, 1897-04-30
HAPPENED IN FRONT.
PLAYERS TELL OF FUNNY EXPERT
EkCES THEY HAVE HAD.

IldNeIs ART dleCttu alElOst rs uecply
by happenings in the audience as is the
audience by happenings on ne stage.
Sometimes they are moved to wrath. hat
more frequently to laughter. Occasion.
ally they are frightened out of thei1
lines.
A man sat in an aisle seat, three rows
from the front, at a performance of Eel
Captain" the other night. He was n fat
man, and he gave a sneeze suddoaiy-a
terrific sneeze. 1t was followed by an
other that shook the plumes on the big
hats of the women around and made the
lights flicker. The audience suspended
attention and looked at the sneeZer, and
the players paused just as he snorted
out q third sneeze that ended in a high
note such as seldom had been heard in
those parts, though the Metropolitan
Opera House is near by. Ell Captain
stretched out his long arms toward the
man, rolled his big eyes heavenward
and said in a scpulchral voice:
Heaven bless you, sir"
This brought fhe audience back to the
stage with "A roar. and in a second the
performance was running on at high
pressure, while the fat man chuckled
Over the fact that for a brief space he
had been the star Of the evening. A few
minutes later a Sun reporter asked Mr..
Hopper how he was affected by the
funny things that happen in the audi,
ence. After getting II grip on Ell Capt..
tan's nose and throwing down Il cup OF
hot coffee, as he does between acts, he
answered:
American audiences are not demon.
strative, and as a rule things don't hap
pen in front. OF course the man who
sneezed tonight couldn't help it, but he
made such a blasting success of it that
it affected the whole house and there
fore the players. If an actor is playing
a part where he can say something, it
is the best thing 20 do. for it makes them
all laugh and keeps them from noticing
a pause
May Irwin is an actress with whom
eve metropolitan audiences take liber-
ties. people have a habit of calling to
me from the audience when they want
me to sing a special song or to recitc
something" she said the other evening.
Zone night a man in the body of the
house called out to me to rCcite 'Hia-
watha.' He took me off my feet for a
minute. l couldn't remember Il line Of
it, but I called back: I will if you'll
give me my cue. I've forgotten how it
starts. He gave me the first line, and l
shouted it for him.
when l was playing the Widow
Jones one night, during the kissing
scene between Rice and myself 2 man
shouted I'd like h in your place,
MI, HE. l would Rics. and 1 We're
both convulsed. and the audience roared.
When the piece is funny, it often adds
to the humorous situation for some one
in front to do something unusual.
II never shall forget an experience |
had while playing the Widow in Gin.
%cinnati, though of course it isn't art foI
All actor to see anything that goes on in
front or to recognize anybody in the au-
diencc, and l never dol don't think.
One night, ms l was saying, i'll the city
Of cinders and beer, l noticed the queer.
est looking old oma down in front.
She looked like u farmers wife, and she
kept peering up ut me over her glasses.
She didn't laugh once, and III all my
life l never saw u human being take a
play so seriously. She was with another
wolnan who was equally serious. Final.
ly the old woman jumped up and, peer.
i,,- NJ ,,,o o,-.r Inr r1nuccS aud cknl-inr
her finger in my face. said. with u rasp
ing, western twang:
"'Well. you don't lcok one bit like
her.
II was flustered, but l managed tc
gasp:
Like wbom?'
Like the Widow JONES' she All.
Nvered.
"'Well, l am, said l.
81 don't believe a word you're say,
ill., said she, for I know'd the Widow
Jones and her husban' nigh OH to 90
years < I stood up with 'em when
they was hitched, and you don't look like
her. She went off from these parts, and
I heerd she was u widow and that Jones
was dead, and then l hecrd she was AT
this the alter, and l cum to see. You amt
the Widow Jones, and just want to say
one thing more-1 don't see how you.
dare to take other peoples names ana
use EN-
with that she f1ounced out, but tho
text day when l appeared ut a rehearsal
she was on hand to give me anothe'
blast. I explained to her how it was
She'd never seen a play before and hao
come 20 miles to see her old friend, tht
Widow Jones. There was a time wher
such things frightened the life out OF
me, but I've learned to turn them to
good account
Perhaps there il not another man or
the stage so phlegmatic as Burr Mc1n.
tosh during unusual occurrences in
front. He lays his GOODNESS all to the
training he got on the football field
when he was ut Princeton.
II find more unexpected things hap
pen ON the stage than in the audience
said MI. Mcintosh. However. the first
night We opened in AT Piney Ridge
got a piece Of advice from the front. !
said to the villain, You lef' the colo.
nel's baby up thar, an you brung 20
own down heah.' And his lines follow:
You lie. l instantly make a movement
as If to strike him; but, remembering
that ladies are present, my arm drops to
my side. A man in front was 80 infuri-
ated with the heartless villain that he
called out to me: Soak him, Jack! Hit
him a good one for hunk and then he
Kissed like a mad gander. New York
Sun.