Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1883-04-11
EDWIN sooTH ipollZED.

The Germans shower Praises. Thanks,
Tears, I'm braces and Even Kisses On
Him.
A private letter from Hamburg to the
editor of the Washington Sunday
Letter, dated February 10, gives the
following account Of the reception &C.
corded Edwin Booth in that city:
Edwin Booth began his engagement
here last Friday, the 10th, as Hamlet
TO a crowded house. Indeed all the
seats for the three performances an
nounced were sold nearly fortnight
ago, and the prices might have been
trebled. The press are cordial,
even to enthusiasm. but it
is the enthusiasm aud admiration
of the actors engaged to support the
star are now more especially striking.
The actors are really wild with delight.
Kissing is a continental custom, (abom-
nation / might almost say and Booth
has had to take considerably more than
bis share. The men fall upon his
shoulders aud kiss him upon both
cheeks. The women weep and sob as
they take him by the hands. think
he got out OF patience at being kissed
by the men. 1t was in vain that he
cried out, Mind the paint" So at
last, in sort of comic desperation, he
exclaimed, "If kissing is the correct
thing, please stand aside, gentlemen,
and let the ladies advance
The stage manager of this theatre, a
venerable gentleman seventy-tive years
of age, was q pupil of Davrient, and
he says that he has never till now seen
Hamlet or Lear. Herr Maurice, the
manager, also an actor of great ex-
perience and observation, says that he
las seen no actor comparable with
Edwin Booth since Talma.
Last Saturday night, when Booth
played King Lear, it was truly most
pathetic sight TO see people at the wings
was repeatedly recalled and yociferous-
ly cheered, and after that he was EN-.
braced by all the Dramatic Company,
except the poor little extra girls who
acted as pages. These are not "supers"
in Our acceptation of the word. but
young ladies who are at the foot of the
ladder, and studying to become actress
es. As he left the theatre these girls
were waiting for him in the hall, and in
a perfectly artless and modest manner,
one of them approached him, and in
broken English, said through her tears,
"Mr. Booth, you make Us cry; We do
want so much to kiss you" After the
UcculatiOns Of number of enthusiastic
German gentlemen, this surely was no
bad change, and | observed that the
tragedian was enabled TO endure with
quite becoming resignation the ca
Tesses of these charming little devotees.
Upon my word envied him. He had
to take home a number of floral cOntri-
buttons, and as he passed. TO his car
Tiage several hundred persons were in
waiting TO get a glimpse of him anu to
say goodnight.
This evening he repeated Hamlet.
lators got as much as twenty marks
apiece for the fOur-mark seats. He re-
ceived seven beautiful wreatheS, two or
three bouquets, and great basket of
flowers from the girls Ofthe ballet. All
these little things are signs OF The tre-
mendous feeling in favor of the Ameri-
can tragedian. / have never before
witnessed anything like the enthusi-
asm that Booth has aroused in this
country.
At Berlin his 'tOthello" was a great
hit. At Hamburg his Lear" has car
ried all before it. Scholars like Wer-
der and Leo, who have seen the best
that the stage Of Europe has known for
sixty years, extol both his acting and
and his scholarship, and by the dra-
matte profession he IS hailed and habit
sually addressed as "Meister."