The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-06-19

and asked TO see her tongue she thrust it
out as If il had been the feeler Of snake.
and left the room calculating There"
The doctors diagnosis enabled him to GER
tify with the usual probity OF the medical
conscience, that the uvula was contracted,
together with the muscles Of the throat, and
that the tonsils were jphamed." All this
would have quoted public doubt, but Nine.
Gerster was indignant that anything should
be the matter with her, as specified by an
ass Of doctor. She insisted upon singing,
and so WELL tee, that no doubt tile public
wrote the doctor down as an ass also. On
another occasion when doctor was called
in and saw the tongue of fair invalid,
second lady, who was not under suspicion
of ill-health, thrust out her tongue also
while sweeping out Of the room, and he
charged fees for both and recovered thenI
Mile. Salla. soprano, and Mile. Anna de
Belocca, a Russian. were in Dublin under
engagement, and simultaneously tney en-
tered the finest suite of apartments in a
hotel. The prima dOnua asserted that she
had first choice as prma donna. The con-
tTaltO said there were only two prime
dOnne-moi ct Patti. The diplomacy was
TO please both. Mapleson got up mock
conversation with the landlord, within hear
ing of the rivals. The purpOrt was that the
suite OF rooms overhead were SUPERIOR but
that they had been engaged by the Countess
Spencer wife of the Lord Lieutenant Of
Ireland, and therefore in Erin the first lady
in the land The landlord led Mapleson
upstairs 10 see the rooms, all the while pro-
testing his inability to oblge. The MuscO-
wife followed stealthily and entering the
rooms took possession, declaring that the
wife of the Lord Lieutenant must be pro-
vided for elsewhere. She remained III
possession and all was peace.
Ravelli, the tenor, came TO Mapleson as
an eccentric gift in 1881. He was east for
Hungarian opera. The Renegade" and had
10 fight a duel with the barytOne in the
second act and be killed. This indgnity
mortified the tenor. 1t was true propriety
to kill the BARITONE, and he argued the
point unrelentlngly. He cried, screamed,
uttered Oaths, and at one time threatened to
kill with his dagger not only his natural
enemy, the baryt0ne, but every one around
him. i Will Kill them all, he shrieked."
Humoring played its part eventually. The
tenor consented to die, but he insisted upon
proper funeral. lie stipulated for six at
tendants to raise his cOTDse and bear ii TO
its last resting place in the wings. Maple
son did not CAFE whether the detected tenor
had a dozen or more at his ceTemOulOus
obsequies. and he readily yielded to his
dying requests. When the dread moment
OF the encounter was over, however, Ravelll
had TO lie on the stage an internationally
long time conscious, and he had not a WORD
to say about the ceremony Of interment. OF
course, after being killed he could not get
up and stalk off the stage with tenor trill
and gasping look.
Ravelli was otherwise queer product Of
the soaring voice. During an American
tour be had 10 appear in Carmen" and
according to the method of tenOrs he sent
word thTPe-QuaTterS Of an hour before the
curtain rose that he was hOTs de combat
Mapleson rushed to his hotel ami found him
in bed. III fact, he had SUNK under the
blankets and would answer nothing. The
impreSariO made grab for the bedclOthes
and the tenor turned on the other side say
ing, IalSSeZ mol dUrmlrI A dog called
Niagara seconded the motion by rushing at
the intruder. Get up" said MaplesOn.
Don't you understand that you are i'm
periling my enterprise by lying In bed and
refusing to sing when there is nothing the
matter with yOu?" Mapleson cajOled him
and got him up and dressed with the aid of
his wife, and then took him TO the piano and
listened 10 his singing. He was In capital
voice, but the whimsical artist ended the
Interview by turning 10 Niagara and asking,
Ought your master to sing p Tie dog
gr0wled and that settled it. Ravelll went
back to bed.
Oue other anecdote Of RavelIi is char
acteristlc Of the iealOusies of the stage. lie
was singing in Carmen" at Chicago in
1886 and was about TO strike high note,
which generally brought down the house,
when Carmen Mime. Hauk rushed for
ward aud embraced him. MapleS0n says
lie never could understand why. The tenor
was as enraged as a musician can be, and it
looked as if Minnie Hauk would be tossed
down among the hddleTs. She, however,
cung TO his red waiStcOat and he all the
time shouted, "LaiSseZ moi! LaisseZ mOi!"
The buttons all dropped off. the waistcOat
was open and the iniuriated tenor, in GEES
lures that needed no artfcality for en-
phasis rushed TO the fOotlights and shouted
out, "RegaTdeZ. ellie a dechire mon gilet.
Poor man. The audience thought the tear
ing open Of his waistc0at was part OF the
piece ard applauded both him and the
prIma donna yociferously. The distress Of
not catching his top note must have panied
RaYelli bitterly long afterward
DECAY MACKART.