The stage door opened into a small square foyer. To the left was the narrow corridor which led down the left hand side of the theater to the green room and thence to the right wings of the stage. There is no paradox in this reversal of left and right. Since the actor faces the audience, right and left are reversed as you cross from the theater to the stage.
A broad curtained arch led from the stage door foyer directly into the theater orchestra, opening out into the left aisle. The curtain was not drawn now. Through the arch, Lennox could see little islands of people scattered through the orchestra ... a clump of dancers in costume, four cameramen drinking coffee from cartons, Oliver Stacy with Olga Bleutcher, Ween and Grabinett with Mason's gag writers, Avery Borden and Ned Bacon en rapport with the client.
Lennox took Gabby's arm and marched into the orchestra. He refused to be inconspicuous. It was like running the gauntlet but he made a full circuit of the house, meeting every hostile glance with an arrogant smile. He threw the smile in their faces, daring them to accept the challenge. Every hackle in the theater arose, but before the battle could be joined, Raeburn Sachs started a muffled uproar on the P.A.:
"Dress, please. Dress. Everybody on stage for dress."
The dancers and Stacy returned to the stage. The cameramen returned to their cameras. Johnny Plummer put on his ear-phones and stammered to the orchestra on the low platform at the foot of the right aisle. The gag writers assembled in the center aisle, just behind the dolly-track of the No. 2 camera, to simulate contestants for the dress rehearsal. Lennox seated Gabby and excused himself to go backstage. He did not slip around through the green room. As the orchestra began its opening fanfare, he went down to the edge of the old orchestra pit, climbed up on the rail and leaped to the stage in full view.
He turned and grinned into the lights. "Poison eaters!" he said contemptuously and walked toward the prop table in the right wings. Mason passed him on the way from his dressing room to open the dress.
"You lousy burglar!" Mason shouted in a whisper. Even feuds must be conducted sotto voce during rehearsal.
Irma was a step behind Mason. "You lousy burglar," she whispered. "We'll fix you for those lights."
"What's the matter?" Lennox inquired. "Didn't you have cameras?"
From out front came the echo of Mason's voice, the cackle of the dummy, the brassy punctuation of the orchestra. The empty house put every sound on echo. Kay Hill, in a 1920 evening gown, passed Lennox on her way to take her place on the Clara Bow "Charleston" set.