Semi=weekly graphic., 1897-09-25
HAPPENED IN FRONT
PLAYERS TELL OF FUNNY expss,.
 ENcEs THEY HAVE HAD.

the Audisuce--The Man Who snseasa
 May Irwin and "rhe Widow Ion..
 Wanted Burr Mcintosh to .soak H,rnA
 Players are affected almost as deenl, by happenings ill the audience as is fh. | audience by happenings on tAe stage Sometimes they are moved to \. rath. bns more frequently to laughter. Occasion ally they are frightened out of thei, lines.
 X man sat ill an aisle seat, three rows from the front, at performance of sRl Gapitann the other night. He was ia, man, and he gave sneeze suddenly-s terrific sneeze, It was followed by an ] other that shook the plumes on the big hats of the women around and made the l lights flicker The audience suspended
 attention and looked at the sneezer, and
 the players paused just as he snorteo out third sneeze that ended in high
 note such as seldom had been heard in
 those pants, though the Metropolitan
 Opera House is near by. El Capitan
 stretched out his long arms toward ths
 nan, rolled his big eyes hesvenward
 and said in sepulchral voice:
 sHeaven bless you, sir. 7
 This brought he audience back to the
 stage with roar. and in second tha
 performance was running on at high
 pressure, while the fat man chuckled
 over the fact that for brief space ho
 had been the star of the evening. 4 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 q grip on Fl Capt.
 tan's $ nose and throwing down q cup oi
 hot coffee, as he does between acts. ha
 answered:
 } American audiences are not demon
 strative, and as rule things don't hap. pen ill front Of tC,ztst ffe man who
 sneezed tonight couldn't help 1t, but hs made such blasting success of it that it affected the whole house and thGre.
 fore the players. If an actor is playing ! part where he can say something. Il [ is the hest thing to do. for itmakes them
 all laugh aud keeps them from noticing
 a pause
 May Irwin is an actress with whom
 even metropolitan audiences take fiber. ties. People have habit of calling to
 ne from the audience when they want , me 10 sing special song or to recite : something, she said the other evening. ' '.0ne night | man in tho body of ths
 house called out te me to recite 'Hia. 2 . watha He took me of my feet for 8 minute. I couldn't remember line ol T T it, but called back: I will if you Il U give Iae my cue I've forgotten how ii U starts He gave me the first line, and , shouted 1t for him.
 :, When I was playing the Widow U Jones one night during the kissing : scene between Rice and myself q man ' shouted I'd like to be in your place. ' Mir. Rice. I would Rice and l wera both conyulsed, and the audience roared When the piece is funny, it often addi to the humorous situation for some one
 in front to do something unusual ' 1T never shall forget an experience
 had while playing the Widow in Gin cinnati, though of course 1t isn't art for an actor to see anything that goes on in
 front CT to recognize anybody in the au
 dienee, and l never dol don't think
 One night, as I was saying, in the city of cinders and beer, noticed the queer est locking old woman dowR in front.
 She looked like farmer wife, and shs + kept peering up at me over her glasses. 7 She didn't laugh once, and i'll all my
 life l never saw human being take play so seriously. She was with another woman who was equally serious Final
 ly the old woman jumped up and, peer U ing at me over her glasses and shaking her finger in my face, said, with rasp-
 ing, western twang:
 " Well, yon don't look one bit like her
 T was Clustered, but I managed to
 gasp:
 !" Like whom?'
 Like the Widow Jones. she an. 4 swered
 i, Well, am, said |
 A " 1 don n't believe q word you're say, 1 in,' said she for 1 know'd the Widow f Jones and her husban nigh on to %
 years ago, 1 stood up with 'em when | they was hitched. and you don t look like 5 her. She went off from these parts, and
 l heerd she was widow and that Jones vas dead. and then l heerd she was al this the-ater, and cum to see. You ain'a i the Widow Jones, and justw to say one thing mora-I don't see hoN you
 dare to take other peoples names and use em.
 With that she hounced out, but the z next day when appeared at rehearsal a she was on hand to give me another blast l explained to her how it was She d never seen play before and had T come 20 miles to see her old friend, the l Widow Jones There was time whel such things frightened the life ont of
 me, but I've learued 10 turn them te
 good account
 Perhaps there is not another nan en
 the stage so phlegmatie as Burr McIn- tosh during unusual occurrences in $ front He lays his eoolness ali to the { training he got on the football field ) when he was at Princeton. "I find more unexpected things nap. pen on the stage than in the audience. 3 said MT. Mcintosh. However, tho first
 night we opened in At Piney Ridge l
 got piece of advice from the front. 7 said to the villain, You lef' the colo nel's baby up thar, an you brung yo' 1 own down hash And hio Ipoo faIIov1.