PRESENTS RECEIVED BY STAGE FAVOURITES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2273, 23 September 1897, Page 45

PRESENTS RECEIVED BY STAGE FAVOURITES.

Giprs That Aeb Also Surprises.

Of all celebrities worshipped by the crowd none are on more familiar terms with their idolisers than favourites o£ the footlights. Popular players receive, many of them regularly, letters from admirers of their acting, epistles from people who venture to suprgebt how their parts may be materially strengthened, and . many othor varieties of correspondence. Same folk even go further than this— they make them present?, and sometimes very peculiar ones.

Playing the parb of Cinderella, one charming young lady received a letter from a little girl who had been amongst the audience. And with it came a small paper of acid drop 3 and a halfpenny, " because you are so poor you cannot have any sweets." The father of this young actress, a popular actor, once received a queer request : " I have greatly admired your acting, and shall appreciate your kindness if you will let me faave a box." So wrote a gentleman in the furniture trade. To this the actor replied that he should he extremely happy to grant the request, provided, '♦ as I have been greatly struck with your beautiful chairs acd tables, you will let me have a drawirjgroom suite."

In one stirring melodrama the heroine and her agad mother are evicted from their humble lodgiDgs because they are, at a particular moment, nnable -to muster the requisite 5s for rent. An emotional schoolboy, who had witnessed the play, promptly forwarded the 5s to the lady, and duly

attended I next; night at the theatre to witness the discomfiture of the grasping landlord. To his griafc indignation tbe piece ran on as before. So he wrote to the lady to whom his donation bad been sent, and taxtd her with having spent the 5s on herself. A charming note and a signed photograph, however, soon set the lad's heart at rest.

I A well-known " sympathetic heroine," taking a holiday in a quiet country district, generously offered her services to the management of a small local theatre wherein a benefit was to be held. Tbe *' house " was a very different one from those in which the lady was accustomed to appear, but, taking no notice of frequent interruptions and conversations conducted quite aloud, she persevered and soon held her audis&ce as effectively as aver. " Bray vo 1 " cams tha yells of her admirers aB the performer warmed to her work. Then she gave a startled jump as something struck tho stage boaide her. It was a penny. At once others followad, and the air grew thick with coppers flying over the footlights. The lady retreated before this hail of coin ; but, not wishing to disappoint those who had shown this very real appreciation of her efforts, she returned to tha stage and, amid chaers, collected the shower of metallic applause.

Travelling with a oompany on tour, a pretty I youag aofcress had the speech to deliver, " Salmon for dinner 1 Oh 1 I siraply aiore i salmon." Ai one little town the giving of this line produced a pleasant result. A susceptible young fUhcaongoratonc&left his seat and hurried back to hia place o£ bu»iness. Soon aftor a fino salmon arrived at the stage door. For thiee evenings the same things occurred. On the fourth day tha low comedian of the company, as spokesman oE the others, said to the lucky young lady, " We've all enjoyed the salmon, Miss Blank ; bafc don't yon think you might work in a ' tag,' hinting that a chang« would be acceptable." She agreed. That night said she, " Salmon I Oh I I simply adore salmon. I could live on it at least three days in every week."

The play over, all the company waited anxiously at the stags door to see what would happen. But the eyea of the fishmonger had been opened. Ha discovered that, b»ing " smitt«n " with the " soubrette " of the company, ha had been feeding the whole of her stage companions. That night an envelope arrived. It contained aa many pins as there wars members in the company, " What does it mean 1 " all cried. They knew the foliowing evening when there appeared a bag of periwinkles.

"Wo have been asked by the Thiito vn Thespians to display ia our windows tomorrow evening the gift subscribed for by that company, which is to b» presented on Saturaay to our illu&trious vMtor from tha mecropolig, Misa Stelleanora Starlight." Thi* notice- appealed in the shop-f ronb of an enterprising iirm. N»w the lady in question was known to have utterftd disparaging remarks concerning the talent; of a big !oc*l favourite. Consequently, curiosity wens on tiptoe to discover what form the present would take. And public opinion said " Serve her rigkb, too," when eh« " testimonial " was seen to- be a first-class ticket back to London.

An even more unkind cut was, however, administered to a certain lady when she waa touring abr»ad. There resched her an elaborate silver reservoir pen, a quire ni elegant note-paper, and a blofeting-book. Through the colum-g of a newspaper she acknowledged tha receipt of the gift, but added that she scarcely understood why it had taken this particular form. Tne explanation, afforded through the same medium, wa*Btaibling; "The donors of the little gift which y»u have ao graciously accepted desired that yon should be pub to tha vary least inconvenience when, in their i>ow», y»u sit down to prepare for the press tha customary notices of the chefc of your valuable diamonds."

A " romantic hero,' notoriously a " akick," was one morning delighted to receive a sumptuously bound volume, entitled " The Stag© Triumphs of W. X. Wisebead," that being his owa name. •' Copies have been distributed free to all your colleagues," Baid an accompanying note. Oa his cutting the pages of the book, however, the disgusted Thespian found them blank paper from beginning to end.

A severe rebuke, too, was dealt out to a lady who prided herself upon and considerably overdid the iremolo p&rc of the business in her singing. A weighty little box was sent to her, and opening it she found a note that ran, " A well-wisher suggests that if by some means you could attach the enclosed to your voice ie would serve to ' steady it.' " " The enclosed " was a 51b weight.

Appearing in South Africa, one lady wellknown here as a. " principal boy " introduced a son*? that " caught on " tremendously with the Kaffirs. Seeing the ainger of this* popular dittj in the streets, tbe delighted natives would jump np and down, grinning and droning the tune. And numbers of them snatched off their armlete of twisted silver wire and insisted on their being accepted as present?.

Illustrating the much-mixed nature of giffs which are made to footlight celebrities, ib may be mentioned that one of two popular sisters, arrivirg at the theatre one evening, found a Persian kitten awaiting her. and, from another " friend amongst the godt,* an old horse-shoe " for luck." Later on came a letter threatenicg to shoot her, causing her to seek police protection for the f emainder of the run.

A young actress who not long ago made a tremendous hib declared that one of the most pleasing features of her sudden bound into popularity was the number of presents sent to her by strangers. " Many of these are, of course, frcm tradesmen who wish to name articles after me," explained she, "but the variety and quantity are charming. Yesterday, for instance, I received, amongst other things, four bottles of scent, a birthday book, a lemon squeezer, six pairs of gloves, a paste hat-pin and pair of shoe buckles, a crumb brush, and a hair-curling set." • •

Much consternation was caused last winter amongst the medical men in Wellington by the introduction of Woods's Gbeat Peppermint Cube for coughs and colds ; that a very bad cough could be cured by a Is 6d bottle, and a whole family with a 2s 6d bottle, was a serious loss to them. It is sold by all grocers and chemistse