The Omaha Sunday Bee
PART TWO
EDITORIAL
PAftF? ONE TO TWELVF
PART TWO
SOCIETY
PAGES ONE TO TWELVE
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VOL. XLOT NO. 41.
When the Gallery of the Boyd Theater Held
iACK in the halcyon days when Nat
LnijWiStoUBnjy a allghy married
man, and wnen tne uuoert and Sul
livan operas were'still reaping a har
vest, a band of young "highbrows"
In Omaha organized what for ten
oiuujui years was known as the Organized Gal
lery Gods. Thero wero about thirty .in tho band.
Their purpose was to redeem tho gallery from its
reputation of being infested with "lowbrows"-
and incidentally, of course, to secure front-row
gallery accommodations when high-class shows 1
came to the old Boyd ' th'eater
"We impressed the management by our num
bers," said L. Earl Hlgglns, manager of a local
cigar store, who was a charter member of the
organization. "Andthey could always depend on
us being there the first night. Sometimes wo had
to fight for the front seats, but we always won
with one deplorable exception and we cleaned up
the rowdyism of tho gallory and taught the peo
ple that Henry Irving' was about right when he
said ho always played to the gallery, knowing ho
would be a success if he pleased (hem."
Nat Goodwin was one actor who was not favor
ably impressed by the Gallery Gods. Those worthy
highbrows wero hovering in line, with their
"steadies" well in tho front, on Nat's opening
night. The great, actor cluttered up in a cab. tho
auto being one of the things then unknown. The
' Gallery Gods recognized him,, and as had been pre
, viouBly decided, they called out and notified him
' he would o.expected to make a speech. Nat lookcn
i up from Under a rakishly tilted cap, viewed he
young bucks rather scornfully and replied:
, "Speech? Lak hell!"
When the actor's state of mind became known
later in the gallery known to all tho "gods" and
their friends, acquaintances r.nd associates thero
' was conceived a devilish plan. At the end of the
second act tho clamor for a speech began. Nat
, came forward and bowed gracefully. At the sec
. ond curtain call ho waa yet more grateful, and
' his benignant face was wreathed in smiles; at the
third call he was fairly beaming; at 'the fourth
' his smile began to fade; at the next his smile be
came fixed; finally he looked decidedly bored and
at last got rather vulgarly angry. But tho clap
ping continued and the cry of "speech" went right
on during the entire Intermission. But Nat won.
He remained speechless.
Many of the Gallery Gods "suped." If niob3,
soldiers or simple villagers were .equired, the
manager' gave the gods preference. And so when
the all-star cast of "Tho Two Orphans" played, a
larger number took super parts. In the first att
Vof "The Two Orphans" the scene shows the river
Seine flowing placidly in the background. The
crowd of supes were dispersing after their stunt
when Verner Fensch, now in the Philippines with
the Pacific Commercial company, walked right out
on the water and was unaware of the fact until
a frantic stage manager grasped him by the collar
and demanded to know if he "thought he could
walk on water."
Tom O'Connor, present police court cleik of
Omgha, was a regular "god," but he ceased ti
"supe" after he bad supported Richard Mansfield.
The famous penchant for wrath by the mighty
Mansfield was unknown to' the accommodating
Tom, but a cruel fate opened his eyes. During one
of Mansfield's most "touchy" scenes, tho awkward
O'Connor ran across the actor's path, bumped lntJ
him and spoiled the high solemnity of the oc
casion. Mansfield made it a point of personal
privilege to tell the young buck what he thought
of him, and the Gallery Gods say the language
n. J ff'EIlte' eJllL !i j i'i f 'Jill 1
was quite Unprintable, although most picturesque.
"Never darken theso doors again, sir," Mansfield
shouted, and thenceforth O'Connor heeded that
warning, and his stage career concluded Ignomln
ously. The big mob scene in "Tho Pit" called for 100
supers and the Gallery Gods were thero in force
Wilton Lackaye had a strong sceno, the same being
a rough-and-tumblo fight, which td the audionco
was one terrific struggle, ending with awful car
nage. George Stover, a Gallery God, now claim
agent for tho Burlington railroad, waa fighting
in the front of tho mob when ho mot the wild
eyed Lackaye. Yells of "Soak him," "Kill him,"
"Smash him," wore sounding on every sldo. and
Lackaye made tho fight most real. He planted
Stover botweon tho eyes, and tho maddonod Stover
was rushing to retaliate, when fellow-supers el
bowed him out of Lackaye'a path.
It waa in "Tho County Chairman" that tho
Gallery Gods won a reputation aa scrappers. In
tho mob sceno In that play such a rough honse
was started by two members who "got sore" be
cause they wero treated with too liftlo considera
tion, that tho stago manager had to ring down tho
curtain. Tho fight was finished with much noise,
while the audience waited for the play to proceed.
Sometimes tho best-laid plans of the Gallery
Gods would be disrupted and then followed nerve
racking procedure. When the musical comedy -"Woodland"
played, the Gallery Gods, -who had
kept their men in line all day in order-to -buy
first seats and get in tho front row were con
fronted with an equal number of united students
from Crelghton college, also determined to secure
first row. Earl Schaeffer, now dead: heed
Hanchett, now a traveling salesman; Clarence
Bonce, now of the treasurer's department of the
I'nion Pacific; Clyde Rock, now manager for the
Western Buyers' association, and Higglns
held a conference, but it was one-legged Tony
Ccnstanzo who had the bright idea. Tony hobbled
up the stairs, talked turkey to the tlcketman, and
just before the sale of tickets started, being known
to the ticket man, got by, stretched his crutches
across as many seats as he could In the front row
and held the fort until his gang came, bringing
his ticket and relief.
On another occasion, when Blanche Walsh wan
playing in "Resurrection," tho "gods" had but one
man at the head of the line when the management
passed around word that but one ticket would oo
OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 29,
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' HnltttniTrmnTmi,nl
sold-to a person. It had been the custom for ono
of the gang to purchase, tickets for all. As before,
one man was sent up to hold the seats. He held
them, but a lively row was raging when the rest
of the "gods"-arrived and settled it by taking pos
session of the seats ho had held by force.
When "Ben Hur" came, tho waiting crowds
in tha gallery line extended for several b!0ck3.
The Jam on the stairs leading into the gallery be
came uncontrollable and the doors were broken
down, and the Gallery Gods wero given permis
sion to ".use their fists," which they did to good
advantage. The crowd wrb attempting to break
into the gallery without paying, because the con
gestion was so great about the ticket window.
During this disturbance Jack Ryan, the only ono
of the Gallery Gods who became an honest-to-goodness
actor, waB arrested, but the "gods" se
cured bis release, in time for the first curtain.
Questionable strategy had to bo employed a
time or two by the Gallery Gods. Thus, when it
became known that a man at the head of tho line
was buying tickets for a big gang, Stover hired a
messenger to rush to the waiting man with a llffr-and-death
telegram, and the man left his place
1914.
in lino to answer tho call. That was the last suon
of him that night.
Tho ono time that tho Gallery Gods suffered
defeat was when the Boyd management permitted
a lnrgo number of women to go into tho front
row seats in the gallery. The "godB" had stood in
line since early morning, and so they were peeved
and "struck." They refused to budge and refused
to buy tickets. The line, a block long, was hold
up by King Reed Hanehett's orders. Kddlo Mon
oghan, then house manager, was called, and In
turn called W. J. Burgess. Mr. Burgess arrived
at 8:15, expressed his regret that his regular pa
trons should havo been treated with such Brant
courtesy and assured them it would novor happen
again. And it didn't.
Songs, teamwork and Imitations of famous
actors becamo one of tho order's specialties. Aus
tin Braun, now manager for a luigo lumber com
pany, and Stover, specialized in a Montgomery &
Rtono take-off and were a "scream" as tho "Scare
crow" and "Tin Woodman." A quartet compospd
of Morris Wallerstedt now In Los Angeles; Stover,
Braun and Fensch, could "'pull off" anything from
grand opera to ragtime. Bonce waB the Irish
SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS.
Real "Gods"
comedian and Hlgglns was- the Shakespearean,
characterise
Slowly tho order lost its strength and dissolu
tion was inevitable. Some of thoso who belonged
to it and havo not been mentioned were, Bnn
Benson, son of E. A. BonBon, now a ranch foreman
in Florida; Roy Miner, who has strayed away to
whore the "gods" know not; Albert Hancock, pres
ent claim agout for the Union Pacific railroad;
Ous Toman, with the Cudahy Packing company;
Floyd Rathburn, now In the automobile business
in Chicago, Cnrl Hahn, with the Oregon Short
Line, at Salt Lake City; AI Goebol now In New
Orleans; George Perry, now with a crockery con
cern; Cecil Wllliama and Art Williams, printers;
Ralph Howard, in the Insurance misiness.
Although the Gallery Gods have strayed to
strange countries tho majority of them havo kept
up a correspondence, and a plan for a big reunion
Is being made. This plan would call for support
from "Old" Cooper, the Boyd's former gallery
ticket man, if he were alive and knew of it, for
he was tho "gods" chief go-between, and so much
did they appreciate him that before the order dis
banded ho waB presented with a fine gold watch.
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