Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-08-24

S0stumer Must Study and Choose
Wisely to Avoid bad Effects.


Wisely to Avoid Bad Effects.
From the Brooklyn Eagle
More important even than the stage
NEAL remarked the old timer 'is stage
clothing. meal is eaten only once in a
show. sometimes not even once, but stage
clothing. except in burlesQue and society
drama, is worn literally always Nothing
so tests the directors fitness for his work
as when he sets out to properly costume
play, and nothing even in these advanced
days Is so productive of glazing incon-
sistencies as the efforts some directors
make.
Letting responsibilities severely alone.
however. and judging stage clothes solely
from the standpoint of an audience, what
an interesting study they provide! What
revelations they have to: offer! Where else
but on the stage may one, see civil war
woman logged up IN all the latest twenti-
eth century finery? As she listens to the
unified boom OF the bass drum behind the
scenes and exclaims. Oh. those dreadful
guns! They are beginning again on the
ridge she takes with her over TO the stage
window modern a gown as ever graeed
a tailor's window. The time of the play Is
1863, and the place Virginia or whereabouts.
but what of that-the faithful evening gown
performs its task like stole
THAT Is only one example. OF course. In
big shows, where the details are worked
out to a minute conclusion. the actress
struggles all over the stage with a hoop
skirt and a bonnet with long strings. Then
the audience is satisfied and 1t will consent
to overlook any other shortcomings. l love
the war play, with its booming guns It's
wonderful riders covered with dust and red
paint for blood. love 1t for Its fascinating
little sister of the sobbing heroine, who
waves an American flag in the face OF the
advancing confederates. and Is just as saucy
goatee 1 love the brave hero. who. when
shot full of holes in the second act grabs
at the air and gasps. 1t is nothing-noth-
ing The villain who swears In hoarse
ST.. T 1nx,a han oil
and that is why hate to see the heroine or
the first old woman or somebody else spoil
the uniformity Of the picture by wearing
modern clothes.
as much as it does to speech or manners.
For instance, take the overcoat In the
rural dramatic truly rural drama. Dear
old ulster, how hard 1t works! what
truly rural play would be complete with
out it or several Of 1t? AS 1t comes stalk
ing through the door Of the farmhouse
scene an actor inside of it. how the audi
ence goes back to old boyhood days and
watches with fond attention the, stage
snow which comes tumbling OF. Would
the audience permit any other coat In the
truly rural drama? Never, never. The
Wearer Of it, who almost invariably comes
In from the barn or the village or the
post office, unwinds seven yards or plaid
scarf and finally deposits the faithful
ulster on chair near the fre. Should
he neglect to say. It's gittin' colder.
mother nearly much meat would be
taken out Of the scene as If the ulster
itself failed to appear.
.'You notice that / alluded to the fact
that the wearer-not necessarily the owner
of the ulster. describes the night afore-
said as cold. 1t may be more than cold.
It may be overpowering, but under no cir
the truly rural or any other style of drama
to refer to it as bitter. There are Just
about two classes OF stage people who are
licensed to use that term, as appiied 10
S0rrOWfnI
man indoors who peeps out into the dark
ness beyond the back drop, and shudders:
wis a year since he left me-. She may
say bitter and the other person. thus
licensed by tradition. is the prosecuted
girl who returns to her native village IN
the driving storm. As she wraps her spare
shawl about her and stumbles pathetically
over the white steps Of the village church.
She in all fitness. may exclain: All tbs
bitter night. / can see the light Of fathers
house but shall never return-no, never.
II there Is an organ in the cast II Is al
ways well to light up the church windows
and pull hard at the pathos ropes. These
will invariably produce such an expression
as 'Ah how sweetly the old village choir
sings tonight-rising infection, pwheW-
ew-ew Of the wind. whirl of the snow
"Pm afraid l got little of my track
Of stage clothes. but l couldn't help II:
Whenever I see the truly rural drama
from drinking well water on farm In
Huntington and 1t makes my heart re-
toice This has been rather a fragmentary
talk but before stop wish to pay my
respects to just one more piece OF stage
clothing-and that Is. the note book OF
the typical stage reporter. Although only
d note book. 1t Is so big and so conspicu-
GUS that 1t really deserves consideration
as an article OF stage apparel Therefore.
let us consider it.
I'm the first place. no reporter ever lived
who made such an extraordinary ass OF
himself as the stage reporter does. With
his omnipresent notebook. which only the
greenest kind Of newspaper man carries. !
as rule. he figures invariably as a come
dian irresponsible and idiotic He parades
his wad Of paper In the face Of the man
he is interviewing In the play and gets
which no real reporter who
flashed note book would get in a thou
sand years. He takes down carefully what
is dictated to him. when the average man
of enough public consequence to justify an
would close up like q jackknifs,
scared to death at the first intfmation OF
pencil and paper. The stage reporter has
heaps to learn. but he can begin the right
way by discarding the note book a. an ar
ticle of clothing and being little less Of .