The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-08-25
PROSPERITY AND CHORUS GIRLS.
rbe Demand Exceeds the Supply and
Wages Advance in Consequence.
New York SUM-

| nIt looks very much as If the welcome
wave of prosperity had reached the show
business at last" said theatrical man
aoer the other day. "Of course, do not
mean to predict that the season of 81 and
,os will be safe one for everybody who
ventures in the show business. Those
times have gone by. Amusement enter
nrises must not be conducted very much
along the line of commercial pursuits"
| GAS the season cannot be said to have
onened, where do you get your views on
prosperity?" asked the reporter.
"Well," replied the Snowman, "for
several years the supply of chorus girls
has been more than equal to the demand,
Managers could get attractive girls with
good voices and some experience on the
stage at any price they saw fit to offer.
The prevailing rates have been $12 to SIS
week for engagements in the CITY, and
the highest figure paid on the road has
been SIS. When engaged my company
last season for comic opera production
I turned away at least 200 available young
women, many of whom begged to be
taken on for little or nothing. Some of
the stories had to listen to were pathetic
in the extreme. They spoke eloouently
of long continued hard times, and my
experience was not any different from
that of other managers who have to deal
with the chorus girl as factor in their
stage productions.
IA decided change has come about
Fortunately for me 1 re-engaged nearly
| Sc n1N
calling for the same salary as paid then
but it happens that have few vacancies
in the front line. For two weeks I have
been endeavoring to engage two sopranos
and two contraltos for my chorus, and
the places are still vacant The ruling
figure now on road engagements is $22 a
week Last week went to one of the
principal agencies for chorus people in
| this city and stated my needs. The man
ager sent out that afternoon fifty postal
cards to girls listed on his books as avail
able. In reply to the fifty notices he re-
ceived visits from exactly four girls, not
one of whom would have engaged even
for an outdoor production a half mile
from the nearest spectator. Not one of
them could sing, and as for looks-well
| they would have been obliged to wear
masks in order to prevent riot in my
company.
milne is not the only case. One Of the
best known theatrical firms in this city,
one which will control this season about
half dozen road shows largely dependent
| upon attractive choruses, has been COM
PEELED in recruiting it's companies to pay
larger salaries than ever before in the ex-
perience Of that firm.
'sIf you do not think confidence has been
restored and things are looking up with
us as we'll as with men in the every day
matter of-fact world of commerce, just
figure up the number of shows booked for
the road and requiring from dozen to
seventy five or hundred chorus people.
Take Klaw q Erlanger, for example.
They will send out Jack and the Bean
stalk, in which they must have chorus
| not only attractive but able to sing; they
also have the new production, sOne
Round of Pleasure, and that has big
chorus. AS soon as that show leaves the
city an English production comes in on
it's heels, and the English chorus will
have to be largely augmented with native
material. They also send out two OF
three of the earlier Casino reviews, such
as THE Lady Slavey' and In Gay New
York, and the latest one, The Whirl OF
the Town, all making heavy drafts on
the army of chorus girls.
'sThe big spectacle which is about tc
open at the Academy of Music calls for q
chorus, I understand, of nearly 200. : Tom
| Seabrooke is rehearsing a new comic
| opera, and that, of course, will make fur.
Their inroads on the available talent in
tights and short skirts. Hammerstein
must have chorus for his forthcoming
production of La Poupee.' The Casino
management will follow The Whirl OF
the Town with another review calling
for the shapeliest and best trained chorus
| girls to be had The Brownies is booked
for the road That show requires large
chorus. The three-star aggregation
headed by Lillian Russell, Della Fox, and
De Angels carries large chorus, proba.
| bly, the same as 1t had during its season
in this city last year.
| Leaving out Of the question what are
known as the regular comic opera organ
| izations, such as the Bostonians, Francis
| Wilson, DeWof Hopper, end Frank
Daniels, I could name half dozen other
companies now rehearsing or about to
commence rehearsals in this city. Not in
my recollection has there ever been such
a large demand for chorus people, girls
especially, and you can readily under
stand that under such conditions, with
managers bidding against one another
| instead of turning away from their doors
hundreds of anxious applicants, the
scale of wages has undergone decided
change The top notch reached SO far is
1922 a week, but it would not surprise me
to see $25 offered-only for the best peo-
| pie, of course-before the season is fairly
| under way.
"I:really believe that the good times
| for which we have all waited SO long are
on hand at last, and once more there will
be some excuse for that old familiar gag,
"a happy, happy chorus I hope the
managers will share in proportion the
good things that are to come. The Lord
knows that our pickings have been few
and far between for the last four years. -
WIT AND WISDOM.