Two Were Enough.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XL, Issue 18, 29 April 1908, Page 37

Two Were Enough.

Mr. R. A. Roberts's lecture oil "Twenty Years’ Hard” to the O.P. Club with Mr. Carl Hentschel in the chair, was a perfect mine of anecdote. He told a very amusing story of his connection with a stock company at a Liverpool theatre in the old days. “A well-known Irish comedian,” he said, “ was the star; his name was C. P. Cooke, a rough actor, accustomed to work in the smalls of Ireland. and a very close-fisted man. Cooke

walked on to the middle of the stage, and, addressing the manager, said, "Good morning, Mr. Wood. It’s a mighty fine play I have brought you this week; bedad, it will tear them to pieces in Scot, land-road. Now, in the third act, when I throw the villian from the top of the roeks, at the back of the stage I want a mob of real ‘howlers’; on the left of the stage I want an army—a real army; and on the right of the stage a posse of police. How many supers have you got?’ Mr. Wood replied, ‘The terms of your contract, Mr. Cooke, are: —We provide the theatre, lighting, bill-posting and

window bills, an efficient company of actors and actresses, scenery, and the liand. You, on your side, provide yourself, the play, pictorials, and all supers over two.* Mr. Cooke said: ‘I beg your pardon. Do you mean to say if I have more than

two Sll|M*rs I have got to pat for them, and a howling mob. an army, and a posse of police?’ Mr. Wood answered. •Quite right, sir. you pay for them.’ ’Oh. well.’ said Mr. Cooke, ’l’ll make the two do.’ ”