MONEY IN AMUSEMENTS.
Money in Fun--Salary of a “Star”--A Fortune in “A Parlor Match”--A
Pianist Who Got $2,500 a Night--How to Get a Start on the Stage--A
New Field for the Amusement Artist--Humor and Hard Cash in
Shadowgraphs--What Max O’Rell Earned on the Lecture Platform--Money
in the Traveling Show--The Greatest Money Burning in the United
States--Fortunes in Fireworks.
People who cater to public amusements are so many, their entertainments
so diverse and their talents so unequal, that no general statement can
be made about the remuneration for this kind of work. There are “stars”
at the top who receive from $200 to $1,000 per night, and there are
“mediocres,” or worse, at the bottom who barely eke out a living at $7 a
week. No one should enter this field unless his talent is equal to his
ambition. Here are a few of the prizes taken before the footlights:
867. THE FARCE COMEDY.--Evans and Hoey purchased a comedy entitled “A
Parlor Match.” Mr. Evans says: “We played it over 3,000 times, and at a
rough estimate I think we must have cleared from $300,000 to $400,000.”
868. INSTRUMENTAL CONCERTS.--The possibilities of dollars in
instrumental music are seemingly unlimited. Celebrated pianists have
received almost fabulous sums. Rubinstein’s six months’ tour in America
is said to have netted a profit of $60,000, and a second engagement was
made for him at the rate of $2,500 per night.
869. STAGE STARS.--The stage, like every other profession, is crowded at
the bottom, but has room at the top. Beginners seldom get more than $15
per week and commonly they receive much less. Leading people in road
companies get $50 per week. Stars receive from $100 to $500 per night.
Madame Celeste made $50,000 in this country. Edwin Forrest never
received less than $200 per night. Edwin Booth sometimes played for $500
per night.
870. POPULAR LECTURERS.--These are richly rewarded for their hour or two
of entertainment of an audience. John B. Gough’s price was $200 per
night. Henry Ward Beecher, Wendell Phillips, and Bayard Taylor averaged
the same figures. The receipts for Professor Tyndall’s thirty-five
lectures in this country were $23,100; and Max O’Rell earned $5,290 by
his lectures during a single week in Johannesburg, South Africa. Says a
magazine note: “Money-making’s most promising field is that of a popular
lecturer.”
871. HAND SHADOWS.--Here is something new: Some amusement artists in
England have conceived the idea of entertaining audiences with hand
shadows. A candle, an oil lamp, or an arc light is used, and the beam of
light passes through a small circular opening upon a sheet of
ticket-writer’s holland. Sometimes a pipe or a piece of cardboard is
used to heighten the effect, but for the most part the artist employs
his hands only. With diligent practice the most comical effects, such as
“Dressing for a Party,” “The Dog Fight,” etc., can be produced. Mr.
Devant, the originator of the shadowgraph, convulses his audiences and
reaps large profits for himself. America, where the humorous is quickly
and keenly appreciated, offers a large field for this new kind of
entertainment.
872. MUSEUM AND CIRCUS.--The vocation of the popular showman is a highly
paying one. It appeals to two of the most powerful motives of human
nature--the desire to be amused and amazed. P. T. Barnum made and lost
two or three fortunes; Bailey, the successor of Barnum, and Dan Rice
have also conducted highly successful shows. Dime museums in large
cities often pay vast sums for curiosities and monstrosities, and still
conduct a very profitable business.
873. GYMNASTS.--Athletes need to begin early in life in order to acquire
suppleness of muscle. There is no profession that demands a severer
training or regimen. A vast number of performers are constantly
traveling through the country. Engagements with companies are made on
exhibition of skill. Managers are always on the alert for something new.
Some equestrians receive as high as $500 a week for self and horses;
clowns often receive $100; rope walkers, $50.
874. OPERA SINGERS.--Voice, gesture, grace, and beauty are the four
qualities of success in the opera artist. Those who succeed receive
princely sums for their services. Mario got $400 a night in
Philadelphia. Tamberlik every time he sung a high note demanded $500.
Piccolomini cost her manager over $5,000 a month. Madame Perer received
$14,000 for the season. Genius and hard work are nowhere better paid
than in the opera.
875. MIMIC BATTLES.--Pain’s fireworks at Manhattan Beach, reproducing
the “Capture of Manila” and “The Fall of Santiago,” have been immensely
popular, sometimes drawing crowds numbering 10,000. A thousand dollars’
worth of fireworks and _papier maché_ are burned in a single night
during the season, but enormous as are the expenses we are informed that
the proprietor seldom makes less than $500 a night. There is no patent
on these exhibitions, and they may be repeated or imitated anywhere. A
man who dares “burn money” in this way, or a stock company where the
individual risk would be comparatively small, exhibiting these fireworks
in all our great cities, would certainly reap handsome gains. Especially
at this time, while the fervor of patriotism and the glow of enthusiasm
over our recent victories are still at white heat, the enterprise could
not fail to be paying. We would almost guarantee that a company which
could set up as brilliant an exhibition as Pain’s in fifty leading
cities would realize twenty-five per cent. on the investment.
876. THEATRICAL ENTERPRISES.--Running a theater is risky business; it
has its ups and downs, and the downs are as swift as the ups. Oscar
Hammerstein, who has just lost all by an unsuccessful venture, says that
once during the short period of four weeks he made $60,000. Daly,
Frohman, Lester Wallack, and many others, have grown rich in the
theatrical business.
877. DANCERS.--Members of the vaudeville are not so well paid as in many
other arts for amusing the public, but special dancing “artists”
sometimes receive almost fabulous sums. Famous dancers have received as
high as $10,000 in the course of a season. Freda Maloff, the Turkish
dancer, has just returned from the Klondike, where in the course of a
few months she has made $62,000 in her profession, the miners literally
showering her with nuggets.
878. MOVING PICTURES.--This latest and most popular form of amusement is
coining money for the owners of the cinematograph, biograph, vitascope,
or by whatever other name the instrument is called which causes the
scenes portrayed on canvas to be instinct with moving life. The charge
for an evening’s service is commonly $50.
879. BAND PLAYERS.--Band players get from $1,000 to $5,000 a year,
according to proficiency. Sousa, the leader of the celebrated band by
his name, received $6,000 a year. There are always openings for good
band players.
880. IMPERSONATORS.--Dickens will probably always be the great resort
for this class of entertainers. Of seven leading impersonators now on
the platform, four portray his characters almost exclusively. It is a
fine field for the elocutionist who has talents for mimicry. The average
charge is $25 per night.
881. ANCIENT BURLESQUES.--There are at least three forms of this
amusement which are having great success. They are “The Village Choir,”
“The Old Folks’ Concert,” and “Aunt Polly Bassett’s Singing School.” The
last named has often cleared $100 in a single evening.
882. RECITERS.--Reciters and readers, from Dickens to Hall Caine, have
always been popular. The highest paid are well-known authors, who read
from their own writings. Charles Dickens seldom received less than $200
an evening. But the majority are glad to get engagements at from $10 to
$25 a night.
883. BELL RINGERS.--The discovery that many objects in nature could be
made to give forth musical sounds has vastly widened the field of
entertainment. Rocks, steam pipes, tumblers, and dinner bells have been
drafted into service, the last named with notable success. In one
company four young ladies have charmed the public ear with the melody of
a score of hand bells. They have reaped rich harvests all over the
country.
884. MAGICIANS.--This field has been somewhat overworked of late years,
but the phenomenal success of such men as Blitz, the ventriloquist, and
Hermann, the prestidigitator, show the possibilities in this line. Both
these men bewitched the public for a whole generation, and made great
fortunes.
885. STORY TELLERS.--This is a late revival of a form of amusement as
old as the times of Homer. Those succeed best who are authors as well as
elocutionists, making their own story and telling it fresh from the
heart. We predict that this kind of entertainment is going to have a
great run, and persons who have talent in this line will do well to
furbish up their weapons.
886. CARTOONISTS.--Cartoonists and crayonists receive high figures for
their work, as this kind of talent is rare. The chief of this class of
artists received from $50 to $150 per night. Since his death, no worthy
successor has been found, but there are many young fingers that are
clever with chalk, and there is room for more. It is a very inviting
field for persons who have the right gifts.