Evening journal., 1894-11-08
PLAYING A STRANGE PART.
An Actors Experience as the Hind Legs Of
IA Property Elephant.

an ACTORS LNEerlouee as the A14nd Legs OF
IA Property Elephant.
tone of my strangest and most uncom-
Portable experiences, sir, was being the
hind legs of an elephantp' says an actor
in Cassell's journal. "I'd gone out to
Australia, like many other young fellows
do, or rather did few years ago, with
the fixed idea OF making my fortune.
Needless TO remark, / failed dismally, and
soon lost the little money 1 did possess. /
had been well educated and tried one
thing after another, with the invariable
result that every market seemed over
stocked. AS a last resource went around
to the theaters to try to get a job. At
one / was successful, being told that 'one
of the chaps was Ill, and the boss in a roar
ing temper | made my way round and
arrived in time 10 hear the aforesaid boss
remark somewhat loudly and in scarcely
polite language:
What does the "hind legs mean by
being lip His business IS to be ihind
legs, and II no doesn't turn mp tonight
he WON'T have another job in my theater
Irather timidly approached and asked il
] could perhaps supply the missing mans
place well, young man, if you'll come
and be s'hind legs of an elephant, you
can; il not, clear out the pays 10 bob
week. The outlook was not cheering,
but was too hungry to be proud, SO 1 an
sweEed that / had no knowledge of the
duties Of hind legs, but / would do my
best and hoped that few rehearsals
would perfect mo. l followed the front
legs, who had been a witness of this in
teryiew, and was quickly set to work.
First, ] had to put on pair of large, loose,
dirty brown looking trousers, with the
cardboard feet attached. They were kept
on by straps over my shoulders.
1.-THE front legs attired himself in a
similar garment. Then we both stopped
down to about half our height, and a
large, dirty brown covering was drawn
over us to form the body, to which the
head, ETC., was attached. The cord work
ing the trunk was given into front legs
keeping, while i was accommodated with
that appended to the tail. At first it was
most difficult to arrange our strides prop
erly, and we commenced by the front legs
making up his mind to take a walking
tour by himself, poor hind legs descend
ing into little jog trot gallop to keep
anywhere near. Then we found the posi-
lions reversed, and was told to stop trip
ping UP them front legs. At last we were
fairly perfect, and were released with ach-
ing heads and stiff backs till the evening
performance. was naturally pretty pune
tual for the first time, but when the cry,
sthe stage waits for the elephant, was
heard no front legs was there, The man
ager was furious, and the audience impa-
tient, when Mt last my other half was dis
covered in the bar only getting a drink.
He was promptly hauled along, but the
walk Of that elephant was decidedly Gu
rious during the evening. However, we
managed to get along somehow, but /
wasn't sorry when my week came to an
end, and, taking into consideration the
discomfort of head and backache the de-
cidedly unelean condition Of the skin,
and the long hours spent in rehearsals and
performances / don't think / ever took a
more hardly earned 10 shillings."