HEARTRENDING MELODRAMA.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 806, 2 May 1910, Page 3

HEARTRENDING MELODRAMA.

Oscar Aschtwaa once playing in a .town in the English provinces. Having a night off, he went, with two or three friends, to the other theatre in the town, and, ■presenting his card, asked the manager to oblige him with a box. The managerexplained that lie was not opening the boxes that night, but, he added, humorously, "I can give - you the whole of the dress circle/' Into the dress circle the party were accordingly shown, and they sat there undisturbed by other occupants during the performance of the melodrama which formed the evening's entertainment. One scene of that melodrama was a tangled jungle, in which a dozen bulrushes did duty for the rank undergrowth, through which the starving hero forced his way. "When he got'into the centre of the stage he looked round helplessly, and bemoaned his lot, finally exclaiming that he was alone in all that dreary wilderness. At that moment the starved heroine, ■ who had spent days of anguish roaming about the forest, entered. She was dressed in blue satin, 'as near the height of< fashion as the scanty resources of the salary list allowed, and in her hair, which was done in the most approved style, there glittered a tiara of diamonds. She advanced to the hero, and striking an attitude, exclaimed: "You are wrong, Reginald, lie and J eaven arc 'ere."