Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-06-19

AAeSe P1AfSo oAooAAhy OhCi las OfOWS.
"Awful-awful." says the stager OF the
piece.
''Murderous." means the producer
Wed be mobbed in New York il he
did it that way" mutters the nbretto
writer between clenched teeth.
Meantime the top comedian, thus
brought to that full stop by the united
and unanimous disapproval Of all of the
drillers-does the top comedian, thus be-
sieSed by this outburst of utter and ir-
revocable derision and vituperation-does
he repine? does he wilt under the
strain? does he look chagrined and
alarmed? does he shrink into himself and
look as II he's worrying about the per-
petuity OF his job?
stands there, looking cheerful, with his
raincoat swaddled around him. and looks
happily from one Of the drillers to the
other
them all impartially. looking perfectly
clipper about it. All right Wen take
another wallop at it, and the suffering
composer at the piano hands the worries
another bunch of raps and they pro-
coed with the ditty. All of the driilers
look gloomy. if not actually broken
hearted. all over again. The impression
able composer rises sadly from the stool
and walks upstage as If to reach the way
out SO that he might make the earliest
train to the farthest point on the globe
anywhere to get away from the horrible
misconceptions of that top comedian.
Thus they drill and drill away, and
often after hours and hours. with each
one OF the drillers putting I'm suggestions
at every line as to business" and So on,
the ditty eventually reaches its present.
able form. 1 will say here and now that
as very frequent thing the singer of the
0npG In q A~ct
does IT more effectively. more spon-
taneously, more naturally and humor-
ously-than he does the ditty after so
many cooks Of the broth have denatured
his performance by sticking i'm their in
cessant suggestions. But that is neither
here nor there.
There is ''take-off'' on Madame X"
the Frenchish melodrama which lad such
big run in New York last winter, in
the ''girlies' piece. The librettist doesn't
like any part Of the way the excessively
clever people figuring in that burlesuue
have been doing their work at reh.arsals
So he climbs on the stage to put them
through it.
Not It's the wind in the chimney
he says to the leading actress. delivering
the lines in a dispiritingly fiat tone and
nothing whatever like the way the actress
It's the wind in the chimney" exuding
robust and laughable falsetto squeak,
bish chorus girls ranged around on stage
props and in the orchestra and boxes
emit concerted litter
The writer OF the book breaks of.
suddenly glares around. as II he actu-
ally intended to bite at least one arm
off each and every one of the "demi-
tasse" girls then and there present and
bowls:
Shut up"
His tone is so utterly pregnant with
an unsupported and unexampled ferocity
that. back there in the rear of the
theater. one begins to tumble for his
cap. for the moment imagining that
perhaps the ibrettist means everybody. |
But there's a quick lull, and the libret- |
fist grins the most agreeable grin you
ever saw or heard of, and then he re-
sumes telling the folks in the Madame
X'' ''take-on" how it ought to be done |