Birmingham age-herald., 1894-11-23
 A PEEP BEHIND THE SCENES.


 THE PROGRAMME.
 A play witnessed from behind the pro- scenium is equally as interesting as one
 witnessed from gall9ry. balcony, parquet or even box, and tS see such a gorgeous Crook,' with its iscores of pretty coz arrangements, is sSmetbin ng~x derful.
 one thinks, and besdes>i1lt isn't really a
 treat to see it done it Almost.
 Springer & Welty's "Black Crook' com
 panys carries, besides company of sixty I people, half dozen stage hands, two car | penters and two property boys, whose duty | it is to contin ually get in the way so that the chorus girl in her hurry can yell: "Gee whiz, kid, can't you get out of the way once in Whilel'
 All of these stage hands and carpenters stand right inside the wings, and the minute the curtain goes down each one gets to his work, which is done quickly and so
 that it will stay, and is supposed to be done quietly, but they do make an awful lot of racket. Three men are aloft among a hundred lines, aud with work to be done that would make seaman seasick. The stage manager, Mir. West, is supposed to
 be everywhere at all times, and with his eye on everything, but most of the time he
 is at the tubes signaling the workmen aloft, giving orders to the stage carpenters and
 scene shifters, inquiring for actors in their dressing rooms andthe noisy set of chatter
 ing coryphees, so as to have everything to the letter, tor with single miscue a scene | is spoiled and the audience dissatisfied. An owl sets upon limb, and at each eye | is a man to make his eyes shine by manip- 1 ulating flash light and one to make his wings move. Then at each place where the | fires of the evil spirit burst forth there is a | man to manipulate the flash light. Then | the moving skeleton is another wonderful piece of mechanism, worked from aloft by half dozen strings and from each side by as many more. The job of banding | this bono orchard specimen is precious | one, and to keep the strings from tangling the manpulators have to keep their eyes open or break is made. The character changes by w. J. Mills arc done by means of wire at his back, which is manipu- | lated by himself. In the wonderful manIp- ulation of these wires he is able to change | himself from an old dirty looking man to a charming summer girl without the audi ence being able to detect his movements. ! Then there are the mountains and gorges l built in few minutes, and in few min- l utes more changed into something else. | Besides this are dozens of other things that are worked mechanically aud require tbe | utmost exactness in execution.
 l The young schoolgirl who longs for the | stage, and who thinks if she could only be | ap actress, would be surprised at the | amount of hard work that has to be done | by all ot the glrls. Jhey uon [ nave an
 easy time by any means. Twenty of these | girls have to change costumes during a | single performance, and every change l means that they have to rush up and down
 flight of narrow stairs, carrying armfuls of armor, other paraphernalia or property | for one of the stars, who waits to put it or {. | They have but little time left to sit just | inside the wings and every now and then
 steal @ peep at the audience. It's work | from the time The curtain goes up on the | first until 1t falls on the last act.
 1 The critic beyond the proscenium is a | newspaper man, but the company's critic | is the stage manager, and behind the scenes All eyes are upon him. He stands | just inside the wings and, so to speak |, | runs the show. He gives the signals points | out looseness of dress or anything that is
 wrong and, if such is necessary, does .he prompting.
 Yesterday afternoon two of the girls who did dance specialties at the conclusion of their parts fell in faint into the arms of members of the company standing just in- side the wings. In thess specialties they evoked considerable applause, and after swallowing a little water were Uack before the audience again, This very thing hnp- pened to R number of others whose parts