Work and Win #07: Fred Fearnot as Actor — page 15: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

oT AS AN ACTOR. triloquism is simply perfect, Fearnot, and the hooting of the owl, the cry of the whippoorwill, together with the howl of the wolf and the wildcat, added a weird- ness to the whole thing, that actually made my flesh creep. That scene alone was worth the price of ad- mission, and fitted into the play as thoughit had been placed there by the author.”’ *“That’s right,’’? laughed Fred, ‘‘lay it on thick. You can’t give me a swelled head.’’ The manager’s wife rushed up to them and said it was the finest thing she ever saw or heard, and the other actresses were not less eulogistic in their com- ments on it. It was an innovation which not even the manager himself had expected. What can you give us next ?”’ the manager asked. **Oh, when the curtain rings down on the last act, tell the audience to keep their seats for a few minutes, give us a moonlight scene again, get that old well out of the way, rush in the forest scene, and we’ll go out there pretending to be two boys who are lost in the woods and can’t find their way home. Then we’ll sing ‘Home, Sweet Home,’ after which the audience can go home.”’ *“Good! Good!’ said the manager. thing on earth! Let us have it.”’ ‘Just as the curtain rang down on the last scene, the manager sang out to the audience : ‘Keep your seats and you’ll hear our two singers again.’’ * Biggest Everybody dropped back into his seat, the lights were turned down low, and when the curtain rose it was on a moonlight scene in the woods. Fred and Terry were seen moving about in the forest, whilst owls were hooting, whippoorwills calling, and wolves and wildcats heard in the distance. Both of the boys seemed to be half crying: ‘¢Oh, we are lost! Weare lost!’’ exclaimed Fred. «Yes, yes;’’ added Terry, ‘‘ we'll never see home again! Listen to the wolves!’’ And they kept mov- ing about as though trying to find their way out of the woods. Their voices were so full of terror that ex- pressions of sympathy were actually heard in the audi- ence. <‘ Well, don’t cry, brother,”’ said Fred, holding to Terry’s hand. ‘‘If we can never see home again, we can at least sing about it,’? and with that he began singing the world-famous song of ‘‘ Home, Sweet Home ” At first their voices seemed to be trembling with nervous fear on account of the wolves and the wild- cats in the woods behind them. After singing one verse together, Terry stopped and left Fred to go on with it alone, and began to blubber and cry, like a little, ten-year old boy. Fred kept on with the song, whilst Terry laid down on the ground, rolled over on his back, blubbered and bellowed in a way that set the audience in a roar. ‘The pathos had passed into the wildest sort of humor, and when the last note of the song died away, Fred stooped, picked up Terry in his arms, threw him across his shoulder, and went off of the stage, crying out: ‘Hiverybody break for home !”’ Screams of laughter came from the audience, and the clapping and cheering was such the two boys had to go out on the stage again, in the full glare of the lights, which had been turned up, and sing that rol- licking song ‘‘ We Won’t Go Home Till Morning,’’ in which the entire company behind the scenes joined when they struck the chorus. They made a decided hit. CHAPTER VI. THE LITTLE DIFFICULTY AT THE HOTEL. ON returning to the hotel after the performance, it was the unanimous verdict of every member of the company that Fred and Terry had made the hit of the evening, and they were congratulated according- G ly. Not one of them expected when they went out upon the stage, that either would have a word to say in the way ofa speaking part; hence their surprise when they heard them improvise the conversation that passed between them at the old well, before they began singing the song. ‘That shows the boys have some originality about them,’’ remarked the manager to his wife. ‘Yes,’ she assented, ‘‘and their acting was fine, too. I never saw an audience so spellbound before, and as for the last piece, it was the first time in my life I ever saw that sweet old song turned into a screaming farce. Olcott’s crying was the most natural thing Lever heard. It almost set me crying too.”’ “Oh, it was a hit,’? said Hammond, ‘“‘and we’ve got to keep him to the end of the tour.”’ In the big sitting room where the company had gathered before the roaring, open fire, the girls and most of the men were laughing heartily over Terry’s crying. The two boys noticed, however, that Frank Gale, the tall actor who played the part of the Brit- ish officer, had little to say, and did not join in the hilarity of the others. The cynic, however, remarked that the blubbering of the boy baby was fine and evinced long practice. “©QOh, I don’t know,”’ laughed Terry,“‘it’s the first real, good cry I’ve had in about fifteen years.”’ ‘‘ Why, did you really cry ?’? Elsie Warner asked. ‘‘ Bless you, didn’t you hear me? I thought I just bellowed.’’ “Yes; but I thought you were just acting.’’ ‘‘Thunder ! I was crying.’’ “Why, can youcry naturally whenever you want to ?’’ she asked. ‘Of course I can, can’t you ?”’ ‘‘ Really, I don’t know. I never tried.”’ Mrs. Hammond finally told the girls to go upstairs and get all the sleep they could, for it was_absolutel Connicooks.coln “HANDSOME HARRY.” oe ane