The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-12-07
COMMENTS ON MEN AND
 MATTERS OF THE WORLD

production a beautiful Egyptian scene was presented, but some thoughtless per- sons persisted in walking behind the flow ing river and showing their profiles through its lmpid depths. The question of having enough people on the stage to give a semblance of reality to mass spec tacles is also an exceedingly difficult one. It is looked upon as a useless ex- pense to carry along fifteen or twenty persons who merely come out once or twice during a performance and join in a shout or seize the hero at the climax, and yet their absence Is noted and the blunders of "supers are so numerous that 1t would in the end pay managers to carry along enough people to make a stage crowd seem a real crowd.
 The old days when an obliging stage hand climbed up in the wings and scat tered bits of paper down on the head of the heroine as she gave her touching soliloquy out in the snow storm are now passed Although stage thunder and lightning continue to be palpable frauds, the question of snow has been solved in an ingenious manner. The kinetescope now does the trick in a way so effective that spectators can hardly believe, that it lis all make believe and that the actors are not really shivering with intense cold. Ghastly blue or green lights cast the desired sheen over canvas rocks and cliffs while the subtle moving picture machine sends down flakes in great bil- lows This effect is exceedingly simple and 1t is a wonder that no one ever thought of 1t before. Instead of a finn of pictures a specially prepared roll is used which throws diminutive patches of light. When the machine is in mo- tion these patches move down in a per- pendicular direction and the effect is realistic in the extreme. Even the old time paper snow has been greatly im- proved now, so that electric fans drive it across the stage in swirling pillows. just as if old Boreas himself were doing the work.
 Although great care Is taken to make everything in a frst-class play true to real life ludicrous mistakes are often made. These are especially noticeable to the person whose particular line of work is brought into notice. For instance the stage detective and the stage reporter are two travesties that should be abated. Nither is ever found in every day life but on the stage they are masterpieces. The reporter always has a huge notebook in his hand which he pulls out at every op- portunity, when a sure enough pencil pusher' brides himself on his ability to do without such an encumbrance and if his memory is not good enough frequently relies on the back of an old envelope or a scrap of paper. As for the detective. 1t is true that his brother on the force some times brings a laugh but it Is some sat isfacton to know that the metropolitan sleuth is not quite so bad as his proto type on the stage. The matter of stage dinners has been threshed over before. Some of the better class productions make an effort to have real viands but the majority continue to use imitation turkey and auaff good red wine from empty cups. Money is also as plentiful on the stage as it is scarce in real life but dramatic legal tender is such a palpable imitation that gallery gods on the back seats can tell at a glance that it is not the real ar- ticle But after all these little defects are over-shadowed by many excellencies and this old world would be indeed dreary place if 1t were not for the fairy land of the stage, where tired humanity can for an hour or two forget that life is not the ideal existence which they see behind the footlights.
 PAUL COOK.