Dracula

Slavic peasants know that wampirs ("blood-sucking ghosts") flit eerily about at night, fixing their terrible fangs on human victims, draining out blood. Therefore, the corpse of a wampir (vampire) remains always fresh and rosy in the grave, nourished by the blood sucked by the vampire ghost at night. Effective means of exterminating vampires are: to drive a stake through the blood-nourished corpse; cut off the head; tear out the entrails. So say the wise sages of the Balkans, and so simple peasants believe.

Last week this grisly theme (fictionized with great power some years ago by Bram Stoker in the vampire novel, Dracula) was presented on the London stage. Count Dracula and his terrible vampire sisters so worked upon the emotions of Britons during the week that an average of two women and three men had hysterics, collapsed or fainted during each performance. Since Dracula promises to be a dramatic hit, the management, shrewd,--installed at the theatre a trained nurse.