Benefit performance

Instead of offering short term contracts, theater companies began to pay actors based on the length of their play's run, which was determined by ticket sales.

This allowed managers to pay actors higher salaries so long as plays were profitable.

In its modern usage, a benefit performance almost exclusively refers to a fund-raising event.

An early example of this is the Disney film Orphan's Benefit (1934) in which Mickey Mouse and his friends put on a free show for a local orphanage.

Later in the 20th century, the United Service Organizations (USO) became well known for providing live entertainment to troops overseas to raise morale.