New-York tribune., 1912-03-31

which seek 10 and do SPIN their aIuflh9,
deadly webs. And these webs are often not
only away up in the raftcrS
a. That. finally, unless a girl has unniS-
taxable talent she will stand no chance TO
oct ahead on the stage. One hears isolated
cases where couivocal influence, or pull as
they call il. and rare instances where great
bc,utv have succeeded in clcvatlng girl 70
promincncc on the stage; but these cases
are in the ratio Of one to ten thousand. ana,
even where they do exist, they DO not
ross,,s any prominence Worth Is the one
thing that counts in the thcatcr today.
EFT me tell YOU the actual stories OF some
II little stagcstruck girl, that have come
10 nv notice during my years on the stage
BEGAN in musical comedy work, ana re-
manned in it for five years before gong
into the more serious phase OF stage work
which gave me a good opportunity to Wa'ch
some stagcstruck cases IN harness. 50 10
speak. iii .,u,,
| remember a little girl from a small town
in Illinois who Joined our company III New
York lust before we started on long ro""
tour about six years ago. she was CI''c
little thing, had never been on the stage DC,
fore: but had been badly stagcStrucK' ana
had obtained position IN the chorus "I'lt
the company in which | was PLAYING
took an interest in her from the first, be,
cause she was so pretty and unaffected ana
simple. a..
One dav. when we had been out on the
onc-night stands for a week, she came 10 me
and told me that she just loved thc NE ",l"
wouldn't have missed 1t for anything III l,Ic
world She was very enthusiastic. one
asked me whether | thought that IN tiiile
she would be advanced to some more HII-
portant work: in other words, What ch''liCc9
She stood. had watched her. ana saw IIl"I
She had hardly any talent, and that lcr go1,d
look, were her sole asset. | dlqn h''G ,'tg
heart to discourage the grI then ana IcH
her the truth about the barrier that Slood III
her way: but | wish now had. dia iiII
mi~lcad her. however, even as II was ! I"iG
her She would have to study very nara anu
very, long if She wanted to make the most
,ut- q herself. She was 50 full Of confidence.
She smiled and said braycly, "lou Just
watch me-
/ did. Gradually noticed that the
strain Of travel, Of hard beds, cold rooms,
and Door food. was telling on her; | noticed
that her dancing did not have the same oId
Iif, and go that it had had at first that the
prcttincss was fading, and that lines were
creeping into her face. But she dld not qht;
She did not even vince. Through that long
winter and spring Of inccsaant travel the
little girl kept at her work. And on May
i Shall alwav, remember the date for many
reasons, She fell i'll. weakened in body ana
finally crushed in spirit We tclcgraphcd
for her people. because it was Impossible 10
take the girl along with us on the ROAD;
We placed her in a little hospital. | heard
some weeks later that She was dead
And when people tell me that this was ana
is an extreme case, wonder wonder u
may be. +, probably is; but for one case as
sad It's this. as grim as this, are there not q
hundred case, Of utter WEAKNESS OF soul ana
body that have 20 be borne throughout the
wears by the girls who live and plod and
drudge in the chorus, when they might be
back home enjoying regular, peaceful, lovely
lives, girl, vino get into the game ana feel
false shame about being qmttcr, ana con-
tossing they have failed
The choru, and the cheap stock companies
and cheap road companies OF the outlandS
are full Of girl, who are failures, who know
they are failures, and who are afraid TO adj
mi, il to themselves. | know lots Of them,
poor dcar,. Their heart, are aching for the
home life" they cast aside, and yet they
are too proud the little, pitltul fools. to
go back. So they struggle on valnly, and
GROW old and hard, missing the trucne's and
d. and