The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-05-10

wondered if ever should. / Just won
dered and that was all. / never felt
Jealous Of other girls playing better parts.
think that was somewhat peculiar. Per-
haps am not ambitious. I still, to this
day, only care to- do my work well and
II was at the Haymarket theater first
met Mr.. Chippendale. Mr.. Compton Che
always walked back and forth TO the the
ater, no matter what the weather), and
dear old Mr.. Howe. In 1.-THE Little
Treasure" Mr.. Howe played my father and
Mr.. Sothern my lover. Somehow never
could Ike Mr.. Sothern. | admired him.
pulled my hair, which / wore hanging
down my back, and made me forget my
part and look like an idiot. 1t was his
fun, OF course-but / was duh and could
see no fun at all.
Twas then Is years old. Poor Mr.. Soth-
ernie had wonderful hands. In the
the scenes with my father" Mr. Howe.
How the big tears rolled down his kind
old face. and how cried, too. Oh, We did
so enjoy it.
An old actor once said to me. ssNeyer
leave your stage effects to chance, my
child, but rehearse, and find out all about
It. As illustration Of the truth of this.
must tell OF an incident which occurred
while / was playing at the Haymarket.
The play was THE RiyaIs"-my part in it,
julia. think could play we'll now. |
certainly played it very Wen then. 1t fell
to my lot to finish the play-do what is
called speak the tag" Now, il has been
for centuries, l believe, q superstition
never speak the tag, or else the play viii
did not say the last few lines; ct
the last lines l went Mum. mum,
mum" And when the first night came,
instead OF dropping my voice with the last
word IN the conventional and proper man.
ner, ended with an upward infiex ion in
walton produced! The prompter was so
astonished he thought there was some
thing more TO be said, and did not give
the pull for the curtain to come down.
So it remained up during horrid pause
until Mr.. Blackstone, who was very deaf,
not understanding what had happened,
eh! Why the devil doesn't the curtain
come DOWN" / should advise all young
people to rehearse the tag and take the
chance of being ''unlucky.n Miss Louise
Kelley Mrs. Montague Williams). was at
the Haymarket theater while / was there,
and liked her very much She was
always 50 merry and kind. The
Prince and Princess of Wales were in tho
royal box-f think it was the very first
time they had appeared at theater after
their marriage. They sat rather far back
in the box, the ladies and gentlemen of
fheir suite occupying the front seats. The
play was sort of . fairy play, Miss kee-
ley, dressed as youth, sang a song. and
hand some well known characters in fairy
fiction-Ci Cinderella, Little Boy Blue, Jack
and Jill, introducing them to the audience.
One verse of the song ran:
Here's the Prince OF Happy Land,
Once he dwelt at the Lyceum;
Here's another Prince in hand.
But being invisible you cant see him.
Such scene! In one moment the audi
ence grasped the situatien-I suppose they
thought the lines were impromptu. Every.
one in stalls, boxes, circles, pit and gallery
stood up and cheered and cheered again,
and the action Of the play was stopped un-
til our prince (the ..invisible' -untsl-then-
prince) came forward in his box and bowed
in acknowledgment of one of the heartiest
of the many loyal greetings it has often
warmed my heart to listen to. That was
a point in the play which Miss Kelley
never made SO much of before or after that
night!
dreary in which I played--viiely-Mar
Meredith, left the stage altogether tor
very little while-think year-and when
! returned to work, it was Mr.. and Mrs.
Alfred Wigan who engaged me, |
played in "a piece called
The Double Marriage" by Charles
Reade, at the Qneen's theater There I
acted with Mr.. Charles Wyndham, Miss
Hodgson, Miss Fanny Addison, and-I for
gel, and have no references by me. Mrs.
Wigan was very kind and took deal Of
pains about me. think she liked me very
much. Her acting as Mrs. Candour was
perfection; her repose was extraordinary,
when she moved a finger or turned an eve
it told SO; she told il all over twice, as it
were-frst the eloquent gestures as She
thought, and then the words. Nothing
escaped observation, although she did
everything SO very quietly. She used to
watch me at rehearsal and suddenly call
out to me, Now stand still!a In a few
moments more, stop! motionless-
as you are"
Oh, my lost opportunities! wish i had
tried to learn more from her.
ELLEN TERRY.