The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-12-07
TN POVERTY CORNER.
Oueer Nook i'm London Where
Poor Actors C0ngregate.
WHERE DICKENS WOULD REvEL.
Strange Beings In the Great Metropolis
-Junius Brutus Booth and
His Wife.

| LONDON, Nov 24-lCopyrighted, $780,
| On the Surrey side Of the Thames. just be.
| yond Waterloo bridge, is a strange locality
where poor people and others OF moderate
means dwell. The classes mix and mingle
| in the struggle of life. and many good
| story of right and wrong, laughter and
song. folly and daring. is gathered between
| the end of the bridge and the railroad sta
| ton bearing the same not half q mile be-
yond. Along the streets of this locality
| there are rooms for rent In
nearly all the houses, and men and
women who are study live in them, from
the seedy professional OF vague ambitions
to the speedy girl who is "doing the best
she can for herself" Now and then a
member OF parliament. who has little
money, has q room in this locality, with
! his breakfast. cooked over an oil stove, for
pound week (S5) and is qaite comfort
| able. In other words, this section is peo-
pied with that range of humanity with
whom economy is necessity, and
the actual wants of life are often
| missing 1t il just such q
community as Dickens would revel in
while in search OF picturesque characters
or quaint doings If the London OF Dick
ems still existed, but it does not. Nearly
all the old places about which he wove
such wonderful stories have changed their
power and purpose for the better save the
Seven Dials or ST. Martins church.
Poverty Corner is the center of this local
ity filled with strange beings. The inter-
section OF York and Waterloo roads forms
the corner. There is gin mill on the tip
of each of the four corners and many more
in the locality where those who congregate
there divide their pint of bitter with the
less fortunate of their kind or drink alone.
Under the railroad bridge, just beyond
"ihe Duke of York." a swell gin mill,
is a fish market, where the chill
dren of the very poor gather after
the days sales are over, ask for two PEN
Ries' worth of fish and get all they can
carry home. There are dozens of queer
hooks and phases OF existence in all direc-
tons where strange scenes are enacted, in
that rude and intensely interesting drama
which Is played there so earnestly, with no
change of bill, every hour of the day and
night for many times those who are seek
ing bread either by their work or their
wits have no place TO lay their heads and
make the arches of the bridges their home.
Poverty Corner" is. therefore, the re-
sort of many, but it is chiefly and popu-
larry known as the meeting point for the
| humber class of actors, who are seeking
| places in the music halls and the lower oc-
| equations on the stage There are doSen
| or more theatrical and musical agencies in
the vicinity where these actors and
actresses gather, hoping often against hope
| for even a chance to show what they car
| do. They are poor. many very poor,
| not worse of than in many other
avocations, but the fight for place is very
| hard here, where there are SO many beg
| ging for chance to be heard. There are
no conditions or surroundings like 1t in
| the United States, but just after the season
/ closes Union square, about Fourteenth
/ street, will give one a faint glimpse of it,
| but it is very faint. because just beyond
| Waterloo bridge the poverty of the stage of
London seems to gather, never relieved by
| the sight of prosperous actor or actress,
as is often found on the Rialto in New
York.
About II o'clock this singular crowd as
sembles. They sleep late when they sleep
at all. and with or without breakfast the
conditions are the same. They frequently
divide their last penny's worth of beer
with each other, and keep in wonderfully
good spirits, considering what they endure.
Among them there is every sort of talent.
Chorus man. song and dance, ballad singer
and specialists of every class. Sometimes
hundreds can be found there. and espe-
ciaIiy just before the holidays, when the
Christmas pantomimes are being put on,
the number increases, and manager can
get almost all the people he wants of any
kind or description by giving the word to
one of the numerous hawks" who acts as
middIeman between these folks and those
who wish to employ them.
The beginner is prominent and unique
character among this throng which does
the minor work of the boards. His lot is a
very hard enc, and he waits and begs for a
chance to show what he can do, and these
chances are not numerous. The agent
hears him. and if he thinks well of it goes
TO manager and asks for hearing for
his client This 10 done in the music halls
by what is called an extra turn" The
ambitious young person is put on for
trial some night and the fact an.
nounced by big placard. This
is notice to the audience that it is to decide
his fate. Ii the verdict is favorable one
he generally has sure road to an engage.
ment, If il is unfavoraole he is Kissed off
the stage ailu MS career BciieTdily eHQS IN
| the chorus. on the street or doing the pro-
| vincial towns. Naturally many unique
| characters are found among this class.
| and much talent comes from the curious
throng that takes in Poverty Corner.
| OF course they are an improvident lot and
| their earnings at best are small. Want is
| constantly staring them in the face, and
| sharpening their WITS SO that even the most
| casual observer can get good deal that is
| interesting out of the remarkable assembly
| which gathers in and about 1.-THE Duke of
York," that famous tap room on "the cor
,ner," where good beer IS kept with pretty
| barmaids 10 pull the pumps.
| Hard as is the life that these humble peo-
| pie of the stage and wouldbe stars lead. il
| is vast Improvement on the years ago
! when all players we looked upon as yaga-
/ bonds, liable not only 70 poverty, but to sill
sorts of indignities. The days have long
since passed when they had to be called
'his majesty's servants" TO protect them
| from outrage. Some of these poor peopis
ind here may some day represent a still
higher advancement of stage life than we
are even now knowing. The happy-go-
lucky seeking of today may make
the beginning of many good IL
not great careers. am re-
minded by looking over these strange
| people that Junius Brutus Booth and
many other great actors sprung from the
most limited conditions of life, and even
| after they had shown their quality. were
| willing or were forced to work for nit.
4 ,,1ra 81,