The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-01-04
PLAYING A STRANGE PART.
An Actors Experience as the Hind Legs Of
n ProncrtN Elenhnnt

y q
Property Elephant.
Zone of my strangest and most uncom-
Portable experiences, sir, was being the
hind legs of an elephant - says an motor
in Cassells journal. ard gone out 10
Australia, like many other young fellows
do, or rather did few years ago, with
tho fixed idea Of making my fortune
Needless to remark, / failed dismally, and
soon lost the little money | did possess.
had been well educated and tried one
thing after another, with the inyariable
result that every market seemed over
stocked. As n last resource / went around
to the theaters to try TO get job. At
one | was successful. being told that zone
Of the chaps was i'll, and the boss In roar
ing temper made my way round and
arrived in time to hear the aforesaid boss
remark somewhat loudly and in scarcely
polite languages
"'what does the "hind legs" mean by
being illP His business IL to be "hind
legs" and il he doesn't turn up tonight
he won't have another job in my theaterp
| rather timidly approached and asked II
could perhaps supply the missing mans
place We'll, young man, n you'll come
and be "hind legs of an elephant, you
can; II not, clear out; the pays 10 bob "a
week. The outlook was not cheering
but was too hungry to be proud, so an
swered that l had no knowledge of the
duties of hind legs, but I would do my
best and hoped that few rehearsals
would perfect me. | followed the front
legs, who had been witness Of this in
terview, 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.
"The front legs attired himself in
similar garment. Then we both stopped
down to about half our height, and
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 was accommodated with
that appended to the tail. At first it was
most difficult to arrange our strides prop
crly, and we commenced by the front legs
making up his mind to take walking
tour by himself, poor hind legs descend
ing into a Sttle jog trot gallop to keep
anywhere near. Then we found the posi-
tions 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,
the stage waits for the elephant was
heard no front legs was there. The man
ager was furious, and the audience impa-
tient. when at last my other half was dis
covered In the bar only getting 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 unclean condition Of the skin
and the long hours spent in rehearsals and
performances, | don't think ever took
more hardly earned 10 shillings"