The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1891-02-14
suPERsEnslrlvE PEOPLE.
Men Who Think Themselves Caricatured
by Authors and Actors.

Men Who Think Themselves Caricaturod
by Authors and Actors.
One Of the most popular entertainers
the world has seen suffered greatly
owing to the persistence with which
people would see likenesses to them
selves in the creations of his fancy. II
he chose the name of Brown, Jones or
Robinson for one of his characters, soma
real cognomen wrote to him, complain.
ing bitterly against his "satrizing a
class" and then pointed out certain OF
their distinctive peculiarities which
were, they alleged, burlesqued.
On the other hand, IL he invented, as
he thought, an uncommon name, some
body wanted to know how it was he Sc
lected him for ridicule. Why, asked
the indignant writer, did not the enter
tainer choose some common name, such
as Brown, Jones or Robinson, and not
that borne by him? It was useless to
point out to such people that the enter
tainer had never heard of their existence
even, each of them firmly believed that
he was the original of n certain char
acter.
Sothern again; what q curious expert
ence was his! The actor, when playing
in America as Fitzaltamont in "The
Crushed Tragedian," one morning was
called upon by an interviewer, who
told him that a Count Joannes, once an
actor of the old school of which Sothern
made fun, had brought a suit to stop
the performance of the piece on the
ground that the comedians makeup
maligned him and burlesqued his iden-
titv. Sothern thought the affair was
joke, but when the reporter assured him
It was serious he said;
"If have to GO down to that court to
show cause, by George! pity the man
that brings me. 1 won't let him rest
while his worried life clings to him. He
shall get kilograms and post cards from
this time on forever Do about it? Why,
1 shall appear, of course"
Presently another reporter was an
nounced. Sothern again professed never
to have heard of the suit brought against
him.
Chow would you fight it if the Count
should challenge you?" asked the press
man.
of April, and although haven't very
fully considered the question, 1 think
the weapons should be cannon. Yes,
on reflection, | am sure l should insist
on those cannon that discharge ITO shots
minute. He should sit upon one of
those engines and upon another, and
we should continue to discharge them
until there should be no remnant of
either Count or Sothern."
All this, and much more, was pub
lished under startling head lines on the
following morning. Count Joannes,
however, was terribly in earnest,
though, of course, nothing came of his
suit except capital advertisement, of
which full advantage was taken.
OF modern authors, Willxie Collins de-
cidedly had the most remarkable series
of encounters with the class of people
who identify themselves with purely
imaginary personages. ga bourgeoise
of Paris" he himself has told us,
reading The Woman in White in a
French translation, wrote to say that
he had flung the book to the other side
of the room on discovering that Fosco
was an absolutely perfect likeness Of
himself. He naturally insisted on re-
ceiving satisfaction for this insult, leav-
ing the choice of swords or pistols to me,
as the challenged person. Information
on which he could rely had assured him
that l meditated II journey to Paris
early in the ensuing week. A hostile
meeting might, in such circumstances
be easily arranged" Arrived in Paris
Willzie Collins looked for his honorable
opponent in vain.
Again Mr.. Collins invested character
who was so careful about the quantity
of his food that he weighed it in little
scales at table. Shortly after the pub
licaUion of the novel gentleman called
upon the author.
"You have no right, sir, to caricaturC
me!' exclaimed the caller to the aston
ished novelist: 81 weigh my food in lit
tie scales, sir. Here they are, sir.
always carry them about with me by
the advice of my physician, but is thai
any reason why should be held up Il
ridicule, sir?'
And the gentleman refused to be paci
fed, though Mr. Collins protested tina
he had never before heard of such ;
habit. On another occasion reade
of "Armadale" called upon him and up
braided him for putting his house int
print. The description, it is said, wa
exact although the popular writer haC
never seen the place. - CasselPs Satur
dau JOurna1