One Thousand Ways to Make Money by Page Fox

CHAPTER XXIV.

MONEY IN AMUSEMENTS. Money in Fun--Salary of a “Star”--A Fortune in “A Parlor Match”--A Pianist Who Got $2,500 a Night--How to Get a Start on the Stage--A New Field for the Amusement Artist--Humor and Hard Cash in Shadowgraphs--What Max O’Rell Earned on the Lecture Platform--Money in the Traveling Show--The Greatest Money Burning in the United States--Fortunes in Fireworks. People who cater to public amusements are so many, their entertainments so diverse and their talents so unequal, that no general statement can be made about the remuneration for this kind of work. There are “stars” at the top who receive from $200 to $1,000 per night, and there are “mediocres,” or worse, at the bottom who barely eke out a living at $7 a week. No one should enter this field unless his talent is equal to his ambition. Here are a few of the prizes taken before the footlights: