We've cut the
messenger out--go on, please!"
Another disconcerted performer must have been the provincial Richard
III., to whom the Ratcliffe of the theatre--who ordinarily played
harlequin, and could not enter without something of that tripping and
twirling gait peculiar to pantomime--brought the information, long
before it was due, that "the Duke of Buckingham is taken!" "Not yet,
you fool," whispered Richard. "Beg pardon; thought he was," cried
Harlequin Ratcliffe, as, carried away by his feelings or the force of
habit, he threw what tumblers call "a Catherine wheel," and made a
rapid exit.
We conclude with noting a stage whisper of an old-established and yet
most mysterious kind. In a book of recent date dealing with theatrical
life, we read that the words "John Orderly" uttered by the proprietor
of a strolling theatre, behind the scenes, or in the wings of his
establishment, constitute a hint to the players to curtail the
performances and allow the curtain to fall as soon as may be. Who was
"John Orderly," and how comes his name to be thus used as a watchword?
The Life of Edwin the actor, written by (to quote Macaulay) "that
filthy and malignant baboon, John Williams, who called himself
Anthony Pasquin," and published late in the last century, contains the
following passage: "When theatric performers intend to abridge an act
or play, they are accustomed to say, we will 'John Audley' it.
Pages:
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335