The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-08-15

cutting holes in q dark drop and keep
the gas at the back of it at full head,
while the burners in front of the scene
are reduced to q blue glimmer. The
Illusion was taken out Of this scene for
the writer, who m evening ut 6 o'clock
called at a city theatre to have an in
terview with the manager, and finding
him on the stage hacking holes with
his pen-knife in n black daubed can
vass hanging near the rear wall of the
theatre.
I'm making more lights in Liver
pool" said he. ""This scene is the big
gest success of the whole piece"
The moon was q long time a puzzle
to the stage folk. The best they could
do was to slice a piece out of a drop
diagonally and set in another movable
strip on a part of which was a moon of
CREASED muslin, with a bright light be-
hind it. This could be hauled up or
lowered, according as Luna got a cue
to rise or set, but the illusion was moth
ing. 1t was too often positively ridi-
culous to make the device popular
with either manager or actor. ALI
cursed the noon. Lately, however, the
property man has worked it on princi-
pie OF the stereopticon. He throws an
illuminated disc Oh a transparent fiat
from behind the scene, and thus by
moving the lens can establish Luna in
any quarter Of the stage armament
and make her take any course without
betraying her prospect We orbit to the
keen-eyed critics on the other side of
the footlights.
A Bowery actor travelled oyer the
country for several years playing a
drama which had no attraction but the
effect of the hero being hanged by a
mob. The moose was put around his
neck and he was actually strung up in
the sight of the audience. He even re-
manned kicking, and submitted to three
encores a night. Every one marvelled.
Yet he simply wore a harness of leather
and iron bands under his clothes; there
was . hook at the back of the neck
which was attached to the rope above
the moose, and the hanged man was
simply kicking astride of q cushioned
seat-an iron bar which was connected
with the harness by an iron band, which
followed the spinal column up to the
neck, terminating in the hook, which
brought all the strain in theproper place
for comfort.
In old times, when 'sMazeppa" wcs
the rage, the writer joined the mob in
bowls of wonder and delight at the
spectacle of the hero's "fery, untamed
Ukraine steed" thrusting his nose to his
insensible masters face and caressing
him labially after his terrible ride. At
a later day, when this deponent, from a
coin of vantage in the second entrance,
o. F.. detected that Mazeppa held a
carrot under his arm, and that it was
not love of the hero but o taste of vege-
tables that actuated the noble steed, he
felt sick at heart at the rude dispelling
of the poetry of his boyhood.
Juliet's balcony looks real, and you
imagine the lovely maid peering, indeed
from a rich boudoir to moan to "the in
constant moon" for her prowling lover.
But viewed from the s~ide-scenes, with
Juliet standing on a totter1ng ladder
and growing at the grimy carpenter,
who is steadying it, it is quite another
thing.
The railroad train rushing by was for
a long time a thrilling sensation. Yet ii
Is SIMPLY several sections of painted can
vas on framework, I'll across the stage
in a CREASED groove by carpenters, and
telescoping On itself when it touches the
sidewall of the theatre.
The effect of scudding clouds in a
storm at sea is only the dragging across
the dark flat a net with guaze patches
sewed on it, and touched up by the
painter to resemble clouds under the
uncertain light of the stage.
A fog of mist has always puzzled ma
chinists, and puzzles them Yet. The
best they a do is to hang successfully
curtains Of tarletan or mosquito netting
(gauzes they call these curtains on the
stage) across the stage at the different
entrances, and raising them successfully
as the fog is supposed to disappear
There is no illusion at all. tits never
used except when absolutely necessary,
as in Midsummer Nights Dream" and
even then is often cut out after the first
nights trial.
Another great stage effect is the en-
quilting of a steamer at sea. It's dis
jointed parts roll off at the wings end
sink down traps, and the surging waves,
in the form of a dusty piece of canvas,
called q sea-cloth, flow or are hauled
down to the first entrance, and agitated
in wild pillows until the curtain falls to
uproarious applause. The lumpy nature
of the waves and their wild rolling fill
the audience with wonder. The expla-
mutton, though, is ridiculous. Each
wave is a super. Under this cloth are
from ten to twenty according to the ex-
tent of the ocean, of these wretched as
pirants for dramatic fame, Just hump
ing themselves. According as they
hump or loaf the sea is wild and tenn
pestuous or smooth and billowy. As
this cen is sure to be encored two OF
three times, there is no use in asking at
the prompter's desk: "What are the
wild waves saying?" They are swear
ing all the time.