, 1889-11-02
RICHARD u. UNDER DIFFICULTIES.
Booth Had to Stick the Bills because tile
Blu Posters Drank Up the Paste

Blu Posters Drank Up the Paste
One night recently Edwin Booth sat
down to a cory little supper with
manager Dan Frohman, of the Ly-
ceum, and actor Edward Sothern, and
during the little supper the
ton came around to Mr.. Booths expe-
riences as a manager, and in answer
to a question Mr.. Booth gave a quaint
little bit of autobiography which was
too good to keep, and the story is go
ing h rounds among the profession
manager" said Mr.. Booth, twas in
the year 1854. 1 and four others were
on our way to Australia to fill a pro-
fessional engagement. Two of the
party were D. @. Anderson and his
wife. We were in a slow old sailing
ship, and we were compelled 10 stop
at the Sandwich Islands for supplies
and to make some repairs to the ship.
We found, to u surprise, that Homo
lulu had a rude sort of theatre, and as
we were to be detained there for sew
eral days we thought we might earn a
few dollars by giving a performance.
We were told that the king-Kame-
hameha, l think his royal name was
was an enlightened monarch, who
had visited Europe and come back
with a great admiration for the drama,
and that he would graciously patron
ize our performance.
1--WE determined to give Richard
ILL., and | was elected manager. Now.
the full strength of the company was
exactly five, and there are about
twenty-five parts in the tragedy, as
you know, to say nothing of the lords
and ladies of the courts, citizens, muir
derers, messengers and the two armies
of Gloster and Richmond. So you can
understand that the manager had no
easy task of it. 1 was to play Richard,
and by an ingenious scheme of doub-
ling up, by which each of the others
was to play at least two parts, we man
aged to arrange for some sort of a per-
Torrance until / suddenly discovered
that 1 had no Lady Anne. Mrs. An
derson was the only lady in our com
pany. and she had to do two parts
the Duchess of York and Elizabeth.
Il was almost in despair until /
learned that there was a white man in
the town who, as l was told, had once
been an actor in a humble way and
would be glad to help us out, and that
as he was an under sized man he might
do to dress up as a woman. So L sent
for him.
Meantime 1 had another trouble.
We had some bills printed with a
brush and marking ink, and 1 sent
some natives out to bill the town. But
Hour was entirely toe scarce and high
priced in the Sandwich islands to make
paste of, and as a substitute / was adj
vised to buy some stuff called poi poi,
the sticky juice of some tropical plant
of which it appears the natives make
an intoxicating drink. / i~nnocently
gave this stuff to the bill stickers.
But the rascally natives, instead of
using the stuff as l had intended, drank
up all the paste, got drunk, and didn't
post a bill AT the last moment 1 had
to take a pail and brush and a bundle
of bills and go through the town pyst-
ing the bills myself.
THE new member of the company
who was to do Lady Anne almost gave
me a spasm when 1 saw him. He was
about four feet high, a stumpy fellow
with handy legs, cro eyed, and with
all his front teeth gone. He chewed
tobacco %furieusly, and he spoke with
a German accent. His only know
ledge of the stage proved to have come
from once working as a grip behind
the scenes of some theatre in the
States
But there was no help for il, and l
had to engage him, after exacting his
solemn promise that he would never
forget that he was a royal princess of
England, and not squirt tobacco juice
over the stage during the play.
Il shall never forget that perform
n of Richard Ill Its like was
never seen before nor since. The two
EfnulIc1 o,.r,, tng u-nra ,,o1a 49, ~ .nt.-~
Sandwich islanders, and to see the fol-
lowers of Richard and of Richmond
fighting the battle of Bosworth Field
in burnt cork was something never
before attempted on any stage
But the Lady Annel l regret TO
say that her appearance when made
up was something worse than gro
tesque. If she had been homely in
mans attire she was hideous in skirts,
end when l had made ardent love to
her as
Sweet saintr-'divine perfection
of a woman fairer than tongue can
name thee and tell her of her beauty
which did haunt me in my sleep,'I
thought should burst with mortihca-
ton, for her handy legged waddle,
her ros eyed leer, her toothless
mouth and German accent were some
thing INDISPENSABLE. And, horror of
horrorsl while she stood mourning at
her dead husbands bier, her ladyship
had broken her solemn pledge and was
actually chewing tobaccol
"Oh, there never was such a per-
Torrance as thatl We shortened the
play a great deal and left a good deal
to the imagination Of the audience,
but l was in a cold perspiration until
it was over. But our audience was
good natured and by no means criti-
cal. We had a big house and they
seemed well pleased"
But there was a curious sequel to
the performance" added Mr.. Booth.
After the play, while / was dressing,
King Kamehameha was ushered into
my Don He proved to be a very
pleasant, we'll informed gentleman. He
had been educated in Europe and had
travelled extensively. He spoke kind
ly of our Richard, and he surprised me
greatly by exclaiming, as he patted
me familiarly on the back:
"Mr. Booth. / saw your father play
NJ