WITHIN THE WINGS.
[Illustration: IN THE GREEN ROOM.]
The green-room, except where stock companies prevail--and there are not
more than three or four in the United States now--has passed out of the
shadow of the rigorous rules that sometime ago were posted here, and
that had to be observed. By this I do not mean that rules have been
entirely done away with behind the scenes; but travelling companies are
governed by their own rules, carry their own stage manager, prompter,
etc., and the only persons that local green-room rules could apply to
now-a-days would be the four or five poorly paid young girls who, in
their desire to go on the stage and become stars, start and generally
stay at the bottom of the ladder, where they are paid pitiful salaries
and continue to "mash" wandering minstrels, or the equally poorly paid
and badly treated members of some male chorus. These girls usually
spend the lengthy leisure a performance gives them sitting demurely
on chairs in the corner of the green-room until the call-boy sends
them word that they are needed to fill up some silent gap in the
entertainment. Beyond these there are few to be found in the green-room
during a performance. Occasionally an actor will drop in to pace the
floor as he mumbles his lines over, or an actress, who is tired from
standing in the wings, or on the stage, will hurry in and drop to rest
on the sofa. The side scenes, or "wings," as they are termed, are the
places in which to find almost everybody who has any business around
the stage of a theatre. Under the stage, in a "music-room," the
musicians may be found when they are not harassing the audience with
some unanimously discordant air.
[Illustration: A GREEN-ROOM TABLEAU.]
[Illustration: GETTING THEIR "LINES."]
Gathered together in the entrances and within easy call of the
prompter, whose business it has recently become to mind everybody
else's business, are the performers, male and female mingling together,
waiting for their cue to go on. The absence of chairs makes it
necessary for all to remain on their feet, and only when a friendly
"property" that may be used for sedentary purposes is within reach will
a weary actor or actress take possession of it. Enough has been said
already about the general aspect of affairs behind the scenes and the
groupings in the green-room. Now, let us turn our attention to some
of the individuals and incidents of this remarkable little world. The
stage prompter is, probably, as important a gentleman as we could first
run against. The prompter stands at his desk at one side of the stage,
with a book of the play before him during the entire performance. It is
his business to furnish the players with their lines when memory fails
them. He must be quick to give the performer the exact word that has
thrown him off the track, and just as soon as an actor or actress looks
appealingly towards him he knows what it means--that the performer is
"stuck"--and he must run to their aid at once. His position is almost
as responsible as that of the prompter in the Japanese theatre, who
goes from one actor to the other, during the whole performance, and,
with a lantern placed up against the play-book, reads off the lines
which the actor is expected to repeat. He must be at the theatre
during the morning rehearsals; and he also writes out parts; changes
of scenes; makes lists of the properties or articles needed; and
altogether, his position is nothing like a sinecure. A rule of the
theatre, that in many places, has glided quietly out of existence, is
to the effect that nobody must lounge in the prompter's corner. But
they do. Many a fairy queen, with shining raiment and powerful wand,
loiters around to catch a glimpse of the few lines she has to speak,
while darling little princes in the nicest of tights, or pirates, or
bandits, with symmetrical limbs fully displayed, and the softest of
hearts beating under their corsets, get alongside of him, and because
they have had little parts to memorize, and have let them slip lightly
and swiftly beyond their recollection, tease the prompter to help them
regain the lost words.
[Illustration: MILTON NOBLES.]
A veteran prompter, who has evidently seen a great deal of the world
beyond the foot-lights, in giving his reminiscences, said--"Some actors
boast that they never stick. No matter if they have totally forgotten
their lines, they 'say something,' as they phrase it, and I have never
seen the difference noted by the audience yet. Once, while I was making
the rounds of the Pacific coast, twenty years or so ago, I went to see
a performance of 'Macbeth,' by the company of a friend of mine in San
Francisco. It was a tough company, a band of regulation old-time barn
stormers, and the fellow who played _Macbeth_ was so far gone in the
dreamy vacancy of whiskey that he 'gagged' his part more than once in
the first scene. Finally, in the middle of his second, he was also
dead lost. He hesitated, but only for a moment. Then he threw his arms
around _Lady Macbeth's_ waist, and drawing her to him, coolly said:
'Let us retire, dearest chuck, and con this matter over in a more
sequestered spot, far from the busy haunts of men. Here the walls and
doors are spies, and our every word is echoed far and near. Come, then,
let's away! False heart must hide, you know, what false heart dare
not show.' They made their exit in a roar of applause, and I thought,
'There's a man who has no use for a prompter, sure enough.'
[Illustration: IMPROVING SPARE MOMENTS.]
"All actors are not like him, however. Raw actors are the prompter's
horror. The debutante is another. She will forget every line the
moment she strikes the stage, and be so nervous, moreover, that she
will not be able to repeat those the prompter reads to her. I remember
one young lady who thought she had a mission to play _Juliet_. She
made her appearance, supported by a country company, and lost every
line, as usual. We prompted her through her first scene, somehow. When
the balcony scene was on, her mother stood on the ladder behind her,
reading her speeches word for word, which she repeated after her. But
the old lady was a heavy weight, and the step-ladder was no longer in
the flower of youth; so, in the middle of the farewell, it gave way.
The old lady was tumbled forward against the ricketty staging of the
balcony, and it fell against the set piece that masked it in from the
audience. So _Juliet_, mother, balcony, and all toppled down on
_Romeo_, and by the time he was taken from the wreck he was as mournful
a lover as the play makes him out to be."
[Illustration: AN ACTRESS' USEFUL HUSBAND.]
Looking around among the players again we find a fairy leaning up
against some object with her lithe limbs crossed, and she putting in
the spare time allowed her in doing crochet or some kindred work.
Perhaps she is knitting a purse for some distant lover, or maybe it is
a tiny pair of socks for the little baby that is waiting for her at
home. For many of these youthful, charming, and heart-breaking fairies
and fair burlesquers are married, and frequently their husbands are in
the same company. A story is told of a well-known and popular actress
who brings her husband with her to the theatre every night, and while
the old man--a dear, innocent and uncomplaining old fellow sits in the
side scenes nursing baby with a bottle, on one knee, and holding an
English pug on the other, while the mother is out before the admiring
public throwing her arms about some strange _Romeo_, and clinging to
him with all the warmth and affection of the fair _Juliet's_ young love.
[Illustration: MAKING LOVE IN THE SIDE-SCENES.]
The story is told of a New York fireman, who made real love, and too
much of it, on the stage. According to the rules of the fire department
there, a member of the department is kept on duty at every performance
in the theatres. While there he has nothing to do except respond to
any call of fire, and give his valuable services in suppressing it.
But it is very seldom that his services are called into requisition,
and consequently the position at the theatre is much sought after by
the gallant fire laddies. As a rule, the members of the department
are a fine body of men, but those detailed at the theatres are very
fine-looking and consequently very popular with the actresses at the
theatres. The natural result is that the fireman soon has a "mash," and
having unrestricted liberties perambulates through the building without
hindrance. Becoming well acquainted with the nooks and corners he is
enabled to snatch a few moments' sweet converse with the object of
his affections, and in a place where they can commune with one another
uninfluenced by the presence of anyone. But recently the regular
disappearance of the fireman of a certain theatre at a stated time
became the subject of comment among the attaches, and another female
admirer of the gallant fireman, actuated possibly by jealous motives,
watched him receding from view and followed his footsteps silently.
In an unfrequented nook among the ruins of ancient mountains, pillars
and broad fields--on canvas--stood the object of her disappointed
affections, embracing the fair form of her rival and giving vent to the
pent-up feelings of his heart, while she, coy, and dove-like, stood,
blushingly receiving the compliments which were being showered upon
her. This was too much for the slighted fair one, and the place that
knew the loving hearts for many evenings is now vacant and ready for
the occupancy of another loving couple.
Another fire lad of the same department thought he smelt fire one night
just before the performance began. He pried around through every nook
and corner in the fulfilment of his duty, and at last was satisfied
that he had found the place. He was not sufficiently well posted to
know that he had located the incipient blaze in one of the ladies'
dressing-rooms. So in he popped without giving any warning. The girls
were dressing for the ballet and already one of them was in condition
to get into her symmetricals. Imagine the consternation of the girls at
sight of the apparition in blue clothes, cap, and brass buttons. They
hastily got behind towels and other articles within reach and set up a
screech that came near creating a panic among the audience. The fire
boy did not wait to find the origin of the smoke, and it took all the
persuasive powers of the manager and company to keep the girls from
swearing out warrants for burglary or something of that kind against
the luckless laddie.
[Illustration: M'LLE GERALDINE AND LITTLE GERRY.]
There are a great many other ludicrous things that have happened
behind the scenes, and but few of which have reached the public. The
legend about Atkins Lawrence's lion skin, which he wears when he
plays _Ingomar_, and which was so heavily sprinkled with snuff as a
preservative against moths that when _Parthenia_ began to woo the
barbarian chief and leant lovingly upon his shoulder she almost sneezed
her head off before the alarmed audience, is told of Mary Anderson. The
Milwaukee _Sun_ printed something about the same actress, that whether
true or false is equally good. The writer says:--"It is well known that
Miss Anderson is addicted to the gum-chewing habit, and that when she
goes upon the stage she sticks her chew of gum on an old castle painted
on the scenery. There was a wicked young man playing a minor part in
the play who had been treated scornfully by Mary, as he thought, and he
had been heard to say he would make her sick. He did. He took her chew
of gum and spread it out so it was as thin as paper, then placed a chew
of tobacco inside, neatly wrapped it up, and stuck it back on the old
castle. Mary came off, when the curtain went down, and going up to the
castle she bit like a bass. Putting the gum, which she had no idea was
loaded, into her mouth, she mashed it between her ivories and rolled it
as a sweet morsel under her tongue. It is said by those who happened to
be behind the scenes, that when the tobacco began to get in its work
there was the worst transformation scene that ever appeared on the
stage. The air, one supe said, seemed to be full of fine cut tobacco
and spruce gum, and Mary stood there and leaned against a painted rock,
a picture of homesickness. She was pale about the gills, and trembled
like an aspen leaf shaken by the wind. She was calm as a summer's
morning, and while concealment like a worm in an apple, gnawed at her
stomach, and tore her corset strings, she did not upbraid the wretch
who had smuggled the vile pill into her countenance. All she said, as
she turned her pale face to the painted ivy on the rock, and grasped a
painted mantel piece with her left hand, as her right hand rested on
her heaving stomach, was, 'I die by the hand of an assassin.' Women
can't be too careful where they put their gum."
[Illustration: SOBERING A COMEDIAN.]
Actors are not fonder of or indulge more in liquor than any other
class. Occasionally you will find a member of the profession whose
passion for the ardent will lead him far enough to disappoint the
public. Joe Emmet's indiscretions in this direction gave him world-wide
notoriety, and for this reason only do I mention them here. He is a
favorite everywhere and for that reason the entire public regretted his
one fault among so many agreeable virtues. But Joe has occasioned many
comical situations in the side scenes while actors and manager were
plying him with seltzer, bromide of potassium and other soberatives in
order to get him to begin or finish a play, when there was a jammed
house waiting to applaud him at every turn in "Fritz." But Emmet has
crossed the Rubicon again and once more his worldful of friends rejoice
in his happiness and growing fortune. He is not the only one in the
profession who has been addicted to the cup that cheers and inebriates
at the same time. I have heard that a pretty and popular soubrette must
have her glass of brandy between the acts, and that an actor already at
the top of the ladder is succumbing to the seductive and rosy liquid.
Still liquor has not made nearly the number of victims in the ranks of
the theatrical class that it has in other professions, and it is only
alluded to here to illustrate a comical incident that once occurred
during the engagement of a burlesque combination in Kansas City. It was
not known until six o'clock at night that the comedian of the comedy
was in a sad state of intoxication somewhere through the town. Parties
were sent out at once to look him up. They did not succeed in finding
him until 7:30 when they hurried him to the theatre. It was a terrible
job to get him into his stage-clothes and to keep his head steady and
his eyes open long enough to allow his friends to make him up for his
part. By the time this had been done the impatient audience shouted and
whistled and stamped so violently that at last the manager was obliged
to ring the curtain up. Mr. Comedian was in the wings reluctantly
accepting the remedies provided by his friends, while they waited for
his cue to go on. He was fairly sober when he reached the presence of
the audience and although he betrayed his condition slightly, few in
the house knew enough about the trouble that had been taken with him
in order that the manager might keep his word with the public. It is
needless to add that Mr. Comedian was very sorry, and sick when he got
sober.
[Illustration: M'CULLOUGH AS "VIRGINIUS."]