[Illustration: TRANSFORMATION SCENE.]
THEATRICAL
AND
CIRCUS LIFE;
OR,
SECRETS OF THE STAGE,
GREEN-ROOM AND SAWDUST ARENA.
EMBRACING
A HISTORY OF THE THEATRE FROM SHAKESPEARE'S TIME TO THE PRESENT
DAY, AND ABOUNDING IN ANECDOTES CONCERNING THE MOST PROMINENT
ACTORS AND ACTRESSES BEFORE THE PUBLIC; ALSO, A
COMPLETE EXPOSITION OF THE MYSTERIES OF THE STAGE,
SHOWING THE MANNER IN WHICH WONDERFUL SCENIC AND
OTHER EFFECTS ARE PRODUCED; THE ORIGIN AND
GROWTH OF NEGRO MINSTRELSY; THE MOST ASTONISHING
TRICKS OF MODERN MAGICIANS, AND A
HISTORY OF THE HIPPODROME, ETC., ETC.
Illustrated with Numerous Engravings and
Fine Colored Plates.
BY JOHN J. JENNINGS.
CHICAGO:
Globe Publishing Co.
1886.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1886, by
GLOBE PUBLISHING CO.,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
PROLOGUE.
The theatre and the circus, both sources of unlimited amusement to the
world, are also objects of the greatest interest to all who have had
even a single peep at the stage or pressed their feet even once upon
the sawdust precincts of the tented show. The tricks and illusions
that are mystifying to nine-tenths of those to whom they are presented
rarely fail to be productive of pleasure, and the performers, whether
before the foot-lights or within the circus ring, generally succeed
in so thoroughly winning the hearts of the public, that, though their
faces, when the paint is off and the atmosphere of glory has departed,
might not be recognized upon the street, their names are so fixedly
identified with the pleasant moments associated with their art, that
they become household words, and are spoken, with admiration and
praise, by all classes, from the newsboy and bootblack up through the
various strata of society even to the ruler of the nation.
In presenting this volume to the public the intention has been to bring
the player and the people into closer relations, and by revealing
the secrets of the stage and sawdust arena to show that what appears
at first to be deep mystery and to many, who are bigoted and averse
to theatrical and kindred entertainments, the blackest diabolism, is
merely the result of the simplest combinations of mechanical skill and
studied art, and is as innocent of the sinister character bestowed upon
it as are the efforts of school children at their annual exhibitions
or the exercises of a Sabbath School class before a row of drowsy and
nodding church-deacons. Fault may be found with the private lives of
numbers of the members of the theatrical and circus profession, but the
sins and shortcomings of individuals, can be visited upon the entire
class with no more justice than can the frailties of a few preachers
be applied generally to the pulpit, or the dishonesty of a handful of
lawyers be reflected upon all the disciples of Blackstone in existence.
Neither is it just to class as theatres places of resort that do
not deserve the name--the "dives" and "dens" that are frequented by
disreputable men and women whose low tastes are catered to by men and
women every bit as disreputable as their patrons. Such establishments
receive, in this volume, only the severe treatment they fully merit.
In explaining the mysteries of stage representations, and indicating
the tricks of ring performances, as well as in speaking of the private
lives of performers and giving biographies of the most noted actors
and actresses now before the public, an attempt has been made to be
perfectly accurate in every detail. The anecdotal portion of the book
has likewise received careful attention, and indeed every feature of
the work has been given due consideration, in the hope that in and out
of the profession, THEATRICAL AND CIRCUS LIFE may meet with a favorable
reception and be regarded as worthy the subjects of which it treats.
Commending it to the kindness of all into whose hands it falls; and
assuring the inhabitants of the mimic and real worlds, that, whatever
construction may be placed upon his sentences, naught but respect and
affection is felt for the true and good men and women of the stage, the
author parts from his volume regretting that it is not large enough
to give everybody a place in its pages, or to say as much about each
individual as each deserves.
J. J. J.
ST. LOUIS, August 1, 1882.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
A PRELIMINARY PEEP.
PAGES
Admission Fees--Cerberus at the Back Door--The Awe-Stricken
Stranger behind the Scene--Swarms of Actors and Employees--
Description of Stage Settings--The Green-Room and Dressing-Room
Explored--A Visit to the Dressing-Tent of the Circus--An
Act that Beats anything of the kind in the World--The Female
Minstrel Gang and the Break-o'-Day Girls 19-27
CHAPTER II.
A THEATRE OF SHAKESPEARE'S DAY.
Rude Carts as Primitive Stages--Followed by Stone Theatres
with Pits for Stages--Theatres of the Elizabethan Period--
Sunday Theatres in the "Golden Age"--Description of the Globe
in Shakespeare's Time--Plays in the Times of Henry VIII.--
Sign-boards as Scenes--Anecdote of Charles II.--The "Wits,"
"Clever" Men and the Vulgar Crowd--Pipes, Tankards, and
Gossip 28-36
CHAPTER III.
THE AMERICAN THEATRE.
Davy Garrick at Drury Lane, London--English Actors sail for
America--Voyage in the Charming Sally in 1752--The First
American Theatre--The First Programme--The First New York
Theatre, 1753--The First Performance in Philadelphia, April,
1754--The First Show in Boston, August, 1792--The Priest
and the Spanish Lady--Elegant Theatres of the Present
Period 37-42
CHAPTER IV.
AT THE STAGE-DOOR.
Front Door and Back Door Entrances--"Mashers" at the "Stage-Door"
--The Cerberus who Stands Guard--Perquisites Paid to Him--
Bulkhead and the Ballet Girls--The Tricks of the Scene Painter
on the Girls--The Girls' Revenge--Bold and Heartless Lovers
--Notes Pushed under the Dressing-Room Door--Alice Oates's
Mash--Watching the Manœuvres of the "Mashers"--Tale of the
Pink Symmetrical 43-54
CHAPTER V.
BEFORE THE FOOT-LIGHTS.
People who Patronize the Theatre--The Young Blood--Members of
the "Profesh"--The Giddy and Gushing Usher--The Bouncer--
The Peanut Cruncher--The People who go out "Between Acts"--
The Big Hat Nuisance--Anecdote of George and Harry 55-68
CHAPTER VI.
BEHIND THE SCENES.
An Amateur Theatre--The Author's Experience as "Imp" in a
Spectacular Scene--A Trip to the Moon 69-85
CHAPTER VII.
IN THE DRESSING-ROOM.
Goodwin's "Make-up" for Hobbies--Booth and Company Playing
"Hamlet" in Street Costume--Dressing-Rooms of Old-Time and
Present Theatres--Louis Harrison Spoils a Play at San Francisco
--How Actors "Make up" for Various Parts--The Hair-Dresser and
the Actress 86-105
CHAPTER VIII.
WITHIN THE WINGS.
The Stage Prompter and His Duties--Actors who "Stick" and some
who "Never Stick"--A Popular Actress and her Useful Husband
--The Firemen's Amours--Mary Anderson and Her Chewing-Gum--
Emmet's Indiscretions 106-121
CHAPTER IX.
STAGE CHARMS AND OMENS.
Burning of the Southern Hotel and Kate Claxton's Presence--
Superstitions of John McCullough, Raymond, Joe Jefferson,
Sothern, Florence, Booth, Chanfrau, Byron, Thorne, Neilson,
Lotta, etc., etc.--Courtaine and Ince 122-143
CHAPTER X.
NOT DOWN IN THE BILL.
Actors who Memorize whole Newspapers--Lovely Peggy--Kean Dying
as he Played--Sol. Smith's Funny Adventure--A Masher made
Serviceable--Charlotte Cushman and the Colored Bell-Boy who
brought Down the House--The Call-Boy's Revenge--The Lecturer,
Trick Candle and Trap Door--An English Performance of William
Tell 144-161
CHAPTER XI.
THE ILLUSIONS OF THE STAGE.
Mrs. Bellamy and Mr. St. Leger in Dublin--Rousseau's Description
of Paris Opera--Modern Mechanism--Producing Steam, Fire,
Thunder, Lightning, etc.--Olive Logan and her Jewels--Snow
Storm in "The Two Orphans"--Rain in "Hearts of Oak"--Rivulets
in "Danites"--Funny Inventory of "Property" in a London
Theatre 162-182
CHAPTER XII.
MORE OF THE MYSTERIES.
The Property-Man and his Duties--Sunlight--Moonlight--
Twinkling of Stars--Ocean Waves--Fire in "Phœnix" and
"Streets of New York"--Full Description of the Famous Raft
Scene 183-194
CHAPTER XIII.
THE ARMY OF ATTACHES.
Broken Down or "Crushed" Actors as Door-Keepers--The Treasurer of
the Theatre--The Usher--Orchestra and Leader--Stage Manager
--The Scenic Artist--The Stage Carpenter, Supes and Minor
Attaches, and Last but not Least the Call-Boy 195-205
CHAPTER XIV.
STAGE STRUCK.
The Young Man from Cahokia--The Box of Gags--Stage Struck Girls
of Louisville--The College Graduate from Illinois--"The
Warrior Bowed His Crested Head"--The "N. G." Curtain--Marie
Dixon's Failure--Mrs. H. M. Lewis, of Charleston, Duped by
Schwab & Rummel--Harry Russell Pseudo "Manager"--A Colored
Troop's Curious Epistle 206-226
CHAPTER XV.
THE REHEARSAL.
Old-Time and Present Rehearsals--Olive Logan's Description of a
Rehearsal--Rehearsal of the _Corps de Ballet_--Appearance of
Taglioni, Cerito, Carlotta Grisi, Lucile Grahn at Her Majesty's
Theatre, in London 227-240
CHAPTER XVI.
CANDIDATES FOR SHORT CLOTHES.
Advertising for Ballet Girls--Salaries Paid them--Who Apply--
Where the Can-Can Flourishes--The Ups and Downs of a Ballet
Girl's Life--The Nautch Dancers 241-250
CHAPTER XVII.
TRAINING BALLET DANCERS.
Interviewing Sig. J. F. Cardella--The French School Theatre La
Scala--Amount of Practice Required--The American Ballet--
Salaries of Premieres, Coryphees, etc.--The Time Required--A
Little Fond and Foolish at Times 251-263
CHAPTER XVIII.
PLAYS AND PLAYWRIGHTS.
The Trials and Tribulations of the Gawky Young Dramatist--
English, French and American Playwrights--The Desire for
Foreign Plays--Bartley Campbell's Christmas Story 264-275
CHAPTER XIX.
MASHERS AND MASHING.
Gunakophagists or Woman-Eaters--Corner Loafers--Mashers of the
Profession--Female Mashers--The Blonde Beauties of the Leg
Drama--Model Letter--Lillian Russell's Escapades--"Patti"
and the Midget "Foster"--The Old Masher Squeezed--The Girl in
Red Tights at Uhrig's Cave--Music and Mashing 276-295
CHAPTER XX.
THE MAIDEN AND THE TENOR.
Ambleleg--His Soul Full of Art and Throat Full of Music--Miss
Justaytine the Pink of Beauty and Perfection of Belleship--The
Chorus Singer Mashed on the Maiden--The Mash Mutual--The
Brother and Lover Mash the Tenor--Suit for $10,000 and the
Compromise 296-302
CHAPTER XXI.
FISHING FOR FREE PUFFS.
A First-Class Puff in a Leadville Paper--All Anxious to Appear
in Print--Various Ways of Puffing--Sending Photos--Diamond
Robberies--Falling Heir to a Fortune, etc.--Minnie Palmer's
Artless Display of Underwear--The Abbott Kiss--Catherine
Lewis Fling--Emelie Melville's Presents to Critics--The
Morning Buzzard and the Evening Crow 303-314
CHAPTER XXII.
THE ACTRESS AND THE INTERVIEWER.
All Performers must Meet the Interviewing Fiend--How the
Interviewer is Received by Patti, Nilsson, Gerster, Kellogg,
Cary, Hauk, Abbott, Bernhardt, Morris, Modjeska, Neilson,
Anderson, Davenport, Mitchell, Lotta, and Others 315-319
CHAPTER XXIII.
A FEW FOOT-LIGHT FAVORITES.
Mistress Woffington--Children as Actors and Actresses--Little
Corinne--Debut of Emma Livry--Nell Gwynne the Fish Girl--
Lola Montez, the Pretty Irish Girl--Adah Isaacs Menken as
_Mazeppa_--Mary Anderson the Tragedienne--Lotta and Maggie
Mitchell, and a Host of Others 320-342
CHAPTER XXIV.
CHINESE AND JAPANESE THEATRICALS.
Great Length of the Play--Description of a Chinese Theatre--
The Prompter--The Audience--The Actors--The Musicians--
Japanese Theatres--No "Reserved Seats"--Prices of Admission
--Side Shows 343-352
CHAPTER XXV.
OPERA AND OPERA SINGERS.
Palmo, the Father of Italian Opera in America--Interview with
Col. Mapleson--The Cost of Rigging a Company--What it Costs
Every Time the Curtain is Rung Up--Mme. Grisi's Superstition--
The Best Operas--Salaries of Singers--Neilson and the Diamond
Merchant 353-366
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE MINSTREL BOYS.
Emmet, Brower, Whitlock and Pelham among the Earliest--Pot-Pie
Herbert--Daddy Rice and Jim Crow--Zip Coon--Coal Black Rose
--My Long Tail Blue--Early Days of George Christy--Minstrel
Men Generally Improvident--Minstrel Men as Mashers--Haverly's
Mastodon Minstrels--The Boys at Rehearsal 367-381
CHAPTER XXVII.
PANTOMIME.
George L. Fox, the King--G. H. Adams, his Successor--Boxing
Night in London 382-388
CHAPTER XXVIII.
VARIETY DIVES AND CONCERT SALOONS.
First-Class Varieties--Harry Hill's Famous Resort--Interview
with Harry Hill--Ida and Johnnie--Deacons in a Dive--The
Bouncer at Work--The Cow-Boy's Call for Mary--The Can-Can--
Music by Bands--Over the Rhine 389-415
CHAPTER XXIX.
A TEAM OF IRISH COMEDIANS.
The Song and Dance Men--Harrigan & Hart--Levi McGinnis the
Alderman 416-429
CHAPTER XXX.
THE BLACK ART.
Sword Swallowers--Jugglers in America, Europe, China, and
Hindoostan--Herman Sells the Barbers--Herman Sold by the
"Boys"--Wonderful Chinese Jugglers--How Ladies are Suspended
in Mid-Air--How to Eat Fire--Walk on Red Hot Iron--Cut off
a Man's Head, etc., etc. 430-439
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE INDIAN BOX AND BASKET TRICK.
The Trick-Box--The Board--The Basket--The Magician's "Ghost
Story" 440-448
CHAPTER XXXII.
VENTRILOQUISM.
Prof. Kennedy and Val Vose--Louis Brabant _Valet de Chambre_ to
Francis I. Wins Wife and Fortune through his Wonderful Gift--M.
St. Gille and his Wonderful Exploits--Alexandre and the Load
of Hay--The Delusion Fully Explained--How to do it--The
Suffocated Victim 449-458
CHAPTER XXXIII.
ON THE ROAD.
Making Dates at the "the Square"--Copy of Contracts--Billing
the Town--The Cyclonic Advance Agent 459-465
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE GREEN-EYED AND OTHER MONSTERS.
The Street Arabs and Lotta--The Stage at the Beginning of the
Eighteenth Century--Little "Accidents" of Bernhardt and
Indiscretions of Patti--"Sudden Johnnie" and Colombier--
Lizzie McCall's Crime--Miss Bertha Welby and Miss Cleves--The
"Old Gray" and the Skipping Rope Dancer--Husband and Wife and
Ballet Girl--Mephistopheles and Venus 466-483
CHAPTER XXXV.
JOHN WILKES BOOTH, PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ASSASSIN.
Shooting of Abraham Lincoln--Booth's Rehearsal at Wallack's--
An Old Actor's Opinion of J. W. Booth--His _Richard the III._
a Fine Piece of Acting--Booth and Collier as _Richard_ and
_Richmond_ 484-491
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE SUMMER VACATION.
How the Stars and Lesser Lights Disport Themselves--Actors at the
Seaside--The "Old Gray" Surprises the Actors at the Banquet--
Millions Spent upon Theatricals 492-501
CHAPTER XXXVII.
FUN AMONG THE ELKS.
Who the "Elks" are--Jughandle's Friend Wants to be an Elk--
Getting the Candidate Ready--The High Muck-a-Muck--The
Peculiar Circle--The Descent--The Path of Progress--The
Upward Flight to Glory--Down! Down!! Down!!!--On "Eincycle"
--The Merciful Net--An Elk 502-511
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE CIRCUS IS HERE.
The Disengaged Canvasman's Poetry--Circus Posters--The Grand
Parade--The $25,000 Beauty--Twelve Ponies and Forty Horses
on a Rampage--Henry Clay Scott and his Aged Father--Sold his
Stove to go to the Circus 512-521
CHAPTER XXXIX.
UNDER THE CANVAS.
The Small Boy and the Circus--Beating the Show--Slack Wire and
Balloon Performances--Donaldson's Ill-Fated Trip--Frightful
Accident in Mexico--Circus Green-Room and Dressing-Rooms--The
Clown--Bareback Riders and Tumblers--Merryman's Admission Fee
--The Clown's Baby 522-535
CHAPTER XL.
ACROBATICS AND EQUESTRIANISM.
Training Children--Olive Logan on the Circus--Trapeze
Performers--Tight Rope Feats--Training Riders--The Leading
Equestrienne--The Great English Rider, Miss Lily Deacon--The
Georgia Lady's Experience--Cow-Boys Raid on the Ring 536-552
CHAPTER XLI.
A ROMANCE OF THE RING.
Shadowville--Miss Nannie Florenstein, the most Wonderful Bareback
Rider in the World--Her Cruel Taskmaster--Ned Struthers to
the Rescue--"All's Well that Ends Well" 553-562
CHAPTER XLII.
LEAPING AND TUMBLING.
The Athlete of Ancient Rome--Grand and Lofty Tumbling of To-day
--Double and Triple Somersaults 563-571
CHAPTER XLIII.
AN ADVENTURE WITH GIANTS.
Capt. M. V. Bates and Wife--The Tallest Couple in the World--
The Fat Woman and the Living Skeleton--The Circassian
Girl 572-580
CHAPTER XLIV.
THE TATTOOED TWINS.
The "Ad." in the Morning Paper--Capt. Costentenus--The _Modus
Operandi_--Henneberry and the "Old Salt"--Singular Story Told
by Henry Frumell--Tattooed by South Pacific Savages 581-589
CHAPTER XLV.
IN THE MENAGERIE.
Zazel Shot out of a Cannon--The Zulus--Gen. Tom Thumb and Wife
--Thumb and Campanini--Hugged and Kissed by an Ape--Millie
Christine the Famous Two-Headed Lady--The Eighth Wonder of
the World--Jocko Spoils a Comedy--Circus in Winter
Quarters 590-608
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
FRONTISPIECE (COLORED PLATE) 1
Stage of Modern Theatre 18
Lotta 22
Interior of Modern Theatre 36
Decorating a Scene Painter 47
The "Masher" 56
The Big Hat 61
George and Harry 63
Louise Montague 64
Maud Branscombe 65
Selina Dolaro 68
John McCullough 70
Belle Howitt 73
John A. Stevens 76
Lillie West 79
PAULINE MARKHAM (COLORED PLATE) 80
Adah Isaac Menken 83
Millie La Fonte 85
Ballet Girl's Dressing-Room 87
Edwin Booth 89
McKee Rankin 91
The Three Villas 93
Sarah Bernhardt 96
The Late Adelaide Neilson 99
Dressing an Actress' Hair 102
Marie Roze 105
In the Green-Room 106
A Green-Room Tableau 107
Getting their "Lines" 109
Milton Nobles 110
Improving Spare Moments 112
An Actress' Useful Husband 113
Making Love in the Side Scenes 115
M'lle Geraldine and Little Gerry 117
Sobering a Comedian 120
McCullough as Virginius 121
Kate Claxton 123
The Late Venie Clancie 126
Catherine Lewis 128
Chanfrau 131
Fanny Davenport 134
Dion Boucicault 135
Mrs. Boucicault 136
Maud Granger 139
Portia and Shylock 143
Lizzie McCall 145
Pin up my Skirts 148
Annie Pixley as M'liss 150
The Call Boy's Revenge 151
Thos. W. Keene 154
Emma Thursby 156
Lillian Russell 158
Joe Jefferson 159
Roland Reed 160
LIZZIE WEBSTER (COLORED PLATE) 160
Lawrence Barrett 161
J. K. Emmett 164
John T. Raymond 166
Katherine Rogers 168
Josephine D'Orme 170
Ferdinand and Miranda 173
Lester Wallack 175
Clara Morris 177
Helen Dingeon 178
Scott-Siddons 181
John Parselle 184
Sol Smith Russell 187
Rose Coghlan 189
The Raft Scene 192
Minnie Hauk 197
Helping the Scene Painter 201
The Old Woman of the Company 204
The Æsthetic Drama 205
Kitty Blanchard 209
Mrs. Langtry 213
Marie Prescott as Parthenia 217
Mme. Fanny Janauschek 222
Rose Eytinge 226
Agnes Booth 230
"Now then, Ladies and Gentlemen, all Together" 234
Training Ballet Dancers 235
National Dances 237
MARION ELMORE (COLORED PLATE) 240
Drilling for the Chorus 245
The "Sucker" 248
Donna Julia's Eyes 253
Oberon and Titania 255
Measuring for the Costume 257
M. B. Curtis 260
A Premiere before the Audience 262
A Bowery "Masher" 276
Lady Macbeth 278
Working a Greeny at a Matinee 280
From one of the Mashed 282
Adelina Patti's "Mash" 287
J. H. Haverly 288
A Monkey Spoiling a Mash 292
Ambleleg 295
Serving a Writ on Fanny Davenport 304
Ernesti Rossi 307
Slippers for Free Puffs 311
MISS CONNOLLY (COLORED PLATE) 320
Little Corinne 322
Taglioni Congratulating Emma Livry 326
Lotta 332
Maggie Mitchell 333
Emma Abbott 334
Called before the Curtain 338
Fay Templeton 342
Chinese Theatre 348
Chinese Property Room 351
Minnie Maddern 352
Crowning a Tenor 356
Patti 359
Gerster 361
George Christy 370
You are the Sort of Man I Like 373
Jim Crow 378
G. H. Adams 382
Fencing Scene in Black Crock 390
Mad. Theo 392
Gus Williams 394
She Tickled Him Under the Chin 399
M'LLE GENEVIEVE (COLORED PLATE) 400
Armado and Jaquenetta 402
Laura Don 404
Benedick and Beatrice 405
Materna 406
Thatcher, Primrose and West 407
A "Bowery" on a Lark 408
Concert Saloon Band 410
Female Band 411
Female Orchestra 412
James O'Neill 413
An Ideal Masher 414
Edwin Harrigan 417
Tony Hart 418
Herman's Sell 432
The Box Trick, Fig. 1 440
The Box Trick, Fig. 2 441
The Box Trick, Fig. 3 441
The Box Trick, Fig. 4 442
The Box Trick, Fig. 5 443
On the Road 465
The McCall Tragedy 472
Blackmailing an Actress 474
Jealousy 476
Edward Kendall 478
Out in the Cold 480
John Wilkes Booth 485
Scene from Grand Duchess 493
John W. Norton 496
MARY ANDERSON (COLORED PLATE) 496
A Candidate in Regalia 504
Muck-a-Muck 508
The Circus World 512
Twenty-five Thousand Dollar Beauty 517
Adam Forepaugh 520
Beating the Circus 523
W. H. Donaldson 525
Catalina Georgio's Frightful Death 526
Bareback Riding 537
Trapeze 539
Mdme. Lasalle 542
ANNIE LIVINGSTONE (COLORED PLATE) 545
Circus Riders 546
Dan Rice 550
A Human Pyramid 562
Leaping 565
Bicycle Riding 571
Giant and Giantess 579, 580
Performing Elephants 596
Jumbo 599
Curtain 608
[Illustration: STAGE OF A MODERN THEATRE.]
CHAPTER I.
A PRELIMINARY PEEP.
Anybody can get into the auditorium of a theatre by paying an admission
fee reaching from twenty-five cents up to $1.50, and the sawdust
precincts of the circus may be penetrated for the modest sum of fifty
cents; but behind the curtain of the theatre and beyond the screened
door through which circus attractions enter the exhibition arena, are
sacred places, with secrets that are so valuable to their owners that
they dare not for less than a small fortune allow the public to view
or even to understand them. A general knowledge of the simplicity
of theatrical and circus tricks--of the delusions that make up the
stock in trade of showmen generally--would destroy their value as
salable articles, and make everybody a little Barnum or Jack Haverly
of his own, with ability to furnish himself with amusement at home,
while the former mastodonic managers could only look on and weep at
the educational facilities with which the country was overrun, and
mourn the Shakespearian days when people were easily pleased with the
poverty-ridden stage and bare representations that were offered them.
But there is no fear that the public will ever be instructed up to
such a high degree in regard to the inside workings of the theatre and
circus, that there will not at all times be plenty of patrons for both
these excellent forms of entertainment. The managers take good care
to keep their secrets to themselves, as those who go prying around the
shrines in which the theatric arcana are held, very soon find out.
At the back door of every theatre--the entrance to the stage--is a
cerberus of the most pronounced kind, who would sooner bite his own
grandfather's ear off than allow anybody not entitled to the privilege,
to pass him; while at the door of the circus dressing-room and all
around it are faithful sentinels who will listen to no password, and
through whose ranks it is as impossible to break as it is for the
fat boy in the side show to throw a double somersault over seventeen
horses, with an elephant as big as Jumbo at the far end of the line.
It will, however, be the proud privilege of the readers of this book
to get as close to the secrets of the stage and sawdust arena as one
can well do without knowing absolutely all about them, and by the time
the last page is read and the volume is ready to be closed, I think the
readers will be both delighted and astonished with the revelations that
have been made.
Turn the average man loose on the stage of a theatre at night, while a
play is going on, and it is a Russian kobol against a whole San Juan
mining district that he will not know whether he has struck the seventh
circle of heaven or is in a lunatic asylum. He will meet some very
queer creatures in the scenes; he will see many strange things; the
brilliant lights around him, the patches of color flashing into his
eyes, the sea of faces and the tangle of millinery in the auditorium,
will mystify him; the startling streaks of black upon the faces of
the men and women who jostle him as he closely hugs the wings, their
red noses and blooming cheeks, the general tomato-can aspect of their
faces, the shaggy wigs and straggling beards that look as if they had
been torn off the back of a goat only ten minutes before; the dismal,
commonplace clothes that shine so radiantly when seen from a chair in
the parquette or dress circle,--all these things will set his poor
brain in a whirl; and while he is looking on awe-stricken, the scene
shifters will come rushing down upon him with a new delusion, trampling
on his toes in a manner that suggests in a most potential way his
superfluity in that particular place, and pushing him aside without
the merest apology, and perhaps with no other remark than a fragment
of fervent profanity, as if he were a wretched street Arab in that
mimic world in which the scene shifter and the captain of the "supers"
play such very important parts. People come out of every imaginable
place all around him. There seem to be doors everywhere,--in the walls,
the floor, the ceiling, and even in space; and as the "vasty deep"
and the rest of the surroundings give up their dwellers, the intruder
receives fresh jolts and thrusts, and possibly additional donations
of profanity. This, of course, applies only to the male apparitions
that overwhelm the strange visitor to the new world behind the scenes.
The female portion of that illusory sphere have nothing to say to him
except with their eyes, which very forcibly inquire the meaning of his
presence there.
[Illustration: LOTTA.]
If a person would like to understand how awfully strange and lonely it
will be for the last individual left alive upon earth, he need only
pay a first visit to the stage of a theatre where he is not acquainted
with any of the actors or actresses, and has not even the pleasure of
knowing one of the minor attaches. Any attempt to form an acquaintance
is promptly and unmistakably repelled, and all the poor unfortunate
has to do is to move up where he is out of everybody's way, and he
can look on and wonder to his heart's content. As he inspects his
surroundings and has his attention called to the actions of the people
whose business it is to place the stage in shape for an act or scene
of a play, he will readily comprehend the meaning of forming a world
out of chaos. If they are getting ready the balcony scene for "Romeo
and Juliet," wing pieces are pushed out to represent trees and the side
of the house of the Capulets--and what a house it usually is, too,
for such elegant people! The front of the house is rapidly placed in
position between two wings, the balcony is quickly nailed on, and with
the aid of a rude scaffolding behind the scene and a ladder, the fair
Juliet mounts, and, feeling her way carefully, at last steps out upon
the frail structure to tell the sweet moon her love for Romeo. The
whole thing looks ridiculous. Even the stately daughter of the Capulets
has not beauty or skill enough to remove the absurdity from the scene
which has the appearance of being, and is in reality nothing else than
wood and canvas freely splashed with paint of the proper colors. A
painted box represents a stone; a green carpet passes for grass; the
beautiful bric-a-brac that opens the eyes of the æsthetic people in the
audience is only brown paper hurriedly daubed by the scene painter's
apprentice; the wall of the Capulets' garden is a very frail canvas
concern, and the floral attributes are frauds of the deepest dye from
the scenic artist's long table of colors. The whole picture is simple,
but unintelligible to the looker-on for the first time, and as he
vanishes through the door he laughs heartily at the very thin disguise
tragedy and comedy are required to put on to delude and please the
public.
Let him return to the theatre in the morning and view its mysteries
shorn of the dazzle and splendor that the night brings. He will be more
astonished still. The place is usually as dark as a dungeon, there
being something peculiar in the construction of theatres which makes
them bright at night and dismal during daylight. If a stray slant of
light falls anywhere upon the stage it will be rudely mocked by the
bits of burning candle by the aid of which the stage carpenter is at
work right in the very spot where, twelve hours before, Romeo and
Juliet lived and died for each other in such a lamentably pathetic way
that the audience shed tears, and only gave the lachrymal rainstorm
a rest at intervals long enough to shower the star with applause.
The stage carpenter's assistant is there too, the machinist, the
scene painters, the men who have charge of the company's baggage, the
property-man, and others. They fill the scene in a lugubrious and
wholly uninteresting way,--all are at work, and as heedless of the
attendance of strangers as the actors and stage hands of the night
before had been. The scenes have lost their color--such as are left,
and this mimic world that had its admiring and aspiring hundreds is
as bare and desert-like as a bald head after its owner has been using
hair restoratives for about six months. It has neither shape nor any
suggestion of its whilom beauty and attractiveness. The green-room may
be explored, and the dressing-rooms, but they will reveal nothing;
their former occupants are probably still abed, and unless there is
to be a rehearsal they will not be seen around again until 7 o'clock
at night. He must not be too searching in his explorations or the
attention of the attaches will be attracted, and the conversation that
will follow may not be the most pleasant in the world to him. Moving
down the stairs that lead to the space under the stage, the explorer
will find it darker and more dungeon-like still, and even if it were
light nothing could be seen but the steam boiler, for heating and power
purposes, the ventilating apparatus, the numerous trap-door openings
and the posts about them, with a few other accessories that are hardly
worth mentioning. Again he will be forced to confess that everything is
very simple, but he cannot understand any part of it, and again he goes
away with a laugh on his lips and merriment in his heart because the
people are so easily pleased, and theatrical managers find it so easy
to entertain them.
A visit to the dressing-tent of the circus will be equally barren
of appreciable results. He can see the dazzling costumes, the
shapely limbs of the females, the gaily-caparisoned steeds, the red
gold-laced coats of the supers, and a chaotic heaping up of a number
of indescribable articles, but behind the canvas screen that divides
the tent lie secrets that he must not attempt to penetrate, for there
are the lives, the lies and the fascinations of the performers.
There, awkward limbs receive their roundly shaping, and old age,
by a magic touch with the elixir of the "make-up" box, puts on the
masquerading bloom of youth. The same might, to some extent, be said
of the dressing-rooms of the theatre, only the application could not
be as wide or general as in the circus profession, for the lives these
people lead soon lay waste their beauty if they happen to be young,
and crowd senility upon them long before the usual time. Their work is
always hard, their surroundings are of the very worst kind, they grow
up in an atmosphere of fraud, and they necessarily learn early the
arts of deception whereby their employers make fame and fortune. But
I have taken a stranger into the dressing-tent, and I must not abuse
the hospitality of the place by exposing its sins in his presence. The
stranger is introduced all around, shakes hands with everybody, even
the premiere equestrienne, or, perhaps, the charming and daring little
lady who is twice daily shot out of a cannon, and besides makes two
headlong dives a day from the dome of the tent into the net spread
beneath. All are glad to see him, and he is surprised to find that
the two Indians who juggle fire-brands and do other feats not at all
consistent with the traditions of the aborigines, have not sufficient
savage blood in their veins to make respectable cigar store signs, but
are base counterfeits of the noble red man, applications of chocolate
and vermilion to their faces, and the usual accompaniment of black
hair, feathers, and deerskin clothing having bestowed upon them all the
air of the child of the forest that they possessed. As the band sounds
the music for the riding act the equestrienne's horse dashes tamely
into the ring, and the gentlemanly agent of the show pushes the visitor
out to have him "look at an act that beats anything of the kind in the
world."
As in the material or mechanical features of the show there are
mysteries of the most interesting and instructive kind, so, too, the
personal features of the realm of entertainment--the great world of
amusement--contain much that will not only surprise, but will tickle
the unsophisticated. By lifting the veil the least bit, the reader
can have a peep at the most attractive of the events and incidents
that go to make the romantic career of an actor or actress. There are
various little things that look simple and innocent enough when they
appear in the shape of a newspaper paragraph that contain a world of
meaning to the initiated. There are methods of getting and keeping
players before the public of which the latter know no more than they
do of the wife of the man in the moon. There are flagrant scandals
mingling with the innocent revels of these masquerading people,
and there are, too, some of the saintliest, sweetest, manliest and
womanliest of individuals in a profession that almost the entire world
looks upon with the wildest suspicion, and whose bright names and
fair fames can never be tarnished by the iniquitous doings of persons
lower and less respectable in character. In all that will be written
here regarding the dark side of theatrical life, I wish it distinctly
understood that there is no desire or intention to cast even the
slightest reflection upon the honored and respected members of a grand
profession, and wherever a seemingly sweeping and uncomplimentary
statement may be made, the reader will be kind enough to add a saving
clause in favor of all those who do not deserve such condemnation.
In the concert saloon, the variety den, the boys' theatre, and the
numerous other dives in which vice parades boldly and nakedly, will
be found ample field for trenchant and graphic writing. These pits
of infamy flourish everywhere, and are as freely patronized as the
charms of their female attractions are freely displayed; the girls in
short dresses, in gleaming tights, with padded bust and cotton-rounded
limbs, their seductive wiles, their beer-thirstiness, their reckless
familiarity with male friends and strangers, alike from the beardless
boy of fourteen to the bald and withering _roué_, the ample freedom
with which they throw themselves into the arms of victims and give
themselves up to the most outrageous revels; the female minstrel gang
and the break-o'-day girls, who supplement their sins on the stage with
subsequent and even more surprising iniquity in the hop or dance that
follows the show,--all these phases of the lower strata of theatrical
life, as being more productive of interesting secrets of a so-called
stage, must be touched upon, that the reader may be able to contrast
the extremes of the amusement world, and understand that in mimic as
well as real life, there are abject misery and squalid sinfulness
while, above all, shines the grand and stainless character of the noble
and pure-minded people who bring genius and virtue to the profession of
which they are bright, shining ornaments.