Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1879-12-18

All the Year Round.
The theatre was in great straits; the
managers were as sinking men clutchinl
at straws, otherwise they would no
have yentured upon the desperate expe
dent of suffering Mr., Kean to appear
For weeks he had hung about the theatre
almost begging that he might have n tri
al. lie was known to the scofIing stage
door keepers as ''the man with the capes, '
because OF the heavy coachman's coat he
wore-it was bitter wintry weather, the
snow two feet deep upon the ground
He was allowed his chance at last. But
one rehearsal was thought necessary; this
was in the morning of the memorable
Jan 2Gth 1914, the day fixed for his first
performance. He repeated his speeches
with some ntimatlon of the manner he
proposed to adopt IN delivering them be,
fore the foot His play-telows pre-.
dlcted failure; the stage manager boldly
denounced the innovations of the pro
| vinclal actor. "lf am wrong, the pub.
lie will see me right, SAID the tragedian.
of the Theater Royal, Exeter. The stage
manager shrugged his shoulders. The
actor dined literally, for the first time in
many days, on steaks and porter; then
walked through the snow from his lodg-
ing in Cecil street to the theater carry
ing an old pair OF black silk stockings, a
collar and black wig-ior, contrary to
all former precedents, his Shylock wore Il
blacd wig, tied up in handkerchief, and
thrust into the pocket of the great coat
with the cGpes. The house was only a
quarter full. The play began drcanly
enough. Yet ShyloCk's early speeches.
as kean rendered them, they were like a
chapter OF Genesis, " Douglass Jerrold was
wont to say--greatly impressed the au.
Gience, stirred to extraordinary enthuSi-
asm alterward when the time came for
the actors superb outbursts of passion.
OXbcrry was surprised that so small an au-
dlence could kick up so great a row!"
The success of Edmund Kean's Shylock
could no longer be questioned. The tri-
umphant actor hurried home, crying ex-
nItiugly to his wife: "Mary, you shall
ride IN your carriage, and Charley, my
boy" and he lifted the three year old
baby from his cot, ''you shall 90 to Eton!"
Ci' bAiN HSNOl q otIphi HlEllI llt ItCtlplS
were just double those Of the first-the
house was just half.full The committee
of management began to doubt whether
a genuine success had been achieved; they
even contemplated the removal OF Kean's
name from the bills and the trial of an
other candidate. Lord Byron sensibly ex-
poStulatCd: you have got great
genius among you and you don't know it.
But he will fall through like many others
unless we lift him and force the world to
come and see him. There is enough in
ke1n to bear out any extent of panegyric,
and it will not do to trust an opportunity
like this to the mere routine Of
the ordinary chances. We must 90
in II body, call upon the editors and pro-
prietors of the leading papers, and ask
them to attend in person and write the ar
ticles themselves" This advice was fol-
lowed with the happiest results for Kean's
fame and fortune. He appeared as Shy.
lock fifteen times during his first season
at Drury Lane, and the part renamed to
the last one of the most admired IN his