The Savannah morning news., 1903-02-01

require as little alteration as possible
in the costumes. The girls are then
given first fitting, the alterations are
made, and a week or so before the
dress rehearsals a final fitting is Civ
END. For days, and nights, too, for
that matter, in the small ante-rooms
attached to the costuming depart
ment can be seen continual process
sion of shapely young women and
anXious-eyed dressers or wardrobe
women. As fast as the costumes are
ntted they are packed back" into the
hampers, ready for transportation to
the theater, and are not opened again
until the dress rehearsal.
Installing the Machinery Big
Task.
The installation of English scenery
in the ordinary New York playhouse
is of itself a big task. America as
yet has no theater built to. accommo-
date the English spectacle, and the
cost of making room for scenery alone
Is an item to stagger people who view
the play from the front. For last
seasons reigning spectacle rock was
blasted from under the theater, and a
second or sub-cellar was built. This
year, the entire scenic investiture is
worked from the sides and the fly
galleries, which necessitates the use of
twenty-four sets of new lines or ropes
in dropping the scenery from the
lofts. An iron bridge was also erect
ed on the right-hand side of the fly
door in mid-air, for working the cleo
trical effects, and the electric plant of
the theater was reinforced. Forty-eigh
stage men worked in night and day
shifts for six weeks, laying off only
for matinee and evening performances
During the day rehearsals were held
nVN f hA -faa l,Urf H.
penters can, they lodged round the
players, the music of their hammers
keeping time to the strains of the
over-worked pianos.
All of this fitting of scenery is done
under the direction of the master-me-
chanic. A cool head and executive
ability are as essential to the success
of this autocrat behind the scenes as
is mechanical ability. He must have
no more men under him than are alb
solutely necessary to the staging of
the piece, as space is at a premium,
and so he must train each man to act
promptly and deftly. A moments hes
itation on the part of a man high up
in the fly-gallery will spoil a situation
as surely as the failure of an actor
to take up his cue. Once the scenery is
installed it is rehearsed until each
man works with the regularity and
promptness of a piston-rod in a we'll
oiled engine.
Lilies and Big Shoes of Iron.
The stage men guard not only the
success of the piece, but the lives of
the actors. In a spectacle, the scenery.
according to the vernacular of the
profession, is practical. That is, the
huge lily pods. or leaves. used in the
fern scene are of sheet iron twelve
times their natural size, and made to
holds one of the players. The Mother
Goose shoe holds twenty-four chill
dren. Both are stoutly built but care
lessness in their setting would result
in dangerous falls for the players
The property man. after checking
off every article consigned to his de-
partment, and comparing these with
the schedule furnished by the property
man at the London theater, makes
himself thoroughly familiar with the
props" in the order of the scenes in
which they are to be employed He is
responsible for everything carried on
to the stage from a rose for the pre-
mier in the ballet to the elephant on
whose back Fatima makes her en-
trance.
His system consists OF accurately
grouping the props and training his
men in such fashion that each en-
ploye knows which article she is 10
carry on and of the stage In the
newest spectacle the property men