The morning times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1897, 1896-09-20
Ada Rehan Placed in an Embarrassing Position By
Curtain that Was Missing.
JENNIE UNEILL POTTER'S SCENE SPOILED
The Curtain the Most Expensive Part of a Theater
and Managers Must Preserve It.


broiclerr from yuu. yoI rush to the window
| "SutiIg the action of the word. Miss
| Rehar gave Il great. glad bound towards
| Herbert. There was a suhducd snap.
! Mis- Rchau came to Il standsthl with an
| asonized expression on her face. There
| WAS silence, broken Gully by the fall Of a
pearl button.
Lover the curtain erred the heroine.
Can't 10 it, mum, the curtain is of
gettiu' brushed
e Then let the gentlemen retire to the
dressing room cried Miss Behan in a
Winter Nights Tale tone.
Away they nodc>tly filed while the
curtain demo nstratcd its great use by
The kcenneSs with which its absence was
felt.
MISS POTTER'S CURTAIN
Jennie U'NcIu Potter had an en.bar-
-aSSing experience with a curtain once.
i was at professional MATINEE. \ Cer-
tain playwright had three curtain rais.rs
to sell and hired the star Th-ater for
show performance. The audience was,
II course, paper, hut very critical paper,
u was Thursday matinee and all the
.aleut in town was there.
The bell rang for the curtain to rise.
There was a tremor II the satin, hut
The curtain lifted not \ tug-ing II
rope and a crcaking II machinery told
hat the curtain man was doing his best
behind the scenes But the curtain still
hung trembling but obstinate. Then "a
strange thing happened. Out OF the silence
q. i
\ pleading, beseechinG voice. II i'm
Dl,red him for wu:uan's sake 10 try.
For me. FOR mo, my darling
''Tln great curtain shooH with "A ter
-ble shake and flew up Ike II shot Tier.
stool Miss Potter with her back to the
audience. addressing q weeping lover.
-'Theaters now said the Old timer. go
70 great expensr 10 get up he most artistic
u drop curtains The Hollis Street The
Itre. Boston. has a curtain in which the
effects curuusIy blend There Is vivid
French culOHuG for the trees ana Il subdued
German tone for the river with the Rhine
:nists hanging over it. The scene is the
Connecticut river In St Louis there is
one whose effect from Il distance is 20
vivid that Young people seeing II for the
sirSt time sit entranced with its beauty
You have heard 81 the two little boys
who wept so over the chariot r..e with
he wild boy driving the STAMPING horses
right into the audience that their mother
had To take them ont This works 80
wildly with children that. al ChIld's
matinee. the drop Is omitted and the
act curtain substituted. as 1t l. simpler
n effect.
In getting up a new drop curtain 4
manager has financial task nefore him,
s0r he must spend not les than several
thousand dollars. He must get a fire.
proof curtain if he can Hut an ARTISTIC
curtain he must have,
THE FIRST CURTAIN.
In the days OF Shakespeare. the Bard
If Avon. VIII" was an actor Of much re-
nown. dressed himself behind a bush
aud stepped out from 4 sylvan retreat
upon the stage. In winter be PLAYED
upon plain floor. while icttered posts
said. This is cra>>!' Behold house.
aud so through many acts Of ShakespeaTe'-
plays.
As late aS 1850 drop curtains contained
advertisements. Use Whites Pills and
Browns ointment were the advicss that
met youT eyes You chatted between the
acts \ most iud-licIte reminder of real
life, we should now declare There is
hardly great artist now WIN does not
paint drop curtains, and. like the design
.ng of currency, it is considered great
Ionur.
Actresses arr said 70 favor handsome
drop curtain but It is doubtful if they
would not be satisfied with less elegant
one Take the case Of Mrs. Kendall that
time She swOourd and accidentally fell
too far toward the foot-lights is tie cur
:ain was falling. The stage hands de-
liheraseIy allowed the heavy roller 10 de-
sc2pd upon her head because they feared
that by stopping the curtain with a sudden
jerk they might iniure the ulrchanisrn and
slit the silk Clara Morris told me of an
experience Of her own of that kind. t.ut
one of her company considerably dragged
her out Of harms way by tugginr her
gently along by one ear. while The heroine
endured the most cxcruciating agony.
.'Bernhar,It and Henry Irving are both the
terror of managers. because both insist
upon cutting eye-holcs IN n curtain