Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1890-10-03

Among Cne laCCef may De menG1Oncd
''The Willow Copse," in which Couldock
scored his first stage triumph; "Trip Van
Winkle," with which the name of Jeffer-
son is firmly linked; "The Colleen Bawn,"
"The Shaughraun," "Louis XI," "Foul
T~hirty-five of the lead authors plays had
is said that during the last quarter of a
century there has not been a single night
III which some one of his immense number
of productions has not been presented
either in the United States, Great Britain
or Australia. 1t is also estimated that
in that time the public has paid $4O,-
100000 to see his plays acted. "The Col
leen Bawn'' Melted him ST. O0, 900, and
"The Shaughraun" realized nearly half
that amount. For the latter play and his
services as al actor during five years
Lester Wallack offered Mr.. Boucicault
$25O,00O. The proposition was declined.
Dion BOucicault was born in Dublin of
an Irish mother and a French father. He
was first married in 1874 to a widow of
means and beauty, who died a few years
later. Then it was announced that Agnes
Robertson, a handsome actress, had be-
come his wife. They lived together for
many years, and five children were the
fruit of the union. Their differences ended
in a divorce suit, and not long ago Mr..
Boucicault espoused Louise T%horndyke, a
young actress, who survives him, and who
was with him at the time of his death.
Despite the enormous sums he earned
Boucicault died poor. He was lavish as a
prince in his expenditures M unlucky
in his sp%eculations; but no financial disas-
ter affected his buoyant temperament. He
felt that he had a gold mine in his head,
and that he could replace lost fortunes at
will. He left nearly finished a drama
based on Bret Harte's novel "The Luck OF
Roaring Camp" in which it had been
planned that Mrs. Thorndyke B~oucicault
should star.
But nothing the man wrote excelled that
production of the boy the wonderful
London Assurance" There is electricity
in every line and an extra heart throb in
every climax. What modern pen has pro-
duced a more stirring passage than this
where Lady Gay Spanker describes the
conduct of her mount in a steeplechase:
There were sixty horses in the field, all mettle
to the bone: the start was a picture-away we
went in a cloud-pel mell-helter skeltcr-the
fools first, as usual, using themselves up-we
soon passed them-frst your Kitty, Thea my
BluesEin and Craven's colt last. Then came the
tug. ty skinned the walls-Blueskip flew;
over the fences-the colt neck and neck aud half
n mile to run-at last the colt baked a leap and
went wild. Kitty and I had it all to ourselves
she was three lengths ahead as we breasted the
last wall, six feet, if an inch, and a ditch on the
other side. Now, for the first time, I gave Blue
skin his ead-ha! ha! Away he flew like a
thunderbolt-over went the i1ly-I over the same
spot, leaving Kitty in the ~ditch-walked the
steeple, eight miles in thirty minutes, and
scarcely turned a hair.
These lines, voiced by an actress like Mrs.
Nisbett or Charlotte Cushman, lever
failed to "bring down the house." but the
closing sentences of "London Assurance"
which fall from the lips of Sir Harcourt
Courtly, are equally worthy of reproduce
ton. The character says:
Barefaced assurance is the vulgar substitute
for gentlemanly ease; and there are many, who,
by aping the vices of the great, imagine that they
elevate themselves to the rank Of those, whose
faults alone they copy. No! Sir The title of
gentleman is the only one out of any monarch's
gift, yet within the reach of every peasant. 1t
should be engrossed by Truth-stamped with
Honor-sealed with good feeling-signed Man
and enrolled in every true young English heart.