The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-03-24
ACTORS ILL OMENS.
SOME OF THE QUEER SUPER
 STITToNs

Actors are perhaps more supeisleiouS as a class than any other people. There are SO many chances in this profession. and luck seems to make so much for or against the fortune of a company. that it is not strange that this should be the case. It may be also that because the Thespian is a wanderer on the face or the earth. He learns to look upon oc- currences that would seem of little inn port to the ordinary person with feel ing of suspicion. He indulges in some beliefs that are common all over the United Stats.
 Friday is generally looked upon by theatrical people. as well as by sailors and numerous others, as a particularly dark and unfortunate day on which to launch any new venture. Thirteen IS considered an unlucky number, or course.
 Oscar L. F'igman, who is playing in the title role in "The Burgomaster. has one settled conviction which is peculiar enough. The drop curtain in many theaters has a small hole through which those back on the stage may see the main part of the house. Figman absolutely refuses to look through the curtain to size up an audience be- fore a performance starts, firmly be- lieving that this will bring him all sorts of bad luck. If he sees a flower bloom ing out of season, such as rose in the late fall, he believes that it is a sign that he will lose his engagement.
 From some Northern Ohio connection comes another of Figman's idiosyn- crasies. He believes that if when put ting on shoes and stockings in his dressing room, he finishes one before commencing with the other he is doomed to a disappointment of some kind. This does not worry him so much in the pro- logue of "The Burgomaster," when he appears with wooden leg, as when he is seen in the later acts with his proper equipment of limbs.
 Ruth White, the prima donna of saThe Burgonlaster,' ordinarily very matter of fact young woman, has some eccentricities which she has picked up since she has been on the stage. If a chorus girl happens to whistle in her dressing room, Miss White takes it that somebody is going to lose their position with the company, and insists that the whistler shall leave the room and turn around three times on the stage. This might be traced to the old saying that "A whistling girl and a growing hen all ways come to some bad end.' In com- mon with many other members in the profession she regards Friday as a particular black day, and will not sign a. contract for an engagement or open an engagement on that day.
 The late Augustin Daly was the prize exception to this rule preferring to make his productions on Friday, thinking that it would bring him the best kind of luck. Miss Clara Morris has related that she objected to Mir. Daly at one time on leaving town on a Friday to open on the following Friday, but was forced to do so by the exigen- cies of occasion, and reached her destination with her face cut from a broken window in the train and her ankle sprained from an unlucky slip on ice. Another of Miss Whites beliefs is in the effect of jewels. She believes that opals bring her good luck because she was born in the month of which is the birthstone.
 Possibly the most famous exponent of the ill-fated 1S's bad luck was the noted Jewish actress. Mime, Rachel. Shortly before making a tour of Egypt in 1857 she attended a dinner given to her by Victor Hugo, the father of French romance, and his wife. It was related that she objected strenuously because thirteen sat down at the table She returned within year and seven of the people who had sat at the table with her on that day were dead, among them being Count D'Orsay and Alfred while Hugo and his wife were il Jersey.
 ''Adieu my friend, exclaimed the tra. gedienne. Never laugh at thirteen al table again"
 Lyman B. Glover, formerly dramatic editor of the Chicago Record Herald and now manager of Richard Mansfield will never ask the amount of an ad. vance sale or look at a box office sheet no matter how large it may be before the performance begins, believing il will bring him bad luck.
 James Oneill, the delightful romantic actor, who has charmed thousands witl his Monte Cristo, really believes in hoodoo. A few days ago in front of thu Marlborough hotel on Broadway. New York, he encountered a cross-evef negro woman. He immediately re- moved his derby hat and expectoratet three times, meanwhile pressing tn. two middle fingers of his right han( down over the thumb in order that tn, remaining fingers might make the sig1 of the devils horns. This was sssupposec to drive away the hoodo effectuallv Almost all actors believe that if the, meet deformed old woman, awooden legged man, or a blind beggar on thei waE~@tos the theater that it will hoodo, < them in the performance they are abou to give.
 Grace Gibson, who plays tn, soubrette role in "The Burgomaster. f tremendously superstitious about put ting on garment inside out. She he lieves that if she changes it it will brin, her ill luck, and short time ago i, St. Louis went through an entire ac with the seam plainly showing on on of her black stockings. She also bell eyes that it is bad luck to talk if it hap pens that any of her clothes are bein, mended, thinking that 1t means tha some one will tell falsehoods about he,
 William Riley Hatch, the origina Harlem Spider'' in 'Tbe R,1roo