Sacramento daily record-union., 1889-06-16
MUSIC AND DRAMA.
WHY A SAN FRANCISCO AUDIENCE
WAS HILARIOUS.
Louis HarriSon'S Catch Iints-A Mid
night Bell-Scarcity of Sopranos
and TenorS.

lowing good story abous Modieska:
you would scarcely class Modieska as
| comedlenne," said Il well-known actress tn,
| other day, "but saw her set an audiegc,
into the most hilarious laughter once. II
! was IN 'Adrienne Lecovreur,' too, and IN
| the last act, which is certainly tragic
Ihe incident is an illustration of the fact
that trltllng matter, a word or a gesture
or even, as IN tins case, an association Of
ideas, Will sometimes ruin a performance
| was playing in Modieska's company at
the time and was almost paralyzed by the
| behavior OF the audience. 1t was in San
francisco six or seven years ago. Mod
Jeska was great favorite there, and 'Adri.
enne' was then one of the most popular
plays IN her repertoire. 1t was put on for
the opening night, and the house was
crowded. The audience was kind and
even enthusiastic and several times dur
ing the evening called the star before the
curtain.
But in the last act of 'Adricnne,' after
the heroine has been poisoned, the SEN
tence, oh, how | suffer- occurs in her
lines, and as ModjeSka spoke the words a
roar OF laughter rose from the house.
Modleska stopped in astonishment, and for
few moments was unable to proceed. The
laughing in the audience continued for
several minutes, and we finished the per-
tormance in dazed condition. After the
curtain fell there was scene in the Green
room. ModieSka was indignant. She felt
that she had been grossly insulted. and she
was halt inclined to cancel her contract on
the spot and leave the city at once. The
manager Of the theater had great difficulty
In perSuading her to continue her perform
ance.
'But in the discussion the cause of the
merriment In the audience was explained.
Louis Harrison and his sister Alice, who
were then starring in piece called Pho
tos,' of the farce comedy order, PLAYED at
the same theater two weeks previous. and
Louis had a sort of gag line which he
spoke number OF times in burlesoue stvle
during the performance. The line was
identical with that in 'Adrienne, oh, how
l suffer- H. had become i by word ameng
theater-going people, and when Mod
jeska's audience heard her deliver the
sentence they were reminded of Harrison's
grotesque saying. The explanation ap-
peased ModjeSka's anger, but she wouldn't
play 'Adrienne' any more in San Fran
cisco"
"a MIDNIGHT BELL"
Has run beyond 100 performances and is
perhaps, good for many more in this city.
1t is frequently said that Charles III.
lIoyt's latest piece is his best. sat in
Hoyts office one day last February and
chatted with him about the coming pro-
duction of "a Midnight Bell" He had
played it in San Francisco several months
previous and he was thoroughly convinced
the piece was a good one. Suddenly he
turned to me and said: "Why, YOU know
what the play is. You read the manu-
| script ten years ago" 1t was true. When
Hoyt was writer Of funny paragraphs in
a newspaper office, long before he wrote
"a Bunch of keys"-and that was seven
years ago-he studied the problem of max
ing a play out of scenes and incidents
around his old home in New Hampshire.
He drew his characters from the models
which he found in the village of Charles
ton, and the comedy which is now called
GA Midnight Belr' was the result. But
managers wouldn't listen to Hovt in those
days, nor would they read his PLAYS, and
SO the piece went into pigeonhole in his
desk. Chance set him to writing farcical
pieces, and chance and some good thinking
and planning put him in the way of pro-
duCing them himself, or rathe. of Joining
forces with Charles w. Thomas, his pres,
ent partner, and Eugene Tompkins, mana
ger of the Boston Theater, in their pro-
duction. Farce comedies were profitable
and the firm made money. At length
Hoyt began to consider the matter of pro-
ducing something of little higher class
than "a Rag Baby" and IA Brass
Monkey" New England comedies ap-
peared to be the rage, and he overhauled
his old manuscript, written almost before
he had ever seen the stage end of a theater,
reconstructed 1t in measure, and offered
ga Midnight Belr' to the theater-going
public.
This was a touch of the same sort of ex-
perience that BARLEY Campbell had years
ago. He had trunks full of plays, which
no one would look at before he wrote Ny
Partner" " for Louis Aldrich and Charles
I. ParslOe. After this play was produced
half the managers in the country wanted
Campbell to write plays for them. Hisold
manuscripts became valuable at once, and
they earned thousands of dollars for him.
CHANCE FOR CLEVER PEOPLE.
| sat in the orchestra of one of the thea
ters at which comic opera holds sway, YES
terday morning, in the company of the
manager of the company, while Young
actress, who is quite well known, sang a
song to piano accompaniment. The body
of the house was dark, and only "bunch
light Illuminated little corner of the
stage where the piano stood. The Young
woman had an excellent voice and it was
evident that it had been cultivated to some
purpose But she had never appeared in
comic opera, and | wondered that the man
ager thought it worth while to listen to
her, inasmuch as he already has an excel
lent artist, and favorite with the public,
who is filling just the sort of roles that the
candidate would expect.
Good comic opera artists are not easily
found" the manager said in reply to a
question. "Nery few sopranos are coming
to the front, and there are no young tenors.
| already have prima donna who is a
great favorite; but / have to cast her in
every production. would like to give
her rest now and then. If l could find
another one as good would pay her sal
airy and allow her to remain at home half
the time. And l would be glad to secure
one or two tenors, too. Why, do you know,
that the principal male part in one of the
successful comic operas now running in
this city, which was originally written for
tenor, is filled by baritone? Some of
the music has been transposed for him,
and some of it he sings as it was written.
The man has made hit in the part, but
if there had been good tenor in the COM
pany the baritone wouldn't have sung in
the opera. l can find lots of mezzo-so-
pranos and baritones, but no sopranos or
tenors. There's chance for clever people
In the chorus to show their ability"
STAGE NOTES.
Miss Adelaide Moore is goin to star next
season in a play called "The Love Story"
Major C. E. Rice's new venture. NC
Carthy's Mishaps," has made a hit at Phil
adelphia.
Colonel John A. McCaull has engaged
Geraldine Ulmar as his prima donna for
nextseason.
George S. Knight has not yet recovered
from his illness. He has been moved to
Ashbury Park, NJ.
Cora Tinnie has been offered the part
played by Helen Bancroft in Mrs. Potter's
"Antony and Cleopatra"