Escape For The Gallery

An oíd time theatrical advance agent told me this amusiug incident which oocurred in London, England, at the first production of the opera "Faust" in the Drury Lañe theatre: "The original Faust was taken sick in the evening and could not appear in the title role. An under study, whose name was not revealed, was chosen for the part. He was a first class tenor, but was a very stout man, weighing about 240 ponnds. In the last act, where Marguerite lies dead on the floor, and Faust descends through a trap door amid lurid flames, the trap in this instance, being very small, was not large enough to let the under study through. The stage hands underneath pulled their utmost on the legs of the substitute, but to no avail. There was breathless silence in the audience at the awkward pause, which was soon broken by a voice in the gallery exclaiining in ashrill tone, 'Hurrah, fellows! We'resafe! The hot place is full