San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-06-23
ACTORS FLAT.
Life of the Moderate sslsried sctor
and Actress.

ISEuuSe against youj YOU Will hht
yourself before many days Lave
passed an occupant OF Actors Flat.
Unless you are an old stager In
hotel life and fully understand the
significance OF this term you will
eagerly jump at the apparently
generous proposition to take NJ
your abode there.
The Flat is usually situated
on the first floor, (from the roof,
and in some remote corner OF the
building where the discordant
sounds which nightly comes from
liz can not reach the ears OF the
other boarders.
1t is a little world in itself aud
makes a very useful study to any
one interested in show people, but
a very disagreeable one to those
who are not.
1t is here we see the popular
actor or actress OF the day not 8
they appear to the public behind
the glare Of the footlights, but as
they really are.
The latter may not appear so
romantic as the former, but it's g
deal more interesting and the hap
penings OF day are numerous.
You enter the Flat at 5 o'clock
in the evening when silence has
reigned supreme all day. You now
find full fledged rehearsal gong
on.
At one end of the hall you hear
some shrill voiced female who Is
down on the bill as prims donna
practicing her great success,
"Throw him down, McClosky."
On one side you hear some one
saving on violin and on the other
the ping pang Of q banjo.
Then all at once you hear a
sound that makes your blood run
cold and thinking that it is the
sound Of GabriePs trumpet,you are
just about to offer up last prayer
when you are informed by some
one who has just come up stairs
that it is simply the hotel proprie.
tor, trying to play the cornet.
Suddenly door opens near you
and a yellow headed soubrette calls
out to some one in the next room,
"Say /! Maggie, lend me your curl
ing iron mines busted )" but Mag.
gle is not prepared to negotiate Q
loan Ego chase yourself, Pm using
1t myself" Is her reply.
At 6 o'clock every thing is quiet
again. All are ready for the eve
ning's performance and have gone
down to supper.
At IL o'clock they begin return
ing from the theatre, and the bell
boys are kept busy for the next
two hours running after beer
and sandwiches.
You can then see the show peo-
pie, with the doors Of their rooms
wide open, sitting on chairs, beds,
trunks, or anything available,
swapping stories, or telling about
their latest conquests.
They make enough noise to set
the ordinary boarders crazy, and
keep them awake half the night.
One evening, not many months
since, while a prominent opera COM
pany was in the city, the writer was
lying in bed, trying to read, when
the following conversation, carried
on by two Of its members, floated
over the transom:
~ tell you / ordered a bath
first" / say you didn't. / spoke to
the clerk this afternoon. You make
me SICK" "You give me a pain"
"Well 60 take your bath, you old
stingy thing"
There was the sound Of depart
ing footsteps as the bell boy es-
corted one of the females down the
stairs, then of a heated discussion
on the floor below, and finally Of
the same woman coming up the
stairs again, muttering to herself,
twenty-five cents? Twenty-Five
cents indeed, why I'd rather take a
bath in a wash basin than pay this
old hotel twenty-five cents or even
one cent. Here Minnie,g go take your
old bath, l amt going to pay no
quarter"
Minnie went down the stairs,
saying something decidedly abo Ye
a whisper about these cheap people
making her sick.
About noon upon going to the
door Of a room occupied by a couple
Of we'll known dramatic people
you are just about to knock fol
admittance when you hear q voice
calling out inside 60-57-49.
Thinking that perhaps they have
just been paid off and are busy
counting their money, you natur
ally hesitate about intruding.
But upon inquiring OF a bell boy
who at this moment makes his ap.
pearance you learn that the parties
in question are merely playing {
game of keno.
Here the door is thrown sudden
= ly open from the opposite side o
the hall and out rushes Oberta
known on the bill as Chico, yellinl
"fire save mew at the top OF hi
voice.
When we had succeeded II
! putting out the fire and after car