Part 21 (2/2)
”'Good! Good!' and the leading ht askedhis co was unseeirls loved me not at all, for, you see, they, too, kneas six feet tall and handsome”
The theatrical company of which Clara Morris had become a member as called by the profession, a ”family theater,” in which the best parts are apt to be absorbed by the er and his family, while all the poor ones are placed with strict justice where they belong At that ti supported, ed each for a special line of business, to which ”line”
they were strictly kept However much the ”family theater” was disliked by her comrades in the profession, it was indeed an ideal place for a young girl to begin her stage life in The er, Mr
Ellsler, was an excellent character actor; his wife, Mrs Ellsler, was his leading woh not out of school at that tiood part that suited her
Other members of the company were mostly related in some way, and so it came about that there was not even the ”pink flush of a flirtation over the first season,” in fact, says Miss Morris, ”during all the years I served in that old theater, no real scandal ever sh for having come under the influence of the dear woman atched over me that first season, Mrs Bradshaw, the mother of Blanche, one of the ood woman besides From her I learned that because one is an actress it is not necessary to be a slattern
She used to say:
”'You know at night the hour of et up fifteenan actress does is commented on, and as she is more or less an object of suspicion, her conduct should be even ain and again, 'Study your lines--speak theather the idea of a speech, and then use your oords--that's an infamous habit The author knehat he wanted you to say If he says, ”My lord, the carriage waits,”
don't you go on and say, ”My lord, the carriage is waiting!”'”
These and many other pieces of valuable advice were stored up in Clara Morris's ood use of thereat consternation for ht ho news that the company was to be transferred to Colureat event in the young actress's life, as italone But as she confesses: ”I felt every now and then h with a delicious thrill of irown-up, and would decide for ht even, if I chose to become so reckless, wear my Sunday hat to a rehearsal, and whenit was ed it” But she adds with honesty, ”Later, when arments from her own, I burst into sobs of utter forlornness”
The salary of the ballet corps was now raised to 5 a week, and all set to work to try to solve the riddle of how a girl was to pay her board bill, her basket bill, her washi+ng bill, and all the small expenses of the theater--powder, paint, soap, hair-pins, etc--to say nothing of shoes and clothing, out of her earnings Clara Morris and the Bradshaws solved the problee top-floor rooree of comfort, and with less loneliness for Clara than she could have felt elsewhere
During that first season she learned to e her affairs and to take care of herself and her ss, without ad much of the technique of the profession, and was deeply interested as she began to understand how illusions are produced She declares that one of the proofs that she was meant to be an actress was her enjoye effects
”I was always on hand when a storrind aith a will at a crank that, turning against a tight band of silk,wind And no one sitting in front of the house, looking at a white-robed woh the blue clouds, enjoyed the spectacleat the ascent from the rear, where I could see the tiny iron support for her feet, the rod at her back with the belt holding her securely about the waist, and the h the air, with a painted, so sky behind her
”This reminds me,” says Miss Morris, ”that Mrs Bradshaw had several tiure and weight made the support useless, she alent to heaven on the entire gallery, as it is called, a long platfore, which is raised and lowered by windlass The enor about with nice white clouds, and then Mrs Bradshaw, draped in long white robes, with hands meekly crossed upon her breast and eyes piously uplifted, would rise heavenward, slowly, as so heavy an angel should But alas! There was one drawback to this otherwise perfect ascension Never, so long as the theater stood, could that windlass be made to work silently It always moved up or down to a succession of screaks, unoilable, blood-curdling, that were intensified by Mrs Bradshaeight, so that she ascended to the blue tarletan heaven accoested a trip to the infernal regions Her face reonized moan escaped her, lest even the orchestra's effort to cover up the support's protesting cries should prove useless Poor woain to _terra firive a kind of joyous upward spring She noticed it, and one evening looked back and said; 'Oh, you're not one bitsuccessfully existed through the Coluain in Cleveland, playing for a feeeks before disbanding for that horror of all theatrical persons--the summer vacation
As her mother was in a position, and could not be with Clara, the young actress spent the sweltering -house, where a kindly landlady illing to let her board bill run over until the fall, when salaries should begin again Clara never forgot that kindness, for she was in real need of rest after her first season of continuous work Although her bright eyes, clear skin, and round face gave an i, owing partly to the privations of her earlier life and to a slight injury to her back in babyhood Because of this, she was facing a life of hard work handicapped by that most cruel of torments, a spinal trouble, which an endless number of different treatments failed to cure
Vacation ended, to her unspeakable joy she began work again as athat season and the next her ability to play a part at short notice came to be such an accepted fact that ular ”line,” to the envy of the other girls, who began to talk of ”Clara's luck” ”But,” says Clara, ”there was no luck about it My small success can be explained in tords--extra work” While the others were content if they could repeat a part perfectly to the of work to their more determined companion ”I would repeat those lines,” said Miss Morris, ”until, had the very roof blown off the theater at night, I should not have est eneral-utility person, who could be called on at a moment's notice to play the part of queen or clown, boy or elderly woman, as was required
Mr Ellsler considered that the young girl had a real gift for comedy, and when Mr Dan Setchell, the coiven a small part, which she played with such keen perception of the points where a ”hit” could be hter and applause Mr Setchell had another speech, but the applause was so insistent that he kneould be an anti-cli down the curtain But Clara Morris knew that he ought to speak, and was htened by the effect of her business, which had so captured the fancy of the audience, for she knew that the applause belonged to the star as alike a leaf, until the co:
”Don't be frightened, irl--that applause was for you You won't be fined or scolded--you've made a hit, that's all!”
But even the pleasant words did not soothe the teirl's heart She says:
”I went to my room, I sat doith my head in my hands Great drops of sweat came out on my temples My hands were icy cold,in my ears A cold terror seized on me--a terror of what? Ah, a tender mouth was bitted and bridled at last! The reins were in the hands of the public, and it would drive me, where?”
As she sat there, in her hideous make-up, in a state of despair and panic, she suddenly broke into shrill laughter Tomen came in, and one said; ”Why, what on earth's the ht? What need you care You pleased the audience”
The other said, quietly: ”Just get a glass of water for her; she has a touch of hysteria I wonder who caused it?” No person had caused it
Clara Morris wasthat woman of the direat elemental human emotion