Morning journal and courier., 1885-01-23

: form the newspaper reporters, and whe1 morning came the whole city responded witt
 the newsboys' shout of ''All about Cough ol
 drunk" Cough boarded the first train ou
 of the city, and has never dared to ventur
 there since. He was the innocent victim O
 practical joke, but the Erie people believ,
 him to be 8 hypocritical old sot
 BUSINESS OF THE STAGE.
 ! How the Action of a Play is Arranged 1 From the New York Times.1
 The thermometer hung in an airy place 1 The mercury in said thermometer was travel 1 ing the downward path with great rapidity.
 The cold wave was advancing and pedestri-
 ans were hastening along the streets with
 their overcoats buttoned up to their chins.
 Inside chophouse two young men were ell- gagged in the cheerful occupation of laughing | the elements to scorn and eating Welsh rare bits. They cared naught for the cold wave They were enjoying little wave of their own. It was made of ale. After they had swallowed their rarebit and likewise their ale they lighted two cigars and leaned back in their chairs. Then one of them said unto the other:
 'I opine, my chernb, that you have wholly recovered from your recent severe a: e.sck of measles y
 ''Yes, JosephUs, I am we'll once more but
 l am not happy"
 q grieve to hear it. What is your secret
 sorrow:'
 ''I had hopes that my recent experience
 behind the scenes would cure me forever of
 all curiosity about theatres"
 F'And it hasnt.'
 ''No, it hasn't
 Well, then, what do you want to know?"
 ''Once you told me all about the rehearsal of a comic opera. Couldn't you tell ne something about play rehearsal?'
 Ut amounts to the same thing, my stulti- fled student"
 q wish you'd stop calling me names
 What want to know is how they arrange what they're going to do on the stage. They don't do it on the spur of the moment, do they::'''
 "Ah, now, my revolving vacuum, I know what you after. You want to know business in play"
 That's it, Josephus; I knew you would catch my idea after a time"
 s'Yes, dear boy, one always has time of 1t to catch one Of your ideas. Well, then, very, very little is done the stage under the impulse of the moment. Anything so done is very likely to throw things into q state of hopeless confusion. 4 man who is on the stage alone, delivering 8 soliloquy, may do as he likes, of course, but he must be in position, carefully chosen at rehear- sal, when he gives the cue for the entrance of smother actor. Moreover, he must know just whence that actor is coming It is like y to prcduce merriment if actor says An, here comes the Duke of Ho0oke1l' pointing off one side of tue stage while he duke enters from the other. Such 6 thing as this is disconcerting. So it is if an actor speaks speech and then walks up the stage just at the time when some one at the front | of the stage turns to address him. Hence at 1 rehearsal all these little matters are carefully That is what rehearsal is for | The mere matter of finding out whether tie l actors know their parts could be settled in l one rehearsal. Let me, therefore, explain to l your limited intelligence the commonest de- 1 tails of stage business. In the first place. the directions of the stage, right and left Ire considered from the #ctor's poinG of view 1 that is, as he faces the audience. In the auditorium they reversed. When you land your seat check, bearing the word right to usher he seats you in the right 1f the auditorium but to the left of the | stage. When an actor comes on from the tide of the stage nearest to you he comes rom the left. The directions for entrances md exits printed in all the published )lays; but in q new manuscript play brought l o the theatre for rehearsal you will find many Of them given without indication of l he part of the stage. A number of them he author is able to determine while writing is play; but quite as many must be left un- Ii he and the stage manager arrange all the business of each scene. Then the direction l nd entrance are chosen, alld the stage maI- ger writes in the manuscript exit k. 1. E. 1 r exit |. U. E. or something similar erhaps exit c. D. F. 'R. 1. E. means Igiit first entranee-tfie space between the roscenium arch and the first wing on the ght. T.. U. E. means left upper entrance ] the tprthest entrance back on the left. e. ! . F. means center door in flats. In the l rintsd plays the stage business is inclosel l brackets and printed in italics. In manu- ript plays it is inclosed in brackets and un- erscored with red ink"
 ''Now," continued Josephus, ''of course lere is great deal of business not included l
 entrances and exits. When two people l ave a long scene together, they may have osolutely nothing to do that has any bear g npon the progress of the play except k; and yet no stage manager would dream
 allowing them to remain still while talk g. Something must be done to relieve the onotony of the picture. It must not be one picture, but series of pictures. One
 the characters may be sitting in a chair at e side of the room, the other the oppo- e side. One of item will perhaps light garette. The other will rise from 8 chair oss the stage and sit down on the edge of a ble. Nc. 1 will then arise from his seat side the same table, cross the stage and md with his back to the fireplace. No. 2 Il drop into the chair-N No. 1 has left and l ). i will come back to the table and sit op- site No. ?. It is all meaningless. It has
 reference to the subject matter of the enc. And yet 1t is arranged with the great care at rehearsal, and may have under ne dozen alterations and improvements fore it is revealed to the audience on the st night. It is done simply to keep up me sort of action before the eyes of the ectators. A dialogue must be exceedingly nd i,1{ar Sc ,1I | md alone without any pictorial accompani- mt of this kind. As for complicated I snes in which a number of characters are the stage at once and have great deal of ion which is part of the story, there is telling how often they may have to be - ne over and reaTranged before the most eff tive business can be determined upon" a But, Josephus," inquired Ptarximander, | J then two people are talking together and - 8 of them crosses in front of the other, is It arranged beforehand?'
 '4es," was the reply, ''always. The actor 10 speaks crosses in front of the others. \ )ss is usually arranged after some effective sech that is likely to produce applause. ere is a regular method of going up the ge, too. The actor turns outward-that
 toward the side of the stage fUlrthest m the other actors-and then walks up. l . take stage is to go further to side. z Id if you will go and see play several l ,hts in succession you will find that the ac- s take stage go up, come down, cross, +,, g and sit at precisely the same points and th precisely the same manner every night, eS less some Ona cOnceives A new idea and 1 a2 en he takes good care to arrange the mat in beforehand with those who to be on iel stage with him. Of course. there are fe les when the ordinary rules of stage busi- eT ss, such as turning out to go up and cross ch in front, are broken; but unless the exi- "! Aeie' VI oiio 7oo-Ao A'' r,.''o o'oo m nS are always peffOrned according to rule. ho the Shakespearean plays and old dramas tic ors have traditional business which has hT7 en handed down from generation to gene fo ion. Dramatic critics usually ac- be