The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1880-03-17
EDMUND KEAN.


All the Year Round
The theatre was IN great straits; the
managers were as drowning men clutch
ing at straws; otherwise they would not
have ventured upon the desperate ex-
pedient of suffering Mr.. Kean to appear
For weeks he had hung about the thea
tire, almost begging that he might have
trial. He was known to the scoffing
stage-door keepers as the ''man with the
capes," because of the heavy coachman' s
cape 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 on the morning OF the
memorable January 26, 1914, the day
fixed for his first performance. He re-
peated his speeches with some intima-
ton of the manner he proposed to adopt
in delivering them before the footlignts.
His play-tellows predicted failure; the
stage manager boldly denounced the in
novations of the provincial actor. eff
am wrong, the public will see me right, -
said the tragedian Of the Theatre Royal
Exeter. The stage manager shrugged his
shoulders. The actor dined literally,
for the first time in many days, upon
steak and porter; than walked through
the snow from his lodging in Cecil street
to the theatre, carrying his properties,
an old pair Of black silk stockings, a
collar, and black wig, for contrary to
all precedent, his Shy lock wore a black
wig-tied up In a handkerchief, and
thrust into the pocket Of the great coat
fIo
quarter full. The play began drearily
enough. Yet Shylock's early speeches.
as Kean rendered them they were ssIike
chapter of Genesis" Douglas Jerrold
was wont to greatly impressed the
| audience, stirred to extraordinary en-
thusiasm afterward when the time came
for the actors superb outbursts of pas
sion. Oxberry was surprised that SO
small an audience could 'kick up so
: great rowP' The success Of Edmund
Kean's Shylock could no longer be ques,
toned. The triumphant actor hurried
home, crying exultingly 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 go to Eton!'' On the actors sec
ond night the receipts were just double
those of the frst-that is to say, the house
was half full. The committee of man
agement began to doubt whether a gen
uine success had been achieved F.; they had
suffered so much from quasi successes
they even contemplated the removal of
Kean's name from the bills, and the trial
of another candidate. Lord Byron sensi-
bly, expostulated: s.You have got a
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 town to come and see him. There is
enough in Kean to bear out any extent
Of panegyric, and it will not do to trust
an opportunity like this to the mere rou.
tine Of ordinary chances. We must so
in body, call upon the proprietors and
editors of the leading papers, and ask
them to attend in person, and write the
articles themselves. This advice was
followed with the happiest results for
Keane's fame and fortune. He appeared
in Shylock fifteen times during his first
season at Drury Lane, and the part re-
NAMED to the last one of the most adj
m1red in his repertory.