The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-02-22
S|RENN ACROSS
The CONTINENT
Over 100 Theatre Companies
Stranded This Season.
ACTORS TELL THEIR WOES
Their Strategy With the Land
lord and Others.
ACTORS TELL THEIR WOES

son as it is TO discover how many have
come back
The difference is interesting, and this
interesting difference is strewn all the
way from the rainy northwest corner of
the state of Washington to the sun baked
beaches of the Florida east coast. \ fair
| proportion will eventually get back be-
fore the season closes and flock with their
fellows in upper Broadway. The rest
viii take root where fate has dropped
them and infuse an histrionic element in
the permanent population of Painted Post
of Carriers Corners.
Its only the fittest who survive to revel
again on the Rialto. That's an achieve
ment that is gloried in, for in the actors
| code of ethics there is no odium attached
TO being '-at liberty in New York. To
| be left in an uncouth and modest coun-
! try town TO earn ones living as clerk,
or waiter, maybe, r4ayhap, even porter.
/ is the bitter pill
To the profession it seems pleasanter to
half starve in the glare of the electric
/ signs in Broadway than to enjoy a crude
/ plenty with the deadly dullness of a lone
night" town.
J The ladies and gentlemen who have
/ achieved Broadway are unusually numer-
Gus this year. Between eHrald square
and Forty-secOnd street the sidewalk
teens with them.
| They bring a sheaf of tales and they
are all tales of dire disaster. You can
hear enough hard luck stories in one af-
| ternoon nowadays to make Jobs expert
ences seem like a golden dream of joy.
Naturally the raconteurs are in the
humber walks of the profession. The
big companies don't strand. When bust
ness gets too bad they close" in a dig
nified and conciliatory manner and the
members of the company come back to
New York on wheels with their bag
gage.
Not so the victims of ''the shoe string
manager" They are the ones who count
the ties and prove the assertion in the
song that its forty miles from Schnec-
tory to Troy
II is no wonder there is now a plethora
of disengaged actors, for it is a fact that
more than one hundred companies had to
close this season. At an average of ten
people to company. that means the I'M
expected throwing out of employment of
thousand actors, one-tenth of the en-
tire number in the country.
Al agree that the business in the lone
night stands has been unusually bad.
Why nobody can convineingly explain.
The country is prosperous; money is plen-
y in the rural districts, especially in
the west; there is no political excite
ent and no great national calamity to
distract attention.
IL. a.
remarkable success of theatres in the
large cities has lured too many money
less managers to take a chance.
Dramatic companies have suffered the
most. The continent is strewn with the
wrecks of East Lynnes." "Camines"
ana Two Orphans"
Musical organizations have Jared bet
ter for the great increase in the number
of dramatic stock companies. to the ex-
clusion Of mt steal and vaudeville enter
tainments has given the operate and
musical comedy shows a wider field TO
draw from.
Cant understand IT" said an Opaque
faced actor. as he got under the lee of the
FOrtieth street corner. I've been out
Lynne every season for four
teen years and got fine notices. Com
pany always did big business. Always
sent a money order back home regularly
every Monday. You know I'm very par
ticular about those little things
wasn't il good this year?"
Good Why, my dear boy, they just
wpui6n't have Hs. Good company. too.
was never in better form. Simply
wouldt have US. Think of it. sir. All
here in New York: not much better than
amateur shows. sir and they wouldn't
have East Lynne that's stood the test.
Remember. sir. East Lynne is no fash.
mushroom. Broadway production, but
real dramatic art. sir"
SO YOU closed?"
yes. and we hard closed. When we
engaged we all felt sure Of 1T least forty
weeks. We couldn't realize the bad bus
mess. 1t appalled, Us. But we held on
uati: there was nothing 10 hold on to-
The company showed great nobility and
business tenacitv. They sacrificed every
thing The watches and jewelry OF the
members is now scattered in various
towns in the west. sir. It viii be very
difficult 70 collect 1t. I fear. Various
articles OF wearing apparel are also out
there such as overcoats and cloaks and
superfuous gowns and suits Of clothes.
Il is not abusiT any one's sensitiveness
to say that their 1ightful owners are
now sadly in need Of them in this disa-
greeable weather.
Any trouble setting back
a good deal sir. You must under
stand its new experience Il me. for
have always Travelled comfortably. FIRE.
quently I have taken sleepers when max
ing an ali night jump I have found that
this habit Of sitting NJ all night in the
smoking car o. evenu doing On two seats
in the day coach IS inducive Of rheUma-
tism-
How did you get back. then
When we closed there was nothing left
for railroad fares. The landlord kept the
trunks and props I got as FAR east
as Chicaeo on freishts. There some
friends came TO my assistance
But h continued, there Is no Use
trying 70 explain Il. About every East
Lynne company that was out this SEA
son has closed VII n REV won't have
East Lynne. there Is 10 telling what
viii happen
That certainly IS state OF Affairs Only /
e East Lynne companies have gone - /.
The rvau IRE bulwaTk q the drama
knocked into 6its by = ca7ricious public, !
old age urve7erated and the traditions I
OF the stage ignored
VIA, wiu 50 next.
Numerous Uncle Toms Cabins" are
SIN out and Ten Nights In Bar /
roorn" Is running good second The