Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-09-10
A TENOR WANTED.

Lue IOT tHedlricdl agents III drls, LnaL
being the season when country managers
are invariably occupied in ~remodeling
their companies and contracting fresh en-
gagements to replace those OF their actors
who have either voluntarily left them or
have been dismissed as not satisfying the
requirements of the local public. On a
certain morning, about ten days previous
TO the Paschal solemnities a few years ago,
NJ. Colombat, the head of a well-known
firm of dramatic correspondents, was sitting
in an inner room of his Office in the Rue
Montorguell, and perusing, with the aid of
a confidential clerk, the letters that had
arrived by the early post. There we're at
least twenty of them, bearing the post
marks of various provincial towns, and as
each was opened in its turn and the wants
of the different writers ascertained, the
agent referred to his books in order to see
which Of them he was in a position to
supply.
Another tenor for Vieilleyille," he said,
with a dry chuckle betokening satisfaction;
" that makes the third in less than six
months. Difficult people to please, the
subscribers down there, Vault" he con-
tinued, addressing the clerk, what have
We got likely to suit? / can't call to mind
a single one"
"Ma fol, Monsieur" replied the latter,
after a moments pause, "nor |. If 1t were
a baritone or a bass we could accommodate
them easily enough; but a tenor! Stay"
there is the mar from Rio Janeiro, VIII
was here last week, and wanted a thousand
francs a month p
He won't get that said NJ. CoIombat.
"Bartlguea never gives more than eight
hundred. Did you take his name and ad-
dress %
81 did" answered Vault, glancing at a
ledger before him: Jacques Durand,
Passage Cendrie, Is. Shall | send and tell
him to caIl2"
do so, and if he accepts l can write to
Lartigues by to-night's post. If | remem-
Der rightly, this Durand is a queer-looking
customer, more ike a '~traitre de melo-
drame than a tenor. However, if it does
not happen to fit it is no affair of mine,
bid | may as well pocket the commission
as any one else"
It may safely be presumed that the nego-
~ " hAN N0Shb Az liz III
date for the vacant post at Vieilleville
were satisfactorily concluded, for five or
six days Later Jacques Durand reached his
destination, and proceed at once to report
his arrival to the manager. At the sight
Of the newcomer NJ. Lartigues, who was
engaged in calculating the amount of profit
and loss during the foregoing season, the
result to all appearance being the reverse
&c ar--AaoLln -. rs. --1l.@
"1rcv. de Dieu !" he muttered what
an Orsini for the Tour de Nesle ?" Then
recollecting himself and addressing hi
visitor: "Do you wish to see me on bust
ness p he inquired.
"A mere matter of form, Monsieur" was
the reply. "Allow me to introduce my.
self-Jaoques Durand, just arrived al
Vieilleyille, and entirely at your service
Jacques Durand,n echoed the manager
staring incredulously at the speaker. "Nor
the tenor engaged by Colombat ~
"The same"
"~Imposiblew cried Lartlgues, eyi
IDENTIFY Mortified by the unprepossesslna
aspect of the olive-featured, beetle-broweC
individual before him. a expected some
thing very different, in Short
Better looking" coolly interrupted the
new recruit. "No doubt, but you might
have done worse; | was very popular al
Rio"
"Rio isn't Vieilleville," impatiently re-
torted the manager, "as you will find ouI
before you are many days older. Ar,
you aware that we open on Monday, and
that you are cast for Arnold in sGuillaums
TellP"
Suits me perfectly. 1t is a f~avoritt
part of mine"
"Indeed" said Lartigues, in by a nc
means confident tone. "Well, if | wer,
you l wouldn't be so sanguine. Our publ,
is apt 10 be nasty at times"
81 will run my chance of that" care
lessly replied Durand. "When do We re
hearser1
"On Saturday at IL. And, as / suppose
you will be looking for lodgings, l recon-.
mend you, in case of accidents, only to take
them by the week"
Left to his own meditations, the i'm.
presario, after heartily devoting Colombat
TO the internal regions, summoned hi.
stage manager, and confded to that func.
tionary with much meridional gesticula.
ton his Disappointing interview with the
tenor from Rio.
He IL absolutely hideous, Willard, with
q cut-throat face like q Communayd of II
the sort of fellow one wouldn't care to meet
after dark. What on earth is to be done
We can't put off the opening or change
the performance, for the Frondegrs Club
insists on an opera, and We have no other
ready. There is no help for it; we must
try him."
after all" said Willard, there is one
consolation. If he fails you are not bound
70 pay him his month"
",Ts' replied Lartigues, Frightening up
a little az the recollection. 81 AWAY.
have that clause inserted in my engage.
ments, and in his case if, as l imagine, his
'ramage Is on a par with his 'plumage
failure is i foregone conclusion"
The Saturdays rehearsal proved 4 very
lame affair, the new singer, on the plea Of
i sudden hos<seness. declaring himself in
capable of any vocal exertion, and merely
humming the airs and concerted music o.
his part. His appearance, moreover
tended rather to paralyze than stimulate
the efoyts Of the lady artists: Nine. Saint
Ange (her real name was Chiflard), who
personated Mathilda, affirming in a whis-
per to Gessler that he distinctly reminded
her.of the monster in "Frsnkenstein," as
f<mNN " RAShSA 0ASitO OCItDi, dltGc
Clair Benie, at the Porte Saint Martin.
The result, indeed, Of this preliminary es-
say was so unpromising that the man
aser, mere than ever convinced of the i'm
pending fasco, bethought himself regret
fully Of the cost of the new scenery and
dresses which, on the Hsprat-to-catch-a-
herring principle, he had layished on
the revival of Rossini's masterpiece, and
invoked aNsh installment of maledic-
~tions on the Offending Colombat.
Easter Monday came at last, and at an
early hour in the afternoon the approach
10 tho theater was thronged by a dense
2aultitude of holiday makers from all parts
OF the city, impatiently awaiting the open
ing of the doors. From the excitement
generally manifested by them it was evil
dent that something more than the
national prediction for the Spectacle
had attracted them thither. and had caused
more than one fishermen from the port to
invest his hard-eerned o in a ticket for