The Washington herald., 1908-01-11
Mary Garden Shows a New
One in New York.
DALMOREs RECIPIENT
Performers Earn Their Salaries with
Evident Willingness for Twenty
Eve Seconds and Hardened Old
Broadway signs ns HammersteIn's
singers Break Away"

starts horses in nearby streets to faster
pace Not even ike the 'Nethersole. %
Emma Abbott, or any other much-ex-
plotted brands of mercury-raising kiss
as-kiss-can whereof oidtlmers used to
blither
This kiss Is a new one on New York.
It takes twenty-five seconds to complete
and can, at pinch, be dragged out even
longer. But no one seems 70 grudge the
time Not even in hustling Manhattan
Island
Nor is il Of the cheap skate or pikeT
variety Of kiss. II Is not on the free
list one must save more money for It
pro rata than for a two weeks Adiron-
dack vacation. Its estimated cost is S6.S7
per. or $9SS.2S by the hour
Il is the Louise kiss" imported from
France for Oscar Hammerstein by Mary
Garden and Charles DalmoTes.
The kiss occurs for the first time at
the opening Of Act III, Of Louise" Dali
mores is seated down stage. reading.
Enter Miss Garden. She steals upon the
unsuspecting tenor. and before he knows
ii, the lucky man is incased in a dreamy
half-Nelson. Down goes the book what
chance has literature. anyhow0 and the
half-Nelson is countered by an ardent
strange hold Then the kiss begins.
Makes Audience SIT IN.
There is nothing platonic. nothing fra
ternal. nothing perfunctory about it, No
hint Of slurring or Sinking fun duty
Never before did two performers earn
their salaries with such evident willing
ness.
The kiss has begun! But it doesn't
stop.
The man in the prompt box lays aside
his score. wipes mis- forehead. and lights a
cigarette. Mr.. Hsmmerstein stops count
ing the house and worriedly pulls out his
watch For these two young people on
the stage are kissing on his time. and he
has 10 keep on paying them nigh c prices
just as II they we're emitting golden arias.
But still the kiss goes on
The orchestra reels OF two bars and a
half Of slow. dreamy. meet-me-at- the-cOr-
her melody For the musicians are here
10 work. not 10 kiss. No one pays them
S6S7 for OSCILLATION Somebody must keep
On the job Conductor Campdnini tells
them. $50 get busy. and maybe by and
by. if were lucky. the kiss will stop and
the show can get under way again SO
they play along. earnestly and warmly.
But still the kiss goes on.
The audience begins 10 grow interested.
Watches are furtveIy consulted. Pulses,
trained 10 sedaie operate tempo, get
clear out Of time and scamper of at a
furious, erratic pace. FLUFFY young girls
glance speculatively AZ their staring es-
corts Matr0ns eve their interested hus-
bands with unsp0ken rebuke. Home is
never like this" murmurs one railbird,
sadly.
But stu the kiss goes on.
Its Measure in Figures.
Outside, in unsuspecting Thirty fourth
street. autos whizz eastward past Eighth
avenue. They viii reach Broadway be-
fore that Kiss ceases = newsboy yells
''Wuxtrar' The paper viii be bought
and its headlines mastered before tnIt
Kiss shall become a thing Of the past.
man on the corner strikes "a match
Light travels $4,000 miles a second. The
fare of that match viii have Travelled
g. SO. 600 miles before the lips of Dalmores
and Miss Garden part-nearly twenty
times the distance from Park Row 20
the moon. The earth still whizzes through
space. IN spite Of all this osculatory ex-
element It will have travelled 1873 miles
between the start and finish of the Kiss.
But the Kiss goes on.
In the Manhattan Opera House are 490l
people. Each of those people is wasting
= whole seconds watching the rapturous,
languishing. adoring, delicious. dilatory.
h1secFrT "a
the -Ualmores embrace. That
means a total loss Of-lets SEES times
1000 seconds. That's 1866 2-3 minutes.
Nearly 3 hours. More than a whale day
Time in which John d. Rockefeller adds
/ $50 500 to his wealth. at would cost John
/ d $50 worth of seconds mere J TO wit
/ ness the Kiss.) Miss Garden gets N.50
and Dalmores $3.50 a performance Grant
| ing the opera lasts two and half hours
/ the couple are using up in those . sec
Onds of their impTessaTio's time the sum
/ OF $3.50 2-3 TO which the ninety orchestra
members raise the cost by anOtter mod
/ est 20 10 cents-S6.G in all Count il. And
/ yet a New Jersey justice lately appraised
| the best kisses on the local market al
/ only 81 apiece, Are home industries tC
/ have no protection? VIII no Dingley bill
frame a labial tariff?
Audience signs at Break Away.
/ But still the Kiss goes-No. its over
actually over
| With reluctance as of muscles long
cramped from lack of motion the fouI
arms relax. The two pairs of lips draw
apart with all the unwillingness of a life,
/ long Officeholder TO quit his old sinecure
/ job. kissing is easier than singing, wher
/ one does 4 at union rates.
/ A low, regretful. wondering, "at-last-
some sigh sweeps the audience The
prOmpter sits up Campanini signals. The
love duet commences. The curtain mar
/ in relief relinquishes the grip he had just
taken on the smoking asbestos drop
A spectator goes bIindly out for a drink
and as he swallows it a sizzling sounC
as Of burning ham resounds Throughout
! his epigIottis. But he went out too soon
/ He has missed something.
/ The love duet winds up with a second
/ edition Of the Kiss. SO does the Act. But
/ by this third time the sporting members
of the audience are ready. Stop-watche;
/ flash out from gallery TO prosceniuH
| boxes. Yes. Just . SECONDS. What? . 1-5'
| oh well, What's a fifth of a second
anyhow Nobody grudges it. What is l.
of a second. % second even, in busy New
| York compared with the gorgeous, emu
smashing tidings:
/ A Kiss has come to town.
!
History Club in Session.
/ II sa1--l =