Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-07-19
AN ACTRESSES WARNING.

A Word of Warning to Young
Actresses is uttered in the Century by
Clara Morris, one of the most success
full actresses America has ever pro-
duced, and author of Little Jim Crow
the Silent Singer, etc. l know, she
says, of but three powers that can
open the stage door to a girl who
comes straight from private life-a
fortune, great influence, or superlatiye
beauty. With a large amount OF
money girl can unquestionably
tempt a manager whose business is
not good to give her an engagement.
If influence is used it must indeed be
of a high social order to be strong
enough to effect favorably the box office
receipts, ad tnuS win a opening for the
young debutante AS for beauty, it
must be something very, very remark
able that will on it's strength alone
secure a girl an engagement. Mere
prettiness will not do; nearly all
American girls are pretty. 1t must be
i radiant and compelling beauty, and
every enc knows that there are not
many such beauties, stage-struck or
otherwise.
You wiz say good-by to mothers
pettins; you Will live in your trunk.
The time will come when that poor
hoteI?trunk $50 called to distinguish
It from the trunk that goes to the
theater, when you are travelling, or en-
r0ute}, with its dents and scars, will be
the only friendly object TO greet You
in your desOlate boarding house, with
its own wizened, unwilling gas-burner.
and it's outlook upon back yards and
eats. or roofs and sparrOWs, its sullen,
hard-feather bed, its desparing carpet;
for, you see, you will not have the
money that might take to you to the
front Of the house and four burners.
Rain or shine, you will have to make
your lonely. often frightened, way to
and from the theater. At rehearsals
you will have to stand about, YEARLY
waiting hours while other rehearse
over and over again their more i'm :
pOrtant scenes; yet you may not leave
for a walk or a chat, for you do not
know at what moment your scene may
be called. You will not be made much
Of. You will receive a Good morn
ing or Good evening" from the com
pany, probably nothing more. If you
are travelig, you will literally live in
your hat and cloak You will break
fast in them and many time, you will
dine in them regularly, that you may
rise at once and go to the theater or
car. You will see no one, go nowhere.
If you are in earnest, you will simply
endure the first year,-endure the
study.-and all for what? That, after
dressing in the corner farthest from
the looking glass, in a dismal room
you would scarcely use for your house
maids broom and buster at home. you
may stand for a few moments in tho
background of some scene, and watch
the leading lady making hit in the
foreground. Will these few we'll
dressed. well-lighted musical-thrilled
moments repay you for the loss OF
home love, home comfort. home star
dom?
We are not the radiant, winged
| creatures. we actors, that so many
Eighty young stage-struck girls think
we are. Our wings only unfold in the
calcium light: in the daytime we are
merely Woodworking, everyday men
and women. with, here and there. one
who carries the magic wand OF
| imagination. at whose waving al
sordidness disappears, and who bears
lightly the trials and tribulations Of
| this truly hard life.
But. little stage-struck girl, you VIII
thing TO frisk gaily UP to the head Of
the profession, pause before you try t