Los Angeles herald., 1906-06-03


S:15 that night
"will they stop soon and go home for
supper?"
stop? Not on your life" said the
stage manager; they'll keep right on
till time for the curtain, and then
they'll do the show"
when will they eat?"
"They won't eat, except that I'll get
'em some coffee and sandwiches, same
as did at noon"
But after the show"
They'll rehearse some more"
Think Of that, you woud-be stage
struck maidens. That's what the girls
get nearly every week.
Burlesque In Making
Burlesque was In the making In Los
Angeles last week, and this was It in
it's half baked stage; the raw condi-
ttons prevailed over at the Mason,
where Harry James was having his
troubles, too.
The Hotchkiss has since given us
the fully baked variety, and it has
been pronounced good.
Harry James troupe makes it's bow
Monday night. To drop in on it's work
afforded one another side of the pic
ture-not so far along, as 1t were, and
therefore not so colorful and striking
in contrasts.
For there is nothing more decidedly
contrastive than a great barn of a
playhouse shorn of everything that
makes it attractive, and to see the
poor creatures who laugh and play and
skip about behind the footlights when
they are entertaining hundreds, in
their tawdry costumes, their frowsy
hafr their unpainted faces, tinsel and
tights, silks and satins. in the dusty
and dim light of day. 1t is shockingly
notwithstanding.
AT the Mason things assumed a
more natural air-not so chastity, by
any means. There the formative stage
only was in evidence. The players
were not in stage clothes, but were in
their ordinary garb.
The stage was still misty in it's day
light and big and empty and ugly.
Always Hammering
Another lot of men were hammering
away-why do stage hands always
hammer, one Wonderland a man on
Il swinging seat was daubing gray
paint Oh black canvas, making about
as lugubrious picture as could we'll
be imagined.
A lot of pretty, stylish girls, looking
fresh and bright because they We're
in ordinary garb and not fairy trap
pings, sat about on boxes and chairs
anu Cudlleu NOluDly
Some eight or ten formed in line and
moved out on the stage, while Harry
James stood in front of the orchestra
piano, played with both hands, di-
rected with both hands, smoked with
his mouth and yelled at them, mean
while singing the air. Don't ask how
he did it-no other human being could;
but he never lost note or puff.
Now girls said James.
The sinuous line of feminine beauty
came forth from imaginary wings rep
resented by an upturned chair, and took
the center of the stage. Each girl was
acting all the time and was singing. |
They did their little stunt, and then
Rosemary Glosz came forth and sang
like a nightin gale a song about being
tired of society and wishing she had
glass of beer and a cheese sandwich
you'll all hear it after today. James
thumped the piano all this while, and
lit his cigar as he did so.
HurIs Some Sarcasm
rs there any reason" asked he, when
the song was done, 'is there any rea-
son"-with prodigious sarcasm-"why
you girls can't sing that song? There
are words to that song; now, if any of
you can give me a reason why you
can't or shouldn't sing it, very well. |
But is Thereof
The bucch of chorus girls stood still
and looked. They weren't scared; they
had been there before and knew it was
coming to them.
There's no reason, then?"
A floppy haired blonde shook her
Marcel wave and grinned.
"Oh, there isn't, eh? Well, then, you
let me hear you sing it,"
James stepped back to the piano and
he DO, Al 1
sing it. Miss Glosz had to let her voice |
away out to be heard
That's better; now for the encore"
People who go to a theater think |
encores are always surprise and that
the players are taken unawares. Therein |
they are just as much mistaken as they
are about so many other things rela-
tive to plays and players.
Encores to Order
The man who writes play, be 1t |
opera or drama, knows just where the |
encores must come and to whom they
must be given. The players know also, |
and they are primed for every one. |
They have been trained what to expect, !
and when, and they are as carefully re-
hearsed for an encore as they are for
anything else.
If you don't believe this get together
some time ana reIuSe one at the end of |
that particular song and see the con-
fusion that will ensue. The chorus
won't even be on the proper side of the
stage.
The encore was gone over, the girls |
picked up their skirts and did their
stunts, and Miss Glosz did hers. 1t was
fine.
"All right" came the word.
Three of the girls and as many
men slipped off the stage, and went out
via the little door alongside the boxes
nearest Broadway. The other waited,
and one of the men did a college cheer
act with them.
What do you think you are?" asked
James. "A lot of wooden Indians?"
Haven't 1 told you to give those girls
word to start off on?"
From the Prompt-Book
The stage manager stepped up to the
pretty blonde and showed a prompt
book at her.
'Wil you kindly read your line
there?" said he, also sarcastically, as
he pointed to place. The blonde read
aloud.