stand in lines opposite to each other; the top gentleman dances down
the centre with the second lady, pursued by her own partner; she
dances back between the two, and the next couple begin, until all the
dancers are engaged. _Cottagers_: 4 people stand for this as in the
quadrille; they cross hands in the centre, and make the half-turn
backwards and forwards; then the second couple hold up their hands,
and the first couple pass beneath and begin again. _Square Eights_:
Ladies and gentlemen in two lines, hands across, then first polka
round, and then galop, and begin again. _Morgiana in Iceland_: The
dancers stand opposite each other in two lines. The top couple go
outside the lines, back again, down the middle, and up again; the
couple at the top holding up their hands, they pass under, and the
next couple begin. _Miss Lunsdam’s Fancy_: The first couple set to
the second lady, hands 3 round, the gentlemen do the same, lead
down the middle and up again, right and left at top. _Lady Doran
Strathspey_: Set and hands across and back again, down the middle
and up again allemand; turn corners, lead outsides. _The Jubilees_:
First and second couple hand across, back again, lead down the middle
and up again; swing corners. _The Quadrille Mazurka_, danced face
to face, in 4, 6, or 8 couples, up to 32. Fig. 1. The 2 couples
facing each other make the complete right and left; the 2 gentlemen,
advancing with their partners, give each other their left elbows,
make a demi tour, change their partners, make the tour sur place
forward, and repeat the figure to bring them back to places. Fig.
2. Wait 8 bars. The 2 opposite gentlemen, holding their partners by
the hand, advance and fall back, cross by right and change places,
make the tour sur place forward, and repeat the figure to bring
themselves back to their places. Fig. 3. Wait 8 bars. The 2 opposite
ladies cross by their right, and re-cross, giving the left hand; the
gentlemen give them the right hand, turning them; their left hand
round the waist. Thus the ladies, still holding each other by the
left hand, make a half round to change places. The gentlemen, still
holding their partners by the waist, make the tour sur place forward.
They cross hands in centre, and make an entire round. The gentlemen,
having changed sides, take their partners’ hand, and fall back with
them, and repeat the figure to regain their places, omitting the
cross hands in centre. Fig. 4. Wait 8 bars. The first gentleman
promenades with his partner round to his place, advances forward and
backwards. The gentleman again advances, and his partner crosses
to left; without quitting her hands, he takes the lady from the
opposite couple with his other hand, who takes the hand of the other
lady behind the gentleman; thus all three advance and retire without
turning. The gentleman then stoops, and passes under the arms of the
two ladies united behind, with which his own are then found crossed.
The three go round to the right; the gentleman then leaves the lady
with her partner, and makes a promenade to his place with his own
partner; both then advance and retire. Fig. 5. Wait 8 bars. Right
and left; the gentlemen, still holding their partners, make a demi
tour, and pass the right arm under the left of their partners, and,
taking them by the waist, thus make the tour sur place backwards.
Half hand round, and petit tour, to return to their places. Then join
4 hands round, and make a demi tour to the left. A tour forward, and
demi tour round to the left, tour forward; double right and left,
and return to their places. Tour sur place forwards and backwards,
and finish by a grand chain as in Lancers. This is a graceful and
telling dance. _The Spanish Dance_ is danced in 3 time with the
waltz step, and is very graceful. The dancers stand in line as for a
country dance, the sexes divided except that the top gentleman stands
on the lady’s side, and the top lady on that of the gentleman, and
every fourth lady and gentleman change places in like manner; first
gentleman and second lady, and first lady and second gentleman of
each set of 4; set to each other and change places; repeat; then
first gentleman and second lady set to their partners, change, and
resume their original places; all four join hands in centre, advance,
retire, and change places; ladies passing to left four times; next
the couples waltz round each other, the second couple taking the
top; while the top couple repeat the figure till the whole line is
completed. _The Swedish Dance_ is as follows: Arrange the company in
lines of 3, a gentleman and 2 ladies, or a lady and two gentlemen,
vis-à-vis, as many sets as can be formed to dance at once; all
forward and back join hands; gentlemen set to opposite lady on the
right and turn, and set to lady on the left, turn, and back to
places; all forward and back, forward again, and pass through to next
set; all forward and back twice; the two top ladies and opposite
gentleman all three join hands round, and back again to places; all
forward and back, forward again, and pass through to the next set;
all forward twice; four ladies cross right, hands round and back
again to places; hands all round and back to places; all forward and
back, forward again, and pass through into next set. (A. H.)
=Amateur Theatricals.=--These form an excellent amusement for winter
evenings, and may be made highly instructive to young members of the
family, besides aiding in developing a degree of culture in manner
and speech with proper guidance. A moderate amount of ingenuity, with
some pasteboard, paper and paste, will suffice to extemporise a stage
and scenery. A few hints on “making up” may be useful.
_Making up._--Given a clean shaven face, the features of which are
not specially prominent, and it is comparatively easy for an artist
in make up to transform it into a fair likeness of any type of
character he wishes to represent, or even to imitate a particular
individual. Of course the actor cannot remould his features, but by
putting on different coloured paints he can present an effect which,
viewed from a little distance, has all the appearance of having been
remoulded. The great secret underlying all the triumphs of this
art is that white brings into prominence and black depresses. For
instance, take a nose that is reasonably straight. Suppose it is
desired to make it a pug. Put a little dark brown on the bridge and
make the end lighter than all the rest of the face. The gradations
have to be nicely shaded, and there comes in the art. To reverse the
process, and produce a marked aquiline, hook, or Jewish nose, put
white on the bridge and darken down the tip a little. That will bring
forth an aristocratic nose that would do credit to any duke in the
British peerage.
Grease paints can now be purchased. These are colours mixed with
a hard grease, a little of which is rubbed on the face and then
smoothly spread over with the finger. One of its most valuable
properties is that it is not affected by perspiration, and requires
grease or soap and water to remove it. Generally the actor rubs a
little vaseline or cold cream over his face and wipes this off with
a rag before washing, thus removing most of the paint and getting
the soap to lather more easily. It does not seem to injure the skin
when it is properly washed off at night, but persons who are careless
may let it block up the pores of the skin or remain in the roots of
the hair or eyebrows. The number of shades in which grease paint
is now made is very great, and every actor who takes pride in his
make up will have from a dozen to twenty kinds. Even in flesh tint
alone there are six varieties, from the very delicate creamy white
of youth to the leaden sallowness of extreme old age. Besides these
there are shades for Chinamen, and for every gradation of Indian
and negro blood. Then there are whites for “high lights” and for
whitening mustaches or eyebrows, browns for shading, blues for veins
and hollows, reds, blacks, and yellows. You must not think they are
all used in one make up, though often seven or eight colours are
combined in an elaborate one. The first thing to do in making up is
to select the proper flesh tint. This having been chosen and applied,
the next thing is generally the rouge. Except in the case of very old
characters, some red must be put on the faces, or the yellow glare
of the footlights will make them look perfectly ghastly. But where
the red is to be put and how much of it and what shade to use, depend
entirely upon the age of the person to be represented. The younger
the person the more delicate the tint of rouge should be and the
higher it should be upon the face. Thus, for a very young man, the
rouge is put on in a half-moon shape, one horn beginning at the inner
corner of the eye and the other extending well up the temple as high
as the eyebrow. As the age increases we cease to run the colour up so
high on the outer side, until for mature years it settles down into
the hollow below the cheek bone.
The rouge being properly applied, we next go to work upon the
wrinkles or hollows. In representing age the principal lines to be
emphasised are those from the nose to the corners of the mouth, from
the corners of the mouth to the chin, from the inner corners of the
eyes to the hollows of the cheeks, and those on the forehead. Some
actors make the wrinkles in blue, others in brown, and others in
grey. It is a matter of taste. The lines are made with thin sticks
of the paint cut to a point, or with a pointed leather stub upon
which the paint has been rubbed. After the wrinkles have been put on
it may be necessary to accentuate them by a line of white or light
colour on the edges, and these lines must be graduated into each
other so as not to seem too hard or abrupt. In representing old men
the strong muscle above the line from the nose to the mouth must be
brought out very strongly with white. The cheek bones under the eyes
must be treated in the same way. Then the eyelids require darkening
for age, and crows’ feet are carefully drawn with a number of thin
irregular lines at the outer comers of the eyes. Where youth is
shown, the upper eyelids and skin under the eyebrow are delicately
rouged. If hollows in the cheeks, temples, or neck are wanted, these
are the next things to be done, and the outlines of the cheeks may
be rounded out with light shades or made to assume eccentric shaped
with darker ones. The muscles of the neck may need bringing out, and
hollows put under each side of the chin. Lips require rouging for
youth, and blueing or darkening for age. Large mouths are made small
by putting rouge only in the centre of the lips, and small ones made
large by rouging all the way, and even extending the corners with a
line of red. Where toothlessness is desirable the teeth are covered
with a thin coating of black wax, which renders them quite invisible.
The process is technically called “stopping out.” The face being now
coloured, rouged, lined, wrinkled, and hollowed, the next things
to be attended to are the eyebrows, and hair or beard if any are
required.
Very few people are aware how important a part the eyebrows play in
forming the expression of the face. Bringing them very close together
will cause a look of meanness or villainy; a high arch will ensure
surprise or vacancy of expression. A slight upward turn of the inner
corner makes some faces very handsome. Eyebrows are often painted;
but if very heavy ones are needed they are stuck on over the true
ones. If the actor is going to wear his own eyebrows or mustache, he
colours them to match his wig with grease paint, which, after being
rubbed on, is combed so that each hair is coloured and there is no
matted appearance. The use of mustaches and beards made on wire and
hung from the ears has almost entirely gone out except among supers
and utility people, as, being independent of the skin of the face,
they did not move with it, and consequently never appeared natural.
The best mustaches and beards are now made upon a thin foundation
of silk, each hair being drawn through separately and knotted. The
foundation is fastened to the face with spirit gum, another modern
invention of great value to actors. It consists of gum dissolved in
collodion and alcohol. This mixture dries immediately it is exposed
to the air, is impervious to moisture, and can only be removed by
spirits or grease. When the actor had to depend upon plain glue or
gum, he was always in fear of losing his false beard, and many are
the funny stories told of swallowing mustaches or transferring them
to the faces of ladies who have had to be embraced in the course of
the action of the piece.
Many actors prefer to make their own beards or whiskers nightly, as
they do not like the feeling of the solid foundation on the skin,
and, indeed, an all-round beard is apt to restrict the easy working
of the jaws. Whiskers or beards are made from wool or crape hair,
both of which can be obtained of any desired shade of the theatrical
wig makers. The hair or wool is drawn through a coarse comb to a
little longer than the length desired. It is then cut close to the
teeth on the under or more solid side. An even mass is thus obtained
which is readily fixed to the gummed cheek. The real art is in the
subsequent trimming, with very sharp scissors, to the shape desired.
Wool is more easily handled, but hair which comes in short lengths,
plaited, is the most realistic. It is this that detectives use for
disguises, and when well put on it is almost impossible to detect its
falsity, as each hair seems to grow out of the skin.
Almost the last stage is the putting on of the wig. If this is not
a bald one, the hair is brought down so that the junction with the
forehead is not seen. Many foreign actors prefer to have their wigs
made with a forehead piece, painted to match the face. Bald wigs are,
of course, made in this way, and the edges are hidden with a thick
dressing of grease paint, or, as it is sometimes called, joining
paste. This being done, a coat of powder of the proper colour is
delicately dusted on the face. Powder is prepared in every shade from
white to orange. It has the effect of deadening the shininess of the
grease paint, of softening the lines and blending the work into one
harmonious whole.
Be careful, too, to make up your hands, a thing which many a good
actor forgets. Yet how absurd it is to see an old, wrinkled face
accompanied by young, plump hands. For an old man, the knuckles
should be whitened, the hollows between them darkened, and the veins
marked with white blue.
Actresses very seldom use grease paint, and, in fact, it is not
necessary for them, as they rarely consent to line their faces. They
generally use a liquid white, which has some mineral basis, and is
in the end hurtful. The safest compound is a preparation of oxide of
zinc, rose-water, and a few drops of glycerine. A little rouge, the
darkening of the eyebrows, and a touch of red on the lips complete
a lady’s make up. Most of them line below and above the eyelashes
with black, which gives brilliancy to the eyes. They are very apt to
overdo this, and then their eyes look like burnt holes in a blanket.
_Stage Illusions._--Many of the peculiar effects which are produced
upon the stage, imitating moonlight, sunlight, thunder, wind, rain,
and other natural phenomena, are a puzzle to those outside of the
business. How such realistic representations of these things as
are often witnessed upon the stage can be made is a question that
often enters the mind of the spectator, and is seldom answered in
a satisfactory manner. It is always the ambition of scene painters
and stage carpenters to devise improved methods of imitating these
things, and hence the stage may be said to try to hold the mirror up
to nature in a material as well as a moral sense. Years of experience
have tended to bring these imitations to a high state of excellence;
but the limits do not yet seem to be reached, and new contrivances
are continually appearing. The electric light is not yet used, but
as its pale blueish tint would be serviceable in particular effects,
stage machinists are now deliberating how it can best be employed.
All of the operations mentioned, together with some which will be
described, are classed under the general term, “stage effects.”
Authors, in writing plays, are always on the look-out for an
opportunity to produce a telling effect. The amount of work bestowed
upon their production in a theatre is simply astonishing to those
unacquainted with that mysterious realm known as “behind the scenes.”
Thunder is a common stage effect, and is used with great advantage in
many plays. In former days it was produced by shaking a large piece
of sheet iron immediately above the prompter’s desk. This contrivance
produced a good imitation of sharp, rattling thunder, but failed to
give the dull roar which is always heard in storms. A contrivance for
this purpose was soon invented. A heavy box frame is made, and over
it is tightly drawn a calf skin. Upon this the prompter operates with
a stick, one end of which is padded and covered with chamois skin.
A flash of lightning, produced with magnesium, and a sharp crack of
the sheet iron, followed by a long decreasing roll upon the “thunder
drum,” produce an effect which is startlingly realistic. Travelling
companies are compelled to be satisfied with the sheet iron alone;
and the tragedian who enters a theatre provided with a complete
thunder apparatus always is happy to think that his battle with the
elements in “King Lear” will be worth fighting.
The rain machine in large theatres is a fixture placed high up in
the “flies.” A cylinder is made of “half-inch” wood. It is usually
5 ft. in circumference, and 4 ft. in length. Upon the inside are
placed rows of small wooden teeth. A lot of dried peas is placed
in the cylinder, a rope belt is run around one end of it and down
to the prompter’s desk, and it is ready for a drenching shower. By
turning the cylinder, the peas roll down between the teeth, and
the noise produced by them makes a good imitation of rain falling
upon a roof. A sudden pull of the rope, accompanied by a gust on
the “wind machine,” gives the sound of the sweep of a blast of
wind during a storm. Travelling companies often meet with theatres
where there is no rain machine. A sufficiently good one, however,
is easily produced. A common child’s hoop is obtained, and a sheet
of heavy brown paper is pasted upon it after the manner of a circus
rider’s balloon. A handful of birdshot is placed upon the paper. The
“machine” is canted from one side to the other, and the shot rolls
around the paper, producing a fairly good rain effect.
Wind is an item that is very useful in heightening the effect
of stage storms. It is often dispensed with in theatres where
strict attention is not paid to details, but not without a loss of
“realism.” It has, moreover, a great influence over the feelings of
spectators. The blind _Louise_ in the “Two Orphans” is much more
pitied when the audience can hear the pitiless blast that makes
her shiver. Hence in every large theatre the wind machine plays an
important part. It is not a stationary apparatus, but can be moved to
any quarter of the compass from which it is desired that wind should
blow. In the last act of “Ours,” every time the door of the hut opens
snow flies in and a shriek of wind is heard. The wind machine in that
instance is placed just outside the door, and the property man works
it, while his assistant amuses himself by trying to throw his paper
snow down _Lord Shendryn’s_ back. The wind machine is constructed
in this manner: A heavy frame is made, in which is set a cylinder
provided with paddles and resembling very much the stern wheels seen
on Ohio River towboats. Across the top of this cylinder is stretched
as tightly as possible a piece of heavy gros-grain silk. This silk
remains stationary while the wheel is turned by a crank. The rapid
passage of the paddles across the surface of the silk produces the
noise of wind. Often travelling companies are in theatres where
there is no wind machine. Then the property man groans audibly and
proceeds to do what, in theatrical parlance, is called “faking” the
wind. He selects a heavy piece of gas hose, called by stage gasmen
“flexible,” and, finding a quiet corner where there is sufficient
space to swing a cat without danger--to the cat--he whirls it around
his head with the greatest possible rapidity. This method produces
very satisfactory results--to every one but the property man. He is
a long-suffering person; but the extraction of wind from “flexible”
causes him to find life tedious.
Every one has heard the startling crash that is produced when the
hero kicks the villain through a four-inch oaken door. One would
think that not only the door but the villain must be completely
shattered. This noise is produced by the crash machine, one of the
oldest implements of imitation still used on the stage. It is similar
to the wind machine in construction. A wheel with paddles set at
an angle of about forty-five degrees to the radii is the main part
of the machine. Upon the top of the wheel one end of a stout piece
of wood is pressed down by fastening the other end to a portion of
the framework. When the wheel is turned, the slats passing under
the stationary piece produce a rattling crash. The principle of
the machine is illustrated by the small boy who runs a stick along
a paling fence and is gratified by introducing into the world an
additional morsel of hubbub.
There is nothing that can be so well counterfeited on the stage as
moonlight scenery. And yet there is nothing which requires more work.
The artist begins the task by painting a moonlight scene. In daylight
such a scene is a ghastly sight. It is done in cold greys and greens,
in which Prussian blue and burnt umber play an important part, and
the lights are put in with white slightly tinged with emerald green.
The strong moonlight of the foreground is produced by a calcium light
thrown through a green glass. The fainter light upon the scenery at
the back of the stage is obtained from “green mediums,” a row of
Argand burners with green chimneys. These are placed upon the stage
just in front of the main scene, and are “masked in” from the view
of the audience a “ground piece.” A row of them is often suspended
from the “flies,” in order to light the top of the scene. This
upper row is masked in by “sky borders.” Thus a soft green light is
thrown over the entire distance, while its source does not meet the
view of the spectator. A usual feature of stage moonlight scenes is
water, because it affords an opportunity for the introduction of the
“ripple”--a charmingly natural stage effect. The main scene in a
moonlight view is always painted on a “drop”--that is, a scene made
like the curtain let down between the acts. The position of the moon
being determined, immediately under it, beginning at the horizon, a
number of small irregular holes is cut in the drop. These are then
covered on the back with muslin and painted over on the front to
match the rest of the water. Behind these holes is placed an endless
towel, about 8 ft. in height, running around two cylinders, one at
the top and one at the bottom. The lower cylinder has a crank by
which the towel is turned. In this towel is cut a number of holes
similar to those cut in the drop. A strong gas burner is placed
between the two sides of the towel. When the machine is turned the
flashing of the light from the passing holes in the towel through
the stationary ones in the drop produce a fine ripple. It is always
better to turn the towel so that the holes pass upward, as that helps
to make the mimic wavelets seem to dance up toward the sky. Instead
of a towel a large tin cylinder has been used, but it is cumbersome
and noisy. It is necessary to turn this towel with great steadiness,
otherwise the ripples will go by fits and starts, and entirely lose
their natural appearance. Stars are easily put into the sky. Each
twinkling orb consists of a spangle hung upon a pin bent into a
double hook. The slightest motion of the drop causes these stars to
shake and the flashing of the light upon them produces the twinkle.