CHAPTER IV
JUNO THE SUPERB
“O dolce Napoli,
O suol beato,
Ove sorridere,
Voile il creato;
Tu sei l’impero
Dell ’armonia—
Santa Lucia!
Santa Lucia!”
Signor Grabbini, impresario of the theatre of La Scala, resolved to give up his valiant but ruinous fight for the legitimate drama. Such pieces as Othello, Francesca da Rimini, The Count of Monte Cristo, acted with a complete cast, had proved a strain too severe for the treasury as well as for the capacity of his ten-foot stage. In scenes where the entire company was “on,” the jam became so great that spirited pushing set in, each actor aiming to hold that part of the stage allotted to him by the playbook. In the struggle, conducted sometimes with stealthy art, that the audience might not be aware, toes were trodden upon and tempers badly stirred. Thus it happened that after the curtain had rolled down, the ladies and gentlemen of the company were likely to fall to shaking their fists at one another, naturally to the delight of the audience, who could hear the wordy battle very distinctly. Wherefore Signor Grabbini decided to change the policy of his theatre.