Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-11-05
CHANGE IN ACTRESSES
Greater Domesticity Apparent in thu
Player Folk.

'Ten years have wrought wOndrous
changes in the treatment accorded
theatrical people at hotels" said Anna
S. richardson, who was in Washington
recently looking after the PRESENTER
ests of Miss Paula Edwardeain win
some Winnie" Ten years ago took
my first flyer as a press agent and re-
tired from the field, dismayed by the
attitude of the general public toward
the men and women of the PROFESSION.
We We're all 'troupers,' especially to
the hotel men. The room with the
dingiest carpet, the dirtiest windows,
the most dilapidated bed, and the shah
biest furniture generally was considered
an ideal apartment for the average
Thespian. There We're so-called profes-
sional rates, but they applied only to
rooms that were absolutely undesirable
to amy other patrons than the actors
and actresses. Everything in the room
showed that members Of the profession
We're regarded With open suspicion.
Towels We're given out with evident re-
luctance, and the only reason that SOAP
wasn't chained to the dish was because
the chain wouldn't hold. Chamber
maids and Mattresses went around with
Il chip on their shoulder as if expecting
nothing but complaints from the play
folk, and comedian had to work hard
er TO get two fresh eggs with his ham
than to win laughter and applause from
the nights audience.
bat after ten years spent at a desk
l have returned to my first love to find
that such conditions have practically
disappeared. The theatrical guest is
not only welcomed, but sought by the
average hotel proprietor Cards.
pamphlets and personal letters assail
the Thespian from the next town. and
all the employees in the house seem anx-
ious to contribute to his comfort.
inquiry among a number of hotel
men has brought to light the fact that
it is the professional people and not the
hotel people who have changed. One
Well-knoWn hotel man said that the
new generation of actresses in particu-
lar, showed a respect and an apprecia-
ton for comfortable surroundings that
were not known fifteen or twenty years
ago The actress who abuses privileges
and comforts is practically unknown.
and for every noisy party of chorus
in the practice of destroying their
nelghbors sleep, there are fifty who are
desirable and quiet guests. Further,
members of the profession are the best
advertisers house can have. When
an actress is comfortably lodged and
Wholesomely fed she passes the good
news along to every man and woman
she knows in the profession. This
means more to the hotel man than any
of advertising in the theatrical
guides or on stage bulletin boards"
That the general bearing of the
chorus girl and the woman who DIavs
small parts has changed, no one can
deny who has watched sociological con
dlt1ons in the theatrical centers.
such women as Miss Maude Adams
Miss Annie Russell. Miss Maxine
Elliott and Miss Mary Mannering have
set what might be called a domestic
example to the rank and file of thaa-
trcal women. They have grown az
They do not publish their nro-
lession IN their bearing nor their dress
ing.
Miss Adams is as deenure as a coun-
try mouse. Miss Amelia Bingham and
1iis'S Elsie lie wore, both pOrpaauc
dressers on the stage. cling to black for
street wear. The really smart actress
IS just now posing for a pretty picture
Of domestic happiness. She must have
an apartment. She fees hotels and
in her private life. Miss F.y
Templeton. who is perhaps one of tho
most strikingly Bohemian figures in the
general estimate of stage women nra~
sides over one of the most perfectlv a.
pointed little apartments in the tbo
ltrical district. Miss Virginia Harned
n her more personal role of Mrs. Soth
'rn, is charming hostess, and Mic.
Paula Ehwardes has a Wee flat in onn
If the most staid residential sections 10 |
New York. and she looks after If nar
'onall! when in town, often driving o,,t |
% do even her own marketinr NJ
number of actresses who are h,,,;.,
real estate convenient to NJ,
yori is perhaps the best evidence If ~,
domestic tendency of the day.
Now, theatrical women are Ill. =
many sheep. What the stars dn ~
women in their support do on sn,,,1as