THE STAGE AS A CAREER FOR GIRLS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXIX, Issue 93, 22 April 1895, Page 4

THE STAGE AS A CAREER FOR GIRLS.

0 Writing in the Queen ou this subject, Mr Oleraeut Scott, tho well-kuowu theatrical critic ai.d dramatic author, rays — " If you ask mo if I sh uld recommend tbe stago as a profession aud a career (or tho ordiuary and ambitious amateur, I should reply .No! very decidedly, uc. By uinatiur, I mean a girl whoso parcuts have nothing. »Dd nevtr had anything, to do with the stage, The children of aetois aud actresses nre exceptions. They may b^l ft Bafoly to follow thoir own inclination 0 , which, in nine cases out of ten, directs them toihe stage. Thoy have lived in the atrnosphoro ot tho theatre all their live*. Thoy have been, as Kobertßononco observed, 'nursed on rose-pink and oradled in properties.' They never come to any harm Honestly I would not recommend itny stagc-sfciuck pill to follow hi r inclination, and to refuse to listen to the dull voicool experieLCe, for two reasons— fiis', a OJffirrmreial ivud practioal one; bocou-1, ft socLl aud poieounl. First, then, tlw stage is alreudy over-crowded with novices. It 13 not tbo laud ot promise ftawing with milk aud honey that it is represented tobo. Actretsas of great expci iei.ee, aud of admitted talent, aro at this moment breaking their hearts for want of employmuut, Uomcuiuov what a cruel profession tho stago is, Tho vei y inßtaut a girl 10-63 her good looks, or that with ripeued vspurieuco comes advaucing a«r, the actress is virtually put on tho shelf. Tbo greedy i uilic, o j tho who!f , prefers beauty to iutollect. iho lovely braitleEß woman gets a bettor chance than 01.0 who is bumming ovev with t.leiit, but, alas, is gettiug passee. T'ho stage aud tuo eigarelta bos, tho pholo. giapher and the bill-, oster, ooinpeto lor the pnf jeeioual beauty, aud didctly one of thoso woll-advcriistd beauties uaos the stage as tbo boldest and biygest adver? tuemeutof all, then thecompeteut, clever aitist who could act her rival's huud oil' is thniirt out of tho way. . . . Hero J approach tho social tide of tho question, t know J am treading ou dnugcrous grouud, but 1 am tkaiii;; ou thin ie . But I cannot help it, In theso days of progress aud advance, and women's rights, and giris' independence, I ebnll bo told 'Any good girl ci»n take c.iro ot herfoil'; 'Sho does not rtquiru tafoguaidiug if she has been properly brought ap ; ' II the can be tiustcd to go to business, or to act as a nurßP, or to tak'j up any ci the professions, sho cau bo tiusted ou ihc stage.' Cau she? Well, all I cau say is that there is no profession in wbich sho is exposed to Buch iusiduous and hidden dangers as tho prolessiou of the stagp.' 1