Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1879-06-01
LESTER WALLACK
Finds Out that there are No s'Pr0v-
inces" In this Country. as the The
atricaI SnObs and Critics Of New
York Would Have the
World Believe.

Chicago Tribune, May 25th: The recog- |
nized ''leading juvenile" of America, Mr.. |
Lester Wallack, IS three times grandfather, |
but no man upon the stage carries his years
better. Few, twenty years younger, possess
such buoyancy and elasticity of spirit. He
looks like well-preserved army officer cut
from the pages of Thackeray-tall, straight,
dark hair and mustache, with keen eye in
which he invariably fixes an eye-glass, and he
can tell story and relish one about as well as
any man. The writer happened to find him
at leisure yesterday and IN a talkative mood.
He was highly pleased with his reception IN
the west; the people had been kind to him,
and so had the press, and he was glad to say
that his reception warranted his reappear-
ance in 10th st. Louis and in Chicago.
"In Cincinnati your business was"-
'Feir-only fair; the audiences were rather
chilly"
land in st. LOUISE ''
''My reception was very catering to me,
as it has been in Chicago"
The writer turned the conversation upon
the subject of stars.
"The old system Of starring" remarked
the comedian, appears to have been lost
sight Of Ristor1, Salyini, Kemble, Kean,
Charles Mathews, and other great lights, be-
fore they started out, obtained in the largest
city in the country, in which they lived,
metropolitan reputation. la all foreign coun-
tries to-day some place Is acknowledged to
be the place. In England, it is London; in
Austria, Vienna; in France, Paris; but it is
totally different IN America. Boston says to
New York, oh, well, why should you claim
the greatest comedian?' and Philadelphia
turns I'D her nose if Boston claims the great
est tragedlau. This is the way all over. In
England everybody admits London's judg
| ment: but here, Boston says she knows as
much about 1t as New York, Chicago az much
as Boston. There Is the difficulty with actor
who begins the starring system here. Take
| Booth, Jefferson, M 'Cullough or Barrett. They
are not connected with any city in this coun-
| try; their reputation is general. With me
| it is entirely different. | suppose my name
| is pretty familiar all over, but my reputation
IS associated entirely with New York. So
| when | go to Boston with my New York
| reputation they shru2 their shoulders and
| think of the great comedians they have pro-
| duced. 1t would be precisely the same with
| Warren were he to go to New York. All the
| cities of this country are Londons. They will
readily accept Sslvlni, with an Italian repu-
tation, and would Henry Irving with his Lon
don name, but they hesitate to accept Lester
| Walack or any other body with a New York
| reputation. But I've had good luck; I've
been very kindly treated"
But" said the writer, 'the reason for
that is that New York, although an amuse-
| ment-seeklng city, Is not by any means a
| dramatic city.
Eyes, that's so. The people of New York
don't care one sixpence for the drama.
don't say that tley won't rush wildly after
| any novelty, but any regular dramatic pa
tronage doesn't exist. They will run after a
sensation, but they will drop that sensation
like a hot potato the moment they get an
other. That's the drama IN New York.
don't say that in grumbling spirit. If they
| won't take to the drama, managers and actors
| have nothing to do but to follow their taste
| SoiA RI GT'll looA
public | said he couldn't do it, and nc
actor or manager need try it, for, as GarricE
has truly said:
The dramas laws the dramas patrons gives
Whoever lives to please must please to llve.' "
In regard to newspaper criticism, Mr.. Wal
lack thought the tendency to be funny and
spicy was exceedingly bad for art, and wishe5
that critics would devote more time to the
analysis of minor parts in a performance thar
they do, and less to the desire to ridlcue the
efforts of young artists.
81 see," tbs scribe remarked, 'that Ada
Cavendish will probably be member of YOU
company next season"
al nope Sd. 1 am trying to get her. Wha
next season will amount to don't know, | n
sure. look at my last year g company. There
vera Cogh!au, Beckett, Gilbert, Holland
Nine. Ponisi, Miss Rose Coghlan and Miss
Stella Boniface. Fancy that group of artists
ever playing to bad house, and to thinl
that had to go in to prop up the season
Yes, am going to run a stock company mex
season." said the comedian In answer to thu
question. 81 will open with play by Bou
cicault, after which l will put IN Byron
Our Girls Then will come In an Irish dra
ma by Boucicault, in which he will play al
Irish part, and then probably he and l vii
play together"
''After the coming week you leave for Sal
Francisco?"
! -hiAz=< za-0-Is-
''Is an elastic one. 1t VIII uepeuu upol
! how the people like me. l expect, however
TO be finished by the middle of July, an,
then I'll make as short a cut as l can for m
yacht, the Columbia