Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-03-29


DENTAL POINTS ABOUT CHORUS GIRLS AND
OTHER PERFoRNERs-THE DANGER THAT Al
WAYS THREATENS THE MANAER-ExpENsrs
80 HERE Is NO REASON why You
wv should not have burlesque COM
IN pany OF your own" said the manager
III to STAR reporter, ''if you have .
~ few thousand dollars to begin with
The first thing to do is to 60 on to New York
and pay visit to one Of the four or Eve dra-
matte agencies in that city. There are such
agencies in three or four other big towns, such
As Chicago and San Francisco, but the me-
tropolis is the place where nearly all travelling
theatrical organizations are got together. You
tell the people at the agency that you wish to
form variety troupe, and they respond by
exhibiting their books, on which are registered
the names of ever SO many performers in this
line of business, with information as to the
speciality of each one. Among such of these
performers rs are open to engagement you
take your pick. For the burlesque, which
closes every well-regulated show of the kind
nowadays, you want, in addition to about
twenty chorus girls, from five to eight persons
who are able to take principal speaking parts.
Two of the eight, say, should be comedians,
third should be heavy man, fourth a
society actor, and the others pleasing
women with stage experience. These same
persons can be utilized in the opening act of
the performance, which, as you know, is usually
but a modification Of the minstrel style of
thing, with singing, dancing and so on. In
fact, the purposes of economy are to be served
all through by doubling up or, in other words,
making each member of the company do at
least two things. Besides you must engage at
least ono sketch team meaning commonly a
man and woman who do funny little play to-
gether, with incidental songs and dances; and,
furthermore, it is desirable to have two or more
athletes whose specially is an aerial act en- the
trapeZe or some such thing. Then you ought
to hire some living statues, serio-comic
singer or two, juggler, and perhaps a VEN
triloqulst, If good one is handy. The dra-
matte agency makes an appointment for you to
meet the people you have selected, and, as soon
as tho necessary contracts have been signed,
your variety combination" is ready for re-
hearsals, preparatory to going on the road.
The rehearsals may be had at some theater in
New York while your advance agent is making
arrangements for your coming and advertising
your performances in the towns you are first to
show in, or they may be held at the play house
in the very first town you are to visit. Salaries
begin with the initial performance and then
you are fairly started"
THE CHORUS GIRLS.
"And does the dramatic agency supply even
the chorus girls?"
'Yes, if you like, but they are easily obtained
otherwise. few months ago advertised in a
New York paper for young lady amateurs to go
on the stage and got 800 responses. chose
from the applicants forty of the most desirable,
who had shapely figures and more or less voice
70 sto6 with, and with these, unframed beyond
q few rehearsals, started out. They did very
satisfactorily on the whole, but at the first city
l camo to 1 lost eight of them, at the next
stopping place six more of them disappeared
and within eight or nine weeks had not one
of them left. What did do? Oh, replaced
them with others they dropped off, There
was nothing new about the experience. 1t il
impossible to hold them to the most cast-iron
contract Plenty of fresh ones are always to
be found and the advance agent can have as
many as are desired engaged ahead in any
town the company is to make stand in"
SHE MUST LOOK WE'LL.
"The essential point in chorus girl, sup
pose, is"
''Shapeliness. That is the one indispensable
requisite. She ought to be able to sing little,
but she fills the bill if she looks we'll on the
stage. 1t is not even necessary that her face
should be pretty, for a little paint and powder
will do wonders in the way of identifying be-
hind the foot lights
Are these chorus women respectable?'
sometimes. As rule they are drawn from
very doubtful sources. The manager does not
consider it his business to inquire as to their
moral character or to oversee their conduct
during their leisure time 80 long as they do
their work. which Is not hard and is reasonably
well paid for. Twenty dollars a week and the
opportunity for travel free are attractions suff-
cient to draw upon the variety stage not few
reputable young women who could not earn
more otherwise than perhaps IS a week for
shaving twelve hours day in the shops. OF
course the life is not especially conducive to
morality. II the novice has morals to start
with they are apt to be seriously impaired be-
fore her first season is at an end. But tina: is
her responsibility"
THE STARS.
Sand where do the more important per-
formers come from?'
''As for the women, it is very much the same
as with the chorus girls, save that they have kept
at the business and risen from the ranks
through beauty or talent The men are mostly
derived from very low plane in the social
scale originally. They have served their first
apprenticeship at the double shuttle or what
not in the alleyways, have been graduated from
that early school to the boards of some cellar
theater or cheap museum and have at length
arrived at recognized position as variety actors
Curlously enough 1t is not infrequently that
one sees comedy talent of high order on the
variety stage. 1t is here that many played-out
ic0meskans, brought low by drink or other
canSsN Swind up. And, by the way, though
iyef3etS people a few years ago used to be so
idit9ilhted, they are kept very strictly under
control nowadays, and player is at once dis
charged who appears at rehearsal or perform
ance under the influence of rum"
THE RUNNING EXPENSES
Running variety company is pretty e1-
pensive business, 1 presumed"
about 81 800 week will carry fair show,
travelling expenses included. That strikes you
as big? Well, you see, the tendency of the
variety business in these days is to expensive
ness iR,eyerything. Costumes must be of silks
and; and they make big item. They
are alAHroyided. except tights and slippers, by
the management. Salaries, too, have been
getting higher and higher. A really good
sketch team of two is worth $50 week; four
women TO do living statuary in front of black
curtain cost $50 a week; a fair ventriloquist
gets SIS: a serio-comic singer is scaled at: from
$50 to $50, and SO on. Performers who do
special novelties fetch exceptional rates. The
biggest salary in the variety business today is
paid to man recently come to this country
who makes rabbits and all sorts of birds and
beasts in shadow with his hand on white
screen. He is said to get $500 a week for his
services, though that is probably an exaggera-
ton. The only really first-rate ventrilOquist
IL, thA tcountry will take nothing less than $780,
There are plenty of second and third-rate
vehtr1oquists to be had at all prices. All these
DeOnle in the yarierv line dema nd rates of nav