<h2><SPAN name="AT_THE_PLAY" id="AT_THE_PLAY"></SPAN><i>AT THE PLAY.</i></h2>
<div class="sidenote">The underbred man at the play.</div>
<p class="nind"><span class="smcap">At</span> a theatre the underbred man is often in evidence, not only in the
low-priced seats, but also all over the house. He has been seen—and
heard—in private boxes. A well-known music-hall celebrity administered
a scathing reproof to one of these, who persisted in talking loudly
while she was singing. Stopping short, she looked up at the box in which
he sat, and cried: “One fool at a time, please,” after which he was as
quiet as a mouse.</p>
<div class="sidenote">Entering late.</div>
<p>It is a piece of bad manners to enter the theatre late, disturbing the
audience and annoying the players or singers.</p>
<div class="sidenote">And leaving early.</div>
<p>It is equally rude to leave before the entertainment is ended, unless
the interval be chosen when nothing is going on. At a concert this is
particularly true, for there are devotees of music who hang upon every
note and to whom it is a distinct loss to miss a single phrase of the
compositions they have come to hear.</p>
<div class="sidenote">Inattention uncivil.</div>
<p>Singers, actors, and actresses generally possess the sensitive,
sympathetic, artistic temperament, and it is wounding to them to see<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_097" id="page_097"></SPAN>{97}</span>
members of the audience fidgeting, rustling about, chattering, laughing,
and otherwise showing inattention when they are doing their best to
entertain them. It is, therefore, uncivil to betray inattention.</p>
<div class="sidenote">On appreciation.</div>
<p>A little appreciation goes a long way with the members of the
professions of music and the drama. An actor told me once that after
having made a certain speech two or three times without any sign of
amusement from the audience, on the fourth night of the play a single
silvery note of musical mirth was heard from the stalls. It was but one
note—say E flat on the treble clef—but the audience immediately joined
in, perceiving the point of the speech as though it had been illuminated
for them by this one little laugh. He declared that ever after that
night his formerly unsuccessful “lines” elicited a roar of laughter.
Probably this was partly due to the sense of encouragement he felt,
inspiring him to due emphasis.</p>
<div class="sidenote">In taking ladies to a place of entertainment.</div>
<p>In taking ladies to a place of entertainment a gentleman hands them into
their carriage, a cab, or an omnibus, getting in last. Arrived at their
destination the gentleman alights first, handing out the ladies, and
giving any necessary orders to the coachman, or paying the cabman’s
fare. By the way, it is always as well to give instructions to the
coachman about where he is to<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_098" id="page_098"></SPAN>{98}</span></p>
<div class="sidenote">Instructions to the coachman.</div>
<p class="nind">be found, and at what hour he is to pick up his party, before entering
the carriage, as policemen view with much disfavour any prolonged
dialogue outside a place of entertainment where vehicles are setting
down their occupants in quick succession. Should there be a footman, of
course all these difficulties are obviated, as he can carry the
instructions to the coachman, and also knows where to find the carriage
when the performance is over.</p>
<div class="sidenote">Should a hired brougham be used.</div>
<p>Should a hired brougham be used as a conveyance in going to any place of
entertainment, or even a party at a private house, it is an excellent
plan to give the coachman a bright-coloured handkerchief, scarlet or
orange perhaps, that he may wear it conspicuously displayed, and can in
this way be at once recognised.</p>
<div class="sidenote">To obviate waiting.</div>
<p>It is a miserable business on a wet night to hunt for a brougham up and
down ill-lighted streets when in evening dress and patent leather boots,
and anything that tends to shorten the task is advisable. Nor do ladies
enjoy waiting in the draughty vestibule of opera-house, theatre, or
concert-room for an indefinite period while a short-sighted cavalier is
groping about the streets for their carriage.</p>
<p>If it is a question of a cab, the commissionaire at the door is the
best<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_099" id="page_099"></SPAN>{99}</span> person to get one, which he will do for a small fee.</p>
<div class="sidenote">A word of warning.</div>
<p>Here again a word of warning is needed. There are men who, in their
special care of the ladies in their charge, forget that it is no part of
the duty of a gentleman to ignore the claims of other women who have not
the advantage of belonging to their party.</p>
<div class="sidenote">Consideration due to all women.</div>
<p>I have seen men who ought to have known better rudely pushing other
ladies away from the door of a cab or railway carriage in order that
their own womenkind may be well looked after. It is all very well to be
attentive and anxious to do one’s best, but it is ill-bred to the last
degree to subject to rudeness any ladies who happen to be without a
gentleman to look after them.</p>
<div class="sidenote">An instance.</div>
<p>Retribution followed very swiftly in one instance of the kind. At
Sandown station one day the second special train for Waterloo was coming
in, and the platform was crowded with gaily-dressed women, tired and hot
after the walk across the fields on a tropical July day. A lady and
small Eton boy were together, and suddenly, when about to open the door
of a carriage at the moment the train came to a standstill, found
themselves all but thrown down by a sweeping motion of the arm of a
young man who was bent on reserving that particular carriage for his
party. Without<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_100" id="page_100"></SPAN>{100}</span> a word of apology to the lady, he shouted to his sisters
and friends to “Come on,” still holding back the two who had wished to
get in. They entered the next compartment, and as they did so the lady
remarked to her companion, “What an extremely ill-mannered person that
is!” Meanwhile the party next door were settling down and congratulating
themselves on having secured seats, when one of them turned to their
over-zealous friend and remarked, “I saw Lady Blank get into the next
carriage with her eldest boy.” “<i>Who?</i>” he asked, with a sudden and
remarkable rush of colour on his face. The lady to whom he had behaved
so rudely turned out to be one from whom he had that very morning
received a long-desired invitation to spend a few days at her country
house in the following month. This he owed to the good offices of a
friend in the F. O., and, delighted at having made such a step in his
social career, he had at once written off accepting the invitation. It
is scarcely necessary to add that he never made the visit, but had to
wire at the last moment one of those conventional excuses that the “unco
guid” call fibs, but which are only the transparent devices adopted by
society to lubricate some of the more difficult of its processes.</p>
<p>Between the acts of a play the modern man thinks it his duty to himself
to go out and have a drink,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_101" id="page_101"></SPAN>{101}</span> perhaps smoke a cigarette.</p>
<div class="sidenote">The interval.</div>
<p>There was a time when, had any such suggestion been made to a gentleman
who had constituted himself the escort of a lady, he would have asked,
though perhaps not in Milton’s words—</p>
<div class="poetry"><div class="poem">
“And leave thy fair side all unguarded, lady?”<br/></div>
</div>
<p>But now the majority of young men visit the bar or the <i>foyer</i>.</p>
<div class="sidenote">How a man may win golden opinions.</div>
<p>But who shall say what golden opinions are won by those who do not
follow the custom, who refrain from acquiring the odour of tobacco, or
whiskey, or brandy while they are in the company of ladies in the heated
atmosphere of a theatre? A lady sometimes says to the men of her party,
“I see that there is a general stampede going on. Don’t mind me if you
would like to go out.” If they go she thinks, “Oh, they are just like
the rest.” If they stay she says to her own heart, “How delightful it is
to find a man who can do without a B.-and-S. or a smoke for two or three
hours!” and up he goes many pegs in her estimation.</p>
<div class="sidenote">Other considerations.</div>
<p>Apart from the lady he is with and considerations connected with her,
there is the inconvenience to which many of the audience are subjected
by the passing in and out of so many. However, it is a recognised
custom, so much so that a smoking <i>foyer</i> is<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_102" id="page_102"></SPAN>{102}</span> attached to all the best
theatres, and a warning bell is rung in it by the management a few
minutes before the rising of the curtain.</p>
<div class="sidenote">When refreshments are brought around.</div>
<p>Refreshments are frequently carried round by attendants to private
boxes, and sometimes in the stalls as well. Should they appear, it is
the duty of the gentleman of the party to ask the lady or ladies if they
wish for any, and to pay for what is consumed. It is, however, a rare
thing for ladies to eat or drink at the play. The gentleman also pays
for the programme at the few theatres where a charge is made.</p>
<div class="sidenote">On unnecessary payment for programmes.</div>
<p>I may mention, by the way, that it is not considered very good form to
pay for programmes at theatres where the management makes no charge.
Instances have been known where attendants have been discharged for
accepting such fees; and even apart from this, it is tantamount to
presenting the attendant with sixpence or a shilling if one insists on
paying for a programme or two provided free of charge. Many of the
attendants are superior to accepting it.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_103" id="page_103"></SPAN>{103}</span></p>
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