Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1883-01-31
Hamlet in Street Clothes,

Maze Edwards, manager for Edwin
Booth, thus describes their appearance
at Waterbury last Winter, when the
troupe played without their costumes:
When l found the baggage with the
costumes had not arrived, was just
going to throw myself into the river,
when l thought l would 60 and tell Mr..
Booth about it. and bid goodbye to
some of the people who had always
thought good deal of me, before kill
ing myself. To my astonishment, Mr..
Booth took it coolly. He said, inasmuch
as the people were in the hall, he would
make few remarks to them about the
accident, and then they would go on
and play three acts of Hamlet in the
clothes they had on. And so it was fixed
up that way.
Well, the thought Of Hamlet in a
short-tailed coat and tight pants almost
made me sick, and when Mr.. Booth
came on the stage looking like an Epis-
copal minister. with Knight Templar's s
cheese knife that he had borrowed,
couldn't think of anything but Hamlet.
forgot all about his clothes, and be-
lieve if he had only had on a pair of
sailor pants and red flannel tireman's
shirt, that the people would have seen
Hamlet. l tell you he is the greatest
actor that ever lived. The people sat
perfectly still, and seemed WI tapped up
in Booth. That is, they were when they
did not look at the other fellows.
But when they took in Lartes, with q
short ham-fat coat on, a pair of la-de-
dah pants, and pancake hat, it seemed
to me could hear them smile. And the
King, Hamlet's step-father, he was a
sight. Imagine King with cut-away
checkered coat, Pullman car blanket
thrown over his shoulder for robe, and
leg of chair for scepter, mashed
on a queen with travelling dress and a
gray woolen basque with buttons on it.
And think ofPolonius with linen dust
er and q straw hat with blue ribbon
on! ., it made me tired. Ophelia was
all right enough. She had on some
crazy clothes that she had been travel
ing in. and we got some straw out of a
barn, and some artificial flowers off the
bonnets, and she pulled through pretty
well.
But the Ghost. You would have died
to see the Ghost. He had on one of those
long hand-me-down ulster overcoats
with buckle in the back as big as a
curry-comb, and the belt was hanging
down on both sides The boys got him
a green mosquito bar to put over it. and
with stuffed club for a scepter. he fell
over chair and then came on. should
have laughed if had been on my death
bed, when he said to Hamlet IL am thy
fathers ghost" He looked more like
drummer for a wholesale confectionery
house, with sort of tin skinner on his
head, and believe the audience would
have gone wild with laughter if it had
not been for Mr.. Booth. l don't believe
you could get him to laugh on the stage
for million dollars. He just looked at
the Ghost rs though it was genuine
one, and the audience looked at Booth,
and forget all about the ulster, and the
ghosts pants being rolled up at the bot
tom.
1t was probably the greatest triumph
that an actor ever had, for Mr.. Booth to
compel the vast audience to forget the
ludicrous surroundings and think only
OF the character he was portraying. l
wouldn't have missed the nights per-
formance for n thousand dollars, and
when, at 10 o'clock, heard the boys
getting the trunks up stairs, was al.
most sorry. The last two acts were PLAYED
with the costumes, but they were no bet
ter performed than the first. Sill. l
think, on the whole, had rather the
baggage would be there. 1t makes q
manager feel better.