New-York tribune., 1910-01-23
DURATION OF REHEARSALS.


1t is safe to say that New Workers
never a show that rehearsed less
than two weeks. The average season of
rehearsal is now often twice that long,
and frequently lasts from seven to eight
weeks. And during ali this time the
actors and chorus people engaged for the
nm Of the piece must be at work from
six 10 fourteen hours a day In any part of
the city. or even in the suburbs, IL halls
are scarce.
Rehearsals are timed to agree with ar
rsngements for available stage facilities
They may be called at seven in the
morning, At night or at the usual
dinner hour-it matters not, the actors
and the chorus have to be on hand. ready
with carfare and the vherewithal to pro-
vide luncheon or supper. while the meals
paid for at their boarding house or hotel
sent back 10 the pantry
AS a rule, American actors-and when
professionals speak of actors they make no
distinction OF sex-are enthusiastic about
their profession: they love il, holding it in
higher esteem than most others hold theirs
One hears plenty of lawyers, authors,
preachers, bookkeepers and clerks quar-
relling with their source Of livelihood, but
seldom an actor. whether success smiles
upon him or he be temporarily embar-
rassed. whether his fame is established or
the newspapers have gently informed him
that he is rotten; right or wrong good,
bad or Indifferent, there is no profession
like the profession"
Yet those periods OF protracted rehearsing
without wage constitute positive hardship
10 thousands upon thousands of good men
and women contributing to our amuse-
nlent knowledge of life and manners
Ere they face their first audience In a
new play they have. a rule, been forced
to go through a season Cf needness and
financial difficulties calculated to disheart-
en- most everybody not on the stage.
BUT, OH, IF 1T FAILSl
And now, suppose the show fails; the
papers are unanimous in condemnng it
and IL is taken off the boards All the
work the poor actor assumed for its sake,
ali the privations he or she suffered to
make possible the assumption Of wageless
work were for naught.
Maybe the play, though otherwise worth
less, afforded one or more struggling art
lists their first and only opportunity to
make a mark. Maybe, recognizing this
they have sacrificed during rehearsal and
for the purchase OF the necessary ward
robe their all. No matter; the show closes
and the victims OF unreasonable business
methods are obliged to endure the loss.
One chorus girl introduced to the writer
has been rehearsing in different shows in
tended for run in New York or on the
road since the beginning of April last, and
in all that time earned no more than two
weeks salary. The first time she procured
engagement in the chorus the show
people rehearsed fully eight weeks, only
TO be told, when everybody was strapped
abandoned, the expected capitalist not
having materiaiized.
This particular chorus girl then entered
another show, and still another, and a
fifth. & seventh, tenth, encountering the
same or similar conditions wherever she
understanding other always inter
ferfng between the end of rehearsals and
the opening night. She got her name
the programme only once, and then for two
consecutive weeks. At the end of the sec
ond week she received her SIS and permis-
sion. with her fellow players to return 10
New York at her own expense.
In this Gaze the backer was "sll right
as far as his willingness to invest went,
but the fortnight finished him, and the
manager got TO the end OF his rope The
cost Of staging, costumes. scenery me-
chanicai apparatus, orchestra. advertising
matter, etc, caused him to be swamped
and, with his capital wiped out, nothing
would do but TO apply the receipts to the
payroll and abruptly close what was ex-
pected to be a long and prosperous run.
When man has done his best IL is
wrong TO ind fault with him. Accordingly.
the unsuccessful manager is pitied rather
than condemned: yet many sane observers
Of things theatrical hold that il producers
OF plays were bound TO use actors and
chorus people as they do stagehands and
their orchestra-that is. TO pay for their
work during rshearsai-there would be few
Or failures. because less speculation