Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-08-06
THEATER MISERY IN VIENNA.
What n Parliamentary Commission About
Women Workers Has Learned.

what Parliamentary Commission About
Women Workers Has Learned.
Austria has parliamentary commits
sion, which was appointed early last
winter, to investigate the condition Of
| women workers in the empire. This
commission has turned up a vast
amount of hidden Vienna life, to the
horror of humane inhabitants of the
imperial city. 1t has learned, for in
stance, that young women in the feath-
er industry usually have to be con-
tent with $1.50 to So each week, al
though the most skillful ones mount
efter years of practice into So class;
that the hours of work are 10 to 16 "a
day, end that coffee with dark bread
il the unvarying menu at all meals.
year in and year out. Similar con-
dit lions were found in 20 or more other
industries which are largely in the
hands of women. AS women in Aus
tria's industrial life are not expected
to obtain much more than O bare living,
these revelations have not excited
remarkable amount of comment, but
the information given the commission
ers regarding women on the stage, who
heretofore have passed in Vienna for
weil-fed and well-clad persons, has
caused little sensation and no end Of
newspaper writing.
Chorus girls, actresses and theater
directors were brought before the COM
mission. They all said the rush to the
stage had been overdone by Austrian
women in recent years. Vienna had
more than 40 schools of acting and
operate singing, which were crowded
with girl students. The pressure of
young actresses and singers was so
great that at 80 the working actresses
and singers were regarded as too OLD
for much more use, and were relegated
to obscure parts, or put off the stage
in the last two years 20 or 80 such
actresses had become beggars. A few
Of them had died on the country roads
along which they had been begging foI
food.
The young girl graduate of a Vienna
school of acting, the witnesses told the
commission, begins work at first
class theater for $25 n month, and in
many cases must provide her own cos.
tunes. \ chorus girl. if in the best
luck, gets $24 a month: that is the maxi.
mum. Many chorus girls receive but
s. each a month, and those who receive
SIS each a month are supposed to be do
ing well. in the Court opera the
chorus girl at the beginning OF
her career has salary of $3.50 q
month. Her salary is increased with
each succeeding year Of service until
after Is years in the chorus she gets
the royal and imperial sum of $50
month. In the Theater An der Wien
the chorus girls pay Is from S. to $3.50
a month; in the Carl theater, from $40
10 $3.50; in the Josephstadt theater,
from $3.50 to $3.50; in the German
Peoples theater, from $175 to $500
year. One young woman who had
worked three years at the consery atory
before going on the stage told the
commission she had been lucky enough
to get place in chorus at q salary
OF SIS week. Another young woman.
who had studied with musical pro-
fessors of high reputation for six years,
confessed that she had been unable to
do better than S. n month.
One director told of ten girls in his
chorus who received no salaries what.
ever and must provide their own toilets
The best paid of his chorus girls re.
ceived SIS a month.
The commissioners were anxious to
find out how all these young women Of
the stage were kept from starvation.
The answers to questions on this point
were varied. Some of the girls did
fancy work at home; others plain sew
ing. The vast majority, however, We're
obliged to look out for what the Wen.
ncse call "cavaliers."-N. Y. Sun.