The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-07-10
WONDERS OF STAGE PLACES
ItEMARKABLE QUALITIES or 10
C1LI1IES BEHIND FOOTLIGHTS.
Magnetic Theory Applied TO Explain
why All tho Characters Must Come to
One PIace-Other Peculiar Made-to-

why All tho Characters Must Come TO
One PIace-Other Peculiar Made-to-
Order Condolences.
Stage places have their wonders, no
less than stage time, and greatly IN
crease ones awe of the drama. For
instance, there is the magnetic place,
which draws all the characters ire
sistibly to it. No matter who or what
they are, or how otherwise engaged,
come they must to that particular place
Sometimes it is mans chamber not at
all attractive in themselves, being
frowsy, and with an abominably comic
servant in evidence; vet young women
are drawn there quite alone, married
women are impelled to call, on absurd
excuses and all sorts of masculine
noses are poked in casually, they really
don't know why. Sometimes 1t is an
ordinary spot in the country, without
any natural attraction beyond cabbaSy
trees and a hard rock to sit on. Yet
every one you take any interest in is
moved to come there, whatever their
walking powers may be, and however
much they might prefer to be elsewhere.
Sometimes it is the abode of poverty,
and the most wealthy and highbred
people struggle for the deal chairs. 1t
may the deck of ship, or a coal cellar,
or the roof of house, no matter; there
the company must foregather, or die.
This magnetic theory is supported by
the fact that there is negative pole, as
we'll as positive, in certain stage
q ;S, oetn jr1,i hnN inst. t,tr
neously the hotel, railway station, mar
ket place, village fair or other thronged
spot becomes deserted when required.
One instant babel, the next it is a des-
ert. You can only account for this by
concluding that the negative pole has
been applied, which repels everybody
except one or two persons who want to
have accordinly insulated themselves
beforehand.
There is also to be noted curious in
stance of permanent magnetism. 1t
possesses rocks and trees. You no
sooner see a rock on the stage than you
know it will attract some one to it's
shelter, either to listen to other peo-
pies business or to take potshot;
while as to trees, whom do they not
draw behind them! There is no actor
or actress who has arrived at the jour-
neyman stage of the business who has
not been drawn behind tree hundreds
of times.
The stage street is a wonderful place,
though far from cheerful. AS a play
goer, you may wander through such
streets for years and never see any one
who really lives there. No tradesman
comes to his door to cape, no housemaid
shakes her buster out of the window on
to your head, no splashing hanson,
match seller, whistling butcher boy or
coster with decayed orchestra in his
throat, disturbs the deathlike tranquil
ity. 1t never has more than two inhab-
itants, and they, as Pat would say, are
complete strangers who have just
dropped along.
A dramatic character has only to
walk down street and he is sure to
meet another whom he wants to meet
very much; and he will meet no one
else. And there is a strange influence
in that street which impels both to be
extra confidential, even beyond ordinary
stage communicativeness, which is say
ing good deal. They exchange secrets
of the utmost price, without even look
ing round to see if any one is listening, |
as they would have done had they been |
in an underground dungeon or the car
of a balloon. Nor need they. They are |
really more private in the stage street |
than they would be on the Jungfrau or
in the Imperial Institute. The hero and |
Charles his friend, the heiress and her
poor but honest lover, the wicked mar
quis and the wronged orange girl, the
Lord Chief Justice and the briber with
the bag of gold, or whoever they may
be, may open their inmost hearts in
perfect security there. Unlike the
stage street. which is rather lugubri-
Gus, the influence of the stage country
Jane is entirely hilarious Whether the
soil be clay or gravel, it exudes With
cisms, puns drop off the hedges, and
"chestnuts" from the trees. On come
two or three people, no matter of what
age or condition, and they are at once
compelled to be funny They cannot
help 1t, neither the aged peasant and his
wife, nor the couple of tramps, nor the
london dude and the bucolc lass, nor
John the valet and Thomas the groom.
Directly the landscape of the country
lane descends from the skies, pou may
rest assured that the comic relief is
coming down the road, and may shake
reef or two out of your waistcoat to
make ready for the laughter to flow.
Another remarkable stage place is the
elusive one the one that cannot be
found The principal one is. of course,
the hiding place of the missing will, the
letter or the link in the
evidence Of the murder. OF these there
are every variety, and you may build a
good play on any one of them if you
only know how What more exciting
for example, than to locate the missing
will somewhere up the chimney, and see
each character put his head up In I
and bring it down again like a
Christy minstrels; all in vain, till one, {
sharpened by the advent Of the last act,
finds it concealed inside the smoked
ham which Is hanging there, against /
which every one has been bobbing his
head
For the compromising letter there is {
an equally fine assortment Of hiding .
places. Perhaps the most pleasing of all ]
is that invented by a French dramatist.
Hero meets with accident; trepan ne !
,essary; villain present disguised as
male nurse; part Of skull removed, dos +,
;or turns aside; villain pops the letter
ivy |