, 1876-12-02
EDWIN BOOTH.
A SKETCH OF AMERICAS
GREATEST ACTOR.
GENIUS, TRIED AND TRIUMPHANT.

truthfully said that he has been the archi-
tect of his own fortunes, than the gifted and
scholarly gentleman who forms the subject
of this sketch. Endowed by prodigal Ma
tlre with face that would have delighted
Canova, he unites with it the form of
Apollo, rather than of Hercules. He pos
sesses the majesty OF king in every move
ment but it is Charlemagne attenuated by
civilization. For years after the death Of
his father, he was playing at the San Fran
cisco theatres as a common stOck-actoi,
living in garnet on Kearnv street with
David G. Anderson and the late William
Barry, i'll
REAL BOHEMIAN STYLE.
At this time, San Francisco was music
mad over the exquisite vocalization of
Madame Anna Bishop, then in her prime,
while the honors of the lyric drama were
divided between her and the most beautiful
woman we ever saw - Clotilda Barill-
Thorne, the elder sister Of Adelina and Car
lotta Patti she died in Lima In 1857, and
when her life-tlame tiickered out on earth,
the Infinite kindled new star above. Ii
was in company with this gifted and modest
woman, whose genius WAS only equailed by
the night when he first astonished the
critics. He had just returned from sgd
ney with Miss Laura Keene (Mrs. John
LeutZe) and was put down by the best
Judges as 4 young man Of inherent genius,
but
LAZY AND sLovENLY
Beyond endurance. The play chosen for
that evening was Dumas tragedy of the
marble Heart" with its magnificent clas
steal prologue laid in Athens, while the dra-
ma was laid in Paris. Mrs. G. N. Sinclair,
the divoi ced wife of Forrest, was the ''Mar-
coz of the piece, while the part OF Raphael,
the sculptor, was entrusted to Booth. In
the prologue, he looked the Athenian, but
with all the advantages of his classical
face. he made no part of ''Phldlas. The
Parsian lie came on and he dawdled
through the banquet scene IN the Bols de
Boulogne. Finally came the ostranSement
scene with ''Marco," and then followed
Edwin Booths first leap
FsoM oBscURITY TO GREATNESS.
.What does he remind you OFF, whis
pered Madame Barili to us. Half paralyZed
at the intensity of his acting, we replied
that we did not know. 1T is the tace of
Napoleol, in the days of the First Consul
late See his half hasgg.trd face and great
staring eyes-they speak a broken heart"
The house became convulsed with emotion
as the scene progressed. till at last came
that fearful reproacn as Marco" Offers
to send him back to Paris in the carriage
purchased with his sqnandered .Ortune-
:. NJ. Madame the day is fine and the road
is smooth. You have discarded me be-
b. cause I was poor, Marco, and poverty
must walk" The startling emphasis with
which he uttered these lines, rang in our
ears for Wet Is afterwards. THIS was III the
>prin9 of 1855, and fft.r an unsuccessful
tour Of the mining countirs during the
summer. Edwin D,osh played Il short en-
gagemcnt at the American Thcatcr, and
then
SAILED FOR NEW YORK.
sHere he fell in with old friends of his
father. among them William I. Porter, OF
the esprit of the Times Felter. wealthy
grocer who loved the drama James Patti
son, editor of the Albion" supported
chiefly by EnGlish-born residents; James
r. Brady, the great criminal lawyer of his
iav who wrote Pat Malloy' for the late
Barney Williams. Backed by their asss-
tauce, he PLAYED but Il short engagement
and then sailed for England and France to
study the surroundings of great plays. He
came back after eight months absence, and
brought out :. Richelieu'' at the Winter
Garden, in style of magniticence hitherto
unknown in the history OF America. From
that hour 10 his revisit of San Francisco,
three months ago, his life has been one
continuous
HISTRIONIC TRIUMPH.
San Francisco turned out splcndidlv to
receive him at the California Theatre, where
he played to good houses, though with very
meaSer support. Aside from the careful
and energetic Mccullough, whose robust
style is an admirable foil to Mr.. Booth,
the support given him was far below that
enjoyed by Barry Sullivan, few months
previously. Sullivan had James O'Neil, j.
F. Cathcart George D. Charlin and Louis
James, in his company, and they were four
better actors than have been in the Cali
ifornias stock company for the past three
years. But with all these drawbacks, Mr..
Booth drew good houses for forty nights,
for which he received thousand dollars
per night. Nor was there single night of
his engagement on which the management
lost money. He opened in
HAMLET,
And his personation of the melancholy
Dane is mastery, beyond description.
Though inferior to Barry Sullivan in the
quarrel scene with Laertes, or i'll any por-
ton of the play requiring intense passion,
he surpasses him in scores of other material
points. His articulation is wonderful, the
great scene with ,the ghost, commencing
with "Angels and ministers of Grace de-
fend u.s." being given i'll whisper that
pervaded every nook and corner Of the
house. His reading, Will plastic, is
free from that abominable pedantry that
mars the action OF Lawrence Barrett and
as for his stage presence, every attitude is
a posture fit for the chisel of Praxiteles.
In the difficult role of
s'IAGo,''
Mr.. Booths personation of that character
is new departure from the ordinary rem
dition of the part. He makes it the leading
character of the play, and would do So
even if Forrest were alive to play . Othello''
alongside of him. He is not the villain at
the start; he is g honest Iago," as the Great
Master wrote the part, and sustains the
character of the rollicking Italian up to
the very last act, where he becomes un-
masked and shown up in all his hideous de-
formity. The by play that Booth throws
in to this part is immense. His features
change like the turns of kaleidoscope, and
his expression varies with every sentence.
But it is as
RICHELIEU,"
That Booth pleases us best. The play it
self is the finest ever written outside the
works of Shakespeare and, in our opinion,
there are but two of his plays-Hamlet and