Her First Appearance - CAN I SIT UP HERE BESIDE YOU 1 l . . . . . . . . P BUT HE KNEW THAT WAS NOT THE REASON . . . . . . Pacirf. 18 YOU HAVE TRIED ME VERY SORELY . . . . . . 40 - W .. - . . ber gfrst appearance was at the end of the first act of the first night of The Sultana, and every member of the Lester Comic Opera Company, from Lester himself down to the wardrobe womans son, who would have had to work if his mother lost her place, was sick with anxiety. There is perhaps only one other place as feverish as it is behind ...
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Her First Appearance - CAN I SIT UP HERE BESIDE YOU 1 l . . . . . . . . P BUT HE KNEW THAT WAS NOT THE REASON . . . . . . Pacirf. 18 YOU HAVE TRIED ME VERY SORELY . . . . . . 40 - W .. - . . ber gfrst appearance was at the end of the first act of the first night of The Sultana, and every member of the Lester Comic Opera Company, from Lester himself down to the wardrobe womans son, who would have had to work if his mother lost her place, was sick with anxiety. There is perhaps only one other place as feverish as it is behind the scenes on the first night of a comic opera, and that is a newspaper office on the last night of a Presidential campaign, when the returns are being flashed on the canvas outside, and the mob is hocvling, and the editor-in-chief is expecting to go to the Court of St. James if the election comes his way, and the office-boy is betting his wages that it wont. Such nights as these try mens souls but Van Bibber passed the stage-door man with as calmly polite a nod as though the piece had been running a hundred nights, and the manager was thinking up souvenirs for the one hundred and fiftieth, and the prima donna had, as usual, begun to hint for a new set of costumes. The stage-door keeper hesitated and was lost, and Van Bibber stepped into the unsuppressed excitement of the place with a pleased sniff at the familiar smell of paint and burning gas, and the dusty odor that came from the scene-lofts above. For a moment he hesitated in the cross-lights and confusion about him, failing to recognize in their new costumes his old acquaintances of the company but he saw Kripps, the stage-manager, in the centre of the stage, perspiring and in his shirtsleeves as always, wildlywaving an arm to some one in the flies, and beckoning with the other to the gasman in the front entrance. The stage hands were striking the scene for the first act, and fighting with the set for the second, and dragging out a canvas floor of tessellated marble, and running a throne and a practical pair of steps over it, and aiming the high quaking walls of a palace and abuse at whoever came in their way. Now then, Van Bibber, shouted Kripps, with a wild glance of recognition, as the white-and-black figure came towards him, you know you re the only man in New York who gets behind here to-night. But you cant stay. Lower it, lower it, cant you This to the man in i the flies. Any other night goes, but not this night. I cant have it. I-Where is the backing for the centre entrance Didn t I tell you men- Van Bibber dodged two stage hands who were steering a scene at him, stepped over the carpet as it unrolled, and brushed through a group of anxious, whispering chorus people into the quiet of the stars dressing-room. The star saw him in the long mirror before which he sat, while his dresser tugged at his boots, and threw up his hands desperately. IVell, he cried, in mock resignation, are we in it or are we not Are they in their seats still or have they fled How are you, John said Van Bibber to the dresser. Then he dropped into a big arm-chair in the corner, and got up again with a protesting sigh to light his cigar between the wires around the gas-burner. Oh, it S going very well. I would nt have come around if it wasnt. If the rest of it is as good as the first act, you need nt worry. Van Bibbers unchallenged freedom behind the scenes had been a source of much comment and perplexity to themembers of the Lester Comic Opera Company...
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Seller's Description:
C.D. Gibson. 8vo, pp. 53. Illustrated with drawings by C[harles] D[ana] Gibson and E. M. Ashe. Blue cloth, stamped in gilt. VG. BAL 4536. Reprinted from "Van Bibber and others." A short story about the theater.
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Seller's Description:
art by Charles Dana Gibson & E.M. Ashe. Very Good+ No Jacket. Book 22, 786 shelf. Slim volume. Gold-stamped ribbed blue cloth, minor edgewear, 1903 name verso frontispiece w/ tissue guard. Gilt top, illus. endpapers. Clean text. Attractive!
Publisher:
New York. Harper & Brothers Publishers. 1901
Language:
English
Alibris ID:
16851150875
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Standard Shipping: $4.84
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Seller's Description:
20cm, first edition, 53p., with 3 plates, 20 text drawings, each leaf & title page with gilt decorated borders, decorated endpapers, blue cloth, gilt decorated title on upper board, some slight wear on the edges else very good to fine (hmds). ~ Illustrations by C.D. Gibson and E.M. Ashe.