well to remember if you ever become a member of
any theatrical business or mechanical staff:

If you have occasion to purchase anything for the show or theatre at
any time, be sure to get the company's stage manager's OK, or order or
voucher of some kind in advance. It is an invariable rule of the craft
that any purchase of over five cents made without this formal sanction
will not be paid by the management, but will be considered as a
donation--however involuntary--on your part.

There is one very important man behind the curtain at every
performance on every stage, whose rule is arbitrary and absolute, and
who is not on the company payroll. This is the house fireman, a city
officer, with the power of the city and state behind him. The fire
regulations are posted in plain sight on every stage. "No smoking" is
one peremptory order that admits of no violation. Woe unto the actor
or actress, principal or chorus girl, who tries to sneak a smoke in a
dressing room, if found out! The fireman is using his nose as well as
his eyes, and the familiar odor of a surreptitious cigarette will lead
him straight to the culprit. Mr. Fireman is authorized by law to enter
any dressing room under such circumstances, and no matter what the
state of your toilet, he will exercise his authority, enter your
room--and remove you forthwith. Fine or imprisonment, or both, are the
legal penalties for violation of the no smoking law, and for using a
flame or canned fuel, in most theatres. Principals have before now
been taken off the stage in the midst of a performance and landed in
jail, necessitating the dismissal of the audience. It is a mighty
important man who can do a thing like that, and consequently the
fireman commands the profoundest respect of every member of every
company, from the chief all the way down the line.

No man is ever employed back of the curtain line in any first class
theatre who is not known to be of good character. Those who are old in
the theatrical business know this fact. If you harbor any other idea
of these men, get it right out of your mind. Every theatre manager
today demands that his employees be qualified in respect to character
as well as in ability.

Now that I have taken you back of the curtain line and out into the
front office and shown you just how the wheels go 'round that make the
show go, you have become aware that there is something more in the
theatre business than a mere group of good actors and