ACTRESSES AS WORKING WOMEN marriage and finances gave them the option of retiring They could publicly proclaim the rewards of an artistic bohemian life They could advocate a bridge between conventional domestic felicity and careerism The actress biographies regularly featured in the Era, Stage, and Graphic frequently tell a rags-to-prosperity story of hard work, talent, and beauty However much the upper echelons of society resented and resisted actresses’ success, the transversal of social class and apparent obedience to conventional womanly roles was consistently fascinating for general and theatrical readers The surplus of women, breakdown of family management trusts, and relaxation of social strictures combined in the latter half of the century to cause a change in the social background of at least some newcomers to the profession More came from non-theatrical backgrounds, particularly the middle classes, where concerns about respectability and female chastity were obsessive Middle-class women, by virtue of their upbringing and social environment, were presumed to be chaste at the time of their entry to the stage Surrendering unmarried daughters to the co-sexual profession of acting (knowing its reputation) was traumatic for parents, especially as chastity was regarded as a prerequisite for female marriage, and marriage (rather than any trade) was regarded as the female livelihood For the middle classes, an acting career was a version of The Fall from virtue Daughters were forced to hide their dramatic inclinations from their families, and in many cases to sever all familial connections when they embarked on an acting career The account of this woman, who enjoyed playing in an amateur theatrical club before she turned to a professional career early in the century, is typical: My father’s aversion to all dramatic entertainments was very violent… Should he discover my connexion with them, his anger, I knew, would be inexorable, and this dreaded and inevitable discovery was at length made One night I imprudently acted in both play and farce, and did not, consequently, reach home until a very late hour I knocked timidly at the door, and was dreadfully alarmed on its being opened by my father His face was pale with rage, and, in spite of my dear mother’s tearful entreaties, he thrust me from the door, and locked it upon me, leaving me, long after midnight, alone and unprotected in the street My distress was fearful, and my situation shocking I, a young girl scarcely seventeen years of age, a wanderer and a stranger in the then badly lighted, 72