The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1913-05-16

noble art! / loathe it-and | re-
main in the shadow. Ny lot is cast,
and I abide with it, but ] wish with
all the sorrow of disillusioned soul
that ! had been the wife of some good
man and could have spent my days
in mending and darning and cooking;
that could have lived a peaceful and
happy life some place where the
prattle of children, my children, could
have taken the place, forever, of that
burst of applause which is, after all,
but tribute to my cleeverness in the
portrayal of emotions which | do not
truly feel.
every year the stage swallows up
an army of pretty, fresh-cheeked
young women for the rows of its
choruses. These girls are the quick
est to Succumb III the emptations
surrounding them, and are the quick
est to drop out. One season, perhaps
two, almost certainly not more than
three, and they have lost the fresh
beauty which alone was their stock
in trade. They disappear from the
ranks, and one dares not ask whittier
they have gone. Of these girls, not
one per cent stay in it, nor one per
cent escape, the damage that withers
soul and body ere the years of youth
have fairly passed!
at is for these reasons that | have
written this article, that have finally
dared pen words which ! have longed
to make public. But the conditions
are growing so much worse each year,
that can no longer preserve silence.
| feel that l must do something to
save a portion, at least, of that new
army of young men and women that
the monster waits to devour. The
faint which penetrates theaterland is
so overwhelming that the purest
minded boy or girl, man or woman,
who inhales it's malodorous atmos-
phere comes quickly or slowly to be
coarsened by its putrescence, and
then the subtle process by which black
becomes white and wrong right quick
ly completes It's work.
"From manager to call-boy, the
vast majority of men behind the cur
tain line are insatiate in the pursuit
of vices which recoil and take ther
own terrific revenge, and they have
no scruples in their manner of secur-
ing the indulgencies which destroy
them morally and physically. From
the moment girl enters the mana
gers office she is almost certainly
doomed if she has beauty. If she
has no beauty, she may as well stay
away. The manager. may or may
not be one who conceiveS wish to
destroy her, but he is cynic at best,
and if he does not plan her destruc-
ton himself, he is quite willing to
pass her on to some one else who
will. To realize the environment
into which sue ha girl must nearly
always pass, one has only to listen to
the conversation which comes from
the open door of the average choru:
girls dressing room. The language
averages so foul that the man IN
accustomed to such things is shocked
and sickened. Long acquaintance
with this sort of thing is likely to CHI
vrre the ordinary man that no girl
he may select is likely to bt shocked
by lis advances.
II cannot 20 often nor too strong
~ ltpeat th'.t the whole system i,
rotten to the core. There are many
. companies, AMI they are alnlos; the
rule than the nxc ,pt "a, where no wo
: man can hold her position who re-
fuses any advances that may be made
her by the owner, the manager OF
the star. Nor are these the only
wretches whose viciousness the mo
dern system of stage ownership ha!
: fostered. One of our greatest stage
= managers is noted for the fact tbs
no girl ever withstood his advance,
! and held her position, while it is {
= common knowledge that certain man
. ayers make expensive production
year after year solely through fund!
contributed by rich men whose pro
5 teges have an inclination to shine be
. hind the footlights. Retribution j!
p not slow in such cases. AS a rule
,. such an entrance into stagedom i
q but the beginning of the end, both o
dramatic hopes and the support o
the millionaire. Such women do no
5 keep hold upon their patrons for long
e, for when they invariably fail as stars
8 they fail altogether and are hearC
t of no more. They join that grea
throng of the unknown and forgot
ten. This is one explanation of tn
. annual crop of stars" who are neve
!, heard of a second time.
u 81 want to relate an incident, on,
{ of the most startling that ever cam.
, under my observation. 1t was tn,
D. first matinee day of new production
:, that employed vast number of PEG
" pie. In the chorus was a most beau
. tiful young girl of almost faultles!
u coloring and physique. She looked
= pure and good and wholesome, anc
| believe that she was. How sht
: had escaped the attention of the man
y ager al during rehearsalS | canno
:. say, but she did. After the closing
chorus of that afternoon performance
this man called to the girl from across
, the stage: Come here! he said
u reckoning with one fat forefnger, e
= want youp
"She came over to where he stood
- 1 want you to go with me between
. this performance and the evening
show he said, and he told her in the
t. most Enthusiastically coarse words just
= where he wanted her to go.
"The girls breath stopped. She
i trembled and started to speak, anc
at last broke down and cried. The
tears gave her some relief and re.
stored to her voice enough to refuse
"For answer he lifted up his great
aabby paw and slapped her. A tor.
n rent of foul names followed. you
will go with me- he exclaimed, or
will fire you' Moreover, l will black
list you! You will never get another
p job on the stage! l will give you just
twenty minutes to get into your
= street Clothes The girls of the cho-
= rus advised with her, and their almost
unanimous advice was for her to ac-