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Show DE KOVEN ON AUDIENCES. Speaking of "Red Feather," when it was originally produced, by the Grace Van Studdiford Opera company, Mr. De Kovcn, the composer, said: "Neither Mr. Klein, Mr. Cook nor myself did. a thing to the opera for the first three nights. We simply sat. In front and watched. For one audience teaches us more than five years of dress rehearsals. We noted tho- applausesaw ap-plausesaw what points told. We noted what did not seem to go. Jotted these things down and profited accordingly. accord-ingly. Tlie ideas our audience gave us were legion. An audience is a study In Itself. It .differs not only In different cities, hut in . the same cities on different differ-ent nights. It depends largely on .what It has to eat and the weather. "For Instance, an umbrella audience Is the worst audience that ever traveled trav-eled by cab or trolley to worry a company com-pany of actors Into fits of nervousness. It's raining, you see, and every one who comes has braved the elements to see a show. It's a wet and uncomfortable audience and Is In bad humor. It seems to think that, having come outdoors on a beastly night, the amount of pleasure it gets from the theaters should be In proportion to tho discomforts experienced experi-enced in getting to the playhouse. Consequently Con-sequently It Is a captious audience and 'hard to pull. And being damp and wet, it's not only captious, but bad humored. And that's what makes an umbrella audience the hardest under the sun for an actor to entertain." |