Evening star., 1921-10-02

" Mrs Bates. Hy enolher
week everything will be
running smooth and We'll
be just like a big family
"Eh?" says I. big family? 1 hope
not. That was one of the seven mys-
tic reasons why 1 left home, Mrs.
Bates
please. Trilby May" she protests.
"All the others are calling me Auntie
Eates. They always do"
'very WE'LL" says I. Il don't want
to shatter any good old back stage
traditions. Auntie Bates it is"
Which was where l got folded to
hes ample bosom and had warm,
moist dab planted under my left ear.
One of these impetuous. heart
ed females. Mrs. Bates is. She admits
il herself. I'm such silly goose
she's apt to say. ''but do get awfully
fond of people
She merely shippers at that and
shows her double chins, for anything
that isn't as plain as "Go-stop,
sign she cont get at all. For some
time l couldn't figure how manager
such as Ames Hunt. who specializes
ing his lip at the avearge Broadway
productions. should have picked an
old timer like Mrs. Bates She does
the Mum NAH part in THE Prince
and the F'lapper." you know. and from
the start her work was as STACEY and
Al-Woodsy as it well could be. But
Hunt never called her for it, never
asked her to change an infection.
Just be natural. Mrs. Bates" he told
her once when she asked how she
should read line.
THEN, of course, ! got wise to his
idea. This "Mum-mah'' person in
Barry's play is a beanless, gushy old
soul who is still kittenish at fifty
five and doesn't care who knows it.
So when Ames Hunt had gone to Il
theatrical agency, which he usually
avoids, and had picked out Auntie
Bates. he got someone who fitted the
character like the skin of a banana.
She hardly needed any extra make
up. for even on the street and at re-
hearsals she shows those little
touches which any druggist can sup
ply. Even her hair is perfect. Good
ness only knows what shade it was
originally and 1 shouldn't wonder
but Mrs. Bates herself has forgotten;
she's been an experimental blonde SO
long, ranging from the old peroxide
dip to the henna wash: until now her
crowning glory has most of the tints
of a fading rainbow, including faint
yellows ard sickly greens. Neither
could her voice be improved on, for
1T ranges from a cooey gurgle to a
rasping cackle.
Let her tell it. and she's had some
career, beginning as the little child
in Lights o. London" and working
through ha
the Bostonians back in the days when
DE Wolf Hopper was new to Broad
way and "After the Ball. was a popu-
lar song hit. She has told me a lot
about such things, but most of 'em
were about as familiar to me as. the
fall of Nineveh or the rise of the Han
seattle League. l knew they'd happen
ed. but not why or when.
1t wasn't until after THE Flapper"
had gone into it's second week and
promised to linger on for a month or
SO that Auntie Bates got to be real
folksy. however. She would come
waddling into my dressing room for a
ten-mlnute chat before first call. gen.
orally opening by feeding me a bit of
taffy she'd thought up for the occa-
sion. and then shifting to a chapter
of her personal history. 1 didn't mind.
for half the time 1 didn't listen close,
and her monOlogue wasn't disturbing.
Likewise it was only gradually that
she sprung her family on us. L had
rather thought she was widow OF
some kind. sod or statutory. but it
developed that there was a hubby in
the background. DADDY Bates" she
called him. although what he was a
daddy of was more than l ever dis
covered. OF course there was Thespy.
You must know Thespy," Auntie
Bates said one night. shes a dear.
I'll have daddy bring her around some
evening"
"She's-er-your daughter l asked.
How absurd.' says Auntie Bates.
Why. Thespy is the dearest little
Pom. you ever saw. I've had her
nearly twelve years.
"Oh." says 1. "A dog! / like dogs
X y
co I do, as a rule. But I wasn't
crazy about Thespy. And anyway.
I've always classed these Pomeran
ians as more like parlor insects than
real dogs. Besides. Thespy had got
to the moulting stage. when a lot of
her fluffy black hair was missing, and
more of it had turned gray. She was
wheeZy and short tempered. too, and