THE DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND,

Dunstan Times, Issue 3379, 20 June 1927, Page 8

THE DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND,

WARNING TO STAGE-STRUCK GfRLS.

(By Max Pemberton, in “Tit-Bits”)

Some years, ago, when 1 was producing a show at a West-end theatre, some of the girls, and mostly those who were sixteen or seventeen years old, came to me and said that a German was hanging about the stage door, and that ho had offered them contracts to appear east of Berlin in various music-halls, the names ot which ho did not disclose. I discovered, upon looking at one of these documents, that these children, if they accepted this suave scoundrel’s invitation would have to go on duty at midnight, and would not be permitted to quit the hall until five in the morning. They were, furthermore, to make themselves agreeable to any man who approached them; to try to sell him a drink, and to accompany him to his private box when he so commanded. 1 threatened the man with Scotland Yard, and he disappeared in a hurry. But 1 am quite sure that he went on to some other theatre, and I have heard since that ho has carried thousands of girls to Austria, to the Argentine, to Buenos Ayres, and even to Port Said.

The report on the White Slave Traffic, made to the League of Nations by a special committee, has been described as a “startling” document,, though why it should “startle” anybody with an elementary knowledge of the facts 1 am at a loss to imagine. It is curious, however, and not a little significant, that this well-informed document should have been published at a moment when the Editor of “Tit-Bits” was discussing with me the advisability of uttering an earnest warning against certain grave perils incidental to tlje theatre, and imploring all stage and filmstruck girls and young men to think seriously before trying to embark on a perilon;; career.

Lot us look at the facts and try to face them boldly. Geneva believes that the music-halls of the Continent are largely recruited from the ranks of.young women who have appeared or tried to appear, in our musical comedy shows, in the cabarets, and in the theatres of the greater cities of the world. Jl declares, at the same time, and this is a fact with which every dramatic manager is acquainted, that many, of these foreign music halls aie neither better nor worse than common houses of ill-fame. This fact, I repeat, is known to us all in the profession; and few who have taken part in the production of revue or light opera have not come face to face with it in its ugliest form. Tiie theatre, of course, is in no way directly responsible for this. What is responsible is the theatres' custom of calling from villages and remote towns thousands of young women annually, many of whom never can be employed, but all of whom are excited and thrilled by the idea of going to London, and there posing in tho limelight. .Accompany me on one of these “voice auditions” and just see what happens. Twenty girls are wanted, perhaps, but three hundred appear. They have come from near and far. Some worked m shops in little country villages; some in the mills of Lancashire and Yorkshire. There is tlie inevitable “parson's daughter;” and the rosy-cheeked girl whose occupation hitherto has been to tend to the amiable cow. Also, we shall find a sprinkling of London women who are no better than they should be, and of women who work in London by day and dine cut with any “kind gentleipan” who can afford to buy them a dress or a decoration. With the latter class .we have nothing to do. It can take care of itself very well, and is quite accustomed to being shown doors; but the merry maidens from the greenwood tree are another story. With what high hopes did they not beg or borrow the railway fare to London; what farewells they said to town or village! No more dull or dreary nights; light and laughter and music “wherever she goes” ; their pictures in the illustrated papers; pearls of a sort round their necks and bracelets on their arms. And, of course, rich men swarming about them; Rolls-Royce cars waiting for them; suppers at the crack night clubs; dancing all the time, and, above all, that specious, notoriety which attends the favourites of the theatre. Poor little beggars! In an hour moot of them will he out in tho street; their money spent, their hearts breaking, and all the visions of wonderland become but a black cloud. They were not wanted; nilie-tcnth.s of them wore never heard. The whole “audition” from their point of view, was just a shabby trick perpetrated by men without any sense of pity.

ihey go into the street, 1 say, but, believe me, they do not go imwatched. 1. ho rascal who sends in's cargo across the sea has had his eye upon them, and he and his slateliitos are quickly on the track. "Come, come, they must not lie disappointed—thero arc other opportunities—why not have a little dinner to-night and talk il over?” The child, maybe, is only 100 ready to listen to such a comforter.

1 have, unhappily, heard many such stories during my years of close association with the theatre. .Most of such talcs arc pitiable: some are tragic. One girl in a company with which 1 was associated went to a “voice trial” at another house; was mot there by a Herman woman subsequently well known lo the police; was taken to a house in Chiswick to dinner, (here drugged and ruined, and finally sent In Uussia. to appear at one of the mock theatres mi an island of the Neva. Two others, sisters, were invited to a house in Kensington, introduced lo a eoiiipanv of men posing ks theatrical agents, and plentifully drugged with strung wine. Such stories as these could fill a volume; and 1 doubt not that every day is adding lo their number. Where beautiful women an* gathered together, there will the human vultures he found. Nor should wo forget that the girl who aspires to theatrical or screen fame is usually of a typo which falls a ready victim to the enf,nai er - high-strung, excitable, restless, desiring the glitter and the shams of life.

Our warning is lor the thousands of bright little girls who abandon humble am! often happy homes to try their tor-(-mie.s on the devil's playground, and often to ruin themselves body and soul in the mad adventure.

Apart, however, from this purely moral aspect of tilings, there i.s hardly a profession in which the tragedies of unemployment are more poignant than that of the theatre. Not a \vo«k ago J met a man who had been with mo in three successful musical plays, but has not had any kind of a job offered him now for five years. Nobody can give any true explanation of this. The actor i.s young, still good-looking, and sings well. Vet the .stage passes him by as the variety theatre is passing by hundreds of capable artistes, many of whom are on the brink of .starvation. Fume, in tins aspect would appear to go absolutely for nothing.

One of my leading ladies ol the year 1922 has since been playing; in the chorus to keep herself alive —and .’mother distinguished actress, upon applying recently to a well-known London manager, was

scut a. formal card, asking her to present herself with a song, that her voice might be tried at all audition given to two or I luce hundred unknown girls! A more

subtle insult could hardly be imagined—and when to lids kind of thing we add the cruelly which accompanies “growing old" in (his profession, the indictment is unanswerable. Wo have but to take a

morning walk in the neighbourhood of Leicester Square to meet hundreds of poor people, some absolutely wanting bread, but all knowing no other trade but that of the stage which treats them so pitilessly. Beauty Contests Auditions Screen Trials: Too often they are buj, the mirage on the face of the desert. The stage is a hard life at the best; at the worst it is beyond words to describe. Slavery, poverty, frequent unemployment are the lot of the many.