Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-11-27
THREE CALIFORNIA STARS.
How They Rose from the West 70 Fame
and Fortune.
Now York Cor, Boston HOrald.l

Now lork NoTi pVeNVh hVidlVsl
Maggie Moore Williamson as Zig
rie Stmfel,n in Struck Oil, and her
husband are said to have already made
$4,000 with Struck Oil. Lolita Grab
tree) is rollicking through La Uigale
at the Park, and probably all the while
regretting that the house is so small
that it will hold only $1,000, however
closely packed. Her terms are three
hfths Of the gross receipts. She is no.
body knows how wealthy. Sophie
Worrell (Knight) is the life of Otto,
at the Broadway, whore the German
dialect acting Of her husband, George
Knight, has somewhat unexpectedly
packed the house.
These three women started on the
same stage in San Francisco, it would
not DO polite TO say how many years
ago, and now chance gives them stimuli
%taneously a stage apiece in themetrop-
oils, The stage on which they started
was in a variety theater-one Of those
rude establishments that were popular
resorts of miners in the early times on
the Pacific coast, They were young
girls then, and their dancing was the
chief magnet of the show. They
sang, too, but their dancing was what
delighted the audiences. An old actor
who saw them there remembers that
rivalry made them ambitious. A new
or especially intricate step was q tri-
umph for the one who made it, and an
incentive to the others, They not
only danced on the stage turn after
turn, but nearly praoticed their legs
off in the oraD;ped green-room. The
miners were bolsterous in their APP
proyal of the three pretty girls, and
were partisans according as fancy led
their favoritism. Fights over the
question of superiority were not in
frequent, and glasses were sometimes
flung to the floor in the excitement of
applause. 1t is not recolleoted, how
ever, that hattery turned the girls
heads, and the old actor speaks Of
them as behaving with propriety and
as rejecting every offer other than
proper expressions Of admiration.
Lolita came eastward, and for years
was called the California Diamond. ?
She has given a fine fountain to Oak
land, across the bay from San Fran
cisco, and is said to always regard Call
ifornia tenderly az her home. She
has never been married. Maggie Moore
stayed on the Pacific coast, because a
favorite actress, and q few years ago
married Williamson, who had been a
minor actor at Wallack's and had
roamed Westward in quest Of fortune.
The pair dovetailed their talents in
Struck Oil, and accomplished what the
title of the play implies. They are in
every way a reputable pair. Sophie
Worrell came into notice in this city
when the Lydia Thompson style Of
burlesque was a novelty here. She
and her sisters, Irene and Jennie,
took the town. as showmen phrase
it, in Ixion, OF The Man at the Wheel,
one of the cleverest pieces Of this
kind. The old Broadway Theater,
now the tenantless Globe, was crowded
for an entire season. The Worrell
girls dutifully bought their parents a
home with some of the money that
flowed into their pocket. Sophie was
the main stay in talent as well as in
s~teadiness, Jenny was rather giddy.
sank into variety shows, married a
broker, parted from him, married
Mike Murray, the gambler, parted
from him, and is now performing in Q
London concert hall. Irene married
and retired from the stage. Sophie
married Knight just before he made
his first hit in Eyangeline. He had
for years been just as funny on the va.
riety stage, but New York critics
never looked there for talent, Sophie
holds her own in tn dramatic partner.
ship, which seems likely to bring then
fortune.