The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-07-01
WHAT ALA REHAN KNOWS ABOUT


Copyright, 1894, and all rights reserved.)
Outside of the charmed circle of the
profession, few people, if any, have any
correct idea of the life of an actress.
They pirate of its temptations, its hard
ships, its inJlIriousness TO health, Of how
II tends to unfit one for any other duty
or occupation in life, of how the actress,
accustomed to a life of unnatural excite
L1enI is utterly WretCiled and niserab e
If age or any other circumstance compels
her 10 live away from the glare of the
1ootllghtS; OF how her vanity Is stimulated
by constant flattery and applause till they
become absolute essentials OF her being;
in short, TO put ii briefly, "buZ, buZ, buz. -
as poor Hamlet says.
An experience of many years in the
darmauc profession has convinced me
that so far from having any deleterious
influences upon women the practice of
legiumate dramatic art is markedly re-
inning and eleVating in its tendency. How
Can 1t be otherwise The heroines of the
legitimate drama are usually ladies, and
an actress must have or must acquire
the manners of a lady before she can sat
lsfactor1ly portray the character OF one.
Many Of the most beautiful passages Of
the poets and many of the best moral
lessons OF the SageS are contained in tire
lines OF the legitimate drama Which the
actress learns by heart Must not the
constant study of those passages and
lessons be conducive ito both mental AMI
moral improvement? In the legit ma. e
drama, ana, indeed, in almost all forms of
the, drama, virtue is always Triumphant
ana wee IS punished. 1t not that a good
moral lesson in itself for any woman to
be always contemplating, and will not
being constant participant il scenes
where the good are always rewarded and
the pad always punished improve the
nicrai sense and incite TO the doing of
goed rather than OF evil? The tempta-
ucns OF the actress are no greater than
Ihese Of any woman who goes cut 10
night for herself, single handed and alone
the battle of life in any of the other aTo.
II rs true that the life of an actress has
hardships- What life has not? Ali Iut
me favored lev are SO fortunate as to
be members OF the two or three frst-class
STOCK companies permanently located in
some large city, are obliged to be trave,-
ing constantly from PLACE to place, and
II Is this constant travelling which is tie
hardest feature of the life of an actress
twenty years ago, when every theatre
a permanently located stock company
the actress escaped all that unlsss she
was a star, but the present system of
travelling, which has virtually exferm{naf-
eo STOCK companies, has deprived her cf
a settled home and reduced her to the
level of strolling player When 'on
me road, mat IS, when travelling from
city 10 city, an actress endures a great
amount OF discomfort and fatigue She
nnlShSS a long performance at night and
retlres shortly before midnight TO a com :
fortress bed in queer hotel at some s.ona
nlght stand, as places in which com
panies play only one night are called
cilu II called UP ar some unearthlV hour
perhaps or oclock-the next morn
ing to take train on which she must
travel all day in order to reach the com
pGnY's next stand where she a--ri,-es
barely in time TO hurry on her STAGE
clotnes and appear supperless before a
waiting audience.
But, notwithstanding the hardships Of
travel, | think the life of an actress an
enlinently hee thful one. Many first-clas IS
companies pi keng continued series of
week stands" that is cities in which
they remain for a week, and in soma Of
TIE larger cities they remain two weeks
or even longer. Then travelling NAV Re
very Pleasant. II is by no means dis
agreeable to go from New York IL Rosto,7
remain there for two weeks. go thence to
Sibladeiphla for two weeks, then to Wash
1Fgton Tor one, then to Baltimore for an
other, then to Pittsburg Tor one AMI
then 70 Chicago for two. stopping all the
time at some one of the many excellent
hotels which are to be found IN all OF those
Giles. Even with such conbilla tons as
present repertoire, an actress seldom
has TO learn more than seven or eight
parts at the very most, while with the
great majority of companies she only Ia (
10 learn one or two. These she sfudjeg
and rehearses thoroughly before the com
thoroughly up in her lines and S+agss
business before the season begins She bs :
nttle or no studying or rehearsing to DO
curing that part Of the year in which she
Is actively engaged IN the practice of her
pfoIsessIon AS a consequence the whola
perod OF daylight in every twentv-f0ur
IN large cities where n1atiQees are gwen
on one or two days III each week T,E1-r
tiesrousn the physical and mental powers
u an actress are often subjected n a
severe strain while she is plavinp an1
trough her nervous system IS then Sc
ssIeiH taled, yet she enjoys such long in
tervals OF rest between her perfo~r7ancae
and has such excellent opp0rtrritiec 90
the enjoyment of fresh air and exerciSe
The III S ef,sct us os ~ 1uIiy Tecuperated from
Undertaking thosS of tonight. ~
1he subsequent history OF MANY of +be
women who have retired from the STARE
ana not few of them in the full zenith
OF a great professional success-con1nIe+el
y olsproVes the statement that woman
Mho mas once led the life Of an actress
can never be happy in any other snhere
while the very beautiful and useful Iives
winch many of those former .sctrerree
nave led after their retirement is an
smple refutation Of the oft-repeated false
hood that the life of an actress unfits her
Tor the duties and responsibilities of any
DINER. ADA RFHAN
LILLIAN RUSSELL SAYS IT Is MORE
HEALTHFUL THAN THAT OF A
SOCIETY WOMAN
Many people, knowing nothing whatever
about il, think that by reason of its late
nours ana the exposure, necessitated by
certain forms CT stage dress. the life of
an actress must be especially ininjcal 10
health. There could be no greater mis-
take The life OF an actress does not en-
tan upon Its votaries nearly so late
hours as does that of the woman of
fashionable society. Half past fen
O'Clock, or at the latest Il GEES the end Of
most plays. The actress is al her hotel
thirty or forty minutes later, and if SO
disposed may be asleep before midnight
But the wee, sma" hours of the morn
over-crowded, ill-ventilated apartments
The danger from wearing a hfgh-necLed
long-sleeyed dress all day and then
changing TO short-sleeVed, decollette
one at night is far greater IN Tho Sociasr-
woman than to the actress It is q
singular thing that one never feels cold
upon the stage. The actress, while be-
fore the audience, is kept amply warm by
excitement, and the moment she comes
on the stage an attendant is ready in the
wing with warm wrap in which she is
Quickly envelope0. The actress is in no
danger of becoming oYerheated from
dancing or any other exercise incidental
TO her part, because the temperature
back of the footiightS is ALWAYS several
deeress colder than it is in FROM IF tbe, %
a fact that any old theatre-goer Will
readily appreciate, for all who have sat
near the curtain when it is down know
what g draft Of cold air rushes out into
the auditorium as soon as it is raised
The actress, before leaving the theatre
for her hotel, exchanges her decollette
dress for a warm street costume and
wraps, so that she is in no danger of
taking Geld while on her homeward way
How different AL this is with the So
ciety woman She becomes over-heated
from dancing and then, while unprotect-
ed by wraps of any kind stands about in
doorways, subjected to drafts of cold air
Gucing her vitality to its lowest ebb bv
dancing for many hours and until she is
ragged OUT in close, furnace heated
rooms. Shr gets into. her carriage and
rides home in her decollette costume, Just
when she is in the most favorable possi-
BILE condition for an attack of pneumonia
or bronchitis.
an actress appreciates the Importance
If good health and of taking all DoSSihle |