The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-04-11

port my claim of antedating Nansen In
the accepted successful theory of
southerly currents. In Act / the Cap
tain of the steamer Polar Star re-
ceives his orders from the proprietor
of the expedition as follows: You will
proceed with all speed to the northwest
of Spitzbergen. 1t is my belief that
you will find there a current that will
carry you, slowly, but surely, across
the pole In Act the scientist of the
expedition. Achille RADON, has this
speech: This vast field of ice which is
our home is not stationary; it moves.
1t works 1t is carrying us toward the
pole at the rate of seven miles every
day And in Act the same char
acter makes his final observation as
follows: Our work is done. The Rod
man theory is correct. We are float
| ing across the pole. Nansen'S route
was to the new Siberian Islands, thence
across to Spitzbergen, while Mr..
Greene's scientist in the play floats in
| just the opposite direction; neverthe-
less the coincidence is interesting.
Singers are as much averSe as actors
to learning what may just as well be
read M Customary, who sang behind
the scenes, did the part of the dragon
Fafner in "Siegfried," did SO entirely
| from his notes, and Miss Schilling, the
voice of the bird. follows the same meth
| Cd A queer instance of fOrgetfulness on
| the part of a singer was given on one
| occasion by Miss Cissy Lotus, the lit
tie English girl who won much praise
for her character limitations here. She
had sung a stanza which hit off very
cleverly the mannerisms of Miss May
Yohe, the English music-hall favorite,
and then ran off the stage. Coming
back in response to the applause, she
attempted to sing the same stanza again
as an encore. AT the second line she
hesitated and then fairly broke down in
the middle of the verse.
| In German theater, where it is usual
| to produce a large number of plays,
changing the bill every two or three
nights. the work of the actors would
be exceedingly hard but for the extra
| ordinary method which is employed. In
stead of standing in the wings and rem
| dering his services only on rare occa-
sions when some actor forgets his lines,
the prompter sits in a hood, like that at
the Metropolitan Opera House, directly
in front of the middle of the stage. The
hood looks somewhat like an exagger-
ated footlight, and it's shape serves to
| throw back the prompter'S voice toward
the people on the stage. Sitting here,
he reads the whole play through, from
beginning to end, keeping just line
ahead of the actors. Such a process
sounds as if it would be extremely con-
fusing to everyone in the play, but they
pend upon this support. The rather
low monotone in which the prompter
reads is not audible to the rest of the
| house, except sometimes to those in the
| first row or in the stage boxes. At the
opera the prompter generally rpeats the
first words of each line of the afr during
the performance.
1t is an astonishing fact that Mozart
Magic Flute" has not been heard in
New York for twenty ears. 1t might
have remained unheard of for twenty
more if it had not been for the working
mans school and district department,
which aims at elevating the public
schools of New York-a most worthy
object-and pays special attention to
manual training. 1t is making ar
engagements for a performance of the
opera, with competent singers and a
good orchestra, under the direction of
Walter Damrosch. Special costumes