The Stage as an Antidote to 'Society Scandals'
When asked why she continued working despite her wealth, the famed actress Lotta Crabtree warned that women who lacked professional 'outlets' were prone to depression and mischief.
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“I wouldn't leave the stage now,” said Lotta to a friend who asked why she, a wealthy woman, continued in the arduous profession. “It seems to me that occupation is necessary to happiness. I know that when I am off during my vacation I get fits of depression which are almost suicidal. I have grown so used to being busy that I should feel like Othello when he bade farewell to the pomp of war. I am a great believer in work, anyway. I know there wouldn't be so many unhappy, discontented women nor so many society scandals if ladies would try to find some occupation for themselves. What can you expect but mischief when they sit around idly day after day reading novels and loafing? Any woman with a bit of life in her must work it off in some way. No healthy human being can live without some outlet for his animal spirits. A man can do anything from speculating on the board to fishing. Now, I let off my superabundance of spirits on the stage. Where could you find a better outlet? I was born with high spirits and I suppose I shall have them till I die, and the stage is the outlet I want. If I were to settle down quietly at home I believe I should go gray. There isn't enough exercise in that sort of life.”
“What can you expect but mischief when they sit around idly day after day reading novels and loafing?”
Lotta’s 1891 defense of women’s right to work and maintain 'animal spirits' beyond the domestic sphere reflects the same tension found in today's discourse on labor, mental health, and the societal pressures that lead to professional burnout or 'mischief.' Her critique of the 'idle' lifestyle as a breeding ground for discontent mirrors modern arguments about the importance of vocational fulfillment.
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