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

certainly not lastly, the owner of the pro-
duction-these kinks are delightfully."-
aroused and brought out when the piece is
In rehearsal
sort of thing When a bit Of money like
$4,000 is put into ''show"-as Fred
Thompson put $4,000 into "Girlies," for
example. and Flo Ziegfeld probably spent
as much on 1.-The Follies Of 1910'-the
hackers and the drillers are justified in
duction and the people figuring therein.
Often l am surprised at the patience OF
these supervisors in beating such a pro-
duction into shape. They are very decent
very discouraging circumstances. But We
are not concerned with the serious side
Of 1t.
The cleared stage Of the Apollo Theater
shared the gloom Of the hideous mid
June weather when ''Girlies" was being
rehearsed The chorus girls-billed as
Sixty girlies, none Of them twenty, none
of them married. and certainly looking
this description even under the wan,
chill light of the theater-sat about the
stage, their wrist bags on their arms,
while the boys" Of the piece or the
principals were being put through their
stunts by the ever-busy drillers. A good
many Of them. finding no place OF rest
the orchestra chairs, where they kept up
a Rabble-gabble until silenced by one or
other OF the drtllers.
They'd begin by whispering while the
drillers were trying to work on the stage,
a steady. disturbing buzz-buzz.
Girls, girls!" the stager of the piece
would say. turning from the Job in hand
on the stage and yanking at his shirt
sleeves. They would heed his adjuraton
for about a moment. Then they'd begin
to whisper and hum all over again
wait minute-this noise has got to
be tinned!' the stager would say then.
stopping his drilling again and turning
a lowering look upon the girls in the
orchestra chairs and boxes.
They'd subside, this time perhaps for
two whole minutes. Then they'd begin
again. Whereupon the stager would
make two bounds of 1t to the foothghts,
make two tremendous passes through his
hair with his hands, and tousle 1t fright
fully. and shout at the top of his lungs:
shut up!''
1t was sacrifying, really. Sitting way
back in the gloom of the rear. the way
he said it skeeart me. The silence was
instantaneous The terrifying stager of
the piece, standing there waiting for
peace, would then grin agreeably. thus
taking all of the sting out of his terrify-
ingness. None of the girls took it to
heart. They'd keep still. then. for as
much as two whole minutes. They'd put
in the time, being thus debarred the de-
lights of conversation. playing bean
porridge hot. bean porridge cold. with
their cute little petally palms. The
nearer one comes to people OF the stage
and this doesn't mean chorus girls alone
either-the more one becomes impressed
with the sense that. for all their inside"
knowledge Of things. they forever retain
an agreeable streak of childishness. Some
Of the most guileless men l ever knew
were famous leading men, even TRACE
dams But we're not going to talk about
that.
The process of beating one of these
musical shows into shape for metropolf-
tan presentation is intensely arduous
labor of a sort the public cannot possibly
appreciate. The people In the audience,
when the piece has been trimmed and
polished and hammered into Its final
shape after enormous pains. merely see
the pictures dissolving before their view;
they form little or no idea of the work in
volved in getting the thing into its pre-
sentable condition: subconsciously they
sort Of imagine that all of the comings
and goings Of the people on the thronged
stage are Just natural the easiest COM