Behind the Scenes
TuE dictionaries define a " showman " as one who exhibits or owns a show, but do not tell us that it also means a man who shows what he can himself do, a sense in which the term is constantly employed by' Mir. Cochran, Who says, for example,
that Houdini and Sandow were great showmen because-. they knew how to present their turns ; and that in presenting public entertainments the difficulty is not to find talent, but talent combined with showmanship. In the streets of London we may often see performing before theatre queues strong men and handcuff experts, and one can only suppose that these afford examples of the talent without the showman's gift.
The chief impression that results from reading these pages is that you have been admitted to the confidence of a man possessing indomitable moral courage, and you feel that the two qualities that go to make up a great showman are, first, belief in your own judgment, and secondly, buoyant spirits. Showmanship is a perpetual gamble, and the man who is going to lose heart by failure had better turn to some easier career.
But we are here concerned with Mr. Cochran as an author. Unlike many who are persuaded to write their memoirs, he knows how to write—indeed for a time he took to writing for a living. He is at his best in Spain, and his description of Seville in the great week is a masterpiece of enthusiastic art, calling up delightful memories of sunshine and smiles for those who know Seville, and offering great temptation to those who do not. Or take again the picture he gives of an English youth landed in Chicago with 35 cents in his pocket and not a single friend or acquaintance. Thousands of men have been reduced to 35 cents, but surely they have most of them had someone to turn to. Mr. Cochran seldom fell on his feet—usually on his head.
How many of us realize the complicated machinery which has to be built up and set in motion before an entertainment can be publicly produced ? Mr. Cochran really takes us behind the scenes, not in the sense that we are able to watch a play from the wrong side, or to get too close a view of the actors' make up, but by showing us how plays, revues, prize-fights, &c., come into being. He does not even take us, as it were, to a dress rehearsal, but shows us the play from the front and tells
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