Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-10-27
HAPPENED IN FRONT,
PLAYERS TELL OF FUNNY EzpeRt
 ENCES THEY HAVE HAD.

Wanted Burr Mcintosh 0 "SOalr Himf
 Players are affected almost as deeply by happenings in the audience as is the audience by happenings on the stage Sometimes they are moved to wrath, but more frequently to laughter. Occasion ally they are frightened ont of theiy lines.
 A man sat ill an aisle seat, three rows from the front, at a performance of 'E4 Capitan" the other night. He was fat man, and he gave a sneeze snddenly--s terrific sneeze, It 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 gneezer, and the players paused just as he snorted out q third sneeze that ended in high note such as seldom had been heard in those parts, though the Metropolitan Opera House is near by. Fl Oapitas stretched out his long arms toward the man, rolled his big eyes hssyeRward and said ill sepS1OhaaI voice:
 Heaven bless you, sfT. ''
 This brought thA aadienee back so bhe stage with roar. a4d sfa see0a1 tha performance was running on at high pressure, while the fat man chuckle5 over the fact that for brief space he had been the star of the evening. A few minutes later a Sun reporter asked Mir. Hopper how he was affected by ths funny things that happen in the audi- ence. After getting q grip on Fl Cari. tan's nose and throwing down cup oi hot coffee, as he does between acts. he answered:
 American audiences are not de1pon. strative, and as rule things don hap- pen in front. Of course tho man who sneezed tonight couldn't help it, but he made such blasting success of 1t that it affected the whole house and there fore the players. If an actor is playing q paft where he can say something, fl is tlse rest thing 10 do. for it makes them all laugh and keeps them from noticing q paase.
 May Irwin IS an actress with whom even metropolitan audiences take liber. ties. People have habit of calling to ne from the audience when they want me to sing a special song or to recits something, she said the other evening "One night man in the body of tue house called out to inc to recite sHia, watha He took me off my feet for minute 1 eeuldn t remember q line ot it, but called back. 1 will if you Il give tae my cue. I've forgotten how il starts. He gave me the first line, and shouted 1t for him,
 When l was playing the Widow Jones one night, during tho kissing scene between Rice and myself man shouted, I'd like to be i'll your place, Mir. Rice. I would. Rice and ] were both eonyulsed, and the audience roared. When the piece is funny, 1t often adds 10 the humorous situation for some one in front to do something unusual
 I never shall forget an experience 1 had while playing tho Widow in Gin. einnati, though of course 1t isn t art foe an actor to see anything that goes on 1T front or to recognize any body in the ap iienee, and l never dol don | think One night, as l was saying, in the cits of cinders and beer, 1 noticed the queer. est looking old woman down ip front She looked like farmer 8 wife, and she kept peering up at me over her glasses. She didn't laugh once, and ill all my life never saw human being take play so seriously. She was with another woman who was equally serious. Final ly the cid woman jumped up and, peer ing at me over her glasses and shaking her finger ill my face, said, with fasp ing. western twaug:
 .' Well, you don [ look one bit like her.
 I was fiustered, but I managed tt gasp:
 '' Like whom?'
 .'' Like the Widow Jones, she an swered
 Well, I am, said L
 I don't believe word you TO say. in, said she, fer l know'd the Widow Jones and her hugban nigh on to 20 years ago. I stood mp with 'em when they was hitched, and you don look like her. She went off from these parts, and heerd she WAS q widow and that Jones was dead, and then l heerd she was at this the ater, and cum to see. You hin't the Widow Jones, aud just want t9 say one thing more--f don't see how you dare to take other peoples names and use 'em.
 "WitL that she 1ounced out, but the next day when appeared at 9 rehearsal she was on hand 10 give mo another blast 1 explained to her how it was. She'd never seen a play before and had come 20 miles to see her old friend, the Widow Jones. There was time whet