Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-02-15
HIS BLOOD WAS GREEN.
| 1t Was the Result of a BIunder or n
Joke by the Property Man.

From the New Orleans Times Democrat
THE most ludicrous mishap ever wit
messed on the stage" said an actor at a
little supper party the other evening, "oc-
Cured one night years ago in a small town
in northern Iowa | was new in the bus;
ness then and had Joined a weird barn
storming company headed by an old actor
of the name of Fitzmorris We had a blood
and-thunder repertoire a yard long, but our
chief attraction was an Irish melodrama
called Lion Hearted Larry, or the Cotter's
Oath 1t had the usual plot of canned Irish
melodramas-the honest but financially en-
barrassed peasant, his beautiful daughter,
the poor but gallant lover, otherwise Lion
Hearted Larry, and the villainous landlord,
who insists on the daughters hand or i'm
mediate eviction for the whole family. The
great scene of the play was the rescue by
Larry or the beautiful daughter from the
castle of the villainous landlord at the eli
max of which the heroic lover was fired
upon by file of British soldiers. At the
report of the guns the white shirt which he
wore was suddenly suffused with red. You
are wounded! the heroine cried. Yes re-
piled Larry, but it's true Irish blood ever
ready to be shed for the cause of Erin!'
This rather irrelevant remark, together
with the CORY shirt front, never failed to
bring down the house. Needless to say, the
character of Lion Hearted Larry was as
sumed by Mr.. FitZmorris.
THE business of the blood was managed
very simply" continued the story teller,
"A small rubber bulb was filled with a So
luton of cochineal and fastened under Lar
rvs arm. At the right moment he gave it
a squeeze and crimson torrent poured
over the shirt, which had piece of water
proof cloth at the back the front being re-
newed for each performance. We were
playing weeks stand at the little Iowa
town l have already mentioned and the
day before Lion Hearted Larry was put on
Fitzmorris gave the property man careful
instruction in regard to preparing the ma
terial for the blood effect. Whether the
prop man had conceived some grudge
against Fitz we never aScertained. He
was grabbed old Englishman and per-
haps he didn't like the tone of the play
anyhow. he went into the scene loft. where
lot of colors were kept mixed, and filled
the rubber bulb with bright green liquid
paint. That night several bitches occurred
and everybody got nervous and excited.
When the time came for the rescue scene
Fitzmorris got into his costume as quick
as he could, felt the bulb to see 1t was in
its proper place and a moment later was
on the stage. There things went all right
up to the climax. The castle was entered,
the orchestra played a few bars of tremlo
| music. Larry emerged with the beautiful
colleen on his arm, and up jumped the am
buscaded soldiers. Bang! went the guns,
and You are wounded" shr:eked the hero
inc. Yes shouted Larry, pressing the
bulb, but It's true Irish blood He never
got any further. His ample shirt front had
!, suddenly turned emerald green and the
| howl of laughter that went up from the
audience nearly peeled the paper off the
walls. Fitzmorris himself was SO amazed
| by the phenomena that he was unable to
move, and stood there transfixed, his arms
i outspread and his mouth wide oDen. On
| that tableau the curtain fell. Then he came
| to himself, grabbed a club and began a
| frantic search for the prop man. but that
| individual had disappeared and we saw him
| no more during our stay. The episode
| broke up the performance and ruined our
| business for the balance of the engage
| ment I'm told that Fitzmorris was after
! north Iowa and Wisconsin transforming
| circuit