Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-05-27
FROM PULPIT TO STAGE.
The lannon's Ex-Preacher Min Tells How il
Came About.
ChieaoO NauS

- r.
pursuits in single life, which to most
minds seem fairly antipode For ten
years / lived the life of hard-yorkino
earnest, and I hope not altogether unsuc-
cessful minister. For three years and q
half l have been a play actor. Of nv
record In the former calling ] have never
been ashamed; in the latter my career is
still before me. During my life in the
pulpit / passed through all the different
stages and fulfilled all the functions of
preachers life. / baptized the young.
buried the dead, married the foolish, and
preached good many wretchedly bad
sermons! l knew what it was to be poor
so poor that Jobs turkey might have
passed me by with the strut of a Wander
bilt or Gould. Later on l knew what it
was to have more than [ needed-thouUh
not more than | used. During those ten
years in the ministry I passed through a
mental evolution, whose genesis was ultra
and enthusiastic orthodoxy, and the ter
mination of which was well defined acnos-
ticism. The curious often ask, show T
came to changer" To which my reply has
always been "that I grew" Certainly I
had neither intention nor desire to aban-
don the faith of my childhood. But con-
viction is the result of reason, and living
in the nineteenth century, as we do, it is
not easy to escape the ''irrepressible con-
fict between the logic of modern philos-
ophy and science and the legacy of me-
dieval theology which fingers in the stand
ards of the church.
At the time [ left the pulpit [ lived
singularly enough-next door to one of
the most genial and whole-souled theat-
rical managers in Chicago Dick
Hooley. When a lad I played truant
from prayer-meeting upon more than one
occasion to attend his excellent minstrel
performances in the old Brooklyn Thea
ter. To him I at first confded my inten-
ton to become an actor. I shall never
forget the dazed expression which came
over his face when I, a heretical preacher,
announced to him my purpose to enter
the profession" Had Gabriel proposed
carrying a spear as "supe" in his thea
ter 1 don't think he would have been
more surprised. But he was very kind,
and advised me well; and, more than all
else, he accompanied me on very hot
summers day to an upper room in nv
house and quietly endured the infection
of several solilOquies on my part. Ihave
never quite known what he thought about
it, or whether he thought at all: but I do
actor no one did more to throw kindly
light upon my initial effort than R. M.
Hooley.
How to get on the stage in this day of
travelling combinations is a question diff
cult to answer. The present system,
vitiating as it is in it's effect upon the
stage, does more harm in giving ready
access to the footlights to lot of I'M
trained amateurs than in any other way.
People who can scarcely read intelligently
the English language, who are as limo
cent of anything like intellectual culture
as the devil is of true religion, who do
not even know good drawing-room man
ners, find their way into the ranks of
profession to-day which demands educa-
ton, refinement, arduous study and wide
experience Had [ desired to go upon
the stage fifteen or twenty years ago. |
when lad, [ should have commenced by
serving as a "can boy" or utility man.
Three years and half ago-such are the |
changed conditions of the profession-I
was compelled to commence as a "star."
And many others with far less experience
of public life than possessed have jumped
from the sewing machine into the ropes
of Camills, or vaulted from lid or dry
goods box onto the Roman forum. All
my attempts to enter the theater by the
back door were thwarted. My name was
in the newspapers and unlucky
fate and [ was not allowed to withdraw
myself into obscurity. What an immense
amount of unintentionaI misrepresenta-
ton is done in the course of the year by
an ordinary newspaper man! During the
between my leaving the pulpit
and going on the stage [ was accredited
with more audacious schemes than I ever
dreamed Of. One writer made me the
victim of political aspirations. ''from
which," L have always devOutly prayed |
"Good Lord deliver me- another started
me in a saw-mill in Dakota, and still
another placed me in the editorial chair. |
The fact was that stood alone in the |
world, ''my occupation gone" like Othello's
and my life to be disposed of, I had left |
the pulpit feeling that it was no more |
for me. After pausing awhile for reflect
ion [ determined to become an actor, but
this was not until | had forever left the
pulpit. 1t was never true that left the
pulpit for the stage. I left it because I
was bonafde hereto, and I went upon
the stage because I wanted to.
[ have always cordially believed that,
with a few notable exception, the COM
what is known on the stage as 'rotten
bad" And its badness was worse when
unconcealed by the tinsel of the customer
and the glitter of the footlights. [ never
shall forget those horrible rehearsals, al
though [ want to. Of course I was the
object of universal scrutiny. Every old
actor informed me how it was done
twenty years ago-eVery young one prac-
tically let me know that l, at least, could
not tell him how it was sin the good old
days of the stock" But I labored pa
tiently and rehearsed thoroughly, and so
prepared myself assiduously for the holo-
caust.
Those were trying times to me, though
I have never admitted it till now. Every
writer in America had his cheap |
little fling at me, and learned anew that |
"a prophet is not without honor save
among his own people," and that the
American journalist hesitates to acknowI-
edge that sun in its dawning before which
he prostrates himself at noontide. I
many others have learned
that ambition, coupled with inexperi