Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-13
AMONG ACTOR FOLK
The Holiday Finds Them
Working, but in Touch.
A THESPIAN CHRISTMAS
WHEN SOCIAL AND PAYROLL
DISTINCTIONS ARE FORGOTTEN.
Remembrance and Suppers for the
Chorus in Memory of Dis
tant Homes.
A THESPIAN CHRISTMAS
Nritien for The Evening Star.

fed and well-clad does Merry Christmas
ring with such hollow mockery as to actors
This for two reasons. First, because It is
the one day In the year when they realize
to the full that home life and the stage
are practically Incompatible Second, be-
cause at both matinee and evening per-
formances they play to the hardest audi
ences of the year. composed of people like
themselves, separated from home and KIN
dred and turning desperately to the theater
for solace. The spectators are In no mood
for the play.
The mercurial spirits of stage-folk rise
under the exhilarating influence of big
houses, flattering press notices and gifts
except on Christmas day. Then, even In
the best of regulated companies, where
good fellowship ordinarily reigns tit OF
the blues is the only correct thing.
On Broadway Miss Tessie Ligh heels,
who halls from Toledo, and all her days
has been pining for metropolitan opening,
fingers the flowers. bonbons and more sub
stantiaI remembrances that come to musl-
cal comedy favorite. and remarks, with a
sniff that is unmistakable:
Il bet mothers just taking the turkey our
of the oven and-and-who wants Waldorf
Astoria turkey on Christmas day
On the other hand. Miss Margaret Mulvi-
hill of avenue A, New York, who. after
many seasons in small parts on Broadway,
finds herself starring to very good busl-
ness in the middle west, glares at her long
suffering manager and demands to know
why he could not have booked them within
hundred miles of New York for Christ
mas day.
And the arrival of box from home is
the signal for a general movement in the
direction of the recipients dressing room,
for after all these stage people are just
big affectionate, impulsIve children, when
their heart strings are really touched.
In the Good Old Days.
Years ago, when the actors were socially
segregated, when the players found their
friends and companions strictly within the
circle of their own profession, members of
company forgot for this one day all jeal-
ousies and heart-burnings. Gifts were gen
orally exchanged. and the manager was
featured" In the celebration. Many a
gray-haired actor who played with Kate
Claxton when she was in her prime, in the
days before the "ten-twentythirty" houses
had done their worst to THE Two
Orphans" will recall her holiday generos
ity. Every member of the company, from
leading man to "supe," received a box of
candy, with a five-dolar gold piece hidden
among the sweets by the stars deft fingers
Those were the days when feasts were
not given in the interests of the press agent,
but when the manager and company gath
cred cheerily and sang Aud Lang Syne"
before the meeting broke up; when 1t was
one show to one manager instead of sixteen
shows to one manager; when the com,
pany joyfully contributed toward the pur-
chase of an impossible silver service for
the manager, or a gold watch. heavily
weighted with their good wishes in en-
graved characters.
But now the manager is accessible only
to his stars and then only matters of
Importance. Between him and the people
who interpret his plays rises the barrier of
a large executive force, assistant managers
and clerks. And if this luminary were to
receive a Christmas token from some
sophisticated ingenue on his pay roll he
would probably turn to one of his numerous
stage directors and ask who the young wo-
man was.
Social Lines Curb the Days Spirit.
Something of this same spirit reigns in
the midst of a company of fashionable New
York players. The star. as well as the
manager, feels that 1t is more important
for his well balanced company to draw
dollars into the box office than to take up
subscriptions for a Christmas gift. Be
tween star and minor members of his sup
port the relations are similar to those eX-
listing between a shop keeper and his clerks.
1t IS purely a business proposition.
Social lines are now drawn quite strict
ly among stage folk, too. We have our
old stage families like the Drews, who
have the entire into society and whose stage
work Is largely matter of business. The
houses. their country homes, their yachts.
their coaching automobile tours and
when a holiday comes. such as Christ
mas, they spend it. not with their stage
associates. but with their families and
their friends in the world of society.
Favored beauties of the stage. particu-
larry i'm musical comedy are becoming ex-
elusive in their own peculiar way. Man
ayers say that chorus girls in the beauty
class reap a rare harvest on Christmas
day, but the press agent is not always
appraised Of the fact Your Broadway
beauty has her apartment, her maids and
hIIr q mot ha
bourgeois as to have footlight admirer in
evidence. Gifts no longer arrive via the
stage door route. In fact. such trifes as
sabes. diamonds. automobiles and real
estate would rather stagger even a season.
ed doorkeeper. But, however blase this
chorus maid may strive to appear she
takes good care that every one of her as
sociates learns what the festive season has
brought forth In the way 6f gifts.
Miss Russell's Merry Christmas.
The famous Weber and Field company
always has merry Christmas
Each Christmas with a right good will
and free hand. the members of the COM
pany contributed for common gift for
their managers, until the Offering took on
such extravagant proportions that the de-
Hneators OF Dutch character determined to
call a halt Last year notice was posted
on the bulletin board couched in language
that was not to be mistaken, to the effect
that the management desired the custom to
be stopped
This injunction, however, did not inter
fere with the regular Christmas spread Civ
en- on Christmas eve, and Miss Lillian Rus
sell distributed gifts to all. from manager
TO call boy. Each gift bore a famous lew
eler's mark. and the distribution occurred
Just before the evening performance. when
Miss Russell sat In her dressing room
enjoying the exclamations OF delight which
came to her through the open doors.
In productions of a lighter character
where TO make the world laugh is each
actors mission. there is usually one big
hearted chap mot necessarily the starr
who. like Miss Russell. enjoys playing Lord
Bountiful and seeing those around him in
merry mood. He is apt to be popular with
every one from star to chorus girl and all
other engagements are set aside when he
issues invitations for a holiday spread
There are people in the staid town of
Brooklyn who still talk of the Christmas
supper Lee Harrison gave two years ago
On discovering that fully three-fourths of
the chorus were out-of-town girls and
every mothers daughter of them desper-
ately homesick, he engaged a rathskeIler
Tor Christmas night and served Dutch
lunch for the hundred people in the COM
pany who voted the feast the next best
thing to home-roasted turkey.
Trees for the Children.
Yet another Christmas picture is pre-
scented behind the scenes tba rroa,o,,a.,