Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-05-26
THEATRICAL
 CHATTER
tEaFal 'lsase alsss 'lfs

Plans are under way for Annie Russell to appear next season in one of Shakespeare comedies. She will spend her summer in the Maine woods.
 :.,:
 Ezra Kendall has concluded his season and is now at work on a play to be produced next season. It will be called Swell Elegant Jones' and will be the joint work of MT Kendall and Herbert Hall Winslow, who wrote "The Vinegar Buyer"
 :I!:
 The total receipts of the benefit given at the Metropolitan Opera house for the San Francisco sufferers amounted to $28,511.59. Of this sum $14,262 has been sent to Mayor Me Clellan for the fund in his charge and the remaining t13,560 will, af- ter slight expenses have been deduct ed, be turned over to the Actors fund for the relief of sufferers who are members of the profession.
 Fl:
 Having only million dollars or more safely secured in the family stocking, Joseph Murphy hastens to avail himself of the opportunity to make an honest penny in the vari- cities before laying aside the make up box for all time. He has permit ted himself to be booked for twelve weeks next season where 1t will do his bank account the most good. Mir Murphy has bidden the regular stage farewell, but he did not stipulate to keep out of vaudeville.
 Il:
 Lhevinne, the Russian pianist, having found 1t impossible to pre- pare for his American tour amid the present political turmoil in Russia, has removed to Paris, where he will remain until he sails for New York in October. When reminded after his return to Moscow that he had not completed his full term of army ser vice, Lhevinne writes, he carried his scrapbook of American press notices to the military governor, and won him over to granting military exemp- tion and issuing passports for his journey to Paris.
 II:
 An audience of fully 12,000 per- sons listened to a concert given in Madison Square Garden on May 15 for the beneflt of the widow and chill dren of the late P. s. Gilmore. The band was made up of the combined orchestras of Sousa, Victor Herbert and Frank and Walter Damrosch, and a chorus of 1,20O voices from the Peoples Choral union supplied the vocal music. The program was opened with an address by Justice J. Jf Fitzgerald. The first orchestral humber was Elgar's rtPomp and Cir cumstanee." led by Sousa, who offer ed his Irish Patrol" as an encore. Sousa also conducted for "The King of France" "The Stars and Stripes Forever" and "El Capitan." Her. bert's American Fantasie" aroused much enthusiasm, and the overture from Tannhaeuser, conducted by Wal ter Damrosch, was hardly less en- thusiastically received. The chorus, under the leadership of Frank Dam- rosch, sang Handel's "Hallelujah" chorus, an old Netherlands Hymn of Thanks" There Is a Rose Tree Blooming" Star Spangled Banner and My Country. 'Tis of Thee" The soloists were Robert L. Clark, cor netist; Mrs Caroline Mirh Hardy, who sang "Dich Theure Halle." from TannhaeNser. and Eugene Cowles. whose selections were Celeste" and Forgotten,
 :ll:
 It was at "The Players" the other night, when group of actors were relating anecdotes of queer incidents that sometimes occur during a per- formance, that the following story was overheard. It was told by James Young who is appearing in Miss vi- ola Aliens Shakesperian productions. Everyone here knows" said Young "that the ludicrous happenings that actually take place on the stage are really more startling than many of the invented stories of the press agent, though he don't always re- ceive credit for it. and we must not blame him If in the way of business he finds 1t necessary to elaborate for the purpose of making attractive reading matter. But here are the plain unvarnished facts of an actual occurrence that took place years ago during my first year on the stage. I was playing Shakesperian reper- toire throughout the southern terri tory. and when filling an engage ment in Norfolk I received an offer of guarantee to put on Hamlet" at the little town of Chrisield. on the eastern shore of Maryland. At that time guarantees were not plen- tiful. SO the dates were shifted in order to play the town. We needed the money and were not turning down "sure things" The theater in Chrisfeld was not a theater. but a long narrow hall with a platform at one end for US. and rows of bench- es for the audience. We could use no scenery, but there was certain busi- ness of the play that demanded some kind of preparation. namely. the burial of Ophelia. There was no trap through which to lower her and yet she must be got rid of some way. So permission was obtained from the manager to saw out a bit Of the stage for the purpose of improvising a trap. After this was done we found that 1t was twelve feet to the ground underneath. but this difficulty was overcome by piling drygoods boxes under the stage to form a platform upon which the grave digger was to stand. The box of dirt. the skulls and bones all being placed in position. the trap was replaced and everything completed we were ready for the per- formance. Night came. the play pro