Work and Win #07: Fred Fearnot as Actor — page 31: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A hat ee ee eee phi Jt. Oe Be oO _—*> Ts Mee e manager that Gussie’s salary should be raised. id he: «She is worth every cent of fifty dollars a week.” T can’t afford to give it,” said Hammond. / * Yes, you can,”’ insisted Fred. ‘‘ You never played to better houses in your life.”’ _ *Tll give her forty,”’ replied Hammond. * All right, take ten dollars off my salary and put it on to hers. There’s nothing mean about me if there is about yéu.”’ Hammond turned red in the face, but he knew that fred was a fighter from way back, and furthermore, shat his success depended entirely upon his and ‘Terry’s presence on the boards. — You seem to be interested in the girl,’’ the man- ager remarked. ~“Tam,”’ replied Fred, “but not as you probably think. i’m not in love with her, or with any other girl. But she is the most painstaking of the four girls, has a sick mother to support. and hasn’t the ‘mack of jooking out for herself, as the others have. That’s the extent of my interest inher. I know that she is a good girl, one whom I wouldn’t be ashamed to own asa sister.” | ° Qh, yes; she’s all right,’? assented Hammond. Tl pay her the fifty dollars a week.”’ — Oh, you can take ten dollars a week off from my ‘salary and put it on to hers, if you like.” “No. I won’t do that.’’ “All right, then. I’m going to tell the little girl about it, for it will make her very happy;’’ and ¥orthwith he went in search of Gussie, but learned ; that she was up in her room. Ki He quietly wrote a little note, telling her theynews x ‘and sent it up to her. He was right. It did make her happy, and that _ evening she played as never before in her life. _ The engagement at St. Paul was an exceedingly _ prosperous one, and Hammond cleared over two thou- sand dollars a week. He would have extended it, but _ other managers had engaged the theater, so he went back to Minneapolis for another week, and there layed to full houses again. All the time Fred kept growing in popularity as an } actor, until he could have procured engagements for _ fifty dollars a night, froma dozen different managers. From Minneapolis the company went to Omaha, _ where they played a week to full houses. Hammond ignored the country towns altogether, and engaged theaters by the week in the larger cities, ¥ knowing that Fred, Terry and the two plays would » draw full houses. From Omaha they madea long jump to Kansas City, where they had a two weeks’ Jengagement. On the way there the engine was de- failed and a smashup was the result, killing three people and wounding nearly a score of others. Fred Pi t 2 Ci as Leary to look after Gussie. By dint of hard FRED FEARNOT y managed | to eee out with the two gis in | the following night. 29 a ae eT AS AN ACTOR. Aree? ee time to save them from being burned to death in the wrecked car. It seemed that the car took fire from the oil of the lamp by which it was lighted. The cynic and Sam Innes were pretty badly hurt, whilst Hammond, the manager, had an arm and a leg broken. It was thought he would die before assistance could reach him. : “Great Scott, boys!’ Fred exclaimed, “this is awful! Neither Mrs. Hammond nor any of the girls are hurt, but the old man, Sam and the cynic are knocked out.”’ It was a bright moonlight night, and the wounded had to le on the ground two hours before a relief train could reach them. They were taken on to Kan- sas City, where the wounded were taken to a hos- pital, and the other members of the company went to a cheap hotel, where quarters had been engaged for them. “Say, Fearnot, what are we to do?”’ Frank Gale asked of Fred. ‘*‘ The old man isin the hospital; Sam and the cynic are badly hurt, and the manager’s wife can’t leave him to run the show.’’ ‘‘Hanged if I know what we are to do,”’ Fred re- plied. ‘‘It looks to me like a bust up.”’ ‘‘Suppose you go and see Mrs. Hammond,” Gale suggested. *« All right, I will;’? and he and Terry went to the hospital and found the manager’s wife completely broken up. The surgeons had told her that the chances were against her husband’s recovery. Of course she couldn’t leave him, or give any attention whatever to the business. ‘What must we do, then ?’”’ Fred asked her. “‘Tguess you'll all have to look out for. other en- gagements. If you can take the theater yourselves and run it during the lease, you can do so, provided my husband is released from all responsibility in the matter.” Fred returned to the hotel and told them what she had said, and they decided that if they could get the places of the two actors who were hurt in the wreck filled by competent actors they might go on with it, provided the owner of the Opera House would agree to it. Hammond had put up a forfeit when he signed the lease of the Opera House and that would be lost unless the performances were given, but as he was now out of it the proprietor required a deposit of three hundred dollars before he would let them begin. That left them in despair until Fred offered to put up the money on condition that he be elected manager for the time being. They very promptly complied with his condition and the play went on as though. « nothing had happened. Two stranded actors in th an city were found who filled the places of the cynic aul fine Sam Innes quite acceptably. The house was not full at the first performance, as Sig the fame of the company: had not extended so far, bi M7 the papers the next morning gave such lively ace counts of the performance, the house was jammed on The preeoy panel store) yore 3 “S'GOm