Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-01-10
FOUR wAsHINGroNIANs


L but once" said Mr.. Wilton Lackaye to .
STAR representative, land that was by man
| from my native city. was in the Hoffman
House cafe one day and saw Mr.. James Lans-
burgh come in. It seemed good to sec man
from home and I said, How do you do, Nr.
LansburghT and held ont my hand.
He looked at me rather queerly, and then
saw that he didn't quite recognize me and %
| told him that possibly had changed some
what since had left Washington, but that he
must remember my father. oh, yes,' he knew
my father, and then he shook hands, but
noticed that he gave me the stiff arm-that Is,
he warded me off at the same time that he held
my hand. He then went out Of the cafe and it
dawned upon me that he had mistaken me for
| crook
'Since have been here went down to Mr..
Lanspurgh's store and was telling the story to
| his manager, who insisted upon my again
meeting Mr.. Lansburgh. When 1 met him /
recalled the Hoffman House incident, and he
admitted that he did take me for q bunco
sharp, adding that he had been approached by
some one who was really in that line but q
short time before and that had made him unus-
ually cautious. We had o hearty laugh over it,
and am satisfied that am now placed upon .
respectable footing in his memory"
WILTON LAcKAYE's HARD WORK.
While Mr.. Lackaye has not yet considered
himself an inhabitant of the stellar armament
he has acquired an enviable reputation as .
conscientious, able actor, which makes his
services always in demand. Before he adopted
the stage as profession he was known here as
| an excellent reader and amateur actor, and the
success which he has attained has justified the
predictions Of his friends when he left WASH
ington to commence at the lowest rung Of the
ladder with Lawrence Barrett. His appearance
here with Rose Coghlan in "Jocelyn' first
showed the rapid strides he had made in his
profession, but it is since then that his best
work has been done and his best representa-
ton has been made.
"Its been hard work." said he in speaking Of
1t; FOR no man can succeed without hard
'Skirmish Line in Philadelphia 1 was at the
same time rehearsing 'Featherbrain" with
Minnie Madden in New York, and after the
wearing work of rehearsal all day would get
into railroad train, 60 to Philadelphia and
play At night a.. and then 60 back to New York
made me hit, and then played five weeks in
Boobies Baby, and then l was the original
Gen. Arelu in Shenandoah Then 1 went
with DAILY, and, Of course, You have read Of my
resignation after brief period.
THE DAILY DIFFICULTY.
81 believe acted perfectly right in that mat
ter, for before signed my contract with Mr..
DAILY had a verbal understanding with him as
to the line Of parts Twas to play He violated that
understanding and his promise to me and 1
have suit for salary for three years, which
expect to win when the case comes to trial.
had my reputation to sustain and didn't pro-
pose that Mr.. Daily or anybody else should
make it suffer. I have never done anything
that was dishonorable and in that matter think
my conduct will bear the most critical inspec-
ton.
"Well," he continued, "after that PLAYED
in Nat GOodwin's piece, Col. Tom; then in
The Pembertons by Henry Guy Carleton;
then in Money Mad where made q decided
hit: went to Chicago after this for a while
got back to New York did the Ne,o York Sport
in Mckee Rankin's play, The Kanuck.' After
that came The Clemenceau Case, DR.. Bill
and Nero"
What is your ultimate ambition-I mean
what line do you hope to make your greatest
success in!" asked The STAR man.
'Well." said Mr.. Lackaye. 81 should like to
do tragedy, but don't consider that have
the physical equipment. My turn-up nose is
against me. play Nero every night with
made-up nose, but man couldn't do tragedy
roles all the time in putty noses. I shall prob
ably do my best work in comedy. don't mean
light comedy, but in eccentric character parts
in which there is vein of bitter or satirical
humor. Now I'm going to create the leading
part In the new play by Pitou and Jessop,
L
try in that piece to present character which
will call for some careful study on the part of
the critics.
MONUMENTAL GALL.
81 must tell you funny incident which hap
pened Wednesday afternoon" added Mr.. Lack
aye. "Just as the matinee was out some one
raped at my dressing room door and said
there we're two gentlemen who wished to see
me. had seen several Of the Sothern COM
pany whom l knew very well in the front Of
the house and at once supposed that it was two
of them. 80 l said. Tell them to come up'
Shortly two men. neither of whom had ever
before seen, came into my room, and both of
them we're pretty well loaded. One came up to
me in the most gushing manner and said,
Hello, WILL old fellow, and commenced wink
ing his right eye furiously.
Il couldn't understand the wink until he
leaned over, and as he gave me o good Whit Of
his alcoholic breath whispered, It's all right
He'-pointing to his friend, who had anchored
himself on the nearest chair-'he don't know
don't know you. III explain some other time
l didn't know whether to get mad or wait for
developments, but as I was by that time
dressed l invited them down to the sidewalk,
where q friend OF mine who was waiting for
me took care Of the silent visitor while the
loquacious inebriate commenced to brace me
for two seats for the nights performance so he
could take lady. He wanted good seats and
he didn't want any written pass, but tickets
without the corners being clipped. This could
only mean that should buy them. The mon
umental gall of the stranger completely stag
gered me until found out that he was a drum
mer on a SPREE and then could understand
his assurance, but l got rid of him as quickly
as possible, suggesting that had no more to
do with the tickets than he did and advising
that he should see Mr.. Davis or Mr.. Brady"
THE OTHER wAsHINaroNIANs
There are in the campaign that is now per-
forming ''Nero" at Albaugh's three others who
claim Washington as their home-Miss Anita
Rothe, Mr.. James Kearney and Mr.. w. T. Dom
nelly.
Miss Rothe will be remembered as having ap-
peared here amateurly in German plays several
credit. She studied under Miss Marguerite
Saxton and Mr.. Robert Downing, and this is
her first professional year. The ease with which
she plays POpp9d shows that she has not mis-
taken her vocation.
Mr.. DOnnelly will be remembered as having
been the night clerk at the Portland for Sc yerai
years, and the self-confdence which he ac-
quired in that position has been of great ad-
vantage to him in his new profession, for he
has rapidly advanced from being the leader of
the mob to the part of ISgellinus. which is
second only in importance to that of Nero.
During this week he has played both Nicocle7nus
eever had any stage experience before appear
ing in this play, his promotion has been phe-
nomenal.
Mr.. Kearney has been . professional for
aboutfour years, and is now doing creditable
work in the part of NicOdenaus. It is seldom
that four people from the same city are found
in one company, and each of the quartet has.