Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1873-10-09
Powerful Acting.

THE last almanac issued by the English
theatrical paper, known as the Era, gives
these amusing but apocryphal anecdotes
of powerful" American acting:
On one occasion Mr.. Edwin Forrest,
then a young man, gave tremendous dis
play of really powerful acting. He was
supposed to represent Roman warrior,
and to be attacked by six minions of de-
tested tyrant At the rehearsals Mr. For
rest found great deal of fault with The
supers who condescended to play the min
ions. They didn't lay hold of him. They
wouldn't 90 in as If it were a real fight.
Mr.. Forrest stormed and threatened. The
supers skulked and consulted. At length
the Captain of the supers inquired, in his
local slang, eyer wants this to be bully
fight, eh ?'' ~ do,' replied Mr.. Forrest.
"All right" rejoined the Captain, and then
the rehearsal quietly proceeded. In the
evening the little theater was crowded,
and Mr.. Forrest was enthusiastically re-
ceived When the fighting scene occurred,
the great tragedian took the center Of the
stage, and the six minions entered rapidly
and deployed in skirmishing order. AT
the cue "Seize him" one minion assumed
pugilistic attitude, and struck a blow
straight from the shoulder upon the prom
raised him about six inches from the stage
by well-directed kick, and the others
made ready to rush in for decisive tus-
sle For a moment Mr. Forrest stood as
! founded, his broad chest heaving with
rage, his great eyes flashing fire, his sturdy
| legs planted like columns upon the stage.
! Then came the few minutes Of powerful
acting, at the end of which one super was
| seen sticking headfOremOst in the bass
| drum in the orchestra, four were
having their wounds dressed in
the green-room, and one, find
ing himself in the flies, rushed
out upon the roof of the theater and
| shouted "Fire!'' at the top of his voice;
while Mr.. Forest called before the cur
tain, bowed his thanks pantingly to the
applauding audience, who looked upon
the whole affair as part of the piece, and
had never seen Forest act so splendidly."
| Upon another occasion, however, the
powerful acting was upon the part of
the supers. For the sake Of poetic JUS
tice, let us hope they were the same
supers. The hero was Mr.. George Jones,
afterward known as the Count Johannes.
| Mr.. Jones was impersonating the theatri-
| cal British sailor, transformed, of course,
into the theatrical Yankee sailor, who
| fights a brOad-swOrd combat with four
pirates, and rescues a lovely damsel in
| distress. By some means or other, Mr..
| jones had offended the free and indie
| pendent supers who played the pirates,
| and the result was material alteration
| in the denouement of the drama. The
| damsel was in distress; the four pirates
were just about to bind her and bear her
away to their secret cave; the feelings of
the audience were wrought up to their
highest pitch, when suddenly Mr.. Jones
las the Yankee tar dashed upon the
scene, threw himself before the unhappy
damsel. flourished his cutlass and shout
ed, "Come on villains! One Yankee
sailor is more than a match for four such
lubberly sharks!' Il guess not, "replied
one Of the pirates, and the four of them
took the astonished Jones by the legs and
arms, and, in spite of his desperate strug-
giles, carried him bodily off the stage,
locked him in the property-cfoset and,
returning, bore off the maiden to their
mountain cavern behind the scenes. The
curtain fell