Hughes and philanthropy — Actors’ Fund of America

The latest in an occasional series of posts about Charles Evans and Antoinette Hughes and philanthropy.

Being a star on stage in the early 20th century had its glamour and glory, but not necessarily its financial security.

“Large salaries are very rare, and the frequent shortness of a theatrical engagement makes even such salaries average quite small,” Goodwin’s Weekly editorialized on June 17, 1916, urging support for Actors’ Fund of America, a charity that assisted elderly and disabled actors and actresses, including operating a nursing home where former actors and actresses could live free of charge. “The business is precarious, not alone financially but mentally and physically.”

Between its founding in 1862 and 1915 the charity had provided $1.5 million of assistance.

Charles Evans Hughes was among those who helped to restore the charity to solvency on Actors’ Memorial Day in 1919.

“A national sponsorship of dramatic art through the Actors’ Fund of America was assured when Charles Evans Hughes and other distinguished guests pledged their ‘constant interest and support’ to the movement,” the Evening Public Ledger of Philadelphia reported on Dec. 15, 1919.

Actors’ Memorial Day benefit performances were held at theaters throughout the nation to recognize the part the theater community played in boosting patriotic spirit during World War I.

“The big idea is this: It is desirable to commemorate the fine war work done by the American stage and at the same time to put the fund upon a basis enabling it to carry out its charities and philanthropy without embarrassment,” said Collector of Internal Revenue William “Big Bill” Edwards, chairman of the greater New York effort, in a July 21, 1919 report in The New York Sun. “Because of the demands made upon it by needy members of the profession the fund is almost depleted.”

Click here to read the most recent previous post in the series.