The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-06-19

ETects-MansfeId the Victim of II
49,, Trying Practical JOke-Scene Set
ting Reduced to an Art In These
DAVIS of Elaborate Productions.
Life behind the scenes, as known to
the general public through the medium
of theatrical writer's and artists, Is
back wall broken into bits of color with
posters and pastors, a light inclosed in
wire cage; or else the dressing room of
the star, small coop with bit of mir
ror stuck up against the wall, the ON
nipresent bird-cage light again being
strongly in evidence. The first visit be-
hind the scenes will dispel these pretty
illusions, and one may hunt in vain 1or
coryphees in abbreviated costumes re-
clining on a canvas rock by a painted
sea, putting upon a cigarette and with
. bottle of champagne reposing at their feet
in a silver bucket of crushed ice In
stead one will be found amid labyrinth
of ropes. pulleys, lofts and scenery as
confusing as an old sailing ship to
landlubber
To the stage hand it is all work and
no play as a general thing, but the old
adage of "all work and no play makes
Jack a duh boy" holds as good with this
class of artisans as with the tars, and
their pranks are the bugbears of actors.
But they are a necessary evil, and al
though in one case at least one of their
practical jokes has caused well known
actor to forswear a certain Eastern play
house, their tricks and pranks are usu-
ally as harmless as those of schoolboys.
Grips and ''hymen'' are the techni-
cal and familiar terms by which the
manipulators of scenery are known in
the profession. They form separate
and distinct class in theatrical life.
Washington has her quota of these men,
a jolly, fun-loving, easy-going set, as
willing to swear at the star at fell
low workman, and Independent as Il
street car conductor. Making fair sal
aries they spend their money freely,
mingling in a Bohemian existence with
those in other branches of the business.
They can be found in late resorts talking
in technical terms of their days or, more
correctly, their nights work, language
purely Greek to the novice.
Their familiarity with plays and play
ers is born of experience, and Ineir sum
ming up of plays merits and chances
the defects or pretty effects scenically,
but from a general knowledge of what
pleases the audiences, and is usually
correct as the view of a seasoned, critic.
The chief work of the grips and fly
men Is in installing play for a week 3
run in the local houses. When the seen
cry arrives Monday morning it is all
laid out on the floor of the stage under
the direction of the carpenter. who trav
els with the company, with the assistance
of the house stage carpenter. The num-
Der of grips and hymen necessary for the
production are called in and the work of
preparing the stage for the evenings pro-
duction is begun. With some spectacular
productions all the house scenery must
be removed to make room for the stuff
carried by the company.
UP IN THE AIR.
Up in the rigging loft, or gridiron, any
where from 40 to so feet above the stage
floor in the local theaters, the work be-
gins. The fymen climb to this aerial
position and perform their work with the
agility and intrepidity of an A. B. laying
aloft to house the topsail of a clipper ship
in a blow. The house drops are lower
ed to the stage and the new ones rugged.
Sand bags of different weights are used
to counterbalance the drops" so that
they may be easily lowered and raised.
the stage when a new lot of scenery is
being put in. The order is then given
for the fiymen in the loft to jump for
the ropes and pull the drop up to what
is known as trimming height" They
have to single out the particular rope
meant, and with several of them clinging
to 1t the drop is pulled into place. Here
the fun begins. The f1yman jumps about
four feet for a rope, catches a wrong
one, with the light sandbag at the other
end, and rides down to the fly gallery
at a rate never achieved by the fastest
elevator This is what is known as "rid-
ing sand bag" and the victim picks up
his bruised body only to be greeted with
bowls of laughter from the grips and
'fymen."
Below the rigging loft is the second
gallery and the fly gallery. From the
latter all the hanging stuff is worked by
the hymen,' including the drop curtain
and the grips" work the remainder of
the scenery from the stage level. The
fire underwriters require that each thea
ter shall be equipped with an asbestc g
curtain, to be used in case of fire on the
stage, to prevent the flames extending to
the front of the house and the audience
These curtains are too weighty for easy
handling, so a lighter drop is in general
Use, the asbestos curtain being held for
cases of emergency.
EMERGENCIES FOR ASBESTOS.
~ emergency does not necessarily
mean the presence of flames behind the
scenes, and the asbestosof the LAFAYETTE
Square opera house was called into use
not long ago when Lillian Russell and
her very caloric organization of the
opera people were playing there Al
the end of one of the scenes through
which the company stalked slipshod the
regular house curtain would descend but
certain distance, remaining high
enough to give a continuous view of the
very shapely and interesting and neither
limbs of the thinly clad chorus and the
very gauzy Edna Wallace Hopper
Twice the curtain was raised and started
down again, only to stick with remark
able persistency at the same point Then
down sailed the emergency curtain. a
dull, gray affair, with Asbestos printed
across the front in great red letters The
audience in this instance felt that the
asbestos was needed for more reasons
than one.
Once the drops are properly adjusted
and counterbalanced they are worked
with an ease and rapidity that is fairly
astounding. Often the scenes are changed
during period of inky blackness. The
curtain is not lowered, but every light is
eXtinguished, the orchestra drowning
the noise of the stage hands during the
interval with some simple strain tina
may be played without notes. Stage
settings of today are at the height of
eiaborateness, and the stage force is
necessarily large. Tween acts the grips
and fyTnen are in complete control.
actors and chorus girls scudding into
their dressing rooms. In the hustle and
bust.e on the stage they are liable to
be manned for life in collision with some
Tast-tiying stage hand, loaded to the