St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-07-05
Members of the Theatrical Profession Who
0utrank Sailors in Their Fear of
the Supernatural.
Rhea's Superstition Regarding shoot
ing Stars--The Joke Played by
Her Manager.
The theatrical Jonah, the Howline
Dog and the Terrible Figure
--Other Omens.
SuperstitiouS Stagers.

! greater freak. tue sailor or the theatrical
professional"
'srhe latter" was the prompt answer, and
a little inquiry and personal investigation
/ has convinced me that he was right.
A great deal has been said and written
about the excessive superstition of the sailor;
about his firm belief in the existence of
certain reckless and incOnceivable individual
who presides over the demons OF the sea,
who eXhales blue flames, picks his monstrOus
teeth with the ships anchor and enjoys the
! possession of the very ordinary eognomen
of Davy Jones. 4 slight prediSpOSitiOn on
the part of the old sea dog to spin yarns
OF a decidedly iishy nature has given
THE SENSATIONAL STORY
writer and trashy novelist impetus i'm their
! heartleSs inventions of hair-raising MARIA
tives which make the poor sailor out mis-
guided sinner who believes in Omens and
prOgnostics and fears everything unseen
except the Deity, with whom, Judging
from his familiar manner OF calling on him,
he is on most intimate terms.
As a matter of fact the sailor is not so
weak-minded and silly as he is accused of
being. He is generally found to be literally
endowed with that quality of intellect COM
monty termed horse sense. and from his
early childhood is subjected to perilS and
privatiOns which harden mind and body to
an extraordinary degree of courage and ell
durance. The proper material for the nov
elist to utilize in furnishing examples of
ridiculous belief i'm the direct agency Of
superior powers, and in excessive reverence
and fear of the unknown and mysterious. Is
among the members of the dramatic pro-
feSsion.
John Stetson, the great New York mana
ager, is a firm believer in professional
Jonahs. A Jonah is supposed TO be an
actor. actress. advance agent or some other
member or attache of theatrical organiza-
ton who is believed to be possessed of an
evil spirit of
uL-LUCK AND MISFORTUNE,
and who will bring ruin upon the TeSpec-
tive organization with which he or she is
connected. have known Stetson to
imagine that he had discovered in one OF
his best performers the presence OF this
spirit of Jonah, and when once convinced
of this no power on earth would induce
him TO send the company out with tine ILL
omened individual in the cast.
Jack Hayerly could not be induced for
love or money 10 start one of his enterprises
on the road on Friday. He would sooner
lose a thouSand-dollar engagement than
commence a season 50 inauspiciOusly. Rose
Coghlan. the favorite actress at Wallacks.
once said that if upon rising in the morn
ing she should by accident put her stock
ings on wrong side out she would wear
them that way until she had occasion 10
take them off. Many time" said she,
Il have hastily donned some garment, and
Just before making my entrance on tie
stage have discovered it bottom side up, but
even the risk of being ridiculed by the audi
ence would not induce me to change it until
had made my appearance and exit"
CLARA MORRIS
has a nervous spasm every time she hears
dog howl on a moonlight night. She was
nearly disabled in her performance of the
Creole in "LArticle A." at the Columbia
theater, Chicago, because the large bulldog be-
longing TO the stage carpenter set mp d howl
in the alley at the rear of the stage. She
was in the gambling scene when the sound
reached her, and. turning even paler than
usual she staggered toward the gaming
table. and i'm one of her nervous inteTpOla-
tons for which she is famous, she said;
THAT bowling brute unnerves me; il bodies
no good; please go and see if the
moon shines tonight One of the gentle
, men understood her and Immediately ne-
tired returning again to inform the great
{ emotional actress that the night was dark.
{ The information brought an electrical
change and she once more relapsed into the
= Sulen mood required 10y the part. The AL
, dience thought the incident was intended
to portray symptom of slowly undermin-
ing reason, as the Creole becomes entirely
, insane in the third act. but i'm reality it was
a genuine symptom of 4 diseased mind in
= the actress herself, which will some day
2 PROSTATE her, if she persists in eSSaymg
EXCESSIVELY EMOTIONAL ROLES.
Maude Granger has perfect terror OF
anything having the number i'm any way
connected with il. Last winter she ap
! pearcd in Chicago in a promising play called
"Lynwood.r AT the hotel she was as
signed pleasant suite of rooms. and, being
very fatigued from tedious journey, Sh,
retired TO gain sleep and consequent
strength for the opening nights work
But her eyes would not remain closed. an,
after few hours of continual restlessnes
she arose. weary and diSheartened. Their
must be triplet around here somewhere,
! she said, and instinctiyely she eN
amined the room thoroughly. Finally
opening the door. she experienced
: feeling worse than stage fright. whel
she read the number of her room, standing
, out in bold black letters, '':i:,j.' - That
settles il" said she to her maid. ''befOn
! this weeks work is over. IIadeS will be {,
, pay and there will be nothing 10 pay with
: Sure enough. the opening performance wa.
greeted by poor house. which grew pain
, fully smaller rs tie week wore on and IN,
company went TO pieces At the close of IA,
= engagement borrowing money to get put OF
, town with. Miss Granger charged up toe
disaster to the three crooked SIS ON the hOte
door.
RHEA'S FANCY.
OF all the professional ladies of my ac
quaintance who are inclined to superstition
= fancy. Mile. Rhea. the accomplished Bel
gian actress is the least afflicted. She ha
3 excellent Judgment and looks ON the sen
Sible. rational side of everything. She is
/. very devout Catholic. has a beautiful. WON
anly disposition and INDUCES i'm Just enough
2 levity and fooliShneSs To make her charm
ing. / believe the only superstition
belief she is guilty of is tina
if the word money can b,
repeated three times in quick succession
=. during the movement of shooting star II
the heavens, the person 50 saying will b.
rewarded with unexpected here jaime
w. MoTTissey. her manager. knows of thi
weakness of his star, and she has neve
= quite forgiven him for the manner ia whicl
he once pTeyed upon IL lie was first mad
: aware of her singular fancy one night Will
eScoTting her from tine Gheater. They wen
interested in a business conversation and a
a particular moment Morrissey was speak
ing of the Gathering notices which the pres
: throughout the country had shOwered upol
the actress.
I. Il think il very extraordinary that out O
all the newspaper comments ON our Del
e Torrance, there should DE no expressions q