The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-10-11
LONDON FIRST NIGHTS
GETTING ..LIVEL|ER
i. Horse Accident ~ Beerbohm
Trees ''RichardII." --latest
Incidents at Premieres.

LONDON, Oct. 10.+-If London first
Fnights keep on being so lively as they
have been recently, play-goers here
will be likely to hesitate about attend
Ing one of them without previously taxi
ing out an accident policy. At the first
performance of The Admiral Crich-
tom strike of stage carpenters took
place. When r. c. Cartons comedy
"A Clean Slate" was introduced at
the Criterion, roughs in the Dit made
things disagreeable because the NAM
agement had done away with gallery
| from which they had been wont to
boo" venturesome authors and at an
T other premiere" a, lamp accidentally
overturned on the stage caused much
: trepidation among the fashionable oc-
/ cupants of the stalls"
And though Oscar Asche had the
| sympathy of the brilliant first-nigflt
| audience at His Majesty's the other
might when, clad in full armor as Bo-
| lingbroke in Richard H." the actor was
thrown full length on the stage at
| one buck" of the FESTIVE horse he was
/ riding, it is doubtful if the society folk
| seated near the stage We're not more.
concerned lest the frightened steed's
L next plunge might carry it over the
| footlights and into the midst"
= Really it was rather exciting. The
brilliant scene showing the king, queena
| the play opens had passed off smoothly
and the audience was gasping over the
| still, greater glories of the lists at
| Coventry where Bolingbroke and Now
/ bray were to meet in combat before
| the king, when it became evident that
there was going to betrouble with the
| horses used in the spectacle. Repeft-
said that the animals had been as gen.
tie as lambs at the rkhearsals, but no
had ct I1ad oil INN "a
across the footlights, than he began TO
| rear SO that it becamesnecessary to. get
liking Richard off ais soon as possible.
MoWbrays mount was5gestive, too. BAIT
| Asche's horse proved himself rogue"
as. they say in Texas immediately he
trotted upon the stage. He was a
small horse, and perhaps the weight OF
| the burly Asche, increased as it was
by the actors armor, was more than he
wanted to carry At all eyentssshe.
lgbueke d9 so wickediy that Boiling
broke came within an ace of being
| thrown right at the start. and the peo-.
pie in the stalls" had begun TO feef
a little nervous when the gayly Clad
s5supers"E helped Asehe dismount. In
safety. sssyssssg
Everyone foresaw. however, that
| there We're to be FACTIONS when Boz
Iingbroke'' had to mount again. after
| having been banishedz from the. king
| dom by Richard, and their anxiety Was
well founded. Asche was no sooner In
| the saddle than his horse made "a leap
| forward breaking away entirely from
| the supers, and for moment it looked
/ as if he mi ght~ plunge straight into The
audience But instead the brute back
ed toward the rear of the stage and
there began to plunge so vfc1ousfy
| that the audience forgot any fear for
| its lo4n skin in anxiety sfer that, sef
| Asche.s5
| And sure enough, an instant later,
both the actor and his steed went down
| the former with his mailed foot caught
| in the stirrup, and there was tense
! moment when the chances were that
Asche would be either rolled or tram
pied upon IN full view of the audience.
| He was pulled out of harms way,
/, however, Just in time. Tie curtain had
been rung half down, but, at sign
from Asche, now on his feet, the cloth
was raised again, and "Bolingbroke"
| in a rather shaky voice, delivered his
speech of farewell to England.
At the close of the act he got a
whole hearted cheer for his pluck, but
play-goers are beginning to feel that
the ordinary diversion furnished byaa
first production is ample, and that
thrills not foreshadowed by the pro-
gramme are apt to prove unwelcone.
Alter MIle. SdfdH beIIIidi VI eCIooeS
her French provincial tour with HSa-7
pho,' which will occupy the better part
of this month, she expects to return
to Paris; to produce La Legende9 du
Coeur," one of the latest works of Jean
Aicard. This piece will be followed by
LIE Calvaire," the French adaptation.
of play by Herr Krause, whose father
is Gabrielle Krause,Ithe singer. Then
will come dramatization Of Tinayre's
novel of La Mafson dur Peche" and a
comedy by Rene Faucheis go