Los Angeles herald., 1891-07-19

stately women whom you admired from
the front are transformed into a mob of
chattering, giggling, gossiping, laugh
ing, noisy girls Of the noislest sort. You
wonder why on earth all this noise isn't
heard by the audience, and how any or
der is ever brought out of such chaos.
The "extra ladies'" are not imported,
but are generally picked up in the city,
and they are about the friskiest and
most conventional and unconventional
lot of girls you have ever seen. They
heep up continual and endless noise
and chatter. They are up to all sorts of
tricks, and though there is only one hu-
man being they are afraid of-the stage
manager-they make his life a burden,
and he often wishes he never was born.
They stand around in pink tights, dis
cuss your appearance and dress with the
greatest frankness, wonder where the
dude came from; if you're anybody's
Johnny; if your mamma knows you
amt in bed; throw mocking kisses at
you and then run away; remark, "ah
there!" as they passed you in the wings !;
pretend to quarrel as to whose mash you
are, and make you a source of innocent
merriment in general. But there is no
harm in them. They are Just lot of
pretty girls, brimful of mischief and an
imal spirits, and while they delight in
slang, you don't hear a vulgar or inn
proper word spoken. They are quite af-
fable and not at all exclusive, and if you
know how to approach them properly,
you may even induce one OF them to go
to supper with you, and if she does, the
magnificent creature will order the most
expensive dishes on the bill with a
careless ease which will paralyze
you. But, here in the NOV
ing crowd of picturesque figures is
| little group OF French and Italian dam
seusses and coryphees jabbering to-
gether in their native tongues. They
are evidently kicking at somebody or
something judging from their angry ges-
lures. The chances are it is the stage
manager. In and out through all the
groups the principals stroll about wait
ing for their cues. The principals are
the actors and actresses who take i'm
portant characters in the performance.
They do not deign to notice the ''ladies
and gentlemen of the chorus" the
dancers, or the pantomimists. You
can tell at glance from the dignity of
manner OF principal that he is some
body in particular. They converse
afably with each other, and they are
pleasant and amiable to you, when they
| find the manager is your friend, but the
lines of caste are. closely drawn behind
the scenes.
There is only one man-except the
manager OF the company-who can
compel order out of all this noisy chaos
behind the scenes, and that is the stage
manager, and this man is a character.
The ballet girl, who inspires the average
young man in the front of the house
with such kindly sentiments, awakens
no such emotions in the business-like
busom CT the stage manager. For be-
tween him and these gentle creatures
wages an irrepressible conflict. He Is
everywhere at once, shouting orders to
| half dozen different people at a
time; he stands in the wings with one
eye on the performers on the STAGE. the
other eve up in the fly gallery watching
the working of the calciums and border
Irishman might say-severely laying
for the. skylarking girls behind the
scenes. The first thing requisite for a
good stage manager, in spectacular
show like the one you are witnessing,
is to make himself feared and
detested by the girls OF the chorus.
And the deadly hatred the girls feel for
their esteemed chief is beautiful to be-
hold. If you watch the stage manager
for fifteen minutes, and see what he has
to do to keep the performance going
straight, and his exasperating trials to
keep the playful girls from breaking all
bounds, you will not wonder that he
seems to be in continual state of pro-
family and perspiration. You don't see
it from the front, but when there is an
ensemble on the stage, he stands
in the first entrance one
side, an assistant on the
other, and if the scene goes so beauti-
fully smooth to the audience it is be-
cause these two long suffering men
mutter anathemas and commands to the
girls on the stage and gesticulate with
such violence that they look like pair
OF wild men. Fortunately they are con-
cealed from the audiences view.
But if you ever go behind the scenes
when big spectacle is on. the boards,
with 100 people to be disciplined, you
will have greater respect for theatrical
managers, sympathy for their trials
and tribulations and better knowledge
of what Horace Greeley used to call the
"cussedness" of those dainty and deli
cate fairies in tights. who have 30 often
captured your affections, than you ever
had before. E. W. M.
NOTES.
T. Charles Davis will put out COM
pany of midgets which he will call the
American Lilliputians, next season.
A farce-comedy called Hades and the
400, will be seen on this coast during
the winter season, providing it lives to
get here.
A new theater is to be built in Chi
cago. 1t is to have no proscenium boxes,
but the entire parquet will be filled with
elegant movable chairs and sofas.
William T. Gilmore, of the Central
theater, Philadelphia, will be in the city
this week with his Twelve Temptations
company. He is on pleasure trip to
this coast.
August 10Th, Theodore Thomas will
move his big orchestra from New York
to Chicago, which will be its permanent
home. He is to receive $50, 600 peryear
for locating there.
Treasurer Mansfield, of the opera
house, has completed one-act curtain
raiser, the scene of which is laid in this
city. The Owls may produce it at their
next performance.
/ Richard Mansfield has been booked
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