex-
| cursions. picnic groves, base ball
| grounds and country fairs, button
/ covering, making ladies' underwear,
| overwhelming, barber business, news
stands. canvassing, embroidering, Laundering,
| drsssmaking and housekeeping. Hardly
! one Of these aid more than enough to keep
| body and soul together. In one case three
! actresses rOoming together in a single large
! apartment supp .rted themselves by making
! petticoats and chemises. Working twelve
| hours a day, the three combined made only
| sll a week Their room rent was IS per
week and the remainder, Sc, had TO supply
| food, needles, thread, carfares and nedi-
cine
A number who support themselves by
''sweat-iaiiOringn during the summer made
| a slightly better report, earning on an aver
| age - week Waiter girls in both res
taurants and saloons do still better, receiv
ing from So TO 8 as wages, and at least as
much more in the form of tips.
Those who obtain employment in dra-
matte work make very bad showing. Of
those employed Mt Nero IN New York
and 1.-The Fall of Babylon" in Cincinnati,
four-fifths have had more or less experience
upon the boards. A few nave had promi-
nent places; these include women who have
been unsuccessful stars, leading
ladies in very hard luck, and
young actresses who have neglected or
failed TO save any money during the season,
and who are too proud TO beg or borrow,
and too moral to use other means to obtain
girls, me 'nbers of the ballet and women of
one years dramatic experience. The gen
eral salary paid is 81 a week. The average
IS IS.
OF those who go out on what they term
Summer snap" but few do well enough
to pay for board and transportation, much
less have G. clear profit To this class
walking railroad ties" is no figure of
speech but a horrible reality. OF thirty
companies which left New York in July,
twenty-eight, numbering over 400 souls,
were stranded on the road penniless, and
begged or borrowed their fare home or
were sent there by the generosity
of kindly strangers. The few concerns
that succeed Gf success can be Rppled to
their efforts are those which play "com-
monwealth" Il. o. are cooperative in char
acter) and make some town their headquar-
tors where country board is cheap, and
where no legitimate companies ever come
BY playing a night in this village and that,
| by assisting churches, lodges and other
societies in benefits, they manage to pay
| their board and washing bills and get home
| in time for the regular season.
| Perhaps the hardest lot of all is of those
| who play during the summer in concert
| halls and dime museums. Hardly a water
| ing place exists upon the continent but
what has its free and easies,n ''open-ar
| theatres and free variety shows Here the
| disappear and all the brutalziug features
are multiplied and magnified. The per-
| former is an adjunct to the bar; his or her
art a spiritual free lunch to the
| drinker. In nearly every case they are
| expected to drink with patrons, to be in
| troduced to anyone who knows the proprie-
| tor or bartender and TO listen in silence to
the rocking yulgarity which alcohol pours
from human lips. The pay in these places
| ranges from 50 to Sl2 per week and the per-
Torrance runs from noon to midnight. The
| place being "open-air," the strain upon tho
| voice is far greater than in closed build
| ings and finally produces that huskiness
| or painful falsetto so familiar to pa
irons Of the circus If the dime museums
are better than the open air concerns so far
as the behavior of the audience and the
| work of the vocal organs are concerned, they
are more destructive to the health of the
performer The performances are usually
| gwen each hour from Il a. m. to IL p. m
| The halls are close, poorly ventilated, hot
and dirty; the dressing rooms vile and the
conveniences for the actors nil. The wages
paid are the same us those in the open air
temples of amusement.
Mr. Berg shows that the mutual helpful
| nes and generosity which SO characterizs
the dramatic profession is an organic neces-
sity and that without it under the circum-
stances above detailed, hundreds, if not
| more, of actors and actresses would be
starved every summer or forced into the
aims house. Even as it is, their condition
during never less than onequartor of the
year verges on paupersm. Mr. Bergs in
vestigation will destroy the last vestige of
the once popular belief that an actors life
is happy one. WILLIAM f. s. FALEs
AGAINST CORSETS.