Many men embrace the most trivial opportunities to attract attention to
themselves, with far less reason than the great actor in this incident
recorded in _Scribner’s Magazine_:
Nothing else he ever did equaled Mansfield’s recital of his
experience the night he condescended to the plebeian rôle of a
waiter and wore an apron. His whole “business” was to draw a
cork, but he took pains to drive that cork home before coming
on the stage. When his cue came to draw the cork he tugged
and tugged in vain. His face grew scarlet and perspiration
dropt from his forehead. Then he handed the bottle to another
waiter, who struggled with all his strength without budging the
cork. Mansfield turned a deaf ear to the voices in the wings
shouting for him to leave the stage. He took the bottle back
again and with renewed effort finally dislodged the cork. The
insignificant pop it gave after those Titanic efforts again
brought down the house.
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