§ 151 The Reunion of the Aged
There is a certain musical comedy star who is not quite so young as she once was. During the season of 1923 she headed a road show. Business at times was not especially good and the tempers of the troupers suffered. Relations became somewhat strained between the prima donna and certain members of the chorus.
This friction was at its height when the company began a week’s engagement in a middle Western city. The theatre was old-fashioned and somewhat primitive in its appointments behind stage. For example, the dressing-rooms were no better than overgrown stalls. The walls between them ran up only part way toward the ceilings so that voices in one of these cubicles might plainly be heard by those beyond the separating half-partitions.
For the opening performance the house was no more than two thirds filled, and the audience, for some reason or other, seemed rather unresponsive. The leading lady was not in a particularly happy frame of mind as she sat in her dressing-room after the final curtain, removing her make-up. Next door several members of the chorus were shifting to street dress.
There came a knock at the star’s door.
“Who is it and what do you want?” she demanded sharply.
“It’s the house manager, Miss ——,” came the answer. “There’s a lady out front who’d like very much to see you.”
“I’m not receiving visitors to-night,” said Miss —— rather acidly. “Who is this lady?”
“She tells me that she thinks you’ll be glad to see her. She says that she was a chum of yours when you were at high school. Shall I show her in?”
Over the dividing wall came floating the voice of a catty chorus-lady:
“Wheel her in!”