Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1892-10-16
Dnnlan's Staos Mrs.

u
she is haunted and her unwilling foot
steps are logged by some other woman's
base lord. This point creating the dif-
ference, that when the husband does
not belong TO the actress he taxes
boxes, and when the actress belongs TO
the husband he gives them-sometimes
to the manager. The alien husband is
a constant source of revenue; the con-
ventional husband Isl perennial danger
to the peace OF the theater. The form
er enhances the value OF q leading lady;
the latter is check upon the enthus-
iasim of admirers Of her talent, "a
damper to the zeal of her stage lover,
and disturbing element In her tenure
of the peace of mind that is essential TO
artistic work. Ii she have lover, he Is
an even more perplexing item In the
calculations OF manager. and IL may
be roughly said that his value as an APP
purtenance is In inverse proportion
to his value as man. A lover whose
intentions are all that the most exact
ing mother could desire, is rather a
drawback than an advantage, from the
managerial point OF view He Is rather
worse than husband In his regularity
OF attendance at the stage door, and his
prejudice against supper parties and
that form OF critical approval which
crystalizes itself In diamonds; he saves
up his money to buy chairs and tables
for the home that the leading lady is to
occupy, instead of passing 1t through
the box Office in payment fer seating
accommodation of more ephemeral ten
ure; it is his selfish ambition to obtain
for the adornment Of an obscure fat the
beauty and grace that the manager
considers TO be meant for mankind.
In word, he is as dangerous to long
run as the influenza, and as malevolent
in his schemes OF annexation as a rival
manager.
Another appurtenance, the most COM
mon and the most troublesome OF all,
IS the mother who fills In the ex-
perlence OF the theatrical manager the
place which is allotted In humorous lit
erature TO the mother-in-law. This
lady starts in business with belief In
the superiority of her daughter to all
other actresses past and present. a
rooted conviction that her personal
care is an indispensable element in the
success OF her offspring, ADD pro-
nounced suspicion that all the branches
OF management are leag ued together TO
bully and defraud the actress, and oil
the other players are jealousy eager to
spoil her finest scenes. When the play
Is once started on successful run, her
capacity for making tronble Is lessened,
though she Is always liable 10 as
sert herself by threatening TO deprive
the theatre OF its leading lady
at moments notice, but in
the weary period Of rehearsal she
constitutes herself greater temptation
to manslaughter than even a stage car
penter at pantomine time. She will
argue with the manager about the fur
niture OF a dressing room; with the
stage manager about the arrangement
OF a final tableau, and with the COM
poser about the scoring OF his pet melo-
dies. About twice day she comes TO
an unalterable determination that her
poor child shall throw up the part and
20 home, and at least six times during
rehearsal she shakes the dust OF the
theatre of her feet and promises 10
take immediate departure. BY the
time the first night has come II Is the
general opinion OF everyone excepting
the leading lady, that slow boiling in
oil would be too merciful for her. But
she survives. and when the curtain has
fallen and calls have been taken, drives
away with her dear Alice IN the COM
Portable assurance that she has had at
least as much share In the success Of
the piece as the authors.
Last in the list OF appnrtenances come
those Of whom the management know
little, and the public nothing at all.
They are not interesting, because they
afford no basis for scandal, and their
possession better becomes the actress
than pearls Of great price. But there
are such things as small children that
live dainty in neat little Harlem homes,
clothed and fed by the toll Of brave
little woman on the stage. Sometimes
their curly heads peep over the front OF
a box; more often they are sedulously
kept away from the theatre, and never
know that their mother discards petit
coats In the sight of man that their soft
little bodies may be the more warmly
clad. One hears, too, Of an invalid hus-
band who is worked for and petted. and
is never permitted to know that he Is a
failure and an encumbrance. being en-
comprised with coil Of tender persua-
sion that labor is pleasant when done for
him, and that life would not be hall
so dear II it lacked an object for self
sacrifice. And there is yet another
kind of husband who is the most ruin
Gus Of all appurtenances, less costly be.
cause he drains the actress purse than
because he takes from ner the Joy OF
living and the pride of success, hin.
drance to the work Of the present. ADD
bar tc hopes of rest and piece and
happiness in the future. When such
an appnrtenance turks In the back
ground of an actress life-a sham bling
drunken. pitiful figure. unthankfuI foI
| the love that shelters him. insensible K
tears and prayers-she is Q woman. 4
be sorry for. And when we see
keeping brave face to the world
hiding her sore. heart under smi