Evening star., 1897-01-30

scrub girl in Palmers Theater, Chicago,
prrloined the fine feathers of the wing
suvecI Lite comedian on the opening night
&c the engagement of THE Nancy Hanks
in the windy city several weeks ago. Mr..
hartinetti's supple shape is swaddled IN
repertoire of stunning gowns in those situ-
ations of the farce when the hilarity wakes
warm; and Martinetti without his gowns
would he impossible in the plot of The
Nancy Hanks Hamlet sans the inky
cloaked Dane, PETER sans his facial trells
work of agitated hair. or Mr.. Corbetts
play without the boxing gloves. That's
what Martinetti thought in Chicago on
strolling Into his dressing room and finding
his trunk yawning and vacant and his
makeup box, wigs and the male imple-
floor as II they had shaken hands with
cy clone. Some Spike Hennessy or Kid Nc
Coy had smuggled the plot OF THE Nancy
Hanks" Every thread of lingerie had van
ished. Martinetti hunted up the stage man
ager, instructed him to notify the windy
city sleuths, and. in Latin Quarter French,
CLEANED from his familiarity with his favor
ite role of Zou Zou in 'Trilby,' the little
comedian proceeded to anathematiZe the
theater and the town with great volubility.
When Frank Tannehill. tie author of THE
Nancy Hanks turned up at the theater.
Martinetti reca apitulated his woes with sui
pIuI OuS eltlpllOu ->tAt CS.iIle d nav hSid"
frcm police headquarters. to whom Marti-
retu gave a description of the missing
gowns. Mr.. Tannehill. who is some pump
kris as q bonmott:st, added: Now be sure,
cid man, to pinch any one you see walking
around with the plot of my play on their
back" Martinetti hustled TO costumer
and engaged a wardrobe of stock dresses
pending investigation On the following
morning when Martinetti went to the thea
ter for his mall he was accosted by one of
the stage hands, Who. in Chimmy Fadden
diction, solved the mystery of the plot of
THE Nancy Hanks in about this style:
Yer see. it like dis: Me and me
dame. we went to a social over on the
North Side. see? 1t wus a dance for de
benefit of der widder of a scrapper wot
got croaked in a mill in a saloon where
all kinds of rules went-bar-room holds and
all dat stuff see? Well, as / Wus sayin,
me and Lis-dst's me DANES title-we wus
glidin' across de floor, when in skates Della
Mulloy.. She's de sketch wot hits de floor
Wid mop
Does what?'' queried Martinetti.
Hits de floor wild mop. Does wing
dance wild de scrubbrg brush. De scrub
goil here in de show shop. Dyer see?'
Mr.. Martinetti confessed to an obliquity
of vision.
Well. show shop means dis joint right
here-Palmer's Theater. Now. der yer rapo
Well. as l wus sayin, soon as me and
ne lady lad planted ourselves at de end Of
de hall. side of de dago band dat wus hired
for de occasion, in skates Della Mulloy wild
Il Hfhe-Ip on nef 0dt knocked me lamps
a-twister- | could hardly believe me own
lamps. | took anodder flash, and, sure
eI.uf it was Della. de sketch wot does de
scrubb!ng- She had makeup on her dat
locked like poose cafe. Der gown wus one
of dose low neckers. but der low-neck end
OF IT hit Della up around der collar and
der train wus as long as gravel on de
C.. NJ. and st. z
- Get a flash at Deliar yelled all de fair
les i'll de house. Dey were jealous, 1 guess,
like eli DANES are when dey see a swell
look1n makeup Some one yelled, Get a
trap and odders asked Della If she had an
accident policy wild dat dress. Pat Fogarty,
who is goin wild Della. give me a punch in
de puss fer askin' Della if she wusn't
scared she would be shot at. Dat makeup
of Delia's is de one dat wus stolen from
your trunk, and when told Della to return
1t or she would get pinched she did faint"
Martinetu received his wardrobe later in
the Jay none the worse for wear, and
Della. the scrub girl, is looking for other
floors TO erase.
Many people while attending a theatrical
performance viii often wonder how some
actor whose part contains a great number
OF lines. managed to commit it to memory
They think II is simply wonderful, but it is
Eothing of the kind. OF course, there are
some actors VINO are what termed
: 'hard studies, and to whom the memoir
izing OF new part means a great deal Of
work But these are in the minority. Most
actors will tell you that you can train your
iicHoFN anu make IL as strong In Its way
as you can make your biceps in theirs 1t
Is fact, however, that an actor who can
commit new part at snort notice has no
mind at all for remem bering that he still
owes you that s.. Comedian Crane is said to
be one of the quickest students in the theat-
rfcal profession. When he was much young
eI man than he is now, and while a member
OF chicago stock company. he accom-
pnshed the remarkable feat of committing
10 memory sixty-fve pages of lines In two
hCurs- The company was playing Led
Astray at the time, and at o'clock one
afternoon word was received at the theater
mat William Murdoch. who played one of
the principal parts. and who was afterward
Killed at the memorable Brooklyn Theater
IRE, was Ill Crane happened to be present
and the stage manager, thrustng the man
uscript of the part into his hand asked
him what he could do with it. When the
curtain rose the actor was letter perfect
There Is this about Crane: Give him a part
that he Is In sympathy with and in reading
II over few times he will get it to stick
without any further trouble: but if he gets
a part he does not like the study of il
means some sleepless nights.
When one takes into consideration the
great popularity of John Drew who will
spend next week at the Lafayette Opera
House with Rosemary" it is hard to
imagine that there was a time when this
brilliant comedians future presented a
melancholy problem. He began his Drofas
s.onal career In a company controlled by
at the Arch Street Thcater Philadelnbia
Curiously enough. the actress with whom
much OF his subsequent success was idenfi
ned commenced her histrionic efforts at the
same time and on the same stage Tho
eminent comedienne had hard work witt,
her young pupils Ada Rehan was full of
mlschief, and so was John Drew Between
them both. Mrs. Drew went through MANY
a bad quarter of an hour Several times
sne discharged the insubordnate, red
haired Irish lass. only to take her back
again On more than one occasion she laid
Ter son across her knee and spanked him
soundIy. 1
Mrs Drews patience was SO soreIy tried
py the pranks of her son and Ada Rehan
tnat sne was at last glad TO get them out
OF her guardianship and safely under the
sterner control of Mr.. Augustin DAILY. Here
the young people had to obey rules and.
deprived OF the opportunities for misc hief
making. they studied dramatic art SO as
siduously that within short period Ada
Rehan became the leading woman and
John Drew the leading man of what was
then the foremost comedy company of
America
1t Is hard TO realize that the romping boy
VINO gave his mother SO much trouble and
whose career was so nearly nipped In its
bud by his love Of misc hief is now one OF
the most serious of men-in fact the most
serious man in private life that ever tickled
the risibleS OF an audience In his public