The record-union., 1897-06-27

spur of the moment. The last process
is the one known to the stage as gag
ging," and everybody says that it is
wrong Yet a good many actors do it
upon occasion, and sometimes the play
is really so bad that anything that
the actors can think of to say when the
time comes is sure to be better than
the text.
George Rignold has been very sue
cessful in Australia in a play called
Joseph of Canaan" written by the
Rev. George Walters of Sydney. He
wanted to produce it in London, and
visited England to make the necessary
arrangements, but the Lord Chamber
lain's Office refused to give him a Ii
cense, and he has returned to Aus
tralia with the manuscript In his pock-
ct. The Rev. Mr. Walters complains
that he has been most unfairly treated,
inasmuch as the authorities made no
objections to THE Daughters of Baby
lon'' or The Sign of the Cross" but
the examiner of plays, Mr. Redford, in
his own defense, can offer the unan-
swerable plea that there was nothing
Scriptural in Mr.. Barrett's so-called
Biblical dramas.
New York Herald: 'I'll tell you a
story about Mr. Cranes pet supersti-
ton. Some time ago / was in Evans
vile, Ind, and engaged the best room
in the Hotel St. George for Mr.. Crane.
In course of time the company came
to town, and Mr.. Crane was shown to
his room Five minutes later the cleo
tric bell in the office connecting with
his room rang like all possessed. A
hall servant was dispatched post haste.
ASK the proprietor what he means
by giving me this room?' shouted Mr..
Crane
why, sab, it's the best room in the
house. replied the man.
BEST, eh? Look here, do you see
that number-13, isn't it? Do you sup
pose for a minute I'd sleep in this
room?'
Well, sab, all de great actors do
the man answered. Why, John T. Ray
mond died here-right in that very bed,
sah.'
Mr. Crane went to the depot and
slept in Pullman car while he was
| in Evansville. There was not another
vacant room in the hotel.
THAT reminds me of another" con-
| tinued Mr. Namack.
When Mr.. Crane produced the Gov
ernor of Kentucky in New York he
happened to glance at the play bill the
morning after the first performance.
To his horror he discovered that the
cast contained just thirteen charac-
ters. Mr. Crane insisted upon a change,
was put in the cast and given a few
| lines in the last act on this account"
1t is a great mistake to suppose that
| it is in America alone that grand op-
era fails to be profitable. Most of the
foreign opera houses would have to be
closed at once if they had to live on
their box-office receipts. The Vienna
Imperial Opera, for instance, had a de-
felt last year of $4,000 forins, notWith-
standing the Emperor's contribution of
100000 fiorins. which takes the place
there of the stockholders subscriptions
at our Metropolitan Opera house.
Orchestral associations also have
their trials and tribulations; there is
probably not one in Europe which is
financially SO prosperous as (or art
istically superior toD the New York
Philharmonic The directors of the
Scottish Opera have decided, in conse-
quence of heavy losses, not to resume
the concerts next season without a
further guarantee of ES.000 According
to Glasgow paper the total losses
amount to nearly 100000. Schemes.
however, are already in an early stage
for the continued existence of the con-
certs.
{. j. Phipps, who died the other day
at the age yof go years, was the best
known theatrical architect in England
He is said to have furnished the plans
for no less than sesenty playhouses,
IAincluding those of the Gaiety, the
Strand, the Savoy, the Lyric, and Her
Majesty's, all of which are in Lon
don.
The production in London of lie
Fiacre III" of Emile de Naiac and AL
bert Millaud has been forbidden by the
Censor, in spite of the supplication of
Mile. Jane May The remarkable thing
is that she should ever have thought
~ PANSNAAlAh3 II ~ ali ElIlS IlSn duQl-
ence.
That old favorite Mrs. John Wood has
oeen welcomed very warmly at the
London Avenue Theater. where she is
acting in Mr. Lumleys four-act farce.
Belle Belair," which is said to be very
amusing.
The name Of the Standard Theater in
New York is to be changed to the Man
haitian and Frank Gerth is to manage
it. The Standard has never made a
cent since John Hill had it. and it came
near breaking him after ALL
San Francisco Music and Drama.
The sudden death of George Eustace
Barnes, the well-known dramatic Jour
nalist, was sad surprise to his per-
sonal friends on this coast and will
bring genuine sorrow to the hearts OF
many people in the theatrical profess
sion, to whom he had been more of a
friend and adviser than a critic. Rarely
indeed, among the men whose duty it
is to write critical reviews of theatrical
performances is one found who could
count half as many warm personal
friends as did the kind-hearted and
genial Journalist who passed away as
he would have most desired to, had he
been given the choice as to how he
should lay down the life that had been
such strange mixture of pleasure and
disappointment.
DR.. William p. Sprague, who won
such favorable notices while a member
of the Louis James party, has been
signed by Augustus Pitou for the COM