The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-02-23
HORSES AND DOGS ON CALL FOR
ANY SORT OF PLAY.
Thirty Donkeys Now Employed on the
Road or in New York Theaters-
Much Care Required by Stage Beasis
! Making Horse Kick-One That
Climbed Stairs
New York Sun.

dogs and other animals are trained for
| the theaters Of New York, walked
Paddy, the donkey, proud small boy
| astride him, three gay small boys tug
| ging at his bride. Paddy was being
exercised before he went further up
town for afternoon rehearsal. /
| "Yes, - said the manager, eve have
Wallets for most Of the animals that are
! taking prominent parts at present, but
we are not obliged to keep special help
for the donkevs on account of the
small boys. They are here before
breakfast in droves to exercise them.
We have about thirty donkeys on the
road and in New York. The donkey
| plays a silent part very well unless he
takes a notion to bray. =.
"He occasionally kicks unexpectedly,
too, and once in while objects siren
uously to going on the stage when he
gets his cue. Otherwise he is very
tractabie animal.' -
There was a tremendous tramping
above. It seemed that the floor was
about to come thru. The stalls of the
animals were upstairs. The manager
led the reporter up the little stairway,
which travelled along-s side the incline
used by the animals as stairway.
''Be CAREFUL he admonished as they
skirted the rear Of the donkey stalls,
patting the heads of those donkeys
that had turned around to see what was
happening, and stopped before two
beautiful hounds.
"Be careful here, too; these dogs are
beautiful. enough, but they are ugly
sometimes. These are the hounds that
He opened door after door, revealing
actor dogs curled up on cushions high
on shelves and quite out of. the light.
They raised eager heads as the light
shone at them, blinked and gave vent
to short, sharp, glad banks. - The man
ager shut them in the dark again.
eve do it for their good" he
explained. :'They get trampled on by
the horses and donkeys if we let them
out. -
Below at the foot of the stairs a
beautiful bay was being saddled by her
attendant. "Quaker,' explained the
manager, "getting ready for rehear-
sal of Shenandoah -
The boy presently led Quaker away.
To the last she turned her sleek brown
head and smiled. at the manager.
81 suppose you have to be very care
full of their health while they are play.
ing said the reporter. .., T..
"Oh yes,'' said he. eve keep
them carefully rubbed down and blan-
keted. Their maids or Wallets see them
back and forth. We don't allow them
to keep late hours or indulge in oyster
suppers that might injure their COM
plexions. They come straight home,
no matter who waits for them at the
stage door. Their attendants see to
that.D ...
"There s Tim over there. They
are getting him ready for his rehearsal.
He does some sort of stunts in Galops,
a play that is soon to be put on,'' said
the manager. "He is the finest actor
among horses today. Understands
everything you tell him. We have
some horses pensioned off that have
been nearly as good. Norma, for
instance. She played in FThe Sport
> ing Duchess some years ago, and in
Women and Wine She is % years
; old now. But look at this Tim. He
gets from $25 to $50 a week. 49,.
"He is the horse that climbed the
staircase at the Casino when he was
playing in Sergeant Kitty: That
=
horse in it except by that staircase
make wooden horse do when they
!. began. rehearsing Sergeant Kitty but
they reckoned without Tim. We took
| him up the stairway once and he went
: up after that as if he liked it. There
was always crowd collected to see
Tim 60 up, he did it so gracefully"
} Tim walked slowly and gracefully up
. the street and the reporter, following
him on street car, got to the theate1
. first. 1t was dark, the theater. The
stage was fairly full Of actors, who
read from little books. H.. :;
On the stage a. cottage faced the
audience. 1t was rather small. There
was good deal of more or. less glib
reading from little books; then the
- leading man said:
; = "Where IS that blooming horse7'
"Here,' answered voice. which
seemed to be Tim s but wasn't. It
was the voice of Tim s valet, who sat
astride him. The two came walking
on 70 the stage and took up their posi-
ton in front of the little house, which
looked smaller than ever.
"Now,' cautioned the leading man,
"Eyou must make him kick three times
| violently, but not SO as to~kick down
the house, meaning the cottage:
| The boy inadvertently placed his
hand on Tim g back What he did was
| not apparent, but the result was good.
| Tim gave three violent kicks which had
the effect of backing the actors to the
footlights. 49, s... -..,-,-..
"Good kick, - said the leading man,
"but not quite. right YET and with
that, placing his two hands on the
table, his back to the audience, he gave
an imitation of the manner in which he
wished Tim to kick. His effort was
received with applause. Tim failed
to join in the applause, tho it was evi
dent that he had not failed to absorb
the lesson.
| The three kicks he gave Jared the
stage cottage to the foundation and
sent the actors tumbling headlong into
the boxes.
Wonderful! How did you make
him do it," called out the leading man
from this safe distance.
i "Pinched him hard three times on
, the back, y the boy, replied with pride
in his eye.
THE COURAGE OF VENUS.
~