The Ghost Walks - Theatre Etymology - Part 24

"The Ghost Walks" sounds like it is an eerie phrase meant for Halloween. After all, there is a 1924 mystery movie called The Ghost Walks and there is the super hero, The Phantom, who is known as The Ghost Who Walks. However, neither of these have to do with the phrase, either. "The Ghost Walks" is a phrase meaning that salaries will be paid.

Being that a ghost has nothing to do with money, the phrase seems strange. The first time any type of instance of the phrase seems to be found in print is from the Sunday, May 29, 1831 edition of London's The Atlas. A General Newspaper and Journal of Literature in a section known as "Theatrical News." It stated,

On Saturday the actors at Drury Lane were struck with horror to find that no "ghost walked;" that is, that the treasury was shut. It appears that 800l. were wanted by the treasurer. Captain Polhill would pay down no more than 400l., according to the terms of his agreement with Mr. Lee. This led to a secession on the part of the latter gentleman from the concerns of the theatre. The deed of separation was regularly drawn up and signed, the partnership dissolved, and Captain Polhill remains sole manager of Drury Lane. There were various accounts of the supposed cause of this disagreemnt, and it was said that the rival queens of Drury had, as in days of yore, by their contentions, frightened Alexander from the throne. The cause we have stated first, however, a mere matter of business, is the real one.

It appeared again in 1833 in Nine Years of an Actor's Life when R. Dyer wrote, "If I played with applause, it was a matter of indifference whether the ghost walked on Saturday or not." It then appeared in the September 24, 1835 edition of Household Words when it was printed in the text, "When no salaries are forthcoming on Saturday the 'ghost doesn't walk.'"

The next time the phrase appeared in print was in the June 24, 1883 edition of Referee when it said, "An Actor's Benevolent Fund box placed on the treasurer's desk every day when the ghost walks would get many an odd shilling of six-pence put into it." It then appeared in the 1889 Edinburgh edition of A dictionary of slang, jargon and cant: embracing English, American, and Anglo-Indian slang, pidgin English, tinkers' jargon and other irregular phraseology when Albert Barrere and Charles Godfrey defined it as follows:

Ghost walking (theatrical), a term originally applied by an impecunious stroller in a sharing company to the operation of "holding the treasury," or paying the salaries, which has become a stock facetiae amongst all kinds and descriptions of actors. Instead of inquiring whether the treasury is open, they usualy say -- "Has the ghost walked?" or "What! has this thing appeared again?" (Shakespeare).
[undated quotation]
(Commercial), in large firms, when the clerk whose duty it is goes round the various departments paying wages, it is common to say the ghost walks.

It seems that the phrase has also moved to being used in the military. However, there has only been a short part that has mentioned that it is a reference to Shakespeare. There is not any certainty to the story, but it is repeated in many places and is the likely origin even though it can only be considered folk etymology.

It is thought that a strolling (touring) group of actors was performing Hamlet and that they had not been paid for about a month. The actor who was playing the ghots of King Hamlet (who may have been the manager of the company or at least a person who handled the money for it), when the actor playing Hamlet said the line found in Act I, Scene 2 that goes, "I will watch tonight. Perchance 'Twill walk again." responded with "No, I'm damned if the Ghost walks any more until our salaries are paid." Some sources are more gentle and put" d---d" rather than "damned."

Other sources give a slighty different account of the actor's reply. These include:

• "No, I'll be damned if the Ghost walks again until our salaries are paid."
• No! The Ghost walks no more until our salaries are paid!"

Some sources say that the actors were paid that night. Others do leave the story without knowing if the actors were paid or not.

The word ghost comes from the Middle Engish word goost or the Old English word gāst. These can be comparted to the German word Geist meaning spirit. The word walk comes from the Middle Engish word walken or the Old Engish word wealcan meaning to roll or toss or possibly the Old English word gewealcan meaning to go. These can be compared to the Dutch and German world walken meaning to fully cloth, the Old Norse Word Old Norse word vālka meanng to toss.

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