Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-27

the week without laugh from the GAL
lery or less kindly demonstration, l am
at loss to explain Maybe they recog-
nized the struggle was making to please
and took the will for the deed.
When the first performance was over
Sunday l was all a-tremble and felt as
If / had been through a carpet cleaning
mill-but 1 got over that shortly.
TO the uninitiated 1t would have seemed
that there should have been more or less
of furry among the members of the
company after the matinee to get home
for supper and back in time for the
evenings performance but, contrariwise,
they didnt hasten at all. spoke of 1t
to Leslie King
"Oh, there's plenty of time We don't
ring up till S:15," he said, land half an
hour is long enough before curtain time
to get back. That leaves two hours and
a half easily"
Calm, cool, collected was this veteran,
whilst 1 in a quiver of excitement and
all unused to the work imagined, at least
an holr necessary to make up and get
ready for the work of the playl
Explains the Let Down
Sunday night the play ran less smooth
ly than in the afternoon, but when J.
mentioned it everybody took 1t as
matter of fact.
"This is only the usual second per-
formance let-down," explained Lawrence
Underwood, "the bill will go all right
again tomorrow night"
And 1t di, too-went even better than
at Sundays matinee-nor was there there
after any further difficulty or '1et-down."
The weeks work included matinees on
Tuesday and Saturday, in addition to
the Sunday matinee opening or total of
ten performances. The performances av-
eraged about two and a quarter hours,
or a total of twenty-five and half
hours. Added to this time should be
ahout seven and a half or eight hours
spent making UP" and taking off the
habiliments and pigments OF the stage
after the performance Then we spent
about sixteen and a half hours rehearsing,
or total for that weeks work Of fifty
seven hours work. That doesn't seem
much like 'overwork," does it?
Compare the time spent by the actor
even that week with the seventy and
some odd hours spent by the average
street car man, or with the hours put in
by the newspaper writer. The world
doesn't give the scribe credit for work.
ing Overtime" or needing Sunday for
rest We-most Of us-work seven. days
week. True, some of the Sunday work
isn't very hard, but it's work, just the
same and although technically we only
work ten or eleven hours day, as
matter of fact we are never Off duty
when there is STORY" to be covered
or news TO be cleaned from any source.
Under ordinary circumstances we go to
work-we of the morning, seven-day-a-
week papers-at l o'clock in the after
noon and work, with an hours intermis-
sion for dinner, whenever that hour can
be spared-until midnight or after, as
the occasion may demand. But then we
never know at what hour of the day or
night we may be called upon to pack
our grip and start for the Lord knows
where to "cover" some STORY that has
''broken" unexpectedly and of which the
public must be told in the shortest time
| possible.
Yet we are not overworked and the
actor Is We like the life. So does the
actor. Newspapermen rarely complain.
| Neither do actors.
The week of which 1 have written was
an exceptionally heavy one-the rehears-
| ing took more time and the presentation
of the play was more arduous. frequent
| ly there is no Tuesday rehearsal, and at
some of the local stock houses the re-
! hearsing is still further abridged. Also,
the Grand has ten performances to the
nine at the other houses.
The actors don't consider themselves
overworked. nor would the general public
could 1t have the opportunity to COM
! pare the very nature of the work with
| that demanded Of many workers in other
| fields.
variety is the spice of life" and the
constant change of parts and plays serves
to tighten the burden of monotony for the
wearer of sock and buskin, making his
| work In a great degree a pleasure.