New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-03-24
FUN ON VARIETY STAGE
Zelda Sears SAYS She Likes lt
Before and Behind Scenes. !.

"Do | like vaudeville? Certainly I IA
The burning question which agitated my
mind for some weeks previous to my debb,
was not would ] like vaudeville, but would
vaudeville like me-" declares Zelda sears
who will appear this week at the Fifth Avn,
nue. Theatre in THE Wardrobe Woman
$50 much has been said and written
about the difficulty OF pleasing the patrons
~ the two-a-day houses that confess Ia
facing them for the first time with feel.
ing OF sickening trepidation Ny heart
sank at the awful thought that though the
habitues OF the legitimate houses had been
so good as TO think me funny for mat
ter of twenty years my particular brand
of humor might not have the same appeal
TO the hypercriticaI audiences Of the vauds-
Vile theatres. Fortunately, my fears
proved to be entirely without foundation.
At my first performance of The Ward
robe Woman the first funny line had.
scarcely left my lips when the Response
came back from the audience. There was
not even the seconds hesitation TO let the
humor sink in that Is sometimes necessary
| in theatre devoted to the legitimate
| That seems TO me the individual hall mark
| of the vaudeville audience-their surprising
ouickness II must be due 10 a long course
| of training in rapid-hre comedy. 81; q
III the audience in the varieties 10
quick So too, must be the actor and the
author. There is no time for fnicky de-
tail, no time wasting elaboration Of char
acterization. The painting is strictly I'm.
pressionistic and done with a broad brush.
One must please from the jump As II q
l a, nut 70 ma on q ave- ~
leap into vaudeville: Remember, you've got
only twenty minutes TO make them forget
! the trained bears 80
| Speaking Of trained bears. | shall never
| feel a full 1edged vaudevllian until I have
been on tho bill with them, The nearest I ..
have approached is an educated cockatoo,
with whom shared the honors OF bills-
in Atlantic City I shared them gladly, as
| he was a most accomplished comedian as
well as a most seductive personality. Talk
about professional Jealousy That bird and
I never harbored an envious thought Of
| each other. - In fact. we became so tre-
mendously attached that II tried to pass
his cage behind the scenes without stopping
TO pass the time Of day and scratch the
place where his ears ought 10 be he would
20 into a perfect spasm OF outraged afec-
ton and squawk so wildly that the stage
manager would beg me with tears in his
ewes 10 60 and pacify the bird, so that the
bill could proceed. The creature was 50
sentimental that he would cit for half an
hour at a time with his why claw firmly
clutch hing my finger and coo in the bland
est fashion To my shame. ! ADMIT that
wild thoughts of abducting him 10 enltyen
my private life disturbed me the entir.
week The temptation vas strong, but
when | learned that the bird vas the sole
support Of his exhibtor-and ne q "tdo"er
and an orphan-my better nature prevailed
and theft is still unnumbered among my
/ crimes. ..~'
"One thing that strongly appeals to m.is
the astonishing diversity NJ ones associ-
ates ON, one bill were an Indian larlat