The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-07-07

A central incident in each of the late
James A. Herne's plays, "Shore Acres"
and Sag Harbor,' was the dinner scene,
says the Baltimore News. Every one
who saw "Shore Acres" remembers the
feast, with the roast turkey, which came
on steaming and was cut up and divided
among the guests. 1t was no make be-
lieve or property turkey, for not only did
the smoke arise before the audience and
the dressing gush out when 1t was
opened. but the fragrance floated all
through the auditorium. The actors in
the play have told how surfeited they
became, before the season ended, with
roast turkey. Night after night they
We're obliged to partake of the bird, until
the sight of it became almost unendur-
able. AS the turkey was a large one,
so that everybody might be helped in
profusion, the aggregate cost at the end
of the winter was something consider
able
Pleased with the success of the turkey
in "Shore Acres" Mr.. Herne introduced
a real clam pie into the action in Sag
Harbor." 1t must be said, however, that
in places where clans were not to pe
had, oysters served just as well. The
point was to have a genuine pie, and
this was invariably brought from the
kitchen, and it was appetiZing to see the
to smell the perfume of the clans when
it was cut up. AS in the case Of the
turkey, however, the actors in the piece
soon tired of the pie, although succulent
it may have been at first.
Mr.. Herne thought, from long ex-
perience and observation, that audiences
like to see a good dinner eaten on the
stage. Other playwrights have been of
the same opinion, for eating and drinking
occurs in many dramatic works. Dinner
as an incident is very useful, or even
supper. Recall the lively supper in Ca
mille'-the furious talk and laughter,
everybody gabbling at once and eating at
the same time. There is something Of
the same kind in Mr.. Mans1eld's ga
Partisan Romance" And how amusing,
as in aunt Jack" if there is a comic
character who cannot get waited upon
and who sits half starved. In London
at present there is a play in which the
dinner scene occupies three-quarters Of
an hour-far too long. Twenty or TWEEN
ty-five minutes is abundance for an in
cident of this character.
Stage banquets, however, are not in
variably merry, as witness a very old
one-that in Macbeth" where Banquo
is a guest unseen by all but the host,
whose rawlings at the sight throw every
thing into disorder and cause the hostess
to dismiss the company. There is also
an outdoor dinner going on in GAS You
Like 1t" when Orlando interrupts. In
Shakespeare's time at these stage feasts
the performers used as food marchpane,
a sort Of biscuit, to which one of the
servants makes allusion in "Komeo and
Juliet'-"Good thou, save me piece of
marcnpane." The actors grumbled at
the constant use of marchpane and
would have preferred something sub
stantial. In the last century, when the
strolling players went more or less mer-
rily on foot and were much Of the time
half STAYED, real food in the plays was
more than welcome There was a Brit
ism manager who, whenever salaries
were considerably in arrears and dis
satisfaction prevalent, sootheo every
body into good humor again by putting
up the nautical drama, 1.-THE Cramond
Brig" which calls for dinner of boiled
mutton and turnips. In 1.-THE Gentle
Shepherd which used to be given in
Scotland, real haggis was introduced.
There was also a very elaborate meal
in the old farce mo Song, No Supper"
Persons in the audience are not aware,
perhaps, that it is difficult to eat on the
stage and carry on the dialogue at the