(a) The monologue is usually sold outright.  The performer nearly always will tell you—­with no small degree of truth—­that the monologist makes the monologue, not the monologue the monologist.  Many a monologue has sold for five dollars, and the purchaser been “stung” at that price.  But very rarely is a monologue bought outright in manuscript—­that is, before a try-out.  A monologue must prove itself “there,” before a monologist will pay any more than a small advance for the exclusive privilege of trying it out.

If the monologue proves itself, an outright offer will be made by the performer.  While there are no “regular rates,” from two hundred and fifty dollars to seven hundred dollars may be considered as suggestive of the market value of the average successful monologue.

In addition to this, the monologist usually retains the author to write new points and gags for him each week that he works.  This, of course, increases the return from a monologue, and insures the writer a small weekly income.

In very rare cases monologues are so good and, therefore, so valuable that authors can retain the ownership and rent them out for a weekly royalty.  In such a case, of course, the author engages himself to keep the material up to the minute without extra compensation.  But such monologues are so rare they can be counted on the fingers of one hand.  There is little doubt that “The German Senator” is one of the most valuable monologue properties—­if it does not stand in a class by itself—­that has ever been written.  For many years it has returned to Aaron Hoffman a royalty of $100 a week, thirty and forty weeks in the year.  This may be considered the record price for a monologue.

(b) The vaudeville two-act varies in price as greatly as the monologue.  Like the monologue, it is usually sold outright.  The performers use precisely the same argument about the two-act that is used about the monologue.  It is maintained that the material itself is not to be compared with the importance of its presentation.  When a two-act has been tried out and found “there,” the performers or the producer will offer a price for it.

The same rule, that vaudeville material is worth only as much as it will bring, applies to the two-act.  From two hundred and fifty dollars to whatever you can get, may be considered suggestive of two-act prices.  Although more two-acts have sold outright for less than three hundred dollars than have sold above five hundred dollars, a successful two-act may be made to yield a far greater return if a royalty arrangement is secured.

Whether it is a two-act, or any other vaudeville act, the royalty asking price is ten per cent of the weekly salary.  This rate is difficult to enforce, and while five per cent is nearer the average, the producer would rather pay a definite fixed figure each week, than a percentage that must be reckoned on what may be a varying salary.  Usually a compromise of a flat amount per playing week is made when a royalty is agreed on.