Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-11-28
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star
TNHE DEATH OF THE ACTOR FLORENCE
notices Of which filed the New York papers
for several days, recalls the comparatively
early days Of the DRAMA before the actor be.
came such an important part of social life as
to require columns of obituary and to absorb
the attention of the country. can recall par
ticularly one character which Mr.. Florence
made his own, that Of Obenreize,., in the drama
tization of Charles Dickens mo Thorough.
fare" 1t was performance in which dra-
matte talent was displayed. Charles Fechter
played the character, as he did everything,
admirably, but not as well as Florence. The
characters Of Captain Cutie and Sir Lucaus
o Trigger were first appropriated by Burton
and John Brougham, but those Of the present
generation cannot remember those actors.
| The days when Mr.. Florence made his ap-
pearance on the stage was at the close of that
| theatrical epoch when the elder Wallach, the
elder Booth, Edwin Forrest, James E. MUIR
dock, Macready, the Vanderhoffs, Burton John
| Brougham, Charlotte Cushman, Julia Dean,
the lights OF the stage Of that era were illumi-
mating it. To have seen and acted with such
| Industrious histrionic genius was Of itself an
inspiration and an education.
| Mrs. Florence, Mile Malrind, appeared in
| Washington as early as 1896 when she was the
wife of the leading ''old man. OF the company,
Mr.. Littell. She danced between the play and
farce under that name.
| In those days there was always some per-
| formance, usually dancing, between the play
| and the farce. which was generally very en-
Pertaining operetta Gas the loan of O Lover },
or some such capital farce as BOX and Cox, !"
| &c, and to the theater goers of that day that
portion of the performance was looked for as
anxiously as the first piece; for the comedian Of
| the company wasva favorite, and some of the
| old farces l can recall with pleasure. Miss
Reynolds. who was for some seasons favorite
at the old National, made great success in a
| musical farce, ''The Fair Maid of Munster" in
which she sang and danced, and those who
| remember Mrs. FitzWilliams in that style of
performance can recall her charming voice and
delightful acting. and with her was Blackstone,
How few remember
| THAT REALLY EMINENT ACTOR, CHARLES BURKE
Eminent use the word in all its meaning,
as applied to his profession. The actor who
could move his audience to tears and sobs in
Grandfather Whitehead" -Farren's great part
and convulse them with laughter at the farce
OF the "Illustrious Stranger" had indeed
reached an eminence which entitled him to the
appellation- l once asked Joseph Jefferson
when he was playing in farces like Claude
Meddlenot' and '.Mazeppa' why he never
said never while Charley Is remembered. Who
Is there today on the American boards that can
play Grandfather WhiteheadY' that beauti-
full domestic pathos which gained renown for
Placide and Farren and Burke. That and
other plays OF like beautiful character gives
place to society plays" and burlesque operas
with scanty dressed models, who display their
| projections to crowded audiences.
THE DAYS OF FARCE.
was intending only to speak Of the days
| when the farce was to me and to many others
as entertaining as the play where the tragic
muse presided. The great Junius Brutus
Booth-the only Booth-thought he had missed
his vocation in assuming tragic roles: that his
forte was low comedy, and he would OCCASION
ally, when the management failed to move his
purpose, appear as Jerry Sneak in The Road
to Bath" l saw it once, and it has remained
In my memory as one of the most atrocious
bits OF so-called comic acting l ever saw. and
because didn't say it was most laughable he
regarded me a very dull listener. Those
old days Of the farce come back to me from
| the far-of time when the elder Jefferson and
the present one Of that name and Burton and
Charles Matthews and Blackstone and Brougham
and the Wallacks shOne in those brief, enjoy
able plays that send the audience away laugh
| Ing. Whoever can recall Tyrone Power will
| remember him best as Pdudeen O. Rafferty, or
Corporal Common and other farcical plays These
| served as foils to his Sir Patrick o PlenipO
l
| no better Irishman ever trod the boards, as
| Paddy Mules and those other pieces of Irish
humOr IN which he left no successor. 1t is use
less nowadays to talk of that past, which re-
gard as the golden age Of the drama, with any
nope OF seeing 1t renewed. 1t has gone, never
| to return. The society drama and its kindred
monstrosities block the way.
THE LITTLE THEATER on THE AVENUE
The little theater I am writing about, and
where Mrs. Florence danced as Nile. Malcina,
was on the avenue near ~ street. now &C.
cupied, as it had been previous, a q coach shop
by Mr.. Young, was altered into a very neat little
'box" OF theater by Mr.. Cartilage, who was
| the original Ndzeppd when played in Cook
Circus in London, in company with George
f. Browne, who married the sister OF Mrs.
Florence, the theater he occupied for several
| years, and there Booth, Murdoch, Davenport,
Charley Burke, Barney Williams and all the
| great actors Of the day appeared.
Over Joe Shillingtons store q little English
| man named kilmeste, with some very talented
children, fitted up that hall and there George
Jordan made his first appearance on tine stage
| and there Charley Burke played Grandfather
Whitehead" l cannot now realize how small
the stage was, but the performance remains in
my memory as one OF the most beautiful ever
saw.
| John Owen made a good deal Of his reputa-
| ton in farces, and, by-the-by. he left no one
behind to take his place in some Of those char
4
| self. was an admirable performance, and for
pathos and tenderness the stage has not seen
his superior in Caleb Ptunnler. Jefferson
comes nearest, but he does not give the char
acter the sympathetic touches which won for
Owens personation tears and smiles. In farce
| his Wooden Injun was like Buttons Madame
| Pdnde,Parats and TOOdIes.
FOR THAT LONG AGO.
In recalling these presentations am pleading
for the memory of that long ago, when the
afterpiece was welcomed after heavy tragedy
| or gloomy melodrama and when it was a most
! important part of the evenings enjoyment.
The dancing between the pieces was a long fol
lowed custom. At the National, when it was
rebuilt, Annie Walters. who married George
Jordan, performed pas seul before the farce
and it was always greeted with applause. As
look back at the little box OF q theater in
loungs coach shop wonder how they man.
aged TO produce the plays as well they did,
and the wonder increases as l recall the fact
that George Browne played Putnam" there
and gave the famous run" from the top OF the
theater on his very beautiful horse and at
tracted crowded honses Very pleasant memo-