The record-union., 1898-02-21
MONSTERS OF THE STAGE.
The Dragon Of st. George and Some
More Modern Beasts.

more 0OQCTA 0G8BtSs
A new stage monster has appeared
among the London music halls. 1t Is
q head, without any body, which yet
moves about, eats and expresses varl-
Gus emotions. Its tissues are appar-
entity of the same sort as those OF the
. dragon in "Siegfried," and, like that
beast, it moves by the agency of man
inside it. But if it does all with wn1cn
it is credited it must be rather more
elaborate in it's mechanism than even
that triumph Of NEUROLOGICAL zoology
For in spite Of its coarse and grotesQue
appearance it can, 1t is said, express
astonishment, anger, longing, sorrow
and repose in a most convincing man
ner.
There has always been surprising
amount Of mirth to be got OUT OF AMI
mails and monsters thus controlled py
human power within them. The run
probably lies in the lifelike action OF
thing which looks so ludicrouSly un-
lifelike, or, sometimes, IN the exces-
sively human demeanor OF an animal.
At any rate. the device is an extremely
old one for simple amusement, without
thought Of instruction or art, and it
is still a favorite.
For even the hobby-h horse is not for
gotten. in spite of the wall of 300 years
ago that it was. The hobby-horse one
of the simplest Of the human beasts,
has always been also one Of the most
amusing. A frame in something like
the shape Of a horse was fastened
around the body Of the supposed rider.
The riders legs were the only ones
that there were for the use of the rider
and the horse together, a trifling pair
in the place of six. Sometimes there
were two others for show, though not
for use, pair of boots being hung upon
the sides of the horse to simulate the
legs of the rider The real legs of the
rider, which had to supply all the loco
motion, were hidden by the trappings
of the horse, except sometimes when
the plunging and rearing Of the unruly
beat made them visible for a moment.
But such an incident did not detract
from the humor of the situation. And
in spite of the economy of legs the
hobby-horse and it's rider could do
most of the things that a real horse
and rider could do, and some things
that they could not, They could race
and tilt and prance and parade, and
there was no end to the fun that could
be got out of them when the rider was
clever and could make it appear that
he was having a desperate struggle for
the control of his steed. The hobby
horse as has been said, was popular
in the old time, but even yet he reap
pears now and then on the stage or in
the circus ring, and always receives
warm applause.
The hobby-horse found it's most legiti-
mate use in the morris dance, in the old
celebrations of May Day. Another beast
of the old time was the dragon which
performed in the drama of st. George,
usually in the Christmas holidays. The
play was given by little bands of the
country people, who went from house
to house, acting it at each one and col
Glecting in payment any little presents of
money or of meat and drink that might
be offered to them. The dragon had a
fierce head fitted upon the head of the
man, and it dragged long tail behind.
IT walked upon its hind legs, which were
the legs of man, and its forelegs were
the arms Of man. Impersonated by a
man with any little sense of humor, or
even by one without 1t, this dragon
must have been funny enough. An old
picture shows the monster, with its hOr-
rid yard-long skin. its long. scaiy body
and tall, pair of trousers, baggy not
only at the knees. but the whole length,
and a cotton umbrella clutched in its
claw.
The outfit of this dragon shows that
he could not have lived in the earliest
times of the hobby-horse. if anybody
knows when those times were. And, to
RIGHT 6nyyp n nf living
mer, there was that merry creature, the
heifer in ''Evangeline." She is doubt
less the most famous modern instance Of
her kind. 1t took two men to compose
her, one for the forelegs and one for the
hind legs. The dancing that she did
showed that she belonged more to the
minstrel stage than to the farmyard,
and the two men who bore her ungainly
form on their shoulders when she first
pranced into the range of vision of an
astounded public have both risen since
to be star actors.
The elephant has been rather favor
ite animal for this sort of representation
of late Miss Lillian Russell rode on one
when she appeared in AN American
Beauty" but the most lifelike was that
which De Wolf Hopper introduced in
w dnR. MS Was really SuCI d SOOu
imitation of an elephant that many per-
sons thought that it was a real one till
il sucked up a huge glass Of beer
through its trunk, and even then some,
who did not happen to know how an
elephant drinks, were not sure.
All these animals have been inspired,
so to speak, by men, but an exceedingly
funny act was performed some years
ago-and perhaps is performed still
by an animal disguised as another ami
NAL. The scene was a bull fight. The
chief actor in 1t, who impersonated the
bull, was a Danish boarhound. and he
was assisted by a child who played the
matador. The dog was covered all over
with cloth suit representing the hide of
a bull with horns affixed to its head,
and he was trained TO lie down at the
proper time when he was supposed to be
killed The fun of the act was the d.
minutive bull-like appearance Of the an
imal and his purely big dog-like actions.
1t would be hard 10 find anything
funnier of this sort than the "Blondin
donkey" which was exhibited in two
or three of the music halls In New York
a few weeks ago. Its interior workings
consist of one man, who must have
heightened his arms with pieces OF wood
to make them as long as his legs, that
the animal might be Of the same hight
before and behind. The beast got its
title from its walking of the tight rope,
which was really a board. but that was
only small part of its performance.
Its struggles with its supposed master,
the human air of wariness and suspic-
ion with which il sidled about the stage,
watching for an opening like a prize