THE MUSIC HALL STRIKE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 61, 13 March 1907, Page 5

THE MUSIC HALL STRIKE.

The recent strike of music-hall performers provided London with a novel sensation. Marie Lloyd, the greatest comedienne of the present generation was, to use her own words, " out of a job." So were Arthur Roberts, the famous comedian, Little Tich, and a host of less" notable performers. A little pleasant feature of the moment waS the readiness with so many "stars" earning huge salaries, and able to dictate their own terms to the managers, threw in their lot with the struggling members of 'tne rank and file, and showed their sympathy in the most-particular-manner possible by joining m the fight. Some twenty music-halls were "barred" by the Theatrical Alliance^ which, comprises the three separate, txmori's of artists, musicians and scene-shifters and mechanics, -ne halls were kept going by amateurs and others, and the artists on strike at once adopted a- policy of " picketing" the halls each night with the object of inducing the " blacklegs" not to perform, In this way they made a convert of, ,Miss Camille Clifford* ofGibson GriJLand ducal fame.. She had promised, io ,contribute to an emergency programme at the Tivoli, but when she drove up shcjvas met by the wife of the chairman, of the Alliance Qommittee, and by the secretary, and, as,the result'"-of their statement of the case for the strikers, Miss Clifford turned and drove off again, amid the cheers of the pickets. It was really a strike for reasonable wages and conditions. The stage workmen asked for 24s a week, and the musicians for 365. The grievances appear to have been well-founded. In addition to giving two shows a night, for the same salary as they used to get for one, they had to-appear at all matinees, in one week at Cardiff, the next at Edinburgh the third at Swansea, and sa on. As the performer had to bear the cost of travelling in each case, this reduced his remuneration considerably. Various ther obnoxious practices were objected to, and as the music-halls have been very prosperous of late, the strikers seem to have been quite - justified ii* their action.