The St. Johns herald., 1894-07-05
AMERICAN ADJUSTMENTS.
The Immense Amount Of Money
 Spent "a Theaters.
A Large Army or Professionals Ar Kept Busy-Eortu unes Annually Spent In Travelling on the
 Railroads.

Railroads.
 It is estimated that there are per 4laps as many as ], I,O90 travelling theatri- cal companies in the United States, says the Washington Post. This in cludes everything that can be con sidered strictly professional companies. to say nothing of the countless amateur organizations. Of tha strictly theatri- cal organizations 1t is safe to presume that the average receipts per night for the 1000 companies are S400 each. At seven performances per week for each company the weekly average, as will be seen. would be q, SGD. The average theatrical season is forty weeks. The entire I. eco companies with aD average nightly receipt of S400 would produce weekly receipts at seven performances per week amounting to S, ,s00,o00. This multiplied by forty, the number of weeks in Q season, would yield gross receipts amounting to SIP, coo, ,0O0.
 From the above estimates some idea can be formed of what the American people spend annually for arlusements by companies which are known as strictly professional. Thousands O. dollars are also spent with amateur theatrical organizations and lecture bureaus.
 Itwould appear from the above state ment that great deal of money is made by theatrical people. The expenses in cident to earning SIP. 100000 are very large. It is reasonable to say that one third, or SS9. 100000, of the totai SIP, GOO, GOO, is spent with railroads Another very large item is expended for printing Great fortunes have been amassed by printing houses in the production of theatrical printing alone. Hundreds of thousands eff dollars arc also spent for advertising in news papers. It is safe to say that 40 per cent. of the correspondence between theatrical managers is carried on by telegraph, which amounts to a great deal in years time.
 The travelling companies, however are not the sole possessors of the grand total, SIP, ,O00. GOO. This is di vided between the travelling companies
 
 companies play. The net receipts de. rived blythe companies would perhaps be in the eneighborhood of65 per cent. ol 70 per cent, making an average net re suit of between S75, 900, eco and S90,000, coo. Gut of this, of course, comes allo the expenditure for railroad tranSpor tation, and over one-half of the total amount paid for newspaper advertis ing. Out Of this also is paid fully O. per cent. of the amount paid to print ing houses.
 The 1,oO0 travelling companies vii average fifteen people to a company making total of 15,00O theatrical peo pie travelling over the country forty --vvccirD- -tlre- iifts--tvvevI4Al'is oi course, does not include the number of people employed at theaters. Upor the estimate made as to the number ot companies there must of necessity be the same or more number of theaters as two companies cannot play at the same theater on the same night. There are at least on an average fifteen peo pie employed at every theater, whicf would be 15,000. This added to the number of people travelling would make Q total of 9O,00O people. It il said that there 5000 actors and act resses now out of employment. There are at least engaged in the theatrica business directly or indirectly-those who make living from it-G0,0O0.
 Some actors make a great deal O. money; some do not. Those who make the most are generally those who say the least about it. Those who make the least on annual tours are as class those who do the most talking about having done the greatest business. 4 great many managers and stars holC to the old-fashioned idea that they must always talk about the enormon' business they are doing, the people they are turning away from theil houses, and how many times a weel the ''Standing Room Only" sign is out They do this for the express purpose O attempting to deceive the public. Th' best evidence that travelling theatri cal attraction is a good one isthe fac that large audiences attend it.