Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-01-31
BEHIND THE SCENES.
What Reporter Saw There Yes
terday Evening.

What a Reporter saw Inere IeS-
terday Evening.
The regions behind the scenes on the
stage of theater, commonplace as they
are to those whose daily employment is
there, are always the subject of lively
interest on the part of the audience in
front of the curtain. Nearly everybody
who has witnessed play-especially one
of the so-called spectacular order-has
experienced yearning desire to stand
behind the scenes and observe the way
in which the properties are handled and
the surprising effects of light and scenery
are produced. However entertaining the
play may be from a seat in the par
quette, it is believed to be much more
| so, from some coign Of vantage on the
stage among the actors and scene shifters.
Yesterday evening Mr.. Gustave Kahn,
the manager ofthe Kiralfy Black Crook
Company, proposed to reporter of the
HERALD. who had expressed some curl
osity on the score to Mr.. Wyatt, the
affable manager of the Opera House, that
they should 60 behind and see the play
from within. The invitation being very
readily accepted, the two passed through
the door at the left of the lobby of the
Grand Opera House, which opens into
long hall piled with lumber and old
scenery. At the end, the hall widens into
roc m which looks, from the materials
which are scattered about, something
like blacksmith shop and something
like chemical labratory. Several men
were busy arranging the fire properties
which are used in the course of the play.
"The stage of this house," said Mr..
Kahn, as they stepped in among con-
fusing labyrinth of wings, flies and drop
curtains, "is very we'll arranged although
it is not as deep as it ought to be to pro-
duce the best results of q spectacular
sort. Where scene is made up by the
use of half-a-dozen separate drops, as in
the serpents' glen scene in the first act
or the grotto ecene in the second, the
effect of distance is produced by each
drop picturing different part OF the
landscape. If the stage is deep they can
be put at the right distance apart to make
the right effect to the eye when looked at
from the auditorium. Half a dozen
drops are used in some of them, and
they ought to be several feet apart.
Crowded together they are not as effect
| i've. The best results can, OF course,
only be attained on an enormous stage"
"Why is this network over the open
spaces of the drops ?" asked his listener.
"Does that contribute to the effect Of
distance?"
"That is good illustrasion of the vivid
effect of Imagination" said Mr.. Kahn.
''The setting is purely mechanical de.
vice to keep the irregular edges from
looping down. 1t is not supposed to be
seen at all, and is invisible back of the
middle of the house."
By this time the curtain had gone up,
and Miss Allen, who plays the part of
"Amina", and who talks through win
dow to her lover, Rudolph" climbed a
step-ladder and opened port-hole in
one of the wings.
Hold the ladder, somebody" she
said; "it is too shaky." Then turning
quickly to the audience che delivered
less suitor below.
The sides of the stage were crowded
with the girls, or, as they always call
them on the stage, the "ladies OF the
ballet" The taller ones were dressed
as peasant boys and the shorter as
maidens. They were laughing and
cnAttlDg meTrIly aS tuOuSu tuoy tuoi
oughly enjoyed their part of the per-
formance. The age of ballet girls
is subject of frequent newspaper
est The Kiralfy troupe may be an
exception to the general rule, but one
who saw them close enough to make an
accurate judgment hereby testifies that
they are all young and very pretty. The
great majority of them are German, and
do not speak the English language. Their
behavior when together is good deal
like that of troop of schoolgirls.
After the dance drop-curtain contain
ing a scene in the wood falls, and then
ensues lively time on the stage behind.
Two scenes are arranged at once-the
chamber of the Black Crook, with it's
table and tripod, and back of this the
Serpent's Glen. Wings, which are the
long frames of scenery used at the side,
fly around in all directions, drops fall at
various places and flies are lowered; long
sections Of "set pieces" as they are
called, are fixed in place on the floor,
and the tables and other properties are
hastily put in place. Twenty or thirty
men are needed to make the change.
Each one knows his place and just what
is expected of him, and the whole thing