The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-01-16

ments in any current copy Of the
Stage relating to the house of Crum-
miles, Here is an excellent sample.
which indicates at 4 glance exactly
how the best class Of portable stands
today IN the social scale of the theater-
wANTEDTo SELL 4 FIRST CLASS
wide, good wagons 9cost 200 poundsls
any amount of scenery. etc, acknowl-
poTtabies on the road: price go bounds
cash; no purchase system Apply, etc
Other kindred announcements from
the same source run like this:
WANTED-FOR JOSEPH HERBERT s
old established Uncle Toms Cabin
Co., ft-up tour, gent for Tom, colored
or white, but must be a singer. rehearse,
WANTED = THROUGH RELEASING.
good comedian, sing and dane es,s for
Blabp,s nj >, up tour OF So me fsas
die; carpenter and baggageman, etc.
AS will be surmised, versatility is in
dispensable in the company of a fit-up.
Another advertisement asks for a bag
gageman capable of turn between"
and yet another remarks, candidly:
This is a small portable, so salaries
must be in accordance A useful, all
round man can open at once. Prefer
ence 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. it is no
laughing matter to the attenuated, blue
between"
Let them, however, take heart of
grace, for they carry great traditions
behind them 1t is in the footsteps of
the Siddonses and the Kembles that
they tread.
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. Juliet's gardens and
the vastly fields of France"
Indeed, the ESQ ft-up marketed
above is a palace compared with some
of its predecessors Of the Kemble era
The theater of one impecunious COM
pany of strolling players was fitted up
in any old stable, with one 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 them
selves in the mash tub and the remand
er 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 others backs, and in and out at
the pawnbroker's."
And when uncle held so much of
pany went quite tentless, as well as
hungry, a barn or a stable was good
enough for them.
In such contingencies Romeo would
vent his impassioned utterances. pos
ing in a puddle formed by the rain
dripping through the broken roof. and
Juliet would bid him not to swear by
the inconstant moon with chattering
teeth and nose redeemed by the pierre
ing Wintry blast.
IN 81 he ch Of
the principal performer stuck so fast
in the clay that he had to slip his feet
out of them before he could proceed
1t was a grand bespeak night, and
despite the untowed circumstances the
gentry were present in force, so that
the next morning a member of the
company, with a turn for epigram,
scrubbed on the stable door in large
letter the joyous, eloquent exclamation,
I'VE eati"
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 it was to sleep
with the transformers under hedges
/ and dine with them in beanfieldS. Sarah
/ Siddons gained her first stepping stone
/ to fortune in a theater that was a lit
| tie better than a barn.
Wrote the Rev. Mr.. Bate to Mr.. Gar
rick: Though I beheld her (Siddonsl
| from the sidewings of the stage "a
! barn about three yards over), and con-
sequently under almost every disad-
vantage, I own she made so strong an
impression on me that I think she can
not fail to be a valuable acquisition to
/ Drury Lane"
Sometimes the strolling players
| would leave their wheeled theaterS in
the field and carry their props into
a playhouse of more permanent build.
We are told what these compar-
atively luxurious quarters were like:
Auditorium, cold and cherries, i'm
pregnated with the redolence of stale
/ oranges and sawdust, Illuminated at
night with candles stuck in Jumps of
clay; walls covered with filth and
CRIME; wooden seats; dirty green baize
| curtain; torn and tattered scenery; fe-
yer and contagion stalking free and
| unfettered in the insanitary surround
ings.
Look on that picture, Mr.. Twentieth
Century Vincent Crummles, and pay
for your license with a laugh!
Ou0TEn FROM TIE pTAvs