ACTRESSES AS WORKING WOMEN The position of typists and chorus-girls is similar in the need of both for wages largely in excess of the sum necessary for food and shelter and clothing The wages of typists who have no special commercial training or knowledge of foreign languages vary from 7s 6d to £1 10s a week; but in all cases they must dress like respectable middle-class girls The chorusgirl or beginner on the stage cannot earn more than £2 2s or £3 3s a week; but she must present an appearance of physical wellbeing and must wear ‘smart’ striking clothes.89 With the addition of travelling expenses, personal accessories, stationery, and postage, the actress’s advantage was soon whittled away For an actor earning £67 10s., Daisy Halling and Charles Lister calculated an average yearly expenditure: Lodgings Washing Wardrobe Newspapers and Tobacco TOTAL £13 10 £33 0s 0 4s Actresses would not have as high an expenditure for the last item, but would have had higher outlay on wardrobe.90 The difference between £67 10s and £33 4s would disappear on insurance premiums, incidental travel expenses, and food, while the rest was laid by for the inevitable periods of unemployment The result for most actresses was an average yearly wage considerably less than that of lower-middle-class working women Comparing Halling and Lister’s clothing allowance of about £15 and Clara Collet’s statistics on the incomes and expenditures of educated working women, it becomes clear that actresses dressed no better than school mistresses who expended between £10 and £16 a year on wardrobe (out of £100 to £130 salaries), and considerably worse than a female clerk who spent £41 and a journalist who spent £42 on clothing (out of £227 and £338 salaries).91 The education needed for any of these jobs was comparable A few actresses could make a great deal more than teachers, clerks, and journalists, but most made a great deal less in real terms While adult theatrical wage rates were usually lower than those for comparably educated and experienced women from the middle and lower-middle classes, children gained a considerable financial 32