The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-29
One Phase of the Concert Given
 for Charity
CHARITY OFTEN GETS LEFT
Women Managing Such Affairs Gen. orally Eager To Be Able To Say Every Cent Goes
 to Good Cause"
From the New York snn.


 given soon in private house for a cer- tain charity determined not to spend a cent under any conditions. The singers are to be amateurs and they will play their own accompaniments. F One of the women was very anxious to secure for the concert young ItaI- Jan pianist who has recently come to this country, and who, besides play ing sings charming songs. As an art 5st of his kind was needed he was in- vited to sing. Then to the consterna- lion of the committee 1t was learned that he would ssr~e to be paid.
 He is poor and since he came to the United States he has had little or noth- ing to do. The fee he asked was small only $25, but the money meant great deal to him. Yet the women managing the concert protested against paying him.
 TO think" said one of the women of the committee, that that man should. have had the audacity to expect that we were going to pay him. He ought to be glad to get the opportunity to be heard by the people who will be here. They may engage him later"
 As the young musician declined to play unless he received his fee his name fell from the programme. The ladies of the committee acted if they had been almost caught by a sharp trick ster and spoke bitterly of the mercen- ary musicians who come here from Europe.
 As a matter of fact 1t would have been charitable for then to have paid this young man. He scarcely knew where his next meal was to come from and his part in the programme was worth quite much as the modest sum he asked Such an idea as tn at he should have been expected to play for nothing could perhaps only have occurred to a party of women giving a charity benefit
 They're worse than the sharpest sh owman when they are arranging d party" said a manager who had come into contact with fair feminnity under these circumstances. "'rhe tricks they resort to would put a hardened man. ager to the blush.
 q think it all comes from the desire of every committee to make as much money as possible. They want to be able to say that they made more money than that other concert or show given shortly before. It is this am bton that leads them into all kinds of tricks.
 Some years ago a party of ladies
  bring in very large sum- and they engaged a theatrical company for a mat tinee and an evening performance. AS the place where the performance was given was almost in the suburbs and remote from any restaurants l sug- ,gested to the woman in charge that dinner for the actors ought to be paid for out of the receipts.
 My, but didn't she go up in the air. She gave me to understand that she wanted every cent that came In from that benefit for her charity and wouldn't give up penny for actors or anybody else. Then, to show how unreasonable these ladies can be, Nhe sent me word later to order whatever l thought the company would need. but to be sure and make 1t good, and that she would pay for 1t out of her own pocket.
 "A certain benefit given every other year nets about $S000 to It's organizers. It has very strong social influence and of course the patronesses sell most of the boxes and seats for high prices. That benefit never costs a cent
 "The programmes are donated by one person. another pays the rent of the hall, the advertisements are paid for by another friend of the institution. Of course it would be just as good for tn @ 1nStltut1On II lllS money WdS toh- tributed directly to it and the eX- penses of the concert paid out of the receipts in the regular way. The great disadvantage of that would be the de- crease in the gross receipts.
 "The ladies are not satisfied to say that they took In $S000. They are only satisfied when they can add And every cent of it went to the charity
 This view they take comes from the fact that many charity concerts given at which comparatively little re- mains for the object to be benefited. Artists are engaged for prices ranging from $2000 down. and the cost of hall and advertising bring the expenses up to such a figure that nothing to speak of remains for the. charity. ,.... ..
 But advantage is sometimes taken Of the inexperience of the women who hire the artists Here is an instance:
 .'Everybody concerned in the affair seemed determined to square up all the losses of the season, so far as pos sible, on the unfortunate ladies who got up this benefit late in the musical year" said musical manager. The woman in charge determined to make the affair as musical possible and not merely frivolous musicale.
 ..One agent sold her for 5000 vio- linist for whom he had never been able to get more than S500 Detore tor a pianist who was glad all during the season at the chance to play for $500 she had to pay $500. Yet both man agers assured her that she was getting the performers at a bargain
 sThe worst thing of the whole aHair came when a prima donna who usually received $500 was unloaded on the com mitte for 5000. It happened that this singer was compelled to lose one per.
 ,erb + xi1pr a when she sang for her managers ben eft
 He swore that she caught her coiu at supper party to which sne went afterward. She vowed it was on hls draughty stage at his benefit and she won out as he admitted that he owed her an appearance. When the beneht performance came his way he jumped at the chance to pay the prima uonha her appearance and make Sl20o as well.
 on addition to all these charges tbere was an orchestra costing $500. Of course any business manager would have known that profit with such an outlay was all but impossible, even when the prices were high. The con cert took place with the expected re- suit. Money was lost and then came the payment of the artists.
 "The woman learned then for the nrst time how she had been treated. me loss turned out to be less than II mlsnl have been, as her husband stepped III .,.a i,,aotura and found out what