The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-02-24
In New York

l New York-Lots of things hap pen on the stage that never were called for in the script. Sometimes they're funny enough to be kept in the show. Occasionally they're serious enough to wreck practically | the whole performance.
 For example, Melvyn Douglas strolled over to turn on a radio in a scene of "No More Ladies" the other evening. Just behind the set. Pete Davis, the stage manager. was waiting the cut to turn on q photograph. Only couple of set- onds before the music should have started, Davis discovered the photograph was out of order. There was just one thing to do. and a popular songn -.
 | Douglas was startled, but quick ly understood what had happened. "Great guns!" he ad-libbed, these radio crooners are getting more terrible every day!" He pretended to shut off the machine, Davis stop ped singing, and the customers never knew what had happened. |
 Pardon the Dust!
 Seasoned performers often play jokes on each other, either in good humor or with malice aforethought. In "Yellow Jacket" some years ago, Arthur Shaw had Q comedy scene in which he went around brushing off all the furniture with big fea- ther duster. There was a dignified actress in the cast who persistent ly refused to cooperate with him in getting some of his laughs. so he made her stately entrance he step- decided on revenge. Next time she ped over and dusted her off. After that she played ball ..
 Lucia Gear, the comedienne, had tough spot last season in "Gay Divorce". She had to. enter just as rFed Astaire and Claire Luce finished a show-stopping ac- robatic dance. over chairs and table-tops. The audience always clamored for an encore, and Miss Gear could do onthing but stand lawkwardly while the dancers por- formed again.
 One night the pair gave cn-
 core after encore, ''just to test
 Miss Gears stage presence"
 they explained later. So at
 the next show, before the en-
 core started, the large Luella
 danced across the stage and
 made the tabletop in one.
 pondcroue leap. "DOn't mind
 me-" she said. .airily, "I'm just
 q mountain goat" The
 stunt drew such a laugh that
 it was kept in the show.
 Between the Lines " t.a
 Constance Collier, used to live in dread of every performance when she played with Beerbohm Tree, England's greatest stage joker, in I"Oliver Twist. Tree, in the role of Pagan, had to bring forth Q sack of loot and empty it before her. There always was something diff ferent in the bag-a smoked her. ring, an old shoe, live chicken. I, But he never succeeded in throw ing her off her lines.
 One of the most uproarious technical accidents happened in that spectacle play, "The Miracle" !" when the "Old Sexton" came out to light a long row of candles atop the gate before the altar. On &C., count of the fire laws he had to use a long pole with an electric light at the end of it. and the can dleS themselves were electric bulbs. As he touched candle with his pole he'd throw a little switch as the base of 1t . But ] the wiring was all askew, and when the sexton touched his first candle another one twelve feet away was lighted. He tried. again and again and the same thing happened. The fellow got so fius- , tered that he went through all 22 o fthem, not once hitting the right 3 switch at the proper time. The 1. audience spent the rest of the evc- ming chuckling at the unscheduled miracle.
 The story Is told of how the late Henry Miller squelched a very
 fashionable and extremely noisy | box party that attended one of his I plays. Miller had a speech in ] which eh recited the truths of . some of the familiar old adages. . Also" he concluded. with a ven
 omous glover at the box where the = rude socialites were chatting. n "there is the one which says: tMnnav fafkasp t.