The Mapleson Memoirs, 1848-1888, vol IIMapleson, James Henry
History
The Mapleson Memoirs, 1848-1888, vol II
Mapleson, James Henry
Opera -- England -- London; Opera -- United States
To describe the appearance of the house would be impossible. The
toilettes of the ladies were charming. Many were in white, and nearly
all were sparkling with diamonds. In the top gallery people were
literally on the heads of one another, and on sending up to ascertain
the cause, as the numbers were still increasing, the inspector
ascertained that boards had been placed from the top of an adjoining
house on to the roof of the Opera-house, from which the slates had been
taken off; and numbers were dropping one by one through the ceiling on
to the heads of those who were seated in the gallery.
Patti, of course, was smothered with bouquets, and the Italian residents
of the city sent a huge globe of violets, supported on two ladders, with
the Italian and American flags hanging over each side. At the end of
each act huge stands and forms of flowers were sent up over the
footlights and placed on the stage. To name the fashionable people in
the audience would be to go over the invitation lists of the balls given
in the very best houses in the city. It would be useless to describe a
performance of _la Diva_, with which everyone is already familiar.
Galassi, the baritone, made a great success; and in the gambling scene
an elegant ballet was introduced, led by little Mdlle. Bettina de
Sortis. Chief Crowley reported that it would require 200 extra police to
keep order the next day. On going through the tickets in the treasury,
we discovered upwards of 200 bogus ones taken at the door. These
counterfeits were so good, even to the shade of colour, that it was
almost impossible to detect the difference from the real ones; the
public having smashed into the opera as if shot from howitzers. Several
ladies declared that their feet had never even touched the ground from
the time they got out of their carriages; and it was with difficulty
that the tickets were snatched from them as they passed. Many who had
paid for standing room brought little camp stools concealed under their
clothes, and afterwards opened them out, placing them in the main
passage ways. Had any panic occurred, or any alarm of fire, many lives
must have been sacrificed.
Of course the blame for all this was put upon me. The next day there
were low mutterings of discontent all over the city against my
management, whilst the newspapers were unanimous in attacking me, some
of their articles being headed "The Opera Swindle."
The following day I was arrested at half-past two o'clock by Detective
Bowen, on a sworn warrant from Captain Short, for violating Section 49
of the Fire Ordinance of the city and county, in allowing the passage
ways to be blocked up by the use of camp stools and overcrowding, the
penalty for such violation being a fine of not less than 500 dollars,
together with imprisonment for not less than six months.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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