The Savannah morning news., 1901-04-15

Lester ADVISED me.
1.-THE acrobats and performers at race
tracks, said he, are miserable people AMI
their performances aren't worth looking
at. We want TO reproduce that effect ex-
actly'
But how am l to do that?' 1 asked.
Why. my boy, he exclaimed, get the
worst you can. Get amateurs
so We got amateurs. There was a
whole troupe of minstrels, all amateurs,
and they were the worst we could get
] think we had the effect reproduced 10
perfection. In Flying Scud' we had for
the first time. though it has been done
since, ballet of women dressed as jock
eys. and they made a hit. We also de-
cided to have a lot of bettors. i had an
easy time getting them. The clubmen of
my acquaintance were eager to go on,
and they paid good prices for the privi-
lege. / got forty men who used at that
time along in IS to go regularly to the
races In Jerome Park.
But what shall we wear? they cho-
rused
Just exactly what you do when you
go to Jerome Park l told them.
THE result was that in the racing
scene we had forty well-known men
about town. They wore wells on their
hats. and the velvet coats popular at that
period At signals from the sides from
all of us who kept our eyes upon the pic
ture they would rush about, placing bets
and doing the hundred and one things
that men on the turf do l had looked
up the regular organ grinder who had the
post given to him by his fraternity of
Union Square. He was engaged to pass
across and about the stage in th-S scene
at o'clock as a part of his regular trip
through the square
Zone of my racing men that I had en-
gagged was young lawyer whose name
was Pomeroy. l gave him a place at the
side Of a coach and instructed him that
his duty was to open champagne. We
would have provided him with vinegar
and water as property champagne, which
he was to pass into the coach filled with
ladies Of the ballet, representing feminine
horse enthusiasts. But Pomeroy would
have none of that. He brought every
night his own champagne and It was
genuine. He opened it cheerfully for
the ladies of the coach. I told him not
to move from that position; that his duty
was to stay there and open wine. Gilbert
however, wanted him to move about. He
wanted plenty of motion in the picture,
he said. Pomeroy said he wouldn't, as he
didn't care to.
what do you mean by this? roared
Gilbert. Mr.. Pope can get plenty of men
who are willing to move. What do you
mean by it?'
"'Yes, he can get plenty of men to
move, but they're nothing but plebs, re-
turned Pomeroy, hotly.
Gilbert was the only man about the
theater who was allowed to swear, be-
cause he could say Damn as if he didn't
mean IT, But he said it then. Finally he
laughed and went across to Lester.
Here's a super that talks about plebs
and won't move because Pope told him
not to- he said
Change i'm Character of Supers.
But Lester passed it off as a joke
Plebe, you know, is an actors terms for
auxiliary or super. have often wonder
ed why the elubmen of to-day don't do
something of the kind. Then IL was con-
sidered to be a great opportunity of
studying a great actor to so on as eu-
per You see Richard III had to
have an army and wherever Richard
went there went his army, and that army
then was composed of intelligent men
who wanted to see how the greatest per-
formed his Richard. But now being a SUI
per is a regular calling more or less.
I'm Flying Scud,' when 1t actually
came to the race the event was thrilling.
We showed the start of the race. Then
we had a number of small horses that
ran in slots. Wed move these along
to a position that was visible for a mo-
ment to the audience. Then somebody s
point and the rest would follow In ex-
claiming: There they go. The horses
were moved out of sight for a time to
appear at some other point when they
could be again seen with their relative
positions changed. The finish of the race
we showed upon the stage
In Never Too Late to Mend" we had
a number of auxiliaries made up as Aus
tralian bushment All they had to do was
to bob up suddenly and say 'Calingula-
lah' Lester was very anxious to know
how was going to get them up in time.
AT one rehearsal he called out:
Pope, come over here and bring your
Calingulalah men and show me how they
are going to do their Calingulalah.' The
rehearsal went on. and when the proper
time came they jumped up with their
Calingulalah. II was only after the thing
had been done several times that Lester
noticed the movement of my foot with
its almost imperceptibie noise that
wouldn't have been heard by the audi
ence or the actors either unless they were
listening for It.
FINALLY Lester moved up to Thirtieth
street, and l was with him for several
years after that. In fact. I spoke the
opening llneS Oh Inc OCHOOi iOF oCdtludit
with which we opened. Then It was 81.
Our old theater went under different man
agement and for a year was known as
the Germania. But in 1882 Mr.. Moss took
It, back.
Irying's and Bernhardts American
Debut.
During the succeeding years up to
1895 Mr.. Theodore Moss, tho present pro-
prietor Of Wallack's, managed the Star.
It was here under his management that
Henry Irving and Bernhard made their
first American appearances. In the arch
ives Of Mr.. Moss is a letter from Ellen
Terry. inclosing card. asking that this
lady be permitted to get what she asks
to be f1eeced by those c--f--d-- specula-
tors Robson and Crane appeared in
The Comedy Of Errors, with great sue
cess. Lawrence Barrett presented Fran.
cesca da Rimni' and Joseph Jefferson in
famous actors and actresses appearing
here during this period includes Booth.
Bernhard, Coqueiin, Modjeska, and Patti
One day at rehearsal Mr.. Burnham now
OF Walack's, observed Joseph Jefferson
standing off TO the side of the stage. He
seemed 10 be saying something. After
a time Mr.. Burnham. who was up In the
balcony heard these words: You dear
old place, how love you Later Mr.
Burnham asked Jefferson what he meant.
"'Oh,' the comedian replied, the place
-ossB puB suosssI psIpunq WoIJ IBop 81
Citations, but l was referring TO the fact
that whenever / play here l can play 70
"a h.