The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-04-17
BIG PAY on THE STAGE.
TIE PHENOMENAL SUNS GIVEN
SINGERS AND ACTORS

Gossip Talk About the amounts HS-
ceived By Other Theat-ical People
Salaries Gave Increased
From a.s cineiaHatf Enquirer.
If one can believe the statements indus
triously circulated By the newspapers and
echoed by al theatrical and operatic touts
in the country. Adelina Pitt Is receiving q
phenomenal salary during her present tour
through ths country. Some statements are
70 the efec. that she receives $1,000 per
night and extra pay for mstinees. and the
Siseacres who know al about such things,
OF at least pretend TO know all about them,
dsclare that SIZE Is certainly paid At least
81. 900 per week.
There was { time, but il Is quite q number
Of years ago, when this sweet singer could
command $4,000 per night, but sne Is con-
tent 70 sing for less than half that sum now
and her actual salary whilst in New York
city Is but q, coo per night with an allow
ancs for Tnatlnsss, which adds sOmethinzto
her income. Patti has always been a gh-
priced singer, and she was able TO demand
and pretty generally received almost any
figure that she cared 70 place upon her voics
IN nearly every section Of the world which
she visited Of course. time Is doing his
work with this wonderful singer and
charming woman. and not even hsr most
ardent admirers will pretend that she IS
to-day IS enthraling in the glory and
sweetness Of her song as she was twenty
i've years ago, when she filed the old
Italian Opera House il Paris with g crowd
that nightly packed the big building from
pit 70 dome. Yet in those DAYS she was
very far from receiving even tie salary that
is handed her to-day In the time of her
highest popularity as the phenomenal singer
Of her young days, the most she received il
France was I, so francs per night, and that
ripe days Of the Universal Exposition under
the empire in lS67-S.
FORMER SALARIES
The truth is that the salaries paid to-day
to opera singers Of wide reputation would
emazs some Of the old-time people whose
renoTn vas nearly as notable ia its way as
| tat Of Patti. There was Nine Malibran,
for instance. When all London was Wild
over her and enough people were nightly
turned away from the doors Of the tbeater
/ 70 ill II twice over, sne was content TO re-
ceiTe just 900 for each performance, and
| the salary was in those days considered an
enormous one and was advertised as widely
as are TIE alleged payments made to
! certain dime museum freaks at the
| present time The great and only Grisi,
| who stirred world with the sound of her
| marvellous voice, never was in receipt of
/ any sum such as is now paid TO the famous
| artists Of the opera stage. OF curse, half
| the stories told about these salaries Of to-day
are baseless and untrue, still the fact re-
mains that Grisi. fer instance, was glad to
sing 10 her palmiest days for 81 900 per
| night, sum that Patti would laugh at and
probably will be able TO laugh at as long as
| she lives.
| Mms. Carvalho is another noted singer
| whom the present generation can remem-
bzr il her waning days. For years she had
| Paris and the great continental cities at her
feet, and her name on the bill boards would
/ pack any opera house from St Petersburg
| 10 the Guadalquiyer. Yet, when she was
In the height Of her popularity, singing at
the Lyrique theater in Paris, her salary,
secured to her by government subveHtlo1 A.,
was but 5000 francs-say 5000 per week.
NELSON'S sHREwD BARGAIN
Nilsson-the Swedish nightingale of these
later days-was always high priced singer.
| She is careful, economical and shrewd
| business woman and during her artistic
career saved more money absolutely out Of
her salary than any other woman now on
the stage. She was never paid as much for
her performances as Patti, whose rival she
has been for many years, but notwithstand-
ing the disparity In payment, the once
peasant girl Of Sweden is more than twice
| as rich now as the queen of song ever will
be. The last time Nilsson came to America
and made her famous farewell tour through
| the country, it was widely announced that
she had been induced to come by a deposit
to her order of $4,000 in Barring
| Brothers bank 10 London and a salary Of
$4,000 per week for twenty weeks. The
| world probably believed she was worth the
money, and never were performances
| given in this country more thoroughly
4 1<.1 -, ,-Asa
the Nilsson concerts and the operas In which
she appeared. The truth about her salary.
however, lay in the story about Barring
| Brothers bank. She had declined to sail
for America until her full pay for the
twenty weeks had been deposited in Eng
land, and that was why the Si50,OO0 was
placed to her credit But that was all she
ever received. The story of the $4,000 per
| week additional was simply thrown out as
food for the gossipers and good material for
advertising purposes, and it rapidly went
the rounds as such wonderful tales do even
| to-day, when we know so much about their
entire lack of probability
JENNY LIYD's POPULARITY.
A similar case to that of Nilsson was the
| story of the contract made by Phineas T.
Barnum, the still undying Snowman, when
he brought the first Swedish nightingale
Jenny Lind-to this country. There never
| was a WOuldu III us Dry WHO was known as
widely and admired as a songstress more
than the same Jenny Lind Patti. Nilsson,
Carvalho, and all the other dozen names we
can recall were singers for the rich and
well-to-do. They were seldom heard by
the great mass of the people, never
| by the poor. Jenny Lind packed Castle
Garden when she came here with men
and women from the uenements as
well as with richly-dressed people from the
wealthiest houses in the city. She made
barrels of money for her enterprising man.
ager. Yet only a few days ago Mr. Bar
mum, at the Murray Hill hotel in New York.
on his return from Europe, chatting over
the tour of jenny Lind, declared that he
was very much afraid at the time that he
would lose money on the venture. Her
salary" said the veteran circus magnate,
Twas considered altogether too high" SUP
pose we contrast it with that paid Patti.
and Jenny Lind made five times more
money for her manager than will be made
by Patti. Barnum's agreement with the
Swedish nightingale stipulated for $50 per-
formances, and they were to be given within
the space OF eighteen months For this she
was to receive 81, 900 per night, or, in round
figures, 5000 francs, and to guarantee her
salary Mr.. Barnum deposited with Bari ~
Brothers in London $4,000 to cover the
contract. Besides the $1,000 per night.
Jenny Lind was paid all her travelling and