Singers have asked me time and again how to get an engagement. The first
thing is to be sure that you have something to sell that is really worth
while. Think of how many people are willing to pay to hear you sing! The
more that they are willing to pay, the more valuable you are to the
managers who buy your services. Therefore reputation, of course, is an
important point to the manager. An unknown singer can not hope to get
the same fee as the celebrated singer no matter how fine the voice or
the art. Mr. E. Falber and Mr. Martin Beck, who have been responsible
for a great many of the engagements of great artists in vaudeville and
who are great believers in fine music in vaudeville, have, through their
high position in business, helped hundreds. But they can not help anyone
who has nothing to sell.
The home office of the big vaudeville exchange is at Forty-seventh and
Broadway, N.Y., and it is one of the busiest places in the great city.
Even at that, it has always been a mystery to me just how the thousands
of numbers are arranged so that there will be as little loss as possible
for the performers; for it must be remembered that the vaudeville
artists buy their own stage clothes and scenery, attend to their
transportation and pay all their own expenses; unless they can afford
the luxury of a personal manager who knows how to do these things just a
little better.
The singer looking for an engagement must in some way do something to
gain some kind of recognition. Perhaps it may come from the fact that
the manager of the local theater in her town has heard her sing, or some
well-known singer is interested in her and is willing to write a letter
of introduction to someone influential in headquarters. With the
enormous demands made upon the time of the "powers that be," it is
hardly fair to expect them to hear anyone and everyone. With such a
letter or such an introduction, arrange for an audition at the
headquarters in New York. Remember all the time that if you have
anything really worth while to sell the managers are just as anxious to
hear you as you are to be heard. There is no occasion for nervousness.