The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-02-18
ONE PROFESSION
WITH THE GLOSS OFF
Three-FiftIi OF The Actors Make Less
Than SO Week.
HARD WORK AND SMALL REWARDS
The Market Overs alked and New
York Alone Turning Out n Thou
sand Pupils n Ycar.-Uouse Servants
Better of as n Rule Than the Ma
jority of Actresses.


jority of Actresses.
New York Letter in Globe-Democrat.
1t is only of comparatively recent
years that the theatrical profession has
been considered one of the principal
callings supposed to be open to women
generally both as a practical means of
an Independent livelihood and as af-
fordng a fair road to fame and fortune.
In the old stock company days it was
rather a trade, and for the most part
confined to those born of stage parents
and those growing up in the immediate
environment of the theater The allure
ments of the footlights were hedged in
few theatres, slavish work, low pay and
slow advancement, and the social femi-
nine doubt of responsibility.
With the advent of the combination
system came revolution, not alone in
the extraordinary increase in the num-
Der of theatres everywhere and the cor
| responding multiplication of theatrical
companies, but in the attitude of the
public itself toward the theatrical call
ing. The demands of the stage for tai
ply. and salaries went up with rapidly
growing profits, until hundreds of per-
sons with little or no talent We're get
| ting more money than could be earned
| by accomplished men and women in
other walks of life.
At the same time growing familiarity
with the stage and its people through
| out the country worked the most extra
| ordinary change of social sentiment
| witnessed during the century. Actors
| have become the companions of states
| men and bosom friends of Presidents
| while the women who formerly ranked
so low are sometimes welcomed in the
| best society.
These causes have brought about an
| annual deluge of women as candidates
| for public favor and aspirants to his
| tronc fame The market is overstocked
with men and women who have beer
| actors and actresses, are now such
| or want to be. The rush of the raw ma
terial has forced competent people OF
| both sexes into the background and has
| degraded salaries until the best must
strive continually to be able to make
enough during the season to keep then
| from want during the summer months
of inactivity.
| ANY New York manager will tell yor
| that there are from ten to twenty appli-
| cations for every part to be given out
| The bottom is rapidly falling out of al
salaries except those at the top, anc
| even top salaries are feeling tht
| squeeze.
SMALL PAY.
| ac
road companies get but $50 a week ol
less. Three fifths of the profession az
a whole, including chorus, ballet ant
supernumcraries, average but about Sl'
a week for the season, which means al
average of less than SO week spreac
over the twelve calendar months. Th'
other two-flfths do not average moro
than $35 a week, including stars, TAX
ing it for the year. This covers only
the part of the profession employed, NO
the 2OOO or 5000 now annually out of en-
! gagements. The estimates are from tkt
books of reputable managers.
Now, considering the theatrical pro
| fession as calling, as we deem law OF
medicine. or teaching, or bookkeeping
or stenography, or anything else by
which men and women make living
| and a name, what is the cost? How
much money and time and labor does !
require to earn those rewards? Is 1t {
| good investment, or might it be bette
expended in paving the way to othe
| channels of life? Does the end juStit.
either the expectation or the expense?
The dramatic schools of this city anC
other places are now turning out near
| ly 1000 pupils each year. This includes
all pupils being iitted for the stage
| Those who 20 directly to the board
without registry will swell the annua
applicants to a full 1000 new people Th
| estimate is made upon close calculation
with Mr.. Franklin II. Sargent, presi
dent of the American Academy Of Ora
matte Arts, and upon his authority
That institution, through its reSula
course and by private instructions
sends out about 100 year
There are other similar schools her
and at least one such school in ever,
large city of the United States. In ad
dtion, the special schools for dancin
and music and other stage preparation
are innumerable. The cost of the aver
age course of regular instruction 70
two terms thought necessary to affOr
the groundwork of dramatic effort
$500. The cost of living during that pc
riod in big cities and away from home
put up Mr.. Sargent at about the sam
figure. Private instruction comes a
from So to $l5 a lesson, depending o
the number and duration of the lesson
given and the teacher.
In special private Instructions of star
it runs all the way from So to $50 a
hour, for it must not be supposed thai
because men and women are creating
stir in the dramatic and musical worl
and are drawing large salaries. the
have ceased to study and pay for bein
coached. They are not infrequently tn
hardest students and the most libera
pupils.
Taking the figures of the academy an
its counterpart in Chicago and othe
cities as financial premises, we must al
rive at the conclusion that not less tina
81 900 600 is being spent in hard cas-
every year for stage preparation A
this estimate includes all sorts of spec
ial work, from that put upon a sta
like Mrs. Leslie Carter down to a Skin
dancer, the figures will probably ru
below rather than above the actual eX
penditures, According to Mr.. Sargen
the average cost of preparation for tn
stage is $1,000, Therefore, as 1000 peopl
are turned out annually, the total fo
annual instruction must be a roun
81 900 900.
MOTHS ABOUND.
1t is a curious fact that in this great
est year of theatrical depression tn
rush for the stage on the part of VIC