TIIE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN. PORTLAND JANUARY 23, 1912.
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A DAY.
f s an Arduous Life, After AZZ, With No Chance for Home Ties
Life on Vaudeville Stage Really Means Hard Work, Much Worry,
Many Chances and Long Apprenticeship Some Portlanders Who
Have Made Good.
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TV'O hundred dollar a weak for
doing a 1 or 15-mlnut turn on
a vaudvlll stag two or tnre
tlnti a dart
Scams Ilk obtaining- money under
fall pretenses, doesn't ft?
Bat go over to vaudvlll headquar
ters and look down the list of hun
dreds of performers who set three or
four times that much, for even less
actual stage time. Note that the aver
age goes far above 1200 a week. Con
tinue on down the list till yon coma
to the name of Eva Tan guar and sea
her listed at $;50 a week for about
11 minutes' actual work each day.
Then while you are in the mood,
happen back to the stage and aak
the first performer you see if be Isn't
a little ashamed to take the money.
If you com out with your life still
Intact, take a gllmps Into the realm
f vaudeville In which the performer
spends his time, the vaudeville beyond
the deceiving strain of the bright foot
lights and the mystic flare of th cal
ciums and th spot. Perhaps It may be
a revelation.
Vaudeville people declare they earn
their money, whether It la KOO a wsek
r J00 a week. And her are their
reasons: Long hours, hard work, much
worry. Ions chances and long periods
f apprenticeship and practice. It Isn't
th actual work the public sees that
counts, declares th performer; It la
what 1 required to bring It about.
Th life of th vaudevllllaa la pe
culiar. Bis path Is strewn with wor
ries and hardships. Diversified public
pinion, local sentiment and human na
ture are th reasons. With these three
high car da stacked against him he has
a, hard hand to play.
His on great Joy Is th growing Im
portance) of vaudeville. The average
performer who -e a "medium" act
and who is not of any particular Im
portance) as a house-ruler rejoices over
thS vast suio.es forward of the great
vaudeville circuits. It Is pleasing to
hlsa to see th circuits take In new
territory and build new theaters, prin
cipally because It gives alr assurance
that his act. which may require years
to gat together, has a good chance f
long life. It means that because of
th growing demand for acta, mana
gers will not be so ready to "ditch"
fejs bread-maker merely because It Is
ciot a headllner or because) It has been
over th circuit one.
rUulif ae Pablle.
Th great worry of th performer Is
la coping with the views of th public
a. to what an act should be. Many
cities In th East will go wild over an
act which will be a flat failure oa th
toast and In many parts of th West.
It keeps many performers busy chang
ing th lines of their ac to suit con
ditions so as not to cast often and
k routed by public opinion.
la acts which depict nationalities or
religion In a satirical vein the woe of
the performer are abundant.
for example, listen to the story of
Mart Flts-Clbbon. who appeared at
the Empress a short time ago. Marie
told a rtory during her monologue act
about an Irishman who while walking
the streets of Londoz. came across an
Englishman who was begcing. The
Englishman had lost both arms and
both legs Th Irishmen dropped a
small piece of change la the beggar'
hat and stood looking a him. Pres
ently he pulled on a SI bill and
. droppeJ It Into the beggar's hat. ol
than' you so much, old chap," said
the Englishman; "you don't know 'ow
nucb good that will do. But may Ol
why you are so generousT"
-ur an' It's th first time OI ever
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e - r.n Englishman trimmed to salt
me.- replied th Irishman.
-his Joke took well in Portland, but
when It was told In Vancouver. B. C
there was a loud walling and gnashing
of teeth. Marie had real worries.
And so It goes all th way through.
A slam at a nationality may get an
act In decidedly bad on th first night.
f a slam at any religion is almost sure
to bring bad resulta Almost any joae
will be apt to cause trouble In soma
place and therefore a comedian baa
his hands full coping with conditions.
Th manager of the theater la th
Judge of what will be permitted at
his bouse in the way of Jokes, songs or
action. At the first performance of the
week th house manager Is always on
hand and caaefully checks up on ail
th acta. II then calls th performer
to his office and tell them what to
"cut."
Th manager has his trouble, too.
"What the blankety blank V yells th
average performer when he la told by
the manager that he must cut out cer
tain jokea. , "Why. I've used that stuff
all over the country, and Jt has never
been turned down In a house yet.
Tour trying to kill my act. Tou'U
ruin me."
Then th manager has to recite a
few stansaa which most managers now
know by heart. He has to explain that
he la running the house and ha to
maintain th standard. H wtnda up
with th announcement that bia word
Is final; th disliked parts of th act
must be cut out.
And It has to b don spoil th act
or no.
1 Evlvlaar A a Art
A to th actual working tiro of th
performer It is not at all as th public
might think. Th part or th work
which snaps along before the dassllng
lights, enlivened by th smiles of th
performer Is only the finished product.
To make an act requires at least 10
weeks that is. an act which embraces
a dramatic sketch. A good, live plot
on a popular subject must b selected.
Th life, th action, to sntlmnt. th
ton and th snappy Incidents must be
told fast and tn such fasblon that th
audience can catch it alL Th par
former cannot leave anything antold
which pertains to th complete story.
And it must all be finished and oft th
stag within 10 minutes.
A complete drama which could be
mad Interesting for two hours con
densed Into 10 minutes. That's a sktch
In vaudeville.
Acta which appear sometimes are th
result of many years of practice and
hard work. Take for Instance th act
of Fred Undsay, who is playing th
Orpheum circuit. He spent a large
part of his life on a rinch In Australia
herding cattle. He became an expert
with a "blackanake" whip. He got so
he could lash the ashes off the end of
a cigar In a man's mouth twenty paces
away. He could snap th neck off a
bottle at an. equal distance. His work
cam to th attention of Martin Beck
and o was taken on as a vaudeville
performer and has sine been on of
th wonders of th gam. He gets a
good salary. Perhaps for th time la
which he took to become an expert he
is not overpaid.
As to the life of a vaudeville per
former and som of his hardships, take
for Illustration an act on th Pantages
r ulllvan-Consldln circuit on Bun
day night In Seattle. If Is a S0-mlnuts
sketch and has considerable scenery
and th performars have a good deal of
costume stuff.
The performer, the leading man we'll
say, gets op at 10 o'clock Sunday morn
ing and goes out to breakfast or din
ner, whichever 70a please finishing
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at 11 o'clock. Hs has about two hours
before ha goes to the theater. He
must be there early to arrange hi
scenery, make-up, dress and be In read
iness to enter two acts before bis tlm
It the act is the first on th bill he
must be there at 1:45. He plays his
part, takes care of his scenery, cleana
up and goes to dinner, finishing prob
ably at 6 o'clock. He has an hour or
ao rest then returns to the theater
and goes through another performance
in the early evening. Later he repeats
the act finishing possibly at 9:30 or 10
o'clock. Sunday night Is leaving night,
so he has to pack his scenery, his trunk
and costumes, attend to his hotel bills,
his railroad transportation and hurry
down to the depot to catch a late train
to Portland, where he Is billed for the
following week, commencing the next
afternoon.
He retires In Seattle about midnight
and awakens In Portland Monday
morning. He has to get out about S
o'clock and take breakfast In time to
be at the theater at 1:30 o'clock for
rehearsal. He has to go over his act
carefully, giving the orchestra leader
his cues and arranging everything so
that it will run along with a snap and
smoothness during the afternoon per
formance. He finishes probably by 10
or 11 o'clock and is free until the af
ternoon performance. He goes through
his dally routine every day during the
week, doing the same act in the same
way unless he runs up against some
peculiar local sentiment which occa
sions a change. Every performance
must be particularly strong on Mon
days, because that Is when the dramatic
reporters get in their reviews and the
.theatergoers form their opinions of the
act.
Life No Bed of Rose.
Press notices count for a great deal.
A performer who can impress the crit
ics to such an extent that good criti
cisms appear in the papers the next day
commands the respect of the theater
manager.
Upon finishing the week In Portland
the act has to skip to San Francisco
or Los Angeles or some other Coast
city, and in doing so loses a week, It
being Impossible to finish In Portland
on Sunday night and ret to the other
Coast cities in time for the following
day's matinee. During this idle week
the performer receives no pay. He fur
nishes all his own transportation, pays
his own hotel bills and eats on the
salary of the week before.
Sickness is another of the worries.
The constant change of climate and
altitude requires a hearty constitu
tion. If the performer becomes sick
his pay stops. Oftentimes an act Is re
quired to stop because of the sickness
of one of the leading performers.
Sometimes a day's sickness will re
quire a whole week's Kss, during which
time the performer is not paid.
The box office receipts are what de
termine the salaries of performers. A
good bill does the same work as an un
usually strong act. The manager's fin
ger is on the pulse the box office. He
does not need to look in the papers to
see whether his week's bill is good or
bad. He can tell It at a glance in the
box office.
Probably the highest salaried per
former on circuits which touch Port
land is Eva Tansuay, who commands
$2950 a week from the Orpheum houses.
She is a dancer of wonderful tact. Her
appearance on the week's bill is al
most a certain guarantee of capacity
business hence her big salary. '
Another high salaried performer is
Bird MUlman, who terrorized her
parents during her childhood by walk
ing clotheslines and fences in her back
yard in Canyon City, Colo. She is now
one of the most clever slack wire
walkers in the world. She ets 11050
a week. Many great actors and act
resses have gone into vaudeville, and
still others are on the verge of the
change from the "legitimate field" to
vaudeville.
Breaking Into the Game.
Performers get into the "game" in
many peculiar ways. There's hardly
an actor or actress seen at the Or
pheum. Pantages or Empress her who
does not have an Interesting story to
relate on how he or she got into
vaudeville. Representatives of the cir
cuits are found In -any parts of the
world, constantly in quest 01 new acts
to amuse the people of not only the
United States but of nearly all the for..
lgn countries. The agents and their
friends are on the lookout for freaks,
unusual novelty acts and performances
which might interest the theater-goer.
Hundreds of performers are in
vaudeville today w" cannot speak a
word of English. There are many
Americans who are considered big at
tractions who can hardly write their
own names. There are others with
fine educations whose names you can't
read after they do write them. Many
vaudeville people are Bohemians it's
Bohemian class to have a fancy twist
to your signature.
There are performers who are high
ly skilled irl various lines of work
and whose common everyday labor,
which has been staged, is interesting
enough to hold an r idience for 15 or
20 minutes. The act of McLaren and
Jackson, which has been seen in Port
land, is a sample. They ai- young fel
lows who were "captured" in the woods
of Australia, where they were typical
bushwhackers. They are such experts
with the ax that either of them can
chop in two a tree 19 Inches in diam
eter in 64 seconds. They do the stunt
every day.
The vaudeville performer lives In
constant hope of becoming a "star" or
a "headllner." Some work up to this
class, while others take the opposite
course. The box office tells It's not
always a matter of applause which de
termines popularity.
An instance of rather remarkable ad
vance in vaudeville was seen in Port
land recently. Grace Cameron, an act
ress, was stranded, having come to
grief with "The Bostonlans." She had
a clever singing and monologue act
which she had never tried out. but
which she consented to try at the re-'
cent Press Club show. She caused a
riot and immediately was taken into
a vaudeville circuit at a salary of 1450
a week. She is now making a great hit
back East.
Chick Sales, who -..as on the Or
pheum circuit with a sketch, appeared
in the Orpheum here not very long
ago and happened to please Mark
Klaw, who was in the house. Sales
was immediately "grabbed" by Mr.
Klaw and hurried off to New York at
a handsome salary to carry a comedy
role in a big new production which is
being prepared.
Some Who Have Won Success.
Burr Mcintosh, well-known Journal
ist, has dropped into the vaudeville
business and is making great success.
He made something of a mark in the
literary field and is having success
in vaudeville. He is entertained all
along the line by literary people.
Lew Hawkins, one of the old-time
minstrel men, is another of the celebri
ties. He is appearing on the Sullivan
& Considlne circuit. On the Pantages
circuit a couple of note Is Wlllard
Mack and Maude Leon, both of whom
have had great success in the "legiti
mate field," but have given that up for
vaudeville.
Portland has contributed many peo
ple to vaudeville. Among them is the
Melvern family, which is with the Sul
livan & Considlne circuit. They are
among the leading acrobats of the
country. Another is Melville Brown,
whose home is here. He has written a
number of sketches and is one of the
fat-salaried people In the vaudeville
business.
Performers are constantly being sur
rounded with new requirements. They
are being required to elevate their acts
to a higher moral plane. The day of
the questionable joke and dance in
vaudeville is over. The acts must be
clean and wholesome.
In short there is so much to vaude
ville performing that It requires a good
application of balm in the form of sal
ary to make the life worth while. The
public likes it and is willing to pay
the price the manager Is willing to
be liberal In dividing the spoils.