The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-03-09

New York City, March S.-A nov
ell tea room, with actresses as wait
, resses and tips forbidden, has just
opened its mid-Victorian doors in
an old-fashioned house on West
Forty-seventh street here. 1t is
called The Stage Door Inn" and
is the enterprise of the National
Stage Woman's Exchange. a newly
incorporated organization of act
resses and society women whose
chief purpose is to provide employ
ment for hard-up members of the
theatrical profession.
This has been one of the worst
theatrical seasons that New York
has ever lived through. Play after
play has closed abruptly almost as
soon as it has opened, and as a
consequence hundreds (some say
thousands) of actors and actresses
are out of jobs Some of these are
managing to live with rigid econ
Omy on their small savings, but the
! ma ority have turned to other lines
of work. Many of the leading Ia
dies of yesterdyear are now hold
ing secretarfaI jobs in Wall street,
or selling various linessof merchan-
disc in New York shops. A char
acter actor of once widespread
fame is now a clerk in fashion
able mems wear shop, while two
attractive little actresses whose
names were fairly well known
three years ago are now forcing
best sellers upon the public in a
Fifth avenue book store Still 9TH
ers who have a knack for making
things lamp shades, hats,
and the like-are working indus
triOusly in their own homes and
praying for an appreciative mar
ket
Origin of the Idea.
This last explains how the Ma
tional Stage Woman's Exchange
and its tea room came into exist
ence. There was a certain actress
named Anita Clarendon who had
not been able to get a part for two
years. She tried secretarial work
and then interior decorating, but
could not secure a really worth
while job because she had not had
sufficient experience Finally, she
discovered that she could make
lamp shades with great skill and
rapidity, but she had no place in
which to exhibit them to the pub
lie. At this point, a friend who
was going away for the holidays
offered the use of her apartment
which fronted on a busy street
for exhibition purposes. Miss Clar-
endon accepted both for herself and
for several other actresses also
engaged in various lines of home
manufacture.
The results of this brief Holiday
exhibit were so encouraging that
the women decided to open an ex-
change to sell the many attractive,
little novelties made by jObless
theatrical people. Then one Of the
exhibitors recalled the motto so
popular in New York: when in
doubt, start tea roOmr So a
tea room was added to the plans;
after which someone suggested
that they also have a manicuring
parlor Eventually, the whole four
stories OF the Exchange house will
be crowded with its activities.
The tea room or Stage Door Inn
Op6Heu Will d IOIiIldl IGGSpliOH re-
Gently, at which many prominent
men and women of the stage ap-
peared as the first patrons. E. M.
Cattle presented the Inn with a
diamond wrist watch, to be ratified
off for its benefit, while William A.
Brady was so much pleased with
the decorations that he immediate
ly gave the exchange a contract for
work on the sets of his next two
plays. The oak-paneled restaurant
with its great fireplace, cosy wall
seats, Powered cretonne curtains
and slender table vases, is excep-
tionally attractive, and the menu
is equally so.
Wait Better Than Mattresses.
The young ladies, in white caps
and aprons, who move swiftly and
expertIy about the tables serving
food are all actresses of several
years experience on the stage. Miss
Madge Surtrees, the first to wait
upon a patron, is just back from
Canada, where she appeared in
French Leave" and the Daven-
port sisters, nieces of the famous
Fanny Davenport, are others. They
are surprisingly adept at waiting
table, in view of the fact that they
have never done it before.
This is because they are act