| Show HIS BLOOD WAS GREEN It was the Result of a Blunder or a Joke by the Property Man The most ludicrous mishap I ever witnessed on tho ntnge said an actor at a little supper party the other evening even-ing occurred one night years ago In a small town In northern Iowa I was had new In tho business lien and Joined a weird barnstorming company headed by an old actor by the name of Fltzmorrls We had a bloodancltmm der repertoire a yard long but our chief attraction was an Irish melodrama melo-drama called LionHearted Larry or the Cotters Oath It had the usual plot of canned Irish melodramas the honest but financially embarrassed peasant his beautiful daughter time poor but gallant lover otherwise LionHearted Lion-Hearted Larry and the villainous landlord who Insists on the daughters hand or Immediate eviction for time whole family The great scene of time play was the rescue by Larry of the beautiful daughter from time castle of the vIlllanoiiM landlord fit the climax of which the heroic lover was llred upon hy a llle of British soldiers At time report of the guns the white shirt which he wore was suddenly suffused with red You arc wounded the heroine hero-ine cried Yes replied Ijirry but tis true Irish blood ever ready to be shed for the cause of ErIn This rather Ir rHcvant remark together with the I gory shirt front never failed to bring down the house Needless to say the j ch trader of Llonlleaned Larry was assumed by Mr Fltzmorrls The business of the blood was managed very simply continued the storylellor A mnnll rubber bull was Oiled with u solution of cochineal and fastened under Larrys arm At the right moment lie gave It a squeeze and a crimson tonvnt poured over the shirt which had a piece of waterproof cloth at the back the front being renewed re-newed for each performance We wore playing a weeks stand at the little Iowa town I have already mentioned and time day before LionHearted jAil rv was put on Fifmorrls gave the property man careful Instruction In regard to preparing lime material for the blood effect Whether the prop man had conceived some grudge against Fit wo never ascertained Ho was a crabbed old Englishman and perhaps ho didnt like the tone of time play anyhow he wont Into time scene loft where a lot of colors were kept mixed and filled the rubber bulb with bright green liquid paint That night several hitches occurred and everybody got nervous and excited When the time came for the rescue scene Fltz morris not into his costume as quick as ho could cit the bulb to see It was In Us proper place and a moment later wa on the stage There things went all right up to the climax Time castle was entered the orchestra played a few bars of tremlo music Larry emerged with the beautiful colleen on his arm and up Jumped the ambuscaded ambuscad-ed l soldiers Bane wont the guns and You are wounded shrieked the heroine hero-ine Yes shouted Larry pressing the bulb but tis true Irish blood lie never got any further His ample shirtfront shirt-front had suddenly turned emerald green and time howl of laughter that went uo from the audience nearly peeled time paper off time walls Fits morris himself was so amazed by the phenomena that he was unable to move and stood there transfixed his arms outspread and his mouth wide open On that tableau the curtain fell Then ho came to himself grabbed a club and began a frantic search for the prop man but that Individual had disappeared and wo saw him no mon during out stay The episode broke up the performance and ruined our business busi-ness for the balance of the engagement engage-ment Im told that Fltzmorrls was afterward known as greenblood Fltz on the north Iowa and Wisconsin barnstorming barn-storming circuit Now Orleans Times Democrat |
