The Minneapolis journal., 1902-07-03
EFFECT OF THIRTY SIDES
By RICHARD KANN

"Now, Harrington he said kindly, "ycu
take this part to my hotel and begin on it.
II you're letter perfect by tomorrow morn
mig, You go on in Temples place. At
o'clock this afternoon I'll come over. Well
work on 1t all night"
The hotel people wondered next morning
what had been going on in '42" during the
night. Two men had left at 7:3O in the morn
ing with bar bill Of 81 for black coffee. It
had gone up regularly every thirty minutes
since o'clock. Around en- the walls were
pinned strips of paper with meaningless
sentences written upon them. They took
them down and read them curiously. They
seemed to be passages chosen broadcast from
a book. f.
- They would have understood If they had
known that the process of cramning thirty
sides of typewriter manuscript into the brain
Of man means that the brain must be
stimulated with something and that strong
coffee is the only harmless thing that Will
do it, They didn't know that mans brain
sometimes refuses to memorize past certain
amount, but that 1t will receive impress
sions of things seen. That was why some Of
the speeches Harrington couldn't get. al
though they were repeated to him endiessly,
were written on strips of paper. pinned on
the walls and stared at him through the night
until they sank into his mind.
Buscoe had been cruelty insistent, but his
methods had won out. Harrington, haS-
gard and brain weary, went through the 8
O'Clock rehearsal with but few bitches. Then
Buscoe ran them through again and dis
missed them at 1890 with orders to report
at for dress rehearsal. He dragged Har-
rington back to the hotel and again sent him
over the part, this time with the business
included -
He went on that night almost crazed.
Forty Eight hours without sleep and not
richrn huf
but in his brain were the thirty sides.
He played the three acts without a break,
and he played them as Harrington could
when he wanted to. But his big scene didn't
come until the fourth. 1t was strongly writ
ten and intensely emotional. 1t depicted
final parting from the woman he loved, In
a set lighted by blue borders, with the foots
low. The'exit of the leading woman was the
cue for the first speech. e..
Buscoe, all attention. stood in the side en-
trance Harrington began. He was play
ing it low, but fercely, acting it beautifully.
He had the audience breathless. Suddenly
Buscoe felt for the curtain signal. .
"Heavens!" he said under his breath.
Hes way off the text
Out in the weird light of the blue borders
Harrington rayed on. Not line he spoke
had even been in the manuscript, but he
talked of parting from a woman. He was
horribly earnest, and instead of cursing the
the signal. The big drop began to slide.
Just then Harrington reeled across the stage
and fell in queer heap. The drop came
| down with thud within foot Of his face.
Then from out in front came roar upon
| roar of applause. "They didn't know ne
| was off," thought Buscoe.
| Harrington" he almost yelled, "get upl
I'm going to give you curtain call alone!''
But Harrington past curtain calls.
| They carried him to a dressing-room and
tucked him comfortably on a couch.
| He was asleep when the woman asked for
him. She was too we'll dressed to be asking
! for a. man like Harrington, Buscoe thought.
| Still, he asked himself, how did she know
! that HARRINGTON was on the bill? The pro-
| gram said Temple
Nobody here by that name,'' he told her.
81 know he is,'' she said quietly. II was
| in the audience 1 am Miss Burton. I hava
known Mr.. Harrington very long time
"Are you Eleanor" asked Buscos
quickly.
Yes" she said softly. 49,, 4 !
When he awakened, she was beside him
So was Buscoe But Buscoe left at oncssslEtis
| only knew that when Harrington awakened
| and saw her beside him he seemed to taka
everything for granted.
She came out little later and asked that
! some breakfast be sent in to aim. He will
! be able to act tonight, he says she told
Buscoe. He'll tell you about US when you
| 60 in
II gather" said Buscoe, trying to be Dip
| Iomatic "that you are what allied him"
But didn't know it" she replied. until
last night