Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-01-18
Some Anecdotes of Edwin Forrest

with Edwin Forrest, 1 was his literary agent.
supposed il viii be granted such an employee
would have been exposed to its almost continu-
Gus exhibition This was not the case. Only
one instance is recalled by me in which he gave
way To it. gross error had been made i'm the
printed cast of one of his performances in
Brooklyn-..k iehelieu;" On arriving at the
Academy of Music, where he was acting, about
the end of the third act, Mr.. McArtlle, who hal
long been connected with him, met me in the
lobby of the the9teT.
MIR. Forrest wants to see you" he said s'but
Jwoud advise You to keep out Of his way until
the morning. He is savage
what about?''
Three of the characters are differently filed
from the names in the house-bill''
Instead of taking McArdle's good-natured
HINT, at once went round to FORESTS dressing
Ioom- No sooner hal entered it than his wrath
made itself heard. Thrusting the offending pro-
Rramme under my nose, he demanded if ..had
sent il to the printer?' Looking over it, re-
turned an answer in the affirmative. Then in
forming me- that must have been ''an idiot"
he poured out a volume OF HISTORICALLY yItuper-
alive anger OF some ten minutes, at the close of
which, presume to his intense establishment,
quilted the apartment.
ON the following morning, when at nv usual
Decentralization o'clock repaired to his
apartment in the Metropolitan hotel, COM
menced our interview by informing him had
''disCOyered how Il came to be such an idiot"
He growlingly asked. How was it?'' and l
placed in his hand the stage-managers list of
the cast: After reading it through carefully, he
inquired why had not explained the matter on
the preceding night The reason was, that, ig-
norant whether the paper had been destroyed
by me, knew the value myself should have
set ON similar affirmation in such case.
Therefore had waited until had the proof
in my hand. After a toerably long pause, he
said, knitting his brows:
so suppose you want an apology for what
i told you:'''
Not a, all, Mr.. Forrest; J. only wish you to
Why he roared ont, "that's worse, How
ever, he added, after a moment, refiectively,
Tn y H.. ba hal ~,
half-sheet Of paper, and was proceeding 10 lay
il ASIDE.
Excuse me. That paper is mine, Mr.. For
Yours,
Certainly. Iwir thank you to return it to
me-,
But want it,
'FOr " hat
ITO have it explained by the fool who gave it
toyon-"
81 was in hopes. Mr.. Forrest, you had worked
of your wrath on HE. Let me abuse the offend
er. Neither you nor myself iove any relish for
When 1 said this, he gave utterance to one OF
his rare laughs. The storm had blown over. lie
gave me the paper, which was consigned to
in the month Of November-under his own
eyes.
This is the solitary instance in which he had
ever given way to a display of temper in nay
presence, and honestly am inclined TO justify
him in having done 50.
twas generally upon the Sunday mornings
which Mr.. McCullOugh-at present the mana
ger in San Francisco-and myself spent with
him in hrs own house in Philadelphia, that he
was most expansive in his conversation. One
conversation specially remember with him II
was in reference to the singularly low grade of
dramatic literature at the time-and indeed it
il no better nOw-in this country. He cOmmenc
ed speaking, and continued doing so for some
hslf-hour. Judge what my Astonishment must
have been on hearing him roundly denounce
asserted that starring had DESTROYED drama
tic literature in its best form-whether tragic or
cemie-in the United States. In the first place,
the public had learned to require .!stars,; aud
no management dared to bring out a new piece
for the three or four weeks of a '.star's" en-
gagement, because the expense-latterly so
considerably increased-absolutely precluded
Its doing so. Hence, we had the ''Seven Daugh
tiers of Satan and .'Black Crooks at our lead
ing theaters, with nothing but legs and tinsel to
recommend them. As for the .sstars'' them
selves, what object had they in purchasing
pieces? There were stock" plays enough for
them TO travel round the country with and coin
into dollars. But. while he said this with fer
vency that demonstrated his belief in what he
asserted his own practice had been strikingly
different. He had purchased himself seven or
eight fve-act dramas, at liberal prices, and had
'.Timon OF Athens" altered for him three times
Five Of these dramas he had produced and the
heroes Of four OF them were, TO the last day he
appeared upon the boards, the most popular, il
not his greatest, characters.
One night l heard hin murmuring mono
logue IN his d:tssing- room at Niblo's Garden,
Safing await" in the play OF "Metamora." 1t
ran something in this fashion:
"lt's enough to make conscientious actor
cut his own throat Here's house jammesi
from parauet to dome to see this piece, while
for Lear il was not two-thirds full Such il
the taste OF the public
Nevertheless, he knew that ''Metamora' Wa
good play, for, on the same evening, in q mo
ment OF calmer Thought, he said to me:
THE public never support thoroughly bad
pieces unless they are eye-traps Ii they come
to .Metamora' rather than Lear, il is only be
cause they know more about the red-man than
the Old Briton.''
Much as i saw of the great actor during the
years in which i was closely connected with
him, and often as have heard him speak Of his
theatrical friends and enemies, to one personal
SORROW he never alluded in my presence This
WAS his divorce. Never had he mentioned his
wife but once. That morning he had been sim
gularly Interesting and expansive In his CONVEX
sation, and had narrated several incidents con-
Dected with his early life. Suddenly and I'M
Premeditatedly he spoke of Fonthll. Mrs. For
rests name fell from his lips. Breaking OF
abruptly, Il seemed as if shock had stricken
him. His brow lowered-his lips settled in a sad
and stern expression. He remained self absorb
ed and almost silent during the remainder OF
NV visit
very inperfeetly educated young man. But the
course CT mental discipline to which he had sub
se9uently subjected himself was laborious and
he had determined 1pon acquiring everything
fully. Very few men are there in life, who have
had the benefits Of q trained and regular edu-
cation, who have learned and known much
and acquired that much a. solidly, as he Ia d
done.
One OF his most pronounced characteristics
was his love d truth, and his respect for Ii in
others. He would be tolerant OF any criticism
Of himself from one who liked him, IL he had a
respect for that mans Judgment. Nay! from
such he actually sought criticism. AS he once
sad:
1--WE are all learners. Not a day passes but
can find some fault in characters have been
all my life in vain attempting 10 master"
'.Not certainly In your Lear Iunthinking-
" broke in
~ thought it was in our bargain you should
never fatter me. Don't begin II now"
And, strangely enough, when he first engaged
me 70 accompany him where he was acting,
one Of his prime stipulations with me removed
any doubt might entertain regarding the sac
Iihee OF my individualty-let me rather call il
honesty:
..If you write about me while we are together,
Mr.. Rosenberg 1 do not want TO be pulled.
know you like my acting-genius, As think.
ysu called IT, some years siIfce- Consequently,
can stand any thing you choose to say about
me-
Nor was this merely "taIk" upon his part.
Oree. while still under my engagement with
him, Rad occasion 10 write about his Claude