The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-03-03
From the Pittsburg Dispatch.

f<XU/ HAT is the most annoying
\A/ thing in the ordinary course
W OF events in the trying life
of the player on the stage2 Unquestion-
ably it is the misbehaved audience-the
audience that laughs when 1T should cry,
that cries when it should laugh, or the
audience that neither cries nor laughs
when either exhibition of pleasure or grief
| is most apropos. The theatre audience
| that thus makes its preference known is
| frequently painfully i'll hammered, and
| spares no mercy on either the play or
the player. no matter how good either
may be. Some actors-notably the late
Richard Mansfield-were wont to give tit
! for tat in trying circumstances like these.
| Indeed, Mr.. Mansfield used to come out
before the curtain and tell his audiences
just what he thought of them when they
misbehaved themselves. There is one his
| toric instance, for example, in st. Louis,
a score or more years ago, when he was
playing there in Ivan the Terrible. a
characterized situation in the third act
revealed this tyrannical Russian Car fall
| ing off his throne in fit of anger. which
| resulted in his death. Mansfield, after ex-
piring on the stage before the audience,
was forced to step out of the character
and resurrect himself. because of the in
| sistent applause of his audience. Now,
his auditors, no doubt, meant we'll and
were carried away by the tensity and WV
idness of the scene; but in Mr.. Mans
fields opinion, the awakening of the mimic
! md rfr,t, ,ot t, l.,
crime. Accordingly, he came out before
/ the curtain and addressed his audience.
which, by the way. was not as large as it
was enthusiastic, In terms like these;
| Ladies and gentlemen, no doubt you mean
we'll, but IL you must wake the dead, do
not grumble at the remarks of the corpse.
This house, which, I note, is about half
the size OF the kind that greets me in the
one night Texas stands, argues that l am
not well liked In st. Louis. How me to
say that / return the want of appreciation
| with INTEREST,"
"It is said that ever thereafter Mr..
Mansfelds reception in St Louis smacked
of the north pole.
There are manXs amusing and historic
instances of playersN and their trials with
misbehaved audiences. A story is told
of Olga Nethersole, who, playing Sapho
on one occasion picked up birdcage in
the last act of the piece. at the most
| telling moment in the entire play. She
was about to pass silently out of the room,
leaving her beloved Jean asleep on the
sofa. But, just as many persons were
weeping copious tears. bang! went tho
bottom of the cage to the floor, and the
stuffed 'dickey bird rolled off the perch
on the carpet Wherefore the curtain fell!
amid veritable hurricane of laughter.
| ''Of course, these accidents win happen
in the best of regulated theatres. For
example. several years ago, when the
| Aborn production of Balfes Bohemian
Girl was being sung here, a most distress
| ing accident occurred during the course
| of the second act, which, as everybody
knows, is laid in a gypsy camp. On the
stage in this scene are pigs, cows, chick
ems, ducks and other appendages of the
farm. All of which was very atmospheric
and proper. until one of the pigs, ven-
turing too near the footlights, fell over on
the brass drum, amid much CONSERVATION
and confusion. His piercing squeals and
rdSplnE RruHtS completely drowned bOtn
orchestra and chorus; but the leader kept
OH leading with doubled vigor, and in
! spite of the howls. of the audience, the
course of the opera was not interrupted
altogether.
lone of the members of Forbes Robert
sons company, playing with him in The
Passing of the Third Floor Back" relates
an amusing incident in connection with a
performance of Jerome X. Jeromes SYM
bolical play in Toronto. The central fig
rne of this drama, as everybody knows,
represents a nature akin to that of our
blessed Lord. QIave no fear, dear reader
this story is not going to- the sacriligeous. }
Tho entrance of this symbolical figure In
the last act is preceded by voice singing
| off the stage. In New York city Mr.. Rob.
ertson, so we are told. hired a regular
chorister from one Of the large parishes
there; but when he took to the road he
had to depend, more or less, upon local
talent. In Toronto, woman was en-
gagged to perform this small but important
service On the critical moment, how