The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-08-05
IN DENSE DARKNESS AT wAsH1NGroN
BEHIND TIE SCENES.
a Manager Tells What it is and Ought
to Be.
(CoDuridhted.)

New YORK, Aug. 3.-The American peo-
pie will apparently never outgrow its pet
delusions about that part of theater
which is known as behind the scenes.
and these delusions are many. Some peo-
pie, whose ideas are derived from reading
old books, fancy that the concealed por-
tions of the stage are filed up in regal
spleudor and crowded with the welI-dressed
admirers Of footlight favorites Others,
and these belong to that Sanctimonious
class to whom the theater is Gndthema
nldranatha, believe it to be an awful place
where orgy and riot prevail unceaslngly.
Others again imagine that it is sort of
home where there is any amount of ease
and comfort. All of these opinions have
some basis. Long ago actor and manager
wed with each other in making ''behind the
scenes' a headquarters for men about town.
The practice is extinct in all tirst-class
American and English places of amuse-
ment, but prevails to great extent upon
the continent and especially in France. In
many varlety-houses, particularly those
where the income from selling beer, whiskey
and cigars is larger than that from admis-
si0ns. 1t still exists. Beyond this are those
establishments, which though styled thea
ters, are nothing more or less than drinking
saloons in which the performers are bar
tenders, waters or advertising agents for
the management. These are an insult to
the profession and should in every vel
regulated mind be prohibited by law.
Among tir6t-clasS houses there is very
little difference in the management Of the
stage and the conduct Of players and theat-
rical employees. One rule is now univer
sally followed and il is that theater keep
ing is business to be run upon purely bus
iness principles.
There is a great difference, however, in
manners, depending partly upon the per-
formers but chiefly upon the manager.
Where the latter is a gentleman and
strict disciplinarian the behavior of the
people behind the scenes will be marked by
perfect order and courtesy. Where on the
other hand he is vulgar, noisy or prOfane
his subordinates improve upon the emam-
pie set them, and but too often convert
their house into a worthy rival Of Billings
gate. No better Illustration of the one type
can be found than in such houses as Days,
Palmer's and Frohmau s, where average
breeding ing equal to that in any parlor of
the metropolis. SO marked is this chara c.
teristIc that such places are practIca lily
schools If good manneaS where the un-
polished country girl and the half-bred city
youth are rapidly educated 1nto the lady
anu bLlD R5llUlGillhus III 70 tACtA SoSpo Ci bHo
highest standing. who have been members
of my company and are models Of deport
ment and social grace, began their career
uyon the boards without ever having worn
a train-dress or having seen set-dinner.
This clement Of fine manners has high pc
cuniary value. People must see good
breeding in the plays they witness. For
this reason every thoughtful manager
insists that his stage-director, his orchestra
leader, mis- door-keeper and his call boys
shall employ the same urbanitY when on
duty that ne does himself.
Discipline behind the scenes approaches
that Of military life. In the Union Square
Theater the system Is very simlpe, but is
carried out with the strictest precision. In
the first place, no outsider is allowed be-
hind the scenes. Besides being In rhe way
at critical moments, they disturb the atten-
tion Of the players and so to slight extent
iniure the finish of the play.
In ihe second place, every one employed
must be at his post. The fireman has his
place to stand in aud his route to cover.
The scene -shifters must be on hand and do
their work at the very second. The gas