or a telephone-bell must ring at a certain instant on a certain
cue, or the noise of thunder, the wash of the sea on the shore,
or any one of a hundred other effects be desired.

3. The Electrician

Upon the electrician fall all the duties of Jove in the delicate
matter of making the sun to shine or the moon to cast its pale
rays over a lover's scene. Next to the stage-manager's signal-board,
or in a gallery right over it, or perhaps on the other side of the
stage, stands the electric switch-board. From here all the stage
lights and the lights in the auditorium and all over the front of
the house are operated.

From the footlights with their red and white and blue and vari-tinted
bulbs, to the borders that light the scenery from above, the
bunch-lights that shed required lights through windows, the
grate-logs, the lamps and chandeliers that light the mimic rooms
themselves, and the spot-light operated by the man in the haven
of the gallery gods out front, all are under the direction of the
electrician who sits up in his little gallery and makes the moonlight
suddenly give place to blazing sunlight on a cue.

It is to the stage-manager and the stage-carpenter, the property-man
and the electrician, that are due the working of the stage miracles
that delight us in the theatres.

III. THE SCENERY OF THE VAUDEVILLE STAGE

In the ancient days before even candles were invented--the rush-light