The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-11-10
THE WICKED FLEA.
His Appearance on the Theatrical
Boards.

lauQhaDlo, ana Will TcSule III muCH
finn to audiences in the future, un>
less some action is taken at once on
the part of managers. 1t seems that
MANY of the best theatres OF the
CITY have become infested with fieas.
It is believed the feas have been
brought to the theatr. s on the dogs
of actresses and by the dogs used in
PLAYS, and they have multiplied and
replenished the places Of amuse-
ment until they are a formidable
army. It is said that when a
theatre has not had performance
for several days, the f1eas become
hungry, and when The next COM
pany arrives upon the stage the fieas
take possession Of the members too
quick. Some aver that the fifas
are divided OFF into squads, each
squad with a leader, and each SOU I'd
is assigned to one particular actor
or actress, as the case may be. Fleas
are no fools, and 1t would not be
strange if they had a choice as to
which member Of a company should
be assigned to them. Of course it Is
possible that the boss fleas shake
dice to decide which shall have first
choice for his squad, and yet it may
be that the fieaS know nothing of
dice, and go upon the principle OF
first come first served. While flea
is not human, we must give the in
sect credit for knowing the d fer
ence between the taste of
young and beautiful actress
and an old man or woman. The
flea is no fool, whatever else may be
said Of him, and any person with
any heart at all will feel for the
young and tender actress whose part
compels her to go upon the stage of
a fea-infected theatre with a low
pecked dress, bare arms, or stock
ings that are perforated by fashion
on the instep, or which have not
attained their growth as to height.
Such person has got much beside
her art to attend to, and her mind
must be constantly occupied in de-
vising means to mash feas and not
give it away to the audience.
An actress can, if she feels flea
grazing around, suddenly place her
hand on her heart, and while the
audience is looking at. the express
sion Of pain on her face, she can let
one or two fingers wander down
where the fea is and paralyZe him,
and the audience will think that it
is a gesture that is in the play. But
there are places on every person
where flea might walk arm in arm
with another flea, slipping the life
blood and becoming intoxicated,
where no gesture laid down in a
play would fit.
Suppose Mary Anderson, while
trying to haul Romeo up the bal
chewing cloves, feels flea crawling
down her back, and while saying,
Wherefore art thou Romeo" she
can eVerlastingly dig her nails into
the opening III the corset and kill
the flea, and the audience would
be none the wiser, while if she
backed up against the railing, and
scratched her back on a scene, it
would be noticed and commented
on, to her discredit as an artist, and
besides she might push down the
scenery. Again, if a llea should sp.
pear to be exploring the vicinity Of
her waist, while it would not be ad-
Missile for her to create a gesture
that would fit the case, she could,
by the poetic license that is granted
all great geniuses, lean against the
railing on the point where the flea
was, and while giving taffy to
Romeo. she could make the flea
think he had got in the wrong pew.
And yet, in that scene, it a few
tieas should get among her stock
ings, as is most certain to be the
case, Mary would not have any ex-
cuse, by any act or gesture in the
play, to pay any attention to the
flea, and she would have 10 go on
with the play and die game.
In opera it is different. The Co.'S
tunes are such that the hunting Of
fieas is mere pastime. Especially is
this the case in the opera of La
Somnambula," where the Sleep
walker is attired with a candle and
a garment that has always been
highly recommended as the proper
costume for the pursuit Of fieas.
1t is supposed that actors are irl>
pervious to the influence of fleas, but
such is not the case. Booth, Bar
rett, Jefferson and Mccullough are
nervous IS women, ard we may ex-
pect any evening to see Booth as
Hamlet drop his sword and roll
down his black tights, while
the ghost is telling him the
old story, and catch a flea and
crush it between his two thumb
nails, pull up his stocking, and tell
the ghost that he will go home and
make it red hot for his mother and
the uncle who poured melted seal
ing-wax in the ghosts ear. In the
play of Francesca .da Rimini,"
when Lawrence Barrett starts home
from the army to kill his brother
and his wife for being too numer>
GUS, and he is all excitement, It |
would look strange TO see him sit |
down on stump and go to catching |
fleas before an audience, and yet this |
is what the stage is coming to if |
fleas and dogs are not quaran-
tined. 1t would look queer to |
see Jefferson, when he Uses up on !
the stage after twenty years sleep,
90 to hunting around his decaped |