Los Angeles herald., 1906-02-25

VENICE-Ellerys Band and Midway
CHUTES-Chiaffarell Band,
rTNHBATRICAL managers are said to
have more interesting experiences
than the members of any other
profession and the older the manager,
the more experiences he has had.
One of the oldest managers in Los
Angeles is e. f. Seamens of the Hotch-
kiss theater. Mr.. Seamens has been in
the theatrical business for thirty years
and has served In every capacity from
call boy to leading man and from
usher to manager. A few days ago
the veteran Snowman in a reminiscent
mood told the following story of his
experience with an opera company In
the south:
About ten years ago we were
booked to open new opera house in
Greenville, Missouri, town which I
had never even dreamed was on the
map. Greenville is at the end of a lit
tie stub railway six miles from the
main line of the Frisco IN Southern
Missouri.
I'VE arrived there about noon on the
eventful day and found nearly the en-
tire population of the town at the juno
ton waiting to see the actors. At
last our baggage was loaded, our people
all on board and we were hauled up to
the city and installed in it's one hotel.
AS soon as we had dinner the manager,
who was also chief of the fire depart
ment, came in, dressed in his uniform,
and inquired when we all were going
to parade.
Il explained that ours was an opera
company and that we did not make
parades. He grew very gloomy at this
and after consulting with several Of
the leading citizens he came back and
A-tI ~ ,1,lIA 49, 0,,4
for big blowout and waiting to see
the parade, and unless 1t came off there
was going to be trouble.
$50 we decided to put all the women
in the best conveyances obtainable,
and having borrowed the instruments
OF the town band, together with the
services of the members who, added
to our orchestra, and few of us who
had in years gone by been guilty Of
blowing brass horns, we mustered out
quite fair sized band.
"Of course we played! Well, If Dante
could have heard us and drawn pen
picture of the noise we made Dore
would have gone mad trying to pro-
duce a fitting illustration.
1.-THE citizens of Greenville stood for
It in q g1um sort of way, however, and
it is needless to say we got no en-
cores.
"At last the parade was over and we
were allowed to go to our rooms for
little rest before the performances. Half
past eight arrived and our door man
came back with the startling inforna-
tion that there was not a soul in the
house. L sent for the manager and
asked him what was the matter. He
looked surprised and asked me in turn
if we were ready I told him that Of
course we were, at which he looked
cheerful and said.
wall, by gosh, I'll let 'em In, then
"And, going to the entrance he rang
the fire bell, opening the door at the
same time.
II have never seen such rush.
flock of frightened sheep would seem
slow to the way that mob jammed and
pushed it's way into the building. Our
door man was completely showed un-
der No one gave up tickets. Every
man woman and child seemed deter
mined to get to the front seats. Final
ly the house was packed and the cur
tain went up on the first act of Fra
Diavolo,' which was played through
without a hand or single demonstra-
ton of any kind from the audience.
After the curtain descended on the first
act the manager came back looking
worried.
"'say,' he said, this yer singin' is,
all right, but when is the show goin'
tc Ibegin?'
II explained to him that we had just
, played the first act and that there
were two more acts. He looked sad,
took a big chew of tobacco, spat
thoughtfully on one of our trunks and
drawled out:
avail, stranger, I'm sorry, but
there's goin' to be trouble unless you
can give that thare audience some kind
of dancin' and caper-cuttin'.'
H.. w..atI -
we decided to try minstrel first part,
which we framed up as best we could,
which best was very bad and lasted
only half an hour. OF course the audi
ence was still waiting and by this time
expressing themselves in no gentle
terms.
"The only thing left for us to do was
to play the last act, which we hoped
would appeal to them on the grounds
of dramatic action, banking on the
final death scene of Diavolo to con-
vince our auditors that they had really
seen a show, which we did.
But alas, for dramatic art! The au-
dience remained seated after the final
curtain and the manager came back
asking how much more there was to
the show. / told him that there was
no more. He sadly remarked:
wall, I'm sorry; you will have to
go out and tell 'em the show is over
$50 I deputized the comedian TO make
the announcement, which was greeted
with silence. The manager then went
out and rang the fire bell and the crowd
slowly filed out. He then came back
and informed us that the engineer had
gone out to fire up the engine and he
had secured the fire department to pro-
tect us until we could reach the train,
which would be ready in fifteen min
utes to take us to the junction, six
miles away, where he hoped we would
be all right till the Frisco train came
along in the morning.
"Of course there was not even de-
pot at this junction, so after arriving
there, which we did about / a. M, we
We're compelled to wait patiently or inn
patiently until 7 o'clock, when we
thankfully bade farewell to Green
Vile"