Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-09-27
STAGE: MEMORIES.
.i <.
Famous sWearers of the Sock
land Buskin.
~
TALKS ABOUT THE GREEN ROOM
-
Great Light. the Mimic World Relate
Amusing and1 Entertaining Anec-
dotes of the Boards-Chris-
tines Crystals.
copyright, 1891. and all rights reserved by Geof
frey WilliStou Christine

perennial actress, Maggie Mitchell. The
| company was made up principally of the
Long Branch throng of actors and actresses,
though it also included several other thes-
tic spirits. The conversation turned upon
| stage anecdotes, and many We're told
against which no one could pronounce that
| dreadful anathema-''cheSnut.'
1T was in 1897 said the famous old
time comedian, Joseph jefferson, who was
the life and soul of our little party, that
l, then very young and wholly unknown
actor, was a member of a strolling company
managed by old Sol Smith, who was the
| progenitor of several generations of actors
| and singers of that classic name, and who
| has been dead these many years. We We're
| playing in the smallest and queerest of all
the small and queer towns through the
South and West. The public was unappre-
| ciative and the times were hard. We at
length found ourselves stranded in a Mis-
| sissippi river town. without means to take
| us to our next stand, where old Sol said he
was great favorite and where, as a natural
sequence, he felt sure of doing good bust
ness, if he could only get there.
Unfortunately it was late in May, and many
Keel and fiat boats, guided by long poles
and steering oars, were floating down
| stream heavily laden with live stock and
| various kinds of produce Old Sol so
worked upon the feelings of the master of
one of these craft, who was about TO trans
port drove of hogs down the river, that he
| consented to give US free passage to our
| next stand. The weather was quite warm
| and the hogs, which so filled the boat as to
leave very little room for the ladies and
| gentlemen of our company, We're decidedly
odoriferous, and as consequence our pass
| age was not of the pleasantest kind. Cleo
patra is said to have richly perfumed the
sails of her galley We had no sails, but
,r1,s -hnla arf,lnp aI an
odor much more striking than agreeable to
any one blessed Or cursed with sensitive
olfactory nerves. Otherwise the hogs did
not prove particularly undesirable travel
ing companions, as they strictly minded
their own business and ate whatever was
set before them, asking no questions.
But the inconvenience | have mentioned
was as nothing compared to a humiliation
which we suffered OH our first day out.
About five o'clock in the evening we passed
magnificent steamboat-one of the float
ing palaces of those days-which was
bound up river and had stopped to take on
wood from the bank. Her decks were
crowded with elegantly dressed ladies' and
gentlemen enjoying the beautiful river
scenery in the cool of the evening. The
captain hailed our skipper:
''What boat is thata'
1.-THE Mary Ann Jenkins of hummer
| sport. -
|
''Oh, not much of one, only hogs and
actors.'
The shouts that went up from the steam
er's deck at this announcement would have
awakened even Rip Van Wrinkle in the
midst of his twenty years sleep.
''That reminds me- said Mrs. John Hoey,
E'of clever speech once heard Theodore
Moss, for many years business manager of
| Wallick's theater, New York, make to Les
ter Wallick. the well-known actor and
| manager. To fully grasp the neat point OF
it, you must bear in mind that a theater
filled with dead-heads is said to be papered
those amiable individuals gaining admit
| lance by means of passes written or printed
upon pieces of paper instead of cardboard
and also that the mimic snow which falls
| upon the stage in winter scenes consists of
white paper cut into little bits. Wallick
had produced a new play which had proved
failure and had been presented for five
nights to almost empty benches, but at the
| sixth performance the house was crowded
| The veteran actor and manager looked out
| through the peep-hole in the curtain at the
| large audience, and gleefully rubbing his
| hands said to Moss: 'We.have got SPLEEN
did house tonight"
Yes Moss dryly replied in his fine in
| imitable Hebrew dialect, but l think we
| had better cut it up for snow
| Fs"Wallick told him he was a Jew
| d'esprit''
| The late Frank Is. Chanfrau, 50 famous
| for his Nose in "A Glance at New York.
| his Sam in de Walden's comedy of the same
name, and Kit in THE Arkansas Traveller"
| had not then been numbered with the great
majority, and he formed one of our little
| circle.
1T was in the early days of my his 'rionic
| Efforts he said, land was then member
Of the company at the old Chatham street
| theater, New York, under the late William
| +. Burton's manag ment. l was cast for
| the apothecary in Romeo and Juliet the
Romeo being Charlotte Cushman, who at
one period of her career frequently appeared
in that character.
Now, my part required pair Of black
tights, and l lacked both the garment anu
the money requisite to its purchase my
salary being the magnificent one of ST per
week-then the usual remuneration of
general utility man, which was the humble
position l he'd at that time. l sought out
the stage manager, stated the case and
asked him to furnish me with the tights.
He told me that must provide them myself,
as it would be unprecedented for the man
agement to supply actors with either tights
or shoes.
'sIn my despair I looked through
the wardrobe of the theater in search of
something that would serve as a make
shift or fake for a pair of black tights
Among lot OF moth-eaten royal robes,
funeral pals, table covers for banquet
scenes. ETC., found some rusty black DOM
inoes. l was struck by what l considered
was happy thought. / took one of the
dominoes to the utility mans dressing
room with light heart. The night of the
performance arrived Behold me dressed
for the apothecary with my legs thrust
through the sleeves of black domino and
the remainder of the garment wound about
my body. My appearance i'll such a garb,
like the difficult passages in novels. may be
more easily imagined than described.
My scene came, and l succeeded in
evading the watchful eyes of the stage
manager and in making my entrance with
out attracting his notice. But no sooner
did l come into the view Of the audience in
response to Romeo's call, than they set up
such howl of delight as | have never
heard before or since in any theater. To
make the matter worse was attacked by
stage fright, forgot every line of my part,
and at length, unable longer to endure the
laughter and jeers of the spectators, l
turned tail and bolted from the stage
through the door of my supposed apothe-
cary shop, leaving poor Romeo to get his
dose OF poison as best he could without me.
Il would have been summarily discharged,
of course, had not Miss Cushman, on learn
ing the circumstances, inteoeded for me
tights, in which 1 appeared on the following
night and made quite hit. 1t was not SO
very long aftcrward that / created, at the
Glance at New York, and suddenly found
myself famous"
Chanfrau's story of himself and Miss