The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-15


 to the amusement of so many people as has Meyer of whom so little is known. Meyer has no sinecure and when a big production such as The Garden of Allah or ''On Trial is at the theatre he is the busiest man in the state.
 Meyer is responsible for the synchroni- zation of the action off the stage with that on. For instance. in the scene in Within the Law, where pistol. SUD- posed to be equipped with a Maxim si- ieneer is fired at lamp globe and the lamp is shattered it was up to Never to see that the said shattering occurred sim ultaneously with the snapping of the re- volver
 Every theatregoer recalls the ancient device first employed by Clyde Fitch in The Girl from Rector's," in which the professor IS opening a bottle of cham pagne. The cork, you will recall comes out, but without the customary s.pop. ,, Alter an appreciable interval the pop, comes and the professor takes out his watch remarking in and aside to the audience that it was two minutes late, ? It never failed to bring a laugh and it is as good today as ever
 PLENTY TO DO
 Not only does Meyer superintend the aural effects, but the optical as well. and 1t IS in this that the hard work comes. The principal item is the shifting of seen cry, the building of stage effects. the rapid changing of sets and the superin- tending of the lighting. It can easily be seen what Monroe is up against and the average person will sympathize with him in his half whimsical complaint
 ha 1ar year." observed Meyer, looking after the van as it clattered up the alley toward the Terminal station. There aren't any more gigantic spectacles coming this sea- son. Believe me, these spectacular shows mean work. Of course, you know that we are three days preparing for Ben Hur.' It perhaps requires the most la bor, but these others are enough
 Speaking of Ben Hur reminds me that it is not coming south until next year on account of a legal tangle which arose between the ,essees of the production and the heir of General Lew Wallace. Two weeks after the season opened in Boston and with capacity indicated for the com ing week it was necessary to close the production and withdraw all engagements for this season. The legal questions, how ever, have been adjusted and the show will come out next year.
 Another massive play which will not come south this year is Materlinck s Blue Bird' The effects of this were stunning, but it certainly means work.
 "OMAR" THE WORST
 We have had number of plays this year. however, which gave me all wanted to do for the time being. About the hardest was Omar, the Tentmaker' The illusion spectacle in which Omar was beaten on the feet and his soul passed from his body was about the most diff ticult to set up.
 Tt requires an enormous amount of men to handle these stupendous scenic productions. The whole work is in lifting and 1t requires a surprising number to handle the heavy scenery and make the shifts.
 Another play which gave me lots of work was The Garden of Allah My difficulties were increased by the pres ence of so many Arabs and Syrians who could not speak English. They would go out on the Stage and deliver their lines with only trace of accent, but it was entirely mechanical. They couldn't speak English.
 II never will forget the first night of the play Everything was in a hustle and hustle getting ready for what is perhaps the greatest scenic production on tour when somebody referred to one of the Arabs as a 'nigger Trouble came sharp and immediate. The interpreter told the man offended what it meant and he promptly sat down and swore by the beard of the Prophet that he would not go on. It took 30 minutes of the hardest kind of persuasion and apology to get him to proceed. and at one time it seemed that the entire body would strike. Be- lieve me, we sweated before it was over
 Doubtless many who saw the new Cohan novelty On Trial wondered how the elaborate scenes were shifted so quickly and so completely. Those who were close observers saw that the floor Of the courtroom was not the floor of the stage, as is ordinarily the case, but that it was raised Therein lies the secret
 ON REVOLVING STAGE
 '"rhe set as we call it-that is, the scene. of the courtroom-was on revolv- ing stage. On the side of the stage turned away from the audience was placed the scence showing the Trask home or the hotel, as the case might be. Now, when the lights went out in the middle of a sen- tence and flashed on again in a minute, visualizing the mans words. the change was made by simply turning around the revolving stage presenting to the audi ence the reverse picture. When the scene changed the actors discovered on took their places while the scene was still turned away from the audience. There wasn't so much work to this as necessity for quick action.