The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1904-09-02
FACTS ABOUT THE STAGE
'hree-Fifths of the Actors Make
Less Than SO a Week.
me Market OverstOcked and New
York Alone Turning Out u
Thousand Pupils Every
Year.

! 1t IS only of comparatively recent
years that the thea trical profession has
Deen considered one of the principal
caiilnSs supposed to be open to women
generally. both as a practical means of
an independent livelihood and as af-
f"rdng q fair road to fame and for
tun". In the old stock company DAYS
&c Was rather trade and for the most
part Conhned to those Dpin of stage
parents ana those growing up in the
immediate environment of the theater
Ihe aliurcmentS of the footlights were
h@dsed III by the limitations of local
demands, few thcaters. slavish work.
low pay and slow advancement, and the
social feminine doubt of respecta biliry
WIKI the advent of the combination
system the market is overstoclscu with
| men and women who have been actors
ana actresses, are now such. and want
to be The rush of the raw material
mas forced competent people of both
sexes into the background and has de-
graded salaries until the best must
strive continually to be able 10 make
enough during the season to keep them
iron! want during the summer months
Of Inactivity
ANY New York manager will tell YOU
tnat there are from ten to twenty APP
pli"antS for every part to be given out
The bottom IS rapidly falling out of all
salaries except those of the top. and
even top salaries are feeling the
squeeze.
The majority of leading people in road
companies set but $50 ii week or less.
Th!ee-iifths of the profession as a
whole, including chorus, ballet and SUI
pernumeraries. average but about $l5
Il week for the season, which means an
average of less than 50 week spread
over the twelve tfalendar months The
other two-lifths do not average over
$50 a week, including stars, taking it for
the year This covers only the part OF
the profession employed, not the 1000
or 1000 now annually out of engage
ments. The estimates are from the
books Of reputable managers.
Now, considering the theatrical pro-
tsss-on as a calling, as We deem law or
medicine, or teaching, or bookkeeping.
or Stenography, or anything else by
which men and women make a living
and q name, what is the cost? How
much money and time and labor does
It require to earn these rewards? Is it
a good investment, or might it NOT be
better expended in paving the way TO
other channels of life? Does the end
justify either the expectation or thu. ex-
penSeo
The dramatic schools of this city and
other places are now turning out nearly
1000 pupils each year. This includes all
pupils being fitted for the stage Those
who go directly to the boards without
registry will swell the annual applicants
to full 1000 new people. The estimate
is made upon close calculat ion with
Franklin III. Sargent. president OF the
American Academy of Dramatic Arts,
and upon his authority That institu-
ton, through its regular course and by
private instruction, sands out about 100
u year.
There are other similar schools here
!, and at least one such school in every
large city of the United States In addi-
ton, the special schools for dancing and
! music and other stage preparation are
innumerable. The cost of the average
course Of regular instruction for two
terms thought necessary to afford tn.
; groundwork of dramatic effort is $500
The cost of living during that period in
Dig cities and away from home is put by
Mr.. Sargent al about the same figure.
Private instruction comes at from So to
SIS per lesson, depending on the num-
Der and dlratio of the lessons given
and the teacher
In special private instructions of stars
it runs all the way from 50 to $50 an
hour, for it must not be supposed that,
because men and women are creating
stir in the dramatic and musical
world and are drawing large Salaries.
h.tr how
being coached. They are not infrequent-
ly the hardest students and the most
liberal pupils.
Taking the figures of the academy and
its counterparts in Chicago and other
cities as financial premises. we must ar
rive at the conclusion that not less than
s1,0Oo,000 is being spent in hard cash
every year for stage preparation. AS
this estimate includes all sorts of spe-
clal work, from that put upon star like
Mrs. Leslie Carter down to a Skin, dam
Ger, the figures will probably run below
rather than above the actual expendl-
lures. According to MI Sargent. the
average cost of preparation for the stage
is $1,000. Therefore, as 900 people al.
turned out annually. the total for an
nual instruction must be a round 81, OG j.
900
1t is a curious fact that in this great,
est year of theatrical depression the
rush for the stage on the part of woman
kind is greater than ever it was before.
Every New York manager will testify
to this. Inquiries come in to MI Sar,
gent at the rate of half a dozen day
the year around. A better class of
women are seeking the stage as means
of livelihood.
1t is not infrequent that woman in
middle life applies simply to be coached
for star part, With the idea that once
on the stage her talent would be so OBJ
vious that managers would cIamor for
her. For this she is willing to put up
money-money that to take under the
circumstance would be stealing.
The example of Mary Anderson, as 1t
is known to most people. has done more
to spoil the feminine judgment than al
most anything else that could be named.
The popular impression is that "our
Mary came out of society one day and
succeeded as Juliet the next night. to
go from year TO year to the highest pin
nacle of dramatic fame by sheer force
of genius.
The fact Mary Anderson was not
ever saved from the harshest criticism
by her ineTable beauty during those
first years when she was a conspicuous
crudity And another fact is that she
was constantly trained and coached by
expert teachers. even in the very height
of her histrionic fame And still anoth-
er fact IS, that no woman on the Amer
lean stage ever worked harder and
more increasingly from start to finish
than did she.
1t Is true. she doesn't like to talk
about this now. but she was not
ashamed of it then. She came to New
.er;,. ,tf< Ial 1>,, IL