Evening star., 1919-09-05
Actors Only Grin.

The actors do not get white and
tense. They grin at each other. In
the show they give nightly at the
Lexington Avenue Opera House that
Oscar Hammerstein built they shout
at the jokes fired at the managers.
De Wolf Hopper acts as master of
ceremonies, interlocutor. end man.
and anything else needful. Chorus
bits from the various closed shows
are being given.
ing Hopper. will be an impersona-
ton Of the Shubert gayeties."
Then he becomes a living picture
Of woe. Tears seem to trickle down
his nose. His long figure apparently
loses it's crisp outline and melts into
are clasped in front Of him and his
mobile lips tremble. The house howls
with glee.
Actors tell each other happily that
dancing comedian shimmies. He had
been found before by the burlesque
stage, but this strike has undoubted-
ly put him on the big time. They
forget the strike while they rejoice
at Barton's success.
room" tells her story to her friends
Chorus Girls See the Fun.
II gotta good one for yuh. Name"
says she. II was picketin' today when
"a fat dame all lit up with drmons
comes up to me.
"I'm surprised to see yuh doin' sucl,
an unwomanly thing says she.
Have I got the honor Of your
acquaintance, madam I asks.
al am a managers WIFE says she,
very naughty. Amt they a scream
poor dears!"
The Lexington Avenue Opera House
brings in clear weekly income of
S2S,000. Every penny of 1t Is needed
by the strikers. Many a man and
woman of the stage begins the period
of annual rehearsals without penny
in hand. How they live only actors
know. The boarding house mistress
trusts them and they borrow money
and somehow they get by" But with
a winters uncertainty ahead the get
ting by" becomes a problem. The men
and women of the chorus, especially,
have had no chance to put aside a
reserve fund.
The Equity Association does not
propose that any one of its members
shall be in need. Other associations
have blank forms and blue affidavits
that must be filled out before relief
is extended. The actors do not do 1t
that way. In headquarters there is a
box with slit in the top, and one
has but to drop in the name of
hCCoy Atich " UC S0I lHdG lHC HSCus
shall be met
Landladies Of theatrical boarding
houses sometimes work on as slender
margins as do their patrons, and with
all the will in the world they can
not give credit. Most of their board
ers are young and pretty girls.
Your bill is paid, dearie." says
many smiling 1andlady each night
Of the strike. II dunno who did it.
Just friend" she says. And it'll
be all right until you go to work
again
There is a scouting committee to
find those who need help, but will
not ask it. One learns to like actors
better than ever before. One woman
had formerly belonged to the profess
sion. but had lived on the other side
for years. She served as a nurse and
was wounded in the war, and her in
come was destroyed by it. The Red
Cross would not pay her way home
because she had been living on the
other side when the war oegan-and
red tape is mighty and must be
obeyed. She landed in New York with
$50 in her pocket, i'll and friendless.
That night she found a note at her
hotel.
Your income will be so-and-s so un-
til you are all right again." it read.
Send us your surgeons bills"