The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-05-12

airs ABOUT WEIGH nave orion loked
him.
OAe other habit of his am reminded OF
by nv mention Of bis foreign travels In
is large safe at homo he Seeps carefully
done up in vouleaux and patchets consider
able amounts Of the various moneys Of such
Countries as be is likely TO sit or mas
visited, and so is always provided with
pocket-money, rs it were, for any journey he
may decide to take. | re member once his
handing 5000 as / was about TO star for
America after my summer holiday passed
IN Fl renee. One hundred dollars was in
Italian money. 800 In English, and 500 in
American. "Thus.h id be, you will not
be under the necessity of changing your
money at the money brokers'"
| am frequently asked whether my father
did not train me himself TO- mr. stage
career, and the question i put / such
form that makes 1t evident that the answer
assumed TO be IN the affirmative. This
is so tar from being the case that my father
designed me for quite another profession
nd. indeed, when fl st vi tied America it
was to pursue here my studies as a civil
engineer. | have acted, deed, from my
boyhood, but only as an amateur. When
.ny amateur performa ca for some charity
n so forth was arranged in Florence, the
hrst cry was always for 'Salvlnls chill
dren,n and, rather, fancy, to my fathers
too willing to accept the invitation, while
ny father was rather chaffed by b S friends
1T his unwillingness to let US appear. As
luck would have it; st thus more than once
ell to my lot to create a art IL some play,
which, Dresen ted first by amateurs, was
su sequently a success on the regular stage.
dy father, however, was firm in his deter
mination that should not be an actor, and
vas glad to see me sail for America, think
inn IN Of I no
temptation to don the sock and buskin in
a q whose very spsech was at t at time
unkno"n to me. AS it happened, though,
mad not long been nere and gained smat-
t'ring Of the English tongue when chance
threw in my way a opportunity to make
my appearance as an English speaking
actor in the company OF one no less famous
add Cara Mo.rls. | was mere lad and
hink was saved from failure as much by
my own boyish self-contidence and igno-
rance of what failure nea 10 as by the kind
ness of my friends and the good nature CT
my audiences. At all even s. with great de-
light, my good friend Majerone and con-
cJc,ed q cable dis atch announcing my
successful debut and se.it 1t to my father
Then | waited with trepidation, a I'd by a I'd
~ letter came. 1 was co graduated. but
the question was put with parental incisive
ness: why did you not ask my permits
L
[ knew he would refuse and so | tnought it
etter to succeed first and ask for leave aft
arward ticklei my father imme lsely, but
ne gr vely answered that for the present
could continue and that when he came TO
America, the year following, he would
make up his mind. | awaited his conf g
vita even more trepiiation, and the next
year, in Baltimore, he saw me act in El-
rlish for the frs time. | vas PLAYING
y ha1 IN n
and al my first entr Ince | did noJ see my
father When re-sntered from the op-
DOS To side of the stage | caught sight OF
those great eyes of his at the Oack Of the
OK and for the first time | knew what
stage fright was After the act he came
Josmy. dressing-room and said only one
word, "Why do you hold your hands so"
Initiating the gesture had prided myself
on as being unc mmonlY graceful
Hold the so, easily and tturally,p and
then he went out. At the end of t play
no came behind once more. salute1 me in
Italian fashi IN and merely said go on"
and that Is all the stage instruction my
father ever gave me. We have discussed
the conception of charac ers and stage
business and 50 on when l supported hi n
so years ago, but be has always refrained
iron anything which looked like teaching.
Once, though he saw me play IN locarl" in
Called Back l happened to use in one
act with some effect, red silk hadkerchief
a d brought it TO view gain in tAe course
of later act My fat er came behind as
vas dres ing for the street and said; You
ere all right, my boy, but tell me, has
Maccari onl handkerclief~ H eye
lad caught the triie wuicn j. rel on his
lrtistic conscience, so p culiarly sensitive
to minute points of detail. | was ION
olu sed for moment, but cruelty turned
tle table by remarkng, "Ah, you see you
ave been betrayed by your Ignorance Of
Eaglish. 'MaccarI belongs, as is pointed
out in the play, to secret ciety called the
Red Handkerchief G lng,'" aud he was
.atlsfisd until later Oh unieceived him.
[ have spoken at length about myself as |
think these little an c1otes unfo,d one side
# my fathers character. He objected to
ur going n the stage. not because he be-
Titled his art, but because he feared we
mad no Unborn inclinatio or talen and he
firmly believes that the ac-or is b ,rn and
not made, a d he also feared that Italy
his own reputation might hela us to posi-
tons to which we We not entitled by our
own hard wGrk, while ON the other hand
our own artistic rsp ltations might be uu.
duly uver-shaiuwoI by the might Of his
own. | do lot know whsther this latter
fear is not well founded For myself can
only say that NO I'D chesrfuly pay hat
price and a greater still for the pride of
being able to call N vselt the son Of Tomaso
Salvinl. ALEXANDER SALVINI.