The morning call., 1891-03-08
When She Came to the United States and the
People She Has Meta Sample CT
Washers Letter.

ing II are tie ldenJlcal ones WHICH
trod upon the occasion of my first appear
ance in America. Although my appearances
in this country have always been in bur
lesque until l produced The D2zzIeF.
most Of my work abroad was done in the
legitimate and I was for long time leading
lady in the stock company Of my husband,
Mr. Henderson, at the Prince Of Wales
Theater. Liverpool While there Il played
with most Of the notables Of to-day, chief
among whom we're Mr.. and Mrs. Kendall.
Henry Irving. Charles Warner, S. &. Ban
croft Lionel Brough, John Hare, E. A.
Sothern. John l. To0le, Lawrence Barrett.
Harry Montague Kate Terry, Fred Everill
aud many others who are now either in the
height Of their fame or passed from the
worlds stage.
My hr,t remembrance Of Mrs. Kendall
was when | played Gertrude in The Little
Treasure Mrs. kendall playing the part OF
nv mother and Sothern that of Captain
Maidenbiush. That was before She was
Mrs Keudal, her name then being Madge
Robertson. SOtheTn uSsd to use my nus
bands theUter as the doc upon winch he
tried all his new pieces. That Is now be-
came 50 intimate with him. He Was as
amusing off the stage then as he was on. L
remember when he and the late Lester Wal
lack came to see ne one day while | was in
Boston. l had on red velvet belt with
gold faStenlngs, aud their droll remarks
made me laugh SO heartily that / burst the
belt six distinct times, and it was ever after
n standing joke upon me-. Sothern aud my
husband used TO play the most
FEARFUL PRACTICAL JOKES.
II remember one time when they we're in
Scotland. SO,heTu impeTSOnated a mailman,
nv husband his keeper. They would 90
into a store and while SOthern would insist
upon ordering and taking away everything
in tha 1olarp "a Inns nd VyOul1 Thp
stOrekeeper aside that he was all right If
EumOred but he W0uldnt answer Tor the
consequences II anybody crossed him, as he
was possessed Of the strength OF a dozen
men when violent and had already killed
several people. This prank, however, nearly
ended in their being jailed, but SOthern was
never happy unless lie was up 10 some
practical Joke or other. He was an
expert at spIritualiStiC tricks and meSmcr-
ism; in fact, it was he and my nus
band who exposed the celebrated Daven-
port Brothers spiritualistc frauds at Man
chester Association with him has made
NE a devout believer in hypnotism and an
unbeIever IN SpirtualiSm. Willie EdOuin,
WHO supported me during several of my six
tours in this country, was also great prac-
teal joker.
"One night while playing in Pittsburg,
received the following letter, which is a
sample of hundreds of thousands destroyed.
! VIII read it to you. | read il TO J. NJ.
Hill, emitting the date, and he Immediately
said:
THAT was never written by New
Yorker Ia fact. kept it because l con-
sider it TO be q dee dedly rich sample of what
are known as mash letters:
PITrsBURG. Nov .. 1873.
Most L0ue1y and -ldo-ed hiss Lydia GHoaB.
Soa-Siuce l saw you last winter 10 tie present
time ny thoughts have been constantly OF yOI.
In my sleeping or waking hours the lovely face
aud folm which went through The evoiullOns OF
The g aceiul and beautiful dances have never
been absent, and II I could but hope that my
love could be re urred by tile lovely woman Of
NY iduaty l would he The happiest OF mUrtdls
] Wlll be AT lie thedteT tomorrow and SItur-
day nights aud II you are not inseusi5le 10 The
fires OF love let me know 1t, o! most lovely of
women. by wearing some token, say green or
red ribbon, in Tie hair. DO not gel angry, dar-
ling. but give some love TO tue being 10 whom
thy smile would he life thy frOWu death.
kdjeU aEd DON'T b. offended.
I will be near the stage Thursday and SAT
Please address a note to c. H. 5, Pits
burg, Pa.
AT another time, wien we were playing
In ST. Louis, the Grand Duke Alexis at
tended the performance and kdOuin pro-
cured a big bear, which served az furTier's
sign, and placed it directly under tile stage
box in which the Duke sat. When l came
on l was so frightened at the sight of this
immense bear that l iuvoiuutarily shrieded
and jumped away. The Duke seemed to
think
TWAS FRIGHTENED
At him and was rather annoyed, and he
could not understand the rear OF laughter
which greeted Edouin's by-play with the
bear, but eventually finding out the
cause Of all the ccmmotiOn he
Joined in the laugh as heartily as the rest.
In fact, he made a present of a diamond
bracelet which keppler, who Is now the
proprietor OF Puck, but at that time was
editing 4 comic paper in st. Louis, made
the subject of a cartoon.
e" How did l happen to 90 on the stage?
Well, you see, / could dance almost as soon
as | could walk, and | attended dancing
school when | was a little girl at one OF the
theaters After my stepfather lost his for
tune ! gradually drifted toward the profess
sion, and ! rapidly improved in my dancing
until got so expert that my teacher wanted
to take me to Italy to finish, saying that l
would be a second Taglioni but | never
cared for that style Of dancing, and when a
friend told me he could get ME an engage
ment at the Haymarket in pantOmime |
eagerly Jumped at the opportunity, and one
fine morning Was ushered into the Office OF
Manager J. b. Blackstone. His first words
were, after looking me over:
tights2"
Il was only little girl in short dresses;
If l had been a young lady think that anx-
ious as l was t. obtain the situation l should
have resigned then and there.
II had beautiful head Of hair which has
not yet deserted NE, Tor you can see that my
hair is natural and the report that wear a
wig without foundation. 1 was cast for the
part Of Little Siverhair in the pantOmime
by that name. I'll mover forget my first ap-
pearance: neTYOuS-fearfully. In fact my
first lines were spoken so low as to be inau-
dble to Manager Buck stone, who was
slightly deaf, aud | could hear MIN quoting
Scripture over my supposed omission. I
Desperation gave me courage fnd braced
up and made such hit that when | came
off Blackstone took me in his arms and said:
You little darling, you have made my
pantomime.' Shortly after that l made &
tour OF the Continent, playing small pieces
and dancing, and achieved the greatest sue
cess, IN many places receiving perfect ova-
tlon, my carriage being dragged by the
people from the theater to the hotel, and in
some places the town was illuminated,
flowers strewn in my path and the whole |
town turned out to see me.
"Oh, yes; l met the Gar. Yon, see the |
theater in which | was PLAYING in ST. Peters
burg burned down, and lost all possessed,
and could not go on to my next stopping
place, which was TO be Moscow; so acting
under the advice CT friends l resolved to
petition the Gar to help me, and, knowing
that he walked
AROUND THE PALACE
Every morning between and 10 o'clock,
lay in wait for him; but alas, got there five
minutes late and just saw the Gar disap-
pCul tbS III UuE5i Aiip EfLS. lC HtAb IIOEH-
ing you can rest assured l was on time and
was fortunate enough to meet Alexander
face to face. He received me kindly and
after listening to my story told me had seen
me the day before and knew of my case, but
did not see me because l was not punctual,
and, after adyisingme to always be punctual,
offered me a benefit at the Italian Opera,
which melted me $1,000, and enabled me to
go on my way rejoicing.
But let me tell you OF one OF Willie
Edouin's jokes, which L forgot to mention
before. While we were travelling in the
West a ballet-girl was engaged who was
beauty, with the exception of the limbs,
which were fearfully thin. She was green
ana Edouin advised her to fill out with saw
dust, which worked to a charm till she be-
gan to dance, when it all went to her ankles
aud she was the funniest-looking being |
ever saw On the stage. Nat Goodwin was
also IN my company and lie was also full OF
mischief.
Il think that the palmy days of burlesque
are over, aud farce comedy has cOne to
stay. l have made money with my farce
Comedy and met with a sDlendid receDtiOn