Back in olden times, I worked a touring performance of Joffery II with Ron Reagan Jr.. Everyone on
stage had to have a previous background check and were given pins to wear. Secret Service agents wandered the theater talking into their shirt cuffs and whatnot. One agent stationed himself near the rear
stage door. He carried a bag about the size of a large satchel. Whenever anyone came to the door he would put his bag into a "ready" position.
The show was uneventful. Ron Jr. was whisked away at the end. We never saw what was in the bag. The speculation was that it was an Uzi.
@Mac Hosehead Another TLDR lengthy, multi-chaptered, intertwined tale.
Chapter 1: Up here north of the walls in Canada we have an appointed representative of the King or Queen known as The Governor General of Canada.
During the seventies, our Governor General was a large, black, lawyer who looked like he could defend himself. Linc' had been a lawyer in our city for many years and many residents knew Linc' from his law practice. When Mr. Alexander became our Governor General, he was accorded a whole new
level of pomp, protocols, additional security and respect. Linc' was also a serious fan of the arts. If Linc' was making an "official" visit the press were notified, all protocols were in place and observed. Some times Linc' only wanted to go out for a night sans all the hype, photographers, guards and pomp. On those nights the buzz would go 'round the headsets and Linc' would often join the crew backstage sitting around the "coffee table" post show sharing a chilled 24 pack from the prop man's fridge. When Linc' wanted a night off, his guardians kept well out of the way; he may have been dropped off by an unmarked car, and the same car may be waiting down the
block from our
stage door but Mr. Alexander's guardians kept well out of the way.
Chapter 2: When Canada's Stratford Shakespearean Festival abandoned their huge, seasonal, tent and erected their first serious building in the 1950's, they included a private executive bar adjacent to their main entrance accessible directly by a private door designated as the Queen's entrance. In the private bar were two washrooms. One of the washrooms was designated as the Queen's washroom complete with gold fittings AND a gold toilet seat. Over the years, many people saw the gold seat but no one was ever permitted to urinate, defecate or (Heaven forbid) sit on it. If / when our Governor General was making an "Official" visit she / he was ushered directly into the private lounge via the Queen's entrance but even our Governor General was excluded from utilizing the Queen's private privvy.
Chapter 3: From the earliest days of the festival, beginning with their inaugural performance, a noisy, percussive, mortar has been fired out across the rear parking lot, over ten feet of grassy
park land, landing in the adjacent Avon River. (Over decades the swans got used to it.) Since the very first performance, the mortar has always been fired outside at the precise moment a LARGE bell sounds ONCE inside in the
orchestra loft high above the main
stage. Since the very first production,
EVERY main
stage performance has begun this way.
Once the permanent building was erected, a
stage door guard's
house was included at parking lot
level on the rear of the main building, two mortar launching tubes (the second for redundancy) were installed on the roof of the guard's hut accessed by a 12' section of straight ladder hung 20' away on two hooks on the side of the building and secured by a lock and chain. Immediately upon calling the
house lights to half, the SM's next cues were: "
Stand by bomb; bomb GO!" The same
cue switch that operated the mortar's
cue lights also operated a second pair of redundant
cue lights next to the bell. A member of the IA
house crew loaded, armed and fired the mortar(s) and an AF of M member dutifully struck the bell. The mortar was fired, the second if required, the tubes were cleaned, pre-loaded for the next performance and weather-proof covers fitted to keep the mortars dry.
Over the decades, the cuing casually progressed to "
Stand by bomb and bell; bomb and bell
GO!"
Chapter 4: One year our Governor General was scheduled to make an "official" visit: ALL the proper protocols were in place, the proper music performed to march him in, yada, yada, etcetera. A platoon of 'men in black' were in place and the press were of course in attendance. Our SM was up in her tiny booth located in the centre of our rear-most lighting
cove and our Head Electrician and I were in our lighting and sound booth at the rear of our balcony with one 'Man In Black' standing between us. Alec Cooper was wearing a
headset while I was taking my cues from a wall mounted
speaker station. Everything was proceeding smoothly according to plan, the proper entrance music had been played, the Governor General had been piped in and escorted to his seat
AND
THEN IT HAPPENED!
Our SM, with her
cue lights already lit, casually said: "
Stand by Bomb. Bomb go!" You had to be there to appreciate the reactions of the 'Men In Black.'
'nough said.
EDIT: Inadvertently misspelled 'our' as 'out'.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard