The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-04-07

success. Mrs. Kendall said in a short speech
when the enterprise was started:
II will see that in the little theater that will
be provided for me at the fair will try my
best TO act. and l viii keep booth, and
will wear horns or anything that will attract
the public"
Miss Cayvsn reiterated this and Miss
Fanny Davenport did the same and gave u
check at the same time. Then some sap
| tious critic suggested that It might not be
| dignifled for actresses to appear as mana
gers OF booths, and that the public might
misunderstaud the matter. Miss Agnes
! Booth put the quietus on this idea.
Il have acted )" she said land danced In
the toughest mining camps in California,
| and my experience there taught me that
away down in the hearts Of the great big,
burly manhood OF America there is always
| dominant one factor-respect for American
women"
/ And on the same subject A. NJ. Palmer
said:
Il can personally guarantees that the Ac-
tors Fund fair will be conducted In as
dignified a manner as any fair ever held in
New York CITY,"
And that ought to settle that part Of it,
for Mr.. Palmer's personal guarantees are
Invariably honored. as are his checks.
But, then, it Is, perhaps, not necessary TO
> enter into this part of the matter, for it
VIII uOJ 10 CudI Ecu Iuab GAWll DOObu OF
Joseph Jefferson, A. NJ. Palmer or half
. dozen others would sanction anything not
thoroughly dignified any more than would
the ladies who are managing the fair
} through the various committees. Nor
would the distinguished people representing
,ho highest walks of life, religious, poht-
cal, commercial and social, who form the
, ronorary committee OF four hundred for
the fair.
There is no reason why this fair should
not be as successful as any that has ever
been held in New York city. This is, of
course. saying great dea, for the amounts
realized from the greatest of these has run
as high as $4,000 in one case, $4,000
in another and above 100000 in others. 1t
is not right to put a limitation on such
things. The Actors fair!wil last but a
week, and if 800 600 is raised there will be
no grumbling.
Unless human nature has changed very
much the public will take a no ordinary In
terest IN its favorites as they appear away
from the footlights and in everyday attire.
The novelty to the ordinary theater-goer
will exist in the finding Of actors and act
resses to be just other people are. 1t
will have an educational effect on some Wis
itors, no doubt, If they happen to see Mr..
| Booth, the refined, reserved gentleman,
walking about quietly, not at all like the
tragedlan OF tradition or of the pictorial
papers; or Joseph jefferson, who cannot tell
a lie even about his fishing experiences with
ex-President Cleveland: or scholarly Mans
| field, who is as much like the accepted
type Of a divinity student as the type Of
| actor accepted in some quarters; or Mantell,
looking very unlike the types of characters
that he portrays on the stage; or j II.
Stoddard, or any other of fifty or more
who might De mentioned. Then If they see
| the ladies, as OF course thew will, they will
find, say Mrs. Kendall and Mrs. Booth,
clear-headed, sensible and elegant women,
and among all the others the list is too long
to extend) they will find none who is not
seIf-respecting, self-relant and agreeable.
The fair will open on Monday, May 2,
and in addition to its ordinary attractions
there will be a musical display every
night, and the visitors will have the best
musicians now in this country to play for
them as they promenade or as they sit in
their boxes and look on. On Sunday night,
May s. there will be concert such. as
none, perhaps of our music lovers have yet
heard. There will DO $50 pieces with
picked men that all the managers of bands
that appear in New York will combine in
supplying. the whole to be under the man
agement of the leading musicians that are
| in this country.
This fair OF rather the money that will
flow from it, will place In the hands of the
players money with which to care for those
OF their profession who may be called be-
! fore the footlights perhaps never again In
this world, and so broad is this charity that
they would extend it alike to the players
who have charmed thousands, to the trem-
blisg page who has announced that the
carriage waits" or even further to any one
honorably wounded in the service, as it
were, even though he were but scene
mover.
More than thisl This fair will show that
the wall that was supposed to stand between
| the player and good society does not exist at
all any more; that it went down before
public opinion long ago. And from this
standpoint alone this coming fair of the
actors may be considered great event.
FOSTER COATES.