The Washington times., 1904-09-25

per week, gets 500 now. and the show girl
has advanced from SIS TO $50 or $50,
such is the demand
The period Of rehearsals is. as a rule,
from four TO six weeks. usually the lat
ter, and often these are held under diff
hculties. IT is generally thought TO be a
good thing II the author and composer
can look after the preliminary work. for
II frequently happens that many changes
have to be made. THE Maid and the
Mummy" n company Of LOG persons. in
order that II might get the benefit of
the authors rehearsals. was obliged
TO travel for five eeks. from PhiIadeI-
phia TO Minneapolis. VIA many Of the
smaller middle Western cities, in order
that Richard Carrie the author Of the
book. who was playing the leading part
In the "Tenderfoot," might rehearse
them.
$4,000 for Start.
The funds necessary to produce a good
musical entertainment may be put down
as ranging from $4,000 upward. and the
first named figure will go but a little
ways in these days. when $4,000 is real
~ about the average This is a lot Of
money TO put out in hard cash with no
absolute means Of knowing whether or
not the captious public Will not follow
the good old Roman style and turn
down their thumbs. which means a total
loss to the producer. not only Of his in
vestment, but also OF whatever money
be spends during The short life of his
ulay
What is the cost of running a musical
production From $1,000 a week up to
$4,000. the latter figure, Of course. be
Ing Tor grand opera, with high-priced
soloists, and double or treble cast. The
average cost Of the average productions
Is about 5000 weekly. divided up i'm the
ratio Of about one-half for the cast prop
or. and the other half for. the chorus. or
chestra, advertising, railroad fares,
etc. In the case of the elaborate pro
duction made for n. c. Goodwin. Mid
summer Nights Dream the salary list
alone aggregated nearly 5000 weekly
Big musical productions are expensive
even after all Of the preliminary ex-
pense.
The printing and poster work is an
other item Of expense, and requires an
investment Of anywhere from 5000 to
$4,000. large portion of which is paid
in hard cash before a sketch is drawn
or a stone laid on the presses.
"a Fair Profit" of so Per Cent.
Now IS 10 the profits. Taking the
GOOD with the bad, an average net profit
Of $3.50 per week for musical attrac-
ton is generally regarded as good after
paying all royalties and expenses. The
90 F-
this rate there would be a profit on the
year Of $4,000. Deduct the cost of pro-
duction Of say $50, 900 from this and then
there is a net of SIS, 900, or 50 per cent on
the investment. A goodly percentage
truly, but when one figures the chance
OF humiliation at the hands of the
amusement lovers. and the number OF
failures I'm proportion to the successes. IL
IS none too large. There are many sue
cessful productions which play for an
entire season before the cost of produc-
ton Is realized, and sometimes It Is not
until the third year that the manage
ment realizes a genuine profit
Strange to say it is very difficult to dis
pose Of a production which has been a
failure. No one seems to want either
the scenery or the costumes at any
price. and the result is that there are
many storehouses IN the larger cities
filed TO overlooking with derelicts of
this kind that are costing storage every
year and that viii never bring their
owners one cent on the dollar OF even
the original cost.
"All is not gold that glitters.' and the
purveyor Of musical entertainments to
the general public probably takes a little
bit greater risk than his brother in the
straight dramatic field. but either one
is never certain as to what the outcome
will be Of all his expenditure until after
production and the great public have
passed their opinion.
And yet conservative estimates place
the gross amount spent in this coJfr Try
for amUsements at all kinds to closely
approximate 500, O00 600 yearly