The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-12-08
DID YOU SEE HIM ACT"
A Reporter for the Journal
Was on the Stage
During Some of the Exciting
Scenes In the Brownies.
Tells About His Experiences and a
Lot of Other Things That Hap
pened "Behind the
Scenes"

The largest house in three years at
the Grand saw the Brownies last night.
The gallery was damned to the last
row, the balcony was full to overflow
ing, every box was occupied and on the
first floor people stood in the aisles.
The audience was enthusiastic and
almost everything was encored. The
scenery was gorgeous, the costumes
We're snowy, the acting was good and
the singing was sufficient for the merits
of the piece.
Almost everything was new but the
company was not as large as advertis-
ed it was large enough to crowd the
stage, however
Palmer Cox was not with the com
pany here nor will he be al st joseph
where the company appears tonight and
tomorrow night. He was with 1t at
Kansas City ali Of last week and will
rejOin it at Omaha
From there" said Leon Mayer, the
manager of the company, he will 60
direct to the coast. He lived there for
u years once and as we play three
weeks in san Francisco we thought II
advisab BILE that he go ahead and allow
himself to be talked with and about by
the newspa pers for the Intervening time
as an advertisement.
Mr.. Cox is perhaps not exactly the
sort of man you would expect him TO
be- He is now 70 years OF age, IS tan
and large. He is not exactly noted as
a dresser and you would probably, II
YOU met him on the street, come nearer to
taking him for we'll to do farmer
than anything else He is most pleas
Mr.. cox told me once that the
Brownies are not exactly an original
creation with him. When he was a
boy he said, his father used to talk to
him about the Brownies that were sup
posed to be little people in Scotland who
never appeared in the daytime but We're
always about doing good in the
night for poor children and good chill
dren The Brownies We're held up to
him as sort of diversified Santa Claus
and somehow the memory stuck with
him and about the first thing he ever
drew was a Brownie from his fathers
description. OF course the Scotch
Brownies were all alike and Mr.. Cox
varied it by making Brownies of all ma
The Grand Opera House stage was
full last night, the dressing rooms were
There are two things" said Mr. May
er, that nobody seems to think of in
building theater. After it is all up
the proprietor suddenly discovers that
he is two points shy and he shouts at
himself, w here are the people going to
dress and where are we going to sell
our tickets2' So he sticks up a few
boxes on the stage in dark corners and
calls them dressing room sand finds
a place under the stairs somewhere just
big enough for a man to get into and
have room for lung expansion and calls
it a box-ofice, and his theater is regard
ed a S complete"
The company gave Brownie contest
in Kansas City in which several thous-
and children drew Brownies for prizes
and were judged by Mr.. Cox These
contests have been discontinued They
make 1t look too much like a children
show" said Mr.. Mayer, and it hurt
our night business.
A Journal reporter saw the Brownie
performance at the Grand last night
from the stage He was chaperoned by
Mr.. August Siegrist, the stage mana
ger.
A stranger can get in the way often
er and to greater degree on an opera
house stage during the performance Of
spectacle than anywhere on earth If
he isn't falling over a stage brace" or
sDra Wing over a wire, a rope of a
trunk. he is being hit in the back by a
fiat" in the hands of scene shifter
who is no respecter Of the dignity of the
press. or anybody cisco is being bump
ed on the head by a drop" as it comes
rushing at the close of an act. If not
one of these he is sure to be running
AGAINST the sheet-iron thunder machine
with a crash, getting his fingers shock