Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-08-27


Of a party that I'm told manager paid
many thousand dollars for. In my day
that play would. very properly, have
been Kissed off the stage, The crying
need of the day is versatility. and no
actor amounts to anything who doesn't
possess IL. To be able to make yOu shed
tears of sympathy with Caleb Plumner
to laugh over Captain Cutie and then
to hold your eye while II jig is danced
and song is sung, that is what | mean
by versatility. The old actors could all
do that. Billy Florence Barney VIII
linms and my old-tiine and dear friend.
john II. Owens, each one knew what II
was 10 entertain people for an entire
evening. The modern play does not de
mund this Once teach Il goOd-lookng
woman or Il handsome man how to go on
and OH the stage. TO dress well and the
play il not the thing II b only the stage
picture. People are being bored by this
and in desperation they turn 10 variety
shows; and. thank heaven. in time they
will return TO the mel01rama, where the
soubrpttc sings because she Is happy,
where the leading lady tries to picture
what an angel In the form Of u woman
can BE-, and where the best Of humanity
is made most attractive. Madam,
went TO Hoboken the other day TO see
u play of this kind rehenrsed. ] was
Wiling. madam, TO cross the river for
produced my young friends here will all
attend. Ii was called 'srhe District
Fair" Aud while nothing Is absolutely
new IN this world. 1t brought before
rs our old-time fayorites aud 1t made MS
all fecl-me, madam, an old actor, among
the rest--that II Is worth while To be-
good and TO do what is right. The hero
had been msled. but the heroine loved
him through all his trouble, und the
villain, who of course committed his vile
acts because Of his love for her, was
properly punished
THE VILLAIN. MADAM. WAS A
JEW,
well-drawn and well-acteI, not Shy
lock. but man, who, above his love Of
money, held his love for n woman OF
course, madam, as IS proper, he was
given chance to redeem himself In the
last act and he threw aside his ill-gutten
gains for the sake of the woman. and
after the curtain was dropped, we ali
believed he had become wiser and a
better man. or course, being up to date
there was introduced into This n race
scene, with real horses, and | confess,
madam, that my heart went out to the
noble jockey. who refused TO be bribed
by the villain, end who rode mnnftilly
toward fortune and to gain the love OF
the soubrette. Ii is true. madam. thar
in the olden times we did not have real
horses. but even /, madam. enjoyed the
excitement Of the race. do not object
60 the tine stage settings Of today, though |
l distinctly remember when, at the Balti- |
more museum we were playing the
Forty Thieves" there was only room
enough for nine Of them to come on The |
stage; SO, when the ninth got there John |
Owens used TO call out. Let the rest
in the wood nowadays; but still It Is not |
that madam. that / object TO. II il tbe |
OF the actor himself He Is |
not willing to be Booth tonight and IaRo |
night; TO play Claude the ncif |
night aud come on in a bowling farce |
the night after: and, madum. the man |
who calls himself an actor should be able
to do all of uese."
THE oLD.TIME ACTOR SANG |
WE'LL.
The dear odd chap proved that he
could. for when we all went TO a quiet
little restaurant 10 get some supper. he |
gave us recitation from Hamlet" he
sang comic song. he recited The casket
scene from the Merchant Of Venice"
and then did funny monologue which |
he said had been taught him by the
father of the Bateman children. Both
the boys and l were inclined to be a
little quiet for We felt the influence OF |
some one who had lived and known much
IL life before and behind the fOotiights
aud somehow he seemed the ghost of
ost hope. l wondered where was the
woman he had loved; l wondered where
were his old friends. and / thought VI
he quiet cemetery near Baltimore where
sleep so quietly many Of the old actors
he talked about. aud who were old on
he stage when Edwin Booth was a boy.
| wondered If he weren't tired Of living. |
md Il seemed to me as II all the actors
had ever seen were coarsened by com
larlsOn with his gentle manners.
He told Us how, after Owens had
bought his country place he used TO
,fer his friends champagne and milk.
ind beg them TO take champagne be.
'nnse il est him less And be Told Is
low he had remembered seeing Edwin
Booth around his fathers dressing room;
ic talked OF Laura Keene as If she were
young girl. but always before me there
Mas Il picture 81 that quiet graveyard.
After our supper was oves, he walked
iome with me. and | begged him 10 come
md breakfast with me sone day ana tel
ne about some old photographs that /
photographs OF great actors OF long
lgo. He bowed goodnight TO me as II