The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-10-24

never been attempted before. In order to supply the excuse for such a spectacle 1t was necessary to remove the period of the play back to the period of Rome B. C., and the 1mpersonator of New England spinsters was bound to appear as a virgin priestess in one of the temples.
 'The Star theater was the scene of this first night that swallowed up fortune acquired during the preceding decade. In order to install the elaborate mechanical plant that showed the hippodrome, it was necessary to dig down yards into the rocks under the surface of the cellar and build up a most elaborate structure of iron wheels and a treadmill. The piece was dead failure from the first night, although the Star continued to let good money go after bad in the attempt to make 1t go. It was not until he had spent fortune that the utter hopelessness of the piece became apparent and the actor started all over again.
 Actors Now Are Wise.
 Such a situation could scarcely be re- peated today, because actors are as wise as managers have become in not attempt ing to run play for which the public shows no taste.
 Fanny Davenport's production that was supposed to have exhausted all her finan- cial means came after series of rather poor seasons, so there had already been a considerable drain the fortune that began with Fedora" and grew less as the ensuing Sardou plays become less and less interesting to the public. If one play succeeds, there may be three that fail. Richard Mansfield rarely spent much money on the various revivals. Julius Caesar and the other pieces he gave were picked up in London and other places, and the famous Henry VI was pleced together from various London the ater managers.
 '.In comic opera where the expenses are really much greater than in an ordinary dramatic company, the preponderance of failures will much more quickly put a star out of business There was one pop ular comic opera comedian, who for a while seemed on the top wave of sue cess. He had begun his career with a bowling success that carried him through two great seasons He never found a sue cessor to his first play, although after a while he did occasionally pick up piece that would do well through one year. It managers abandoned a full production so promptly as they do now
 ''The average comic opera performance fin these days is put on by five six managers. who own each some interest in it, and if 1t seems certain that they are not going to make go of the produce tion they let it go, and are not much out on the speculation. Formerly it was the actor or manager, however, who had put up the money for the scenery and cos tunes and met all the outlay so they tried hard by sticking to piece through out the season to make some money out of the stars vogue. Comic opera stars that fail for two three seasons are a great deal of a luxury to managers.
 'Then there Is nowadays a great mis- understanding as to the amount of money paid to the dramatic stars. A youthful actor last winter was acting as star in a Broadway production, and getting $75 for his services. It is certain that he could not live in New York as a star should and save much of such a salary. To get $500 a week and get some small percentage of the receipts Is enough to satisfy all but few persons on the stage nowadays
 'The actors of several generations ago when they made money usually got 1t all They hired their own actors, took all the risk, and had much better chance to succeed than their colleagues today. Then there were not nearly so many actors the competition was propor tionately much less, and there was a less exacting public Nowadays when the standards are so much higher and the tericals are all on a so much more ex- tensive scale there are not 90 many op- portunities to earn money or to keep it on the stage"