River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1884-07-31
AN ACTORS DOWNFALL.
How a Male Professional Beauty Went
From Bad to Worse.
New York Letter to the New Orleans Times

/ From Bad Co worse
| New York Letter to the New Orleans Times
Democrat
If you recall him at all, il is as
splendid specimen of young manhood.
He was only fairly expert in acting but
was so remarkably pleasant to look at
that audiences liked him. had a slight
acquaintance with him in those days.
He was an educated fellow, refined in
his tastes and inclined towards literary
pursuits. He thought that he had nat
uraI talent in the direction of fiction,
and was at one time at work on a novel,
| as to which | have no more distinct idea
| than that it was neither good enough or
bad enough to make lasting impress
! sion. I do not suppose it was
ever published though it may have
found place in ephemeral magazine
pages. He was the object of dis
| tinguished regard by the girls of
| blithesome immaturity wherever he
appeared. His daily mail was chiefly
composed of sentimental missives. He
vas an actual Grosvenor, on whom the
aoulation of love-sick maidens palled.
There was no affectation about it.
! Geo1 ge took no delight In the admira
| ton which his beauty excited, but rath
er saw in it an indication that he was
effeminate. He desired to play parts
in which his face would be disfgured,
| but there were two business-like rea-
sons why the managers would not graft
/ fy him. His good looks were too at
! tractive to be wasted, and he lacked
: the skill of what was called character
! roles. Well, the other night IN stroll
| ing up Broadway a friend suggested
/ that we should inspect the newest of
| the wicked concert halls. There is
always worst one among this kind of
New York resorts. The pre- eminence
is short, because the proprietor gets
into the penitentiary after little while.
| Jake Berry, Sandy Spencer. Owney
] Geoghegan and Billy McGiory are
illustrious names on the roll of infamy.
! Each prospered for a season in
the maintenance of a theater in
| which the audiences were more
| offensive than the performances. Tom
| Gould's Souci theater-or Gould's
Sassy, rs phrased by its frequenters-
| is at present in the enjoyment of the
| patronage which ends in disaster. We
| found the place crowded by men and
girls, who got their diversion by alter
1 nate attention to the beverages served
| to them at little round tables and to
the singing and dancing that was being
! done on the stage. An architectural fea-
! ture of the house was a row of boxes
| along three sides of the auditorium and
/ cost ha1f I0llar tho
/ rest of the premises being free in theo-
nv. though in practice the walters
/ seemed to be making it unpleasant for
those who did not disburse freely for
drinks. We took places in one of
/ those boxes.
"How d'you do?" said voice which
manifestly was engaged in resolute
effort to be CHEEKY; chow are you ?"
and it called me by name. dropped
my eyes and saw leaning against the
front of the box, which was Just high
enough to bring his head to level
with the rail, frowsy, bleary, sodden
wretch.
"Corne. come. exclaimed waiter,
grabbing him roughly by the arm, 'you
mustn't annoy the gentleman. Bounce
right ont.
The tramp drew himself up into pose
of dramatic dignity, but held it only for
an instant, and then shrunk down to alb
jeetness.
Don't you remember me?' he
said, piteously; ssI'm George Middle
ton
So he was. The gallant Romeo Of ten
years ago had become this miserable