PITFALLS FOR SINGERS

Evening Star, Issue 20483, 14 May 1930, Page 1

PITFALLS FOR SINGERS

AGENTS FLEECE FAME SEEKERS. There are, at a conservative estimate, some 1,000 , Australian girls somewhere in London or on the Continent either singing or studying singing, according to a writer in an English paper. ' Most of them hope to make their livings by it, either by engagements Or by teaching. Very few of them doeven if they are highly talented, excellently taught, and have' sufficient means to tide them over lean periods.One reason why so many fail and return to Australia in disappointment may be, summed up in one word—agents. Not all agents are bad, but the bad ones certainly seem the busiest. 1 have heard about their ways from one or two - Australian young women who have come over here in high hope and gone back in deep gloom, says the writer. They are the most persuasive gentlemen, willing to perform, they say, any little service. One or two of their tricks were exposed to mo in an interview with the Missels Viola Morris and Victoria Anderson, the two young Melbourne girls—Miss Morris an old Melbourne High School girl, and both studied, at the Melbourne Conservatorium—who came over here two years ago to study and gain experience, and have done remarkably well. - •They told me that one of-the favourite guiles of the agent, when an unwary girl walks into his trap, is to promise to arrange a recital lor.her. He will do it, too—but it will not be much to her benefit First, he‘demands an audition—for effect, principally. Then ho is overcome with admiration for the perfect voice he has listened to or the marvellous technique or whatever it may be. She is great! A recital, glowing accounts in all the newspapers, critics swept off their feet; diamonds, praise, wealth—all these are hersl It require.! but an initial expense—he eyes his victim cunningly, gauging what she may stand—of, well/ £130? That is too much I But it is worth it! Ah, well, perhaps, it could be done for £80: but it will have to be a smaller hall. And the critics are influenced by the standing of the hall the young artist engages. The £BO changes hands. The agent takes some obscure, ill-lit, little-known hall in the backwash of London, prints off some few nnndred cheap tickets, gives them away (because nobody will buy them) to make sure somebody will turn up. The accompanist he supplies is hopeless, and the whole thing is little better than barefaced robbery. Not a critic in London arrives to hear the recital, of course. The hire of the hall cost perhaps £5, and the printing of the tickets and other expenses would amount to another £2. The rest is the agent’s. There are, of' course, no newspaper reports—although there are agents who •would not scruple, if they wished to get a better hold upon a girl'of means, to supply their own “ cuttings.” Lobdon is a big place, and it is impossible for a newcomer even to be aware of the names of all its newspapers, _ making trickery easy—and there is no fame. Nor is there any redress for this kind of thing, which. goes on almost daily, in one way or another. , If a girl is talented beyond The ordinary—and she... has to be brilliant to get a chance in London—then there are other agents who will help her and do their best to bring her on—at a cost, They make contracts binding her to them, and think nothing of levying a 30 per cent, charge on all her earnings. They say it is necessary to make up for all the failures who pass through their hands and the expense to which they are put to put talent oh the proper track. It is all rubbish. Talent will win even in Loudon—and without shady agents. A good agent is most necessary, but everv Australian singer m London will tell you, if ever you raise the subject of ■ advice to Australian p-irls coming over here, to impress upon them at all costs to be sure of their agents. A good teacher is the best guardian. Girls coming over here, must remember that the ability, the brains, and the talent of the world come to London—and the wealth, too. Unless they are possessed of capital enough to tide them over the period they hope to remain here they would be better advised not to come.