The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-03-15
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC J. HAsKR. Director.
Washington, ID. @.
THE sTAGE DooR ny.


seventh street here 1t is called THE
! Stage Door Inn" and is the enterprise
of the National Stage Woman's eX-
change, a newly Incorporated organ
ization of actresses and society women
/ whose chief purpose is to provide en-
! ployment for hard-up members OF the
theatrical profession.
This has been one of the worst
theatrical seasons that New York has
ever lived thru. Play after play has
closed abruptly almost as soon as 1t
has opened, and as consequence
hundreds (some say thousands OF
Some of these are managing to live
with rigid economy on-their small saw
ipgs, but the majority have turned to
other lines of work. Many OF the
| holding secretarial jobs in Wall street,
! or selling various lines of merchan-
disc in New York shops character
actor of once widespread fame is now
a clerk in a fashionable mems wear
1 shop, while two attractive little &C
tresses whose names were fairly well
known three years ago, are now torc-
ling best sellers upon the public in
Fifth avenue bookstore. Still others
who have a knack for making things
dolls, lamp shades. hats, and the
li1e-are working industriously in
their own homes and praying for an
! appreciative market.
Origin of the Idea.
This last explains how the National
Stage Woman's Exchange and its tea
room came into existence. There was
| a certain actress named Anita Claren-
| don who had not been able to get a
part for two years. She tried secre-
! tarial work and then interior decorat-
| ing, but could not secure a really
worthwhile job because she had not
had sufficient experience Finally
| she discovered that she could make
/ lamp shades with great skill and
| rapidly, but she had no place in
/ which to exhibit them to the public.
At this point, a friend who was going
away for the holidays, offered the use
| of her apartm ent-which fronted on
a busy street-for exhibition purposes.
Miss Clarendon accepted both for her
self and for several other actresses
also engaged in various lines of home
manufacture.
The results of this brief holiday ex-
! hibit were so encouraging that the
women decided to open an exchange
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 a tea
| the plans; after which some one sug-
gested that they also have q manicur-
| ing parlor. Eventually. the whole
four stories of the Exchange house
will be crowded with its activities.
The tea room or Stage Door Inn
opened with a. formal reception re-
Gently. at which many prominent men
and women of the stage appeared as
the first patrons. Mr.. E. NJ. Cattle
presented the Inn with diamond
wrist watch. to be ratified off for its
benefit. while Mr.. William A. Brady
was so much pleased with the decora-
/ lions that he in-n ediately gave the
exchange a contract for work on the
sets of his next two plays. The oak
paneled restaurant, with its great
fireplace, coy wall seats. ~flowered
cretonne curtains and slender table
vases, is exceptionally attractive, and
the menu is equally so.
Wait Better Than Mattresses.
The young ladies in white caps. who
move swiftly and expertly 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 Can
ada. where she appeared in French
Leave" and the Davenport sisters, |
nieces of the famous Fanny Daven-
port, are Others They are surprising
" adept at waiting table. in view of
the fact that they have never done it
before.
This is because they are actresses,
according to Miss Hilda Spong, pres
ident of the National Stage Women's
Exchange. "They can wait better
than Mattresses" she says, because, !
in the first place, they have the arts |
tic instinct to do everything beauti- |
fully and, in the second place, they |
have been trained professionally to
handle their own personalities har-
moniously and efficiently
With the exception of the cooking |
and the laundering of the table linen, |
all of the work in connection with the |
Inn is done by actresses Upstairs, in !
character woman. who has just re- i
turned from a long engagement in |
London, may be found hemming nap
lins and tablecloths at a sewing ma
chine, while in another corner is Miss
Madge Corcoran, once popular in the |
companies of F. H. Sothern and John |
Drew, working on the Brady decora- |
ton contract. The room in the rear
of the second floor. which at present |
contains nothing but a clothes line |
usually strung with napkins, and iron |
ing apparatus, is presided over by |
another actress, Elsie COhn, who was /
recently located by the Exchange |
when she was i'll and out of work.
Another pathetic case narrated by |
Mrs. Hesse was that of a young actor /
who came to the Inn the other night |
veteran who had been in a hospital /
for several months. Since then, he |
had not been able to secure a job of /
any sort, altho he was willing to per- 1
form any task that would pay the /
price Of a room and board /
las he stood in the hall telling me \
his story. the smell of fried chicken /
was waited thru the door, and I saw
the divan. The man had probably /
not had food for days. So I invited /
him in to dinner, and later sent him
to see an eX-army officer who might I
help him"
What the Exchange Handles.
In the Exchange itself. which is in |
the basement. various products are on /
sale. There are chic little hats, some 4
of which are made by a very clever 4
milliner who is also a member of the /
sally company here in Ney York; \
dainty, handmade baby clothes. jelly, /
jam, candy. lingerie, dolls, slippers, /
handmade handkerchiefs, mems neck