The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-02-04
NEW ENGLAND SHOE STORE, IL S. Main.
EDWIN BOOTHS FIRST PLAY.
Richard III. In Stolen Armor Ia a Balt
. Wv. . more Cellar.

Richard III. In Stolen Armor la a Ralti-
' .. ... more Cellar.
A small but daintily furnished parlor in a
flat, theatrical momentos of rare value, ''old
timers" here and there-the unmistnkable
blending of the professionally instinct even
in home lifs-with tina signs of happy do
mesticity found. so far as my experience
goes, moro frequently in the households Of
T%hespiars than the wondering. cynical pub
lie imagine possible; and for the central
object Georges l.. Stout, who made his debut
as II boy with Edwin Booth, job S.. Clarke
and others Of more or less renown. o
stage manager at tho Alvin theater. Stout
loaned back in his easy chair aud talked
delightfully."-.
''OA, it seems very long ago. he SAID,
''but / think we'll all remember it till we
die. You see. in Baltimore we boys-Ed-
win Booth, Stuart Robson, Theodore Ham
ilton. John s.. Clarke II nayself-wsre
bent on theatricals. We were 'crushed
tragedians,' but our fire would not be
quenched; 50, after n council in which we
included William Talbot and Summerfeld
Barry, we hired a cellar under q gambling
house kept by Lntz, poor Laura Koene'A
husband. Our lessee was the negro JAM
tor who had charge of the building, and he
agreed to keep our doings from the people
overhead if We allowed him to be door
keeper and take half the procseds. As our
only burning ambition was to have
ourselves among our fellow boys.
We gladly acceded to his terms.
and in a short time the cellar was arranged
in this manner: Boards were put up at ONO
to create q stage. The auditorium was
composed of tho board benches only now to
be found in the few remaining 'barnstorm-
e,s' in England, and our rates of admission
were rs follows: Front seats, Be; back seats,
20; gallery IA peculiarly constructed ar
ranRement), 10. Our scenery was unique.
It consisted of a fiat made of = sheet, on
which, in SOFT red brick, was painted a
house. For a curtain we had q gayly patched
bed quilt, purloinsd from some attic stores,
which was drawn on strings.
'In this thsater Edwin Booth may besaid
to have made his first Appearance
"Our initial performance was Richard
III, owing to q prediction Of Edwin
Booth in its favor, but no decided to pro-
duce only the first act. We hunted about
and got anything that was bright and CANDY
for our costumes, but Booth as Richard
lemma. Our resources and our bank 40
counts, necdlesg to ray, were mcager. Bat
a happy thought occurred to Edwin. His
father had not at that period played Shy
lock for some time. inc in the attic at homo
was an old Shylock costume. Thither
1 bpcN viz youAE 1AiSL6lAs AoOAA Vho SOs-
! tune, and VIC got ont what. in the profes-
i. siorAl vocabulary, VIC call 'concayes'-la,ge
!. spangles used for arMor These he fastened
: on to q piece OF oil cloth and tied it on over
his shoulders for a!mor.
= ."Our rehearsals proceeded quite to our
satisfaction, but we little rocked that mean
while n special request had been made for
ttLs elder Booth to give q performance of
: his Shylook. such. however. was the case.
: Mr.. Booth, ms q first Thought hunted up his
.aoid dross-rsmembcr, those were not the
DAYS of tho ready and r~enlistio eostumet's
..art-aud it was missing. Quite innooently
: 1littlo Jos Booth, who had Witnessed the
, purloining said: Edward hadit down in the
%aacsllar theater.' Meanwhile VIC we're in full
s,blast-osr HOUSE, good, our mettls its
Lpkesnest. Edwin was deolaiminq grandly in
his oilskin and spangls srnor,. iine to be-
hold, "A horse! A horaa' etc, Scene
at the door by u landlord--the
elder Booth looming with rage. Not
knowing him, the darkey demanded pitt
lcssly his three-asnt admiadloE, but the
never : to = be : forgotten, magnetic tones
reached the younger Booth. 1t was tho
voice OF his parent, as he well knew. and
forgetful of histrionio triumph, he turned
and He'd preoipitatelY for the first means of
exit in viow-a cut window in the back
scene, whence he hoped to escape down the
alley. The opening, however, proved too
small. Richard was held midway, and his
father, in a towering passion, reached the
stage and belNbored him numerically!
Meantime his crieA reached . policeman in