The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-02-19

A olscouRrEous AUDIENCE
Gallery God" Comments on Last
Evenings Occurrences.


To the Editor OF the Banner:-For
some time past it has been the pleas
ing custom of Bennington audience
to rise en- masse during the final act
of play, however interesting, clutch
their outer garments and stampede
from the theatre like a crowd of COW
boys rushing for their grub-tent. 1t
would seem at first glance that such
people were actuated by love of
home and children; that their home
loving instincts had suddenly over
come them; that they felt that some
dire disaster threatened their Lars
and Penates. This can, however,
hardly be accepted as a logical ex-
PLANTATION. For there are many who
have no homes, others who come to
the theatre to get away from home
and not few who don't intend to go
home anyway The writer has con
sidered this from all points of view
and in Che thinks) a broad-minded
manner and has come to the concIus-
ion that the motive involved is the
natural desire to be the first one out
of the theatre.
Last evening Benningtonians reach
ed the height--or depth--of discour.
tesy. The play, The Travelling Sales
man was being presented to crowd
ed house by an excellent troupe head
ed by Miss Rosalind Coghlan as Beth
Eniat" and Herbert Corthell as the
jovial Bob Blake" Curtain calls at
the end of each Of the first three acts
were numerous Applause was fire..
quent and enthusiastic. Bennington
ians were Witnessing as excellent a
production as had been presented in
the local theatre for some time The
curtain rose on the last act and the
audience for the most part were en-
ioying themselves, when here and
there persons began to reach for their
outer apparel, arose and began to don
them A few heavyweight gentle
men tiptoed" out, their overcoats on
their arms this after ten o'clock, re-
member) making no more noise than
the proverbial freight train going
round the Harlem. This soon be-
came epidemic In a short time the
entire audience was now on its feet,
preparing to leave, Mr., Corthell (Bob
Blake) entered to a rapidly emptying
house-and five minutes after the
raising OF the curtain. Mr. Corthell
stood for moment astounded. uttered
a few emphatic lines not to be found
in his manuscript-an ordered the
curtain to be rung down. Bennington
had attained the climax of dlscourtesy,
Is an audience of Bennington people
so obtuse, so dulled to finer feelings
that 1t doesn't know when it has offer
ed insult? Numbers of people from
out of town We're there present last
evening who never before had been
Obliged to witness an episode so in
sulting TO dramatic artists. 1t makes
an excellent name for our town, don't
you think?
However strange II may seem there
are people who should like to witness
the whole of play; people who rare
~ attend dramatic entertainment
and to whom a violated final act is
much the same as an entertaining
novel whose last twenty pages are
missing. It is an axiom in dramatics
that the most beautiful stage pictures
are reserved for the last act.
In the near future Mr.. Olcott, a fav.
orite with local theatre-goers, will be
presented here in Ragged Robin
We have time after time offered like
insult TO the Irish tenor. Let us en-
deayor to so improve our manners that
as the final curtain desoends we will
still be in our chairs and not tramp
ing out to the time of Kiplings:
We're going home.
We're going home,
We're going home"
A Gallery God"