The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-06-10
FADED STAGE PROPERTIES.
Presided over by a Skeleton.

| A San reporter stumbled into a curious
| room, scattered around which were faded
velvet and silken costumes in such profu-
sion and variety that one might suppose
all the Hantets Mac6eths, Ophelsas, and
Paalaaes had been selling their cast off
clothing to the little old man who, sitting
in the midst in chair that looked as
though it has been handed down from the
Middle Ages, rested his arm on table OF
the Renaissance period On another table
were goblets and platters of gilded wood.
Mirrors in gaudy frames, borders, and
chandeliers were suspended from the walls
and ceilings, a skeleton stood in little
secondhand box Office in one corner and
three or four skulls were grinning from a
managing shelf An old drop curtain was
rolled up on the floor, row of foot1ights
rested on the surbase, wings of a
/ forest scene and castle dungeon We're
leaning against the walls, and
/ an old orchestral railing was
used as sort of office partition. Ev-
erything about the place had an old look,
and even the voice of the little old man
| who sat in the twilight gloom sounded old
worn out and secondhand, like his stock
in trade,
| I've been in this business about fifteen
years, he said, 'but I'd had good deal
of experience in the theatrical line for
some time before l started at this trade. I
was a scene shifter. 1t saved me heap
| of trouble when / begun here, for I'd got
| kind o. familiar with the value of things,
and didn't get stuck on prices like a
greenhorn. Do you see them things around
here? Why, there isn't one of them | can't
get rid of at double the price paid for it.
There's lots of people that want second
| hand theatrical goods A good many buy
or hire costumes from me for fancy dress
balls and parties, and have calls from am
ateurs who want to get an outfit for private
theatricals. But my best business is done
with the little strolling companies that go
all over the country performing in villages
and towns that are off the route of the big
| troupes. Sometimes they're only part of
a circus or variety show, but generally
they're separate companies. Most of the
time they're on the road, and it isn't often
they get into town-rarely more than once
or twice year-but when they do, they
want some traps, and as they don't make
much money they get 'em second
hand Sometimes when bushes Is
bad, they go to pieces, and then I buy
up all their effects, SO that often | get back
things that I sold years ago, Occasionally
if these troupes run across each other on
the road, they'll buy or swap properties,
and by the time the traps get back into my
hands again they may have done service in
five or six companies.
ssNow [ shouldn't wonder" he contiu-
ued, taking yellow skull off the banking
shelf, aud throwing himself into the appro-
pirate attitude-sI shouldn't wonder If a
| dozen or more Hamlets had said Alas poor
Yorick,' over this here skull. Almost
everybody, you know, thinks he can play
IIamtet, and now they tell me even women
are getting the Hamlet craze. See that
| black costume there? That's for Hamlet.
That pea green dress is for Ophe5ta when
she's mad, and that helmet there is for the
Ghost When I first got it, it looked like
the helmet of Prussian soldier, but | fix
/ ed it up, and now it's quite the thing. The
last Ghost that had it liked it SO much that
he bought it out and out himself, instead
of letting the company get it, and when
the Ghost died in earnest l got it back.
don't think I'll keep it long. Any Ghost
that has So in his pocket can have it. It's
a high price, I know, tor the Ghost; for
the Ghost isn't very paying part. guess
HqBzlet's right when he says: Alas, poor
| Ghost %
Its queer how these little companies
run into the line of tragedy. OF course
they're not all tragedies like Hamlet. "
But it's curious that people care more for
it than they do for all the blood and-thu
der plays, with the heavy villain pursuing
the spoony lovers, I haven't got much ly-
| ing around that does for comedy. That's be-
cause people to whom these companies play
don't care for comedy, or perhaps because
the companies cannot play comedy. At
any rate, it's either the heavy business or
variety properties they ask for.
But these strolling companies aren' t
the only people of whom / buy. When
ever there's an auction at a theatre, here
or in the neighborhood, / attend it. Of
course, competition there is much brisker
than in the regular course of trade; but
sometimes / make a first-rate bargain
Now, there's that drop curtain pointing to
the one rolled up on the fioor), that didn't
cost me forty dollars, and it ought to fetch
couple of hundred. Then [ can get
chairs, and good ones, too, all the way
from forty cents to a dollar, and sell them
at profit of at least fifty cents. / can't
make so much on scenery. The scenes are
generally too large for the amateurs, and
too good for the strolling companies. II
it's forest scene they want, they take the
! first they come across, no matter how
faded it is, and set some sign painter to
| work on it with a pot of green paint. If
it's a palace they spill a little yellow or
red or other bright color over it. Will you
have stage drink" the little old man
went on, taking one of the gilded wooden
| goblets from the Renaissance table. e'or
viii you partake of some wooden fowl,
with wooden fork, from wooden
plate?"
The reporter glanced at the skeleton in
| the box Office Now, that skeleton"
continued the dealer, following the glance,
| 'fhas history. Sometimes you know the
strolling companies go into the spectacular.
Red and blue fire. waterfall, and the like
were the first requirements. Then walk
ing skeleton appeared in a New York
spectacle, and after that every spectacular
show in the country had to have one It's
easy enough to get a skeleton, you know.
and when you've got him all you have to
do is to tie some thin but strong cords to
his joints and have somebody pull the
cords from above. Then he'll kick up his
legs and throw around his arms. In one
of the strolling companies they had man
who did nothing but attend to the walking
skeleton. He took particular pride in hay
ing the skeleton as lively as possible, SO
that after while the walking skeleton of