A HAUNTED HAMLET.

Lake County Press, Issue 1064, 14 May 1903, Page 6

A HAUNTED HAMLET.

THE EXTSAOEDINABY EXPEBI2NCE OF A BTROLLING ENGLISH FLAYEB. I waa the loading man. Wo had been " barn storming *' through tho provinces for some monthH, and tho season waa drawing to a close. So, too, was the time for a certain note I had drawn when the season begun. Not baring monoy enough to purchase my stage dresses, 1 had borrowed from a London Shylock, telling him that as leading man my salarv was princely. My bill was already overdue, when, by some unlucky chance, my sharp creditor heard of tho smallness of my salary. He wrote fie.cely to demand tho amount of tho bill I bad Riven him, or threatened immediate proceedings. 1 put him off as well as I could, hoping for something to turn up that might enable rue to satisfy his demands. Three nights before we closed, my benefit was to come otf. I had put up " Hamlet " and " The Itoad to Ituin." My announcing the former' of these much annoyed the manager, who bad not sufficient confidence in my experience to trust mo with the Danish prince, but ho at last gave way. Perhaps his compliance was the more easily obtained through the influence of his daughter Amy, who was to play Ophelia. In the early part of the season we bad contracted au alliance, both otTensivs and defensive, but also amatory, and with connubial eventualities. The slightest hindrance to the eventualities was the extreme smallness of my salary and the utter uotbiugness of Amy's. Her father put her down at a high figure in tho treasury books', but scrupulously drew the money himself. Well every bill-board bore tho announcement iu bills half a yard in length: "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, by Mr. Arthur Stanley; Ophelia, by Miss Amy St. John; for reßt of characters sco small bills." Things went well. Every seat in the boxes was let, and tho tickets for pit, and gallery had gouo off so well that Jess than tho average amount takeu at the doors would overflow the house. The old church clock tolling the important hour of six warned mo to hurry from my lodgings to that temple of fame in which I fondly hoped I had secured a niche for myself. " As I walked along I began to taato the pleasure of celebrity. Shopmen nudged each other as I passed. A couple of young ladies, whose profession appeared to bo "millinery," looked at me from under their bonnets, and then rep I my name in a whisper Joud enough fu; rue to hoar half a dozen yards from them. "This is indeed renown," I muttered; " what matters it that my salary is small, when my fame is becoming so groat ?"' As I said tho words, I felt a hand upon my shoulder, and turned, with tho glow of exultation still suffusing my cheek. " Mr. Arthur Stanley I believe, sir," said the accoßter. •• That is my name," I replied, trying to hurry on. " Excuse me, sir, then," returned the man, " but you must come with me. At the suit of Moses Cohen, for twenty-five pun teu.aud costs." He handed me a small slip of paper—l dare say you can guess its contents—aDd took me by the arm. " This is most unfortunate," I said; "bad it been but one night later I should not have minded " " Case of ' hook it,' I suppose," said the man. " On thecoutrary, I should have been able to have discharged the amount* I suppose you couldn't put off the arrest till after business this evening ? '* " Not on any account," replied ni> captor, and I Baw that he quite meant what Ire said. This, then, was the end of my ambitious aspirations. Instead of the glare of the footlights and tire plaudits of an audience I was to have tho darkness and stillness of a jail ! I folded my arms in despair, and defied my f»t~. '• Let us go, I said, " for to-nighl was appointed for my benefit; but no matter. 'Denmark's a prison a goodly one, in which thore are many confines, wards, and dungeons ! ' Lead on." As I turned to accompany the bailiff's man, a messenger from the theatre accosted me. " Oh, Mr. Stanley," the mau said, " I am sent to tell you that we're rro jdrobt; Figgirrs has just come in awfuiiy drunk." 1 was about to answer him.whon my captor interrupted me, asking uie if 1 had put up •' Hamlet." Upon my replying in the affirmative, lie yaid Ire. thought he could help me. He had been a member of an amateur theatrical club, and the ghost of Hamlet's father bad been one of bis most successful attempts. If I liked Ire would sustain tho part on this occasion, and, thus keeping his eye upon me. would postpouo my arrest until after the performance. I saw that vanity instigated the offer, but as drowning men clutch at straws, 1 accepted the proposal, and hurried off to the theatie with all speed, accompanied by my obliging Nemesis. Iu the difficulty tho manager consented to my supposed friend's offer, and, a few hints sufficing to take the place of rehearsal, half an hour before the curtain was to rise saw the bailiff's man donning the armour of the inebriated Kiggiua. Up went the curtain, to a house crowded to the coiling. The tragedy commenced with every promise of success, my reception was most llatteriug, anri the applause which greeted my points almost made mc forget the presence of my custodian, who watched me with ever-vigilant eyes from the wing. I was naturally apprehensive of the manner in which the ghost would be rendered, but the interview with my father's shade was as satisfactory as it would have been had Figgins himself embodied the spirit, although it must be admitted that spirits were peculiarly in his line. As tho words •' Adieu, adieu ! Hamlet, remember mo," were uttered, generous applause rewarded the exertions of the st'tgeHtruidi bailiff. With a sigh of relief, 1 was about to apostrophise heaven, earth, and the other place, whjn, turning, I saw my father's spirit fctill upon tho stage. " Leave the stage," I whispered, supposing that my friend had forgotten his exit. To my horror tha ghost replied, with an oath, not loud but deep, that ho would see mo d d liist. It was i vain that I reiterated ur.v directions; the ghost would not give up. And feeling that the situation was critical, I went on with my part, and strove with extra vehemence to carry the audience with me, so that thoy might overlook the presence of the implacable shad". Hither tho audience were not at home with tho text, or looked upon the ghost's remaining as n new reading, for (buy gave no sign of disapproval. When lloiatioand Marcellus came on, howovcr, thrir wonder almost brought on a catastrophe, but 1 urged them to go on, and the act drew to a conclusion, with tho novelty of the ghost speaking his injunction over my left shoulder. The drop down, I showeied expostulations on my persecuting father's head, but he turned a deaf ear to thorn all. '' I'll tell you what it is, guv'ner," lie said, " I ain't wishing to bo at all annoyin' or ungentlemaiily to you, but I had to arrest a gent in your profession once, and obliged him by waiting until the performance was over,when Mowed if he wusn t shabby enough to get taken down a trap at the end, and bolt. I thought of that while I was on the stage just now with you, and if 1 leave you again my mother was a Frenchman." Without going into the question of his parentage, I promised to surrender myself at the end of flic evening, but it was to no purpose, he was obstinate. In the absence of the manager who had been luckily called away, 1 confessed my dilemma to the pnmpler, and he, influenced by good feeling, and tho promise of a present to-morrow, consented to allow the tragedy to go on, in spite of my being continually haunte 1. In a few minutes the tale was in ovory rlrcssing-ioom,and the company choking with laughter; but as it was not an affair of theirs, they did not offer any objection to the constant interpolation of my father's accursed siririt. I'olonius's interview was shadowed by his presence, and although the ancient chamberlain took his leave, the substitute »t' Figgins remained a llxtints. Plagued by Kouenciaux. and IJuildenstei n, 1 was still more bored by the abominable shade who intruded upon my interview with Ophelia, listened to the scolding I yave tho queen, and looked ou while 1 Mai I ed I'ulonills. 1 felt, likt :» null w ho on the ste[)H <d' the guliown receives u Alan! wv kiad

was not oat of the noose yet. As I waa standing at, the wing, in readiness for inv eutranoo for the fifth act, I noticed the mannfTfr looking on from the other side. I shuddered. I knew his violence and tyranny, and I trembled at his rage should he stay there to witness the ghost'n unusual presence. I spoke to the bailiff's mau; I implored him to leave tne for the rest of the tragedy: I promised him monef. anything he should demand, but it was in vain. My anxiety to be away from him only confirmed him in his suspicions that I wanted to use the oppoitunity to escape. Despair made inn desperate. I called a scene-shifter, and while I pointed to one of the fly-pieces, as if it waa of that I was speaking, I whispered words of \ery different import in his ear. The man nodded and hurried away, while I, to keep up appearunccw, again begged the ghost, to remain invisible—of course without making any impression m upon his obstinate natu.-o. In a minute the scene-shifter returned. " It's all right, sir." he said. '• It will be ananged directly." A glance thanked him. "If you slid persist in being at my elbow, "* I said to my ghost, " I must trouble you to shift your quarters, as I enter at the back of the ncene." He accompanied me as requested, followed bv the scene-shifter, and as wo stopped I heard the cue given for my entrance. I turned to my ally, who stamped sharply on the stag*:, and a knock underneath replying to his signal, lie seized the ghost, as the trap upon which they stood opened, and in a moment they were both hidden from my sight. The bailiff*b man knew enough of stage mechanism not to venture upon a struggle while descending a trap, and although he gave me a parting look of reproach and anger, he knew that he was unable to oppose his fate. Thus relieved in mind, 1 hurried on for the giave scene with a lightened spirit, and everything went well accoidingly. My quips with the grave-digger, my Yoiick speech, " Imperial (Ja-sar, dead and turned to clay," all brought a torrent of applause, and when I leaped into the grave the whole house was enthusiastic. I had just said to Laertes, " I prithee take thy fingers from my throat," when I felt other hands, besides those of Ophelia's brother assailing me. I knew too well who grappled me; and assured that the time for expostulation was gone, I prepared for a short struggle to get rid of Uie ghost, at any rate for that scene. At the same moment I heard the deep tones of the manager, but in the confusion I could not understand what he said. I had not long to wait, however, before 1 Baw the execution of his orders. The first grave-digger, advancing from the back of the sceue, soized the ghost by the arms, and, giving him a preparatory swing, slung him on his shoulders aud walked off the stage with him. The violence of the motion had loosened the fastenings of the helmet, and the final jerk shook it from the bailiff's head, displaying a vast quantity of unkempt earrotty hair. The house was in a roar, and when, amid the din. the angry ghost was heard threatening in language far from .Shakespearean, and certainly not polite, the audience soemed a congregation of lunatics. I jumped from the grave, but soon such a storm of laughter hailed me,that, with one look of terror at the audience, I rnshed off the staae.as I heard the manager's indignant orders for the prompter to " riDg down. I did not dare ask the manager to renew for next Beason. I know it would be hopeless. I lost no time in writing for engagements elsewhere, but I met with constant rebuffs. One manager declined negotiations, " as he did not keep a bailiff's man in the theatre." Matters at last became serious; the funds remaining from my benefit were gone. A vacancy for a clown occurred. I rep'.ied as Signor Antonio, obtained the engagement, and six months after I had played " Hamlet ' for my benefit I went on as a clown in a pantomime. "• To what b3»e uses we may return, Horatio! "