Omaha daily bee., 1899-12-17
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ADJUSTMENTS. !
A. N 49, N u n N N y a. ~ ~ @ss i

Ut ~ ~ ~ W ExE ifF 4sE 9sS ~ Y
This is the season OF the year when most
people nnd but little time to attend the thea
ter The holiday shopping Is not only taxi
ing up everyones time, but it is tugging so
perslstently at the purse strings that few
have money to spare for amusement. 1t is
the season when the majority of the large
travelling combinations do not play unless
booked in New York, Boston, Chicago or
cities OF like size, as they can better af-
ford to "lay on than play TO the small
business characteristic of the last two
weeks OF every year.
This accounts, in a measure, for Omaha s
lack OF really high class amusements dur
ing the last week, and can be offered as an
excuse for what is to be offered this week.
II must. however; be admitted that the
orpheum last week furnished one of the best
vaudeville menus OF the season, and this
weeks bill, headed by Papnta, promises to
furnish enjoyable amusement.
Commencing with the new year the man
agement of Boyd's promises some attractions
considerably above the majority of offerings
during the last three months. "Our season
opens in earnest Immediately after the hol-
idays," said Manager Burgess yesterday,
land then look out for the good attractions.
While cannot promise productions of Ben
Hur." or its like, am sure / have hest
OF attractions booked that will surprise as
well as please the theater- goers Of Omaha.
Friday last was amateur night at the
Creighton Orpheum and, while such nights
have been In vogue In the east for some time,
this was omahas first indulgence. That 1t
was north provoking success there can be
no gainsaying, and its future popularity II
4
to attend. Some of the specialties were in
deed pralseworthy, but the majority were so
ridiculously funny as to keep the audi in
n continuous uproar during the entire time
the ARTISTS" were upon the stage. Some
OF the performers" seemed to feel that
they had duty to perform in entertaining
the audience and bravely stuck at their posts
despite the fact that they were being un-
mercifully guyed by their auditors and sew
era actually hooted off the stage. One
might naturally expect to be bored at per-
formance of this character but it proved in
reality, too laughable to be boring.
That the lives of the many legitimate
actors and actresses who have. owing to the
popular demand for such entertainment, en-
tered the vaudeville field, are not fraught
with the amount of JOY the majority in it
would have the theater going public believe,
Is attested by Wright Huntington, who
played an engagement at the Orpheum last
week and who is to join the Woodward Stock
company In Kansas City next week. Mr..
Huntington was found last evening in his
dressing room just finishing the transforma
tion from street attire to the handsome we'll
fitting uniform of United States naval
lieutenant which role he enacts in "a
nj ice ioi in tp the
writer's query as to why he intended to leave
vaudevlle:
1T is a question easily answered; purely
for financial reasons; 1t Is rather a turning
Of the tables, is 1t not? Usually, it is the
legitimate actor who is tempted from
dramatic work by the fabulous CD salaries
offered by vaudeville managers.
Let me say at once that vaudeville is the
Nose delightful field of professional work |
have ever been engaged in The surround
ings are pleasant the work easy, the cour-
teses received from the manager to the
humblest stage assistants invariably delight
full. While on the stage. you are for the
time. being a star and not one player OF
many, as in dramatic productions. Every
thing that can make your act successful Is
furnished by stage manager and helpers, but
-as In most things in the world there is
but-the first season of a dramatic headliner
is rarely a profitable one. | do not care
how popular a sketch may be or the star ap-
pearing in it, it is next to impossible to
book continuous time, to keep employed week
after week the eptire season.. OF course,
there are exceptions but they are few and
far between. I think 1 may venture the
assertion that "a Stolen Kiss" as played by
my little company is an attractive, bright,
nj 7 had
booked after this week in Omaha until
February 12. in Brooklyn.
Offers? Yes any number. One manager,
representing a well known circuit, offered
me the four weeks following my Omaha
engagement at the munificent figure of SITS
per week, which he afterward raised to 5000.
Let me show for the benefit of actors con-
teTnplatlng vaudeville what profit l would
have received from that four weeks engage
ment had l accepted Railway fares for
three people, salaries, commissions, prop
critics used in play baggage hauling and
incidentals figured close to $655; salary re-
ceived for four weeks, $500; amount left me
after paying expenses. $145, or about $365O
a week for my services. So you see there
would be little chance to indulge in wine
suppers during this. four weeks engage
ment"
"But some western circuits pay much bet
ter salaries than you have just quoted?"
qneried the writer.
They do indeed" replied Mr.. Hunting
ton much better, but on the other hand
the expenses of travel are greater. The
usual commission charged by an agent for
booking is per cent, but Gu the orpheum
circuit. for example, an additional per
cent is deducted by the Great Western
Vaudeville association Even with all this
the salaries paid by the orpheum man
agement would leave respectable margin
were 1t not for the time lost In travel and
the thousand and one other expenses a
headliner must pay, such as baggage haul
ing, property bills, tips to stage hands. etc
From my six weeks engagement on the Or
pheum circuit had a balance Of $546, but
being obliged to lay off one week and two
weeks of travel, making nine weeks, or a
little over $50 per week for my share.
Taking into consideration the fact that my
services as a dramatic leading man have for
the last Ave years been in demand at from
800 to $3.50 a week (according to the num-
ber of performances gven), you can realize
my bank account has not assumed very gi-
gantic proportions Consequently when
Manager Woodward of the Auditorium Stock
company, Kansas City, tempted me with
one tf, the hest salaries ever paid leading