A VERY EASY PART.

Otago Witness, Volume 26, Issue 1705, 26 July 1884, Page 26

A VERY EASY PART.

When they were putting on the ".Dame aux Camelias " at the Port 9 Saint Martin, Paris, they wanted to do things in style, and bestow on the smallest details that stamp of reality which adds so much to the charm of modern dramas. For the spires, in the. fourth act Sarah Bernhardt' demanded the suppression of the celebrated " cotton-wool " ices which are usually served to theatrical guests. " Let them eat real ices," said Bhe. The manager frowned. Twenty ices every evening formed, in his idea, a very useless addition to the expenses. But as the actress held firm he j proposed a compromise. He would have, he j said, a guest near the footlights who should be served with a. real icej and, as she would eat it in little spoonfuls under the eyes of the public it would be just as well as if all the ices on the tables came from the confectioner's. This ingenious arrangement wrb agreed to. Immediately after the reportspread like wildfire in the minor female staff of the Porte Saint Martin that a very remarkable * small part " was going to be allotted to the piece — a part which would be certain to draw the attention of the spectators 'upon the actress who should be entrusted with it — and there was consequently much competition for the desirable role. Not only did all the " extra ladies " attached to the theatre present themselves as aspirants, but many outsiders also applied for the part. At last the management fixed upon a young lady of considerable personal attractions who had never played a part before, but who came well recommended by influential friends. The firit thine they inquired of her was whether gh 3 liked ices. "Idoatuponthem,"sh'o replied, "and I have •1 JV&ya doated ; I assure you I have great natural talent in that direction." They rehearsed her with the greatest care, She was to eat her ice slowly while the dialogue went on round her ; she was taught to pound her arm gracefully, and to drop the spoonfuls of ice into her mouth without licking the apQon, bestowing occasionally an agreeable smile on the people in the stalls. On the first night this little episode in the mounting passed almost unnoticed. But at subsequent performances it soon both amused and interested the public. " How well they do things at the Porte Sainto Martin t" said one person to another. " They actually have real ices." "No wonder the pr ces are so high." Some habitues of the theatre soon remarked that the young ice-eater was not bad looking. Bouquets of flowers v were left at the stage door with the following address on the card attached to them :~ "For the young lady who eats a real ice in Act IV." " What luck she has !" said her friends, in speaking of her, " She hasn't taken long to get on in the profession." The young lady was well pleased with the effect Bhe had produced. But everything has tte disagreeable side. After a while the obligation of eating an ice every evening at eleven o'clock precisely began to weary the young artist.

" Couldn't you, at least," she asked of the stage manager, " give me a little change now and then ? Say strawberry or lemon, instead of this infernal vanilla."

"Impossible," was the reply. "The Bcene has been arranged once for all, and if we were to begin to alter it now everything would be upiet." Then ehe was at the end of her ideas. She took at last. a loathing dislike for ices. One evening, indeed, the temptation assailed her to only pretend to eat. But she had sense enough to see that if' she disappointed the public her career was ruined. So she still ate on, • But she resolved that to-morrow she would 1 allege indisposition 1 , and would show a doctor's certificate forbidding her to eat ices for a fortnight. Then the management would arrange matters by giving her a cotton-wool ice till she felt well enough to resume her part. But next day when she. mentioned it to the stage manager, he replied,, vary calmly, ." All right, my dear, don't wwry yourself. I'll go and give notice to your uaderatudy." * * •5 An understudy ! So her part was being understudied ! Some wther parson would eat the tfaal ice in public, and rob her of her firat part ; a part, too, on which she had lavished so much individuality ! Never ! "I shall not be 'off ' to-night," she told the stage manager. So she play? every evening, but it is with great satisfaction that she sees the run of the "Dame aux Camelias" drawing to its close. It will be many a month before she will touch an ice again after the last night— that is unless they ask her to play the same part on tour,— Era.