Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-01-07
The Row at the Lyceum.

manager of the theatre in New York
which bore the name of "Brougham's
Lyceum." The company included a
number of clever and popular artists,
among whom were Mr.. Brougham
himself, Mr.. w. J. Florence, Mr.. Geo.
Jordan, Mr. Conway, Mary E. Taylor,
Mrs. Vernon, and Mrs. Brougham.-
A continual succession of f-esh, bright
plays followed each other upon the
Lyceum stage, and manager and ac-
tors exerted all their powers to render
these attractive to the public; yet thin
houses and an empty treasury were,
as rule, the barren returns for so
much lavish expenditure. Many were
the ingenious and amusing novelties
which the fertile manager produced
from his own prolific brain, and pre-
sented with every cnticing adjunct
within the scope Of theatrical re-
sources. The most daring and bril-
liant of his inventions might create a
sensation for little time, but the
people were spoiled by the very efforts
made to please them, and capriciously
demanded some new thing on each
occasion that they were called to the
cosy little house Oh Broadway.
At length, to satisfy this require
ment for a perpetual change Of bill,
Mr.. Brougham announced, for the
evening Of the 22d. Of April, 1851, an
original and unique comedy styled
"The Row at the Lyceum." Mr.
Hutton has selected, in his gossipy
volume Of "Plays and Players" the
particulars of this enter alnment, and
from him we reproduce them. The
hints afforded by the cast on the bill
OF the evening i'll question indicated
that "The Secrets of the Green-Room"
were TO be literarily unveiled before
the public, and that in the discussion
Of new and exceedingly blank
verse tragedy by Carlyle, called
"Horror on Horrors Head; or, The
Lion and Slave" the ways of actors
behind the scenes would be- truthtully
presented. The bait took. The prom
lse that the prying curiosity which
loves to peep behind curtains, and Is
common to most minds, was to have
a genuine satisfaction IN the new
drama at the Ly;eum, brought out Il
large audience, and the curtain rose
upon crowded benches.
The opening scene exhibited varl-
GUS members of the company, i'll their
ordinary street attire, assembled III
the green room at a morning rehersal.
The great affair of the hour was the
reading Of the new tragedy by Carl
vie, the distribution Of parts, with
other business proper TO the occasion.
Everything was perfectly natural; the
actors and actresses were, tor once,
themselves, stripped of paint and tin,
sci, and appearing in their own char
acters, under their true names. The
scene was immensely diverting, and
we quote Mr.. Hutton verbatim:
"The audience was thoroughly in
terested and amused at the reuiisn,
of the performance, when, enter Mrs.
b. the scene changes, and The Row
ct the LyccuIn' begins. While she
greets her friends, looks over her part,
objects to her business and lays her
claim to something more in her line,
a stout, middle-aged gentleman, seat
ed in the middle of the pit, clothed
in Quakerish garb, who had hither-
to quietly listened and laughed with
the rest, rises suddenly in his place,
with umbrella clasped firmly in both
hands, and held up on line with his
nose, and, to the astonishment of the
house, calmly and sedately addresses
the stage and the house, i'll words to
this effect: THAT woman looks, tor
all the world, like Clementina. Her
voice is very like, - the form the
same And then with emphasis:
1T is, it is, my wife, At the same
time, leaving his seat in great excite
ment, he rushes forward toward the
footliyhls, and cries wildly and loud
ly, Come off that stage you miserable
woman!
"The house was thrown into imme-
diate confusion by the incident, and
cries from all sides of Shame! shame!'
sit down. Put him outn Police.
were rained down upon the Quaker
maniac, who persiStenlly held his way
toward the stage Meanwhile, up in
the third story, 'red-shirted, soap
locked fireman made himself con-
spicuous 10y entering animatedly into
the scene. In loud voice he called
down to the excited gentleman push
ing after the phantom of bewildered
brain, that, if the young oman on
the stage were touched by Il protane
hand, he would 'lamn' the man who
dared to do it. Moreover he would
not wait to see the brutal deed per-
formed, but would thrash the miSera-
BILE Quaker before he had time to get
out of the pit. And down into the
body OF the house he plunged in hot
haste, to carry his threat into .Xecu-
ton.
"Thc uDroar was now 50 wild that
al proceedings on the stage were
stopped. The ladies in the scene
were trelnulous with alarm; the gen
tlemen tried one after another to still
the noise by frequent appeals to the
house; while Mrs. b., in the utmost
agitation, watched the frantic career
of the intruder vino laid claim to her.
AS this latter extraordinary parsonage
WAS climbing over the orchestra, with
the truculent fireman close at his
heels, couple of policemen seized
both individuals and helped .hem
with rapid movement on to the stage.
Then, with simultaneous impulse,
the company fell into the convention
al semi-circIc fronting the tootlights,
and calmly delivered the epilogue of
'The Row at the Lyceum.' The as
ton; shed audience, by this time, woke
to the funny fact that the active po-
lice were supes belonging to the
theatre; that the rcd-shirted fireman,
with the rowdy air of the Bowry, was
Mr.. w. J. Florence, member of the
company; that the Quaker gentleman
who had provoked all the horrid fuss
was Mr.. Brougham himself; and that
Row at the Lyceum' was a 'premedi-
tated and magnificent sell.