Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-08-12

have held prominent places these in
clude women who have been unsuccess-
fnl stars, leading ladies IN very hard
luck, and Young actresses who have ne
elected or failedto save any money during
the season, and who are too proud TO beg
or borrow, and too moral to use other
means 10 obtain an income. The great
majority are chorus-girls, members OF
the ballet, and women OF one years dra-
matte experience. Tho general salary
paid is 50 week The average, 1910
THE "sUNNBs SNAP"
OF chose who go out on what they
term "summer snap" but few do well
enough 10 pay for board and trsnsporta-
ton, much less have clear profit. 10
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, number
ing over four hundred 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 tIf success can be applied to
their efforts are those which play "com-
monweslth" q. e.. are cooperative in
character) and make some town their
headquarters where country board is
cheap and where nolegitimate companies
ever come. BY playing n night in this vii
lase and that. by assisting churches,
lodges, and other societies IN benefits,
they manage to pay their board and
washing-bills and get homo in time for
the regular season.
THE HARDEST LOT.
Perhaps the hardest lot OF all is OF
those who play during tho summer in
concert-hnlls and dime-museuma Hardly
a watering place exists upon the CONT
nent bat what has its "iree and cases. -"
"open-air theatres" and free variety
shows Here the romance and pictu-
resquencss OF stage life disappear and
all the brutalizing features are multiplied
and magnified. The performer If al ad-
iunct to the bar-his or her art spiritual
free lunch TO the driDker. In nearly
every case they are expected to drink
with patrons, TO he introduced to any
ons who knows the proprietor or bar
tender, and to listen in silence to the
rocking vulgarity which alcohol pours
from human lips. The pay in these
places ranges from s. to Sl2 per
week and the performance runs from
noon to midnight The place being
"open-air," the strain upon the voice Is
far greater than in closed buildings, and
finally produces that huskiness or pain
full falsetto so familiar to patrons OF tho
circus. II the dime-museums are better
than the open-air concerns so far as the
behavior OF the audience aud the work OF
the vocal organs are concerned, they are
more destructive 10 the health of the
performer. The performances arc
usually given each hour from ii A. Nj.
TO IL L. NJ, Tho halls are close, poorly
ventilated, hot and dirty; the dressing
rooms vile, and the cOnveulences for the
actors nil. The wages paid are the same
as those in the open-alr temples OF
amusement.
Mr. Berg shows that the mutual help
fulness and generosity which 80 charac-
terize the dramatic profession 10 an or
ganic necessity, and that without 1t,
under the circumstances above detailed,
hundreds, if not more, OF actors and
actresses would be starved every summer
or forced into the almshouse. Even as
it is, their condition during never lesS
than one quarter OF the year verges upon
pauperism. Mr.. Berg's Investigations
will destroy the last vestige Of the once
popular belief than an actors life is a
happy one.