The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1912-12-17
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
~TAGE MANAGER SELWYN JOYCE
of 1.-THE Whip" the English nlelo-
~ drama now at the Manhattan opera
house. spoke as follows "Wednesday hiene
TO some volunteer supers who had come
"baclx stage" from two lower stage boxes
70 ride in the railroad train that the VII
lain tried to wreck
oNow for heavens sake, YOU orieu
the excited stage manager, who had no
notion that the ''supers" were Mrs. john
Jacob Astor Mr.. and Mrs. Philip LiNer-
more. Francis Crowninshield, Mohcuio
Robinson, Mr.. and Mrs. de r. White-
house. Miss Eugene Ladenburg' W.
Rhinelander Stewart Jr, and three Oh
four more of the Aston box party ior
heavens sake try to ride across the stage
in the passenger cars as il it wasn't the
frst time YOU ever were in first class
carriage.
Read a paper at the car window or
talk to whoever is sitting beside you
anyway. don't spoil the whole darn scene
bv trying to look straight out at the
audience to count the house. Do you get
that? If any of you folks bust up the
scene you'll hear from me! From me, do
you hear?'
And Mrs. Astor and her box party
heard and remembered and road out on
the stage to be wrecked without once try
ing to count the house.
The idea was Frank Crowninshield IS.
Early in the play Mr.. Crowninsfnieid APP
preached Morris Gest and begged patnet-
ically for permission from the manage
ment for himself and all the rest OF the
dozen or more in the box party TO go
back STAGE and see at least part Oh
1.-THE Whip at point just few jumps
ahead of the horses, locomotives, passeh-
ger coaches, falling sandbags, automo-
biles. squads of paid supers and bigger
SQUADS of stage hands and actors, actors,
actors.
''Ill see," said Gest, while the press
agent standing near by, once he had
learned who was asking permission to go
back and supe tried to stave off fatal
attack of ecstacy before this thing should
he. Mr.. Gest was celebrating, he said,
merely because first the permission OF
Miss Marie Ellington, the Hon. Mrs. Beam
ish of 1.-The Whip" and a very important
person, would have to be obtained. The
shock, Mr.. Gest explained. might cause
serious injury.
But after what seemed to the press
agent like hours Mr.. Gest came out
from back stage again to tell Mr..
Crowninshield that the Hon. Mrs
Beamish would be delighted
And then Morris Gest lead Mr.. Crown
inshield, Mrs. Astor and the 10 others
of the box party back of the boxes to
the west of the stage while the tele-
phone scene was happening in front
of a drop and all the world was laying
railroad tracks back of the drop.
And as the two railway carriages in
which the Astor party were to ride
across the stage and for the love of
heaven not count the house while do
ing it were waiting in the wings at the
east side of the stage, the dozen men
and women in evening clothes had to
work their way as noiselessly as pos
sible all the way across the stage with
the back drop of the telephone scene
shielding them, of course, from the au-
dience watching the play.
Sand bags were dropping. Between
Is. ooO. 900 and 20,000,o00 stage hands
were trying to lay complete railroad
system instantly. pausing only to re-
mark, 'Wot tell" peevishly when
folks in evening clothes thoughtlessly
got in the way. But Mr.. Crowinshield
and Mrs. Aston, aided by Morris Gest,
finally got across stage uninjured. Then
they were boosted into the high riding
railway carriages.
Don't count the house!" again yelled
the stage manager.
Nobody did. The Astor box party
|dutifully kept eyes straight ahead as
the train shot ahead.
Among those who were in the au-
dience to enjoy the unusual sight of
society on the stage were the follow
ling:
Mr.. and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.
who were giving a box party. their