Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-10-25
wheh / old ner la thev ALWAYS 80

when told ner rlat they ALWAYS gave A
supe two or three extra tickets for his
family she said the theater had some re-
deeming ea'ures, and when | said nv
entrance upon the stage would give me
a splendid opportunity to get the recipe
for face powder from the actresses for
Ma and | could find out how the ac-
tresses managed to get No q feet into
No. shoes Ma said she wished Iwould
commerce suping right off. Ma saws
there are some bad things about the the
alter that are not so all fred bad. and she
wants me to get seats for the first comic
opera Il at comes along.
PA wants it understood with the
manager tina supe'S father has
night to 20 behind the scenes to see that
no harm befalls him, but l know what
pa wants. He may seem pious and all
that, but he likes to look at ballet girls
better than any meek and lowly follow
er ever see, and some day you will hear
music II the air. Pa thinks theaters are
very bad when he has to pay ST. for
| reserved seat, but when he can get in
for nothing as a relative of one of the
'pertesl' the theater has many redeem
| ing qualities. Pa and Ma think l am
going into business fresh and green. but
l know all about it. When l played
| with Mccullough here once
''Oh, what are you giving u.s. said the
grocery man in disgust, when You
| played with McCullough! What did
you do"
What did do? Why, you old seed
cucum Der, the whole play centered
around me. Do you remember the scene
| in the Roman forum where Mccullough
addressed the populace Of Rome? | was
the populace. Don't you remember a
small Teller standing in front of the
! Roman orator taking itin, with night
! shirt on, with bare legs and arms? That
was m, and everything depended on me.
! Suppose had gone OFF the stage at the
| critical moment or laughed when |
should have looked fierce at the inspired
words Of the Roman senator. 1t would
have been a dead give away on McCUl-
loug2A As the populace Of Rome | CON
slider myself glittering success, and
Mac took me by the hand when they car
ried C;esar's dead body out, and he said,
Us three did ourselves proud Such
praise from Mccullough is seldom ac-
corded to a supe. But l don't consider
the populace of the imperial city OF
Rome my masterpiece.
wv mere l excel is in coming out be-
fore the curtain between the acts and
unlocking the carpet. Some supes go
out and turn their backs to the audi
ence, showing patches on their pants,
and rip up the carpet with no style about
them, and the dust flies, and the boys
yell 'supe, and the supe gets nervous
and forgets his cue and goes off tum-
bling over the carpet, and the orchestra
leader is afraid the supe will fail on him.
But l go out with a quiet dignity that Is
only gained by experience, and l take
hold f the carpet the way Hamlet takes
up the skull of Yorick, and the audi
ence Is paralyzed | kneel down on the
carpet to unhool, it in a devotional sort
of Il way that makes the audience bow
their heads as though they were in
church, and before they realize that
am only supe l have the carpet I'M
hooked and march out the way 'Pisco-
pal minister does when he goes out be
tween the acts at church to change Ii
shirt They never guy me, cause l act
well my part. But l kick on holding
dogs for actresses.
Some supes think they are made il
! they can hold dog, but l have an am
bition that pug dog will not fill.