Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-28
THEATERS ON WHEELS
STILL IN EXISTENCE IN ENGLISH
PROVINCES.
Stage Giants Of the Old Days, Who
Were Perfectly Content With
Their ''Fit-Ups"

| From the London Mall.
Wonderfully interesting places are the
| English provinces. and some wonderfully in
| teresting phases of theatrical entertainment
are shown there from time to time
| Not that the provinces are denied the good
things of the theater Indeed, no. They
have their drama served to them by the
| notables, they do, and quite as well served
as in the American provinces But there
still obtains In England a suggestion of the
old-fashioned show"
Pampered London playgoers. Graded I'm
warmth and luxury, learned with surprise
the other day that the strolling player
lineal descendant of that Mr.. Vincent
Crummles who gave Nicholas Nickleby
lifts still on the road, carrying his prop
critics behind him.
At the Maldon police court recently the
proprietor of a travelling theater WAS fined
los cd for performing plays in a temporary
theater at Maldon without having a Ii
cense.
The twentieth century Crummles paid his
fine with rueful countenance, protesting
that he had wandered for years and years
with his wood and canvas playhouse through
the peaceful villages of England only to
learn for the first time at Maldon that all
the while he had. been breaking the law of
the land
1t is evident from this statement that
country justices are not over eager to en-
force the and Wet, C. IS. s. 80 by which
unlicensed booths may be suppressed as
public nuisances and the keepers Of them
fined, and It is perhaps, just well that
they are thus tolerant, for IL ''fit-ups" and
'portabes" were too stringently treated
the gayety of many a remote rural hamlet
would be eclipsed.
Five Good Wagons.
Strange as 1t may seem in these days of
new and palatial theaters. there are still
strong points of resemblance between the
I
phernalia of Mr.. Crummles. the typical
transformer in Dickens Nicholas MCKEE
by"
| The ft-up still goes on wheels. and the
pony still takes his time on the road. oc-
casionally coming to a standstfll until Mr..
Crummles gets out and kicks him. and Mas
ter Crummles and Smike are still on the
vans lin company with wicker baskets de-
Tended from the wet by stout oilskins in
which are broadswords, pistols, pigtails.
and nautical costumes"
One may find dozens of advertisements in
any current copy of the stage" relating
to- the house of Crummles. Here 10 an ex-
cellent sample, which indicates at glance
exactly how the best class Of portable
stands today in the social scale of the the
ater.
wANTED-To SELL FIRSTCLASS PORTABLE
theater, 81 feet long. 80 feet wide; five good wag
ons cost ZOO any amount oil scenery etc: as
bles on the road; price, 1850 cash; no purchase
system. Apply, etc.
Other kindred announcements from the
same source run like this:
wANTED-FoR JOSH HERBERTS oLD-ESTAB-
lIshed Uncle Toms Cabin Co. htup tour.
gent for Tom, colored white, but must be
singer, rehearse, etc.
WANTED THROUGH RELEASING, GOOD COM
edlan sing and dance for BlaSbS ht,SP tour 90, OF
Freddie; carpenter and baggageman. etc.
AS will be surmised versatility is indis-
pensable in the company of a ht-up. An
other advertisement asks for a baggageman
''capable of turn between" and yet another
remarks, candidly: This is small port
able so salaries must be in accordance. A
useful all-round man can open at once
Preference given to those who can give
turn between"
Read but do not smile. Quaint as this
may seem to US, accustomed to comfortable
half-guinea stalls. 1t is no laughing matter
to the attenuated, blue-chinned Thespians
| who do those turns between"
Let them. however. take heart of grace.
for they carry great traditions behind
| them 1t is in the footsteps of the Sid
donses and the Kembles that they tread.
Stables as Palaces.
The stage giants of the old days were
content with no better lot BY the glamour
| Of their art they transformed wretched
barns disused stables low-ceiled rooms of
village taverns into Doges palaces, Juliets
gardens and 1.-THE Vastly fields of France"
Indeed. the ESQ ft-up marketed above is
a palace compared with some OF its prede-
cessors of the Kemble era.
The theater of one impecunious company
of strolling players was fitted up In an old
stable, with stage box. and that was
the body of an old post chaise.
An adjoining brew house, a chronicler
tells US. served for the green ROOM In which
all the company dressed the manager and
his family attiring themselves In the mash
tub and the remainder In the cooler
One shirt each was all the company's
boast, but being all friendly the shirts
were continually dancing off and on each
OIL Ar' han lyS nd In aua out, ~.
brokers'"
And when uncle" held so much of Mr.
Crummles' property that the company went
quite tentless. welr hungry, barn
stable was good enough for them.
In such contingencies Romeo would vent
his impassioned utterances, posing in a pud-
die formed by the rain dripping through the
broken roof and Juliet would bid him not
to swear by the inconstant moon with chat
tering teeth and nose REDEEMED by the
piercing wintry blast.
On such occasion the shoes of the
principal performer stuck so fast in the
clay floor that he had to slip his feet out
of them before he could proceed.
1t was a grand bespeak night and des-
pite the untoward circumstances the gem
try were present in force, that the
next morning member of the company,
with a turn for epigram, scrubbed on the
stable door in large letters the joyous,
eloquent exclamation, I'VE eat!'
Siddons in a Barn.
Twentieth century transformers will be
comforted by these traditions. And they
may extract even greater comfort from the
experiences of certain of the Titans of
those days.
John Kemble, the friend of lords and
honorables, knew what IL was to sleep with
the transformers under hedges and dine
with them in beanfelds Sarah Siddons
gained her first stepping stone TO fortune
In a theater that was a little better than
a barn.
Wrote the Rev. Mr.. Bate to MIR. Garrick:
Though 1 beheid her (Siddons) from the
sidewings of the stage "a barn about three
wards over, and consequently under almost
every disadvantage. i own she made so