The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-03
TOUCH OF TRANSFORMING.
"Reminiscences of a Party of Actors
Now in st Paul.

There were half a dozen of them and they
were sitting in a well-known cafe enjoying
rest and recreation after a particularly hard
rehearsal Of Inc Showmans Daughter, "
which Jacob Lift produces at the Grand
Sunday night. They were all experienced
actors and each one had had in his time a
bit OF experience at barn storming." They
were relating some of their experiences Of
earlier days and evidently enjoying
the telling of them. altt ough they have all
long since passed the barns torning'' stage
OF thelr careers They enjoyed relating the
stories TO each other, but it is doubtful if
any one of them would again care to rena9t
the same experiences
This part Of the clown l have in The
snowman Daughter reminds me of an anus
ing experience l had years ago in a small
ohio town" said Tom Wise when we
reached the town, went to the "opry house
Inc sight gave me chill. The stage was
about twenty feet wide and covered with
ruDblsh-old shoes, store boxes tin cans
and the like. The auditorium floor was al
most on level with the stage and contained
twenty or thirty benches and several hundred
chairs of assorted styles. l found the man
ager mixing pills at a drug store and after
| maze MN promise to clean the place
looked at the chart to see how the advance
sale was Just thirteen seats had been sold
and there were thirteen rows of reserved
seats in the house, l nerved myself to
meet any kind of bad luck. First l discovered
that not Autograph nor a piece of paper
mad been put up after the advance agent lad
LETT town. We had to be advertised, but the
only job printer in the place couldn't print
a dodger, and | bought box of chalk. All
OF us, from the leading man to the property
man, took piece and we decorated the pave
ments and fences with invitations to Come to
the Opera House Tonight We told in
chalk that there would be 'mirth and music
at the opera house tonight On the pave
ment IN front of the mayors office The
comedian wrote in big white letters: Great
drama at the opera house. New scenery new
songs, jolly jokes and dandy dancers. Come
one, come all!' The property man. a poetical
cuss, wrote on the engine house door-there
was only one engine house in the town and
the the doors only ~ opened when there was fire:
He wrote Here l tell in letters white of
the show at the opera house tonight
In the evening found nearly two dozen
boys in the hall
Whatre you kids doing here?' 1 asked.
said one.
And passed bills, said another
And l got clock for the property man.
| won't get out; l work here. l raise the
windows when it gets too warm. I fix the
chairs in order L swept the dressing room
l got bucket of water for the property nan.
1 tend the fires Andy Thurston told me I
could come in cause l got a Ratchet for him
this morning.
Il had to call policeman to get them
out, and when they held a sidewalk indignd-
ton meeting, at which they decided to mob
me, but l escaped.
1--WE carried no musical director. ami wien
it was time for the doors to open we dis
CoNSiou CIldJ In6 pretty lltLle SllI VINO pay cd
the piano couldn't play The music for The
spectalties, but one of the boys N the com
pany, one of these natural musicians who
cant play anything but 'boOmp, boomp,
boomp accomplishments, agreed to play the
piano. as well as his part. Ed-that's his
name, and he loafs around the corner of
Twenty-eighth and Broadway-Ed would jump
off the stage and play the piano for the song,
and then climb back to the stage and resume
his part.
He kept that up until the curtain fell on
the last act. You can imagine the effect
when he clambered over the footlights, and
taking his proper position said: Lot US
stroll to the top of yonder mountain, Nellie,
but after escorting Nellie to the wings jump ed
ffthe stage and played fever and ague
music while the villain told his plans for a
murder. 1t didn't seem just right either.
when the villain, about to shoot the leading
lady waited for Ed 10 climb to the stage
and take the revolver from him, but the pCo-
pie were satisfied, and the Whereof you-eo-
from-here man, whom / met at the hptel
said: Sorry you didn't have better house.
But Wen give you crowd next season, for
you've got good troupe -