The times., 1901-03-31

Iittle-lunch -aIl-ready or-him. Yes, in
deed, We all have seen that lunch II faif-
~ makes our mouths water. There is a
tall dish for celery, with celery IN IL Gel
cry is always good for comic business.
such as tanning the girl when she faints,
or busting one ) shoes. Well, as was
saying. there is celery, and lots of IT, in
the tail dish. There are several rosy ap-
pies, an orange or two. q squad Of rolls
and perhaps q coffee pot. II the play rs
very realistic, there may be coffee In the
pot but if not-nay, nay. Bring in
stage hand, i'm a dress suit and tan shoes
first giving him what looks like cham
pagne bottle. with water inside, and the
delightful illusion is complete. saw a
meal like that the other afternoon on the
stage and after the male member Of the
sketch team had taken about three bites
and spluttered out the coffee because II
burned him-very fuuny-he rose up and
said. with a smile
There feel as If 1 couldn't eat an
other morsel for a week Well, I sup
pose many a time he hasn't had the
chance. heiug a veteran actor.
The vaudeville meal is not the only
sparsely settled stage poke-Out 1 have
seen John Drew, after telling the audi
ence how hungry he was, in one way or
another. for ten minutes. sit down amid
beautiful scenery TO an empty ChatlnS
dish and bottle of real wine. | have
always envied the actor who could have
real wine and consider it a mark of pros
peTity in the show that provides IL still
wine, without food, Is at times injurious
particularly when you see couple of
characters in society drama pour il
am speaking of wine. I m going TO talk
about the stage toast. What a graceful
act II is, the stage toast. In legitimate
drama, in such scene Tor instance as
Mary ManneTings toast 10 Washington,
1t Will pass, but comic opera-ah that 5
the word.
Ever seen a comic opera toast? Of
course YOU have. Every body has. Some
body on the stage cries: A toast. a toast
and then the baritone steps forward and
levels his voice over the footIghts He
Eas an able-bodied cup in his hand, in
which a chorus girl pOurs wine from an
empty hagon, and then, prepared for the
song, the baritone let's go: And il $ Will
ye quaH me. my iads2 or something like
that, IS what he says and then ne drinks
deeply. II there an encore, which there
usually is. he comes back and drinks
again without the formality Of ren!iug
his glass. That s one kind oL opera toast.
Another Kind is when everybody drinks
together. They used to do that in the
first act OF III Captain. The chorus and
a couple OF the principals used 10 get out
In front of the house and sing something
like %, the raven black wine, let us sip
ip; come let us sip-ip, come, let Us sip
ip.' ! won't be sure about the color OF
the wine as characterized in the song,
but / do remember that toast. Every
body on the stage used to clink glasses
(they were made of metal. Of coursel
with enough force 10 break Il pressed
clinking cups, they were swinging them
around their heads, like a green quarter
back making his first double pass. OF
course. II won't be necessary for me TO
state that the glasses were all empty.
Having dtscoursed about meals that
are spurious. let us now pay our respects,
in conclusion, to the real articles. Where
can YOU find them? Why. i'm the truly
rural drama, with whistling wind. the
driving snow, the real fruit tree, the OK
team. and the Annie Laurie quartette.
You all know the sort of show ! refer to.
The kind old man with whiskers and
OVerals. comes in from the barn and
says: 'Marthy. he thet turkey done yit;
it smells all fred slick Hello. who ;
thet there comm Up The road? and hdE-
inS said that, the dinner preparations go
on and finally they take a real turkey
from q real stove and set ii on q real
table with real cloth and knives and
forks. and real bread and real Conversa-
ton Everything real, in fact. except the
actors. Sometimes they are wooden In
these plays the members of the cast get
SO sick of turkey that for ordinary meals
off the stage they are glad 10 tackle
tripe sandwich. After all. then, it becomes
q question whether the actor with three
rolls and au apple isn't the better sit
uatod The Brooklyn Eagle.