Chapter 3

The pieces by Ropartz and Gevaert were chosen for the Workshop production by Dr. A.T. Davison, organist at Appleton Chapel, Harvard University, and are admirably fitted to the play. Mr. Atherton's Alleluia is also just what is needed, both in length and in the triumphant crescendo which carries the piece fittingly and dramatically to its close. It would be difficult to replace this finale except by other music written for the purpose.

The music is perhaps the most important single element in the play. In the original version the scene in the chancel was carried by dialogue but production showed the mistake. From the time that the music begins, it, with the pantomimic action of the actors is all sufficient to interpret the mood and meaning of the scene.

A small parlor organ is practically a necessity and can probably be procured for the cost of the cartage.

A choir of men's and women's voices is best for the singing but a good quartette will serve.

For the bells, the long tubular chimes which are suspended by one end and struck with a wooden hammer are the most satisfactory. If they seem too metallic, try covering the head of the hammer with folds of chamois skin. If such a set of chimes is not to be had a substitute can be found in the phonograph, for which there are a number of chimes records.--The tune played on the phonograph must not be a modern one; Luther's Hymn "Great God, what do I see and hear?" (A Columbia record) is the best. The tune can be disguised by lifting the needle occasionally and setting it down gently on another part of the record. As far as I know, no phonograph record presents chimes pure and simple. It should be remembered however that the phonograph record lacks the vitality of tone and the note of jubilant triumph which a good musician can bring from the bells themselves.

With the exception of the crescendo at the end of the Alleluia, the music is kept soft and dreamy throughout. It is a temptation to try to achieve this effect by placing singers and organ back, off stage, so that the sound may come from a distance but it has been found that the whole performance gains immeasurably if the organist is in front where he can watch every movement of the actors and interpret them in his playing.

The music begins on Holger's speech: "Oh thou art warm" and continues in one form or another throughout the play.--The organist commences in the middle of the Ropartz "Sortie," at the top of page 6 and continues this until the back of the hut is withdrawn when he drifts into the accompaniment of the Gevaert song, and plays it through once without the voices. As Holger cries "Dame!"--and sinks back against the woman's knee, this verse should end, and the voices of the choir take up the song with the organ.

From this point on every movement in the chancel is paced to the rhythm of the music. It has been found that a verse of the Gevaert song is just long enough to fit the following action.

A person in the procession enters the chancel, walks to the center before the altar, kneels and presents his gift to the priest. The priest accepts the gift, turns, goes up the steps to the altar, and raises the offering high above his head holding it there a moment waiting for the chimes to ring, then brings his arms down, lays the gift on the altar, turns back to the kneeling figure, and raises his hand in blessing. The person then rises, and steps back to his appointed place to the left or right of the altar, coming to a standstill just as the music ends. As the next verse begins, the next person enters the chancel. The movements should be made with deliberation and dignity and so thoroughly rehearsed that keeping time to the music becomes instinctive, that the actor's mind may be on the expressing of the emotions of assurances that his gift will ring the chimes, and later disappointment that the chimes do not ring.

When it comes Holger's turn to offer the pennies, the music begins again as with the others and accompanies the action through to the moment when the priest holds the pennies high above his head,--here the organ and singing break off abruptly, the chimes ring out and keep pealing for a moment, without other music.

On the first note of the chimes the priest wheels swiftly and with a commanding gesture signals the people grouped about the altar to their knees. He kneels also. The organ begins again, softly playing the final Alleluia. The angel enters from the right side, stands on the step of the altar, the central figure,--all about still kneeling awestruck. As the music continues the angel half sings, half chants the speeches, and underneath her voice, which should be as lovely as possible, come in the voices of the other singers very softly at first, like an echo from afar. As the angel's voice stops, those of the other singers grow into the great triumphant crescendo of the finale. Do not be afraid of holding this tableau while the music finishes.--Indeed none of the chancel scene should be hurried. Take it with great deliberation and give whatever element is holding the scene at the moment, (whether the action or the music) plenty of time to make its effect. The Alleluia is played through twice, once softly during the angel's singing the second time in the triumphant climax. As this second singing ends, the lights on the chancel are blotted out, the back wall of the hut is replaced, the old woman disappears, the lights in the hut go up again revealing Holger standing spellbound staring at the wall where the vision had been. As he turns to speak to the woman and during his final speeches, the organ plays softly as though from a great distance and the chimes ring again but not so loudly as before. This music continues till the front screens are brought together and the play is over.

COSTUMES

COSTUMES.

The costumes of this play are mediaeval, picturesque and easily constructed.--The accompanying plates will give the best idea of their general appearance. The amounts of goods required for each are noted below.

First of all, in planning the costuming for a play a definite color scheme should be decided on with due regard for the scenery against which the colors are to stand out and for the lights which will greatly affect all values. Here is an opportunity for delightful study and the exercise of the highest artistic ability. Skilful lighting and a well chosen background will make cheesecloth as effective as cloth of gold. Taste and careful experimentation not money secure the best results.

Family ragbags will often yield excellent material for theatrical costumes, and of much better quality than would be bought new for the purpose. But if the stuff is to be purchased, two materials will be found especially suitable and inexpensive. For the peasants' costumes canton flannel is recommended as it has body and comes in beautiful dark reds, browns and other shades which light up well. For the dresses of the richer group in the chancel, sateen is best. It, too, comes in lovely colors and has a very rich glossy finish, though to give variety an occasional piece of cheap velvet or upholstery brocade is very effective. For trimming these richer garments, bits of fur or passementerie can be used, or the material may be stencilled or even painted freehand. Large gold beads sewed on in a simple design gives the appearance of rich embroidery, as do also flowers cut out of chintz and carefully pasted on.

All of the men's jerkins or tunics are made on the simple lines of a man's shirt, opened a little at the neck and belted in at the waist.

The most inexpensive tights for amateurs are well-fitting cotton underwear, dyed the desired color. The children and Bertel can wear their own plain soft low-heeled slippers. The rich folk in the chancel wear their own slippers and draw on over them, socks dyed to match the tights; these socks if rolled down at the top make a very passable substitute for the Romeo shoe of the period desired.

The following notes refer to the costumes of "Why the Chimes Rang" as shown in the plates, the numbers corresponding to those given the figures therein. The estimates of the amount of goods required are all calculated on the basis of yard wide goods for an adult of average size, except in the case of the two children, the costume of the older being planned for a fourteen year old boy that of the younger for a child of ten.

1. The old Woman: underrobe, cut in straight simple lines, gracefully belted, 5-1/2 yards, cloak and hood, 6 yards. If this cloak is black or nearly so it will help to conceal her entrance and exit, as black against black is practically invisible on the stage.

2. Bertel: jerkin, gaiters and cap (all of same material), 3 yards; shirt, (under jerkin) 2-1/2 yards; cloak, 2-1/2 yards. If preferred Bertel's jerkin can be made with sleeves of the same goods instead of the white shirt showing as in the picture.

3. Holger: jerkin and cap, 1-1/2 yards; cape, 2 yards.

4. Steen: jerkin and cap, 1-1/2 yards; cape, 2 yards.

It may be easier to lengthen the skirts of the boys' jerkins almost to the knee and let them wear regular stockings and bloomers instead of tights. If long sleeves are preferred for them, a pair of stockings cut off at the ankle are easily attached at the arm hole and make very good sleeves.

5. The Angel: outer robe, 7 yards; under robe, 5 yards.

This costume is best made of creamy cheesecloth over an under robe of the same, as cheesecloth is faintly luminous in an intense light. It should be long enough to lie on the floor two or three inches all round as a trailing effect is desirable.

6. Rich Woman: dress, 6 yards.

Her head dress is easily made of stiff white paper rolled up in cornucopia shape and sewed securely, over this a long white veil or scarf is draped.

7. The Rich Man: tunic, 2 yards; shirt, 2-1/2 yards; or 1-1/2 yards if the sleeves and neckpiece can be sewed right into the tunic, doing away with the under garment. If the costumes are to have repeated wear, it will be better to have the shirts made separate and of a washable material, they can then be cleansed more frequently than will be necessary for the tunics. The Rich Man's chain can be made of the heavy brass chain that comes for draping back curtains.

8. The Priest: under robe, 4-1/2 yards; outer robe 6-1/2 yards. This costume will of course be greatly modified by the custom of the church of which he is supposed to be a representative.

9. The King: tunic, 2 yards; shirt, 2-1/2 yards; robe of office, 4-1/2 yards. The King's tunic in general cut is exactly like that of the other two courtiers (nos. 7 and 12) but handsomer in material and trimming. The robe is just a straight piece that hangs from the shoulder and trails on the ground.

10. Sage: robe, 6 yards.

11. Young Girl: dress, 6 yards.

12. Courtier: tunic, 2 yards; shirt, 2-1/2 yards.

PROPERTIES.

The following list gives the properties needed in the play.--

In the hut:

1. A porridge pot.

2. Three small bowls.

3. Three spoons. If pewter spoons are not to be had, wooden spoons can be bought cheaply.

4. Porridge. Custard or Spanish cream looks like porridge and is more easily eaten on the stage, but hot cream of wheat is also palatable if sweetened and the steam from it will lend a touch of realism to the scene.--It will save time to have it put in the three small bowls before the rise of the curtain, and the bowls can be covered with three little plates to keep the steam in till the food is wanted.

5. Two roughly made but substantial stools, one near the window, the other before the fire. Stools are better than chairs with backs because they do not obstruct the view of the audience during the chancel scene.

6. Three large nails or wooden pegs in the walls strong enough to hold things, one on each side of the fire-place and one near the door. These would be impracticable with scenery made of screens as any weight on the screen would pull it over. A solid wooden chest, as a carpenter's tool chest, could be substituted to hold the children's wraps and the extra shawl for the old woman. The chest could be placed against the screen on the left or right as convenient.

7. Steen's cap and cape.

8. Holger's cap and cape.

9. The extra shawl Holger puts around the old woman.

10. Two bright pennies for Holger's gift.

11. Logs of firewood on the hearth. Not needed of course if the brazier is used instead of the fireplace.

In the chancel:

12. An altar cloth. This is properly a piece of fine linen edged with deep real lace. It should not be so wide as to cover the top of the altar, lest it obscure the light shining up through the hole. It should hang down in front of the altar and at the sides about eighteen inches. A very handsome looking lace altar cloth can be cut from white paper.

13. Candle-sticks.

14. Candles.

15. Two censers: Very passable censers can be made by swinging brass cups on the brass chains that come for looping back curtains.

16. Incense.

17. Charcoal to burn the incense. (This comes in the box with the incense.)

18. Matches to light the incense.

19. The chimes (or the phonograph and record.)

20. The organ.

Gifts to be put on the altar.

21. A chest full of gold coins for the rich man. (This chest should be about six by twelve inches, made of some polished wood. If difficult to find, substitute a money-bag of stout canvas for it.)

22. Gold coin for the rich man. These coins may be made of cardboard with gold paper pasted over them.

23. A gilded jewel box for the courtier (this can be made from a cardboard box covered with gold paper.)

24. Jewels to fill the gilded box. The smaller things that come for Christmas tree decorations make very acceptable stage jewels.

25. A great book bound in vellum for the sage to give. A heavy book can be covered with wrapping paper the color of vellum.

26. A pearl necklace.

27. A great sheaf of fresh lilies. These can be made at home of tissue paper or very beautiful ones can be bought from the Dennison Manufacturing Company.

28. A golden crown. Made of cardboard coated with gold paper and set with Christmas tree jewels. A more substantial crown can be made of thin sheet brass with all the edges turned like a hem, and trimmed with the inexpensive jewels which come for brass work.

BIG-HEARTED HERBERT

Farce-comedy. 3 acts. By Sophie Kerr & Anna Steese Richardson. 7 males, 6 females. Interior. Modern costumes.

Herbert Kalness, the leading character, is a selfmade man. His success and his belief in himself have unwittingly turned him into a domestic autocrat. Moreover he prides himself on being a plain man and imagines that he lives plainly, though his devoted and charming wife has modernized and decorated their home quite successfully. The day arrives when the daughter of the house becomes engaged, and at a dinner to celebrate the event, Herbert, who has been upset and worried all day about business, has a great big tantrum which even his wife can't excuse. So, the next day, when he proposes to bring his best customer and wife home to dinner--assuring them that he is a plain man--his wife turns the house plain to the nth degree and serves them a plain dinner in the plainest of ways. In a final riotous scene Herbert realizes that he is not so plain, and that his life will be happier if he is more of a father and less of a tyrant.

(Royalty, $25.00.) Price, 75 cents.

FLY AWAY HOME

Comedy. 3 acts. By Dorothy Bennett & Irving White. 7 males, 6 females. Interior. Modern costumes.

A comedy hit on Broadway. The four Masters children, ranging in age from 14 to 19, are enjoying their usual summer sojourn at Provincetown. Without much enthusiasm they are looking forward to the imminent marriage of their mother to the professor who has summered next door. Then word comes that their mother, who is just completing the last two weeks of her contract as dress designer in a Hollywood motion picture studio, has invited their own father to visit them and make arrangements for a divorce. They haven't seen him for twelve years and they are determined he shan't treat them like children. James Masters, the father, comes. Although he has a sense of humor and would sincerely like to make friends with his children, he antagonizes them at once. For a week the father struggles against the professor and his influence. After the various problems have been more or less solved the children suddenly decide that they prefer their own father as a member of the family and set to work in a businesslike way to help him win their mother back.

(Royalty, $25.00.) Price, 75 cents.

ANNE OF GREEN GABLES

L.M. Montgomery's most popular novel, dramatized into a tender and amusing play in 3 acts by Alice Chadwicke. 4 males, 10 females, 1 interior set. Modern costumes.

Mark Twain, the celebrated humorist, was so taken with the quaint charm of L.M. Montgomery's tremendously popular novel that upon reading it for the first time he said: "In 'Anne of Green Gables' you will find the dearest and most moving and delightful girl since the immortal Alice." [Anne is played by a girl in her middle teens.] And for years this fascinating book has headed the list of best sellers. It has been made twice as a movie, once a silent picture and only recently as a talkie, but it has remained for the distinguished dramatist, Alice Chadwicke, to make the first and only dramatization of this magically beautiful story. Green Gables is the home of lovable Matthew Cuthbert and his stern sister, Marilla Cuthbert. Nobody suspects that beneath her hard exterior there lurks a soft and tender heart. When Matthew, after a great deal of reflection, finally decides to adopt an orphan boy to help with his farm work, Marilla grudgingly consents. Through a rattlebrained friend of theirs, one Nancy Spencer, they agree to take a boy from the Hopeton Orphanage. Marilla makes ready to receive the boy and Matthew drives to the station to get him. Fancy his consternation when he finds little Anne Shirley waiting for him! There has been a mistake and Anne has been sent to Green Gables in lieu of a boy whom the Cuthberts plan to adopt. From the instant Anne and Matthew meet a strong attachment grows up between the little orphan and the man who has been starving for affection without realizing it. Anne, with her vivid imagination, her charitable viewpoint, her refreshing simplicity, touches the old bachelor's heart. But not so with Marilla. She determines to send Anne back to the orphanage the following day. But she reckons without Anne who is so enchanted by everything at Green Gables and who cries and begs and pleads so hard to remain that even Marilla finally gives in and consents. Anne is the sort of part that every young girl will adore playing, and the other parts offer splendid opportunities to the various members of the cast. The play breathes of youth, is thoroughly modern in spirit, very simple to prepare and present and Miss Chadwicke has written into it such an abundance of warmth, wit, and motion that it becomes an endless delight.

(Royalty, $25.00.) Price, 75 cents.

GROWING PAINS

Comedy. 3 acts. By Aurania Rouverol. 7 males, 8 females, 1 set (patio). Modern costumes.

Produced originally at the Ambassador Theatre in New York. George and Terry are the son and daughter of Professor and Mrs. McIntyre who struggle valiantly to lead their children through the difficult phases of adolescence, so familiar to us all. Terry is shown outgrowing the tomboy stage, and unable to play with the boys on an equal status. She finds herself thrown back on her feminine resources; and how she tries out her "resources," makes this play an illuminating study of feminine psychology. George McIntyre, the boy adolescent, goes through the customary symptoms of his age--begging his parents for a car--and falling victim of the wiles of Prudence, a successful "vamp" in the neighborhood. At a party George is sent out for some more ice cream. In his rush to get back for his dance with Prudence, he passes a traffic light, and is pursued home by an officer, subsequently is hauled off to jail, loses Prudence, but discovers a new blue-eyed blonde in the neighborhood.

(Royalty, $25.00.) Price, 75 cents.

THE BISHOP MISBEHAVES

Farce-comedy. 3 acts. By Frederick Jackson. 7 males, 3 females. 2 interiors. Modern costumes.

Produced originally by John Golden at the Court Theatre, New York, with Walter Connolly in the leading role. Here is the story of the Bishop, an elderly and saintly dignitary, who stops by accident with his charming and quaint sister at a roadside inn just after there has been a hold-up and robbery. The Bishop has always had a secret love for detective stories and here is a chance to apply some of his choicest solutions. His sister, thrilled with the excitement of it all, eagerly joins in. The Bishop, now playing policeman, gobbles up clews and discovers the stolen jewels. Deftly removing them from a mug on the wall he leaves in their stead, one of his calling cards, and proceeds to his home to await developments. The developments arrive in the form of three ruffians, the masked hero in evening clothes, and the attractive heroine who had engineered the robbery. From now on it is a game of outguessing, turning tables, turning out lights, knife-brandishing, and gun-play, until the Bishop finally emerges triumphant to bestow his blessing on the young hero and charming heroine.

(Royalty, $25.00.) Price, 75 cents.

CHARITY BEGINS

Comedy. 3 acts. By Ireland Wood. 3 males, 7 females. Interior. Modern costumes.

First produced at the Aldwych Theatre in London. The Deveral household consists of old Mrs. Deveral, her middle-aged children--Agnes who is efficient, Emily who is muddle-headed, and Henry who is fussy--and Judy Deveral, her granddaughter. Rodney Walter, Henry's agent, is making love to Judy, and she prefers him to the young and unsophisticated Bobbie Forrester, who also loves her. It is Judy's eighteenth birthday, and her relations feel that it is time to tell her about Aunt Catherine, the black sheep of the family, who is supposed to have run off with another woman's husband. It is the day of the village bazaar, and amid a lot of hustle and bustle Catherine enters--the prodigal daughter most inopportunely returned! As the day progresses Old Mrs. Deveral becomes fractious, the Fête entertainment falls through and Judy decides to run away with the unpleasant Rodney. Things are going from bad to worse when Catherine steps in. She pacifies her mother, gives a talk on her experiences to the Village audience, and convinces Judy that Bobbie is nicer than Rodney. We hear, incidentally, that she never actually eloped with her Philip after all.

(Royalty, $15.00.) Price, 75 cents.

THE GHOST FLIES SOUTH

Comedy. 3 acts. By Frederick Jackson. 4 males, 7 females. Interior. Modern costumes.

Anita and Diana, who have been reared to regard gambling as something of a major vice, decide to gamble on the stock market regardless, and with beginner's luck they win four hundred thousand dollars. In order to keep Morgan, an anti-gambling addict and Anita's fiancé, from discovering the situation they tell him that the money was left Anita by an Uncle William who died in the west. The little lies grow beyond the control of the two girls in an amusing series of climaxes. Most amusing and concerned is Grandma, who has to be convinced that she had a son William. Morgan finally sees a flaw and hires a cowboy and an Indian squaw--actors--to come and blackmail Anita for half the money. They are to represent William's partner and wife. Anita realizes what Morgan has done, so she scares the two with threats and they leave. She then tells Morgan that she gave them the money, but he can't find them. Finally the situation is cleared, and Anita is conceded to be very clever indeed.

(Royalty, $25.00.) Price, 75 cents.

SPRING DANCE