Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1883-10-10

y PERIsHABLE PROPERTIES. s.-"When Clara
Morn, M 'djeska or Bernhardt SIT down
to supper in Camille said the mana
ger, "a layer of real viands and sparkling
champagne must be provided that some
times costs for single performance as
high as $35 or $40 Six persons it al
the table in that scene, and when the star
is paying actress like any have men
toned, we can afford to provide costly
spread. OF course an ordinary actress
won't get $35 table in Camille.
About $40 or $l2 is fair average for a
single layout in this play. In Herne S
Hearts of Oak Il very pretty supper sci
| is feature of one of the acts; the dishes
come on s,eaming hot and the actors sill
down to the table and eat with an appe
tte that suggests the possibility of their
having foregone their regular vespural
meal at the hotel tor the sake OF eating
it on the stage. This spread costs from
| So to So performance. In 'As You Like
It. the chaps who banquet IN the forest ol
Ardon have real meal set before them
and in dozens of other plays palatable
viands are provided for the performers. y
''And they are usually all they are
represented to be-"
"Usualy. In Raymond's Col. Sellers,
as you know, the Colonel and his wife
end their young guest, the hero of the
piece, sit down 10 bowl of turnips and
a pitcher of aqua Mississippensis River.
Well, now, you couldn't expect the actors
TO eat turnips-such diet would soon
kill them-so we have apples or pears
peeled and prepared so as to look like the
rrutabag ga article. and of course the audi
ence accepts them for turnips."
"The drinks al e, in nearly every case,
real?'
"When wine is called for, nowadays,
the genuine stuff is usually brought on
In the time of Ben De Bar cold tea was
used, and is used even yet by performers
who are temperate and prefer a mild
drink; but champagne and other wines
are common en- the present stage Last
week we had a bill of $l5 for wine used
in the sleeping car scene of The Tour.
lists. When beer is used in any quantities
as in the picnic incident in Baker and
Farron's Chris and Lena a keg of beer
is on tap behind the scenes.
"Who was the first to inaugurate the
use of real food in stage sp eadsP"
Il think Matilda Heron is entitled to
the credit of the innovation. Shs always
insisted on having the genuine articles on
the table in Camille Eighteen or twenty
Years ago such thing was unknown,
and even now the tendency to realism in
small details Of stage representations is
overlooked by many actors, James Wal
lack never went to play Macbeth without
having II sreaming bosr's head-the real
6rsh and bone nrticle-on the board in
he banqn,t scene. Neither Booth, Bar
rett, Mccullough, Kcene, nor any of the
great tragedians of the present day de-
mand such property, and the banquet
table is still set with papier-mache COB.
lets, epergbes. etc., as in the oden days.
Before Heron's time fakes were used.
Cleverlv made pastebonrd limitations of
articles of food were employed. Some
times other methods were resorted to-
Often, in playing Dandy Dinmont, have
tackled chicken made from a two cent
loaf of bread, toasted brown and cut in
the shape of fowl with a real chicken
Leg stuck in one side which Dinmont has
to pull out and stick between his teeth.
When sleaming dish was wanted, a
little lime or hot ashes with water
sprinkled over it gave the desired effect"
st. Louis Post Dispatch.