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Show AHEAD KIG ROASTED. Don Piatt, in his "Reminiscenses of Old Actors," relates the following story of Mr. Dean, father of Julia Dean : He knows pretty well how it ought to be done, but the old duffer can't act himself. Lord, bow I did laugh at him one night. He wis playing that funny old king to Booth's Richard, one cold night, in Buffalo. When Booth stabbed him, the awkward old duffer fell flat on the register of the stage. Some devil of an actor, seeing this, ran down and told the man at the furnace fur-nace that everybody was freezing on the stage to rush up the fires. We who were in the secret watched the result. re-sult. First, the dead king broke into a profuse perspiration, while Richard was delivering his long soliloquy. How the dead kins did sweat 1 But. as the fire increased, he began to sqirm. The audience was startled to see the body quiver and the legs give little post mortem kicks, not in accordance with the text We could hear him muttering to Richard: "Hurry up, hurry up; I'm roasting." roast-ing." But Richard continued rattling out his heavy thunder as slow and deliberate deliber-ate as if his royal highness was on a bed of roses. At last, when he growled out, "Down, down to hell, and say I sent thee thither,"his departed majesty rose up and walked off the stage, rubbing rub-bing his back, as if he felt ridiculous, to the utter amazement of the audience. audi-ence. But Booth was equal to the occasion. occa-sion. Striking an attitude, he roared out : "Can such thiugs be. And overcome ua like a Summer cloud, "Without our special wonder?" Dean got a black eye and broken nose while attempting to kick the fireman. |