The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-12
UPLIFTING The ACTOR FOLK.
rJVTC FEDERATION TACKLES A
MANY SIDED PROBLEM.

IN Tell Oh AuUTEOEN NINih Nhg EOON-
lights breaks Marie CahIIi'S Monopoly.
Inst MS room az some slight differences
~ opinion that arose yesterday between
,he Rev. DR.. Thomas Slicer and Miss Marie
C,bill have been adjusted, a whole lot OF
actor folk, including Miss Cahill, Richard
Mansfield, George Conan, De Wolf Hopper,
TIxie Friganza, John Drew and all the
others. are going to be uplifted. The
National Civic Federation, OF which August
Relmont is the guiding spirit, IL to go right
obead and try to do as much for the journey
men actors as it has just done to improve
,hs working conditions of the bakers and
metal polishers.
The news came to light yesterday when a
neatly typewriter statement came out OF
,be cosmos in which were outlined some
rlans for -bettering the condition OF the
acors of America" that the welfare depart
rrent OF the National Civic Federation has
IN mind. The committee Of welfare work,
the letter says, has for it's object the i'm
movement Of the working conditions OF
trades generally.
II was learned at the federation's Offices,
at 2s4 Fourth avenue, that the welfare de-
partment has received valuable assistance
nom Charley Hemstreet in its investiga-
tons of the deplorable conditions under
which Miss Annie Russell and others have
70 labor. Miss Russell is to open the new
Astor Theatre tat a constantly varying
datel for the theatrical firm Of Wagon
halls 4 Kemper. Charley Hemstreet il
WaRenhals 4 Kemper's press agent. This,
of course, has nothing to do with
But TO return to the neatly typewriter
statement. 1t goes on to say that the
Aston Theatre has Just been erected. Then
II gets down to the kind of helping hand
that is going to be extended TO the down.
trod and oppressed actor folk. The state
ment says
1.-THE plans work out to a proper conclusion.
"a ia expected, In the important theatres OF
the country will be introduced lecture courses
for actors, rest rooms, exhibitions OF pictures
and casts and such other features az will give
actors advantages for the acquiring OF spe-
cialized information which could be other
wise obtained only at great expense OF time
and money.
On the uplifting committee are the Rev.
DR.. Slicer, who has always done much to
improve the condition OF the poolroom
workers; August Belmont, Jr.; who Is also
well known reformer and uplifter; Homer
Folks, Thomas c. T. Grain and John S.
Huyler, who has done invaluable work for
the matinee girl. The secretary OF the
committee is Z. Stage Within. The type
written statement concludes with an inter-
view about the wrongs Of the laboring
actor classes by MisstAnnie Russell, who VIII
open the Aston Theatre, of which Charley
Hemstreet is the press agent.
The need for a resting room Tor the
actors ia evident at a glance and no one
would stop 70 question the good results
that would follow a course of lectures,
delivered to the show girls between the
acts, on First Aid to the Injured Digestion"
or what a Thrifty Girl can do on Twenty
Per" but it was not until the reporter had
interviewed some Of the stage folk. and
their press agents that the real horrors
Of conditions behind the footlights were
learned. Without exception actors and
a~ctorines said that they be freely
quoted as saying that conditions were such
that they should receive all the publicity
possible.
Joe Drum, press agent for Marie Cahill,
was the first theatrical man who was IN
duced to talk on the subject. he was
the first one seen when the reporter lanoed
on the Rialto.
Now, let me get this right . began Joe
Drum. You're here, as | understand It,
to get a story about Miss Cahills opinions
for publication. GeeiI
For a long time Mr.. Drum leaned against
the wall Of his office in the Knickerbocker
Theatre building smiling and grooming
over and over, Coming in right OF his own
free will II can't be real il can't be true!'
Mr.. Drum shook himself once or twice,
sent in a hurry call on the telephone for
Miss Cahill, locked the door and closed
the windows, still smiling and mumbllng.
Hardly had he investigated the lock OF the
window for the third time when there was
a swish of skirts in the corridor and the
little Office was suddenly crowded with Miss
Cahill in a nifty pink creation and a black
and white hat that cast a shadow.
Now everything would have gone along
haatNif.l,v 20 Me- Tahtn m win 70 hn
Interviewed, had not passed the Hippo
drome just as Miss Olive North was coming
through the stage entrance from her days
work. Miss Cahill just had to tell Miss
North what was going on, and Miss North
mentioned the glad news that a reporter
had broken out to George Lynch, press
agent of the Hippodrome. Also Miss
North met Bessie Skeer Of the Lew Fields
company and told Bessie what she had
Bessie Skeer told Bill Semple, press agent
for About Town." and also dropped d
hint to Florence Carrette of the Rogers
Brothers company, who told Press Agent
Wilbur Bates. And 80 IL came to pass
that scarcely had Miss Cahill entered joe
Drums office and settled herself for q
good long heart to heart talk on stage up
lifting when one by one the press agents
opened Joe Drums door and got on the job
who is this person named DIR. Sllcern
Miss Cahill was demanding just as bll
Semple opened the door, which, unfor
tunately, Joe Drum had forgotten to loci
after Miss Cahill's entrance. Il just wan
these so-called reformers to UNDERSTAND
that they are merely to lift my lightning
Years before this Federation OF Labor
or whatever the name of it Is, even though
Of uplifting us l was known as the Origina
Stage and Chorus Reformer of the theatrlca
world. just get our ~scrapbook, Mr.. Drum
and show Mr.-Mr. SUN how hard ~
tried 10 have a chapel arranged for tn
chorus girls and how when the newspaper
said that Mr.. Rockefeller had offered m
$4,000 to build a Home for Aged Choru
Cir"
Wasn't it 81 ,OOO, OOO?" corrected Joe Drum
'Weu. whatever it was, you can see froI
our scrapbook that l refused TO handl
tainted money. Long ago | tried 10 star
also sewing classes for the show girls be
tween acts and l vas the first to insis
upon"
Pardon me" began George Lynch Of In
Hippodrome, bursting through tho dool
but you may quote Miss Rose La Hart
who u repeating this year her big success a
the Lrdy Volumnid Of the Society Circus
as saying that the deplorable condition
that obtain in theatres generally, with tn
npa1fIl. - HkaV fnnA