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Show TEN THOUSAND ARE IDLE. Army of Chorus Girls in Cities and Out of Work. Owing to tho unprecedentedly dull theatrical the-atrical season Just closed, fully 10,000 chorus cho-rus girls arc now out of employment in this country, without means, and do not know whero the next meal will come from. Starvation stares them In the face, and death will relieve many of them of their suffering before the close of tho summer sum-mer season, says the Chicago Tribune. Little does the world realize or havo any correct knowledge of the real, true domestic do-mestic life of the American chorus girl, especially In the summer month9, when she la out of engagements. Just now many thousand chorus girls, owing to the exceptionally poor season of last wlater, when they worked only a few weeks and were told that "their services were no longer required," are living from hand to mouth on tho verge of starvation In a small room In some poor lodging-house. She Is struggling to keep away starvation and death Her case Is a pitiable one and worthy of sincere sympathy. Never before be-fore was tho theatrical season for tho chorus girl so poor as last winter, and she Is now suffering Intenselj In consequence. Tho winter season over and little or no money having been accumulated to draw upon for tho necessaries of life during the next six months, chorus girls, on tho lino of economy, group together and battle as best they can to keep from possible staiv-atlon staiv-atlon and death. It was only a few days ago that a beautiful beau-tiful and talented chorus girl was found In a small room In New York literally starving starv-ing to death' She had lost her position In February, and tho small sum that she had saved from her previous engagement had rapidly disappeared. She appealed again and again to managers or work, but they all gave a deaf cai to her cntreutles. Sho was starving and she must have food. In her despair she turned to the pawnbroker, and to him turned over for a slight consideration her trinkets and small stock of clothing, until finally nearly near-ly nil her earthly possessions had dlsnp- S eared. v,Sho was forced to eat crusts of rend anddrlnk water In lieu of coffee or tea. One dress she withheld from the pawnbroker, pawn-broker, that whs her beat dress, for It wns her stock In trade to look well when she presented herself before tho agents to ask for a place She was told by one gruff agent that she looked too glum to make a good chorus girl, that she must smile and smile, even though hunger was gnawing at her vitals, for the public must amunod. A 'chorus girl not milling would be strictly out of place behind the foot- lights. I.Ike thousand of others of her kind, this poor chorus girl, with her rare beauty, her exquisite grace, wns compelled to drag along day after day, without work, without with-out hope; and without sympathy. Hunger, privation, nnd death stared her In tho face. Sho was at last unable, as managers requested her upon soliciting work, "to look pleasant nnd be animated " The end soon came, death clalmtng the poorlv-paid and overworked chorus girl. Her final ending was that of multitudes of chorus girls throughout the land. From the tlmn she rises In the morning In her prorly-furnlshed and hutnblo looking look-ing llvlnV vjind sleeplng-room tho chorus girl has JOJe snare time which sho enn call her ow. First, she makes her own breakfast by making some tea, and per haps bol!lngsnn egg. If siv? can afford to do so, on a little utovo that sho has In her room. Sho wits her hrad without butter, and ofttlmc-a goes without sugar In her tea or coffee. , , After flninhins her scanty inral she hurries hur-ries on To rnhcaranl. Those urr flomotlniefl held all day long, so that her time Is well filled with work. But it Is when shu returns home late at night to tho cheap lodglng-houKo that tho chorus girl, throwing herself on a chair, too tired to go to bed. begins to chew the cud of remorso or despair for whole hours before nature finally asserts Itsqlf, and she sinks Into refreshing jdeep. Bcforo tho footllKhts sho apparently revels In a continuous round of Joy and plcasuro. bolng considered a thing of hcauty, a Joy iorover. a musy of the light fantastic too, a. smiling,- dimpling, flashing, flash-ing, fascinating sort of a plaything, Irresistibly Irre-sistibly reminding one of cold bottles, hot blrdB, and tete-a-tete dinners. But tho rnvcre of this picture represents the true life of tho larKO army of the poor-ly-pald chorus girls that occupy the tno-nter tno-nter stages of our country during six months of the year. What can a girl savo from the salary that Is paid to her for work In tho chorus? cho-rus? Sho la lucky If she gets $lf a week, and out of this amount must come her oxpoiiKeo of living. Her room rent la flint, then cornea her meals. She cannot do aa others In thlH resard, for she Is compelled to get hor meals where and when sho can, so as to sulV.her work. Then sho must be nicely gowned. A dowdy chorus Klrl gets tho "grand bounce" quicker than It takes to sa Jack Robinson A3 a rule, her room and meals during tho time of her engagements In winter cost her W and 510 a week; that will leave her J5 or $6 to provide her gowns, lingerie, and shoes. Tho latter are always expensive for tho reason that the chorus girl must always wear the best and prettiest footwear to bo In keeping with her fetching coBtume. Add to thlH oxpenso list car fares, medicines, and other necessaries of life, and It can readily bo seen that the apparently happy, Joyous chorus girl Is lucky If she is not much In debt at the end of the season The chorus girls who room together, living liv-ing on limited rneano, aro too poor to afford af-ford a bathroom, so that the basin and towel do the better part of tho work. Little Lit-tle or no furniture adorns the smiill rooms; In some cases carpet covers the floor. Articles of toilet, however, predominate; predom-inate; scattered about In helplpss, hopeless hope-less confusion are rabbits' feet and grcaso paint, gloves, torn socks, bits of ribbon, and laces. Tho walls of the room of a ahorus Klrl arc usually decorated with cheap chromos. and these, as a rule, belong be-long to tho landlady. Unless sho stands high In the graces of tho manager or sdVne other high official In the theatrical company, the chorus girl Is always In dread of looking Into her pay envelope to seo whether the dreaded two weeks' notice Is inclosed. If It is, then tho disconsolate young woman begins over again her weary hunt for work before tho winter season closes, with starvation staring star-ing her In" the face. Almost every girl in every grade of society so-ciety has a deslro at somo period of her early life to go on tho stage But of thoso who do enter this field probably 19 per cent are sick of their bargain before tho close of tho first season, but It Is gcnerally too late then for them to abandon this life, to them so full of fnaclnntlon. and they remain to follow the bohcmlan llfo which has ensnared them. To a pretty chorus girl who Is now lead-Ins lead-Ins a domestic life In a dingy room In New York City, having spent tho last season on tho stago before the footlights, tho question ques-tion was put a few days ago: "How was It that you came to enter upon the stage as a chorus girl?" In a pleasing manner, n smile overspreading over-spreading her countenance, she replied: "I was born in a small town In the southern part of Pennsylvania, 'and when a young girl had a good voice, and soon drifted Into In-to the choir of the church, where my parents were numbered among tho members mem-bers of the congregation. I was frequont-lv frequont-lv flattered by rr.y elders and admirers, who told mo that I sung well, and that I could make my fortune on tho etage. I became much Interested In the life of the chorus girl, and bepan reading novels of girls who had actually won fame by their beauty and their voices. I then began to study and worked hard, and at last had a chnnce to go on In the chorus and work my way up. The winter over, the dreaded summer season approached I had sawd little, my salary being meager. What was I to do? Simply live like tho rest of my kind In some small room or garret, economizing econ-omizing as best I could until tho advpnt of the fall or winter season, when I could again renew my search for work, like thousands of other chorus girls. That's nil thero Is to my story. I am still In tho chorus, trying to work my way up, but I am .forced to undergo a great amount of suffcrlnir, being deprived of many of the real pleasures and comforts experienced by people In orldnary walks of life." |