The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1908-01-08
Some Good Thcater DOnt's.

NhSN ioiy IN Ia u
ken from the News and Courier, con-
tains good advice to t~heatre-goers, and
while it was written expressly for the
Charleston playhouse attendants, the
numerous suggestions might be applied
with propriety and profit to every opera
house audience in the country:
MADAM Butterfly will appear at the
Academy of Music in this town to-
morrow afternoon and night, as we
have previously noted. Those who ar
rive at the theater after the perform
ance begins ought to be kept out in the
lobby until the close Of the first act
and will be kept out if the managers of
the theaters have any regard for the
success of the performances or the
pleasure and comfort of the audience.
Several days ago we took occasion to
advise the opera-goers of some things
that they ought not to do, saying:
Don't be late in getting to the
Academy of Music.
Don't swear at the managers of the
theater and insist upon pushing forward
to your seat, disturbing the punctual
people, and displaying at the same
time your w very bad
Don't go out between the acts.
Don't applaud every singer on the
stage, and don't insist that every sin
ger shall ONE back and do it all over.
These suggestions have touched a re-
sponsive chord in the heart of our es-
teemei contemporary, the Columbia
State, which insists that while there
may be more "Yaps" in Columbia than
in Charleston, our "don'ts" don't cover
the field at the State capital, and it
adds the following "don'ts'' as not be-
ing altogether untimely:
Don't talk in the theater for public
consumption. What you say may be
very valuable, but the people around
you are getting full value for their
money from the stage and your en-
Tightening comments give them too
much for too little. Again, the actors
may not appreciate the competition.
Don't applaud prematurely.
Don't guffaw or giggle at pathetic
periods. If it is necessary to do so or
to cry-cry.
! Don't eat peanuts. The cracking of
the shells may cause misconception on
the part of the artists on the stage,
who may drop madam Butterfly" and
take up a string of coon songs.
Don't fprnof fbof - 4, s,,oI .,J-
to disturb a singer on the stage as a
singer in a private parlor, and that the
performer upon the stage, being more
frequently an artist than the one in the
parlor, is the more readily annoyed by
a d%lscordant note in the audience.
The habit of eating peanuts has not
yet, we believe, affected Charleston au-
d%iences, but otherwise the "dont's" of
the Columbia State might very well be
regarded by the theater-goers in this
town.
AS to our suggestion that the people
attending the opera tomorrow night
wear their good clothes, we would say,
for the benefit of Jul contemporary
that what was meant by this counsel
was contained in what we said. Prob
ably it would have been clearer if,
instead of saying "wear your good
clothes" we had said ''wear your best
clothes" Some men do not affect the
spike-tail, and many women do not re-
gard with favor the decollete gown;
but it will be entirely proper for such
to wear in the one case the frock or
the cutaway coat, and in the other the
high-necked gown; but whether the
men year pike-tails, or Tuxedoes, or
cutaways, or frock coats, they ought
to wear the best they have, and like
wise the women. An audience SO
dressed would be almost as interesting
to the audience itself as it would be en-
couraging to the people on the stage.
The main point, however, is that the
people ought to be in their seats when
the first curtain goes up, and ought to
stay in their seats until the last curtain
goes down.