Semi=weekly graphic., 1897-07-03
HAPPENED IN FRONT
 V Al l. [
PLAYERS TELL OF FUNNY Expee.
 ENcEs THEY HAVE HAD.

hTay Irwin aud 'Ihe Widow Jone.
 Wanted Burr McTntosh to .seak Him.
 Players are affected almost as deeplv by happenings in the ae5 fence as is th. audience bJr ihlasIpfFe,,sii lasIpfFe,,sii siiasS s on tAe stses Sometimes they are moved to wrath, bu, more frequently to laughter Occasion ally they are frightened out of thei, lines.
 A man sat i'll an aisle seat, three TOW, from the front, at performance of "E Capitan' the other night. He was fs, man. and he gave 3 sneeze suddenly--s terrific sneeze. It was followed by an other that shook the plumes on the biz hats of the women around and made tho 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 had7been heard in those parts though the Metropolitan Opera House is near by. Fl CapitaD stretched out his long arms toward tho man, rolled his big eyes heayenward and said ill a sepulchIal voice:
 Heaven bless you, sir.
 This brought the audience back to ina stage with roar. and ill . second the performance was running on at high pressure, while the fat man chuckled over the fact that for brief space he had been the star of the evening A few | 1.,4 Hopper how he was affected by the funny things that happen in the auds. ence. After getting grip on Fl Capt tan s nose and throwing down cup of hot coffee, as he does between acts he answered:
 ''Ame2a5 can a-zii ie.3ces are not delnon- strative, and as Il rule things don't bsp- pen in front. Of course the man wha sneezed tonight couldn't help it, but ho made such blasting success of it that it affected the whole house and there fore the players If an actor is playing part where he can say something, it is the best thing to do, for it makes them all laugh and keeps them from noticing pause 1"
 May Irwin is an actress with whom even metropolitan audiences take fiber. ties People have habit of calling to me from the audience when they want me to sing special song or to recita something, she said the other evening. "One night a man in the body of ths house called out to me to recite 'Hia- watha. He took nle off my feet for . minute I couldn't remember q line of ! it, hut l called back: I will if you'll give me my cue I've forgotten how it starts He gave me the first line, and ) shouted it for him.
 5 When I was playing the Widow , Jones ono night, during the kissing scene between Rice and myself man s shouted, I'd like to be i'll yonr place, | Mir Rice I would Rice and l were l both convulsed, and the audience reared When the piece is funny, it often addl to the humorous situation for some on, in front to do something unusual. T never shall forget an experience 5 had while playing the Widow ill Gin cinnati, though of course it isn t art fo an actor to see anything that goes on il front or to recognize anybody in the au dience, and never dol don't think. One night, SIS l was saying, ill the city of cinders and beer, noticed the queer. ] est looking old woman down in front She looked like farmers wife, and shs kept peering up at me over her glasses She didn't laugh once, and in all my life never saw a human being take q play so seriously. She was with another woman who was equally serious. Final. ly the old woman jumped up and, peer. ing at me over her glasses and shaking her finger ill my face, said, with rasp. ing, western twang:
 !" We'll, you don't look one bit like her
 "I was fustered, but I managed to gasp:
 '' Like whom?'
 Like the Widow Jones' she aB swered
 ' We'll, am, said I.
 '' 1 don believe q word you re say in, said she, for 1 know'd the Widow Jones and her hnsban nigh on to 20 years ago. stood up with em when they was hitehed, dyou don look like her. She went eff from these parts, and l heerd she was widow and that Jones was dead, and then heerd she was at this the-ater, and cum to see. You alnt the Widow Jones, and just want to say one thing more--I don't see how you dare to take other peoples names and use 'em.
 With that she flounced out, but ihe next day when 1 appeared at a rehearsal she was on hand to give me another blast. I explained to her how il was. She q never seen Il play before and hao come 20 miles to see her old friend, the Widow Jones' There wsis a time wheL such things frightened the life ont ol me, but I've learped to turn them v good account
 Perhaps there is not another man oa the stage SO phlcgmatic as Burr Mcii tosh during unusual occurrences III front He lays his eoolness all to t1s training he got on the football iiela when he was at Princeton.
 I find more unexpected things hap pon on the stage than ill the audlencs' said MT. Mcintosh. However, the nia night we opened in At Piney Ridge : got a piece of advice from the from. said to the villain, You lief the coy nel's baby up thar, an you bfunS M v own down heah. And his lines follow, You lie I instantly make a moyenen, s.,, as if to strike him; but, remeinpsilssa . e.T14 Il