The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-03-15
BETTING RING IN "CHECKERS"
REQUIRES A TROOP OF SUPERS
Training Hundred Fifty Habits of the Race
Track Followers Taxes the Patience of Experienced
structor at the Century Theater.

One hundred and fifty men AMI boys
stood on the stage of the Century Theater
for three hours Friday afternoon and
listened to the entreaties, pleadings, COM
mands and instructions of John Mitchell. as
sistant stage director for Checkers" the
new play that is to be put on at the Cen
fury next Monday night. e
In the third act Of Checkers is shown
the betting ring of the Washington Park
race track at Chicago And in this act
the supers. who were drilled yesterday, are
to represent bookmakers. touts. check boys.
stable boys betting men and all the other
types one can see in the betting ring at a
race track.
John Mitchell, assistant stage director,
has no easy task The men who apply for
positions as supers are made up Of all
classes. Some of them are students, who
are Sticking little diversion from the ordi-
Esry run Of life, some are stage struck and
want to get little. experience; others
haven't anything particularly to do. and ac-
cept the place for the novelty of 1t; some
others need the money.
SUPER GETS FIFTY CENTS
FOR EACH PERFORMANCE.
A super is paid so cents per night. He
doesn't get paid for the first rehearsal, but
for extra rehearsaIs he is paid Is cents II
he should. 20 on for one or two or three
nights, and then fail to appear for the re-
naming performances he doesn't get paid
at the rate Of 80 cents per night. He gets
nothing.
Generally the super is raw recruit. He
doesn't know anything about the stage or
about stage manners. In nine cases out OF
ten he doesn't know how to stand, and
doesn't know how to walk. These things
the stage director must teach him, and
that is why the stage director doesn't have
an easy time.
The first thing that Mr. Mitchell does is
to give every man number, Then he as
signs the men to squads. Then he has busi-
ness for each squad. and he explains It to
them. In Checkers five horses are men,
toned. OF course. there must be money bet
on each horse. even IL Silver Dollar is the
favorite. Each squad has its horse to bet
on. There are seven betting stands shown
on the stage. and in order that everything
goes on smoothly. It is necessary that
patrons be assigned to each betting stand
before the play is produced. The assigning
of betting stands. the walk from one stand
to another. the strolling about the betting
ring. were all included in the super re-
hearsal yesterday.
The audience may never know the differ
ence, but the supers. even though they be
acting natural next Monday night, will be
doing nothing but what the stage director
has told them to do time and time again.
YELLING is ANOTHER
PART OF THE REHEARSAL.
OF course, there must be yelling in this
race scene. The yelling is another i'm
portant part of the rehearsal.
Now said Mr.. Mitchell. taking the CEN
ter Of the stage. They're coming into the
stretch. Give good. strong YELL"
The supers yelled, but it wasn't strong
yell. The business was new to them. Mr..
Mitchell turned away in disgust. Don't
whisper it." he shouted. "Yell! yell your
selves hoarse."
The yell was repeated many. many times
and the supers finally got down to a point
where the stage director was satisfied
In Checkers the audience doesn't SEQ
the horse race. The best the auditors get
is to hear man, speaking through mega
phone, telling the telegraph operator about
it. The man with the megaphone is really
telling the audience about It. for the oper-
ator is an actor Just like himself. and dur
ing the description of the race It is neces-
sary for the supers to use facial express
sons to the best Of their ability.
silver Dollar leads by one length"
shouted the man with the megaphone
This announcement is supposed to cause
the hearts Of those who bet on Silver Dolla-
to thump with gladness, while those who
laid their money on Dynamite, Socrates and
the others are supposed to look downcast