The record-union., 1897-05-30

sTn time of an emergency" remarked
m elderly man to a Washington otal
representative 81 would rather NAVE
presence of mind than gun.
Something like ten or a dozen years
ago." he continued, Il was in west
ern town of 10000 people or so, ana II
happened that a show was billed 1or
that night. Having nothing to do, ana
not knowing anybody in town, TOOK III
the show 1t was barn-StorIilAS
troupe of Thespians doing repertoire
OF blood nd-thunders, and the conse-
ouence was they had nearly 1un
house. Everything went along very
nicely except the peculiar actions OF tue
leading man, who seemed to be druIh'
or getting that way very fast
"As no effort was made by the man
agement to suppress him, the audience
after a while took a hand ana began
to hiss. This brought matters to ell
max at once, and with an oath the acloi
stepped to the center of the stage, anu,
whipping out of his clothes a PAIR VI
revolvers he announced to the auol-
ence and the people on the stage III tle
calmest and coolest manner possiple
that the time had come When soihe-
body had got to die, but that ne was
not vet decided who it should be. Some
body started at this, but he SAID lhat
the first person who rose 10 go ou'
would be shot Everybody in the mouse
seemed to be paralyZed by the man
coolness and nobody moved Know
] sat well down toward the front, anu
would have given up my place Willingly
to anybody who asked for 1t, but Wheh
I looked up at that cold face ana lhose
two guns pointing down my way pre-
ferred to take chances on remaining
as I was.
For at least a minute the actor ad-
dressed himself to his trembling audi
ence, and then, deliberately selecting a
conspicuously whitehaired man IN the
very center of the house, he commaho-
ed him to rise and be shot. otherwise
he would shoot promiscuously INTO the
crowd. At this point in the proceeo-
ings. 1 am willing to state without plas
that l never was in the midst Oh 50
much suppressed excitement. For
second the house was as still as oealh'
and then, as the white haired man pc
gan to twist about as if he We're gong
TO obey the actors command, woman
shrieked, and as a half dozen followed
suit and tainted the actor suddenly ols-
appeared from the stage, nobody knew
where, but he was gone and the panic
was averted, though everybody mace d
break TO get out as fast as possible
"The curtain went down quick then,
and the manager, white and scared
came out and announced that the actor
had gone crazy over the loss or ms
wife, and that, thanks to the presence
of mind of the stage carpenter, tnat
gentleman had hurried under the stage
and pulled the trap on which, fortun
ately, the crazy man stood. The ran
had rendered him helpless, and he was
then waiting at the stage door to De
taken away by the authorities.
Which proves what I said in the
first place" said the elderly man, with
an air of pride, and the proof was &C
cepted.
Two coming Shapespearean perform
ances which are exciting preliminary
curiosity in London are the "Othello" of
Forbes Robertson and the Hamlet of
Nucombe Gould.
A new comedy in four acts by Ralph
Iumley, with Mrs. John Wood, Weldon
Grossmith, Irene Vanbrugh and others
in the cast, will be seen soon in London
at the Avenue Theater.
The London World does not think
much of Leo Thavor's "Dr. Johnson"
which seems to have been received
rather favorably at the London Strand
Theater 1t says: THE dialogue con-
tains one or two of Johnson's recorded
sayings. but is for the rest hopelessly
un-Johnsonian. Anyone can use long
words feebly; what Johnson did was to
use them forciblv, and sometimes su-
perbly. Modernisms. too, abound.
How Mr.. Trevor realizes the period is
shown in Johnsons reference to the
leaureatship as the summit of literary
ambition. Mr.. Bourchiers makeup
was ingenious, and there were touches
of ability in his acting. For instance,
his way Of screwing up his eyes in read
ing, while holding the paper almost
against his nose, was cleverly initiated
from well-known portrait. But. in
fluenced no doubt by Mr. Trevor's con-
ception, he made Johnson far too quer-
nlous. peevish and ill-conditioned. His
temper was not that of Ursa Major,A but
Of a surly and swapping cur
1bsens John Gabriel Borkman'' at the
New Century Thea1er is treated with
very little respect by the Philistine
critics, although it is generally admitted
that the cast was as good a one as
could have been selected. One of them
writes: "Ibsen's exposition of his sub
ject in the first act is interesting
enough, but the continued expressive
ness, the hopeless pessimism of the
story, which is as unlike real life as the
widest romance, ends by shaking the
strongest nerves. If this is to mark a
new era in theatrical affairs. as the
title of the society would imply. then
amusement or entertainment in asso-
citation with the stage is vain word.
Only to a small extent does the action
of the play appear to be symbolical. In
the last act the ex-convict is engaged
in climbing n hill, but in the middle of
his task he breaks down and breathes
his last"
It is a most significant fact that
four of the most eminent English musi-
clans, Dr. Hubert Parry, Sir. A. Mac
kenZie. Mr.. Cummings and DIR. Bridge,
will head a deputation to the Education
Department, urging the use of the ordi-
nary staff notation in place of the tonic
sofia, which has gained such great
vogue in England (and there alone. the
musical nations of the Continent hav-
ing retained the staff. Last year tonic
sofia was the system taught in 20,61S
schools, and the staff notation in only