The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1909-12-22
THE AGED ACTOR
RECEIVES Coin

NO doubt you've seen the action OF
4 grand opera stopped While an en-
thusiastic and slightly hysterical au-
dience demanded that a certain c1-
mactic scene in the opera be enacted
and sung over again. said Fred E.
Moore, the Atlantic City theatrical
manager, who dropped into Washing
ton last week. THAT used to be
more common occurrence than 1t IS
nowadays. But even new it occasion
ally happens at such ODeratlc temp es
as the Metropolitan and The Manhat-
tan opera houses in New York; the
audiences become so worried UP over
a big scene that they demand that
the thing be done over again and, des-
pite the rule against It. The section
of the opera that the audience wants
to have repeated has to be gone
through with again in order 70 APP
pease the folks
But did you ever see the action of
a play stopped by a bowling enthu
siastic audience that demanded that
part Of the play be done over
again?
L saw that happen just once, and
there was something a bit startling
about it.
1T happened out in Go,dfields,
when that mining camp was on the
top crest of its initial boom. I drop
ped into the camp for a few days to
have a look around, and while 1 was
there a tragedian came along to open
the new theatre.
"NoW, there are quite a number of
actors doing Shakespearean and other
tragic roles travelling in the west and
northwest and southwest Of whom the
eastern public scarcely ever here at
ALL and most of them are pretty clev-
err and nifty tragedians, at that. This
man was an exceptionally fine actor
n the more robust tragic role. He
had supported Booth and Barrett for
wears, and was nothing like a ham
fat, and a genuinely excellent sterling
actor.
He announced 'Spartacus, the
Gladiator as the play to open the thea
re- and there was a terrific crush
m hand for the first night, with the
orchestra seats selling at from SO to
$40 per toss. The miners and boom
sters for Goldfie'ds were keen for di
version and they would have dug up
for twice the gate prices if they'd
been asked to
Nov. the big. chesty, sOnorOus ac-
ton of Sparatacus begins right from
he jump, but the great scene, of
course, is that in which Spartaeus adj
1resses his supporters and declares
var on Rome; the wei remembered
passage, that used to be dear to recit
ing schoolboys, beginning with, 'Ye
call me chief and so on.
This tragedian just picked up that
huge speech of Sparatus' and ran
away with it. He tied it in double
bowknots, timber bitches, figures of
light and all the rest of the hempen
hOdfasts. He had a voice that for
believing power would have made the
sea down at the place where I live
hide it's shrunken face and go roll
it's hoop, so to speak; and when. in
that 'Ye call me chief thing, he be-
gan to loosen up his chest tones and
to hurl out the large young rumb' es.
you could feel the floor under you vi
hrating so that it impaired sort of
tingling sensation to the SOleS of your
feet through your shoes.
It's a speech that lasts perhaps
more than five minutes, and while the
tragedian was eXuding it from his
system the spellbound, spine chilled
bunch of natural and very human be-
ings sitting out in front kept perfect
" still, their mouths agape and every
4 A.I-4
it al in
But when the tragedian finally
broke off with one terrific, whooping,
gigantic rumble, it happened.
THAT gang broke loose in a way
that / never saw duplicated in a shea
ire or in any other sort of crowd.
''They howled every manjack of
them, like on-baying coyotes; they
got up with their rough boots on the
plush covered seats and bawled like
madmen: they Hacked their arms,
threw their hats up in the air, kicked
out with their legs, walloped each 9TH
err on the back and then beloved
some more.
THE tragedian seeing the futility
of trying to go on with the play, bowl
ed again and again. But it wou' dn't |
do, that mere bowling thing. That |
wasn't what they wanted. A bunch |
of them hoped down from their chairs !;
and rushed down the aisle to where |
the orchestra sat, and howled at the |
tragedian:
do it again, hombrey; you got |
to do that doggoned thing again.
1.-The tragedian went on bowling and |
bowling, and the rest of the people on |
the state sort of leaned back on their
oars to wait for the bedlam to sub
side.
vain waiting. There wasn't a sign |
of it subsiding. 1t went right on and |
it gained in velocity and power as it |
went along.
..Ty1,oso man uroron,4 1r;adinn +l,a