Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-12-26

expert resumed 'that no fashionable toilet.
whether for household or ceremonious USE is
devoid of diStensiOn at the rear. The hustle is
ali artistic necessity"
TEEE MINSTREL PROFESSION.
Some of it's Isules-Pemalties for FIrcak-
ing Them.
Mr.. D. B. Hodges, minstrel manager, was
asked
do minstrel companies have series of rules
which they are obliged to respect"
Members Of our company are obliged to as
sst in removing objects from the stage. Only a
short time since had occasion to discharge a
man at Ogdensburg for refusing to assist in re-
moving the chairs after the first part. Not very
long ago | tined'one OF the principal members in
our company $50 for appearing In state of
intoXication'
What becomes of the money after the fines
are cOllected:'
I'VE make separate fund of it, and on
Christmas or New Years day enjoy an elegant
banquet in some hotel. A portion of our last
fund of $3.50 was devoted toward paying the
funeral expenses of member of our company
and the remainder was presented to his
mother"
Tell me something about your rules"
I'VE allow no arguments in hotels. other than
conversations on usual topics. Members COM
ing late to rehcarsals are fined - for every Of
tense; members not appearing in proper gentle
manly dress, with boots BACKED ETC. for street
parade are fined 3; they Become intoxicated
at any time during the engagement. they are
obliged tOfOrfet One-haIf weeks salary for the
hrst, full weeks salary for the second. and re-
celye an immediate discharge for the third of
Tense. We allow no liquors on the stage or in
NefHe 90 oIeratS pa ANY on
or singing at hotels or any p,aoo outside the
theater."
Are the rules generally strictly observed?'
Yes, sir; every time, our discipline is of the
stri;test kind. and it matters not who the guilty
party is the fines are either collected or the per-
son receives his immediate discharge"
Modern Theatrical Scenery.
From the National Review
In some Of these richly-mOunted dramas the
stage seems choked with figures, furniture,
dressings, projecting scenes. and frames, with
the result that the leading characters have an
undistinguished air, and are confused with the
background Words and speeches. like those of
Shakespeare, are delivered with Infinitely more
effect when the stage Is less incumbered. for
there is less to distract the attention. Modern
scenery is now constructed on the ''building-up"
principle. Great houses and other buildings
streets. &c, all constructed in their actIlal
form. and drawn on the stage by numbers of men
and scene does for an act there's sufficient
time to rear these edtces. The ..cloth' is but
rarely used, perhaps because it looks poor and
ridiculous in company with SO much solid mat
ter. But is not this 'building-up' system really
opposed to the illusion of the stage? The stage
is but small area, under the most favorable
conditions. reaching to some forty to fifty feet
in width, by, say. a hundred feet in length. In
this contracted space the scene builder PROPOSES
to exhibit market-placn. for instance in an
Italian city. Houses fountain, flights of stairs.
streets-al are brought together i'm one view
In real lie only fragment of these things could
be seen at once from the same point Possibly il
maybe said that at the distance at which the snec-
tator is seated, the eye would take in all the OBJ
jects named. But then they would be far
smaller and more indistinct, according to
the rules of perspective. The living figures
would supply the scale of proportion. AS it is.
the arrangement is all at fault. For these
''built-up structures are on miniature scale
the tallest house being only some four or five
times the height of the performer. 1t is like
the apparitlon OF a human facS in q puppet
show. 1t may, perhaps, be urged that we see
something Of the effect of this relief in alto re-
t5eCOs on the sides of monuments, where a scene
with houses and figures, raised few inches
produces an effect But here the persDective
is simulated. the buildings &C.. are sloped at
various angles. They are actually on the plane
or flat, whereas the theatrical relief recedes
as in reality. The whole is. in short an attempt
to combine the conditions of reality with the
conditions Of Illusion
a.