St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-11-16

the cast, and am rapidly growing gray
! in the service. In the big city theaters
| it is not so bad, but when we get on the
road am often in serious dilemma.
| The best dressing room chat is, the one
nearest the stage and SaOst convenient
| in every way, belongs to the leading
| lady. Then we take the cast in rotation,
two and two, according 10 the way the
names appear on the billS-not in the
play programme, but OH the big an
nouncement posters.
'tAnd, by the way, that is another of
my worries; the women are very tena
ciOuS OF the size OF type in which their
names are printed. The printing is all
done weeks beforehand. and is often
billed In forty places before the COM
pany starts out. To alter it is impossi-
BILE without great outlay OF money, but
have been pursued through an entire
route by the seedlings of an angry
young woman because her name APP
peared i'll letters quarter of an inch
smaller than those advertising some
other young women whom, it is reiter-
ated to me, L eau play all round.'
land then the dressing rooms. Per-
maps the second dressing room is box
lit only for one: then the third lady,
used 10 the second room, has to go into
the third room, and the whole line is
broken and my life is scarcely worth
living. | was out with company last
spring which had wide route; we
took in Arizona. and out in TuScOn
struck theater with one small dressing
room. The leading lady had to have
that alone, according TO contract, and
there was nothing left for the others;
they dressed all over the wings, behind
anything they could find-it was lively
night for me. l don't think | ever be-
fore realized quite how fluent a woman's
tongue can become. Eve heard of riv-
erS of talk, but this was a Niagara at
east"
And while OH things theatrical, the
views of an actress on farce comedies
are not uninteresting. "They are much
more eXacting than legitimate drama,"
she says, although they appear so
tlimSy and tritiing. There is no plot
and consequently no roles worth speak
ing of. A thread of a part is given to
you. and out OF this you are Expected
to evolve an opportunity to distinguish
yourself-in a word, you must write
your own part and work out your own
business. This wouldn't be so hard
but for the difficulty of steering clear of
the stars effects. The star wants the
earth. is always on the stage, and is
jealous of every hand the other people
get. The pains some of them take to
throw out your chance are worthy of a
better cause. They'll perhaps lead 20 Ii
way up the stage at the critical moment,
and then it is one of the most difficult
pieces of stage business to get easily
back to the front, or do something
equally dampening.
And it is little use to resent it. Not
long ago, right here on one of the New
York boards, one of the girls in pOpu-
lar company got too many encOreS to
suit the star, and her specially, "a charm
ing little drinking song, was cut. She
wouldn't accept the cut, said she was
engaged to sing. and sing she would.
And at night, when the moment ar
rived that she had been accustomed to
Introduce her song, she stepped forward
and began it without music or the usual
dialogue preamble. The business of
the scene was going right on, but she
interrupted it, and the players after
moment stopped to let her sing. She
had sung through verse and got a
tremendous encore before the orchestra
rallied enough or dared to strike in;
then it did to save the audience from
discovering any trouble.
"She had never sung better, and the
house gave her a second encore, and
she could have taken another, but didn't.
mat nlgnG she handed In her reSlgna-
ton, fOrestalling dismissal, which she
knew was sure, for the star was also
manager of the company.
But not many care to lose their
places in this way in the middle of the
season. So there it is. If you're clever
there'll be jealousies and annoyances,
and if you don't show that you're clever
why you're not wanted a second sea-
son, which is why the farce-comedy
branch of the profession is peculiarly
trying"