Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-05-17

men OF melou1ous petit larceny IhaI uau
found the feeting favor of the public. "Estelle.
My Prairie Belle" 1t was, and as its stereotyped
strains filtered through the thick smoke OF the
room, the property man seated across from me,
gazed in sad, wan pensiveness into his beer and,
with the final chord that sgnified that the orches-
ira had at last done Its worst he gave vent to
deep. deep sigh and murmured. in distracted
pathos, "Estelle! Estelle!" and then relapsed into
another staring interval
], wisely, forebore to interrupt him; ana at
length he came to himself and to me.
"Oh" he said, with a little start. Il guess
must have been thinking. wasn't II"
l nodded.
You had all the symptoms" returned
Amt it funny" he began then, in abrupt tran
sition: THAT tune always sets me thinking OF an
Estele knowed once. And when gets to think
ing that way | goes phandering off into the
imazes of memry until don't know where I'm at
never told you about Estelle, did II!
shook my head and pretended only perfume
tory interest In the sad tale of bighted love that
l felt to come. Some people, you Know
will tell you things only when they think you don't
much about hearing them; and the properly
that kind.
WELL" he said, at length reminiscently, lit was
this way In eighteen ninety-seve was out with
The Queen of the Hayrem company That was
great show 1t was about English girl who gets
kidnapped by Turk and put into his harem She
has sweetheart and he Climbs over the wall III
the second act to rescue her.
1.-THE guy that owns the harem catches him there,
and he says to his slaves (coons they were that we
would pick up in every town that we played), he
says, Seize him. and the coons grabs the leading
man and ties him hand and foot while the leading
lady looks on weeping and wailing and wringing
her hands and telling the coons out OF the side OF
her face that was turned away from the audience
to be careful to walk on her train or she d tell
and bav'd 1oco heir
I'm the next act for revenge, the Turk guy puts
the leading man into lions den and ties the lead
ing woman with log chain where she can get
good view while the lion eats up her lover. But
Just the lion is about to make good, the leading
woman bursts her chain and runs into the den and
charms the lion with her gaze long enough to unite
the leading man. Then they both beat 1t while
the lions coming out of the Trilby that she mas
nut him into . A hot situation, eh?"
NODDED Very" agreed
WELL" went the property man, I'VE is book
ed to open in Hoboken. The manager has bought
a ex-circus lion for the big scene; and of course
They come driving him from New York
In cage which is loaded onto a truck. They
makes almighty good time too, for the horses can
smell him (and don't wonder!), and it stimulates
them to such an extent that they tries times
to get off the ferry boat between docks; and when
finally they do get ashore they yank the wheels
off from three cabs and mail wagon and come up
to the theayter like they pulling Steamer Ten
to a general alarm fire. Tame animals is always
afraid of wild ones that way. 1 knowed leopard
trainer to go out evening without changing his
clothes and hire cab against the wind And then.
when the breeze changed the horse could smell
\him-well, they was chunks of that cab all the
WY from Forty-second Street to the Battery and
then>some. But that amt got nothing to do with
EstclleN
"When,they gets in front of the theayter, they
sends In fos me and goes out, not unperturbed
In mind forit amt no joke to go chaperoning a
lion around thu country But when l get my
lamps focused on the poor animal who's laying
back in one corner of his cage looking tired and
discouraged and car-slck don't feel no other emo
ton but pity.
He amt no beauty to look at. In the
beast deck. he's more like dooce than king He's
got one bum eye and he's kind of moth-eaten, and
faded around the edges, and his whiskers looked
like they'd been trimmed by Eyetalian barber
who's in hurry to get away to a street festival.
He Is certainly a pitfu-ooking object
I'VE gets him stored in corner of the stage
and goes out to buy him slab of COW and some
dog biscuit.
when shoves this provender in through the
bars of his cage, he don't, like naturally expects,
come charging down it with his mouth full of
growls and wild light in his windows. Instead,
he merely lays where he is casting peevish and
disappointed gaze upon the sirloin and crackers,
Then, when he that l. am watching him. he
bats his eye up at me, grateful and appreciative,
and opens his mouth alphabetically as you please
and ! the reason for his peculiar conduct,
which is that he amt got a tooth in his head His
jaws is as bare of ornament as an unpaid for ceme-
terry site. So exchanges the carnivora banquet
for couple of gallons of milk and half dozen
loaves of bread.
THE lion takes this Juvenile repast like he was
kitten, waggng his tail gentle you please and
purring like one of them rivetting machines they
uses skyscrapers. And every once in while he
bnks at me In grateful thanks. Then, when at
last he's absorbed his feed. he comes over to the
side of the cage and smiles at me his deep appre-
citation for what have did for him and then goes
to the corner of the cage, turns around three
four times and lays down; and, resting his head
between his paws, he goes off into that
makes the drops culver.
"Byme-hye. about O'clock. the memhers