Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-09-14
ACTORS AND ACTRESSES.
Working for Starvation w-ages-seamy
Side of Stage Life.

Side of Stage Life.
Under the supervision of Albert Ellery
Berg, the dramatic critic, a series of in
teresting Investigations have been made
this summer of the condition of the men,
bers of the theatrical profession. The re-
suits of the work are extremely disap-
pointing to all lovers of the stage. 1t
appears that during at least three months
of each year three-fourths of the profess
sion are either idle or gaining a bare sub
sistence in other industries, and that the
other fourth find employment in such
huge spectacles as Nero" in Staten Island
and 1.-THE Fall of Babylon in Cincinnati;
in summer snaps and in the numer-
GUS low concert halls, dime museums and
music gardens of the larger cities.
All of these classes were carefully in
vestigated by Mr.. Berg and his col
leagues. Nearly every case presented
of the profession lived with, oil rather
upon, parents, relatives and friends.
But few were content with the enforced
idleness, and tried to make a livelihood
during the dull season. Among the vo-
cations temporarily pursued were wait
ing in restaurants and saloons, bartend-
ing, horse car driving and conductoring,
running privileges" at excursions, pic
mic groves, baseball grounds and country
fairs, button covering, making ladies'
underwear, ''sweat tailoring" barber
business, news stands, canvassing, en-
bordering, laundering, dressmaking and
housekeeping. Hardly one of these paid
more than enough to keep body and soul
together. In n case three actresses
rooming together in a single large apart
ment supported themselves by making
petticoats and chemises. Working twelve
hours a day, the three combined made
only $11 a week. Their room rent was
S. per week, and the remainder, SO, had
to supply food, needles, thread, car fares
and medicine.
A number who support themselves by
''sweat tailoring during the summer
made a slightly better report, earning on
an average So a week. Waiter girls in
both restaurants and saloons do better,
receiving from So to S. as wages and
at least as much more in the form of
tips.
Those who obtain employment in
dramatic work make a very bad showing.
Of those employed in "Nero'' at Staten
Island and 1.-The Fall of Babylon in Gin
%cinnati, four-fifths have had more or less
experience upon the boards. A few have
held prominent 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 ard
too moral to use other means to obtain
an income. The great majority are chorus
girls, members of the ballet and women
of n years dramatic experience. The
general salary paid is So a week. The
average, 1915.
Of those who go out On what they term
a snap" but few do well
enough to pay for board and tr%ansporta-
ton, much less have a 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 Of success
can be applied to their efforts are those
which play commonwealth" Ii. e., are
cooperative in character) and make
some town their headquarters where
country board is cheap and where nc
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 watering place exists upon the CONT
nent but what has its free and ~easies,'
''open air theatres and free variety
shows. Here the romance and pictur-
esqueness of stage life disappear and all
the brutalizing features are multiplied
and magnifed. The performer is an
adjunct to the bar; his or her art a spir-
itual free lunch to the drinker. In nearly
every case they are expected to drink
with patrons, to be introduced to any one
who knows the proprietor or bartender,
and to listen in silence to the reeking
vulgarity which alcohol pours from
human lips. The pay in these places
ranges from S. to $12 per week, and the
performance runs from noon to mid,
night. The place being ''open air, the
strain upon the voice is far greater
than in closed buildings, and finally
produces that huskiness or painful fall
setto SO familiar to patrons of the circus
If the dime museums are better than thu
open air concerns SO far as the behavior
of the audience and the work of the voca
organs are concerned, they are more de
structive to the health of the performer
The performances are usually given eacl
hour from II a. m. to II p. m. TIL,
halls are close, poorly ventilated, hot anC
dirty; the dressing rooms vile, and tn
c~onveniences for the actors nil. Thu
wages paid are the same as those in tn
open air temples of amusement.
Mr.. Berg shows that the mutual help
fulness and generosity which SO charac
terize the dramatic profession is an or
ganic necessity, and that without it
under the circumstances above detailed
hundreds, if not more, of actors and &C
troSs..c would no ctorral nuarr c11par1la