The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-03-12
ACTORS DRESSING ROOMS
Most Desolate, Forbidding Place In
Nearly Every Theater.

An actor's dressing room In q cheap
theater, and in some which are not so
cheap, is the most desolate, forbidding
place In the world. A bit of broken look
ing glass, a tumble down shelf, n hump
backed chair, and dust, gloom and bad air
are its only furnishings. 1t is alternately
an oven and refrigerator. 1t Is a stall
where pneumonia turks in the chinks
and crannles, and where creeping oraw-
ling things wander without let or hind
rance.
Yet there are dressing rooms which are
fairy corners. tits so in most OF the
New York thesters. Out beyond the me-
tropolis, though, the actor folk find no.
where to lay their grease paints but on
dusty shelves.
"Dry Dollar" Sullivan has introduced
bill which provides that every dressing
room i'm the theaters of New York State
shall be at least eight feet square and 10
feet high, with all accessories of light,
heat and air. He doesn't say how many
persons shall use one dressing room. A
manager can dress his principals, chorus
and ballet in the same room II he wishes
to, yet Timothy means well, and the the
atricaf profession thanks him in a way.
Still the average actor doesn't care much
for room. All he thinks he needs Is q
place to put his trunk, chair and a
makeup table. He would feel lonely in a
larger room probably, and would give up
dressing in despair. It's a way with ac-
tors. They have been brought up to dress
in stalls, and ii would do violence TO the
dearest traditions of the stage to have a
big room. 1t would take several years
for them to become accustomed to the
change. They do yearn, though, for light,
a breath OF warm air in winter, a cooling
breeze In summer, and a place where
they can throw their clothing round
without getting 1t incrusted like wine
bottles of ancient vintage.
"Nonsense, said an old actor, when
asked abut the scheme OF having all this
space for dressing rooms. 81 don't think
would know what to do in place like
that. / want the four walls as close to
me as / can.gst 'em. i was i'm an open
air performance of GAS You Like IT, not
long ago. and The society persons who
had charge of IL tried to be good TO us,
SO they gave us a whole house to dress
in. Great big rooms, you know; ances-
trail halls and oil that sort OF thing. No
use to us at all. We felt too lost and
lonely to dress. So we found one little
bit of hall bedroom and we took turns
in using 1t. We got little comfort out OF
1t.
"Do you know that actors are a queer
lot? A man in Pittsburg built a theatfr
" W
have the finest accommodation for
Rc ors i'm the world. Every Rctor had a
room and a bath all to himself There
were rugs and Oriental divans: soft
lights crept through richly colored
globes. There were pictures on the walls
and fine bric-a-brac on the mantel pieces.
"N i'll you believe IL, sir, not one actor
in a dozen could dress in thess rooms?
I've seen some OF the old timers creep
ont among the wings, where they could
smell the paint and feel the dust under
their feet; stick bit of broken glass
somewhere, crane their necks around
and thea make up ith great satisfaction.
"And, sir, to use the parlance OF the
streets, they didn't do thing to those
fine dressing rooms. They cut the pic
,ures from the frames. put profane and
muddy feet on the Oriental di,ans and
playeI hob with the furniture. You
see, those places were too aggressively
nice"
One disadvantage OF Senator Sullivan's
bill will be that. IL IT becomes law, the
actor will lose one of his chief joys and
consola.ions. He will not have the satis-
faction OF telling his comrade what very
bad dressing room he has. Dressing
rooms throughout the country are SO
had that Ii as become n second nature TO
complain about hem.
INA ever unu Dao dressing rooms
among the one night stands?' said q
veteran actor the other cay. "Just inn
agine that you have arrived, for instance,
i'm Oshkosh on a clustering winter dty.
You go to the theater after dinner and
find your dressing room. There's no
window i'm 1t, for half the time IL will be
under the stage. OF course there's no
stove, and steam heat Is unknown there.
There ia gas jet. That is the source OF
light and heat, and, by keeping the air
circulating, IL Is meens Of ventilation.
there is shelf along the side OF the
room, greasy and dirty. There Is a pitt
cher somewhere, with deposits OF Crime
I'm the bottom OF II. You're lucky II you
have any water, and IL you do, likely as
not II is in the form OF ice. There IL
piece OF tin hanging on the wall, 10 be
used rs a looking glass. Then, perhaps.
there may be n real mirror on The wall,
yet II isn't very ofto, that you run across
such sybarite luyory as all shat.
men m,