Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1889-03-15

GETTING a MAKEUP.
How Theatrical Managers secure Odd aud
Fcarfuiiy- Made Costumes.

| Aho" hhuastfs NttuTt Ouu huu
| Fcarfuliy- Made Costumes.
Clothes of course bought from i'm.
migrants or negroes are apt TO be dan
gerous. We have u place on the roof
where we boil these clothes and then
spread them in the sun TO dry. For
the last three months l have been
securing the city for an old-fashioned
Irish pedagogue's coat, and have not
succeeded il finding any thing near
what want. l have left no stone un-
turned and have even stationed man
In Castle Garden. As / want to use
1t In my next production am get
ting rather anxious about it. As gen.
eral thing when costuming the people
for my plays I go directly to the place
where the characters are to be found
in real life. All the co tunes used by
the Italians in "Waddy Googan" Ipur-
chased directly from Italians of "The
Bend" in Mulberry street. Castle Gar
den is, OF course, good place. And
then the secondhand clothes dealer
plays an important part as n costumer.
II is wonderful how rapidly these peo-
pie size up the value OF costume for
stage purposes Let some foreigners
come TO him with peculiar dress, and
he will instantly secure 1t.
have often followed u man or wom-
au around the city for hours until
favorable opportunity presented for
opening negotiations for the purcha SO
of their clothes. My persistency in
this respect often. gets me into very
queer scrapes. On my way to the the
ater every evening l used to met an
old Irishman with whose "make-up"
was greatly taken. | got in the habit
Of bowing to him and so struck up an
acquaintance. finally broached the
subject OF buying his clothes, but he
fatty refused TO sell his ''dacent
clothes" to "play actor" at any
price. / tried to soften this by
telling him that I was also the
manager OF the theater, and | pro-
posed that he should add TO his income
by doing some night work around tho
building. l was careful not to say
"theater," and "building" caught him.
had noted his peculiarities more care
fully at every meeting, particularly his
walk, which was beyond the power OF
initiation. Twas then rehearsing "Old
Lavender" and 1t was for this play / |
wanted his clothes. The character in
tended to wear them simply had to !
walk across the stage. The idea OF /
getting the old man on the stage,
clothes, walk and all, occurred to me,
and couldn't drive 1t out OF my head.
engaged h m ostensibly to work
around the theater in the evening, and
he was there punctually tho opening
night
l stationed a Imam in one OF the en-
frances where he could be seen, and
banding bag to the old fellow told
him to take II across TO the man on
the other side. As soon as the audi
ence caught sight of the ''make-up"
and the walk there was q roar OF
laughter. Our friend gave one startled
look ''out front" and then redoubled
his pace This made his peculiar walk
still more noticeable. He couldn't an.
derstand 1t at first, and was very in.
digant, but assured him that carrying
the bag across was part OF the work
he had contracted for. As the bag
wasn't very heavy, ho conclud ed that
IL was an easy job, and that he would
stick To it. Before the piece was taken
of he made me a present OF his old
Edward Harrigan.