Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-03-26

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| he declared. Then he
| went on: cts an ever
lasting shame to have to confess that there are
only two frst-class competent leading men on
our stage of today who are Of American birth,
trained on our American boards and American
in all their sympathies and connections. Can
anybody explain why this is so? Never before
in the history of American amusements have
| the emoluments and distinctions OF leading
| men bean greater. The wages are more gen.
erous, the press is most prodiga in its praise OF
admirable actors and the life Of the player ia
Infinitely more pleasant socially than ever be-
FORE. Yet our own young actors seem to be
Unable to develop themselves, or snail
say educate themselves to that point
which would mako them desirable
a. leading men. Now, here is list Of all the
recognized leading men in the various stock
companies Of this season: John Drew, Herbert
Kelley. Edward J. Henley, Nelson Whestcroft,
John 4. keliard, Maurice Barrymore, Charles
Coghlan, Frederic de Belleville, Aubrey Bouci-
| cault. William Morris and Henry Miller. Out
OF these eleven actors, whose names are noted
a. representing the best elements of the Ameri-
can stage. only three are Americans. The
other eight are foreigners and only two Of them
are naturalzed citizens OF the United Ststes
ACTORS ALONE TO BLAME.
ut isn't a record to be proud Of, but no.
v
managers who hire them. The managers, in
deed, are among those whose interests lay in
having native talent under their hires but the
paucity Of homemade material has forced
them to engage the imported article, and there
you have it in nutshell suppose that, max
ing q hsety calculation, these eleven leading
men receive aggregate wages Of about e. 500
week, or, in q season Of forty weeks, some
thing like 600, 900 year; and of that 500 900
| the foreigners get fully 70 per cent or SO 900.
Az none Of these foreigners is an investor in
American realty take it that we lose their
case thrifty, and several even to the point
OF closeness. That Of course, has nothing to
do with their acting. They are confessedly ex-
cellant players. They draw money as their
managers have found out, and they delight and
satisfy their audiences. Therefore, like all
other iaborers, they are well worthy Of their
hire Against them 1 make no complaint,
unless it be that they are too numerous. The
fault is to be placed against our own actors
the young men Of the American stage who
haven't quite utilized all their opportunities.
THE THREE NATIVE ACTORS
"In this list are John Drew, William Morris
and Henry Miller. Drew is far and away the
superior Of either Morris or Miller, and think
but may be prejudiced-that Drew is also
q better actor than any other leading man in
any country on earth. But the trouble is that
he isn't going to be a leading man any longer.
He has been engaged, as everybody knows, to
star under Charles Frohmans banner, and
when he starts forth that list will be less Amer
lean than now, because an Englishman will take
John Drew's place in Augustin Days company
I speak by the card on this-and then there
will be nine foreigners to two Americans on the
list Of our leading men. Isn't it sad? Drew
was born in Philadelphia, Morris in Boston and
Miller in the west. Morris IL the youngest Of
the trio. He is under thirty-fve. All three are
married to actresses. Drew married pretty
Josephine Baker dozen years ago and she at
once left the stage to devote herself to
her home duties, which have increased
as children came to her. Miller was
welded rather Economically to Bijon Heron,
the dark-syed daughter Of that unfortunate
and cratic genius, Matilda Heron, the best
Camille the world ever saw, not even saving
Bernhardts; and Morris is the husband of that
lively st. Paul girl. Eta Hawkins, who is in
the same company with her uege lord, and is
the ideal Of devoted wife.
MAURICE BARRYMORE.
"The foreign actors among Americas leading
men are headed, Of course, by Maurice Herbert
Blythe Cline, whose name became Barrymore
after he had left an English college and gone
on the stage. He is about forty Ave, and he is
what youd call the brainiest man in the whole
gathering Of leading actors. He is famous as a
wit, excellent as q raconteur, noted as an cpl
curean and inclined to be careless in his habits
. IL,
affecting the cafes rather than the salons. He
has been on the American stage seventeen
years. His wife in John Drew's sister, George
Drew, and 80 he and Drew represent Jointly
the highest wages paid IN this country to recog-
nizsd leading men. Barrymore will leave the
A. N. Palmer stock after this season. An offer
Of something like S400 week has tempted him
to sign . contract as Marie WainwriRht's
chief support Once he started on his
own account, but unsuccessfully, and he is the
- I'LL
plays. No leading man in this country has had
'Barry's exciting and varied experiences. He
has been in brawls innumerable, AMI once, in
Texas, q desperate made a target of him, but the
actor was born under a lucky planer and today
he il ~ sound as q trivet. or all the foreigners
the nearest to being 'ons Of u.s. He's natural
lied and he votes.
was Herbert Henry Lamb when he was rocked
in his English cradle. He 10 the essence of
Britishness among the leading men here. He
10 only thirty-seven. though he looks ten
years older, because he is portly and sedato.
He ought to have been barrister,' SO he told
me once, with u sigh. At any rate, his father,
who was lawyer, educated the son for the bar
and the son was obstinate enough to 60 to
playing on the amateur stage. Kelley is the
Lycsum's leading man, and he is probably as
valuable to Dan Frohman as John Drew has
oeeu W uus VIC tGouU3o Will DOM Or0W
aud Kelley 10 that they are married happily,
and that no romance surrounds their private
life. They are not like that debonair prince of
hearts. Henry ]. Montague; that half-ashamed
Irishman, whose right name (Mann) betrayed
his birth, and yet Who had more women at his
feet than were ever before conquered by any
actor In this country. Nevertheless Kelcey's
wages are higher than Montagus's ever WERE
and he hasn't been on the stage more than
fifteen years Indeed, IL 10 scarcely . decade
since Kelley set foot In America; but where
Il the American manager who wouldn't engage
him today, of hand, for e20O . week?
''Kelceys wife 10 even more English than her
husband She 10 large, blonde and rather ef-
fusive and she 10 five years older than Herbert
Moreover she vas on tho stage - . child while
he was studying his law books. She buried
one husband prior to her marriage with Kel-
csy, too.
An INTERESTING FIGURE
"Nslson Whsatcroft, think, 10 the most in
tsrssting figure In this group Of sctora Hes
forty almost to day, and he's been on the
stage Just twenty years I violate no conf
dencs when tell you he was OF no account on
| the stage in his native England. He played
| thsrs earnestly and honestly enough until
about 1880 or 1881, when he went TO South
America In the support OF Daniel Latham, an
English actor. There WAS In the same COM
| pany Adsline Stanhope. an English actress and
| De divorced wife Of Barry Sullivan's hayward
| con, Armory Sullivan. The Latham company
vent TO pieces and Whsatcroft and Miss STAN
hope somehow got back a. far - this city.
| When hrst saw whsatcroft one cold spring
| day in 1884, he wore . hammock hat and . de-
jsetsd air, and be wss not > Beau Brummel in