The evening times., 1895-08-06
0PPENHEIMER'S.
5l4 9th NV.
HISTRIONIC ANECDOTES.

No actress could ever call up tears as
readily as could Adelaide Nelson Once
when she was playing opposite a Romeo
who was much of dandy and dressed his
part very well he could not imagine why his
beautiful blue satin waisecoat was all
stIeaked. Finally he discovered that Miss
Nelson always wept when her head reclined
on his shoulder and he was obliged to grimly
sacrifice his coat TO art
Vancauson. the celebrated mechanician,
who constructed duck that could walk
eat and drink and was all but nature itself,
was invited to make an asp that W ould prove
effective in the famous death scene OF Cleo
patIa. He produced a mechanical asp that
was marvel of ingenuity and which seemed
To be endowed withlife. When the ACTRESS
who had performed the part wretchedly,
was about TO Iaisa the snake to her bosom.
il IAN out its forksd tongue and hissed In
the midst of the dead silence OF expectancy
that Ial on the house man in the orchestra
remarked Ill very audible tones: II am OF
the same opinion as the seIpent!''
There were no stage furnishings of any
kind and no costumes until 1916, the year
U-Shakespeare u sdeath, so that he never wit
messed one of his own plays properly pre-
sented. The first scenery cons isted OF
drops" relied up and down on pulleys,
as we now handle awnings. Next came
FLATS" and wings" made By starching
canvas on frames and setting them in
grooves. Actors were then obliged to make
their entrance or exit phani onI- like through
the walls. 1t was not until 1870 that
Augustin DAILY introduced in New York
what is now called the box scene;"
that is, an enclosed room, with ceiling,
doors and windows giving it natural
appearance. In former days, thunder was
produced by a piece OF sheet iron. light
ming BY Lacapodian, and the sound of rain
BY the shaking of long, narrow box set
with pegs and filled with dried beans and
peas Nowadays the actor VINO rescues n
heroine from watery grave must BE- a
swimmer, as he piunges into sea of real
wafer amid the driving of a storm of real
water and Is blinded by the flashes of cleo
tricity, real lightning In olden times even
the pump was piece of painted canvas,
while now in such play as Blue Jeans"
real Sawmill is erected on the stage nd
the saw Gu Is through real board a I'd would
cut through the hero tied to the board were
he not rescued in the nick of time from the
teeth of the saw
About Sara Bernha rdt the following anus
ing incident is related: In Fedora"
when the curtain rises, Prince vladimir,
morally wounded lies in loom off the
stageseeI by the audience and Fedora rushes
in twice in wild anxiety TO see how
he is and again to fling herself in an agony
OF despair on the body OF her beloved. 1t
seems that tins aristocratic corpse is a most
coveted role III the play. AliSara sadmirers
beg To be the one wept over.
In the whole French drama there is not
SO desirable corpse. All sorts of
eminent persons write to Sara and offer
themselves to be wept over, and sara writes
back: Impossible for tonight or to-
morrow. the poet A is the corpse to-
night and Vjscnunt B. Tomorrow; but
you can have the third njgth. wire. and
don't BE- late" Her tears have dropped upon
the corpse of Jules Leniaitre, of the great
BlowitZ himself. Bauer, the dramatic critic
of the Echo de Paris. She likes weeping
over journalists; she has also tendresse
for poets. Jean Richepjn made lovely
corpse, and there was a celebrated DR..
PozZi who played the part with great effect.
Curiously enough women also greatly covet
this part. and there was young Austrian
peereSs who did the part to perfection, being
very particular nj bout her niustaches.