Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-07-29
THE "PROFESH.
Interesting Yarns Of Theatrical Life, Past
and Present
Freund's Music and Drama.

Interesting Yarns Of Theatrical Life, Past
and Present.
Freund's Music and Drama
Half the good things happening on the
stage are not put down in the bills, and
half the stories that are current among
the players and we'll known in theatrical
circles never reach the newspapers. I sat
up in my garden last night thinking of
old times, and as l scratched my head to
wake up my brain into action, thought
of number of yarns and things that have
never, so far as I know, reached the pub
lie. The more scratched the more I
thought Of, and being seized with an in
tense desire to give them away, I send an
assortm ent from which you may take
| your pick.
Does any one remember Mauschel, the
dog? Mauschel passed his days in I'm
ion square hostelry frequented some years
ago by certain class of players. He was
the homliest, latest, drolliest little imp of
yellow cur that ever knawed a bone, but
good natured rascal, well liked and much
petted on account of his tricks. He would
! at command, or at touch on the flank
from his master, stand on his head and
! foreleg in the gravest and drolliest man
ner Imaginable, and slowly turn as if on a
pivot, his awkward body and fat bowlegs
never failing to provoke shouts of laugh
| ter. Well, one night the stock dog at the
Union Square Theater turned up missing
and they sent for Mauschel. All he had
20 do was to allow himself to be packed
in valise and when the grip-sack was
opened on the stage he was to run in the
wings. 1t was a very simple act and
Mauschel performed admirably well at re
hearsal. At night, however, things went
wrong. Mauschel was carried on in the
Valise by George Baker, who went through
his preliminary business and then opened
the bag. Instead Of tumbling out and
running off the stage, however, fat little
Mauschel had crawled off in d corner of
the bag and had gone asleep, and when it
was opened he merely blinked one eye
lazily, stretched himself and prepared
for another nap. George shook the fat
little rascal out, but instead of running
| off the stage, he sat down on his stub tail,
yawned generously and looked bored.
The audience vigorously applauded, and
the confused George poked Mauscel in the
flank with his boot and said soto voce:
sect out you bruten' Instantly Mauschel
changed his position and gravely stood
on his head, waving his bowed hind legs in
X
OF act. The audience howled and George
| kicked poor Mauschel half way across the
stage.
| Mauschel was never after the same dog,
and no bone was suculent enough to
bride him to repeat his acrobatic trick.
Bob Downing, of Washington, is so
affected by comic pictures and caricatures
that copy of Puck or The Judge throws
him into commissions Of laughter. And
when big Bob Downing laughs he puts
| his whole soul into it. and his lungs, too,
SO that he nearlw raises the roof. Bob
persOnated the villain in some blood
curdling melOdrama or other few years
ago, in which that rascally gentleman's
hymenial plans are frustrated by the pro-
ductiOn of a certificate of his former mar
riage at just the right time. One night,
instead of the usual marriage certificate,
the heroine confronted the villain with
ridiculous caricature of the manager of
the company. Bob, according to the cue,
snatched the folded document from her
hands in feverish haste, tore it open and
assumed the regulation look of despair,
which instantly gave place to an express
sion or intense amazement. He endeav
Ored in vain to regain his composure,
stammered' blushed Numbered in his
lIueS, anu tueu eG plOued III SuuaW OF
laughter and ran off the stage. The
prompter, who was found to be the guilty
artist, was fined his months salary for
the trick.
No less a light than Charles Fetchter,
having onse forgotten the pistol with
which he was to hold a mob at bay, sided
toward the wings and induced handy
scene-shifter, who was smoking, to loan
him his briarwood pipe. The mob rush
ed on, and the star, grasping the inverted
bowl of the pipe, pointed the mouthpiece
at the mob and bade them 'halt!'' AS he
stamped his foot in emphasis the hot
ashes and sparks from the pipe fell down
his ample sleeve and burned his arm, and
Fechter dropped the pipe and ripped out
an oath that sent the mob into hyterics of
laughter, while the audience fairly shrek
ed.
It isn't generally known how Jack
Haverly came to go into the management
of MINSTREL companies, but as [ am Civ
ing people away [ might as we'll relate
this about Jack. He once struck Dutch
Hank Behm's poker room in Syracuse,
and he and Cal Wagner broke Hanks
bank. That night Jack asked Gals advice
about the disposition of his winnings,
and Cal said ''minstrels." Jack took the
advice, and has been in the minstrel biz