Did an actor on a benefit night advertise any new songs,
glees, or other musical performance--Colman was prompt to demand a fee
of L2 2s. for every separate production. Occasional addresses,
prologues, and epilogues, were all rated as distinct stage plays, and
the customary fees insisted upon. One actor, long famous as "Little
Knight," so far defeated this systematic extortion that he strung
together a long list of songs, recitations, imitations, &c., which he
wished to have performed at his benefit with any nonsense of dialogue
that came into his head, and so sent them to be licensed as one piece.
They were licensed accordingly; the dialogue was all omitted, and the
ingenious actor aided his benefit by saving L8 8s. or L10 10s., which
would otherwise have found their way into the pocket of the Examiner.
When the French plays were performed in London, in 1829, Colman
insisted that a fee must be paid for every vaudeville or other light
piece of that class produced. As some three or four of such works were
presented every night--the same plays being rarely repeated--it was
computed that the Examiner's fees amounted upon an average to L6 6s.
Pages:
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102