The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-12-01
rHx oRY OF AN ACTRESS.

for the sta go-The First Night.
Tho Pal Nal Gazette IS publishing series of
papers entitled "Going on the Stage" purport-
ing TO be the naTrative OF an actress expert
ences The writer declares thet very early in
life she "decided to cultivate contempt for Mrs.
Grundy,n and having travelled in Europe, Asia,
and Africa, finally found herself without en-
ployment, and determined to try the stage. Her
friends invited her to consider whether or not
she was "in q perlectly sane state OF mnd,"
secuted at the idea OF "a lady" adopting the
drama as pro 'ession, and even went 80 lar as 10
denounce actresses in general as persons not
entitled to consideration, Her answer was that
many women Of virtue have become actresses;
that the practice of the dramatic art was
delight to her; and that she saw no reason why
she should not make use OF a natural gilt; aud
so, promising TO preserve strict incognito, she
began. The aid of o master was obtained, hard
study was undertaken, attitudes were practlsed
before the glass, and the process OF education
for an appearance before the footlights went on
for several months varied by such experiences
as the following
''The1e are many kinds of falls and judi
Cious, graceful fall has often redeemed an
actress from dsheartening faint praise. i soon
managed faints, and such like quiet falls; but
there are others of much more uncompro-
missing character-'ROmeo's'' fall, for instance,
when, despairing OF obtaining Juliet he dashes
himself oil the ground in the monks cell, taking
the measure OF an unmade grave My coach
suggested that should practise this fall. which
j did accordingly; and, with some trouble and a
good many bruises, succeeded at last in reach
ing the floor with the proper expression of reck-
less. desperation. One day, when Boosting OF my
achievement, ] got we'll laughed at by some
friends, who had very faiut idea of its difficulty
challenged them to Try the 'lall, and offered to
allow them a mattress, in consideration of their
being amateurs. The offer was accepted and
the two six-foot scorners failed ignominio1sly.
They fell every way but the right one -on their
knees, on their elbo VS. on their sides, but never
had the courage to dash themselves down head
foremost, much as swimmer does when taking
a dive"
The preliminary stages finished, our actress
prepared Tor the public stage, and played her
first part as "Rosalind," in As You Lake IL. The
failure OF "Oliver" ia the performance produced
a singular effect for which "Rosalind" was not
to blame, but the story OF which she tells as fol
lows:-
ION the first night of Our performance an
event occurred which totally upset my gravity,
and, indeed, that of the audience too. The long
and rather rhankless part of oliver was given
az days notice to young man VINO evidently
tbought himself an undiscovered Kemble. He
c0Dfided to me in the morning at rehearsal that
the speech at the end OF the fourth act was too
long for him to commit to memory in the time;
but said he 'Ill just paraphrase it, The scene
to which l allude is very we'll known. Oliver
enters to 'Rosaljnd' and Celia and tells at con-
siderable length the story of the rescue by his
brother from the deadly sting of q snake and the
He presents 'Rosalind with the bloody napkin
sent by Orlando as proof of the true cause of
his failing 10 keep his appointment with her.
'Oliver's' story is about seventy lines in the
telling. The FIRST few lines he OF course knew
very well, and the story also was fairly in his
memory. He accordingly proceeded boldly to
lmprovise Shakes peare, and 1t was Wltn the
greatest difficulty that Celia or myself could get
in word Whenever we interrupted him, he
Immediately gave tragic A-a araye in assent,
and SO resumed his extempore narrative. The
prompter did his best, and my coach swore
audibly at the wings, bnt to no good purpose.
'0lveI' had taken the bit between hIs teeth, and
was bent upon distinguishing himself Only the
verse in which he told the story was 30 painfully
blank When he got to wheregthe snake winds
itself round the sleeping Orlando, bis brain gave
way suddenly, but with great presence of mind
he fell back on his grand resource, 'A-aaayen y
Then followed an awful pause which feared
was prophetic of the young maus end. But,
knowing look at the audience) - When the
snake saw him. The audience Uttered, bat
oliver decaimed away until / thought 1t was
time he should be assisted TO Il conc uson
accordingly seized the opportunity of his hrst
pause to put in my cue, But for the bloody
Napkin This, however, only gave him fresh
start. repeated it again and again, but Oliver
had now got fearfully involved IN his story. and
was evidently making desperate efforts to bring
leaning on 'Ceha's' shoulder laughed till the
tears ran down my checks, hoping that the
audience would mistake my convulsive sobs for
the emotion suitable to the scene. The audience,
however, were much too discerning for that. A
few more filters were followed by q general
roar. This stimulated Oliver into a. kind of
frenzy; he rected a ie more lines with abound
ing animation; then, catching at last the words
from the prompter, concluded amidst shouts OF
laug hter and ironical applause" r-r ~. ..