The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1918-04-23
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}NTRuR GUY EhH|

London. Then / assigned the QlIlefenl
parts and started rehearsing. David
Belasco would have thrown up his
hands in despair at the material which
I had to use. Just imagine trying to
teach a Tommy, with a strong cockney
accent, to impersonSte a Bowery tough
or a Southern negro.
Adjacent to our billet was an open
field. We got busy at one end OF 1t and
constructed q stage. We secured the
lumber for the stage by demolishlng
an old wooden shack In the rear OF
our billet.
The first scene was supposed to rep
resent a street on the Bowery in New
York, while the scene Of the second
act was the interior Of the Diamond
Palace saloon, also on the Bowery.
In the play I took the part Of Abe
Switch, a farmer, who had come from
Pumpkinville Center, Tenn, to make
his first visit to New York.
In the first scene Abe Switch meets
the proprietor Of the Diamond Palace
saloon, a ramshackle affair which to
the owner was a financial loss.
The proprietor's name was Tom
Twistem, his bartender being named
Fillem Up.
After meeting Abe, Tom and Fllem
Up persuaded him to buy the place.
praising it to the skies and telling
wondrous tales Of the money taken
over the bar.
While they are talking, an old Jew
named key Cohenstein comes along,
and Abe engages him for cashier. After
engaging key they meet an old
Southern negro called Sambo, and
upon the suggestion Of key he Is en-
gagged as porter. Then the three OF
them, arm in arm, leave to take pos
session of this wonderful palace which
Abe has just paid $4,000 for. (Cur-
tain.)
In the second act the curtain rises
on the interior Of the Diamond Palace
saloon, and the audience gets its first
shock. The saloon looks like a pig
pen, two tramps lying drunk on the
floor, and the bartender in a dirty
shirt with his sleeves rolled up, asleep
with his head on the bar.
Enter Abe, Sambo and key, and the
fun commences.
One Of the characters in the second
act was named Broadway Kate, and I
had an awful job to break in n Of
the Tommies to act and talk like q
woman.
Another character was Alkali Ike, an
Arizona cowboy, who just before the
| close Of the play comes into the saloon
and wrecks it with his revolver.
We had eleven three-hour rehearsals
before I thought it advisable to pre-
sent the sketch to the public.
The whole brigade was crazy to
witness the first performance. This
performance was scheduled for Friday
night and everyone was full Of antici-
patton; when bang! orders came
| through that the brigade would move at
two that afternoon. Cursing and
binding was the order Of things upon
the receipt Of this order, but we
moved.
That night we reached the little vii
lage Of s. and again went into rest
billets. We were to be there two
weeks. Our company Immediately got
busy and secured the village for a
suitable place in which to present our
production. Then we received another
shock.
A rival company was already estab-
lished in the village. They called
themselves 1.-THE Bow Bells" and
put on a sketch entitled, "Blighty-
What Hopes?" They were the divi-
sional concert party.
We hoped they all would be soon
in Blighty to give us a chance.
This company charged an admission
of a franc per head, and that night
u company went en- masse to see
their performance. 1t really was good.
I had a sinking sensation when 1
thought Of running my sketch In op-
position to it.
In one Of their scenes they had q
soubrette called Flossie. The soldier
that took. this part was clever and
made q Incorporating and chic girl.
We Immediately fell in love with her
until two days after, while we were
on a march, we passed Flossie with
"her' sleeves rolled up and the sweat
pouring from cher" face unloading
shells from q motor lorry.
AS our section passed her I yelled
out: "Hello, Flossie; Blighty-What
Hopes?" Her reply made our love die
out instantly.
"Ah, 60 to HI"
This brought quite a laugh from the
marching column directed at me, and ]
instantly made up my mind that our
sketch should Immediately run In op'