New-York tribune., 1885-08-16

,,r;oas and xu,oar programmes came in. People
who Of later wears saw the pandemonlhm OF .ne P,s
md the doinQs on the boards must not gauge DV
them the times and characters ! am desc'ipihR.
Not but what there was more less rankness III
the crowd oven then For Tpes esst Of the Bowery
that ptersect Iii VISION Grand aud up to Ihrd-ave.
TYPES that never found their Dickens. or Iiogars
or Balzac, and have passed away
the vounc Ip-bulllers. cartmen. butchers. hTemen
ithe old-time asOap-loek." or exaggerated mose
or Skesey" of Chanfraus playsb they TOO were ere
olwavs to lie seen in these audiences racy OF the
East River and tho Dry Dock Slang. VIII.
occasional shirt-sleeves. and picturesque IreeuoI
of looks and manners, with rude goohn,1iio Wv Wv
restless movement, were generally noticeaoie. iet
there mover were audiences that paid good actor
or an interesting play the coDplnnent ,o 1t inore
sustained attention OF quicker rappor. ,d ;nteI
lectual congregations | have hinted at Ior the
Bowery really furnished plays, and players you
drew the best hearers and to specimen OF Dis
acting will now attend in some detail. ,o, T..
happened to see what has been reckohea ., ;, oy
experts one of the most marvellous pieces OF acting
ever known IL must have been about 1881 or 90.
A favorite comedian and actress at the Bowery,
Thomas Flvnn and bis wife, were 70 nave ,o,ns
the fact for many days beforehand Ihs mouse
filled early from top to bottom There was some
uneasness bshnd the scenes TOT the aiterno9a ",
arrived and Booth had not come from down IN
MARYLAND where he lived However Iew Inihu'es
before ringng-up time he made his appearance LII
Alter a one-act farce is over, as contrast and
prelude. the curtain rises for the tragedy. can
ifrom my good seat in epit pretty wei Iron. sec
head bent he slowly walks down the stage to the
footlights with that peculiar and aDstraeted
gestare, musingly kicking his sword, wnlcn ne
holds off from him by its SASH Though nifty years
have passed since then. can hear the clank and
feel the perfect hush of perhaps three Thousand
people waiting; never saw an actor VINO S Soala tha
make more of the SAID bush or wait. and hold tne
audience in an indescribable half-delicious, hali-
Irritating suspense.) And 80 throughout the entire
play ali parts. voice. atmosphere. magnetism, from
Now Is the winter OF our discontent
IN the closing death-ipht with Richmond were of
the finest and grandest. The latter charaeter WIS
played by a stalwart young fellow named Ingersol,'
Indeed all the renderngs were wonaerini'y goou,
Bat the great spell cast upon tho mass OF hearers
came from Booth. Especially was the dreah-scene
very impressive. A shudder went through every
nervous system in the audience; it certainly did
through mine
Without question Booth was royal heir and
legitimate representative of the Garrlck- hemoie,,
Siddons dramatic traditions; but he vltalized ana
gave an unnamable race to those traditions WIN
his own electric personal idiosyncrasy. As In all
artutterance it was the subtle and powerful some,
thing special 10 the iHdrdnat that really conqnered.l
To me- too, he stands for much else besides
theatrcals. l consider that my seeing the man
those years glimpsed for me beyond all eiSe tnat
inner spirit and form-the unquestionab.e charm
and vivacity. but intrinsic sophistlcation ana
neutrality-suspicious. rapidly upon the Enellsh
stage and literature at and after SnaKespeaIes
time. aud coming ON accumnlativey through the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to- the
beginning fifty forty years ago, of those dsin-
tegrating, dcecmposins processes now authorize, a.
classed in that an tique, almost extinct school,
inflated. STACEY rendering Shakespeare tperhaps
inevitably appropriately from the growth oil
arbitrary and often cockney conventions his genius
was to me one of the graudest revelations oil my
life lesson of artistic expression. The wopfs hre,
energy, abandon, found in him unpreoedented
meanings. | never heard speaker or a>tor who
could give such sting to hauteur or th:' taunt.
never heard from any other the charm oil ,nswerv.
ingly perfect vocallzation. without trenchlng at
WALT WHITMAN.