The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-08-12
BUILDING AN OPERA
Trials Of "Ikey' speers in Prepar-
ing to Put On "The Sleepy
King
Chorus Girls Voices Are Tested to
High G on the Type
writer.

Good morning
Morning"
SIS this Mr.. Ferris"
Nope, This is Speers, Ikey' Speers,
Mr.. Ferris handy man. Want to join the
chorus?"
How old are your"
Eighteen
How much do you weigh?"
Zone hundred and fifty
What's that complexion of yours, light
or dark?''
Light y
Can you sing?"
"Of course
5'"rhen try this" and the never firing
business manager for Dick Ferris sew
eral enterprises runs his fingers nimbly
over the piano keyboard.
What's tllat?" .s
'"rhat, my girl, is The Holy City,"
law, give me some ragtime. That's
where I'm strong"
| "Excuse me. Guess you want to join
some Tom show. I'm engaging for The
Sleepy King
the genial Ike, as he swung the typewriter
around with one hand grabbed the tele-
phone with the other and kicked a pile
of correspondence under the desk .
! Honestly, if wasn't here to tell you,
you wouldn't believe that there were SO
many chorus girls in sight. I've actually
worn the soles off my shoes getting rid
of applicants who haven't been on the
stage, but who want to get there. But
we're going to have a stunning bunch
when we get thru and they'll all be able
to sing, too"
| 49,. Severe Vocal Test.
Rehearsals for 1.-THE Sleepy King" the
first big operate production to be brought
into being in Minneapolis, has just be-
gun at the Lyceum theater, Mr.. Speers
having conducted the preliminaries so far
as they include the selection Of a chorus.
Tradition has it that in testing the So
prano voices Ikey has stood with his back
to the piano and has gone higher and
higher on the keyboard until his fingers
have hit the typewriter adjoining.
Cant you reach that note?' he has
been heard to inquire in a querulous voice
"Of course not the applicant has in
|dignantly responded.
mo good. No good. Have to look
somewhere else,' has been the dictum OF
the trial court and the applicant has de-
parted in high dudgeon.
Ikey puts his stamp of disapproval or
this story, but at any rate the Lyceum
has been given over by day to chorus
girls, musicians, comedians and all the
other folk who enter into the organiZa
ton Of a comic opera company The EN-.
ployes of the house don't know whether
they belong to a stock theater or rOaC
show, and every kicker in the company
has been punished with three hours in the
boiler-roon.
.... Principals Arrive.
The principals in the cast of 'Th'
Sleepy King are beginning to arrive
Walter Jones of "Chaperone'' fame ha
been here for several days, as have Edo
Redway, the eccentric comedian; Georg
4 Henery, the adam Hogg.' OF 9TH
Chaperones" George Rusk Fiske. tn
tenor; Frank Farrington who was wit
, t'Sally in Our Alley last year; Franz
Stevens the basso; Taylor Cronin Of til
Bostonians; Harry c. Taylor, who ha
just returned from Paris;s Dave Abraham
Of Rice's Show Grip fame, and other
of the same sort.
5 Among the feminine members of tn
company already here are Miss Eosemar
; Gloss, who was formerly with the Primo
D.. of Pilsen company; Miss Nellie O'Nei
Miss Harriet Packard, Mile Proto, tn
dancer; Miss Kathryn Pearl-Redway, Mis-
:, Scotty Lamonde, Edith and Amy Stuar
! Leila Mcclure and Helen Irwin.