The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-03-23
TERMS 100 PER ANNUMJN Anv.yCn
Stage Accidents.

~. property-man is provided with prop
er.y-p'ot OF each playa prorerty-plot being
a hst Oh the various articles reouired in each
ac'-and 1t is rarely the case that an article
"'.Sing when 1t is required In the action of
.ne piece. Accidents do sometimes happen.
however, remember once hearing a yery
animated discussion behind the scenes of a
Philadelphia theatre, between the stape-mana-
ger anu an actor who had played the part of
'n' governor OF the castle. The curtain
s"oaea nave fallen on the pardon of the hero
" 'ne governor aforesaid In tie present
oase COS. e. hau iaiien on very different end OF
aou., .o,, instead OF pardoning the hero, the
so,..nor - a.n haq ordered him to be dragged off
~ piison! You may imagine the consterna-
.1n vi Tue stage-manager, and the anger with
wn,cn ne assailed the unhappy governor who
..@ nau muddied the piece in this manner.
| ~; Doh DIame me-" cried the actor, shaking
ah,. n,s nands deprecatingly above his head;
.gn.a g,au'e tne property-man. How could | say,
nere, receive your pardonP when there
wasn't the least mite Of a pardon any where
| roahd! 1t ought to have been there on the
table u wasn't, and got out Of it the best
way could, by saying, Away with him to
the dungeon 1T wasn't my fault"
Inc missing pardon, a huge sheet OF fools.
cap with formidable seal affixed, was fonnd
quietly hanging in the propertg-roon''
10 give blank letter tor yr;so1n yor;osaa que Is
the actor eyncct;nn ,se letter to be written
for him, has. 1robaf omitted to commit it to
mamory-7n --eplay OF a master, 10 1mpfU-
u;ss"S Impossible, while in play Of mino-
adaracter, such as French translation or a
hurrie dramatization of a current novel, 1t
ie NOT at nj in,poeeiha that tho actor ia rttar-
ly ignorant of the plot of the play, and there
fore could not imprcvise the letter If he
would. The usual refuge in this case is TO
lookwise at the blank page, mutter, "Um-
UNITS wei p and turn up the stage-this
being the commonly accepted stage idea of
what people do when they read letters. How
they are supposed to write them may be seen
nightly at theatres, where actors ga!lop over
the page with an uncut quill at rate which
would amaze first class short
hand reporter. Other mistakes of
the property-man cause Juliet to swallow
her thumb ir default of the sleeping portion,
noble Romans to stab themselves with their
manuscript parts, tightly rolled, because the
more convenient and certainly more realistic
dagger has been forgotten. while the number
of people who have been shot to death by
muskets that wouldn't go off may be counted
by thousands. 1t is the property-man's duty
to keep the firearms in order, and to load
them when they are to be used on the stage,
An early recollection is a military drama play
| ed at the old Bowery Theatre several years
| ago. in which there was a man clad in an i'll
| fitting and much-soiled Continental costume,
who spurred bony and(so to speak)expostu-
lating horse up wooden inclined plane called
a run" and who, on arriving at the summit.
near the flies, drew two enormous pistols, and
shouting, Sand GiEral Isryl Putnam wins
the dayp pulled the triggers and produced
two ridiculous flashes in the pan. that brought
the curtain down amidst roars of laughter.
A careful property-man keeps bis ramrod
attached by a cord to the wall, so that be nay
not by mistake leave il in a gun-barrei aftei
loading the weapon. Accidents have arisau
from neglect of this precaution, and also
from the improper or careless loading of weap-
ons, as was the case short time since in
Washington, where a young man was shot
and killed on the stage of variety theatre by
a too-beavy wadding, which entered his head
from the gun of a horrified comrade. Paper
wads are very dangerous; among the other
accidents possible through them is that oftheir
setting fire to the scenery; hence in well-reg.
ulated theatres special wadding is used
made of hair, and which will not communi
| cate fire to surrounding objects.-From "Th'
Secret Regions OF the Stage by Olive Lo
GAN, in Harper's Magazine for april.