The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-07-05
SLIPS on THE STAGE.
"eAasD AND 'LAPsI LINGUI."

ssrIed character, yet all of more or less i'm
oortance. They have excited laughter, sur
oTise Indignation, and they have occasionally
Conferred Immortality on actors who would not
otherwise have belonged, at least permanently,
10 fame,
The legends that so pleasantly connect Shake
uneare with Queen Elizabeth are not all perhaps
~ he taken TO the letter; but there can be no
doubt that they are founded on broad basis of
truth, There is one which narrates how the
Oueen when Shakespeare wassOnce acting in
her nresence. endeavored to put him at pleasant
Derblexity between bis sense of stage discipline
and that of his loyal gallantry. After many a
vain attempt we are told that Ellzaoeth, cross
ing the counterfeit presentment of king, aud
engaged in royal work, dropped her glove.
shakespeare, without departing from the char
aCter he was illustrating, interpolated the
original text with words to suit the action of
his homage. He paused in professional move
nent of which he made part, exclaiming:-
"And though now bent on this l, high embassy,
Yet stoop we TO pick up our cousins glove"
and rendering it to her with a profound bow,
proudly strobe off the STAGE thus;-proves that
Elizabeth did succeed in detaching the actor from
the part which he was representing. This story,
however indicates how intimate the connection
was then between the stage and court.
Some slips on the old stage brought the often.
ders to great grief For example, Pepys makes
record OF having gone to see ALPs Lost by Lust
in which the musical effects had been so i'll re-
hearsed that singers and orchestra we're all at
Odds and universal discord reigned. One vocal
lad was so out of tune and memory that his
''master"-which may imply either the stage
manager or the leader OF the band-'fell about
his ears, and beat him so that 1t put the whole
house IN an upr0ar."
Now and then instances have occurred in
which the mispronunciation of word has given
il meaning so incongruous as to cover the
actor, who had been involuntarily guilty ofit
with confusion. Audiences, or rather portions
of audiences, not Overburdened with refine
ment have generally hailed these awkward slips
with uproarlous hilarity; the other portion has
remained dscreetly silent, as if 1t had lacked
ears whereby to receive ofense, or tongues to
resent it. Downes, the old prompter OF Charles
II's days. has recorded one Of these mlsfortunes.
1t occurred to a lady, Mistress Holden, kins-
woman of the great Betterton. She was play
ing IN Romeo and Juliet, when a fatal word fell
unintentionally from her lips; and as she hap
pened ct the moment to give it vehement
action says Downes, 'it put the house into
such laughter that London bridge at low water
was silence to it.n Charles Kemble once slipped
in a like direction; but the most amusing
instance OF an error committed by him
against text and author was when he was once
playing 'Shylock,n and instead of asking,
"Shall lay perjury upon my soulY" overturned
the text by eXclaiming, "Shall lay surgery
upon my poll |" A better known story is that
of the soldier who levels his halberd to prevent
"Richardn from impeding the progress of
''Henry's" funeral, with the remark, "My lord,
stand back, and let the coffin pass ~ exclaim, in
his hurry and confusion, "My lord, stand back,
and let the parson coughln Such mistake,
however, has many parallel. On the French
stage young actor having to shout, "Sonnez
trompettes !" knocked all the majesty out OF the
command by, his shout Of "Trompez, SON
nettes !" And, indeed, the French stage can
furnish parallel to the story of the error Of
Mrs. Holden which made a full house so hila-
rious. The story is told in the correspondence
of the Princess Palatine, under the date of l7l9
She was then at Dunkirk, where the players
acted in the presence of the court. One of them,
performing "Mithrdates," happened, by un-
lucky change of letter, to address to ''Monime'
haf ed in hn utt
ance. The unlucky actor, in his confusion, made
matters worse by turning to the royal box, in
which the Dauphiness was the most conspicuous
parsonage, and saying with great contritlon,
MADAME, l most humbly ask your pardon; my
tongue unwIttingly tripped me up!" The
Dauphin was so tickled by this incident that he
not only fell into an uncomfortable fit of laugh
ter, but fell backwards from his seat. To save
himself he grasped at the cord which kept the
curtain up, and the curtain coming down by the
run, struck against the lamps, and caught fire.
The flames were Immediately extinguished, but
the curtain could not be raised, and the play
was acted out, the audience looking at the per-
formers through the gap caused by the fire.
One OF the pleasantest incidents of the French
court stage, however, occurred when the En-.
peror Napoleon jokngly Kissed the Empress
Josephine, who was acting little operatic part
in the theatre in the palace of ST. Cloud. She
demurely stepped forward and remarked that
any one of the audience who was dissatisfied
with the performance might retire, and have his
money returned to him at the doors. The con-
There are other slips on the stage than those
made by words. AT the beginning of the last
century, on the French stage, the slipping of
Barton's garter led to traditional action OBJ.
served In the part OF every succeeding player;
and the other night only, at the Varieties, the
slipping of Mad'lle Chaumont's pettcoat pro-
duced an amusing unrehearsed effect. In the
trst case the great French actor was per-
forming the Earl of Essex,n and his garter
slipped from below his knee, in the scene
where only he and the traitor "Ceciln were
on the stage. Such parsonage 'Essexn might
treat with indifference or contempt: and
accordingly he replaced the dropped band
round his leg, while he continued to address
"Cecil" IN q disdainfultone. The effect was SO
successful that succeeding actors adonted
the incident of affecting to tighten the garter
as good bit of business" and the tradition
continued to be observed as long as lie Conlte
@ESSeS continued to be acted. Mad'lle Chau-
monts slip was OF another character, II
taxed her readiness in an emergency and
dld not ma her wanting. She was play.
ing a sottbTette in Nos Gems and was en-.
gagged running to and fro to collect and
burn the presents of various old lovers. In
the very middle of her action she Uas in,
peded by her petticoat suddenly falling about
her feet. OF course 1t vas a yerv nrnffy
article Of its sort, and she got out Of Il an2
of the embarrassment which had come witt
It. by describing It as tribute of admiration
from one of her old admirers, which must b,
sacrificed like all the rest; and she thrust
into the stage fire accordingly, with merr
laugh, and amid the general hilarity of tn
The Baron mentioned above was one of tn
greatest actors of his time; but when he gre
Gid the cruel French audiences of the periot
forgetting his past greatness, began 70 insu insu
INN and as he was one night playing Nero, the
-, biaaad him The aged monarch of ii