The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-05-07
THEATRE MISERY IN VIENNA.
What a Parliamentary Commission In Aus
trim Has earned of Actresses' Lives.

Austria has q Parliamentary Commission,
which was appointed early last winter. to in
v~estigate the condition Of women workers In
the empire. This Commission has turned up
n vast amount of hidden Vienna life. to the
horror of humane Inhabitants of the imperial
city. 1t has learned. for instance, that young
women in the feather industry usually have to
be content with S1.50 to SO each a week, al.
though the most skilful ones mount after
years of practice into a 50 class; that the hours
of work are twelve to sixteen a day. and that
coffee with dark bread is the unvaryinR menu
at all meals, year in and year out. similar
conditions were found in twenty or more
other industries which are largely in the
hands of women. AS women in Austria's in
dustrial life are not expected to obtain much
more than a bare living, these revelations
have not excited a remarkable amount of
but the information given the Com
missioners regarding women on the stage. who
heretofore have passed In Vienna for well fed
and well clad persons. has caused O little SEN
satlon and no end of newspaper writing.
Chorus girls. actresses. and theatre direc-
tors were brought before the Commission.
They all said the rush to the stage had been
overdone by Austrian women in recent years.
Vienna had more than forty, schools OF acting
and operate singing. which were crJ Sded
with girl students. The pressure of young
NJ hlA No7 oo - lthO lllab al ~
the working actresses and singers were re-
garded as too old for much more use. and
were re!egated to obscure parts, or put Off the
stage. In the last two years twenty or thirty
such actresses had become beggars. A few Of
them had died on the country roads along
which they had been begging for food.
The young girl graduate Of Il Vienna school
OF acting the witnesses told the Commission,
begins WORK at n tirst-class theatre for S25 a
month. and in many cases must provide her
own costumes. \ chorus girl 4 In tho best
luck, gets SPA q month; that Is tho maximum.
Many chorus girls receive but 81 enCh Il month.
and those who receive Sl5 each IA month are
supposed to be doing we'll. In tho Court
Opera the chorus girl at the beginning OF her
career has IL salary of Sl2. 30 a month. Her
of service until after fifteen years IN tho cbnrus
she gets the royal and imperial sum II $50 a
month. In the Theatre An der Wien ths
chorus girls pay Is from Soto So. 30 n month;
In the Carl Theatre. from $40 to S22, 81: IN
the JOsephstadt Theatre. from 81. ~ N s2g 10:
IN the German Peoples Theatre. from sI75 10
$500 a wear. ono young woman MIN had
worked three years at the conssrVatnry f,Afnra
going on the stage, tod the Cnmmissinr she
had been lucky enough N get p,ara In q
young woman, who had studied With mnsl,al
professors 81 high reputation fnr six years.
confessed that She had been Qnhbla W d. het-
ter Than So n month.
one director tod of ten giris In his chorus
VINO received no salaries wkAiNypr aGd must
provide their own toilets. The hest paid Of
his chorus girls received slS a month.
The Commissioners we're anxious IN md ont
how all these young women Of tho stage
were kept from starvation. Tho answers ~
questions on this point were yAriRl Srma
OF the girls did fancy work ~ knrna; n,h,rrs
were obliged to look out for What the Won,
HeSe call 'caVa.iera."