The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-11-18

young man making $4,000 a week for
his representations of women started
the topic. Actors who may be placed
i'm the millionaire class were mention
ed men like David Warfeld, William
Gillette, and Francis Wilson. Others
were cited who live in afnuence.
There were Maude Adams with her
estates on Long Island and in the
Catskills, and her Manhattan real es-
tate; John Drew and his country
home at Easthampton; May Irwiu
with a penchant for buying New York
apartment houses, and Kyrie Bellew
and his summer cruises on his yacht
to mention only some OF them.
Then the skeptical man had his say.
/ What of the noted actors and ac-
/ tresses who die comparatively poor?
/ On the one hand were the conspicuous
example just cited On the other
might be mentioned such fine artists
as Nine. Janauschek, Nine. ModjesEa,
John Mccullough, and Henry Irving.
To say that people of the theatre are
/ extravagant, or generous to a fault,
or that a substantial fortune is con
stantly endangered by business risks,
only partly answers the question.
Cases were cited of famous living
players with substantial bank ac-
counts rubbing shoulders with others
equally well known, but in hard
luck" So the topic came down to
this: Are the rewards of acting SO
high, after all, when compared with
the money received by men and wom-
en- of equal prominence in other walks
/ Of life?
"a popular Broadway star with a
good season earns from $4,000 to $25,-
600 a year" said one theatrical au-
thority. Indeed, when he or she
ends the year with that, they are doing
very well indeed. There are probably
a dozen stars earning such sums.
From $4,000 to 100000 a year is a
more general average
"A star in a dramatic company is
considered we'll paid if his salary is
$500 every week. he continued. This
does not give him a share in the prof
it's Other managers give their stars
that amount and a share in the profits
as we'll In musical comedy a leading
woman is paid about the same sum
/ $500 a week. The male star-a
Broadway favorite, remember-is paid
from $500 to $500 a week"
On this basis the average annual in
come of a dramatic star for a season
of from thirty to thirty-fve weeks
would be $4,000 to $17,5OO a year;
that of a woman star in musical COM
edy about the same sum, and Of the
male star in the Broadway mus zeal
shows from 21,OOO to $4,000 for the
season.
The exceptions, however, are more
| important than the rule, as a Ledger
man learned afterward. Julia Mar
lowe, for instance when she Joined
+. H. Sothern in their Shakespearean
revivals, is understood to have been
paid $500 a week Mr.. Sothern's com
.pensation in the same engagement
was not far from $1,000 for each week.
Neither shared in the profits These
stars are now their own managers.
Their receipts are said to run as high
as $4,000 for a week, whereas if a
theatre takes in $4,000 it is consid,
cred a very successful engagement.
Estimates of the annual profits of the
Marlowe-Sothern combination give to
each an annual income comparable
with that of President Taft.
The dramatic star who goes into
vaudeville may earn even larger sums
for brief periods and playing two per
formances a day. One of the highest
figures mentioned was that of Henry
Miller a few years ago during a briel
incursion into vaudeville. His sal
airy was estimated at $4,000 a week
Amelia Bingham received a similar
amount From this sum, however, they
paid their supporting companies anC
! all railroad expenses and furnished
scenery. When Mrs. Patrick Camp
bell went into vaudeville recently fo
few weeks because her latest pla!
: had proved to be unpopular, she il
said TO have been paid $1,000 pc
week, or $500 more than she had beef
receiving on the dramatic stage. Witt
the average head liner" of the bes
class in vaudeville the payment 0
$1,000 a week is not unusual
These figures may place a popula
theatrical star in the same class, as
moneymaker, with successful lawye
or bank or railroad executive, but ar,
hardly the stuff that makes million
aires. The larger fortunes of the the
ater indeed may be traced, almos
without exception, to the profit-sharinl
arrangement
Under This svgtpm II is CUSTOMARY