ls and subordinates, put the show across,
and been on hand to see the results.

Spread here before you is the story of just how I organize, coach,
develop and handle an amateur company in a musical comedy or revue
performance to occupy a full evening's time on a theatre stage; from
the first "call" of an untrained troupe of inexperienced actors to
the final curtain of the actual, completed performance.

[Illustration: MOONLIGHT BALLET, FOLLIES OF 1923]

First of all, I make a call for anyone and everyone who would like to
take part in the entertainment. This call is usually made in a hall,
sometimes in the ballroom of a hotel, but usually in a large hall
where there is a good floor and a piano. I always have a pianist in
attendance.

I take the people who are going to take part in the ensemble first and
arrange them according to their height, always having the shortest
person to my left. Sometimes a great many people will try out for a
thing of this kind. I have had as many as three and four hundred at
many of the calls, and possibly more than that. I have always arranged
them, as I say, from my left according to their height.

Then I get them to stand in a huge semi-circle before me, as large a
semi-circle as the hall will permit, and if I have too many for that
one semi-circle, I put the others behind them into other semi-circles.
I begin by placing my first semi-circle shoulder to shoulder. I watch
their shoulder heights and their head-lines all the way along the
semi-circle. The semi-circle will begin at my left, cover the whole
side of the hall--whichever is the longest side--and the end of the
semi-circle will be at my extreme right. I have my table and chair in
the center, but near the wall opposite this semi-circle. The pianist I
usually have on my left-hand side, if it is convenient. He must have
his piano turned in such a position that by looking slightly over his
shoulder he can see me as well as the group.

I number the entire group, beginning with number one and running
consecutively from my left as far as they will go. Then they are
required to sit down in the same order. Each person must have a seat
and they occupy the same seat at each call, after the elimination
process. Before I do anything else I have their names taken, with
addresses and telephone numbers; the first and last names directly
opposite the number that I have given them. Then they stand up and I
arrange them in straight lines acros