Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-12-17

shoot him in his tracks. "Stand aside
woman. stand aside and allow me e.
enter" he is saying. Never" she re-
plies with all the power a bad case of
stage fright will allow. EFF you enter
il must be over my dead body. He is
mine and you shall not harm him.
Back / say tseizing revolver cOnven-
iently located another step and !
shoot.
1t was the villains part to take tina :
step and he took it as per the play
wright's directions. The heroine pulled
the trigger and there was simply a
click. The revolver had missed fire.
There she stood holding the weapon
extended in her trembling hand and
on the verge of fight to the wings.
She wasn't familiar enough with re-
volvers TO quickly cock and fire again
and fire again and the william was rap
idly gaining time enough to rush in
and overpower her which was not at all
according to the lines.
But one who was taking the part of
negro and who was watching from
behind the scenes had wit enough to
grasp the situation and seiZing IA small
stool that CHANGED to be handy rushed
in. exclaiming: "Pll take care of him
missis. I'll take care of him." while he
banged him over the head with the
stool with much more force than stage
propriety demanded. The villain
caught on all right and fell like "A log
while the curtain descended and the
scene was saved from wreck, The vii
lain carried an extraordinary bump on
his head for several days but the audi
ence was fooled again.
These two breaks resulted from ac-
cidents but another that was as en-
barassing was caused by the simple
carelessness of one in the cast. He
miscalculated the time and, thinking
that his cue was yet 10 minutes off, was
quietly enjoying smoke in the dress
ing rooms while it was being uttered
on the stage. The call boy hustled af-
ter him while things We're getting de-
cidedly interesting on the stage. The
one who had been speaking was COM
PEELED to cease by the character of his
lines and none of the others could think
how to break in smoothly. The scene
was in the bar-roOm of hotel and one
of those on the stage was supposed to
he well Jagged" This was his part
and he had been doing it well. When
the pause came he suddenly broke out
into an incoherent temperance lecture.
1t was q burlesque all right and
seemed to be part of the comedy to the
audience The tardy actor soon APP
peared GREATNESS in the wings but did
not dare take his cue and break in on
the lecture. The tipsy lecturer was
lust warming up to his subject and had
| gotten in so deep that he couldn't pull
out very WELL He had started himself
going ard didn't know how to stop
without the audience discovering the
| trick. He might have been talking yet
| if he hadn't CHANGED to stumble on a
line from Shakespeare that fitted. This
brought him up all standing. The cue
was repeated and the tardy actor came
or with his part while the people nudg-
ed each other and whispered about how
we'll so-and-so could assume Jag.
The breaks are always coming with
amateurs or professionals when they
are least expected and the man who
has wit enough to turn them of ana
hide them from the audience is always
worth twice his salary to his company