The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-12-14
in THE EMPIRE GALLERY
THINGS SEEN AND HEARD ON Mon
DAY AFTERNOONS.
A Reporter Sits Among the "Gods" mt
His own Perii-A Disdain for
Lofty Sentiment.

II have travelled all over this country,
and played in every variety theater from
the old London Theater on the Bowery to
the Midway Music Hall in San Francisco
but I've never run up against quite such
a gallery crowd as the one this theater
presents to the performers on an opening
day."
Thus spoke comedian in a dressing
room at the Empire Theater the other aft
ernoon. as he sat on trunk carefully re-
moving the burnt cork from his face. The
remaining streaks of his makeup only
served to intensity the expression of dis
gust that was pictured on his countenance
for the curtain had just fallen upon
performance that had been frequently in
terrupted by the turbulent gallery gods who
insisted upon running the show to suit
themselves. With the exception of the first
day of the week the audiences at the EN-
pire are about as orderly as in the amuse-
ment places of better class and higher
price, but Monday is 'de gangs day in
the Empire gallery, and the performers
in the combination burlesque shows have
learned to look forward with dread to
their initial performances in Indianapolis.
The management of the theater has
hard time of 1T trying to suppress the
rowdyism, but it is no easy matter to hold
in control a crowd of hoodlums, each one
OF whom possesses wholehearted ambi-
ton to Guido his comrades in noisy demon
STATIONS that have no significance in par
ticular, save to prove that the demonstra-
tor is lone of de gang" and proud of it,
AFTERNOON WITH THE GOODS"
A newspaper man took his life in his
hands on recent Monday afternoon and
climbed up the narrow stairway into the
garden of the gods. The gallery was packed
with boys and men, the former predominant
ing There were numerous prohibitive odors
battling for the mastery of the atmosphere
and the uninitiated newcomer experienced
momentary pang Of uneasiness that made
him hesitate as TO whether he had better
see the thing through or not" But he
didn't hesitate long. A hand reached out
through the darkness-for the lights were
turned low-and gave him push that sent
him stumbling down the deep aisle to an
empty seat. A moment later some ingeni-
Gus SOUL quick to recognize a stranger in
strange land. and to appreciate the posi-
biities presented, pelted the visitor on the
head with dampened wad of paper a GER
emony that was repeated at intervals dur
ing the afternoon.
The curtain rose; the performance down
on the stage began and the performance
up in the gallery became more interesting.
The lone policeman, like the lone fisherman
in "Evangeline," came and went through
out the afternoon, appearing first in this
part of the gallery, then in that ra ping
on the wooden benches now and then to
demand order, sternly cautioning old Of
tenders to maintain their decorum and re-
ceiving attention from-nobody. The Wis
itor learned three things at the very out
set-first, that in order to become an ord;-
nary member of the fraternity you must
know how to whistle through your teeth;
second. that If you hope to attain any de-
gree of prominence in your chosen profess
sion you must be among the select few to
shout jeering witticisms at the female per-
formers who sing sentimental songs, and.
third that If you are ambitious enough to
strive for actual leadership you must. i'm
addition to the other two accomplishments,
be able TO yell out the chorus of every pop
ular song with absolute certainty as to the
correct words and with total disregard
and wholesome contempt for the tune.
DISDAIN FOR SENTIMENT
To be an out-and-out Monday gallery god
it is necessary to hold in profound dsdain
all Songs of tender sentiment, unless-and
mark well these essential features-the
ballads are those of the patriotic and
mother types. For the two great re-
deeming virtues of the Monday gallery
god at the Empire are his jealous love of
his own country and his wholesale affection
for everybody else's mother. Since the
Spanish-American war no travelling bur-
lesque show has been complete without a
soldier" or patriotic song. and as these
musical stories of battle and bloodshed have
long since received the much-desired stamp
of approval frorn the eminent critics in
the Decent seats on high, there is little
likelihood of an early discontinuance of
these gems Of patriotism. 1t Is considered
perfectly proper for all the gods to Join
in the chorus Of q song of this kind, even
If there Is touch of sentimentalism' in
the words, and when, upon the afternoon
in question. the military soubrette down
on the stage reached the chorus Of Fare
Thee Well Molly Darling" there was a
tremendous burst Of song from the choris-
sitting beside the stranger hastily blew
his nose, removed a generous wad of to-
bacco from his mouth and placed it in the
folds of his programme for safe-keeping
leaned back against the wooden bench to
give his lungs a good chance, and added
his mite to the general uproar. in the fol-
lowing words:
Fare de well, fare de well. Mollie darlin',
Let yer eyes look agin into mine;