The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-06-02
ACTORS S.EK0D HIINIS
RIALTO IS AGAIN CROWDED WITH
..a THEsPIC ARTISTS OF ALL
KINDS
WHAT THEY DO IN SUMMER
Small Salaries Received Durinn
Regular Season Make Economy
During Vacations In
dispensabIe.

WITHIN the past few weeks New York
famous Rialto has assumed the active
appearance that betokens summer and
the close or the theatrical season, says
the Brooklyn Eag.e. From Twenty
eighth street ami Broadway to For.
second the actors have sought out their
old haunts and may be seen in groups
here and there discussing with much YIN
ana many g6sticu,ations the past season.
Its successes and failures ana al the bits
OF current gossip about their comrades
of the profession
If he has been fortunate the actor has
probably closed a season of thirty weeks
or more, and that means money in pock-
ct with which TO face the long vacation.
Unless he can obtain summer engage
ment he must live untn fall upon last
seasons earnings for the regular thea
trlcaI season does not commence before
september. OF course the prominent
members of the profession whose sa- ares
range from SIS to 500 per week are bet
ter able to cope with the rainy day; it
IS the poor player whose genius is hidden
in a number three company who looks
forward with trepidation to the unprofit-
able summer time.
1t is the actors temperament to be
buoyapt and While he has little money
in pocket he hopes to run high. There
fore one sees him in a gay mood just now
as he chats with his fr ends on the Ri
alto. He is well clothed, too. and looks
very trim. His hat is set on jauntty,
his cravat of the newest shape and shade
His box coat buttoned tightly or perhaps
allowed to flare that one may behold the
smart Waistcoat beneath. His clean
shaver features fairly beam with good
humor as he lifts his hat to a little SOU
brette.
How does the actor live through
ont ha M hcsp il
a question often asked. The ques-
ton is most clearly answered
by a statement of his income and OK
penditures. OF course the salary of the
metropolitan leading man is not under
discussion, for that amounts to sums
which enable him, not only to live in
princely style. but also to indulge in any
luxurious fad, from cigars at 81 apiece
to the breeding of bull pups. One
hundred dollars to three hundred dollars
a week is the average paid to the popular
matinee idol so that it may readily be
seen that the summer months need cause
him no apprehension. 1t is his less gift
ed brother in art the actor whose salary
on the road amounts to $50 or $35 a week,
who must needs use prudence if he would
live throughout the idle season and find
himself with aught save daily increasing
debt when fall returns.
Thirty weeks is considered an acting
season Of reasonable length During those
weeks the ghost has walked with reg
ularity, which, being translated means
that salaries have been duly paid. Sup
posing also that an actors salary is
$35 a week Ga gco1ly sum for the work
Of the average actor in these days OF
syndicates), he VIII at that rate have
been paid $1,050 when he finds himself
once again on the Rialto His eXpens
on the road will have amounted-to not
more than $50 per week, allowing $3.50
hotel rates and a trihe more for Incl
dental expenditures. This, of course, if
he be not unduly extravagant. At no
tel where the rate is 50 per day a spe-
cial discount that brings the tariff down
to $3.50 can sometimes be obtained.
The railroad fares of all theatrical
companies are paid by the manager, IN
less the jump from one town to another
is made by trolley or ferry boat in VIII en-
case the actor foots the expense. For
example, actors playing in Jersey City,
Hoboken, Mount Vernon and similar
suburban towns and living in New York
would have to pay their own car fare.
The actor whose supposed weekly eX-
penses during his season amount to 80
would have SIS a week left on the credit
side of his account book. Five dollars
a week are spent for stage and street
wardrobe, which cuts the figure down
to $40 saved each week. 50 then the
player would land in New York about
Nav with $500 in his pocket and an idle
season of twenty weeks before him. II
he is wise he will take up quarters at
a modorate-priced boarding house, where
for SO week he can obtain fairly
comfortable room and three meals of
varying quality and quantity. That
will leave 800 to the good, which will
replenish his summer wardrobe and
leave a trihe over for spending money
with which to while away the dull
months until he starts on the road IN
September
If he has made good in the part which
he played last season and if the manager
Is disposed to re-engage him, he can en-
ioy his season of rest without care for
the future. If, on the contrary, he has
not been re-engaged ne must immediate
" begin to look about him for an en-
gagement It is during this season that
all enga gements for next fall are made.
In companies which will start on the
road in September or October playing
the same piece in which they toured last
year, the reorganization takes place i'm
mediately on reach 'ng New York.
If the actor who has saved $50 during
the season is imprudent. he VIII proD1-
bly,, on reaching New York, put up at
a cheap hotel on tho European plan,
where he pays 81 a day for his room.
At that rate during twenty weeks he
will have paid there $40 OF his $780, whica
leaves him 500. An expenditure Of only
81 more each day for his meals viii cover
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