Stage Anomalies [pp. 358-362]

STAGE ANOMALIES.
as individuals, suffered from this change; for un der the old system they were frequently hissed,
not by reason of their own incapacity alone, but
because the public was disappointed at finding
them "cast" for parts in which it had expected
to meet actors of greater popularity.
On one occasion, an irritated amateur rushed
from the Paris Opera-House, and began to beat
an unfortunate ticket-seller from whom he had
purchased his place. The cause of the gentleman's anger was at once understood.
"Est-ce que je savais qu'on ldcherait le
Pouthei'en?" cried the ticket-seller; for it was
the singing of Poutheien which had excited the
opera-goer's wrath.
Talking of hisses, I may here mention that an
actress of ability in her time, Mrs. Farrel, after
being hissed in the part of Zaira, the heroine of
"The Mourning Bride," especially in the dying
scene, rose from the stage, and, advancing toward the footlights, expressed her regret at not
having merited the applause of the audience, and
explained that, having accepted the part only to
oblige a friend, she hoped she would be excused
for not playing it better. After this little speech,
she assumed once more a recumbent position, and
was covered by the attendants with a black veil.
Such incidents as the one narrated by Mrs.
Bellamy were doubtless of frequent occurrence
at the French theatres. Not that they always
took so serious a turn. On one occasion a dancer
was listening to the protestations of an elderly
lover, who was on the point even of kissing her
hand, when as he stooped down his wig caught
in the spangles of her dress. At that moment
she had to appear on the stage, and did so amid
general laughter and applause; for she carried
with her the old beau's wig, or scalp, as if by
way of trophy. The applause was renewed when
a bald head was seen projecting from the wing
in search of its artificial covering. Stories, too,
are told of imprudent admirers, who, after exciting the jealousy of a machinist or "carpenter,"
did not take the precaution to avoid traps, and,
as a natural consequence, found themselves, at
the first opportunity, shot up to the ceiling, or
sunk to the lowest depths beneath the stage.
The abolition of the banque/tes at the Paris
Opera-House, though due in one sense to the
Count de Lauraguais, as already mentioned, may
be attributed also to the representations made
on the subject by the actor Lekain, who played,
moreover, an important part in connection with
the reform of scenery, of costume, and of stage
accessories generally.
Moliere, in the opening scene of "Les Facheux," and Voltaire, in several of his works,
ridiculed the custom of allowing spectators to
take their places on the stage. The actors can
not but have known this practice to be absurd,
and in an artistic point of view most injurious.
It may be doubted, indeed, whether the French
would for so many centuries have respected the
least respectable of the three unities, that of place,
had they not been absolutely forced to do so by
the conditions under which their actors per formed, and by the absolute impossibility with a
narrow and crowded stage of changing the scene.
Although the honor of reforming stage cos tume-to the extent at least of doing away with
flagrant anachronisms in dress-is claimed for
Lekain, it was not to a great tragedian, but to a
very distinguished ballet-dancer that this reform
was really due. In the early part of the eighteenth century, Roman, Greek, and Assyrian warriors appeared on the French stage in a conventional military costume, which seemed to be considered suitable to warriors of all nations and of
all ages. The dress consisted of a belaced and
beribboned tunic, surmounted by a cuirass, and
of a powdered wig, with tails a yard long, over
which was worn a plumed helmet.
Mademoiselle Sal16, the ballerina, who first
undertook the herculean task of rendering stage
costume reasonable and natural, proposed, in defiance of the prevailing custom, to give to each
person in a ballet, or other dramatic work, the
dress of the country and period to which the subject belonged. Mademoiselle Sall6 was a friend
of Voltaire, who celebrated her in an appropriate
verse; and she carried with her, in I734, when
she visited London, a letter of introduction from
Fontenelle to Montesquieu. Appearing at Covent
Garden Theatre, in a ballet of her own composition, on the subject of "Pygmalion and Galatea,"
Mademoiselle Sal16 dressed the part of Galatea
not in the Louis Quinze style, nor in a Polish costume, such as was afterward adopted for this
character at the Paris Opera-House, but in drapery
imitated as closely as possible from the statues
of antiquity. It was announced on the occasion
of mademoiselle's benefit at Covent Garden that
"servants would be permitted to keep places on
the stage." This, however, was an exceptional
arrangement. Endeavors were already being
made in England to confine theatre-goers to
their proper places in the front of the house;
and on many of the play-bills of this period the
following notification appears: "It is desired
that no person will take it ill their not being
admitted behind the scenes, it being impossible
to perform the entertainment unless these passages are kept clear."
Strange mistakes sometimes arose from the
author's name not being announced. At the first
performance of the tragedy of "Statira," Pradon,
the writer of that wvrk, took his place among
the audience to judge freely of its effect. The
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