| Show SHE HAD TO SW FLY an amateur who insisted upon following the lines it is not often that professional actori get mixed up in amateur theatricals but when they do as a rule their lives are made miserable until the affair ia over A few 3 ears ago a young woman who was of the reigning belled of the four hundred in this city wrote a romantic play plentifully sprinkled with singing aad dancing bhe read the play to her intimate friends and they one and all unanimously declared that ft should be produced at one of the theaters where amateur performances ara held and that the author should play the part of the heroine after much coaxing the lady consented the play was called kismet the cast waa selected from afung the best amateurs the leading man being the head and front efthem of them the scene of the play was laid in turkey in the garden and balaco of the sultan the plot ws hinged on the abduction of two beautiful girls and their final rescue A clever professional stage manager was engaged at a big salary and rehearsals hear began everything went along as smoothly as could be expected until the last rehearsal which took place on the morning of the day appointed for the production when a note was hastily delivered to the stage manager saying that the leading lady and author had lost her voice completely and that her physician had ordered her not to leave the house she was very sorry but advised that a professional actress be engaged to take her place here r aa a pretty kettle of fish how to get an actress at so short a notice the costumes must be fitted and the part learned before 7 p m the manager thought of a friend of his mrs addie plunkett charles Plunk etis wife who had just closed her season with L barratt and who was then at liberty he sent for her and requested her to return with the messenger she did so and after a long talk with the stage manager consented to rehearse taft part acoss in the garden mcew her bisters lover has discovered her hiding place and they are having a loving interview the heroine remaining on the lookout for interruptions which may occur in the form of the sultans servants which would death to the intruder at a certain cue the heroine rushes her sisters fiance and tells him to floi fly for your life some one approaches and the lover is pushed through a wicket and escapes mrs plunkett rehearsed the scene carefully and told the leading man that in case she should forget to say all the lines she would make him understand when it was time for him to make feis esit ahna it was settled between them evening came and the time for the curtain to be rm s up arrived most of the performs 1 stage fright one fair amateur that she had entirely forgotten forgot tei lines and was sure that eho wo 1 faint from sheer fright the performance began and mrs plunkett struggled bravely through her part dropping an occasional speech now and then but with professional tact bhe covered up her mistakes so that the audience was none iho wiser when tha garden scene was reached the lover appeared in good time and she stood guard until the proper cue was given it came all right but alas for mrs plunkett sho had forgotten her lines when she heard the sultans guard approach she rushed to the lover and eaid away begones be gonel but she received no response from that gentleman she pushed him and tried to get him to go through the wicket as agree upon but he refused to budge an inch and said to her in a stage whisper say fly floi but mrs plunkett was beyond speech by this time so she continued to push him toward the wicket her efforts were useless however foi he resisted and declared he would not go until she eaid floi ilat for your life some one approaches so the audience can hear you still she could not speak but with one herculean herc ulear effort she gave him a tremendous push that sent him lying through the wicket and into boria stage bushes which had been artistically arranged at the back of the atay when the performance was avei mrs plunkett bea od a sigh of relief and said this is the first and last ama beur performance for me new york tribune |
