The Washington times., 1904-01-17
Applause bU UsherS
A Deceit Which DeCeiVeS No
One Public Not Fooled
in That Respect. But in
Many Others.

knew very well the fate of that
L play" This was the sententious
report Of a first night in Wash
inSton n season or so ago. II was made
TO we'll known manager in New York
by one OF the critics who attended the
opening performance, and TO both men
Il told the whole story-a story OF a
sympathetic audience wearied instead OF
being amused.
Two thoughts are excited by that in
cident, as II now recalls itself. The first
is that so small a percentage of play
goers understand how often ushers are
utilized TO give plays vim and go. The
second is that so few managers under
stand how futile such devices prove.
Every city in the Union suffers from
this tendency OF the ushers TO counter
felt public approval. Washington GER
tainly does. Several years ago. when
more than one local theater was given
over TO vaudeville. a young woman was
hired at much expense 20 sing three or
four ballads. Her performance proved
to be a genuine frost" But no one
would have known IT from the action
OF the audience. Every night that young
woman was greeted with hand-clapping
SO generally distributed that it required
close attention to discover that 1t start
cd with the ushers scattered conven-
ientiy along the back wall.
But we need not go back so far fol
local examples. Only a few weeks ago a
musical Play was offered at one of our
leading theaters- 1t was empty. dulls
and vuigax, 1t also cost great deal OF
money. In consequence it simply had to
succeed, no matter whether Henry
Irving. Richard Mansfield and f. H
Sothern all failed. So the ushers. scat
tered about the rear wall as before. dill
gently applauded all the solos and every
chorus which ended with 4 high note
after a swelling intake of breath
To-day the young woman who pro-
vo<ed the vaudeville frost is no longer
on the stage and the musical play is
an acknowledged failure.
Important if True"
A supreme instance of this deceit was
reported all along the theatrical circuit
recently. 1t marked the opening of a
play produced by manager famous as
''the most artistic paperer'' in the bust
ness
Suspicion was first aroused by a press
dispatch sent. prepaid. TO every dra-
matte editor in the country. According
to this dispatch the audience of that
first night had refused to lesN'e its seats
at the close of the performance had
cheered Itself hoarse. and clapped its
hands until they were sore and had
finally disbanded only on the initiative
Of the police IL was a fine story. but il
belonged In what newspaper men call
the important il true" class.
Within a week IL was reported all over
the circuit that for every super" on
the stage that night that manager had
ten in the audience. The ushers were
beaten a mile" as Checkers would say.
Much doubt might be raised even us
TO the apparent value of such applause.
1t is clear the public is not fooled long
enough to count Perhaps IL is not fool
ed at all. for a man usually buys seats
10 view a performance a second time
only when he enjoys 1t himself. no mat
ter what his fellows in the audience
seemed to think OF 1t. The occupant of
every seat. these days. is his own critic
All the handclapping In the world will
not prevail against the personal expe-
rience Of a tiresome evening.
1t is equally certain the critics are not
deceived. Most OF that craft find par
ticular pleasure in opposing popular YER
diets and so are ever on guard against
much applause. All of them. moreover,
are eternally on the watch for just
such subterfuges as this handclappinE
by the ushers. and a play which might
have been seen through indulgent eyes
invariably gets the AK when support
ed In this way by the house
The only possible good which can come
out Of this idiotic proceeding is this
that sometimes author and actor have
their best goods in store for use as en-
cores and the extra applause is needed
20 produce the work in its real form.
In that event-an event which arises
about once I'm n thousand years-author
and actor would do well TO rewrite their
play and not depend on the paid en-
ployes OF the theater TO cover up their
mistakes.