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Show H MY FIRST APPEARANCE H. B By Nat Goodwin. H f Y debut on the stage foreboded H '", but little success. Many years HFj ago some members of the Thorne fam- H ily, consisting of C .It. Thorne, Sr., H his wife and one of his sons, Edwin, H were living with my parents in Bos- H ton. The members of the Thorne H family on Sunday evenings were in- H i vited to the parlor to listen to my H recitation and imitations of actors. H ' They proved very patient and kindly, m and one evening, after hearing me re- m cite the dream scene from "Richard H III," suggested to their son Edwin H that, in view of the hospitality that M ' had been bestowed upon them by my Hi father and mother, it would be a kind- H j ly act of reciprocity to secure me an m engagement at the Frovidcnco Opera H ; House, where Edwin was to shortly M assume the position of leading man. M 'I Edwin consented and in due time I M was sent for to appear in the charac- H ter of Sir George Hounslow in an old H English melodrama called "The Bot- H tie." I came to Providence and at- H tended the first rehearsal letter per- i feet. (All amateurs know their lines M at the first rehearsal.) The company 1 were all very gracious and a few com- B plimented me on my resonant voice, H' i repose and natural grace, to all of H I which I acquiesced most politely. As ' far as I was individually concerned Ml-y niy success was assured. We ro- U j hearsed three days. I wondered why Uji we had even three. Knowing my lines rj and having borrowed from Thorne a Htf huge blond wig and a pair of patent mv leather shoes, I considered myself ca- Mt pable of performing any light part in any modern play. A blond wig and a 1 pair of patent leather shoes were H enough to inspire an aspiring Itos- mt cius. H The night of the performance ar- HH rived, much to my satisfaction. My H first scene was obliged to be played in H one, that is in front of a pair of flats as near as possible to the footlights H in order to enable the stage carpenter H and his assistants to set the following R scene and make as much noise as H possible to drown the efforts of the K players. Happily these sort of scenes R have long since become obsolete and H are now never used. The character H I played Hounslow was supposed to Hi be the bad young man of the drama, Hj who visits a little village wherein the H play is located in quest of the vir- E tuous young heroine. We were sup- H posed to meet down the road off stage M and continue a scene which the au- H dience were not privileged to witness. H It was the opening of the second act. H The heroine rushes on pursued by . Hounslow, who grabs her in the centre cen-tre of the stage and endeavors to steal a kiss after saying to her, "So I have you again, my sweet girl. Why do you avoid me thus?" The leading lady and I were talking casually cas-ually in the first entrance as the warning came announcing the rise of the curtain. Not knowing the technique tech-nique of the stage I was not aware of the warning nor that the curtain was up when I heard a piercing shriek, and the leading lady hissing in my ears "You brute!" which she never said at rehearsal, rushed on wildly. I asked the property man, who was standing by, if he heard me say anything to the lady that could possibly offend her, and he replied "No, go on after her quick." I said, "Where is she?" "On the stage, you idiot," he replied. I looked and saw her standing there glaring off to where I stood, biting her nails and clawing the air. The property man flung me on. I rushed and grabbed her and said, "So I have " and stopped. That was as far as I got. All I saw was the pale angry woman, a black opening in front and a fat man sawing wildly at a huge fiddle. A weird sound of uncanny music coming from somewhere some-where and a very tall, thin man waving wav-ing frantically at me with a violin bow. Voices said, "Gon on" or "Come off." I stood transfixed, not being able to move a muscle or utter a sound. All was still, then darkness came. When I awoke I found myself lying on a bunch of carpet while a man in a red flannel shirt was dashing cold water in my face. When the man with the red shirt left me I hurriedly made my way to the stage door of the theatre, rushed to the railway station and took the first train for Boston. I went to my home, having failed to remove my makeup or take off my wig and shoes, told my parents of my dreadful fiasco, fell upon my mother's neck, tearfully told her that I would never become an actor and for her to endeavor to secure me a position in a ' shoe store. I was telling this incident in after years to a party of gentleman, gentle-man, including Edwin " Thorne, who verified all I said but cruelly added that I omitted to return his blond wig and patent leather shoes. |