Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-08-05
HAPPENED In FRONT.
PLAYERS TELL OF FUNNY EXPERT
sNcES THEY HAVE HAD.

more frequently to laughter. Occasion
ally they are frightened out of their
lines.
A man sat in an aisle seat, three rows
from the front, at o performance of "El
Captain" the other night. He was a fat
man, and he gave a sneeze suddenly-a
terrific sneeze. Il 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 sneezer, and
the players paused Just as he snorted
out a third sneeze that ended in a high
note such as seldom had been heard in
those parts, though the Metropolitan
Opera House is near by. FL Captain
stretched out his long arms toward the
man, rolled his big eyes hsavenward
and said in a sepulchral voice:
Heaven bless you, SIR"
This brought the audience back to the
stage with a roar. and in a second the
performance was running ON at high
pressure, while the fat NAL chuckled
over the fact that for q brief space he
had been the star of the evening. A 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 a grip ON FL Capt.
tan's nose and throwing down a cup Of
hot coffee, as he does between acts, he
answered:
American audiences are not demon
strative, and as q rule things don't hap
pen in front. OF course the man who
sneezed tonight couldn't help it, but he
made such a blasting success of it that
it affected the whole house and there.
fore the players. If an actor is playing
a part where he can cay something, ii
is the best thing to do. for it makes than
all laugh and keeps them from noticing
a pause"
May Irwin is an actress with whom
even metropolitan audiences take liber-
ties. People have q habit Of calling to
me from the audience when they want
me to sing a special song or to recite
something" she said the other evening.
Zone night a man in the body Of the
house called out to me to recite 'Hia-
watha.' He took me of my feet for a
minute. ! couldn't remember q line Of
it, but / called back: i will il you'll
give me my cue. I've forgotten how it
starts. lie gave me the first line, and !
shouted it for him.
when ! was playing the Widow
Jones one night, during the kissing
scene between Rice and myself a man
shouted, I'D like to be in your place,
MI. Rice. I would Rice and / were
both convulsed, and the audience roared.
When the piece is funny, it often adds
to the humorous situation for some Z
in front to do something unusual.
II never shall forget an experience l
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 or to recognize anybody in the au-
dience, and / never dol don't think.
One night, as I was saying, in the city
of cinders and beer, | noticed the queer
est looking old woman down in front.
She looked like a farmers wife, and she
kept peering up at me over her glasses.
She didn't laugh once, and in all my
life / never saw a human being take a
clay so seriously. She was with another
woman who was equally serious. Final
" the old woman, jumped up and, peer
ing at me over her glasses and shaking
her finger in my face, said, with a rasp-
ing, western twang:
Well, you don't look one bit like
her.
81 was fustered, but I managed to
gasp:
"'Like whom?'
"'Like the Widow Jones', she an
swered.
"'Well, I am, said l.
81 don't believe a word you're say
In said she, for I know'd the Widow
Jones and her husban' nigh on to 90
Years ACC. I stood up with 'em when
they was hitched, and You don't look like
her. She went of from these parts, and
I heerd she was a widow and that Jones
was dead. and then I heerd she was at
this the-ater, and I cum to see. You amt
the Widow Jones, and / just want to say
ono thing more-I don't see how you
dare to take other peoples names u
use 'em.'
"With that she flounced out, but the
next day when 1 appeared at a rehearsal
she was on hand to give me mother
! blast. I explained to her how 1t was.
| She'd never seen a play before and had
come 30 miles to see her old friend. the
Widow Jonas. There was a time When
such things frightened the life out OF
me. bat I've learned to turn them to
good account"
Perhaps there is not another man ON
the stage so phlegmatic as Burr Mcln-
tosh during unusual occurrences !
front. re Isys his GOODNESS all TO the
training he got on the Ioa neld
! whom be was at Princeton.