The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1875-11-13


Yankee, having been born in the little.
town of Dover, New Hampshire. Here
he went 30 school, stuck pins through
flies, threw papAr wads at the teacher,
|pfayed h0oky, stoned the neighbours cat,
and did very much the same as other
boys do. When about sixteen years of
age he was put to the printers case, and
finally was able to call himself first
class typo, but bis eyes, which were nat
urally weak. became SO troublesome that
he was obliged to quit s'type sticking"
and 80 at something that weala be:
easier upon those organs: He finally
adopted the stage, ,making hfs debut atthe
Providence Museum, Providence, RI, as
"Orano''in'sP Pizzaro.n After this 1t would
be hard to follow his course, first as a
stock actor at the Broadway, then atthe
Boston; again as a star. playing "Bob
Tyke" in the "School OF Reform, "'1Rofy
|0'Moere, !" "tsFarmer Ashtleld" Id "Speed
the Piow," in fact all the old legitimate
comedy characters, being the original
"Genefal Bounf' IN the "Grand Duchs
essp in this country. Mr.. Fiske is
about forty five years of age, a married
man and the father OF three children, one
or whom, daughter, is on the stage in
the city Of Broeklyn. His last season
was spent in New Orleans, from whence
|fessor Lexington" in "Bulls and Bears"
at the Grand. Since the opening night
he has been almost constantly before the
public. How well he has succeeded we
leave them to judge.
JOHN MARBLE.
In the day of the ever-popular s'after-
piece" When an evenings entertaln-
ment was never complete unless it con-
laIn unit 40 %
Boots at the Swan" or some roaring
farce or other, j Ohm Marble would have
been in his glory. Like his father, the
celebrated Dan Marble, he is essentially
/ a low comedian or rather farce
actor. Being possessed of keen
sense of the ridiculous, he draws, as one
may say, caricatures of his fellow-man
like the great genius Mast. He hangs
upon the ragged edge of the sublimely
funny, threatening every moment to
take the one fatal step that makes the
ridiculous. Therein lies the genius of
the man to know just how far to 60, and
when arrived at that point, no matter
what the temptation may be to stop.
Marble, like Jefferson, was born on the
stage; his father was an actor, his
grandfather an actor, and 'iHs highly
probable" says John, "that some Of my
ancestors run negro show in the ark"
On his mothers side of the house things
were just the same, ''actors, actors, all
the way down to Adam, who acted
the fool in listening to the blarnery
of Eve and being kicked out
of Eden." Marble was born in
the city of Buffalo, in 1874, and made
his first appearance on any stage when
eight years of age, as '.Young Triplet,1
In the play of "Masks and Faces" at
al OF
Chicago, Miss Davenport, now Mrs.
General Lander, heing the star. His
next attempt was as the messenger in
"Othello," who has the lines,
"The Ottomltes, reyerencd and gracious,
Steering with due course towards the Isle Of
Rhodes" &c.
John bounced in upon the stage,
knelt before the "Duke," but only
got as far as the Ottomites, reverend,
reverend, rev., sand there was clean
up in balloon higher than Guilderoy's
Kite" says John, 'sstuck tighter than a
fish bone in q dogs throat" "What did
you do with the Ottomites, Johnr' said
Couldock, who was the "lago" of the
evening, as they carried him off the stage.
ssSent them up in the fies," said John,
with the ready wit of an Irishman, and
the EXPIRE ssion has become a byword
with many in the profession even at this
day. Discouraged by this failure,
Marble left the stage and apprenticed
himself to a plumber and gas filter,
in Chicago. 81 couldn't stand it,.
says, Jack. "It was too laborious; why,
sir, / did nothing for two months but
carry q forty-foot ladder about town,
climbing down into dark holes to smell
out gas leaks; yes, sir, the boss was deaf
| in mis- nose; he couldn't smell limberger
at ten PAGES, and he hired me for the
use Of my nose-'a good nose is requisite
| to smell out work tor the other senses
but mine wasn't that kind of a nose,
no-ser." He tried printing, but printing
was not his forte either, ''the type were
alwas getting mixed up, and the sdeyip
| was to pay generally" Telegraphing
| suited better, and John worked steadily
at the wires for four years, finally be-
coming No. 1operator, but the blood Of
the Marbles was in him-out of six chill
dren five were on the stage, three broth
ers and two sisters, all comedians,
1 nothing wanting TO make the number
even but John. Accordingly, in
| 1865 he made his second first ap-
pearance in Columbus, Ohio, as 'sFran-
cis,o in sHenry the Foufth.n with the
| late James I'll. Hackett as "Falstaf." FL
/ nally, after playing in st. Louis, Chicago
| and several other cities of note, he found
his way to Cincinnati, where he opened
at Woods Theater in 1871 as the Irish
man in the comedy Of "Extremes."
| With the exception of few weeks spent
lin Pittsburg, Marble has remained in
our city ever since his first arrival, and
is to-day probably the most popular man
| on our local stage. He has played with
almost all OF the leading stars who have
ilIumined the theatrical horizon in mod
ern times, of whom he relates many an
1 ecdotes. He always had, as he says
himself, dread Of being cast in play
with Forrest, and was fortunate enough
| to escape him on all bis visits, with one
exception. When Forrest came to Gin.
cinnati last, Marble was cast as "Os-
wald," in liking Lear" He stumbled
and staggered through the part, almost
in constant "swsatD Finally 'Kent,v
4 speaking of 't0swald," says, sis he
dead?' swell, IL he amt, be ought to
be-" growled Forrest, who was sitting at
the wing. 81 knew it'll knew it," says
John. s9Sure as fate, knew it would
come. ] felt like had been struck by
lightning, or had taken liberties with a
mule. But he's dead, poor fellow, and
| forgive him." Marble is one Of the ieH
funny men that are funny wherever you
find them. Exit Marble.
| JOHN L. CRAVEN.