New-York tribune., 1921-06-26
CURTAIN CALLS FROM MACREADY TO COIIA

only to jerk them back again when she reached
for them. The joker was Eugene Field.
John Cumberland says that while pIayinv
with Frank Keenan, in Southern metropolis
the curtain rope was tied to the foot of
negro stage hand, who was supposed to lower
it at given signal. This he failed to do, and
as a result the other stage hands had to bring
it down after a long delay and much excite.
ment.
Didn't you get that signal?" keenan, asked
angrily.
eyes, sir" came the negro's reply.
Didn't you know that meant to let the cur.
tain DOWN."
eyes, sir"
"Well, then, why didn't you let it DOWN."
Because my foot was asleep"
After the actors strike came to an end IA
Wynn, hero of the affair, was made to "a.
spond to curtain call at the New Amsterdam
The applause continued so long, however that
Mr.. Wynn nonchalantly disregarded it, laid
himself down leisurely on the stage and went
to sleep. Quite different was the response Of
Minnie Dupree on her return to the stage IN
"The Charm School," So heartfelt and lons
was the applause that Miss Dupree, quite over.
come by her emotions, burst into tears and
buried her head on the desk before her.
In giving his curtain speech for "The Lsdv
Of the Lamp" Earl Carroll took the onnor,
tunity of expressing his theories about cpr.
tain calls.
"I don't think that you ought to call ma on4
just now" he said. "You ought to wait for
the play to end, and then decide whether or not
you wish to me. Every other man has n
nicb vi hafa
the sculptor, the painter and the musician. 7
think that we dramatists ought to be made TO
take the same chance"
similar idea was worked out in "Sunksstp
the musical comedy devised by Marco which
won instantaneous recognition in New York he-
cause it did away with stereotyped encores and
curtain calls and progressed instead to de6nis.
climaxes
1t was George NJ. Cohan who cleverly made
his curtain speech family affair BY SAVING.
Il thank you. My mother thanks you and INV
father thanks you"-a speech which was re.
vlved recently under unusual circumstances
When Miss Ethel Levey recently returned TO III.
United States for brief vaudeville tour ths
applause lasted so long that Miss Levey n.
sponded with an unprecedented curtain call
edged her thanks. Then she completely s,r.
prlsed the audience by presenting no less
person than her daughter, Miss Georgetts
Conan. This was the first appearance of this
young player on the American stage, and she
straightway acknowledged the applause with
her own daddy's words: "I thank you INV
mother thanks you and my father thanks
you"
The famous mother of "Humoresker vers
Gordon, gives this appropriate speech when
she appears in person:
Ii you like me as well as your applause in.
dicates I'll stay with you as long as Sarah
Bernhardt. So, you see, fifty years from now
III be with you again at a regular farewell
performance"
Highly original is the personal response Of
Joe Jackson, the inimitable clown. He sem.
fies down to the curtain wearing shoes size
NO. II, long, awkward things-proverbial "gun.
noats. AS he prepares to begin his speech
the curtain drops, falling directly on his feet
and leaving only the ends of his shoes visible
linen the curtain is raised again hastily, as il
TO correct the mistake. But what the audience
sees is surprising. The shoes are still there,
but nothing is in them. Joe Jackson has beaten
nasty retreat.
Robert Woolsey, of "The Right Girl re-
spends by simply coming to the footlights and
saying sharply: "Wil you shoosh?" While
jimmy Barton, of "The Last Waltz" remarks:
Ladies and gentlemen, thanks for the use of
the hail."
This description of curtain call appears Ia
Nat Goodwin's Book, in which he thus de-
scrlbes nameless playwright:
cat the end of the second act. half dozen
paid ushers applauded violently. Before they
could become wearied of their task huge,
bulky man appeared before the curtain. Hs
ambled slowly to the center of the stage, where
he stood for perhaps fifteen seconds, as if to
enable the audience to contemplate him in re-
pose.
"Then this individual shifted his weight
from one leg to the other, still keeping silent
There he stood, leer distorting his features,
poised on one leg, the left foot pointing to the
right. He wore an i'll fitting evening suit with
an abundance of shirt front, very much mussed,
procrudlng from the confines of the waistcoss
His face, unwashed, suggested cross between
Bill Skies and Caliban. Oblique. thin sits
concealed pair of green-white eyes. strong,
wide jaw that opened and shut like the snapsf
an aIlpatOr'9 WAC tilted fox-u,o~J and rnward