Exit, Stage Left - Theatre Etymology - Part 34

When most people hear "Exit, stage left," they probably think of the pink mountain lion, Snagglepuss, that was created by Hanna-Barbera. It wouldn't be surprising since that is one of his catchphrases, the other being "Heavens to Murgatroyd!" The phrase "Exit, stage left," has come to mean quite a few things instead of just the typical exiting off of a stage.

Here are a few possible meanings of the phrase:

• An uneventful, orderly departure that is timed so it does not distract or detract from the situation.
• To disappear or exit from a place in a non-dramatic fashion so more interesting events can take place.
• To leave the scene without making a fuss.
• A timely departure meant to not draw attention to one's self.
• Literally exiting a stage from stage left.
• A phrase said to somebody when you want them to leave (although this is slang and may not truly be a popular usage).

The phrase obviously comes from the theatre in stage directions that would read, "Exit, stage left." However, unlike some people think, it does not come from Shakespeare. The stage instructions in his play The Winter's Tale are not, "Exit, stage left, persued by a bear." They are only "Exit, persued by a bear." In fact, Shakespeare does not have which way actors should exit the stage and only uses "Exit" or "Exeunt."

The word exit partly comes from the Latin word exitus meaning act or means of going out. This is equivalent to the prefix exi- which is a variant stem of exīre meaning to go out and the suffix -tus which makes an action verb. The word stage comes from the Old French word estage or the French word étage. These come from the Vulgar Latin word staticum meaning “standing place.” This is equivalent to stat having us added to the end, so it become status. This is considered a neuter of staticus and static. The word left, when used as a directional word comes from the Middle English word left, lift, or luft, or the Old English word left meaning idle, weak, or useless. It may also come from the Kentish form of lyft- (in lyftādl palsy). This is comparable to the Dutch and Low German word lucht which is akin to Middle English word libbe meaning to castrate. This is comparable to the Dutch and Low German word lubben.

The phrase has no been used to title books and musical albums. Snagglepuss is supposed to be a great actor. Because of this, it is interesting that when he said, "Exit, stage left!" he didn't always exit stage left. In this short clip, he actually exits stage right.

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Comedy of Errors - Theatre Etymology - Part 33

When most people hear the phrase a comedy of errors, they probably think, "Oh, that's a Shakespeare play." They would be correct. However, the phrase has more of a meaning that just a title of a Shakespeare play. It means an event or a series of events with so many mistakes or errors made during them that it made the entire time ridiculous.

Sometimes the phrase is used to refer to a series of awkward missteps rather than out-right mistakes, although they are technically the same thing in this case. For those who would first say that the phrase came from the title of Shakespeare's play. In the play, a series of mistakes is what happens over the day it takes place. Shakespeare's play tells the story of two sets of identical twins who were separated at birth. Of course, this leads to a series of misunderstandings, especially since each identical twin bears the same name as the other and the only way the difference between them is known is that they are followed by "of city name."

Shakespeare's play was written in 1600. The word comedy comes from the Middle English word comedye which comes from the Medieval Latin word cōmēdia or the Latin word cōmoedia which comes from the Greek word kōmōidía. The Greek word kōmōidía is the equivalent to the Greek words kōmōid(ós) meaning comedian, and kômo(s) added to aoidós meaning merry-making added to singer. The word error comes from the Middle English word errour which comes from the Latin stem errōr-. By now, the phrase has been used to name other books, articles, and musical albums.

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Change of Scene - Theatre Etymology - Part 32

Most people know that a change of scene means to go somewhere different in order to get a different experience of view. It can be short term such as leaving one's house to go to a restaurant or library and coming back, or it could be long term such as moving from one country to another. It can also mean a new way of thinking.

It probably isn't a surprise that this phrase comes from the theatre unless you have never heard of theatre. Obviously, when the set (or scenery) became different for a part in a play, that was a change of scenery. This obvious still happens in the theatre, but it does not happen like it used and sometimes it doesn't need to happen at all in plays today. In his 1908 book Significant Etymology or Roots, Stems, and Branches of the English Language, The Very Rev. James Mitchell, M.A., D.D. wrote, "The scene originally was part of the stage of a theatre on which the actors perform; and there were scene-painters and scene-shifters. But as such wings and scenes are scarcely used now, we have not so much change of scene as formerly." However, it is not clear exactly what he means.

Today, the term change of scene is also applied to television and films. In these media, a change of scene can take place much faster than in live theatre because of camera effects and digital effects. Characters may literally jump from being at the fairgrounds to suddenly riding in an airplane.

It is interesting to note that the German word verwandlung meaning transformation can be used to mean change of scene when in the theatre. Then, there is the French word dépayser which means to leave your comfort zone. It basically translates into the English words to decountrify, so it is a removal from a country. This is meaning that one has to get used to new things like suddenly being in a new place with no preperation, so it is a complete change of scene.

The word change, when used as a verb, comes from the Middle English word cha(u)ngen which comes from the Anglo-French or the Old French word changer which comes from the Late Latin word cambiāre or the Latin word cambīre meaning to exchange. When it is used as a noun, the word change comes from the Middle English word cha(u)nge which comes from the Anglo-French or Old French derivitive of the verb noun derivative of the verb changer. The origin of the word scene can be found in the post about a greedy scene.

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Star-queller - Theatre Etymology - Part 31

A star-queller sounds like it is some type of device that puts out the light of a star. However, that is not what the term means. A star-queller is actually a performer whose bad acting ruin a performance and may worry the lead actor. If the lead actor is distracted, this could quell his stardom.

It is thought that the theatrical term comes from around 1880-1910. However, it is interesting that it does not seem to appear in print, though. The only time that it appears in print when not as a term that is defined is in 1906 in a book by John Gurdon called Dramatic Lyrics in a poem called "Herse." It is about Herse, the goddess of dew, daughter of Selene and Zeus. Part of the poem reads, "Fair shining star-queller, the horns of thy crescent drawn close, from thy quiver."

The theatrical definition of star-queller is first found in 1937 in Fair shining star-queller, the horns of thy crescent drawn close, from thy quiver by Eric Partridge, edited by Paul Beale. It says that a star-queller is "an actor whose imperfect acting mars that of better actors. In 1952, the term star-queller is defined as "A clumsy actor whose slow movements and bad acting worry the leading player, star role. See star part, stellar role" in A Dictionary of Theatrical Terms by Wilfred Granville.

The same definition by Eric Partridge appeared again in 1973 in the sixth edition of The Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang. Then in 2015, star-queller is defined as " player whose bad business spoils the efforts of better players." in volume six of Slang and Its Analogues, Past and Present, A Dictionary Historical and Comparative of the Heterodox Speech of All Classes of Society for More Than Three Hundred Years; With Synonyms in English, French, German, Italian, Etc.; Rea to Stozzle by John Stephen Farmer with contributions by W.E. Henley.

The term was again defined in 2017 in Volume II - L to Z of A Dictionary of Sang, Jargon & Cant - Embracing English, American, and Aglo-Indian Slang, Pidgin English, Gypsies' Jargon and Other Irregular Phraseology. It once again defines the term as, "is a term applied to an actor whose imperfect acting mars that of better actors."

The word star comes from the Middle English word sterre or the Old English word steorra. The can be compared with the Old High German word sterra which is akin to the Old High German word sterno, the Old Norse word stjarna, the Gothic word stairno, the Latin word stella, the Greek word astḗr, and Sanskrit word stṛ. Queller is the noun form of the verb quell. The word quell comes from the Middle English word quellen or the Old English word cwellan meaing to kill. These are akin to Old Norse word kvelja meaning to torment and the German word quälen meaning to vex.

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Desultory - Theatre Etymology - Part 30

If somebody is desultory, that means that they do not have a plan or they are jumping around from subject to subject. Today, it is more likely that a person would be called scatterbrained. Desultory, however, can also be applied to things like lessons, meetings, papers, or other tangible or intangible items. They may not have a definite plan. They may not be connected with the main subject or they ay be disappointing in a performance, consistency, progress, or quality.

While desultory is a great word to be used rather than calling a person scatterbrained, that does not cover the origin of the word. The word desultory originates in the theatre. It goes all the way back to the 1570s or 1580s.

The Latin word dēsultōrius was used to mean pertaining to a dēsultor (a circus rider who jumps from one horse to another). This is equivalent to dēsul-, which is a variant stem of dēsilīre meaning to jump down (dē- de- + -silīre, combining form of salīre to leap) plus -tōrius -tory. -Tory is a suffix occurring in loanwords from Latin. It could also form adjectival derivatives directly from verbs (obligatory; transitory).

Some sources say that when a rider jumped from horse to horse, they were galloping. It is the idea of jumping from one horse to another was later applied to jumping from one idea to another. Some words with related etymologies are somersault, sally, and result.

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Marvin's Room in Lake Charles for Seven More Performances

A woman sits on a park bench in Disneyworld. She told the rest of her family to go enjoy one of the other attractions without her as she wanted to rest. Suddenly, she coughs into a handkerchief and as she looks into it, she sees that she's coughed up blood. Suddenly, she falls to the ground because she fainted.

The next thing that is known is that she awakes and doesn't know where she is. Her sister tells her that she is in the lost children's hut. This is just one of the episodes that deals with family drama in Marvin's Room. In the play, Marvin, an elderly father, has suffered two strokes and one of his daughters, Bessie, takes care of him. Bessie's Aunt Ruth also lives with them. Bessie is diagnosed with leukemia and her sister and her sons come down to Florida from Ohio to find out of their bone marrow matches Bessie's. However, these are only a few of the trials faced in the play.

Marvin's Room is currentlySadler playing at The Lake Charles Little Theatre. Jo Ann Hanks is wonderful as Bessie. You can see that she definitely pours her emotion into her acting. This is also true of Ellie Marqeuz whoe plays Ruth and Carson Turgeon who plays Hank.

A sad play usually doesn't work well without comic relief. This provided by Kevin Driscoll who plays Dr. Way and Dan Sadler who plays Bob. Of course, the rest of the cast is wonderful, too. Lee, Bessie's sister, is played by Stacy Solak. Dr. Charlotte is played by Leslie Harless. Cole Becton plays Charlie and Heather Phillips plays the retirement home director. The production of this play is directed by James Johnson and is dedicated to Jo Ann Rigney.

Other crew members are Katy Cole (assisstant director), Johnathon Richards (Lighting Advior), Jordan Coe (Light Operator), Cameron Scallon (Sound Operator), James Johnson (Set Design), Heather Partin (Costume Design), Kevin Driscoll (Hair & Makeup), Rebecca Harris (Box Office), and James Johnson (Concessions Manager). Set construction was done by Dan Sadler, Randy Partin, and the cast and crew. The stage crew consists of Hunter Becton, Christopher Marshall, Jaylon Williams, and Quaid Nichols.

The production can be seen seven more times at The Lake Charles Little Theatre. The dates are as follows:

• Sunday, October 14, 2018 at 2pm
• Friday, October 19, 2018 at 7:30pm
• Saturday, October 20 at 7:30pm
• Sunday, October 21 at 2pm
• Friday, October 26 at 7:30pm
• Saturday, October 27 at 7:30pm
• Sunday, October 28 at 2pm

Tickets for the show can be bought online at Vendini for Marvin's Room at The Lake Charles Little Theatre.

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Flabberdegaz - Theatre Etymology - Part 29

Flabberdegaz sounds like a name for an old man that does nonsensical things. While you might call an old man like that a flabberdegaz, the real meaning of the word is basically flubbed lines in a performance of a play. These can take many forms. An actor may forget lines and make up other lines. It may be that the actors uses lots of filler lines like er and uh. Flabberdegaz can also be applied to the actor himself. It is thought that instead of flabberdegaz, sometimes the term Marjo McFluffer was used.

The word comes from the late 19th and early 20th century. It was defined as "Words interpoated to dissemble a lapse of memory; gag. Also, imperfect utterance or bad acting" in the 1890 book Slang and its Analogues Past and Present: A Dictionary Historical and Comparatie of the Heterodox Speech of All Classes of Years With Synonyms in English, French, German, Italian, Etc. The book was either a.nonymously written or written by somebody who went by John . The term was defined again in 1897 in the first volume (A-K) of A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant Embracing English, American, and Anglo-Indian Slang, Pidgin English, Gypsies' Jargon, and Other Irregular Phraseology. The book was compiled and edited by Albert Barrere and Charles G. Leland.

It was defined again in 1918 in the fifth volume of The American Dialect Society's Dialect Notes when it gave the defintion as, "Talk; vain imaginings in speech." It said it was a general term, but that by 1918, it was aso a rare term. However, sixteen years later, flabberdegaz was defined as "nonsensical talk" in A Dictionary of American Slang by Maurice Weseen.

It wasn't defined again until 1973 when The Routeledge Dictionary of Historical, Sixth Edition by Eric Partridge, abridged by Jacqueline Simpson wrote that it means "a gag or stop-gap words; a pice of bad acting or instance of imperfect utterance." The word wasn't defined again until 2005 when it was defined as "vain imaginingss in speech" and was said to come from the Pacific Northwest. Informal English: Puncture Ladies, Egg Harbors, Mississippi Marlbes, and Other Curious Words and Phrases of North America by Jeffery Kacirk says that this definition come from a source with the name Lehman.

The origin of the word is not certain, but it is thought that it may come from the nonce word (a word coined and used only for a particular occasion) flabberdegasky or the word flabbergast. Flabbergast means "to overcome with surprise and bewilderment" or "to astound." It is a variant of the word flabagast which is thought to have come from the words flabby and aghast. Flabby comes from an alteration of flappy or the Middle English flabband meaning attested once. Flappy is the adjective form of the word flap. Flap comes from the Middle English word flappe meaning a bloe or a slap or the Middle English word flappen meaning to hit or to slap. This can be compared to the Dutch words flap and flappen.

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Front of House - Theatre Etymology - Part 28

Front of house sounds like it refers to the front door and windows of a house, one where a person would walk up and knock on the door so a person could answer. However, that is not what front of house means. Front of house is a theatrical term. It refers to any part of the theatre that patrons can regularly access. This pretty much means any part of the theatre except for the stage and dressing rooms.

Front of House has also become a term in the restaurant industry meaning positions that work with patrons. These positions can be servers, seaters, bartenders, and cashiers. All of these people deal directly with patrons. In a theatre, the front of house manager usually deals with directing lobby traffic, organizing all volunteers such as ushers, and making sure the front of house is a welcoming place. Other people that work in the front of house may be ushers and those who sell tickets.

Sometimes there are people such as front of house mixers or front of house audio and lighting crews. They people obviously work with the lights and the sounds for a show. They can be both for theatrical productions and musical concerts. The front of house personnel are important because they are the first people that patrons see when walking into a venue.

It is not certain when the term front of house originated, but it is known that circa 15 B.C., Vitruvius wrote De Architectura in which he admonished people who made theatrical productions to select a site that produced good acoustics and was .ealthy for the audience. The word front comes from the Middle English word frount or front which comes from Anglo-French or Old French which comes from the Latin word front- (stem of frōns) meaning. forehead, brow, or front. You can find the origin for the word house in the post for Bring the House Down.

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To Play To The Gas - Theatre Etymology - Part 27

n this day, if somebody says, "to play to the gas," it sounds like a car term. After all, there are things that happen with cars or trucks and they are said to add play to the gas pedal. However, the phrase to play to the gas is thought to have meant to make just enough money to get by, meaning that a theatrical production made just enough money so people were literally able to play their gas bills.

However, that exact definition does not seem to be found. In the fifth volume of Slang and its analogues past and present. A dictionary, historical and comparative of the heterodox speech of all classes of society for more than three hundred years. With synonyms in English, French, German, Italian, etc by John Stephen and William Earnest, "to play to the gas" is said to mean to play to small audiences. This was published some time between 1890 and 1904.

It is interesting that the phrase then appears in a 1906 Dutch publication known as Tall en Lettern. This means Language and Arts and seems to be by J.M.N. Kapteijn. The Dutch phrase is "Voor stoelen e n banken spelen" which translates to "Play chairs and sofas." However, it is not listed as that translation in English in the publication. Instead, it says that the phrase is the equivalent of "to play to the gas." It would seem that this is supporting that the phrase actually means to play to small audiences as it sounds like playing to chairs and sofas was something that was probably done in homes of people who held theatre there and thus had sitting rooms with a few chairs and one or a few sofas for friends.

It seems that the next time the phrase appears in recorded print is in 1933 in the book Earl Derr Biggers Tells Ten Stories by Earl Derr Biggers. It is said to have come from the October 7, 1922 edition of The Saturday Evening Post in a story called "Moonlight at the Crossroads." He wrote that one of his characters was talking to another called Maynard and said, "My dear sir, you can never appreciate the life I got into. For a short time all went well; then the houses fell off. We didn't play to the gas. Our salaries stopped, our pitiful luggage was seized for hotel bills, we ate but rarely. Somehow, we struggled on. I had never dreamed such misery could exist in the world. We managed to reach Dublin, and there my resistance gave out. I wired a friend for money to go home." This part of the story does have to do with people in the theatre and seems to support the phrase "to play to the gas" meaning to make enough money to get by.

The phrases can make sense when put together. Actors may have played to the gas, meaning a small audience that paid just enough for them to make enough money to pay the gas bill or make whatever they needed to get by. The phrase could have also changed meaning over the years as language does tend to change.

The word play has many definitions. When it is a noun, the word play seems to come from the Middle English noun pleye or the Old English nounn plega. When it is a verd, the word play seem to come from the Middle English verb pleyen or the Old English verb pleg(i)an. This can be comared to the Middle Dutch word pleien meaning to leap for joy, dance, rejoice, be glad.

The word gas was coined between 1650-1660 by the Flemish chemist J.B. van Helmont. It is thought that he coined the word based on the Greek word cháos meaning atmosphere.

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Gin and Fog - Theatre Etymology - Part 26

 Gin and fog sounds like it might refer to special effects used in the theatre as a term akin to smoke and mirrors. However, that isn't the case. The term gin and fog, or sometimes written gin-and-fog, refers to hoarseness caused due to heavy drinking the previous night. A dictionary of words and phrases from the past says that a voice would have a peculiar quality of "fruitiness" and says that the term comes from around 1880 via the theatre.

However, the earliest reference that seems to appear actually comes from 1841 in the second volume of a book called Merrie England In The Olden Time by George Daniel. He wrote, "'Now my little lads and lasses! Shut one eye, and don't breathe on the glasses! Here's Nero a-fiddling while Rome was a-burning—and Cin-cinnatus a-digging potatoes. Here's Sampson and the Phillis-tines—Cain and Abel, and the Tower of Babel.' This was sounded by a gaunt fellow (a stronger man than Sampson, for he lugged him in by the head and shoulders!) with a gin-and-fog voice and a bristly beard. His neighbour, a portly ogress with a Cyclopical physiognomy (her drum 'most tragically run through!'), advertised a grunting giant, (a Pygmalion to his relations!) and backed his stupendous flitches against Smith-field and the world."

It appeared again in 1852 in Household Words where it was written,

"One word about the customers, and we will rejoin our chariot, which must surely be extricated by this time. Thieves, beggars, costermongers, hoary-headed old men, stunted, ragged, shock-haired children, blowzy, slatternly women, hulking bricklayers, gaunt, sickly hobbededoys, with long greasy hair. A thrice-told tale. Is it not the same everywhere! The same pipes, dirt howling, maundering, fighting, staggering gin fever. Like plates multiplied by the electro-process;like the printer's 'stereo'; like the reporter's 'manifold' ;you will find duplicates, triplicates of these forlorn beings everywhere. The same woman giving her baby gin; the same haggard, dishevelled woman, trying to coax her drunken husband home; the same mild girl, too timid even to importune her ruffian partner to leave off drinking the week's earnings, who sits meekly in a corner, with two discoloured eyes, one freshly blacked; one of a week's standing. The same weary little man, who comes in early, crouches in a corner, and takes standing naps during the day, waking up periodically for 'fresh drops.' The same red-nosed, ragged object who disgusts you at one moment by the force and fluency of his Billingsgate, and surprises you the next by bursting out in Greek and Latin quotations. The same thin, spectral man who has no money, and, with his hands piteously laid one over the other, stands for hours gazing with fishy eyes at the beloved liquor; smelling, thinking of, hopelessly desiring it. And, lastly, the same miserable girl, sixteen in years, and a hundred in misery; with foul, matted hair, and death in her face ; with a tattered plaid shawl, and ragged boots, a gin-and-fog voice, and a hopeless eye."

It also appeared in 1856 in the text, "The street ballad-singers of the present day are no improvement upon their predecessors. The elaborate blackguardism ard gin-and-fog voices of these excruciating screech-owls speak little for the boasted march of intellect." This was printed in An Elizabethan Garland; Being a Descriptive of Seventy Black-Letter Ballads Printed Between the Years 1550 and 1597.

It appeared in print after 1880 in the third chapter of the 1889 work How the Poor Live, and Horrible London bu George R. Sims. He wrote, "The drink dulls every sense of shame, takes the sharp edge from sorrow, and leaves the drinker for awhile in a fools' paradise. Here is the home of the most notorious 'drunkardess'—if I may coin a work—in the neighbourhood. Mrs. O'Flannigan's room is easily entered, for it is on the street-level, and one step brings us into the presence of the lady herself. She is in bed, a dirty red flannel rag is wrapped about her shoulders, and her one arm is in a sling. She sits up in bed at the sight of visitors, and greets us in a gin and fog voice, slightly mellowed with the Irish brogue. Biddy has been charged at the police-courts seventy-five times with being drunk, and she is therefore a celebrated character. She is hardly sober now, though she has evidently had a shaking which would have sobered most people for a month. Her face is a mass of bruises and cuts, and every now and then a groan and a cry to certain Saints in her calendar tell of aches and pains in the limbs concealed under the dirty blanket that covers the bed."

The term continued appearing in print in the early 20th century. It appeared in the 37th chapter of the 1905 work, The Crimson Blind by Fred M White. He wrote, "Merritt rocked heavily on the other's breastbone, almost stifling him. 'Wot?' he said, scoffingly. The pleasing mixture of gin and fog in his throat rendered him more hideously hoarse than usual. 'Not make up a prayer! And you a regular dab at all that game! Why, I've seen the women snivellin' like babies when you've been ladlin' it out. Heavens, what a chap you would be on the patter! How you would kid the chaplain!'" White used the term again in his 1906 work, The Yellow Face when he wrote, "A figure slouched up to him and a hoarse voice whispered in his ear: 'Party of the name of Maggs,' he said in his gin-and-fog voice. 'Pal of 'Simple Charlie.' Old Charlie couldn't get away to-night, so he sent me instead. Don't you be disappointed, guv'nor; you will find me just as clever with them bits of steel as Charles himself. Bit of burglary, ain't it?'" It was then used by Ian Hay when he wrote, "'Tha's right, ole son! You give 'im socks,' remarked a hoarse and rather indistinct voice of the gin -and -fog variety, from among the spectators." in his 1910 work, The Right Stuff.

Gin is an alcohol that is made by distilling grain mash with juniper berrieds and sometimes other fruits, so it would make sense to describe a voice as having fruitiness to it. The word gin is a shorting of geneva, usually capitalized as Geneva, referring to the Hollands. The word geneva comes from the Dutch word genever which comes from the Old French word genevre which comes from the Latin jūniperus meaning juniper.

The word fog is thought to be a back formation of the word foggy. Both words are thought to come from the Middle English word fooge or fog which comes from the Scandinavian or Norwegian fogg meaning long grass on damp ground.

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Charles, His Friend - Theatre Etymology - Part 25

"Charles, his friend," sounds like it is just a part of speech in a play. It sounds like one character is telling another that Charles is somebody's friend. However, the phrase is actually used for an uninspiring part in a play where the role is only there so the main character has somebody with whom they talk. There is no other reason that the character exists in the world of the play.

Saying that it sounds like reading part of dialogue is not too far from the origin of the phrase. It could be said that this is a stock character, though there is even less substance to this character than there is to a stock character. However, some sources say that "Charles, his friend," is actually the secondary young man of a play.

The phrase seems to have originated from the personae dramatis of an old forgotten play. The character was simply listed as "Charles, hi friend."

The name Charles means man. It is thought to have come from the German name Karl or German word karlaz meaning a free man. It is also thought that it may have come from the German name prefix hari which means army or warrior. The name was made popular in 17th century Britain when the Stuart king was named Charles I.

The word friend comes from the Middle English word friend, or frend or the Old English word frēond meaning friend, lover, or relative. It is also possibly decended from the Old Saxon word friund, the Old High German word friunt, the German word Freund, or the Gothic word frijōnds.

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The Ghost Walks - Theatre Etymology - Part 24

"The Ghost Walks" sounds like it is an eerie phrase meant for Halloween. After all, there is a 1924 mystery movie called The Ghost Walks and there is the super hero, The Phantom, who is known as The Ghost Who Walks. However, neither of these have to do with the phrase, either. "The Ghost Walks" is a phrase meaning that salaries will be paid.

Being that a ghost has nothing to do with money, the phrase seems strange. The first time any type of instance of the phrase seems to be found in print is from the Sunday, May 29, 1831 edition of London's The Atlas. A General Newspaper and Journal of Literature in a section known as "Theatrical News." It stated,

On Saturday the actors at Drury Lane were struck with horror to find that no "ghost walked;" that is, that the treasury was shut. It appears that 800l. were wanted by the treasurer. Captain Polhill would pay down no more than 400l., according to the terms of his agreement with Mr. Lee. This led to a secession on the part of the latter gentleman from the concerns of the theatre. The deed of separation was regularly drawn up and signed, the partnership dissolved, and Captain Polhill remains sole manager of Drury Lane. There were various accounts of the supposed cause of this disagreemnt, and it was said that the rival queens of Drury had, as in days of yore, by their contentions, frightened Alexander from the throne. The cause we have stated first, however, a mere matter of business, is the real one.

It appeared again in 1833 in Nine Years of an Actor's Life when R. Dyer wrote, "If I played with applause, it was a matter of indifference whether the ghost walked on Saturday or not." It then appeared in the September 24, 1835 edition of Household Words when it was printed in the text, "When no salaries are forthcoming on Saturday the 'ghost doesn't walk.'"

The next time the phrase appeared in print was in the June 24, 1883 edition of Referee when it said, "An Actor's Benevolent Fund box placed on the treasurer's desk every day when the ghost walks would get many an odd shilling of six-pence put into it." It then appeared in the 1889 Edinburgh edition of A dictionary of slang, jargon and cant: embracing English, American, and Anglo-Indian slang, pidgin English, tinkers' jargon and other irregular phraseology when Albert Barrere and Charles Godfrey defined it as follows:

Ghost walking (theatrical), a term originally applied by an impecunious stroller in a sharing company to the operation of "holding the treasury," or paying the salaries, which has become a stock facetiae amongst all kinds and descriptions of actors. Instead of inquiring whether the treasury is open, they usualy say -- "Has the ghost walked?" or "What! has this thing appeared again?" (Shakespeare).
[undated quotation]
(Commercial), in large firms, when the clerk whose duty it is goes round the various departments paying wages, it is common to say the ghost walks.

It seems that the phrase has also moved to being used in the military. However, there has only been a short part that has mentioned that it is a reference to Shakespeare. There is not any certainty to the story, but it is repeated in many places and is the likely origin even though it can only be considered folk etymology.

It is thought that a strolling (touring) group of actors was performing Hamlet and that they had not been paid for about a month. The actor who was playing the ghots of King Hamlet (who may have been the manager of the company or at least a person who handled the money for it), when the actor playing Hamlet said the line found in Act I, Scene 2 that goes, "I will watch tonight. Perchance 'Twill walk again." responded with "No, I'm damned if the Ghost walks any more until our salaries are paid." Some sources are more gentle and put" d---d" rather than "damned."

Other sources give a slighty different account of the actor's reply. These include:

• "No, I'll be damned if the Ghost walks again until our salaries are paid."
• No! The Ghost walks no more until our salaries are paid!"

Some sources say that the actors were paid that night. Others do leave the story without knowing if the actors were paid or not.

The word ghost comes from the Middle Engish word goost or the Old English word gāst. These can be comparted to the German word Geist meaning spirit. The word walk comes from the Middle Engish word walken or the Old Engish word wealcan meaning to roll or toss or possibly the Old English word gewealcan meaning to go. These can be compared to the Dutch and German world walken meaning to fully cloth, the Old Norse Word Old Norse word vālka meanng to toss.

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Wandelprobe - Theatre Etymology - Part 23

If you guessed that Wandelprobe was related to sitzprobe in a way, you'd be correct. It is technically pronounced as "von-dell-pro-buh," but some directors and other theatre professionals may say it "wan-del-pro-buh" or "wan-del-probe."

Different directors and conductors conduct wandelprobes differently. In fact, even the same person may hold them differently depending on the production and the needs of the production. However, in general, it means that the actors and singers are free to wander over the stage while the band or orchestra plays. They still have to sing the parts they are assigned while wandering over the stage.

This wandering isn't free range wandering, though. They have to wander to the approximate blocking for the production, if not the exact blocking. However, this is usually done out of costume, though it may be done in costume if that is the director's desire. There may still be stops in order to work with the orchestra or band and the actors or singers in order to figure out how movements go together with the music. Because of this, it may be necessary to use props.

If props are used is a decision that is left up to the director and others who are behind the scenes for the production. Sometimes actors and singers only wander over a bare stage during a wandelprobe. At other times, there are parts of the set or a complete set.

A wandelprobe is usually held before tech starts and there usually are not lighting cues. However, some directors and conductors like to have lighting cues set and running during a wandelprobe. Everything is basically up to the decisions of the director and conductor. However, a wandelprobe (or even more than one wandelprobe) takes place before the first full dress rehearsal.

Some people make the mistake of calling this rehearsal a wanderprobe, and that is understandable since the actors and singers wander. However, the word "wandelprobe" comes from German and technically means "convertable trial." While the German word wandel can mean change, flux, shift, or vicissitude, if the word is changed to wandeln, it can mean change, walk, or stroll. The German word probe means sample, text, trial assay, proof, rehearsal, specimen, practice, or pattern. So, the word wandelprobe comes from German words put together that mean "walk" or "stroll" and "rehearsal," so it is a "walking rehearsal."

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Tongue Twisters - Part 3

I am not certain what is going on with my Internet connection, but it is extremely slow. Hopefully that'll be fixed soon in some way. In the mean time, here are some more tongue twisters.

Image goes here

• Six sleek swans swam swiftly southwards.
• Pirates' Private Property
• How much ground would a groundhog hog, if a groundhog could hog ground?
• Three short sword sheaths.
• Rolling red wagons.
• Green glass globes glow greenly.
• He threw three balls.
• The great Greek grape growers grow great Greek grapes.
• Tom threw Tim three thumbtacks.
• He threw three free throws.

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Tongue Twisters - Part 2

Due to the fact that my internet is extremely slow tonight, and I've been waiting and hoping to be able to write a blog post, but it has not gotten any faster, here are some more tongue twister to use in warm ups for rehearsals. Don't forget to also have fun outside of rehearsal warm ups where you try to say them faster and faster and over and over to see how quickly you make a mistake! The mistakes that are made are what makes them fun when said in that context!

• Sheena leads, Sheila needs.
• Seth at Sainsbury's sells thick socks.
• Roberta ran rings around the Roman ruins.
• Stupid superstition!
• Picky people pick Peter Pan Peanut-Butter, 'tis the peanut-butter picky people pick.
• If Stu chews shoes, should Stu choose the shoes he chews?
• Wayne went to Wales to watch walruses.
• Rudder valve reversals.
• Four furious friends fought for the phone.
• Tie twine to three tree twigs.

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Sitzprobe - Theatre Etymology - Part 22

In the majority of theatres, when a cast rehearses music, either with the canned music or a band or orchestra, it is just called a music rehearsal. However, there is a term for a music rehearsal where only music is rehearsed and the cast sits and does not work with any blocking. That term is sitzprobe.

Sitzprobe is pronounced "sits-pro-bah." It is not common to have a cast rehearse with canned music and have it called a sitzprobe, but some theatre may call it that. It is more common for the cast (or only the singers in the cast) to rehearse with a band or orchestra. The rehearsals are for the conductor to get a feel for what is going to happen and the cast and musicians to start working together. It is hoped that the music can be rehearsed without stopping, but that is definitely not likely at the first sitzprobe. Being that there are going to be stops where singers and orchestra members mark music, a sitzprobe can last several hours. This is one of the reasons that people sit.

Different sites give three different translations of the word. They all claim to be a translation of German, but the different translations are "sitting trial," "sitting rehearsal," and "seated rehearsal." If "sitzprobe" is entered into Google translate as a German word, it translates into English as sitting trial. However, if sitting trial is put into Google translate as English, it translates into German as sitzender Versuch.

The English to German translation is sitting rehearsal to Sitzprobe and the English to German translation of seated rehearsal is Sitzprobe.

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Claptrap - Theatre Etymology - Part 21

Today, the word claptrap is used to mean nonsense. We tend to like the word claptrap because of the rhyming just like when we use words or phrases such as mumbo jumbo and hoodoo to mean nonsense. However, claptrap didn't always mean nonsense.

Originally, claptrap was literally a way to trap applause that was used by actors. The first time the term (albeit as two words) appeared in print was in 1721 in Nathan Bailey's dictionary. He wrote, "A Clap Trap, a name given to the rant and rhimes that dramatick poets, to please the actors, let them get off with: as much as to say, a trap to catch a clap, by way of applause from the spectators at a play." It is thought that the compound word was made sometime between 1727 and 1731. The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology says that claptrap is a nouns and defines it as "in its earliest sense of an actor’s stage device to get applause."

By 1775, the word claptrap had started to be used to mean verbal hogwash. In Thoughts on the Cause of Present Discontents, Edmund Burke wrote, "The members [of a political party] seek by every just method to get their party into power so that their plans may be executed. Such rivalry is easily distinguishable from a mean, selfish struggle for place and emolument. The opponents of party frequently parade as a virtue that they support "not men but measures." This is the veriest claptrap—a device to get loose from honourable engagements ; as in the case of a man who deserts his party when it loses power, and avers that he is supporting measures." By 1819, the word was in common usage as meaning hogwash or nonsense.

Around 150 years after the origin of the term, somebody did make a device that simulated applause and called it a claptrap. The word clap might come from the Middle English word clappen, the Old English word clæppan, or the Middle Low German word kleppen. The word trap might come from the Middle English word trappe (noun), or trappen (v.), the Old English word træppe (noun), or the Middle Dutch word trappe. These are akin to the Old English word treppan meaning to tread and the German word Treppe meaning staircase.

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Ham - Theatre Etymology - Part 20

Most people in the theatre are familiar with the term ham meaning an actor who overacts. They may also be used to the phrase "ham it up" to mean to (usually purposely) exaggerate emotions and actions on the stage while acting. However, the origin of the word ham is not readily known. Does it come from the meat product or possibly Shakespeare's play Hamlet?

Ham, referring to an actor, used to only be applied to actors that were unskilled or inferior that would overact. It seems that such actors were called hamfats. There are many theories as to why this was the case, but there is one prevailing theory. During the 19th century, before cream makeups were invented, powdered makeup had to be combined with oils or grease. Professional actors had higher quality oils that they used. Amateur actors who could not afford these oils used some type of grease, often ham fat. Thus, amateur actors became known as hamfatters and the word was shorted to ham.

The word may also come from an 1863 minstrel song known as "The Ham Fat" man. The lyrics to the song are "Ham fat, ham fat, zigga zolla zan, / Ham fat, ham fat, Tickle olla tan; /oh! Walk into de kitchen, as fast as you can,/ Hoochee Koochee Koochee, says the Hamfat Man." It is also thought that both reasons may be combined and thus the term was created.

In the November 6, 1879 edition of the Nashville [Tennessee] Union and American in an article called "Spangles and Sawdust," the following conversation took place between a flying trapeze artist and the reporter:

”This is the first [circus] show I ever left in this way. I traveled with Forepaugh’s establishment four seasons, and never had any trouble. I’ve been with this show since the 12th of June last, having joined it at Clinton, Iowa. When DeHaven proposed this concert business, I told him I was no ham-fatter, and—“

“Ham-fatter?”

“Yes, ham-fatter. That’s the name we give a man in our profession who is a poor performer. I’ve been in the business since I was ten years old, and I’m a little over twenty-five now.”

By 1882, the term "ham" appeared alone and not as "ham-fatter" or "hamfatter." This was in Illustrated Sports and Drama News in a letter that was printed when the writer referred to himself as "no ham, but a classical banjo player." By April 1884, the term hamfatter was also being used by performers in the circus and on April 8, 1884, there was an ad in the San Antonio [Texas] Light for the Vaudeville Theatre which specifically referred to an actor as a hamfatter.

In the 1886 book America Revisited, From the Bay of New York to the Gulf of Mexico, and from Lake Michigan to the Pacific in a chapter titled, "All Fun of the Fair," George Augustus Sala used the term "ham-fatter" to refer to any person who did not want to appear as if they were not handsome or pretty by writing, "Every American who does not wish to be thought 'small potatoes' or a 'ham-fatter' or a 'corner loafer,' is carefully 'barbed' and fixed up in a hair-dressing saloon every day."

In the July 29, 1888 edition of the New York Herald, the following text appeared:

"HAMFATTER. —A recent name in some quarters of New York, for a second-rate dude or masher, and more especially applied to the habitués of the Rialto in that city."

[Example:] I’ll warrant that these ladies who complain have, if the truth were known, strolled up and down Broadway by the Fifth Avenue Hotel and the Hoffman, and were they so fortunate as to receive an admiring glance from the well-dressed and more prosperous professional brother of the HAMFATTER, they were not offended, forsooth."

A less likely but plausible theory appears in a 1966 edition of a New Yorker article which claims jazz musicians used ham fat as part of their equipment. It stated, "Most of the musicians playing in these clubs are old men…. They’re hamfat musicians. In the old days, the rough musicians kept pieces of ham fat in their pockets to grease the slides of their trombones."

Less like theories are:

• A shortening of the name of act, "The Hamtown Students," a vaudeville act that was a black-face quartet known for exaggerated movements and overblown nature of the act owned by the manager Tony Pastor. This was done by Pastor himself, who would refer to any actor overacting as a ham.
• Tony Pastor had a poster that advertised "sixty hams distributed on Monday evening" at his Opera House in New York. The offering of free hams had a bad reflection on actors until they were known as ham actors.
• It comes from all actors claiming to have played Hamlet or wishing to play the role of Hamlet to great applause.
• That it comes from the name Hamish McCullough who toured "pig-sticking" town of Illinois since his nickname was Ham and his troupe was called "Ham's actors."

You can read more about ham acting (especially in television) at TV Trope's "Large Ham" article and more about theatrical actors and theatrical roles known for being hams at TV Trope's "Large Ham - Theatre" article.

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Person - Theatre Etymology - Part 19

Anybody reading this probably knows what a person is. A person is any human - a man, a woman, a boy, a girl, somebody that identifies as non-binary. A person can have any job, be anybody. However, it may not be common knowledge that the word person actually comes from the theatre.

In ancient Rome, there was a term for a mask an actor wore on the stage. It was known in Latin as the persona or prosopon. In Greek, it was πρόσωπον. The masks, as a group, were known as the peronae of the stage lay. This is why a cast is still sometimes listed as the dramatis personae or the personae dramatis. It is literally the list of characters of the play with the people who play them.

Theological debates in the 4th and 5th century furthered this use of the word person. They took the word prosopon from the Greek theatre in order to define God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit as three different persons within the Godhead. Since then, many changes have been made concerning the word person. There have been many different trials to change the meaning of the word and most likely, there will always be people who try to change the meaning. After all, language is always evolving.

Even the dictionary etymology supports person coming from the theatre. The word person is thought to have come from the Middle English word persone which came from the Latin word persōna meaning a role in life, a role in a play. This latter usage came from the original usage meaning an actor's mask which came from the Etruscan word phersu which is thought to have come from the Greek word prósōpa meaning face or mask and having the -na suffix attached.

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Blue Fire - Theatre Etymology - Part 18

When something is amazing in the theatre, these days, people just tend to say it was amazing or give other similar adjectives. However, back in Victorian days, there was a term for anything amazing, astounding, or sensational. If an audience had never seen anything like what they had seen on stage before, they called it blue fire.

The current definition of blue fire is compositions of various combustible substances, as sulfur, niter, lampblack, etc., the flames of which are colored by various salts, as those of antimony, strontium, barium, etc. This is exactly where the theatre term originated. A mixture containing sulfur was ignited in order to create an eerie blue glow on the stage. The audience had never seen anything like it before, so then any special effect was dubbed blue fire.

The word blue might have come from the Middle English word blewe which comes from the Anglo-French word blew, bl(i)u, or bl(i)ef meaning livid or discolored. It may also have come from the Old French word blo or blau (French bleu) which came from Germanic word blǣwaz. This can also be compared to the Old English word blǣwen which is a contraction of blǣhǣwen meaning deep blue. It may also have come from the Old Frisian word blāw, the Middle Dutch word blā(u), the Old High German blāo (German blau), or the Old Norse word blār.

The word fire might have come from the Middle English or Old English word fȳr which probably came from the Old Norse word fūrr, the German word Feuer, or the Greek word pŷr.

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