The world of entertainment

Throughout history, man has demanded entertainment. Greek tragedy and comedy were an
important feature of ancient soceity, staged in impressive open-air amphitheaters. The
troubadour and 'strolling players' of mediaeval times were welcomed in hall and cottage alike,
and the shadow and puppet plays of the East, even today, can draw crowds of village spectators.
Thus, it has been, and always will be in every country in the world.
'Entertainment' implies non-participation by the audience. A football match may be
entertainment to the spectators, but it is sport to the players, and when we think of entertainment,
we must exclude, 'activities' such as indoor games, card playing, dice, tenpin bowling, even
amateur theatricals, because the point of all these is that we are providing our own amusement.
To be 'entertained', we must be content to look, and to listen.

Modern entertainment has become a highly organized business, and in most modern countries, is
available in bewildering variety. In a big city every conceivable taste can be met, from cabaret to
ballet, from radio and television to the opera and the circus, from the 'straight' theatre to the 'Pop
Ground', from the cinema to the variety show, and from the comedian to the symphony concert.
And where different races. live side by side, as in Singapore, to these may be added the
traditional performances of the Chinese, Indians and Malays.

And what an attractive world this is - especially to young people! There is a glamour and glitter
about it all which makes it irresistible. The prominent 'stars', especially, the 'pop' stars, of today
become the idols of the adolescents, who imitate their clothes, habits and hair-styles, and dream
of becoming famous and wealthy themselves, Generally, this remains a dream, and the humdrum
business of ordinary living has to be got on with. But there are examples of talented youngsters
being 'spotted' by promoters and turned into famous, wealthy personalities almost overnight, so
young people go on dreaming.

Among them, there are a few who, having talent, try to break into the world of entertainment
and, of these, a small minority succeeds. The truth is that bitter disappointment awaits the
majority of young hopefuls, yet some carry on, and among them are the few who, not only
possess talent, but who also have the good luck to be 'spotted'. But even this is not the end of the
story. The real problem is not to 'break into' entertainment, but to keep your place in it, and this
means not only a good basic training, but also having the originality to produce more and more
new material. The television is an insatiable 'gobbler' of scripts as writers find to their cost and
no comedian can afford to put over the same jokes twice. The crux of the matter is that some
achieve instant success, and to be sure f a sustained, permanent place in the world of
entertainment demands a training, whether in the drama or ballet school, or in the music
academy, or with a professional script-writing team. There are no short cuts for the professional.
For this reason, many professional entertainers are disgusted by the enormous sums paid to
relatively untrained 'pop-groups' - but, of course, the majority of these die a swift natural death,
their members returning to the humdrum jobs from which they came. Another source of anger to
the professional is the inequality of reward, which is related to the popularity of the actor and not
to the degree of training and skill which lies behind it. A musician in an orchestra will receive a
small, if steady wage; a pop-group guitarist perhaps a hundred times as much; a trained stage
actor will be paid far less than a more glamorous, but far less gifted cinema star.

Thinking of the average professional in the world of entertainment, one marvels that he is
prepared to go on at all; his conditions are such that nobody without a vocation for entertainment
would ever consider his life at all. At times, he will be working, and quite well-paid, but there
will be other times when he is 'resting' i.e. out of work, and then he may hardly be able to buy
food and shelter. Moreover, when he is in funds, he will be helping his less fortunate colleagues;
the theatricals are a generous race. Eventually, age will catch up with him, but, he cannot expect
a pension. Those who make a lot of money tend to spend it, and few are able to live in affluence
after retirement.

Furthermore, the professional entertainer is exposed to many moral temptations from which most
of us are spared, and he has to be of strong fibre, if he (or she) is to be free from the corrupting
influence of some of their colleagues.

Beneath the glitter and the glamour lies hardship and heartbreak for the majority. The promoters,
the managers and the impresarios are never poor men, and the entertainer becomes pathetically
dependent on them -- especially when his public image is fading. But despite all this, we still
have the professionals and always shall -- because the world of entertainment has an eternal,
irresistible glamour. 'The show must go on !'