Show Op Open n t r to I Young No 1 0 S BY BI JESSIE BARTLETT DAVIS ITHE essence of your letter is that THE TH I you want to know kow how to get on the stage The best quickest and surest way is if to simply simp go That is the only way to get there Go in the chorus go if i you only sing in one act actor I or one song song or even one line Une but go goDo goDo Do not wait for a dazzling opportunity I to o startle the world It I will wil never come No manager maager is i going to come cometo come cometo to you in an upholstered auto van yan with witha a parchment contract ready to be b signed humbly hubly offering you Jou 1000 a night to make your first public appear appearance appearance ance anc as his prima donna with wih four solos and a a duet duet Not if your voice olce Js Is S perfect You must go to him and ask ak for a a place in the chorus and if he of less fers fe you 10 a week take it it You will be doing well Further than this I cannot advise I you Jou as every woman is I individual and the advice must mut depend on the person peron If It I you are in earnest and really need advice come and see me sue I will wil be glad to try t your voice olce and after that can cantell cantell tell teU you more in detail how to go about the beginning of a career carer You may lay have a magnetism a a dash dah of or action acton a chord that are so individual as to warrant cultivation and you may be very ordinary and therefore obliged to trudge old beaten paths I cannot tell tel now non But you must make up your mind to 10 begin at the very er bottom to stand next net netto to the pink tights and tinsel to work workday wor worday workday day and night to study incessantly and to shatter forever the gleaming shallow magazine m illusions of diamond showers flower chappies and cham champagne champage champagne page suppers supper These things and sue suc success suc cess never walk hand in hand You must not think that the only requisites toward becoming a a great greatsinger geat greatsinger singer is to be born poor quarrel In a achurch achurch achurch church choir coir and have an ugly face I believe in the church choir for the the music muIo is good and cannot hurt you And if you have an ugly face that looks well wel behind b the footlights you are bet better bette better I ter te r off than thO n the beautiful girl for tor you will wi not have as many temptations I from frol duty and not as many oomph compliments ments meats to turn your head that are as a truthful as a dogs pedigree or tales oC ot I 1 your ancestors ancestor The reason more poor girls succeed than rich ones is that the rich girl is not obliged to earn her he own living and unless she possesses the spark of genius she soon becomes weary of the hard hardships hardships ships hips of a a stage life She knows hows she h will wll have something to eat and a clean shirt waist whether she works or not But If I you are not rich the beginning is easier for you can study extensive extensively ly before you take your small part or 0 sprint about in the chorus For rich rc or poor the real ral beginning is at the thO bottom for experience is power You may never get above the bottom If f every ever one did we would have have no luxury for no one would want to turn out the lights or hold the carriage door open Every Eer day letters like yours come to tome tome tome me I am always glad to answer er them i and to help young younG girls along for I had such a a hard time myself I will wil tell tel you vou of two young oung girls who came to me ma rP for advice and you can cn draw your own OWl conclusions before you ou call cal at my home The first girl gir was very ordinary look ingin ng in fact homely She called caned on ens I day with wih her aunt a wo woman woman o oma man ma that had hail long before spoiled her niece with wih flattery fater Friends are more mOle mOleto to be feared than enemies in this bus busi busness ness The girl gir was very ery patronizing to me and seemed trying tring to make me feel fee the littleness of or my success as com compared compared compared pared with wih that she should attain I asked her to sing and she condescend condescendingly condescendIngly shrugged her shoulders shoulder and said she sang sag everything Well sing something I said and after a few more shrugs and glances ater over Oyer her a shoulder she sha sang a a selection from Carmen Caren as if it she were doing me a favor faor It I used to cost me every ever time my voice was wa tried so I did not appreciate it as a favor Her voice oice was wa good but not unusual and I tod to d her ner so IO I told her also als her appearance would make her success ss the harder as the public demands to see as well as to hear Then to encourage her I told her how ho Patti Patt Nielsen and Abbott began by ringing on bar room tables and how every good singer to the present day had li worked up by inches But she interrupted me by a Inces disdainful toss of or her head and a aOh 0 aOh Oh I dont care what other singers singer careers have been I am going to have hae havea haea a career all al my own on creer What Wat is your ambition 1 I asked her Oh fOh I intend to be b a prima donna in it ina Ina ita L a regular company You dont want to do Oshkosh Fond du Lac and Green Bay Ba do you ou ouI I Oh no I intend to sing six sI months hs in New York But no one does ul I will willI I thought you came to me for ad ao advIce advice vice I said and fand I will be glad gad to give it to you Here the dear aunt took the conver coner conversation conversation to herself Rising haughtily with wih wrath and stiffness she let fly ly a a lightning shaft shaft Mrs Davis I have always alway heard that you were kind I know now you are not not You are mean and envious You are jealous of my little girl gir Naturally I showed snowed them the front door doo but I kept track of the little girl Finally she became a member of some English opera company compan n Milwaukee Had she not possessed the exalted opinion of herself due to her feeling I relatives she might still be with the te company But she got to telling the manager how to run the show and af after after after ter three weeks he dispensed with her services She is now singing in a a achurch chui church chuich ch choir at the round juicy salary ot a year The same day dy another young oung girl came to me She was wa very pretty pret and possessed a not bad voice oIce I talked to her the same way and pointed poInted out outto outto to her the hardships and later the pos 1 of a singer She to absorb every word wor I said and ad then I told her there would be other Melbas and PaUls and that a successful singer must mut begin with wih one great geat ambition always in sight and climb steadily up to it itOh It Oh I can never reach it i she kept saying saing She was very ery poor she had no one in the world word to encourage her har or help her to study and she lived in an alley ale aleon on on the west side But the desire in i her herto herto herto to be something more than she was was so great geat that she was ws willing wilO to begin in a chorus c ors or any other way wa That Tat was a year ye rand and a half ago and 0 she s he has accomplished wonders She has ha done it I merely merob by Uy hard har work and perseverance If I she had a ahome ahome ahome home or money it I would have been easier asier e for her for she could lave lived Uve better etter beter b while she studied and an worked After Ater you read red this if you want to come and see me come But But there is no rest ret for a singer When We you are not rehearsing rehearing you are studying on the stage or traveling Still i if you love loveto loveto loveto to sing If it you love the stage for fr what it is and not for what it I s seems to be sms from f rom the velvet elvet chairs char in the tho parquet p the work will wU not be like work work for tor your our soul wilt will wl be b in it I It I will not b j work any more than it is work for Air fr u v s holy man to pray But remember that genius is three fourths f fi determination and inspiration In is i s only study and work Come and see me If you wish Very truly |