Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-31

great, grand, splendid institution; but, as in
most great institutions one finds spiders
| which seek to and do spin their alluring,
deadly webs. And these webs are often not
| only away up in the rafters..
az That, finally, unless girl has unmis
| taxable talent, she will stand no chance to
get ahead on the stage. One hears isolated
cases where equivocal influence, or pull as
they call it, and rare instances where great.
beauty have succeeded in elevating "a girl to-
prominence on the stage; but these cases
| are in the ratio of one to ten thousand. And,
even where they do exist, they do. not
possess any prominence. Worth is the one
| thing that counts in the theater today.
I EFT me tell you the actual stories OF some
- little stagestruck girls that have come
| to my notice during my years on the stage.
began in musical comedy work, and re-
manned in it for five years before going
into the more serious phase of stage work,
which gave me a good opportunity to watch
some stagestruck cases in harness, so to-
Speak. . -.s.
l remember little girl from a small town
in Illinois who joined our company ln New
York just before we started on a long road
tour about six years ago. She was cute
little thing, had never been on the stage be-
fore; but had been badly stagestruck, and
had obtained position in the chorus with
the company in which l was playing.
took an interest in her from the first, be-
cause she was so pretty and unaffected and
simple.
One day, when we had been out on the
one-night stands for week, she came to me
and told me that she just loved the life and
wouldn't have missed it for anything in the
world She was very enthusiastic. She
II, 7 ~ IN
she would be advanced to some more I'M
portant work; in other words, what chances
she stood. l had watched her, and saw that
she had hardly any talent, and that her good
looks were her sole asset. didn't have the
heart to discourage the girl then and tell
her the truth about the barrier that stood IN
her way; but l wish now had. | did not
mislead her, however, even as it was. told
her she would have to study very hard and
very long if she wanted to make the most
out of herself She was so full of confidence!
She smiled and said bravely, you just
watch mel"
l did. Gradually I noticed that the
strain of travel, of hard beds, cold rooms,
and poor food, was telling on her; noticed
that her dancing did not have the same old
life and go that it had had at first, that the
prettiness was fading, and that lines We're
creeping into her face. But she did not quit;
she did not even vince. Through that long
winter and spring of incessant travel the
little girl kept at her work. And on May 2
q shall always remember the date for many
reasons) she fell i'll, weakened in body and
finally crushed in spirit. We telegraphed
for her people, because it was impossible to
take the girl along with us on the road:
We placed her in little hospital. | heard
some weeks later that she was dead:
And when people tell me that'this was and
is an extreme case, wonder--I wonder. 1t
may be, it probably is; but for one case as
sad as this, as grim as this, are there not
hundred cases of utter WEAKNESS of soul and
body that have to be borne throughout the
years by the girls who live and plod and
drudge in the chorus, when they might be
back home enjoying regular, peaceful, lovely
lives, girls who get into the game and feel
false shame about being cutters and con-
Tossing they have failed?
The chorus and the cheap stock companies
and cheap road companies of the outlands
are full of girls who are failures, who know
they are failures, and who are afraid to adj
init it to themselves. know lots of them,
poor dears! Their hearts are aching for the
"home life" they cast aside, and yet they
a re too Drord-the little Ditif111 fOO1Sl-tO