Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-11
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. ELL.

A correspondent wants us to write 9
diatribe against people in movie audi
ences who insist on coughing directly on
persons sitting in front of them.
Within the past two weeks 1 have
been subjected to several baptisms on
the part of persons behind me-" he
writes.
The trouble with invectives is that
the very ones who ought to read 'em
never do. They go right ahead cough
ing, sneezing and giggling on persons
! near them.
We include giggling because it ought
to be included. 1t, too, is something
unwanted which issues from the mouths
| OF others.
An audience which harassed its SOU
the other night with O'Neills Strange
lnterlude" included numerous young
ladies who insisted on giggling at the
most inopportune moments.
The evening was further complicated
by an unusually large number of first
class coughers and A No. sneezerS.
AS general thing, these ailments
have not been as prevalent this Winter
as last, when the influenza epidemic
was going strong.
Yet at the National that night they
sneezed behind, before, TO the right
to the left.
And the worst part of it was that
they invariably sneezed just when you
thought they would not. This is char
acterlStlc OF the firSt-class Sneezer
A second-claSs performer warns YOU
A sensitive comrade knows whole
seconds in advance that the inevitable
explosion is on the way.
we say inevitable, because with these
persons there exists neither need for
smothering or knowledge of how the
thing is done.
y X x
The f1rst-claSS sneezer, instead OF
placing his finger firmly over his upper
lip, and thus nipping the sneeze in
the bud, as it were, lifts his head like
war horse going into battle.
Actually, he seems proud of what he
is about to do. Hey, folks, listen to
me sneeze! he seems to shout. Look
ing around proudly, the scoundrel lets
go with the depth of his lungs.
"Ker-chew!'
Words are Inadequate. They are
worse than inadequate; they are plain
misleading, for they tend to make
comical an act which is a social and
physiological misdemeanor, deed
worthy OF all recrimination, since
inimical to the health of others, shock
ing to their sense of decency and an
esthetic assault on their Sensibilities.
Especially during the hearing of a
good play is the social Sneeze out of
place. 1t must never be forgotten that
the main element with which the
actors are working is the spoken word.
And words, as sneezes, issue from
the human mouth, so that by that
very fact the sneezer puts himself in
direct competition with the people on
the stage. For a brief second or two
he detractS the attention of the audi
ence from the main thing, the play,
to an unnecessary performance on the
part OF an unknown individual.
Theater audiences are somewhat of
bore, at the best. Here we have a
number of people, all dressed up,
studiouSly ignoring one another, al
though they are sitting jowl to jowl.
The artificiality of the modern thea
ter audience is marked, in contrast with
the more natural humanism which
must have prevailed in the English
audiences of Shakespeare's day, or
among the Grecians at one OF their
classic dramas. or with the Romans
in their amphitheaters.
European audiences today abound
more in the friendly feeling than dc
ours, with each one OF US pretending