The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-09-13

business that he might want done at
night"
SSit down" said he. with egard
to business all l want you to do at
night is to come on the stage. and look at
me; it will be all right"
"Kean then sat down at the piano
and sang one of Moore's melodies,
Believe me if all those endearing
young charms He had a splendid
heard in my life, and l have heard
them all.
"At night continued Forest" when
in the play, had to say:
Look to yonr wife, observe her well with
Casio,
Wear your eyes thus. not jealous nor secure.
As much as to say don't be too d-n
sure of her. AT the same time placed
my face close to his and gave him
very meaning look. Kean glanced at
me with surprise. After the curtain
fell Kean came to me and said:
Young man, where did you get that
idea from?n
"What idea. - 1 asked.
"The idea of looking me So intensely
IN the eyes when you said nor secure"
why, 1 got 1t from where you got
your great style, Of acting-I replied
from nature"
"Kean grasped me warmly by the
hand, and said, You VIII make a
name
"a few weeks after Kean was the
recipient of a. grand dinner in Phila-
| delphia, during which he drank to the
health of Edwin Forrest, and urged the
assembly to encourage as he said.
/ oof.ar ~ tba Aoryi3
The speech was, reported, but the
| fellow that did it got drunk and lost the
copy. would give $1,000 to-
night for that report, as I heard that
Kean spoke of me in the highest terms.
In the following spring l came to New
York, and put up at clearinghouse
| was without dollar. / did not have
| two shirts in the world My clothes
had been seized for board IN Albany.
was thoroughly disguised with the
world, and resolved to kin myself.
went TO drug store and bought some
arsenic. l told the apothecary |
wanted to kill rats. went TO my room
and mixed it, and was upon the point
of taking it, when, just as things
happen on the stage, heard
gentle rap on the door; a
man came III who said he was an
actor, and that his name was Woodruff
The object OF his visit was to get me 20
play for his benefit. He said he had
never seen me act, but he had heard
| Ogden HOFFMAN, a member OF the Leg
! islature, and others capable of judging,
| hastily that l had done with acting,
and that did not know anything
about him or his benefit. The actor
! HDrEsnnnCf ~ Il.
| l am a poor man, and have a
! long summer to run through.
had hoped you would have
come 10 nay aid, and assist me in sup
porting my family; otherwise we are
beggared.
THESE words touched me So" said
Forrest" that finally consented. I
| played 0thello for him. 1t was
grand sweep financially and dram
atically, for hundreds were turned
from the doors of the theatre.
! Next morning Mr.. Clifford, manager
of the Bowery Theatre, put $500 into
my hand, and engaged me for year at
his theatre. From that tifne TIL now
my course has been onward and up
ward.
In 1929 appeared in the first of my
! American dramas III 'Metamora,' wrt-
| leH by pftittcF Nv tDe name OF w Ia.
Stone; for the play gave him $500 and
a benefit. He eventually committed
suicide by drowning in the Delaware
River. In 1881 Doctor Bird, of PhiIa-
dclphia, wrote The Gladiator" for me,
and afterwards "The Broker of Bogota, u
and then "0raloosa." Judge Conrad
wrote Jack Cade" for me. I
afterwards paid $1,000 for a play
| entitled "MahOmet." which
subsequently concluded was more fit
! for the closet than the stage. I did all
1 could to encourage native talent, as
in this case, the play had much merit,
but the under plot was had, and it did
not suit my purpose of founding the
American drama"
''Apropos, y said I, Mr.. Forrest, what
do you think of the relative position of
the legitimate drama and the sensation
business? Do you believe that the
legitimate will soon recover its Just
prominence?
NO" he replied, in a deep tone, "the
sensational has got such a strong hold
upon the public that it would take a
Shakespeare and a Garrick combined
to up-root it. However, when there
shall come a time when we will have
man thatcan look and act Antony and a
MOHudn W III Cdll lOOk anu dCL OlcODHt-
ra. and the play is gotten up with the
same care Of detail and expense as The
Black Crook was, with a panorama of
the Nile, and fine ballet of beautiful
women, why it will run for thousand
nights
Mr.. f. then spoke Of his relations
with the press.
Il have seldom been criticized, but
often attacked; but, | am happy to say,
my detractors have almost exclusively
been foreigners. One exception make
and that was when l was in England |
Douglas Ierrold wrote the finest article |
on my Othello ever had in my life. l |
am prouder of that than any notice l |
ever received"
Did YOU not from your style upon
the methods of Edmund Kean and |
Thomas Cooper2"
al did" replied the veteran.
"You are OF Scotch descent, are you
mott"
MY father was Of that race, but my
mother was Dutch-of Holland
family. She was extremely pious,
was not strong child. / often heard
the old people say, Ned is weak child,
we fear we shall never be able to raise
him. l wondered why l should not
live like. the rest of the children. Early
in life took great deal of exercise,
and made myself what ana Hefcu-
les. But come of a gOutY family but |