At audience-right--or stage-left--flat against the extended wall
of the proscenium arch in the First Entrance (to One) there is
usually a signal-board equipped with push buttons presided over
by the stage-manager. The stage-manager is the autocrat behind
the scenes. His duty is to see that the program is run smoothly
without the slightest hitch or wait between acts and to raise and
lower the olio, or to signal the act-curtain up or down, on
cues. [2]

[2] A _cue_ is a certain word or action regarded as the signal for
some other speech or action by another actor, or the signal for
the lights to change or a bell to ring or something to happen
during the course of a dramatic entertainment.

[diagram]

STAGE-DIAGRAM OF THE PALACE THEATRE, NEW YORK

The author wishes to express his thanks to Mr. Elmer F. Rogers,
house-manager, and Mr. William Clark, stage-manager, respectively,
of the Palace Theatre, for the careful measurements from which
this diagram was drawn.

When an act is ready to begin, the stage-manager pushes a button
to signal the olio up or raises it himself--if, that drop [1] is
worked from the stage--and on the last cue he pushes another button
to signal the curtain down, or lowers it himself, as the case may
be. He keeps time on the various acts and sees that the performers
are ready when their turn arrives. Under the stage-manager are