The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-05-13
SALARIES.
Not No Much Profit .. Acting rs h Public
Imagine.

Not No Much PROFIT u. Acting rs h Public
Imagine.
From saturday Review.
Some who read Of payments like 500
or $500 q week i'm the newspaper columns
which are nowadays devoted TO theatrical
gossip conclude that they represent the
ordinary remuneration of the player.
Such, however,is far from being the case.
Even in London there are many theaters
f~requented by the best class Of play-goers
where no such high terms are paid. and
the instances are few indeed where more
than one or two such payments are found
together OH the same salary list. The vast
majority of actors ply their calling from
youth TO old age without attaining, and
il may be said in many cases without any
expectation of attaining the receipt OF fl0
q week. Indeed, little more thai half that
sum may he considered as the average re-
Enumeration of theatrical labor In London,
apart from the very few highly paid ex-
captions, while on the provincial boards
il ranges at a more moderate figure still,
and the big exceptions are there practi-
cally unknown.
These terms. modest as they are COM
pared with prevailing ideas, are, no
doubt, better than what the AMI and file
vi
try received n generation back; but the
improvement has scarcely done more
than keep pace with the increased ex-
penditure which the rise in the cost of
living has forced and continues
to force OH the most economical
of n weekly wage is but n falla-
cious test of income, unless we also rom
slider for how many weeks i'm the year
such wage is likely to be earned.
Let no one suppose that an actors
yearly receipts are to he arrived nj by
multiplying his weekly salary by fifty
two; the player is only paid while he is
actively employed, II to very few in the
theatrical labor market Is il vouchsafed
to find work all the year round.
On the whole, an actor considers or
ought to consider himself lucky II he
finds employment and consequently pay
ment. during 40 weeks out OF the 81, who
would certainly he unwise to indulge in
any higher expectations. Indeed, con-
sidering the uncertain duration of most
modern contracts between manager and
performer, the less an actor takes for
granted about his financial future the bet.
ter. The most usual form OF theatrical
Of the piece" which, as things go,
may mean anything from n week
to two or three years. An actor
engaged is always liable TO he
thrown out OF employment at n Tort
nights notice or even less, should falling
receipts or managerial caprice decree q
change i'm the programme. Under the
old system of engagements ''for the sea
son" the actors position was far more
stable. He knew, at any rate approx
imately. for how long ahead he could cal
culate on the receipts of his current sal
airy, and he could i'm many cases lool
forward with some confidence to the pros
pect of a Encouragement. for the man
ayers of those days were not fond oi
changes and frequently retained tho
same performers in their companies fol
years.
Against the undoubted rise in theat
rical salaries We may also fairly set tn
fact that the average number of actors
attached to each theatre is now smallel
than il used to be, for a manager nov
seldom has i'm his pay more h those In
requires for the single play, which con
stitutes for the time being his repertoire
and i'm which the parts are not, as n rule
SO numerous as In the pieces of the past
whereas the theatrical company OF tn
past was bound To be large enough TO pre-
vide for the casting of such plays in tn
repertoire of the theatre as the numerou
changes of programme then in vogu'
brought together in a single season.