Work for Women Part 3

THE DRAMA.--LECTURERS AND READERS.

A woman need not have the genius of a Rachel, a Modjeska, or a Clara Morris, to be able to make a good living in the theatrical profession.

Probably the great majority of young ladies who go upon the stage are inflated with the notion that they are creatures of wonderful genius, and for this reason they fail; they are so taken up with the good opinion they have of themselves that they will not go through the necessary amount of work, in the subordinate positions, to perfect themselves for places up higher. They want to fly before they can walk. It would seem as if common-sense deserted a woman the moment she felt a desire to go upon the stage.

An old theatrical agent whose views were sought on this subject did not offer much encouragement to the aspirants for dramatic honors. I will give a paraphrase of his views so that the gentle reader may have the benefit of the pessimistic presentation of the question.

The great majority of young ladies, he observed, "who sought positions had been members of some amateur dramatic company, which they had joined from a love of recreation and amus.e.m.e.nt. The friends of a young woman continually spoiled her by undeserved praise, and, finally, she believed herself capable of taking the highest and most difficult parts, and forthwith rushed to the nearest theatrical manager or dramatic agent and sought a position. In the majority of instances such young ladies had not the slightest amount of ability; besides, experience in an amateur dramatic company was of no benefit. People might come to an agent with the highest recommendations from stage instructors, or actors who had taken upon themselves the task of giving them instruction--who had spoken of them as 'promising pupils'--and yet, when they came to go upon the stage, they did not show the slightest degree of talent for the profession. An amateur experience was no criterion to go by."

"When," said the dramatic agent, "I managed the tour of Mr. ---- (mentioning the name of one of our leading tragedians), I had to select the company which was to support him. Yielding to the solicitations of an old friend I engaged a young lady who had been studying with Miss ----, one of the brightest stars on the American stage. Miss ---- told me that she considered her a most promising young woman, and had it not been that her manager had already selected her company, she would have been glad to have had her in her own company. She felt sure if I took her I would be pleased. I engaged her, and was never more mistaken in my ideas in all my life. She thought she could act, but she did not know the first principles of acting. Offended at my plain criticisms on her efforts she went to Mr.

----, the star, and complained that she thought I was prejudiced against her, and had been unjust and unkind. But Mr. ---- repeated, kindly but plainly, the substance of what I had said. She had left a good paying position to seek dramatic fame only to find dramatic failure. At the end of the season she became convinced of the truth of our criticisms, and quit the stage forever."

It must be stated here that the stage is largely run on what is called the "combination" plan, and a very poor plan it is. In the old times the theatres had what were called "stock" companies; that is, the company was made up of a certain number of members, each member having a particular line of "business," and keeping to that line year after year, in the same company, which remained in the same theatre. At the present time there are only two "stock" companies in the United States. The great majority of theatrical enterprises are called "combinations." In old times the actor had to suit himself to the play; nowadays the play is written to suit the actor. A comedian can sing and dance, or "make up" good as a Jew, a Negro, or an eccentric German, and forthwith he gets some author to write a play for him in which his "strong" points will be made to plainly appear. Then he selects his company, picking out men and women that he may deem suitable for the characters they are to a.s.sume. Then the company is christened "The Great Jones Combination," or "The Great Scott Combination," as the case may be, and off it starts for a more or less successful tour throughout the country.

Sterling, old-time actors like John Gilbert, William Warren, Joseph Jefferson, and men of that school, lament the decadence of the "stock"

company system. But, in the dramatic as in the real world, we must take things as we find them, and the fact is that there is very little chance for a young lady who would be an actress to get a thorough knowledge of her art--that is, thorough as it is understood by those in the front rank of the profession, who have reached their position by following the old methods.

On the other hand, the stage never offered so many opportunities for bright young women with dramatic talent to make a living as it does at the present time. Every city, both large and small, can boast of its theatre or opera-house, and in many of the large towns throughout the country there are town-halls arranged with a view to accommodate some of the minor theatrical combinations.

The young lady who would succeed in making a fair living on the stage must, first of all, be attractive. The stage appeals as much to the eye as it does to the ear, and there is scarcely an instance of an ugly actress being successful, or, indeed, even having the opportunity of exhibiting herself on the stage.

It seems to be the general opinion among actors and theatrical managers that the instruction received from professors of elocution is of little or no account. As to the experience gained from performing in amateur companies, there is a difference of opinion. The dramatic agent whose views have just been given speaks, it will be seen, very strongly against the amateur actor. Others, however, whose opinions are ent.i.tled to great weight, say that experience gained in amateur organizations is always valuable. The manager of one of the princ.i.p.al theatres in New York--a theatre, too, that has had an unusually large number of travelling companies on the road--told the writer that he had employed a large number of amateur actors, and that some of the greatest pecuniary successes had been made by actors and actresses who had come to him from some amateur theatrical company. Of course, the new-comers were not successful at first. They had to serve an apprenticeship on the regular stage; but he meant to say that their previous experience, amateur though it was, had been a benefit to them, and that they had got along quicker than they would if they had been without it.

"Utility business" is the kind of work a young woman going upon the stage must first expect to do; or, to speak more accurately, according to the technique of the profession, she will first be allowed to make an "announcement." She will come on the stage and say, "My lady, a letter," or make some other simple speech to the extent of one or two lines. If she does this well, she will be given parts where there is more to say, until, finally, she has reached thirty lines, at which point she is capable of being entrusted with a "responsible" part. The salary of this cla.s.s of actresses ranges from $15 to $30 per week.

If she does not start in this line of business, she may be a "ballet lady,"--not a dancer, but one of the group of ladies that make up the ballroom or party scenes. In this case, she will start on a salary of from $5 to $7 per week. If she is very pretty, she will get $7; if she is an "ancient,"--that is, rather old and decidedly plain,--she will get only $5. The ability to sing commands an extra dollar per week.

The manager of the theatre alluded to above said, that in one of their companies they employed a young lady without previous theatrical experience. She was, however, very quick to learn, and commencing on a salary of $20 a week, she quickly made herself valuable. After a while a part was given her in which she made "a hit," and her salary has been increased until now it is $70 a week when she is travelling, and $55 a week when she plays in New York City, the extra $15 given to her when she is away being for hotel expenses.

There has been so much said and written on the morals of the stage that it will not be necessary here to warn the young dramatic aspirant that this is a branch of the subject which she should well consider.

That there are actresses who are good women, fulfilling n.o.bly all the duties of wives, mothers, and sisters, n.o.body pretends to deny.

But that the stage offers very strong and dangerous temptations to young and pretty women is a fact which every one who knows any thing about the subject will admit. These temptations are not in the theatre itself. The profession of acting is conducted on purely business principles. Life behind the scenes is dull, uninteresting, matter-of-fact. The actors and the actresses are full of their work, and the whole place is decidedly unromantic. But there are great temptations from without the theatre, into the details of which it is not necessary to enter. It is not necessary that she should yield to these temptations, nor are they, probably, all things considered, any greater or stronger than the pretty shop-girl has to meet. But if she values her character she will, when she enters this profession, make up her mind to devote herself thoroughly to work, and she will be particularly careful about the acquaintances she forms with the opposite s.e.x, and above all avoid that large and growing cla.s.s of silly men, both young and old, who love to boast that they number an "actress" among their female acquaintances.

In the _North American Review_ for December, 1882, there was published a symposium on the subject of success on the stage. There are so many young ladies whose ambition lies in the direction of the drama, and the contribution referred to contained such wholesome advice, that I am tempted to quote from it at considerable length. There were six contributors: John McCullough, Joseph Jefferson, Lawrence Barrett, William Warren, Miss Maggie Mitch.e.l.l, and Madame Helena Modjeska. The views of the lady contributors will be found of especial interest to the readers of this book.

The article was addressed more particularly to those whose ambition it is to reach the highest rank in the profession, but the extracts contain many useful hints for those who are simply looking forward to a respectable, well-paying "utility" position on the stage.

Miss Mitch.e.l.l says:--

"To succeed on the stage, the candidate must have a fairly prepossessing appearance, a mind capable of receiving picturesque impressions easily and deeply, a strong, artistic sense of form and color, the faculty of divesting herself of her own mental as well as physical ident.i.ty, a profound sympathy with her art, utter sincerity in a.s.suming a character, power enough over herself to refrain from a.n.a.lyzing or dissecting her part, a habit of generalization, and at the same time a quick eye and ready invention for detail, a resonant voice, a distinct articulation, natural grace, presence of mind, a sense of humor so well under control that it will never run riot; the gift of being able to transform herself, at will, into any type of character; pride, even conceit, in her work; patience, tenacity of purpose, industry, good-humor, and docility. She must behave, in her earlier years, very much as if she were a careful, self-respecting scholar, taking lessons of people better informed than herself, with her eyes and ears constantly open and ready to receive impressions.

"She should begin by getting, if possible, into a stock company, even in the most inferior capacity, keeping within reach of the influence of her home,--or by joining a reputable combination on the road.

Managers, no matter what may be said to the contrary, are always eagerly looking for talent in the bud, and if a young girl, with reasonable pretensions to good looks, who is modest and well-behaved, and shows the slightest ability with a common-sense readiness to begin at the bottom of the ladder, should offer herself for an engagement, the chances are that she would get it with much less difficulty than she imagined. There are, no doubt, numerous candidates, even for the smallest positions on the stage, but those who possess even moderate qualifications are extremely rare. Managers have, at present, to take the best they can pick from a host of worse than interlopers.

"I do not think that novices reap any practical benefit from private lessons. The neophyte learns not merely of her professional teacher, but of her audience; and to be informed by the one without being influenced by the other is to have very lopsided instruction. The stage itself is the best, in fact, the only school for actresses.

It is a profession made up of traditions and precedents and technicalities. Mere oral advice, or training in elocution or gesture, counts for very little. They are, in fact, too often obstacles which have to be eventually and with difficulty surmounted. In some instances I have known 'instruction'--of this sort--to bring about as prejudicial effects as if the victim had tried to learn the art of swimming at a dancing academy, and then put the knowledge thus gained into practice. The modulations of the voice and the language of ill.u.s.trative gesture ought to be either taught by example or insensibly acquired by experience. To learn them by precept and rule has for a result, usually, that woodenness and jerkiness which one cannot help noticing in the 'youthful prodigies' of the stage. To be an actress one has to learn other things than merely how to act, and that is why n.o.body ever succeeded in the profession who tried to enter it at the top. * * *

"The early bent of her studies and reading should be precisely the same as that of any other woman aspiring to be liberally educated. She should, if possible, speak French, at all events read it. She should be familiar with English literature. She should cultivate an acquaintance, through books and otherwise, with the highest as well as the lowest forms of human society. Refinement and general information ought to be the characteristics of every actress. * * *

"It would be bold for me to pretend to descry the chances of success for the actress of the future. It is a lottery, this profession of ours, in which even the prizes are, after all, not very considerable.

My own days, spent most of them far from my children and the comforts and delights of my home, are full of exhausting labor. Rehearsals and other business occupy me from early morning to the hour of performance, with brief intervals for rest and food and a little sleep. In the best hotels my time is so invaded that I can scarcely live comfortably, much less luxuriously. At the worst, existence becomes a torment and a burden. I am the eager, yet weary, slave of my profession, and the best it can do for me--who am fortunate enough to be included among its successful members--is to barely palliate the suffering of a forty-weeks' exile from my own house and my family.

"For those of our calling who have to make this weary round, year after year, with disappointed ambitions and defeated hopes as their inseparable company, I can feel from the bottom of my heart. Each season makes the life harder and drearier; each year robs it of one more prospect, one more chance, one more opportunity to try and catch the fleeting bubble in another field."

Madame Modjeska writes:

"* * * It would be a great mistake to choose the profession with the idea that money comes easier and work is less hard in this than in any other. There is little hope for the advancement of such aspirants.

"There is no greater mistake than to suppose that mere professional training is the only necessary education. The general cultivation of the mind, the development of all the intellectual faculties, the knowledge how to think, are more essential to the actor than mere professional instruction. In no case should he neglect the other branches of art; all of them being so nearly akin, he cannot attain to a fine artistic taste if he is entirely unacquainted with music, the plastic arts, and poetry.

"The best school of acting seems to me to be the stage itself--when one begins by playing small parts, and slowly, step by step, reaches the more important ones. There is a probability that if you play well a minor character, you will play greater ones well by and by; while if you begin with the latter, you may prove deficient in them, and afterward be both unwilling and unable to play small parts. It was my ill-fortune to be put, soon after my entrance on the stage, in the position of a star in a travelling company. I think it was the greatest danger I encountered in my career, and the consequence was that when I afterward entered a regular stock company, I had not only a great deal to learn, but much more to unlearn.

"The training by acting, in order to be useful, requires a certain combination of circ.u.mstances. It is good in the stock companies of Europe, because with them the play-bill is constantly changed, and the young actor is required to appear in a great variety of characters during a short period. But it may prove the reverse of good in a theatre where the beginner may be compelled for a year or so to play one insignificant part. Such a course would be likely to kill in him all the love of his art, render him a mechanical automaton, and teach him but very little.

"Private instruction can be given either by professors of elocution or by experienced actors. I know nothing of the first, as there are no professors of elocution, to my knowledge, outside of America and of England, and I never knew one personally. But speaking of private lessons given by experienced actors, there are certainly a great many arguments and instances in favor of that mode of instruction. Of course, a great deal depends upon the choice of the teacher. But, supposing he is capable, he can devote more time to a private pupil than he can to one in a public school. Some of the greatest actresses that ever lived owed, in great part, their success to the instructions of an experienced actor, of less genius than themselves. Take, for instance, Rachel and Samson. Strange to say, it happens often that very good actors make but poor professors, while the best private teacher I ever met was, like Michonnet, but an indifferent actor himself. The danger is that the pupil in this kind of instruction may become a mere imitator of his model. Imitation is the worst mode of learning, and the worst method in art, as it kills the individual creative power, and in most cases, the imitators only follow the peculiar failings of their model.

"There are many objections to dramatic schools, some of which are very forcible. There is in them, as in private teaching, the danger of imitation, and of getting into a purely mechanical habit, which produces conventional, artificial acting. Yet it is not to be denied that a great number of the best French and German actresses and actors have been pupils of dramatic schools, and that two of the schools--those of Paris and Vienna--have justly enjoyed a great celebrity. Of the schools I have known personally I cannot speak very favorably. One point must be borne in mind; a dramatic school ought to have an independent financial basis, and not rely for its support on the number of its pupils, because in such a case the managers might be induced to receive candidates not in the least qualified for the dramatic profession.

"Of the three elements that, in my opinion, go to make up a good dramatic artist, the first one, technique, must be acquired by professional training; the second and higher one, which is art itself, originates in a natural genius, but can and ought to be improved by the general cultivation of the mind. But there is yet something beyond these two: it is inspiration. This cannot be acquired or improved, but it can be lost by neglect. Inspiration, which Jefferson calls his demon, and which I would call my angel, does not depend upon us.

Happy the moments when it responds to our appeal. It is only at such moments that an artist can feel satisfaction in his work--pride in his creation; and this feeling is the only real and true success which ought to be the object of his ambition."

There is but very little chance for women to succeed as lecturers at the present time. Some few years ago the country seemed to be overrun with orators, both male and female. Probably the woman-suffrage excitement had a great deal to do with this; at all events, there is not much demand now for female eloquence. Twelve years ago a number of distinguished women were before the public. Anna d.i.c.kinson spoke on politics; since then she entered the dramatic profession. Susan B.

Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, spoke about woman-suffrage, a subject which seems for the time to have died out. Olive Logan talked on social topics; now she is in Europe. Mrs. Livermore is the only female orator of that time who is now before the public, and she is as successful now as she was then.

As public readers, women who have a talent in that direction have an excellent chance at the present time. "Readings" are getting to be a very popular form of entertainment. The theatres are offering such poor and trashy attractions that many educated people who want to be amused, are forced to seek diversion in this way. The general spread of culture is also, probably, creating a taste in this direction.

The lady who would succeed as a public reader must, like the actress, be good-looking. The most successful lady readers now before the public are physically attractive. Some of them are large, fine-looking women, while others are pet.i.te; but no matter what the particular style of beauty may be, they are all pleasing in their personal appearance.

The woman who wants to make public reading a profession will do all she can to get her name and profession before the public. At first she will give free readings before church societies. In this way she will gradually become known, and, after a while, she will be able to appear before some lyceum in the small outlying towns. If she is favorably received she will be invited to come again, and so, gradually, her name and fame will become known, and if she has the necessary talent she will eventually command very good pay.

At first she will give free readings. Her readings for pay will, in the beginning, bring her from $10 to $25 a reading. After that the compensation will increase, according to her reputation as a reader.

The very best female readers, or "elocutionists," as they prefer to term themselves, receive as much as $500 for one entertainment.

The social position which a lady occupies will have much to do with her success. If she has a large circle of influential friends in good social standing, provided, of course, she is talented, she will find the road to success much easier than it otherwise would be.

BOOK-AGENTS.

Canva.s.sing for books is a business in which some men have been known to make $10,000 a year, and a large number of other men have earned $2,000 and $3,000 in the same length of time. This is an occupation which, under certain conditions, is admitted to be just as suitable for a woman as a man.