The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1894-07-18
ACTORS AND HOODOOS
WOE TO A PLAY WHOSE FIRST NIGHT
SEES A YELLOW .FLAGEoLET.

The In Itself Harmless Instrument Exer-
cises Peculiar Fatality when In n The
ter Orchestra Mt n Dress Rehearsal or
at the Initial Performance.
"That play can never succeed" said an
old time manager in an up town cafe sew
eral nights ago. at Is a pity, too, for lisa
good play and a good company. wish
that had not seen the dress rehearsal"
"You're getting old, colonel, and you
only see success In the past, said leading
man.
s''That is where you are wrong" replied
the manager. II know q good thing when
see it, and this play is good thing, but
1t began with hoodoo, and 1t will surely
fall
"Hoodoos arc tommyrotl There is nc
such thing as hoodoo that can harm any
play"
Around the table were half n dozen actors
and men interested in theatrical affairs
Few men in New York know more about
the history of the American stage for the
past few yearsthan the manager who spoke
/ Booth, Jefferson, Barrett and Irving have
all claimed him as their friend, and his
"reminiscences Of the stage make him the
ling Of actors,
| Nov, colonel" said the leading man when
the glasses had been filled, you were talk
ing about hoodoos on the stage. don't
believe in them. When play Is a failure,
it is easy to explain it by saying 1t had a
hoodoon ..=.. ... ".-
well" said the colonel, factors the
world over are superstitious lot, Even
Henry Irving brought his horseshoe to this
country when he first came here. l didn't
believe in hoodoos and thnt sort of thing
when l was young. don't like to accept
them now, but am forced to by expert
ence. ..m-.
| Have you ever known the yellow flageo-
let to fail in wrecking a play2 Now, you
laugh at that. think that, as u rule, there
is no harm in yellow fageolet in itself,
but there is n peculiar fatality in the cir
cumstances that bring it into n theater or,
chestra at a dress rehearsal or on an open.
ing night. There was a yellow hageolet
! in the orchestra today. and that is why
say that the piece is doomed. Yes that's
right; laugh if you will, but my experience
Is long one, and think am a sane man.
Any old manager In this country will tell
you that yellow flageolet is sure to wreck
any company. Circus men won't have them
In their bands. could tell you many in.
cidents to illustrate what / say. Perhaps
you remember that when The Junior Part.
ner' was put on, every one said IL was go
ing to be a big success. Everything point
ed that way, but it opened with a yellow
flageolet In the orchestra, and then Mrs
Mckee Rsnkin's troubles began. That i
a fact. | have known stage managers, and
sensible men, too, who would refuse to ring
Al. l..
was driven out of the orchestra"
"That is just MS absurd" said the light
comedy man, "as the cheese that the Ital
ian ballet girls in the Crystal Slipper KEEP
\ In their dressing rooms. know the effcc
> of that mascot, for was In the company
Every time went on the stage or near til,
dressing rooms thought of Hunters Poin
and the gashouse district. Couldn't per
suade those girls to throw away this cheese
They believed that us long as they kept il
, they would be sure Of an engagement Tn
cheese had been given to them in Italy t,
Protect them from harm. Each girl had
small piece of it-loud cheese it was, too
rolled up IL paper in her trunk, To be sur
, Of protection they took Il e their dressin.
,yeoms. Eddie Foy nearly choked becaus
OF the smell of that cheese. Eddie neve
8 did like comic opera, and that cheese set
8 tied him. :. could only show them what
could do in Daly'v company be would say
and escape from this horrible Italian
cheese Pm too delicate for this work an,
. way. Just wait until get into the "legit'
and wear swallow tails and smoke olga
rettes on the stage and pull my cuffs.
Q Now, colonel, speaking ABOUT the hoodoos
e that is my experience with n mascot"
u "For some reason, said the leading man
!. factors are naturally supersttious. Per
:. haps it is because their life is one of man,
ventures, and sometimes the most insig
niflcant thing may lead to failure or sue
cess. Probably good deal of the super
stition is assumed. Most people have
: dash Of thnt in them whether they will ad
nit il or not. Do you remember wheI
Rose Coghlan made her hit at Wallack's il
Diplomacy rs the Countess Zicka' A
you remember, the plot of this play hang
on tho perfume that the countess uses
Rose Coghlan used certain perfume oi
that night, aud she made big hit hav
heard that she always uses this perfum
now, no matter what the play may be. o
course 1t is only woman's fancy, and ye
! have heard that Miss Coghlan woul
=. rather lose her wardrobe than her pei
o fume, Patti also has u similar fad. Whe
she made her first great hit, she wore
pair Of shoes Of peculiar pattern. Patt
wears In her concerts now shoes made o
this Identical last and of the same pattern
She believes they bring her luck, and az
parently they have done so. Yes, stag
5 folk are q bit superstitious. uprobabl
have all seen would be funny men throw
d of the stage Mt rehearsal for quoting som
Z Of the hoodoo passages in Macbeth.
II where Is very little or no connection,
said the colonel, between these little 70
bles ami splrltualism, but the conyersatio
suggests 1t, You would all probably |
: surprised to know the number of we
known actors who believe in spiritualisu
Billy Florence was q spiritualist, althoug
: few people knew II, ! knew him as int
mately IA any one, ard he has often talke
about his belief to me- BARLEY Campbe
., was another, and 30 is McVicker of Oh
oago, Ada tpaaes Menken is now simply
TO name TO you youngsters. She was clev,
woman, ~ we'll rs very beautiful woman
Y The elder Dumas and many other men
letters were among her friends. She wro
two volumes OF verse, which, she claim
were inspired by the spirits. These vers
80, consisted Of musical lines Of varying lenstl
I and they attracted some attention. Pm II,
n n spiritualist, but | am firm believer
hoodoos and occasionally In mascots. Let
have nishtcap. New York sun
l Ri pwarfs In Russia.
In the time of Peter there wero no gre
writers or artists among the Russians, b
. court testers and dwarfs were highly c
as teemed. Learning did not count for mu,
IN except among the clergy, but the gre