The West Coast Times THURSDAY FEBRUARY 19, 1914. “STRANDED.”

West Coast Times, 19 February 1914, Page 2

The West Coast Times THURSDAY FEBRUARY 19, 1914. “STRANDED.”

Thi: abandonment of the Indian spectacle at Earl's Court, London, was the means of giving the British public a glimpse at the struggles and anxiety of the world of entertainment which lie behind the glamour of the stage, and the large salaries of favourites. The spectacle was to have been produced on December 13th, says an exchange, but was postponed until Boxing Day, owing to objections by the Government, and finally abandoned. The 350 performers who had been engaged for what they believed would be a fairly long run, suddenly found themselves out of work and without any money. Many of them could have got engagements elsewhere had they anticipated the failure of the enterprise. For most of them Christmas and New Ifear, the pantomime season, is the time of the year when they look forward to a good engagement and their plight, coming after several weeks of rehearsal work, for which they were not paid, was pitiable. Food, clothing, and coal were wanted in most cases. The unfortunate people had pawned their belongings against the time when wages would be paid, and when no ages came thjey were qnite destitute. The secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Musicians said he had never seen such distress caused by the failure of a show. “I can go no farther,” wrote one of the stranded performers. “I only wish to end it all. .... Eight weeks back with the rent. , . . . I have pawned everything—boots, antj the la§t thing was fne

small clock for 1». No coal. Just clothing that, covers my wife. The boots I wear ard. falling to pieces and the pair Tpawned for 3s 6d will have to stay. I can’t go any lower.” An artist with a bed-ridden husband dependent upon her, pawned everythin" she possessed, including her wedding ring, to pay her rent. “I have been, with a ‘stranded’l company before,” she said, "but never experienced anything so bad as this property.” As soon as the facts were made known, the public and the profession responded liberally to the a> pe 1 for help, and when the last mail left it seemed as if the immediate necessities of all the people in distress would be relieved. Good may come out of the disaster in the shape of an insistent demand for payment for rehearsals, and an obligation being placed on promoters to guarantee such payment. But what occurred then occurs frequently on a smaller scale among the rank and file of those who provide the public with amusement, and are seldom thought of by the public when the curtain has fallen.