Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-06-18

II
solemn counteuance of Kemble bent
toward the pit with calm attention, and
| the simulated sympathy OF John Pal
mer caused him to bow with graceful
ambiguity: Mrs. Siddons ceased to re-
neat her lines and preserved a queen
! like repose, Miss Farren looked toward
her fashionable friends in the boxes for
svmpathy, and Mrs. John Jordan watch
ed for the first signs OF returning peace
| TO break into her infectious laugh ana
begin the action OF her part WINE
| Garrick was manager he introduced the
! modern footlight system, French In
vention previously unknown In Eng
land. Before that the light was thrown
upon the stage from brass chandeliers
hung from the proscenium.
The third Drury Lane Theatre was
designed by Holland and opened on
April 21, 1894, neatly three years after
the old house closed. John Kemole was
manager and the inaugural play mac
beth" Several innovations were notice
able in this production of Shakespeare's
play. The ghost OF BanQuo did not ap-
pear in person, an idea adopted In our
own day by the late tragedian, Barry
Sullivan, and Charles Kem6le made his
professional debut. The new theatre
cost goo. OOO- The seating capacity
was 3,611. In length it measured $50
feet and in width 155 feet, the height
being 11S feet. The proscenium
was SO feet high and 45 feet wide.
The receipts of full house, without
deadheads, reached e771. John KEN
BILE spoke the prologue, written by Gen.
| Fitzpatrick, and Miss Farren gave tue
epilogue, by George Colman, Jr. She
said the audience need not fear fire, as
! An iron curtain could be lowered at an
! instant's notice, to cut off the stage
from the pit, and further, that there
was water enough to drown them all.
| The curtain was raised and boatman
was seen rowing to and fro In an i'm
mense tank. This Drury Lane was
called the Apollo Theatre, because Of
the statue on its roof, but its existence
was brief, fire completely destroying it
on February cath, 1909, Friday
| in Lent On account OF the
season no performances had been
held in the theatre for week pre-
yious, the Wanted water tank was
empty, and when they tried to pull
down the iron curtain IL would not
bulge an inch. The chief owner at
this time was Richard Brinsley Sheri-
| dan. He was In the House OF Com
mons when the news arrived, and as the
blaze from the doomed theatre Redeemed
the windows of the Parliament houses
a motion was made to adjourn out OF
mpathy for the loss sustained by so
| distinguished a member. "No," said
Sheridan, ''let the business OF the ma
ton go on" Accompanied by Lord
Mountjoy aud the Duke OF York, Sheri-
dan entered the Piazza Coffee House,
right opposite the burning theatre,
and, though ruin stared him in
the face, jokingly remarked to
| his companions: ''Why can't
man have a glass of wine by his own
! 1reside?" The fire was supposed to
have been the work Of an incendiary,
for an epidemic of fires had prevailed in
public buildings for some weeks previ-
Gus. Before speaking Of the fourth and
present Drury Lane Theatre, | will re-
count few anecdotes Of the second and
third houses.
Betterton, Garrick, Macklin, John
| and Charles Kemble, j. B. Booth, Jack
and Charles Bannister, Edmund, Kean,
John Palmer, MacreadY, Nell Gwynn,
/ Mrs. SiddoAs, Kitty Give, Miss Farren,
Mrs. Jordan and Mrs. Crouch all played
| time and again to appreciative audien-
ces, and Braham, the illustrious tenor,
first appeared in public at Drury Lane.
| Michael Kelly, the great Irish singer,
and composer, won his lsurels there in
| 1887 in Love in a Village" On Janu-
ary Is, 176S, "Bluebeard," with music
by Kelly, and libretto by George Col
| man, the Younger, was produced with
great eclat Kelly acted the part OF
the virtuous Selim, who at the end OF
the piece Stays the wicked Buebeard.
When the slain tyrant sinks beneath
the stage q skeleton arises, which, after
horrifying the audience, is supposed to
| instantly disappear. Well, Bluebeard
went down to shoel and up came the
skeleton in due course, but once up 1t
stuck there and couldn't be induced to
90 back again. Selim forgot where he
was, rushed up to the skeleton with
drawn sword, slashed at it vigorously
and shouted, "Go down, d you;
why don't you go DOWN." and the cur
| tain descended amid tumultuous roar
Of laughter.
In 1902 Kelly and Baenister played
together in "a House to Be Sold,
play with q supper scene, where a fowl
! is eaten upon the stage. Bannister told
Kelly he would find 1t impossible to
swallow bit. He laughed at the warn
| ing, but when the scene came on he
found himself in the prophesied predc-
ament, while Bannister and Suett,
practiced stage eaters, laughed at him
across the table. January /, 1901, Ke-
| ly and John Palmer were engaged in
the battle scene in the "Siege OF Bel
grade" when Kelly, In the heat OF the
cont bat, gave his antagonist an
tagonist all ugly cut on the forehead.
Hollands Theatre 1.-THE third Drury
! Lane) opened one Of its seasons on the
first Friday in Lent strangely enough
ii was destroyed, as have said upon
another Lenten friday with a sacred
| oraterio. The orchestra, fixed mp to
represent the interior of q Gothic ca
| thedral, produced q sublime effect, The
day before the opening Kemble was
waiting dinner for Sheridan, who had
promised to come, and in the space Of
| about ten minutes John Palmer saw
him commit to memory the entire pro-
lygue of fifty lines. Kemble told him
that within four days he wager to re-
peat by rote every word In daily
newspaper, lads" and all. from the first
column to the last.
Seldom has macbeth" been perform
ed With Snnh a cast "a that OF March q,